Richard Boyatzis, PHD, Distinguished University Professor, and Professor in the Departments of Organizational Behavior, Psychology, and Cognitive Science, culminates 58 years of research on sustained, desired change and learning for individuals, teams, organizations, communities and countries with intentional change theory with his new book, The Science of Change: Discovering Sustained Desired Change from Individuals to Organizations and Communities.
Boyatzis, who joined the Weatherhead School of Management in 1987 and pioneered competencies leading to modern day business concepts of emotional intelligence and transformational change, calls the book his magnum opus. It explores both the process and principles of successful change.
“The book is about the quest for sustained, desired change,” Boyatzis said. “Adaptation, innovation, and openness to diversity require being in a renewal state.”
In his recent class in the Master of Science in Positive Organization Development & Change program, which turns 50 next year, he said in today’s business environment, worrying about change and managing people is what keeps leaders up at night.
In his book he quotes Antoine de Saint Exupery, “If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” to highlight the motivating power of a dream, sense of purpose and vision. He also emphasizes the importance of building high quality relationships regardless of the task or change and learning desired. He says, “Relationships are the agar-agar in the petri dish of life.”
Boyatzis highlights the need to balance emotional and interpersonal experiences with analytic analysis to build the necessary skills to achieve sustained change.
“Knowing is different than doing,” he said. “Analyzing is different than doing. We must train people to use the knowledge gained in real experiences.”
In 2019 Boyatzis also co-wrote Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth alongside Melvin Smith, professor of organizational behavior at Weatherhead and Director of the Coaching Research Lab, and professor of organizational behavior, Ellen Van Oosten.
That book suggested that to help someone learn and change, people must connect to and understand an individual’s positive vision and sense of purpose for a desired future, not merely goals.
“Leading change is so much a part of our lives, that it becomes overwhelming, but we teach to experiences and not the task,” He told his MPOD class recently. This program, the MPOD, is a place to learn emotional intelligence and the theory of change and practice its application in life and work. program,” he said.
Pre-orders of Boyatzis’s book are available on Amazon with an expected delivery date of October 2, with the official release set for October 22.