Praise for More Fearless Change

“The hard part of change is enlisting the support of other people. Whether a top manager interested in improving your organization’s results or a lone developer promoting a better way of working, this book will give you tools and ideas to help accomplish your goal. Best of all, they’re presented in small, digestible bits.”

–George Dinwiddie, independent coach and consultant, iDIA Computing, LLC

“More Fearless Change is a great book. Through real experiences and concise analysis, Linda and Mary Lynn identify patterns that will help change leaders quantify the situations they often face. From there, they provide practical advice for dealing with and overcoming them. I found every pattern in More Fearless Change took me back to a specific place and time where I struggled to find the right approach to articulate my ‘great’ new idea and connect with the people around me. I went from conference talks and challenging questions from skeptics to meetings with colleagues where I failed to convey practical new solutions, or to quiet times on my own where I was downright frustrated with my progress. Linda and Mary Lynn have patterns for each that helped me think through to practical, positive solutions and prepare for the future. For a topic as challenging as organization change, it’s rare to find a collection of patterns that are as powerful as those you’ll find in More Fearless Change.”

–Neil Johnson, principal hardware consultant, XtremeEDA

“More secret sauce for positive organizational change! Mary Lynn and Linda make it sound so easy, but using their building blocks, it actually is. With books like these, change agents won’t run out of steam while resistors will run out of excuses.”

–Jochen (Joe) Krebs, author of Going Lean, Agile coach, trainer, speaker, and incrementor

“Keep the patterns in this book and Fearless Change handy. Whenever you are frustrated by an intractable problem, choose a pattern to try. If you still don’t get the desired results, try another. Others will join in your efforts, and you’ll feel the satisfaction as small successes start to add up. These patterns transformed me from an ineffective ‘voice in the wilderness’ to a valued collaborator.”

–Lisa Crispin, co-author (with Janet Gregory) of Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams (Addison-Wesley, 2009) and More Agile Testing (Addison-Wesley, 2015)

“Fearless Change and now More Fearless Change are required reading for my doctoral students. As they explore emerging issues and are learning new concepts and ideas, my students have been able to make significant changes to their professional workplace using these patterns for introducing new ideas. We look forward to Even More Fearless Change.”

–Fred Grossman, professor and director of doctoral study in computing, Pace University, New York

“This book, More Fearless Change, is creative work. I use these patterns with my students to take innovation into practice, and also with my collaborators working in industries to promote organizational change. This book is a significant read for people in academia and in the workplace.”

–Takashi Iba, associate professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, Japan

Mary Lynn Manns is a management professor at University of North Carolina–Asheville, where she was recently awarded Distinguished Professor of Social Relations for her work in change leadership. She has a Ph.D. from De Montfort University in Leicester, United Kingdom, where her thesis focused on the introduction of patterns into organizations. She has continued her work with numerous presentations at a variety of conferences and in organizations that include Microsoft, amazon.com, Avon, and Proctor & Gamble. Her publications include Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas , co-authored with Linda Rising. At her university, she guides students of all ages in learning the tools (patterns) for leading change and competing as social entrepreneurs. In 2013, Mary Lynn was the commencement speaker who transformed the typical model of speeches by encouraging the graduates to take the first steps toward changing the world as they got off their seats to dance. In her spare time, Mary Lynn helps individuals make personal change by leading “Zumba for People with Two Left Feet” workouts.

Linda Rising is an independent consultant based in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee (just east of Nashville). She has a Ph.D. from Arizona State University in the field of object-based design metrics and a background that includes university teaching and industry work in telecommunications, avionics, and tactical weapons systems. An internationally known presenter on topics related to patterns, retrospectives, the change process, and how your brain works, Linda is the author of a number of publications and four books: Design Patterns in Communications; The Pattern Almanac 2000 ; A Patterns Handbook; and, co-authored with Mary Lynn Manns, Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas. Linda has been an amateur recorder player for more than 50 years. She and her husband, Karl Rehmer, are part of three performing groups. They also enjoy bike riding, even when the hills in Tennessee are pretty steep. They also serve as board members for Habitat for Humanity of Wilson County. Find more information about Linda at lindarising.org.