Books & publications
"Change!" – the book that goes with the website
Change! THE book on change management.
The book gives beginners and advanced readers alike a comprehensive, systematic overview of (almost) every aspect of change management. Even though this website offers you countless pieces of information of every kind: a coherent overall picture is easier to gain from the book. In that sense book and website complement each other: for the systematic, structured overview the book is the place to go – for individual questions from employment law through methods to project management, the website can offer you more specific and at times more up-to-date information.
What is special about "Change!"? How does it differ from other books on change management?
The "USP"
There are a good many books on the market, and it does not differ from all of them in the same way. Even so, there are three features that set it somewhat apart:
Focus: the change manager
What stands at the centre of this book is therefore not methods, tools and techniques (although they are not neglected either), but we change managers ourselves: our perceptions, our emotions and the options open to us!
Would you like to take a look at the table of contents?
A sample chapter is also available on the Schäffer-Poeschel website.
"The standard work on change management" – extracts from reviews of the 1st edition
"… a treasure chest in which you find many surprising and helpful ideas."
OrganisationsEntwicklung 3/2010
"At last a book that gives a vivid account of what to do and what to leave alone in different kinds of change process. (...) A textbook could hardly be built up in a more reader-oriented and better structured way. (...) The language is plain and clear."
"'Change!' is different. Better, in fact. More concrete. Studded with surprising insights. Which may have to do with the fact that Winfried Berner has been working as a change manager for two decades. And that he dares to name those who thwart change: all too often it is the managers."
"... an excellently written guide and workbook for change management that works (...) This book is a real treasure chest, with plenty of food for thought and practical help to offer not only the novice in the field but also the in-house consulting department and the 'old hands' of the consulting industry. It will soon establish itself as a standard work of change management."
"Someone with over 20 years of experience as a consultant and coach in change management sets out every facet to be considered here, from competitive pressure through the quality of staff to preparing for a crisis. Fifteen times over, by way of example."
"The chapters are clearly structured throughout, and many interim conclusions and a final summary make the process of understanding easier. The individual cases can be read independently of one another."
"… a practical and solution-oriented book. A book that helps you grasp complex social situations and shape them successfully."
"'Change!' underlines the importance of intuition in change management – but it does not stop at underlining it; it offers the opportunity to develop and cultivate it."
"getAbstract recommends the book to all management consultants and managers who have to see through restructurings, reorganisations, changes of strategy and process improvements in companies."
"What matters to the author is the insight that not everything in change projects can be planned and that much depends on the intuition of those involved – intuition that can, however, be developed."
And this is what readers say
Extracts from Amazon reader reviews
*"An exceptionally practical book."*
*"The typology it introduces is the first I have come across that I find genuinely useful."*
*"It points out the classic wrong turns in change management that come from trusting your own intuition too far or overrating your self-perception."*
*"The author's dry humour helps the pages turn quickly."*
*"The case studies are taken straight from life."*
*"The case studies are written very vividly, are very true to life and are backed up again and again with useful background and academic information. In this way Winfried Berner avoids splitting the book into a theory part and a practice part, and delivers the theory needed exactly where it is needed. "*
*"The author loves the subject - and you can feel it. Highly recommended!"*
*"Even old hands at change will draw useful insights from this book and, against expectation, see new connections."*
*Verdict: a successful combination of case studies for practical use and the underlying theory - presented clearly and in a form that is easy to handle."*
Where can you get the book?
Bookshops
The quickest way is to order it from Amazon or from the publisher's online shop. (Ordering directly from the publisher earns both the publisher, a mid-sized firm, and me as the author a considerably higher return.) But of course you can get it just as easily from a bookshop or another mail-order retailer.