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Change

1. Faced with change, employees have one question: “What’s going to happen to me?” A successful change management communication program will avoid that question.

Scott Adams (b.1957) U.S. cartoonist and humorist. The Dilbert Principle (1996)

 

2. Change means movement. Movement means friction.

Saul Alinsky (1909-72) U.S. activist. Rules for Radicals (1971)

 

3. Paradigm shift: A euphemism companies use when they realize the rest of their industry has expanded into Guangdong while they were investing in Orange County.

Anonymous. Fortune (February 15, 1995)

 

4. When the wind of change blows, some build walls, other build windmills.

Anonymous

 

5. To change and to improve are two different things.

Anonymous. German proverb.

 

6. Structure will become a dynamic enabler of both change and unchanged, the ultimate model of organizational chaos.

Igor Ansoff (1918-2002) U.S. author and academic. Corporate Structure Present and Future (February 1974)

 

7. It is change…that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. Isaac Asimov (1920-92) U.S. novelist, criticand scientist, 1978. “My Own View,” Asimov on Science Fiction (1981)

 

8. Better never means better for everyone…It always means worse, for some.

Margaret Atwood (b.1939) Canadian poet and novelist. The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)

 

9. Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock.

James Baldwin (1924-87) U.S. writer. “Every Good-Bye Ain’t Gone,” New York (December 19, 1977)

 

10. When you are through changing, you are through.

Percy Barnevik (b.1941) Swedish former C.E.O. of ABB. Quoted in Financial Times Handbook of Management (Stuart Crainer, ed.; 1995)

 

11. You can’t permit a honeymoon of small changes over a year or two. A long series of small changes just prolongs the pain.

Percy Barnevik (b.1941) Swedish former C.E.O. of ABB. Harvard Business Review (March/April 1991)

 

12. You cannot renew a company without revitalizing its people.

Christopher Bartlett (b.1945) Australian business writer. The Individualised Corporation (co-written with Sumantra Ghoshal; 1997)

 

13. If I were to give off-the-cuff advice to anyone trying to institute change, I would say, “How clear is the metaphor?”

Warren Bennis (b.1925) U.S. educator and writer. “Why Leaders Can’t Lead,” Amacom (1976)

 

14. It’s time to make things ship-shape to get rid of the debt, to get a bit of a cash box to work from, to enjoy life a bit more.

Conrad Black (b.1944) Canadian newspaper proprietor and business executive. Referring to disposals from his media group. New York Times (April 2000)

 

15. I am not the one who transforms the company…The marketplace is what is changing France Telecom; the customers and the competition are its alpha and its omega. A company requires a leader, but individually no one can pretend to be the driving force.

Michel Bon (b.1943) French former C.E.O. of France Telecom. Interview, Strategy+Business (April-June 1999)

 

16. We don’t want to do it for a quick pop in share price.

Peter Bonfield (b.1944) British former C.E.O. of British Telecom. Said at a British Telecom annual general meeting. Referring to possible restructuring of BT. Remark (July 2000)

 

17. No one has ever accused us of lagging behind. In fact, I am willing to turn an entire company upside down if it’s time to do that. We’re in perpetual evolution.

Richard Branson (b.1950) British entrepreneur, business executive and founder of the Virgin Group. Interview, ASAP (February 27, 1997)

 

18. Recognize that transition has a characteristic shape.

William Bridges (b.1933) U.S. transition management thinker. Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes (1980)

 

19. Thinking about change is a redundancy. All thinking is about change.

Edgar Bronfman, JR. (b.1955) Canadian C.E.O. of the Seagram Corporation. Quoted in How to Manage (Ray Wild; 1995)

 

20. A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.

Edmund Burke (1729-97) British philosopher and politician. Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

 

21. It is idle to speak of organizational transformation without individuals being transformed, especially the leader.

S.K. Chakraborty (b.1957) Indian academic. Ethics in Management: Vedantic Perspectives (1995)

 

22. People are no longer content to talk merely of “organizational change”…the new aspiration is for “organizational transformation.”

S.K. Chakraborty (b.1957) Indian academic. Ethics in Management: Vedantic Perspectives (1995)

 

23. Outworn policies may remain in force simply because of sheer inertia or lack of perception amongst policy makers.

S.K. Chakraborty (b.1957) Indian academic. Ethics in Management: Vedantic Perspectives (1995)

 

24. Even when the universe made it quite clear to me that I was mistaken in my certainties…I did not break. The shattering of my sureties did not shatter me.

Lucille Clifton (b.1936) U.S. poet and author. Quoted in The Black Woman’s Gumbo Ya-Ya (Terri L. Jewell; 1993)

 

25. It is only the very wisest and the very stupidest who cannot change.

Confucius (551-479 B.C.) Chinese philosopher, administrator, and writer. Analects (500? B.C.)

 

26. Passion for change drives great business people. It moves them restlessly from industry to industry.

Paul Corrigan (b.1948) British author. Shakespeare on Management (1999)

 

27. Management, a science? Of course not, it’s just a wastepaper basket full of recipes which provided the dish of the day during a few years of plenty and economic growth. Now the recipes are inappropriate and the companies which persist in following them will disappear.

Leon Courville (b.1945) Canadian banker. Quoted in The Unconscious Civilization (John Ralston Saul; 1995)

 

28. The first step toward change is acceptance. Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change.

Stephen Covey (b.1932) U.S. writer and psychologist. First Things First: To Live, To Love, To Learn, To Leave a Legacy (1994)

 

29. As times change, you want to really revere your heredity, but you don’t want to be a shrine- to light candles and kneel.

Kitty D’Alessio, U.S. business executive. Referring to conflicts after she succeeded company founder, Coco Chanel, to become president of Chanel, Inc. New York Times (July 28, 1985)

 

30. Open the windows, let in the year we’re living in.

Kitty D’Alessio, U.S. business executive. Referring to conflicts after she succeeded company founder, Coco Chanel, to become president of Chanel, Inc. New York Times (1985)

 

31. This is an age that calls for cunning, speed, and enterprise.

Richard D’Aveni (b.1950) U.S. strategist. “The Mavericks,” Fortune (June 1995)

 

32. I would constructively rebel by changing the rules but, once agreed, I would observe them.

Howard Davies (b.1951) British chairman of the Financial Services Authority. Sunday Times (London) (July 2000)

 

33. We’re fast approaching the point at which there is really no distinction between the .com companies and traditional businesses. The only distinction will be between the winners and losers, and of course, the pace of change at which companies become winners or losers.

Michael Dell (b.1965) U.S. chairman and C.E.O. of Dell Computer Corporation. Speech to the DirectConnect Customer Conference, Austin, Texas, “DirectConnect” (August 25, 1999)

 

34. Unlike other industries, our pace of change is so fast that I don’t think it’s right to expect the same type of concentration as in the auto industry.

Michael Dell (b.1965) U.S. chairman and C.E.O. of Dell Computer Corporation. Wall Street Journal (February 1997)

 

35. Only management can change the system.

  1. Edwards Deming (1900-93) U.S. consultant and author. Quoted in In Search of European Excellence (Robert Heller; 1997)

 

36. Change is inevitable in a progressive country. Change is constant.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81) British prime minister and novelist. October 29, 1867. Speech, Edinburgh, Scotland. Quoted in Times (London) (October 30, 1867)

 

37. All great change in business has come from outside the firm, not from inside.

Peter F. Drucker (b.1909) U.S. management consultant and academic. Quoted in “Seeing Things as They Really Are,” Forbes (Robert Lenzer and Stephen S. Johnson; 1987)

 

38. Corporations once built to last like pyramids are now more like tents. Tomorrow they’re gone or in turmoil.

Peter F. Drucker (b.1909) U.S. management consultant and academic. Quoted in How to Manage (Ray Wild; 1995)

 

39. The stepladder is gone, and there’s not even the implied structure of an industry’s rope ladder. It’s more like vines, and you bring your own machete.

Peter F. Drucker (b.1909) U.S. management consultant and academic. Referring to the impact of rapid organizational change. Quoted in How to manage (Ray Wild; 1995)

 

40. Organizations that are change leaders are designed for change. But people need continuity..they do not function well if the environment is not predictable, not understandable, not known.

Peter F. Drucker (b.1909) U.S. management consultant and academic. Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999)

 

41. Every organization of today has to build into its very structure the management of change.

Peter F. Drucker (b.1909) U.S. management consultant and academic. Post-capitalist Society (1993)

 

42. To make knowledge productive…requires the systematic exploitation of opportunities for change.

Peter F. Drucker (b.1909) U.S. management consultant and academic. Post-capitalist Society (1993)

 

43. The Age of Discontinuity.

Peter F. Drucker (b.1909) U.S. management consultant and academic. Book title. The Age of Discontinuity (1969)

 

44. The Times They Are A-Changin’

Bob Dylan (b.1941) U.S. singer. Song title. “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” (1964)

 

45. I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) U.S. physicist. Interview (December 1930)

 

46. The fertility of happy invention denied its full fruit by the grimy rules of union demarcation.

Harold Evans (b.1928) British newspaper editor and publisher. Referring to union opposition to new technology in the newspaper industry. Good Times, Bad Times (1983)

 

47. Consolidation is going to take place and it’s better to lead than to follow. If you lead you have the best opportunity to gain the best partners.

Niall Fitzgerald (b.1945) British C.E.O. of Unilever and president of the Advertising Association. Marketing (July 2000)

 

48. I realized that if you want to change something, nine times out of ten you can change it more effectively from within.

Niall Fitzgerald (b.1945) British C.E.O. of Unilever and president of the Advertising Association. Marketing (July 2000)

 

49. Change is inevitable, but it is in us to control its content and directions.

Indira Gandhi (1917-84) Indian prime minister. Speech (January 8, 1967)

 

50. If the 1980s were about quality and the 1990s were about reengineering, then the 2000s will be about velocity.

Bill Gates (b.1955) U.S. entrepreneur, chairman and C.E.O. of Microsoft, Business@the Speed of Thought (co-written with Collins Hemingway; 1999)

 

51. One of the lessons from the Darwinian world is that the excellence of an organism’s nervous system helps determine its ability to sense change and quickly respond, thereby surviving or even thriving.

Bill Gates (b.1955) U.S. entrepreneur, chairman and C.E.O. of Microsoft. “Leaders Must Be Candid, Consistent,” New York Times (May 21, 1997)

 

52. The information highway will transform our culture as dramatically as Gutenburg’s press did the Middle Ages.

Bill Gates (b.1955) U.S. entrepreneur, chairman and C.E.O. of Microsoft. The Road Ahead (co-written with Nathan Myhrvold and Peter N. Rinearson; 1995)

 

 

53. You can’t fight against future. Time is on our side.

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-96) British prime minister. Speech (1866)

 

54. Don’t wrap the flag of Coca-Cola around you to prevent change taking place.

Roberto Goizueta (1931-97) U.S. C.E.O. of Coca-Cola. Speech. Quoted in Fortune (December 1995)

 

55. It is extremely important that you show some insensitivity to your past in order to show the proper respect for the future.

Roberto Goizueta (1931-97) U.S. C.E.O. of Coca-Cola. Speech. Quoted in Fortune (December 1995)

 

56. From now on, change will be the constant. The individuals best prepared to succeed are those who can learn, modify, and grow, regardless of age, experience, or ego.

Danny Goodman (b.1950) U.S. writer. Living at Light Speed: Your Survival Guide to Life on the Information Superhighway (1994)

 

57. Let chaos reign, then rein in chaos.

Andrew S. Grove (b.1936) U.S. entrepreneur, author, and chairman of Intel Corporation. Attrib.

 

58. The new environment dictates two rules; first everything happens faster; second, anything that can be done will be done, if not by you, then by someone else, somewhere.

Andrew S. Grove (b.1936) U.S. entrepreneur, author, and chairman of Intel Corporation. Attrib.

 

 

59. There are two options: adapt or die.

Andrew S. Grove (b.1936) U.S. entrepreneur, author, and chairman of Intel Corporation. Attrib.

 

60. The possible use of automated equipment in the over-the-counter marketplace has become an increasingly important subject.

Robert W. Haack (1917-92) U.S. president of New York Stock Exchange. The Wall Street Journal (1967)

 

61. Perseverance may be just as important as speed in the battle for the future.

Gary Hamel (b.1954) U.S. academic, business writer, and consultant. Competing for the Future (co-written with C.K. Pahalad; 1994)

 

62. This extraordinary arrogance that change must start at the top is a way of guaranteeing that change will not happen in most companies.

Gary Hamel (b.1954) U.S. academic, business writer, and consultant. Interview, Strategy + Business (October-December 1997)

 

63. Complex processes are the work of the devil.

Michael Hammer (b.1948) U.S. author and academic. Business Week (August 1996)

 

64. To succeed at re-engineering you have to be a missionary, a motivator, and a leg breaker.

Michael Hammer (b.1948) U.S. author and academic. Fortune (August 1993)

 

65. America’s business problem is that it is entering the twenty-first century with companies designed during the nineteenth century to work well in the twentieth.

Michael Hammer (b.1948) U.S. author and academic. Re-engineering the Corporation (co-written with James Champy; 1993)

 

66. Business re-engineering isn’t about fixing anything-it’s about starting again, about re-inventing our corporation from top to bottom.

Michael Hammer (b.1948) U.S. author and academic. Re-engineering the Corporation (co-written with James Champy; 1993)

 

67. Unless companies change these rules, any superficial re-organizations they perform will be no more effective than dusting the furniture in Pompeii.

Michael Hammer (b.1948) U.S. author and academic. Re-engineering the Corporation (co-written with James Champy; 1993)

 

68. What I really do is I’m reversing the Industrial Revolution.

Michael Hammer (b.1948) U.S. author and academic. Re-engineering the Corporation (co-written with James Champy; 1993)

 

69. Change means avoiding the predictable and known ways of doing things which we learn to adjust to.

John Harvey-Jones (b.1924) British management adviser, author, and former chairman of ICI. Managing to Survive (1993)

 

70. Business leaders must not cling to old ways of doing business, or allow inertia or complacency tto prevent them from making the decisions that they will eventually be forced to make.

Patricia Hewitt (b.1948) British government minister, Digital Britain (January 2000)

 

71. Others appear frozen in the headlights-aware of the likely impact, yet paralysed by the fear of the major transformations.

Patricia Hewitt (b.1948) British government minister, Digital Britain (January 2000)

 

72. A business cannot stand still. It has to be dynamic. The world around us changes all the time and there can be no holy cows.

Nicola Horlick (b.1960) British fund manager. Can You Have It All? (1997)

 

73. Only man is not content to leave things as they are but must always be changing them, and when he has done so, is seldom satisfied at the result.

Elspeth Huxley (1907-97) British author. The Mottled Lizard (1962)

 

74. In order for an ideal to become a reality, there must be a person, a personality to translate it.

Jesse Jackson (b.1941) U.S> churchman, civil rights activist, and presidential candidate. Eulogy (October 1972)

 

75. If one is going to change things, one has to make a fuss and catch the eye of the world.

Elizabeth Janeway (b.1913) U.S. feminist and writer. Open Secrets (1972)

 

76. I am captivated more by dreams of the future than by history of the past.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) U.S. president. Attrib.

 

77. I want to put a ding in the universe.

Steve Jobs (b.1955) U.S. entrepreneur, cofounder and C.E.O. of Apple Computer Company, and C.E.O. of Pixar. Quoted in Made in the USA (Phil Patton; 1992)

 

78. Large companies not paying attention to change will get hurt. The Web will be one more area of significant change and those who don’t pay attention will get hurt, while those who see it early enough will get rewarded. The Web is just going to be one more of those major change factors that businesses face every decade.

Steve Jobs (b.1955) U.S. entrepreneur, cofounder and C.E.O. of Apple Computer Company, and C.E.O. of Pixar. “The Next Insanely Great Thing,” Wired Magazine (February 1996)

 

79. Companies that stay ahead of change are ones in which their people see change as something they themselves accomplish and not something that is imposed on them. They see lots of opportunities to take initiative.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter (b.1943) U.S. management theorist, academic, and writer. Interview, Strategy + Business (July-September 1999)

 

80. The more things change, the more they are the same.

Alphonse Karr (1808-90) French author. Les Gudpes (1849)

 

81. Bankers regard research as most dangerous and a thing that makes banking hazardous due to the rapid changes it brings about in industry.

Charles Franklin Kettering (1876-1958) U.S. businessman and engineer. Address (1927)

 

82. Corporate insiders…can seldom transform an organization beset by inertia.

John P. Kotter (b.1947) U.S. writer. Quoted in In Search of European Excellence (Robert Heller; 1997)

 

83. Anyone in a large organization who thinks major change is impossible should probably get out.

John P. Kotter (b.1947) U.S. writer The New Rules (1995)

 

84. If we want everything to remain as it is, it will be necessary for everything to change.

Giuseppe Di Lampedusa (1896-1957  Italian writer. The Leopard (1955), ch. 1

 

85. Our future must depend on the kind of future we deserve to have.

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) Canadian humorist, essayist, economist, and historian. While There Is Time (1945)

 

86. If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) U.S. author. Attrib.

 

87. The reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order.

Nicollo Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian historian, statesman, and political philosopher. The Prince (1513)

 

88. There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Nicollo Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian historian, statesman, and political philosopher. The Prince (1513)

 

89. When business conditions got tough in recent years, we did not take meat cleavers to our product.

Colin Marshall (b.1933) British C.E.O. of British Airways Harvard Business Review (November-December 1995)

 

90. Social relations are closely bound up with productive forces. In acquiring new productive forces men change their mode of production; and in changing their mode of production, in changing the way of earning their living, they change all their social relations.

Karl Marx (1818-83) German political and economic philosopher. The Poverty of Philosophy (1847)

 

91. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and spiritual life…changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation o the whole immense superstructure.

Karl Marx (1818-83) German political and economic philosopher. Towards a Critique of Political Economy (1859)

 

92. Power is the ability to influence individuals and institutions in ways that change ideas.

Carl McCall (b.1935) U.S> former Comptroller of New York State. Referring to the achievements of African Americans in business. “The Players,” Fortune (Eileen Gunn; April 1997)

 

93. You can’t change anything if you don’t bring people with you.

Carolyn McCall (b.1962) British managing director of Guardian Newspaper. Marketing (April 2000)

 

94. There can be no major change in a complex organization unless there are both sufficient resources and substantial readiness.

Robert H. Miles (b.1944) U.S. writer. Leading Corporate Transformation (1997)

 

95. Transformational change requires enormous energy.

Robert H. Miles (b.1944) U.S. writer. Leading Corporate Transformation (1997)

 

96. Remember when railway companies were the reigning industrial forces? Then, airlines companies came along…How many railway companies became airline companies? None! How many industrial companies will become information companies? Not too many!

William (Walid) Mougayar, U.S. consultant and management theorist, Interview, EMarketer (August 10, 1998)

 

97. I’m not going to claim that we fought the battle of Wapping because we wanted to bring a silver age to British journalism.

Rupert Murdoch (b.1931) U.S. C.E.O. of News Corporation. Speech (1989)

 

98. Discontinuous change, because it shatters the framework of the existing organization and scrambles the internal patterns of informal relationships, presents its own very special set of issues for leaders of change.

David A. Nadler (b.1948) U.S. author and organizational behavior specialist. Champions of Change (1998)

 

99. There are two broad ways to categorize large-scale change. The first is on the basis of scope, or the breadth of change. The second is on the basis of the timing of the industry change cycles.

David A. Nadler (b.1948) U.S. author and organizational behavior specialist. Champions of Change (1998)

 

100. Economies of scale are giving way to economies of scope, finding the right size for synergy, market flexibility and, above all, speed.

John Naisbitt (b.1929?) U.S. business executive and author. Megatrends (1982)

 

101. The most reliable way to anticipate the future is by understanding the past.

John Naisbitt (b.1929?) U.S. business executive and author. Megatrends (1982)

 

102. It is as absurd to argue men, as to torture them into believing.

John Henry Newman (1801-90) British theologian. Sermon (December 1831)

 

103. I missed the buzz. I was like a barbecued chicken roasting in Portugal with nothing to do.

Denis O’Brien (b.1958) Irish telecommunications entrepreneur. Referring to a period between jobs. Sunday Times (London) (October 2000)

 

104. We set sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end.

Blaise Pascal (1623-62) French philosopher and mathematician. Pensees (1670)

 

105. If it ain’t broke, break it.

Richard Pascale (b.1938) U.S. academic and author. Managing on the Edge (1990)

 

106. Incremental change is not enough. The whole command and control tradition is being turned on its head.

Richard Pascale (b.1938) U.S. academic and author. Managing on the Edge (1990)

 

107. The incremental approach to change is effective when what you want is more of what you’ve already got.

Richard Pascale (b.1938) U.S. academic and author. Managing on the Edge (1990)

 

108. Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two.

Octavio Paz (1914-98) Mexican writer. Times (London) (June 8, 1989)

 

109. Revitalizing General Motors is like teaching a elephant to tap dance. You find the sensitive spot and start poking.

  1. Ross Perot (b.1930) U.S. entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and politician. International Management (February 1987)

 

110. The nanosecond nineties.

Tom Peters (b.1942) U.S. management consultant and author. Referring to pace of change during the 1990s. Liberation Management (1992)

 

111. We haven’t touched-or really even bothered with white collar productivity. Until now…The White Collar Revolution is finally on…I believe that 90 + percent of White Collar Jobs will disappear or be reconfigured beyond recognition. Within 10 to 15 years.

Tom Peters (b.1942) U.S. management consultant and author. “Work Matters!” movement manifesto, www.tometers.com (September 1999)

 

112. Each age has its own techniques.

Jackson Pollock (1912-56) U.S. painter. Radio interview (1950)

 

113. Changing the direction of a large company is like trying to turn an aircraft carrier. It takes a mile before anything happens. And if it was a wrong turn, getting back on course takes even longer.

Al Ries (b.1926) U.S. advertising executive and chairman of Trout & Ries Advertising. Inc. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (co-written with Jack Trout; 1980)

 

114. In today’s mercurial, unpredictable economy, businesses that fail to grow and change will stagnate and die. Taking care of business means having your feet firmly on the ground.

Heather Robertson (b.1942) Canadian author. Taking Care of Business (1997)

 

115. Change is scientific, progress is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) British philosopher and writer. Unpopular Essays (1950)

 

116. Technology changes. Economics does not.

Carl Shapiro (b.1955) U.S. academic and author. Information Rules (co-written with Hal L. Varian; 1999)

 

117. If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.

Gail Sheehy (b.1937) U.S. journalist and author. Passages (1976)

 

118. With the only certainty in our daily existence being change, and a rate of change growing always faster in a kind of technological leapfrog game, speed helps people think they are keeping up.

Gail Sheehy (b.1937) U.S. journalist and author. Speed Is of the Essence (1971)

 

119. The rapidity of technological change makes he search for facts a permanently necessary feature.

Alfred P. Sloan (1875-1966) U.S. president of General Motors. My Years with General Motors (1964)

 

120. If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?

Gloria Steinem (b.1934) U.S> entrepreneur, editor, and writer. Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983)

 

121. A company with no sense of crisis and no appetite for reform will eventually lose the battle against time and disappear.

Kunio Takeda, Japanese business executive. Quoted in Fortune (March 2003)

 

122. Economics are the method. The object is to change the soul.

Margaret Thatcher (b.1925) British former prime minister. Sunday Times (London) (April 1975)

 

123. When you sell 30 percent of a business, it is like taking two limbs off a body-it’s not surprising there is a negative effect on the rest of the business.

Clive Thompson (b.1943) British chairman of the Confederation of British Industry and former C.E.O. of Rentokil. Sunday Times (London) (October 2000)

 

124. Change is not merely necessary to life, it is life.

Alvin Toffler (b.1928) U.S. social commentator. Future Shock (1970)

 

125. Future shock is the disorientation that affects an individual, a corporation, or a country when he or it is overwhelmed by change and the prospect of change…we are in collision with tomorrow.

Alvin Toffler (b.1928) U.S. social commentator. Observer (London) (1972)

 

126. Inside the world of business, as in the larger world outside, force, wealth and knowledge…remain the primary roots of power. Failure to understand how they are changing is a ticket to economic oblivion.

Alvin Toffler (b.1928) U.S. social commentator. Powershift (1990), pt. 2, ch. 3

 

127. The coming world quake means more than just new machines. It promises to restructure all the human relationships and roles in the office as well.

Alvin Toffler (b.1928) U.S. social commentator. The Third Wave (1980)

 

128. We need a readiness to enter a room in the dark and stumble over unfamiliar furniture until the pain in our shins reminds us of where things are.

Fons Trompenaars (b.1952) Dutch author and management consultant. Financial Times (London) (July 1996)

 

129. Management that wants to change an institution must first show that it loves that institution.

John Tusa (b.1936) British broadcaster and managing director of the Barbarican. Observer (London) (February 1994)

 

130. But change and the willingness to change, to try anything, try anyone’s idea, it might not work. But it won’t break the company when it doesn’t.

Sam M. Walton (1918-92) U.S. entrepreneur and founder of Wal-Mart, Inc. “CEO of the Decade, Sam M. Walton,” Financial World (Sharron Reier; April 1989)

 

131. Look, you can take anything away from IBM…but leave our people and this business will re-create  itself overnight.

Thomas J. Watson, JR. (1914-93) U.S. C.E.O. of IBM. Father, Son & Co: My Life at IBM and Beyond (co-written with Peter Petre; 1990)

 

132. The inevitability of gradualness.

Sidney Webb (1859-1947) British economist, historian, and social reformer. Speech, Labour Party Conference (1920)

 

133. It isn’t the changes that do you in, it’s the transition.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852) U.S. statesman, orator, and lawyer. Managing Transitions (1991)

 

134. Men are going to have to learn to be managers in a world where the organization will come close to consisting of all chiefs and one Indian. The Indian, of course, is the computer.

Thomas L. Whisler. U.S. academic. Christian Science Monitor (April 21, 1964)