Change from Within? LO7035

Paul L Schechter (ivlu@sprynet.com)
Sun, 28 Apr 1996 21:53:43 -0700

Replying to LO7017 --

jpomo@gate.net wrote:
> > ... For me it was primarily a pilot
> > project to test a key hypothesis. This hypothesis was that change and
> > therefore true learning cannot be led from within. It cannot.
>
> I was unable to follow how you proved that change cannot be led from
> within because it did not seem to me that you were within any
> business. Our experience indicates the exact opposite from yours and
> was gained from turning around four different organizations and
> proving 300% per person productivity gains in each.
>
> Please expand on what you have told us about how you proved that
> change from within is not possible.

Joan:

Thanks for your questions.

1. I was working within the the constructs of the CPA Society,
which is an organization which represents 30,000 CPA's within
California. It is technically a tax-exempt organization, but
it is made up primarily of business people. I was not acting
in the capacity of "the leader" of the organization, but as the
founder and chair of the Dispute Prevention and Resolution
Committee I was acting as "a leader" within the organization.
This was especially true given that the subject matter I was
introducing was completely new to the formal leadership.
I will grant you that there is a difference between this type
of organization and a for-profit organization. Some of the
differences work in my favor however, because many of the
members are themselves small business owners. So in a sense,
I was acting in the capacity of leader to them.

2. My point is that anyone who "leads" change from within, and
this person must be at the top and have the ability to make
fundamental changes, must have a teacher on the outside who
he or she turns to for advice. The question then becomes who
is really leading the change, the "teacher of the leader" or
the "leader"? By the way, "anyone" above includes myself as
well.

3. I do not believe that I said I "proved" my point. If I used
the word prove, I errored. The conclusion I have outlined
above is my belief about reality at a particular point in
time.

Question 1. Are your 300% productivity gains measured over the
short-term or long term? If long-term, what is your definition
of LT.

Question 2. What is your measuring stick for productivity?

Very truly yours,

Paul L. Schechter
I.V.L.U. Associates
(310) 274-8247
Los Angeles, Calif.

-- 

Paul L Schechter <ivlu@sprynet.com>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>