Judith E. Glaser - Creating WE

Creating WE is a blueprint for ridding the corporate world of paralyzing groupthink and the barriers of blame and corporate castes that impede innovation and progress.

Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of General Motors

Judith E. Glasers Creating WE is a virtual toolbox to build an effective and happy organization where a business and its team players can succeed. She combines real case studies with easy-to-follow how-to techniques that move the business owner/leader into action quickly. I started applying Glasers tools to Womens Leadership Exchange from the get-go and am already seeing results. Creating WE is a must-red for every business owner who is on the growth track. Its one of the most valuable business books Ive read

Leslie Grossman, President, B2 Women; cofounder, Womens Leadership Exchange

Creating WE should be required reading for every C-suite executive who has the courage to really embrace change.

Dick Singer, President, RDS; Associates Chair, TEC International

Ive spent twenty-plus years studying, teaching and practicing how increased relationship connection, personal responsibility and outcome-oriented language can positively transform corporate culture. This is a useful, powerful and clearly written book that addresses these key organizational management and leadership competencies and how you can develop and apply them.

Robert White, CEO of ARC Worldwide; author of Leading an Extraordinary Life

Judith Glaser has nailed it! Creating WE offers a compelling blueprint for the only kind of corporate dynamic that can work in todays world. A must-read for every corporate executive or business owner.

Garry Zammit, CEO, Clinilabs

A must-read for leaders and managers building business in this day and age. In a clear and engaging way, Judith Glaser gets to the essence of what is required to create a culture of collaborationenvironments where people want to connect their hearts to their minds. Through stories, strategies, and solutions, Creating WE paves the way for companies of any size to soar to new heights.

Sharon P. Whiteley, President and CEO, ThirdAge, Inc.

Creating WE is dedicated to my husband, Richard D. Glaser. He opened my heart when it was closed, nourished my soul when it was barren, and gave me the courage to believe I could create a future of extraordinary possibilities with others. Rich taught me what it means to create WE in all aspects of my life. This book is dedicated to his never-ending love and affection.

Copyright 2005, Judith E. Glaser. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. This ebook, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without the permission from the author; exceptions are made for a brief excerpt used in published reviews.

Creating WE is a registered trademark of Benchmark Communications, Inc.

www.creatingwe.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Glaser, Judith E.

Creating WE / Judith E. Glaser.

p. cm.

ISBN 10: 1-59869-283-6 (pb)

ISBN 13: 978-1-59869-283-9 (pb)

ISBN 1-59337-268-X (hc)

ISBN 978-0-9833288-6-5 (eversion)

1. Corporate culture. 2. Organizational behavior. #. Communications in organizations. 4. Interpersonal relations. 5. Leadership. I. Title.

HD58.7.G58 2005

658.3'145dc22

2004022113

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by the Committee of the American Bar Association and the Committee of Publishers and Associations.

Many of the designations used by manufactures and sellers to distinguish their product are claimed as trademarks. When these designations appear in this book and the author was aware of a trademark claim, the denominations have been printed with initial capital letters.

The power of an organization is the capacity generated by relationships.

Its real energy that can only come into existence through relationships.

Power is energy. It needs to flow through the organization.

It cant be confined to functions or levels or hierarchy.

Positive or negative organizational energy is determined by the quality of relationships.

Those who relate through coercion, or in disregard of others, create negative energy.

Those who are open to others and who see others in their fullness create positive energy.

Adapted from Leadership from theNew Sciences, Margaret Wheatley

The ability of teams to sustain their efforts when times get tough is, to a large extent, the results of the high standard of interpersonal communication exchanged.

Hoop Morgan III, The Forte Institute, 2004

The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.

Arthur Koestler, writer

CREATING WE: It sounds like such a high-blown concept. If youre picking this book off the shelf and are unfamiliar with my business philosophies, you may be wondering who I am and how I arrived at this grandiose-sounding idea.

Creating WE has grown out of my work over the past twenty years with hundreds of executives from dozens of well-known companies around the globeclients who were willing to experiment with new ways of thinking, to test drive refreshing new beliefs and behaviors about how to create healthy, productive, and thriving companies. Clients who were willing to be on the cutting edge, to push the envelope, to challenge norms. I could not have written this book without them.

Ive been consulting to Fortune 500 companies for over twenty years and been invited to work with incredible executives from companies such as Pfizer, Clairol, Coach, Lipton, and Citibank, who have thrown open their doors, shared their deepest concernstheir insecurities as well as their proudest moments.

My clients have taught me what I know today. Theyve pushed me to think beyond the conventional wisdom. Theyve asked me to help them grow. And, in doing so, theyve made it hard for me to accept the status quo.

This book is inspired by my clients and my husbandand both have made sure I dont sleep at night. They have conspired to keep me awake thinking about how to expand their horizons, their opportunities, and their futures. Awake or asleep, Ive been working on this book.

One weekend morning, my husband and I decided to start working early. We share a home office, and often start our days early when we can do some of our best thinking together. Early for us is about 4:30 a.m. On this very special morning we saw the sun come up. We heard the birds chirp, and we talked about how our work connected. Why we had this conversation on this day is something we will never know. What we do know is that it happened, and, at that moment, we realized that we were both put on Earth to work on the same challenge.

Rich, the president of an early stage pharmaceutical company, is discovering a new cure for cancer. It is a disruptive technologyin nontechnical-sounding terms, a technology that is so new and different from anything that has come before that it challenges how people view the solution to the problem. In this case, Richs cancer research would radically change the way people think about how to cure cancer. Meanwhile, my lifes work has involved finding new ways to help executives create healthy organizations. Rich is pursuing transformation at the cellular level; I am pursuing transformation at the individual and organizational level. The two were bound to connect, and, during this early morning dialogue, they did.