The Dance of Change
by Peter M. Senge, Art Kleiner (Editor), Charlotte Roberts, George Roth, Rick Ross
Reviews
Amazon.com
Since its release in 1990, Peter M. Senge's bestselling The Fifth Discipline has converted
readers to its innovative business principles of the "learning organization,"
personal mastery, and systems thinking. Published nearly a decade later, Dance of Change
provides a formidable response to businesspeople wondering how to make his programs stick.
He outlines potential obstacles (such as initiating transformation, personal fear and
anxiety, and measuring the unmeasurable) and proposes ways to turn these obstacles into
sources of improvement. Senge--with considerable help from the team who worked on the
follow-up development manual, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook--presents an insider's
account of long-term maintenance efforts at General Electric, Harley-Davidson, the U.S.
Army, and others who are learning organization, along with experience-based suggestions
and exercises for individuals and teams. "We are seeking to understand how people
nurture the reinforcing growth processes that naturally enable an organization to evolve
and change," Senge explains, "and how they tend to the limiting processes that
can impede or stop that growth." --Howard Rothman
Warren Bennis, University Professor, Marshall School of Business,
University of Southern California; co-author of Co-Leaders
"DO NOT READ THIS BOOK FROM COVER TO COVER. Just dip in anywhere and you'll be
surprised and challenged. This is an original and refreshing take on organization change,
at times quirky, at other times perplexing, but always on every page an idea that stops
you in your tracks and makes you rethink everything you thought you knew about the
subject. "
Gary Hamel, coauthor, Competing for the Future
"More practical ideas on how to drive positive change in your organization than you
will find between any other two covers anywhere. The Dance of Change is a cornucopia of
advice for making your organization a truly worthy place to work."
Frances Hesselbein, Chairman, Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit
Management
"The Dance of Change is an extraordinary book. Dancing with Peter Senge and company
inspires us to learn new steps and gain new insights. The format and presentation of this
provocative and accessible guide to change are as dazzling as its content."
