Change or Die: The book

I was offered a comp-copy of Change or Die by Alan Deutschman because I had posted about the original Fast Company article previously. I found the article profound, and jumped at the opportunity to get the book.

Here is the quick summary of what the book is all about:

Old School motivation: Change or Die, based on:

• Find —Find the source problem first, before trying to change
• Facts —The facts should be compelling to motivate change
• Fear —Authorities dictate change based on fear
• Denial — why motivation fails

New School internalization: Change and Thrive:

• Relate —connect with others to understand the change process
• Repeat —keep working on the change (with support from your connections)
• Reframe —until you can internalize the change
• Bonus: small victories get you through the ‘repeat’ process.

The stories that Alan tells are great, much like you would expect from a magazine writer. To me, I reframed the points of the book by comparing them to my boot camp experience:

• Relate —You are in this together with your squad and platoon
• Repeat —You keep saying ‘weapon’ everywhere you go, not ‘gun’.
• Reframe —The surprising thing is that at the end of boot camp, you have internalized the military culture.

Review:

The stories are great, as well as the pop psychology. Alan does give some advice about applying the three Rs, but it isn’t a how-to book. The greatest benefit to me is learning that the old school motivation doesn’t work, and why. This is profound and alone makes the book worth reading, because fear and facts are so commonly used with the same pathetic results.

The greatest challenge of his new school is the ‘relate’ part. Finding a leader, partner, or group that can provide support, training, and leadership is critical to the success of this methodology.

Fun:

Now that I am done with the book, I’m going to give it away. Send an email to change-at-b2blog.com to enter. Drawing to be held on January 27th.