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Building The Bridge As You Walk On It

The Big Idea

Robert E. Quinn’s first book, Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within, expounded on the idea that changes in leadership styles and effectiveness required changes first and foremost within the leader’s self. In the years that followed, reader feedback provided Quinn with a new model of leadership, one that reflected leadership as a state of being rather than just a pattern of behavioral modifications.

Thus emerged Building the Bridge as You Walk on It: A Guide for Leading Change. Ensconced in these pages of literature are valuable insights that detail the fundamental state of leadership, how you can achieve it and how to lead others towards it. Enriched with anecdotes from personal experiences of people who have experienced deep change, this book illustrates how deep change and entering the fundamental state of leadership improves relationships not only at the workplace but also at home and with one’s self.

Chapter 1 — Building the Bridge As You Walk On It

A productive community starts with just one individual with the incredible talent of increasing performance beyond ordinary expectations. It isn’t so much about what the individual does as it is about what he is. This “state” is what separates and elevates a leader from the rest of the pack.

Especially in the workplace, we all operate within a comfort zone. This zone is primarily helpful, offering a means of action while providing leeway for error. It is a zone where we feel secure and where all our defenses are down. In this zone, we are kings of our own castles. What we don’t realize is that over time, this castle may also crumble.

It is normal to resist the need to change. Change means letting go of control, venturing into uncharted territory. It means embracing one’s own uniqueness instead of trying to conform to the majority. We deny change, not realizing that to undergo deep change is to enter the fundamental state of leadership.

The Objectives of Building the Bridge as You Walk on It:

1. Helping people who are assigned to lead change.
2. Providing a new language for people who are already engaged in transformation.
3. Helping individuals to transform themselves and others.

Chapter 2 — The Fundamental State of Leadership
The Normal State

• Robert Yamamoto resigned his position as executive director of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce when he was told by the new board president that his efforts were found wanting. Having served in this capacity for four years, Robert had always thought he was giving his best.
• Jeremy Fish was tasked with managing a regional medical center in California. Instead of rising to the occasion, he found himself giving in to feelings of incompetence, fear, and dread.
• Roman Walley wasn’t the type of person to create a stir. At work, he never asked questions from senior managers even though he felt his questions were perfectly valid. He found himself coasting through his life, unable to change its course in any way.

The normal state may take on a variety of forms. It may be a comfort zone we’ve gotten used to that offers neither challenge nor room for improvement. It may be complacency in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment. It may be the tendency to attack and eliminate minor problems while ignoring key issues or the failure to put the common good ahead of one’s own interests. . . . . . .