ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Significant contributions from a whole host of colleagues, clients, friends and family made this book possible. Some of these people helped me prepare to write this book; others supported me in navigating my way over, under, and through what was at times, some rough and challenging terrain.

Kathleen Dannemiller is one of the first people to develop, practice, and promote whole system, large-scale change in organizations. Along with her late partner Chuck Tyson, fellow external consultants Al Davenport, Bruce Gibb, and Jeff Walsh, and Ford Motor Company internal consultant Nancy Badore, Kathie began changing the way organizations change more than a decade ago. What I have come to believe about organizations and how they can change most effectively has been strongly influenced by the work of this talented and innovative team. The practical, client-focused processes, methods, and frameworks you’ll find throughout this book reflect Kathie’s bias for tried and true common sense instead of unnecessarily complicated models and theories.

Ian Peters, my friend and colleague, was a source of great insight, company, and humor along the way. Having applied the principles and practices of real time strategic change in various community and corporate settings, Ian’s personal experiences proved to be a good barometer for measuring the clarity and utility of what I thought I had to say. In addition, since he makes his home in California, I was able to regularly engage him in late night explorations and dialogues long after those closer to home had called it a day. Irene Sanders, another friend and colleague, has been part of my writing this book from the get-go. Her consistently positive perspective and belief in what I was up to strengthened my own resolve and her reviews and comments on various sections strengthened the book immeasurably.

I also thank the clients and colleagues whose stories, perspectives and opinions are interspersed throughout the book. The insight they offer is grounded in their experiences on the front lines of organizational change efforts, thereby adding a healthy dose of reality to the pages that follow. The thinking and ideas I’ve included have been gleaned not just from those people who have been quoted, but from the experiences of many others who are part of the growing community of people successfully applying the concepts and practices of real time strategic change. CEOs, front-line workers, program and process managers, and internal consultants alike have all collaborated in this past decade’s worth of work. The essence of their lessons and learnings are captured in what you’ll be reading, even though their names may not appear.

I feel fortunate to have Berrett-Koehler appear on the cover of this book for many reasons. Steve Piersanti and the rest of the people at Berrett-Koehler Publishers are writing a new chapter in the history of the publishing industry and I am delighted to be able to play a role in their unfolding story. My involvement was welcomed and encouraged in every aspect of the editing, production, and marketing of this book—a rare and powerful example of partnership in publishing circles. In addition, Steve’s editorial comments and suggestions challenged me to deliver the best book I was capable of writing. He also provided me with the space and time I needed to make it happen.

I extend a sincere set of thank-you’s to the entire staff at Berrett-Koehler. Pat Anderson, Valerie Barth, Mark Carstens, Robin Donovan, Valerie McOuat, Liz Paulus, John Sax, Kristen Scheel, Elizabeth Swenson, and Steven Zink brought a spirit of collaboration, commitment, and enthusiasm to all of our work together. Detta Penna’s flexibility, creativity, and good humor made the production phase of this project smooth and author-friendly, while Joyce Connelley’s copyediting resulted in a cleaner, clearer (a fair bit shorter), and more readable text. Thanks as well to Cassandra Chu for her great work on the cover design. I also want to acknowledge Kathy Lee who did the proofreading, Pat Rogondino, who gave form to the illustrations, and Earline Hefferlin who compiled the index.

Jill Janov, Sue McKibbin, and Jerry Want served as reviewers for my first complete draft of the book. Many of their suggestions and comments are represented in this final version. Most important, their feedback led me to undertake a major revision and expansion in the book’s scope and direction. Their feedback, coupled with several conversations with Steve Piersanti, led me to start painting on a much larger canvas.

Many others provided me with various forms of encouragement, ideas, support and interest along the way, and to them I offer my appreciation: my former colleagues at Dannemiller Tyson Associates, including Randy Albert, Roland Loup, Stas’ Kazmierski, and Tony Putman; Lynn Moore, Tammy Weller, and Kathy Forier from our office management staff; Geoff Bellman; Peter Block; Becky DeStefano; Danite Fried; the gang at Barry Bagel’s Place in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Elizabeth Geiser; my parents, Marvin and Marilyn Jacobs; Myron Kellner-Rogers; the late Ron Lippitt; Marv Weisbord; and Meg Wheatley.

My family has been a source of great support throughout this odyssey. Their patience, interest, and words of encouragement were and continue to be a great gift for me. At one point as I wrestled with how to position the book in the first few chapters, I had a conversation with my ten-year-old daughter Alison. After listening to my dilemma she offered her counsel: “Write what you believe and other people will believe it, too. Anything else will just be a lot of hoopla.” To Ali’s (and my) credit, a hoopla-less book exists today. My two-year-old son Aaron’s contribution was also significant: with a playful grin he regularly invited himself into my study while I was writing, reminding me of the world beyond “The Book.”

I am convinced that my best friend, soul mate, life partner and wife, Cheryl, is one of the few people on the planet who could reframe the amount of time I spent writing this book as an opportunity to deepen and expand our relationship on a number of dimensions. The stability she provided for our family and for me personally during the year of my writing was nothing short of miraculous. In addition, Cheryl also served as the first reviewer for many portions of the book, its overall layout, and flow, and my earliest musings about its possibilities.

A Special Acknowledgment

Frank McKeown, a colleague and friend of mine, has made a substantial contribution to many parts of this book. I have collaborated with Frank for the past six years and counting, consulting on a variety of challenging and successful real time strategic change efforts. In mid-1995 we created 5 oceans, inc. in our quest to support people and organizations throughout the world in creating their preferred future through rapid, sustainable, organization-wide transformation.

As I was writing this book, Frank continually challenged my implicit and explicit assumptions, added new perspectives, and also offered fresh material for inclusion. His input has greatly enhanced the conceptual rigor and clarity of the text, as well as its depth and completeness. Frank’s perspective, drawn from a diverse background in the natural sciences, business world, and social sciences, has fueled his understanding and application of the principles of real time strategic change and uniquely positioned him to contribute to this book. I am grateful for his support and the value he added to this endeavor.

A Special Invitation

Frank and I welcome you to join a growing global community for people interested in principle-based, fundamental, organization-wide change. Members of the RTSC Learning Community have been active in various ways—such as attending RTSC courses; partnering on organization-wide change initiatives; meeting face-to-face and by e-mail in shadowing support groups; reflecting on work done in learning groups; sharing mentoring support, and so on.

There now exists an on-line campus for the community to enhance and accelerate our shared learning — whether we are leaders, organization members or consultants to whole system change efforts. You can explore the campus at: http://www.rtscnet.com/ We envision it as a place where we can come together to advance our learning, stay current and connected to the rapidly developing theory, concept and practice of RTSC, and experience community on a global scale—no matter where we are, no matter what time of day.