3.1. THE CHALLENGE OF IGNITING ACTION AND IMPLEMENTING NEW IDEAS

The conventional management approach to this challenge is to give people reasons.[] Sadly, this faith in reason isn't borne out in practice. Asking people to stop doing the things they know and love doing and start doing things that they don't know much about amounts to asking them to adopt new identities. The usual result? Skepticism. Hostility. Sitting on the fence. Anything but enthusiastic implementation.

Then what happens? Leaders in their desperation drift toward more directive methods: "You've got to do it or you're fired!" This generates an adversarial relationship—the exact opposite of what a leader needs to achieve.

Fortunately, there's a solution at hand in a particular ...

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