From Publishers Weekly
The consulting firm McKinsey & Company supported and encouraged Katzenbach to address an issue facing all organizations?change. It's the same issue that has Vice-President Al Gore talking about "reinventing government" and Peter Drucker urging managers to "rediscover leadership." Numerous corporations are downsizing, restructuring or revamping. Yet the steps taken to do so may limit the resulting organizations' ability to further adapt, because workers with superior skills are terminated and middle managers with leadership skills are eliminated. Katzenbach et al. argue that the key to changing performance capability in dynamic companies is a new breed of middle manager?The Real Change Leader (RCL). Common characteristics of RCLs are outlined and illustrated with examples. The RCLs connect three forces of organizational change: top aspirations, work force productivity and marketplace reality. This book is highly recommended to all corporate executives who want to learn about effective leadership in large organizations. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Katzenbach (The Wisdom of Teams, LJ 2/1/93) was chosen by the team of executives and consultants in a number of different industries to do the actual writing in this focus on "real change leaders." Seven common characteristics make up the "RCL," e.g., one who is willing both to see his or her job outside of its daily operation and to meet the changing climate of the world today. The authors differentiate between "good managers" and RCLs and include a self-test. "The Real Change Leaders Handbook for Action" concludes the work, suggesting a course of action for effecting change. This book should be read by managers, management educators, and those studying management. It is more than a simple how-to title; it can be read and the techniques used at several levels.?Littleton M. Maxwell, Business Information Ctr., Univ. of Richmond, Va.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
This updated paperback edition offers a real blueprint for how to deal with the dramatic change in today's marketplace. An added feature, "Real Change Leader's Handbook for Action, " contains an assessment guide, ideas, checklists, and charts to help implement change.


From the Inside Flap
This updated paperback edition offers a real blueprint for how to deal with the dramatic change in today's marketplace. An added feature, "Real Change Leader's Handbook for Action, " contains an assessment guide, ideas, checklists, and charts to help implement change.

ANNOTATION

Jon Katzenbach of McKinsey & Company shows readers how solutions to today's most vexing business problem--fast-paced, unrelenting change--lie with a new breed of leaders emerging at the middle levels of companies. A book about real people at real companies, Real Change Leaders is both an instructive how-to and an intriguing first-look at an important change in business culture.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

For a change effort to be successful, people throughout the organization need to learn new skills and behaviors. Real Change Leaders tells the story of how this is taking place through the eyes of the people who are making it happen - middle managers on the front lines, responsible for doing things like increasing revenues, developing new products, changing the ways customers are served, and improving financial performance. This is a book of immense value for both senior executives and middle managers. For senior managers it shows how companies are tapping this new source of leadership capability and how these lessons can be implemented by their own company. For middle managers, Real Change Leaders shows how to assume a new role, one that will enable them to produce at higher levels and enhance as well as keep their jobs.

SYNOPSIS

The director of one of the world's most influential management consulting firm gives advice on how to deal with the dramatic changes in today's marketplace.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The consulting firm McKinsey & Company supported and encouraged Katzenbach to address an issue facing all organizations-change. It's the same issue that has Vice-President Al Gore talking about ``reinventing government'' and Peter Drucker urging managers to ``rediscover leadership.'' Numerous corporations are downsizing, restructuring or revamping. Yet the steps taken to do so may limit the resulting organizations' ability to further adapt, because workers with superior skills are terminated and middle managers with leadership skills are eliminated. Katzenbach et al. argue that the key to changing performance capability in dynamic companies is a new breed of middle manager-The Real Change Leader (RCL). Common characteristics of RCLs are outlined and illustrated with examples. The RCLs connect three forces of organizational change: top aspirations, work force productivity and marketplace reality. This book is highly recommended to all corporate executives who want to learn about effective leadership in large organizations. (Jan.)

Library Journal

Katzenbach (The Wisdom of Teams, LJ 2/1/93) was chosen by the team of executives and consultants in a number of different industries to do the actual writing in this focus on "real change leaders." Seven common characteristics make up the "RCL," e.g., one who is willing both to see his or her job outside of its daily operation and to meet the changing climate of the world today. The authors differentiate between "good managers" and RCLs and include a self-test. "The Real Change Leaders Handbook for Action" concludes the work, suggesting a course of action for effecting change. This book should be read by managers, management educators, and those studying management. It is more than a simple how-to title; it can be read and the techniques used at several levels.-Littleton M. Maxwell, Business Information Ctr., Univ. of Richmond, Va.

Fortune

The most sought-after person in today's workplace is [the] change leader, a new breed of middle manager in short supply . . . . How do you identify these people in your organization? How do you build a cadre of such quirky but essential agents of change? McKinsey & Company director Jon R. Katzenbach has some answers.

Executive Female