The 7 Levels of Change: Diffferent Thinking for Diffferent Results

Not only being a student of Rolf's School for Innovators, Thinking Expeditions, as well as a reader of his first edition of The 7 Levels of Change........this 2nd edition is REALLY a significant mindshift and a MUST read for anyone truely wanting to understand the change process......I am a Personal Life Coach and work with individuals in achieving their goals which are always based around SOME change if not RADICAL change and I use the 7 Levels constantly.......I have used them to develop programs that not only explain change but navigate you through the maze that most books get lost in....there are so many examples, so many tools, so many new ideas in the 2nd edtion that I agree with Rolf when he said " I should have written this book the first time around"....great luck on your journey, you are being guided by the best!!!!!!

I have been working as a Corporate Creativity Champion for about 8 years. If I could only read 3 books on how to become more productively creative, both from an individual & corporate perspective, Rolf's book would be one of them. 7 levels of change is one of the most thought provoking, stimulating books I have encountered. It doesn't matter whether you are a neophyte to the domain of creativity, or if you are an expert in managing change & use such tools as Meyers - Briggs or Kirton Adaption Innovation Theory, you will learn much.Rolf guides you through the concepts & steps to move from thinking about how to do things better (evolutionary change)to thinking about how to do things differently (revolutionary change).The book is packed with tools & techniques. It is not just about thinking differently, it is about DOING Differently to get better results. Try it, you'll like it.

Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over all the while expecting different results with each repetition of the same old action. Think about that thought. No....REALLY THINK about that thought! For what area of your life have you wanted different results, but you have not been able to change your actions/behaviors in a way that enabled you to achieve the results you desire? Wouldn't it be great if you could create the results you dream about obtaining? Something at home? At work? On your softball or bowling team? In your avocation? Same actions same results, same actions same results, and therefore no change in the results.What do you have to do, how do you have to think differently, and why do you have to think differently to get different results? In Rolf Smith's second edition of "The 7 Levels of Change," he goes way beyond introducing readers to his proven methodologies and tools to achieve different (read desired) results that he covered in the first edition. He augments his basic description of the Seven Levels of Change with a lot of new information and success stories that will help his readers to successfully adapt, innovate and survive in the chaos that is the "information age." I particularly like the twenty pages he added under the heading: "Getting Ready for Change (Individuals)." This is a concise review of the sixteen Myers Briggs preference types and the Kirton Adaption-Innovation inventory. These two tools provide every reader a powerful insight into their individual preferences and strengths, while also providing an eye opening insight into why family members/coworkers/teammates tend to behave and perform the way they do. Knowledge is definitely power in the information age, and the Second Edition of "7 Levels" is a must have knowledge source or "field guide" for every leader's library. For those who find the book stimulating and want even more insight into the '7 Levels' tools, I strongly recommend attending Smith's School For Innovators (SFI). KMF! (Keep Moving Forward)

Rolf Smith's first edition was a good, original primer on the subject of change. In his second edition, he has managed to take the basic theme and turn it into a significant work that should become essential reading for anyone who is interested in or involved with innovation.Easy to read and original. If you are the sort of person who can do this, please follow his advice and jump around the book from one shiny little jewel to another. Even try reading the chapters from the back to the front. In this way you can experience the insights into common sense and the unknown in just the same manner that Smith and his contributors cobbled the ideas together. Definitely recommended for those who are interested in a difffernt approach to how change and innovation affects our lives - and vice-versa.Synchrodipity,Houston, Texas

-So what's diffferent about the 2nd Edition?It's much more of a "Fieldguide for Innovators" focused on Thinking Diffferent for Diffferent Results:* There is a copy of a corporate Innovation Strategy Paper developed for the first Air Force Office of Innovation* New Chapter: Getting ready for change (individuals) - Much more depth on the implications of Meyers Briggs type and Adaptor-Innovator style in dealing with change and stress.* New Chapter: Getting ready for change (teams) - Examines how teams react to and deal with change and stress, and includes a brief study of a May 1999 Mt. Everest Expedition. * Index to more than 75 innovation tools and techniques for thinking diffferent and for getting diffferent results - and expanded explanations (How To's) for many of the tools. * Updated and expanded "slide show" of 115 PPT graphicsThere are some completely new chapters: * Transitioning to Level 4 (out of normal 1-sigma thinking and doing): The Creative Problem Solving (CPS) model* Transitioning to Level 6 (out of "interesting" 2-sigma thinking and doing): Case Study of a major Procter & Gamble Thinking Expedition (article from FAST COMPANY Magazine written by Anna Muoio)There are some completely new sections and as well as updated appendices:* Following each Level of Change there is a summary of the kinds of Fear and kinds of Stress that that particular level tends to bring out* Case Study of a major Texaco Knowledge Managment Expedition * Case Study related to International Project Management written by Kent Malone of Halliburton Company* Case Study on a Change Plan for Dentistry written by Ronal Konig, DDS, of Houston, Texas.* Case Study of Campbell Junior High School, Cypress, Texas, has been updated by Gwen Keith (principal) to reflect the changes and results of the last five years* Detailed description of School for Innovators Expedition XXXVIII (December 2001) written by the participants - a collection of personal insights in step-by-step account mode.* Easy-to-read Chart developed by Elvira Stestikova, a Conoco research chemist, that analyses each Level of Change in terms of Habits & Characteristics, Thinking about Thinking, Mindshifts, Pros & Cons, and Levels of Fear. This is essentially a content analysis index to the book.* Me, Inc. - The How To's at the end of each chapter have been expanded.And... the 2nd Edition increased in size by 50%, from 213 pages to 320 pages - all good ones!Me? This is the book I should have written the first time. I think it's great - and I think it's both much better and significantly diffferent from the 1st Edition (1997).- Rolf Smith, July 2002