By Robert E. Kaplan
Center for Creative Leadership
Summary
There is a popular misconception that an organization’s leadership can introduce change as if it is manipulating an object outside and independent of itself. Senior managers who labor under this misconception do not learn to play their complementary part and therefore unconsciously undermine the reorganizations or cultural changes they initiate. To effect change, leaders must continue to develop themselves. Development at this level is an ongoing process of discovering one’s potentialities, with the discovering always relative to present roles, present circumstances, and present stage of life. This report describes the use of person-based principles of biographical action-research to deepen and help leaders act on their insights.
Citation
Kaplan, R. E. (1990). Character shifts: The challenge of improving executive performance through personal growth (Technical Report No. 143). Center for Creative Leadership. https://doi.org/10.35613/ccl.1990.1094
