Tomorrow’s illiterate will not be the person who can’t read; it will be the person who has not learned how to learn.
Alvin Toffler
Our techniques have been developed from over 20 years of international business experience and exposure to many subject matter experts. We believe in enabling widespread success through collaboration and the free sharing of non-confidential information and experiences. This page contains a growing directory of business transformation sources of wisdom.
Self-help
The Smart Business Transformation Podcast: how to master creating the future. Smart executives who want to win in today’s insanely fast moving world MUST become masters in creating the future. This free podcast series is for people in large, complex organisations who are either leading OR being impacted by transformation programs. With over 25 years of successes and failures (ouch!) behind him, your host Ben Ramsden shares insights, stories and interviews to energise and educate time-poor executives suffering from information overload.
Mensard transformation success self-improvement worksheet: this free and confidential worksheet is designed to enhance your success through your own power of self-discovery, in only 20 minutes.
Other professional support
The Mindset Group is a boutique consultancy based out of Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. They specialize in change leadership and their philosophy is based on creating the right “mindset” during times of change. Mensard works in partnership with The Mindset Group.
Prosci (pronounced “pro-sigh”) have developed a leading global change management methodology. It is research based and is proven to increase the likelihood of success. ADKAR is probably their best known tool. Being Human are their training and delivery partner in Australia. Mensard are Prosci accredited.
The Resilience Institute coach personal resilience for business executives. Their work has probably been the most impactful and long lasting of any support Mensard has ever received.
Dr Tony Grant, Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit in the School of Psychology, University of Sydney. Tony is an expert on the commercial application of psychology through coaching in the workplace. His 2003 book with Jane Greene “Solution-Focused Coaching” is an extremely readable practical guidebook to coaching people through change and is underpinned by academic rigour. His colleague is Dr Michael J Cavanagh, Deputy Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit in the School of Psychology, University of Sydney. Alongside their academic interests they run Institute of Coaching and Consulting Psychology. Mensard has been trained by Tony and Michael, and their approaches have laid the foundations for parts of our work.
Professor Richard Badham of Macquarie Graduate School of Management “conducts research in the general fields of strategy and organisational behavior, and in particular to studies of power and politics in organisations, and the dynamics and leadership of organisational change”. His 2008 book with D.A. Buchanan “Power, Politics and Organizational Change – Winning the Turf Game” gets to the heart of power and politics in organisations. These issues are often the ignored “elephant in the room” during transformation projects. We look forward to reviewing his forthcoming book “Short Change: An Introduction to Managing Change” due in 2013.
Craig Rispin is a Business Futurist and Innovation Expert. He’s also an award winning speaker, author and mentor. Craig will inspire you and your team about the future, making it much easier to embrace.
The Change Management Institute is dedicated to excellence in Change Management and has chapters in various international locations.
AltusQ is an ANZ business coaching company, formerly part of international Shirlaws business coaching family. Mensard was accredited to deliver Shirlaws programs.
Dr Peter Fuda and The Alignment Partnership specialize in successful business change.
Bri Williams runs an informative and entertaining People Patterns website about “behavioural economics”. Her focus is understanding customer behaviour as a route to improving revenue.
Further reading
“Switch – How to change things when change is hard” by Chip and Dan Heath (2010) is an extremely readable book about change. Although the content is mostly not original, it is presented in an extremely compelling way.
“The Lords of Strategy – The secret intellectual history of the new corporate world” by Walter Kiechel III (2010). From a business transformation perspective this book explains why major strategic consulting companies are so poor at implementing their recommendations within client organisations.
“The power of Now – A guide to spiritual enlightenment” by Eckhart Tolle (2004). This milestone book is a must-read for anyone struggling for calmness and focus during times of change. Mensard has never managed to finish the book, but the first half alone packs a big punch.
“Blue Ocean Strategy – How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant” by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne (2005). From a business transformation perspective the implementation examples within this book are the most relevant e.g. Bill Bratton’s much publicized transformation of the New York Police Department.
“Leading Change” by John P. Kotter (1996). The internationally acclaimed reference text. Always worth an occasional re-read. Laden with insights and quotes that create “ah ha” moments.
“The Heart of Change – Real-life stories of how people change their organisations” by John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen (2002). This “right brain” storybook is the perfect accompaniment to the “left brain” reference text above.
Changing for Good – A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward by James O. Prochaska, John C. Norcross and Carlo C. DiClemente (1994). Probably the most widely accepted model of behaviour change in people, and how to encourage it. Although its research origins are on people undergoing lifestyle change to quit unhealthy habits (smoking, alcohol abuse, etc) the underlying concepts are very relevant to the business world. Download an infographic summary here (2 page pdf).
“Who moved my cheese?” by Dr Spencer Johnson (1998). A short, quick to read amusing but impactful book for people struggling to cope with change”.
“Creating Paths of Change – Managing issues and resolving problems in organisations” by Will McWhinney, James B. Webber, Douglas M. Smith and Bernie J. Novokowsky (1997). This book presents a theory about the different ways people relate to the world and everything that happens in it. Using this as a foundation, it then presents practical tools to create change in groups of people.
“The 7 habits of highly effective people – Powerful lessons in personal change” by Stephen R. Covey (1989). A timeless classic and still highly relevant today.
“The idea generator – Tools for business growth” by Ken Hudson (2007). A short practical guide outlining “60 practical tools to help you create a range of big, new concepts”.
“What got you here won’t get you there” by Marshall Goldsmith (2007). A self-development book that is all about the importance of EQ (emotional intelligence) over IQ (academic intelligence). This is a crucial theme for successful business transformation.
“Emotional Intelligence – Why it can matter more than IQ” by Daniel Goleman (1996). This is the original text that launched emotional intelligence (EQ) into mainstream business vocabulary. Mensard finds this particular book rather hard going, we understand that later books by the same author are more digestable.
Personality Tests
“Personality Types – Using the Enneagram for self-discovery” by Don Richard Riso with Russ Hudson (1996). The Enneagram (pronounced “any-a-gram”) is one of the lesser known tools for mapping out the landscape of human personality. Mensard both loves it because it describes us perfectly and dislikes its complexity as an easy-to-use business tool.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): the highly popular but controversial personality type tool from CPP.
Life Styles Inventory (LSI) from Human Synergistics. Mensard finds this tool sufficiently complex to give specific usable feedback, yet easy to use in the business environment.
OPQ from SHL. Comprehensive tailored personal development action planners for business.
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