TABLE OF CONTENTS Whenever someone comes to me for help, I listen very hard and ask myself, What does this person really want and what will they do to keep from getting it?
William Perry
The ideas and messages in this chapter are an abstraction of an executive training course developed and delivered by Natural SPI called Effective Change Leadership. [47] Perhaps you see yourself in the quote that starts this chapter and, if so, that s good because it means you re introspective and know that you can still learn something. If you don t relate to the quote at all, then you may want to keep reading about those other executives and senior managers, who are nothing at all like you.
When it comes to CMM or CMMI for process improvement, I know exactly what most of you are going to do and I know exactly what you re going to say. Most of you are managers, struggling with yourselves and struggling with the environment to become leaders. I know you. I ve watched you, I ve worked with you, I ve tried to coach you, and I ve tried to be your conscience and your guide. To get you to avoid the future which I see as fluid but which you have already accepted as fate, I ve coaxed you, pleaded with you, bribed you, flattered you, groused at you, browbeat you, and I have given up on you, gotten exasperated, and walked away.
Whether you admit...
