Feedback

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

"Making Change" (May 2005) is spot on. My cardiologist telling me, "You won't survive a heart attack; you need bypass surgery right now" still echoes in my ears 13 years later. Dr. Ornish's approach to change not only had an impact on my life, it also altered the way I work with clients. I've learned four things from my experience. Even when you know your life depends on it, change is hard, half-measures don't work, no one can make the choice to change for you, and finally, you can't make significant change alone. I wouldn't be here if not for the support of my friends, my family, and especially my wife, Emily.

Dick Axelrod
Wilmette, Illinois

I just finished reading your article about the difficulties of effecting change, which reinforces something that I have been thinking about HIV-AIDS for some time now. Despite the fact that we've been preaching safer sex in this country for about 25 years, the annual new HIV infection rate remains fairly constant, at more than 40,000. In fact, I became HIV-positive in 2003 through sex, and I had to retire from my practice. Although I did contract the disease this way, it seems to me that the same principles delineated in your article could be applied to the prevention of new HIV infections.

Dr. John DesMarteau
Washington, DC

As I was on my way to my marketing job this morning, I realized I was uninspired, bored, and in need of some encouragement to keep going. I was out of ideas. I needed inspiration to continue. In my work mailbox was the most recent Fast Company issue with the headline "Change or Die." In my positions in life, I must be inspired and inspire those around me for personal growth to occur within the teams I care for. So the idea that "appeals rooted in emotion" are the catalyst for change was a wake-up call for me.

Kathy Osborne
Ponderay, Idaho

If you really want to study change, visit an Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meeting. There you'll see people working diligently for change in their lives. To them, "change or die" takes on a whole new meaning.

Robert Roth
Atlanta, Georgia

As a onetime senior manager in a billion-dollar company, small-business startup owner, and a leader in two smaller companies, the practice of changing behavior has been a passion. I'm glad to say that, one-on-one, I've been able to get people to embrace the "right kind of success," and I've left some lasting change. As your article pointed out, you don't change by the numbers but by influencing others to see themselves (and all of their priorities in life) first, then focus on the necessary changes to be made. Even so, some recognized the method of change and others did not! Let's get with it, CEOs, presidents, and leaders. It isn't all that difficult.

Jeffrey J. Meyer
Overland Park, Kansas

I thought Alan Deutschman wrote a great article, but your approach, particularly on the cover, went against the point of the story. You included a fact-based case of how long my odds are of successfully changing, even with my life on the line. I'll take the power and possibilities of an inspirational vision appealing to my emotions over quantitative scare tactics any day. Too many of my senior-executive clients are seduced by a similar temptation to motivate people with "burning platforms" and negative cases for change. It's high time we all heeded the lessons taught by Kotter, Ornish, Gerstner, Jobs, and others about how to make change really work.

Robert Jacobs
Los Angeles, California

I think "Making Change" is a brilliant article, but I disagree with your statement that radical changes are easier for people than smaller, incremental ones. Each change, small or large, meets with resistance. Newton's law states, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." So smaller changes do meet with resistance, but it is easier to overcome. Radical change happens -- but rarely. I teach a Japanese concept called Quick and Easy Kaizen, and I have seen managers inspire people to make change part of their culture. A year ago, Subaru received 108.1 ideas in writing per employee and saved more than $5,000 per employee. People can begin to accept the concept of making small changes if they're inspired by enlightened management.

Norman Bodek
Vancouver, Washington

I've read hundreds of "me too" articles on change management. Yours refreshingly has added a whole new dimension. I design graphical user interfaces, so I do a lot of change management because I'm dealing directly with users. I've always found that the problem of change isn't really learning new behaviors. It's letting go of the old ones.

Dianne B. Volek
Johannesburg, South Africa

Change doesn't stop with CEOs trying to instigate change within a company. CEOs and top-level management at the world's largest companies also show a great deal of resistance to outside ideas that dare to challenge conventional thinking. As venture capitalist and author Guy Kawasaki points out, there are three kinds of people: believers, agnostics, and atheists. Believers already know. Agnostics are open to the idea. And atheists will never change, so don't waste your breath.

Spike Jones
Greenville, South Carolina