These are books and audio recordings I have found inspirational and helpful in the past several years.  There are Amazon.com links for those items available through Amazon.com.  Please let me know of your favorites and new discoveries that are not listed. 

How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work : Seven Languages for Transformation
by Robert Kegan, Lisa Laskow Lahey
 

Editorial Reviews
Language is the primary tool by which we communicate. Kegan and Lahey argue, though, that the words we use do more than represent feelings and attitudes. The very choice itself of one word or expression over another can determine feelings and attitudes and--most importantly--actions. Kegan is a Harvard professor of education; Lahey is a psychologist specializing in adult development. In order to demonstrate their complex concept of the role of language in transformational learning, they offer this book, in part, as an instruction manual for collaborative exercises in self-assessment. They identify seven languages that one should adopt to overcome both internal and organization resistance to change. Four of the languages are internal or personal. For example, one should use the "language of personal responsibility" to replace the "language of blame." The other three languages are social. Here, for instance, the "language of public agreement" supplants the "language of rules and policies." The authors conclude with examples of ways "to deepen [the] practice of all seven languages." David Rouse
 

Book Description

Why is the gap so great between our hopes, our intentions, even our decisions-and what we are actually able to bring about? Even when we are able to make important changes-in our own lives or the groups we lead at work-why are the changes are so frequently short-lived and we are soon back to business as usual? What can we do to transform this troubling reality?

In this intensely practical book, Harvard psychologists Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey take us on a carefully guided journey designed to help us answer these very questions. And not just generally, or in the abstract. They help each of us arrive at our own particular answers that can solve the puzzling gap between what we intend and what we are able to accomplish. How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work provides you with the tools to create a powerful new build-it-yourself mental technology.

Janet McCallen:

This book will become a well-used tool in learning and teaching how to talk in a manner that will allow and encourage transformational learning. Kegan and Lahey help us see how we often create conflicting assumptions that keep us locked in patterns of behavior, despite our best intentions and efforts to change.  Their unique 4-column analysis teaches us to notice and name those assumptions, then observe and test them - allowing gently and lovingly for the possibility of growth and change, both personally and organizationally.  Thanks to Jeff De Cagna for recommending the book to me.

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Last modified: 12/30/05