Creating We

Change I-Thinking to WE-Thinking and Build a Healthy, Thriving Organization

Adams Media, 2005

15 min read

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Change a toxic mix of office politics and power into a healthy company that adapts, innovates and shares.

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Management consultant Judith E. Glaser helps organizations deal with change and challenges. She describes real companies and managers and shares stories about how they worked through critical issues. While her narratives are instructive, albeit peppered with “I” and “WE” jargon, the process of changing organizational beliefs and attitudes isn’t quick or easy. To address it, Glaser shows the difference between I-thinking and “WE-thinking,” and provides tools leaders can use to instill a WE-oriented corporate ethos. Although changing an organization’s culture takes great patience, managers who study this book’s concepts will be able to boost their companies’ productivity, adaptability, and internal cooperation – over time.

Summary

The harm that divisive relationships wreak on organizations is like the harm cancer cells do inside the body.

When employees focus on what’s best for their careers instead of considering what’s best for their company, they create an organizational environment where people protect their territories, shift blame to others, focus on making their manager happy, and forget about their customers. To change employees’ attitudes and overcome these challenges, companies must become “WE-centric.”

Author Judith E. Glaser’s life-changing journey began with a discovery she made while working with her husband, the president of a pharmaceutical company researching a cure for cancer. His company pursued the idea of reminding cells how to be normal, that is, how to become healthy. In tests, the company injected a compound — a peptide — into cancerous cells to try to help those cells possibly revert to normal behavior.

In 2001, Glaser discovered that she had a fast-growing cancer. Instead of keeping the news to herself, as her mother had done when she had cancer, Glaser reached out to her friends and family and gained strength from their support. Her husband’s lab...

About the Author

Judith E. Glaser is an executive and management coach who helps organizations with leadership, culture, and competitive challenges. She also wrote The DNA of Leadership: Leverage Your Instincts to Communicate, Differentiate, Communicate; Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results; and the parables Ultimate Power: Gregory Goose: A Journey Over The Horizon and The Leadership Secret of Gregory Goose: “First day...new job...now what?” She is also the co-author with Angela Ahrendts of 42 Rules for Creating We: A Hands-On, Practical Approach to Organizational Leadership, Change, and Leadership Best Practices.

Judith E. Glaser

Creating We

Change I-Thinking to WE-Thinking and Build a Healthy, Thriving Organization

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Summary

The harm that divisive relationships wreak on organizations is like the harm cancer cells do inside the body.

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