Rosabeth Moss Kanter: Embrace change as an opportunity to learn, to im...

Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

kaleidoscope creativity leadership

Change is a threat when done to me, but an opportunity when done by me.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

change opportunity positive

A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

vision self-esteem inspirational

Everything looks like a failure in the middle. In neary every change project, doubt is cast on the original vision because problems are mounting and the end is nowhere in sight.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

vision doubt sight

Too many people let others stand in their way and don't go back for one more try.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

trying people way

The difference between "winners" and "losers" is not whether they face obstacles and setbacks - we all do, and it is inevitable that plans do not unfold exactly as imagined or that unexpected events surprise us or that a few mistakes happen. The real difference is that "winners" bounce back from a fumble or a loss by refusing to panic, analyzing the situation and looking for positive actions they can take to correct the problem, and then go on to resume winning.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

real mistake loss

A great thinker once described innovative thinkers this way: "Some men see things as they are and say, 'Why?' I dream of things that never were and say, 'Why not?'" Innovative thinkers are constantly asking questions such as these. How can we improve recruiting, hiring and training. How can be add greater value to our products and services by making them even better? How can we do more to nourish the personal as well as professional development of our people? What more can we do as a good citizen where we do business?

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

dream men people

Change is like putting lipstick on a bulldog. The bulldog's appearance hasn't improved, but now it's really angry.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

bulldogs appearance change

"Leadership" is a big topic today. We know that the world - nations and communities in addition to companies - needs more and better leaders. So I wanted to explore how leaders make a difference, how they can shift a negative cycle, turn around a losing organization, propel a team to victory when conditions aren't perfect. I saw that what leaders do is build confidence in advance of victory. Then the confidence they produce makes the hope of success turn into the reality of success, because people behave differently when they are surrounded by a culture of confidence.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

team reality people

Change masters are - literally - the right people in the right place at the right time. The right people are the ones with the ideas that move beyond the organization's established practice, ideas they can form into visions. The right places are the integrative environments that support innovation, encourage the building of coalitions and teams to support and implement visions. The right times are those moments in the flow of organizational history when it is possible to reconstruct reality on the basis on accumulated innovations to shape a more productive and successful future.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

team successful moving

Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

role-models powerful leadership

The most radical thing we can do is connect people to one another. That starts conversations toward a vision for change.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

vision conversation people

Leaders must wake people out of inertia. They must get people excited about something they've never seen before, something that does not yet exist.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

leader inspirational people

Competition has never been more threatening than it is now. Innovative thinkers challenge the status quo in their organizations. They are often viewed as "troublemakers." They threaten the defenders of the status quo. So competition within an organization can also be brutal. The most effective leaders overcome "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom" by being change agents themselves. They encourage and reward innovative thinking. I have observed that people only resist changes imposed on them by other people.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

leader people thinking

People often resist change for reasons that make good sense to them, even if those reasons don't correspond to organizational goals. So it is crucial to recognize, reward, and celebrate accomplishments.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

accomplishment goal people

The architecture of change involves the design and construction of new patterns, or the reconceptualization of old ones, to make new, and hopefully more productive, actions possible.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

patterns design change

Passion for a goal doesn't guarantee success, but without it, you can't even begin.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

passion excellence goal

I've found that small wins, small projects, small differences often make huge differences.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

small-wins differences winning

People who are making decisions about the future often don't have access to some of the best ideas in the company, which may be at the periphery or at lower levels.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

decision people ideas

Change demands new learning.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

demand

Embrace change as an opportunity to learn, to improve, to make a difference in others' lives as well as in your own. Have the courage to challenge the status quo. Remember that preparation and ambition in combination with opportunity equals success. And have fun!