Parachuting Cats into Borneo: And Other Lessons from the Change Caf� - Softcover

Klimek, Axel; AtKisson, Alan

3.67

18 ratings by Goodreads

9781603586818: Parachuting Cats into Borneo: And Other Lessons from the Change Caf�

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1603586814 ISBN 13: 9781603586818

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2016

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A toolkit of proven strategies and practices for building capacity and creating transformation

Recent years have seen a proliferation of information on how to make change―in business, in social and environmental movements, and on a more personal scale. But, even with all this attention, two out of three change efforts fail to achieve their desired result. How can you make your own effort buck this trend?

In Parachuting Cats into Borneo, change-management experts Axel Klimek and Alan AtKisson offer crisp, concise, and targeted advice for success. They expose the most significant impediments―helping readers recognize their habitual patterns of thinking and perceiving a situation, critique their own beliefs regarding change, and then move beyond these unhelpful patterns using improved systems thinking.

Named after a classic tale of unintended consequences, Parachuting Cats into Borneo delivers tools that help leaders and others keep their change initiatives on track. The advice imparted will help you move away from agonizing over immediate problems toward stoking action, identifying collaborators, focusing at the right level for your cause, and aiding others in pursuing their change.

Klimek and AtKisson draw from their decades of helping corporations, networks, governments, and NGOs reach their change goals to demonstrate how to use system-based change tools to their maximum advantage.

A closing section is devoted to change making in the realm of sustainability, where complexity abounds but the right tools, used well, can help us tackle some of the most significant challenges of our time.

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About the Author:

Axel Klimek is the cofounder and managing director of the Center for Sustainability Transformation. He has worked in more than twenty-five countries on four continents, and within a wide spectrum of contexts―helping leaders, organizations, and developmental programs manage complex change processes and improve their performance. His clients have included the African Union Commission, Canon Europe, EY, PWC, Allianz, GIZ, Lufthansa, Unilever, and T-Systems. He lives in Germany.

Alan AtKisson, CEO of AtKisson Group and cofounder of the Center for Sustainability Transformation, was inducted into the International Sustainability Hall of Fame in 2013. He has advised governments, cities, and organizations around the world, including Nike, Levi Strauss, Toyota, WWF, and the United Nations Secretariat. His six previous books include the Amazon bestseller Believing Cassandra. He is a dual citizen of the USA and Sweden, and lives in Stockholm.

Review:

Choice-

"This short paperback’s title belies its importance as a serious commentary on the importance of creating and implementing an organizational culture embracing transformational change. Under the backdrop of an informal caf� meeting, the authors (cofounders of the Center for Sustainability Transformation) provide a unique perspective and a thought-provoking exploration into the dynamics of change in organizational leadership and the traditional psychological, cultural, and institutional barriers of the existing organizational ethos. Based on their professional experiences, the 16 well-written and readable chapters illustrate a framework and methodology that embrace the need for change and the engagement of all stakeholders in successful programs of organizational transformation. Klimek and Atkisson suggest not just a do-it-yourself checklist or one size fits all solution, but a schematic for creating an atmosphere encouraging an internal dialogue that will empower all participants to accept long-term change as an intrinsic part of organizational success, so that the schematic becomes the catalyst of a positive, systematic, and strategic environment regarding change and its impact on organizational sustainability. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.”

Publishers Weekly-

"AtKisson (Believing Cassandra) and Klimek, cofounders of the Center for Sustainability Transformation, offer a shrewd and discerning look at systemic change within organizations and the many obstacles to such change. The coauthors do not claim to have a one-size-fits-all solution, rather telling the reader that the 'answers are already there within yourself' or close at hand, among your colleagues. However, they do urge readers to shift the odds in their favor by building on existing knowledge, seeking out new viewpoints, becoming more mindful of ingrained habits, and focusing on their strengths and resources. Klimek and AtKisson offer up 'four big questions:' 'What basic beliefs do we have?'; 'What method do we have for supporting a system to move from state A to state B?'; 'What is our relationship to the system?'; and 'How can we increase the capacity of the system not just to change but to improve performance?' Elsewhere, they identify seven different ways of approaching change, including 'following a plan,' 'negotiating an outcome,' and 'enforcing the future.' They close with insightful chapters on supporting others, coaching, and leadership that will be particularly valuable when initiating change but should be equally beneficial to daily work life."

“Change is difficult, and usually takes time, but this book gave me hope that change will happen, whatever time it takes, and guided me through the appropriate sequence of steps I should take to achieve my mission―slowly but steadily. The book presents a combination of concern, determination, and faith: concern about people and nature, the determination to continue the path, and the faith that what we are doing is right. I received this book on June 11 and started reading it the morning of June 12. I powered off my mobile, and I went on reading ‘til the afternoon of June 13. At that time I discovered that it was my birthday; I think that this book was the best birthday present I had this year!”--Boshra Salem, director, Office of International Relations, Alexandria University; member, Women in Science Hall of Fame

“I’ve been waiting for this book, from these gentlemen, for years. Decades of distilled experience, insight, wisdom, guidance, and delight about engaging the most challenging parts of change―people and groups of people. (Technological innovation is simple by comparison.) Only one in three change initiatives succeed, the authors tell us. This little book, and the thoughtful systems and tools it offers, might just help you boost your odds."--Gil Friend, chairman and CEO, Natural Logic, Inc.

“Parachuting Cats into Borneo takes change management off the white board and places it into your own hands―inviting you into a caf� conversation with the authors, who put together a thoughtful collection of practical tools that I found valuable even after 25 years in the sustainability and social change field. Grab a pen and some paper (and a coffee!). This book will take you on a thought journey, best when you have a change process and goal in mind. And who doesn’t?”--Gillian Martin Mehers, managing director, Bright Green Learning; coauthor of The Climate Change Playbook

“Welcome to the world caf�―where it’s raining, well, cats. Axel Klimek and Alan AtKisson are hosting. Slow down, relax, and prepare to change the way you think about change.”--John Elkington, co-founder, Environmental Data Services (ENDS), SustainAbility, and Volans; coauthor of The Breakthrough Challenge

“We live in times of continuous accelerating change―as I have personally experienced―and yet we have difficulty adapting to it. That’s human nature: We like the comfort of stability and predictability. Here Klimek and AtKisson draw a short and very easy-to-read roadmap for implementing sustainable change. A great effort and recommended reading.”--Nani Falco Beccalli, former President and CEO, GE Europe

“Parachuting Cats into Borneo is a great guidebook for leaders and individuals who want to create transformational changes in any society, community, organization, workspace, or family they are a part of. The authors have done a great job illuminating not only the most up-to-date ‘skills and knowledge’ on change processes, such as a system approach and coaching, but also ‘attitude and being,’ or how leaders can develop themselves and cultivate organizational cultures. I have been using these approaches in Japan and elsewhere in the world, and they have proven to be effective in work for many clients across sectors.”--Riichiro Oda, president and CEO, Change Agent, Inc.

“The one thing we all have more and more of is CHANGE, and we all need to become more skillful in navigating through it. Klimek and AtKisson are great companions to have with you on your change journey, providing guidance, great stories, and good company.”--Peter Hawkins, Professor of Leadership, Henley Business School; chairman, Renewal Associates

“This book is a must for anyone who is involved in change processes toward a more equitable, humane, and environmentally friendly world. It is not the usual ‘how to do and get what you want’ instruction book. No recipes, no safe or proven success guidelines, no software program for making changes happen! It is a book about personal and group empowerment. It orients readers to become agents of change based on their own resources and their own creative ideas. And all this for a common purpose: to reach a more sustainable future for all.”--Ortwin Renn, scientific director, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies

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