The Change Artist brings Carla Rieger's powerful recipe for mastering self change into a compelling story format.
The story begins with the troubled relationship between an adult daughter and her dying father.
The novel, The Change Artist, explores among other things the challenges of being an innovative leader that has integrity.
People attracted to leading change are often revolutionary types who have an axe to grind, who regularly break down old ways of being to create something new, who are brilliant at envisioning new ideas and have a charismatic way of expressing their ideas. Tied to integrity, accountability and sustainability, these kinds of people have brought forth important change throughout history. If that vision lacks integrity and sustainability, and there is no accountability in place, then invariably that change will be unsuccessful at best, or severely destructive at worst, as in the case of Enron or the Nazi regime.
Change Artist leaders such as Gandhi or Steve Jobs of Apple tend to have a softer but more sustainable approach. The difference could be likened to the tortoise versus the hare.
Revolutionary leaders tend to take a radical stance on change, demolishing the old status quo without buy in from stakeholders. Change Artist leaders tend to marry tradition with innovation to find the best of both worlds, including others in the decision-making.
Revolutionaries often act in covert ways to bring down the old status quo, whereas Change Artists keep lines of communication open so that the process is transparent to those who will be affected by the change.
Revolutionaries tend to get alienated or marginalized from the channels of power that could ultimately support them. Change Artists work to win people over to their ideas through including diverse points of view.
Revolutionaries tend to focus on concepts and visions to the exclusion of practicalities. Change Artists tend to ground their visionary concepts in case studies and practical terms appropriate for the context.
Revolutionaries are often driven by a desire to be recognized as the architect of a new vision. Change Artists are driven by the desire to let the vision grow organically in a way that bests serves all those concerned.
Revolutionaries want to see the change happen in a fast and exciting way. Change Artists want to see the change happen in a way that keeps stakeholders engaged and on board.
Revolutionaries are known to disrespect and diminish those who still value the existing status quo and will actually sabotage what they value. Change Artists explore diverse points of view to find the overlap of values between all those concerned. They also stick around to see the idea implemented, using persistence through the debugging phase.
In short, Change Artists bring forth the kind of change that has integrity and sustainability. Often you will find that a Change Artist is someone who has tried the Revolutionary approach and learned from it. They then used that experience to ground them into leading a change that is sustainable.
In an era when only the “creatively resilient” among us are surviving it helps to remember that all of us have this ability. To be a Change Artist is simply to reconnect to the archetype of the artist within us all. As Pablo Picasso once said, “”Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
Or, as David Whyte says, “When you neglect your creative energies they work away at you and almost blacken the inside of you like creosote. One of the first steps is to simply create a sense of spaciousness, to give you room to take flight.”
Here is a TV commercial you have probably seen from the 1990’s called “Think Different”. The concepts bears revisiting because this is a time in history when we all need to recapture the artist within to reinvent our personal lives, our work lives and our organizations.
This was an advertising slogan and TV commercial created for Apple Computer. The one-minute commercial features black and white video footage of significant historical people of the past, including (in order):
Albert Einstein
Bob Dylan
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Richard Branson
John Lennon (with Yoko Ono)
R. Buckminster Fuller
Thomas Edison
Muhammad Ali
Ted Turner
Maria Callas
Mahatma Gandhi
Amelia Earhart
Alfred Hitchcock
Martha Graham
Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog)
Frank Lloyd Wright
Pablo Picasso
The commercial ends with an image of a young girl, Shaan Sahota, opening her closed eyes, as if to see the possibilities before her.
Alvin Toffler, the famous Futurist, once said that, “The ability to creatively handle constant change will be the most sought after skill in the 21st Century.” Also, Pablo Picasso once said that, “Everyone is born an artist. The trick is to re-capture that innate ability as an adult and put it into all aspects of life.”
I think people are more likely to be creative artists of change not through intellectual reasoning by through daily habits. That’s why I run events open to the public for staying creatively adapted in uncertain times.
People who can lead, adapt, innovate, and facilitate while facing constant change are the leaders of the future. An “artist of change” sees how to benefit from changes affecting their life, can create their own change process, and can build a culture of innovation wherever they go. There are simple habits anyone can apply daily that will allow you to:
* do things you didn’t think you could do
* find a way to benefit from a change that seems “bad” as first glance
* thrive during uncertainty and be a living bridge for others in that regard
* move from being reactive about change, challenge and conflict to being proactive
The Artistry of Change is an innovative system that blends diverse fields such as educational kinesiology, western and eastern psychology, change management theory, creative process models, and neuroscience. Witness how these fields are merging in exciting ways to produce the new ‘business artistry’.
Three public seminars across Canada and a retreat are coming up this year entitled “The Artistry of Change: The Top Creativity habits of People Who Will Thrive in the Coming Decade.”
They are in Edmonton on Apr. 28, in Winnipeg on May 14, and in Vancouver on June 17. There is also a 4 day retreat October 1-4 at Hollyhock Retreat Centre.
You can read more about these events http://www.carlarieger.com/artistry_of_change_seminar/
