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 HARNESSING CHANGE TO
DEVELOP TALENT AND BEAT
THE COMPETITION

BY
LORI J. SPINA
The Delta Group Network, Inc., USA

AND
JAMES D. SPINA
The Delta Group Network, Inc., USA
United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India
Malaysia – China
Emerald Publishing Limited
Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

Copyright © The Delta Group Network, Inc., 2020.

Published under exclusive licence.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any
form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without
either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying
issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright
Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst
Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald
makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application
and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83909-999-1 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83909-996-0 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-83909-998-4 (Epub)
In Memory of Our Dear Friend, David
 Contents

Author Biographies
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Our Purpose
Introducing Our “Innovation Bank” Concept
1 Harnessing Change
Key Reasons for Change Effort Failures
2 A Strategic Management System
How Does Strategic Management Differ from
Tactical Management?
Using the Mission and Vision Statements to
Propose Changes
3 Critical Thinking Skills for Success
4 Strategic Cultural Considerations
Understanding Major Points to Cultural
Challenges
5 Motivating People to Embrace Change
Five Steps to a Typical Team Project in Some
Organizations
 Key Concept: Avoid Trying to Motivate with
Commonly Found Dissatisfiers
6 Competitive Analysis
External Analysis
Proven Steps for an Organizational Internal
Analysis
How to Beat the Competition with Legal
Information Gathering Moves
7 Creative Thinking Methods That Work
Creative Thinking in Action
Barriers to Creative Thinking
Differences between Innovation and Creative
Thinking
Creative Thinking Exercises
8 Using the Strategic Management System
Vision and Mission as Strategic Analysis Tools
Suggestion: Add “Capabilities” and “Alignment”
to Your VRIO Analysis Process
Creating Targets to Meet Vision and Mission
Goals
Applying External Organizational Analysis to
Strategy
9 Cooperative Strategies to Sink Competitors
Reallocating Your Resources for Cooperative
Ventures
10 Succession Planning for Sustainability
Importance of the SMS
Creating a SMS-based Succession Plan
Success Factor Example for Building Customer
Satisfaction
11 Future Challenges to Success
Talent Management Elements: Knowledge,
Abilities, Skills, Other Characteristics
Performance Appraisal and Talent Management
Creating a Mentoring Program for High Potential
Talent
Step 1: Understanding Our Strategies and
Personal Goal Setting
Step 2: Self-assessment
Step 3: The Mentoring Plan
Step 4: Set Target Dates
A Succession Plan Process That Works
Talent Development Roles
Details of Key Success Factor Evaluation Section
Example: Potential for New Job Assignment
Example: Potential Successors
Seeking Outside Expertise – Do We Need It?
12 Looking Ahead: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and
Developing Talent
Introduction to AI
Emerging AI Trends
 Implementing AI with Today's Tools and
Methods
13 Readiness to Move Ahead
The Importance of Your HR Staff in Supporting
Changes
Our Scenario Approach for Staff Development
Scenario Instructions to Your Managers
Supervisor Scenario Instructions
Closing Thoughts
An Invitation

Appendix 1
Appendix 2 Primary References – Classic and
Current
Appendix 3 60-Second Seminars
Appendix 4 US Navy Talent Development Program
Bibliography
Index
 Author Biographies

James D. Spina
After a long career in public education Jim moved into the private
sector and worked as an independent consultant, senior manager of
training and development at a large company with over 2,000
employees and later as a director of executive development and
succession planning at a Fortune 500 media company. He returned
to education as a senior lecturer at the R. H. Smith School of
Business at the University of Maryland in the department of
organization and management. His PhD was earned at the University
of Connecticut in Educational Administration.

Lori J. Spina
Lori began her career as a classroom special education teacher and
was quickly promoted to department head. After a number of years
in public education, she and her husband Jim formed a management
leadership development firm. Primary clients included government
agencies, manufacturing, major hotels and law firms as well as small
businesses in a variety of industries located throughout the United
States and Canada.
Lori was invited to teach Human Resources courses at the University
of Maryland where she was a full-time lecturer at the R. H. Smith
School of Business. In addition to classes in Maryland, Lori also
taught in Zurich and Beijing at the R.H. Smith campuses located in
those cities. Currently, Lori and Jim maintain the management
consulting business.
 Acknowledgments

We would like to thank and recognize advice and critiques by the

following people. They have been an invaluable set of advisors. We
truly appreciate their thoughtful comments along with the time it
took to review and encourage our work.

International Business Reviewers

Daniel Auriel, PhD – Germany, Lecturer: R. H. Smith School of

Business

Dirk Baquet, MBA – Germany, Lecturer: R. H. Smith School of

Business

Stefan Blobelt, MBA – Switzerland, Lecturer: R. H. Smith School of

Business

University Business School Reviewers

Interim Dean Jon Aberman – Marymount Business School

Assistant Dean Patricia Cleveland – University of Maryland: R. H.

Smith School of Business and University of Hawaii (Retd.)

Associate Dean Michael Pfarrer – University of Georgia: Terry College

of Business

Michael Parke – London Business School Assistant Professor

Dean Joyce Russell – Villanova School of Business

Gerald Suarez – University of Maryland Professor of the Practice: R.

H. Smith School of Business
Corporate Reviewers

Ben Bengougam – Hilton Worldwide Hospitality

Jack Conaty – Fox News Chicago (Retd.)

Tom DeMartino – Kaiser-Permanente (Retd.)

Editors

Curt Sleight – Florida

Frank Spina – California

 Introduction

Our Purpose
The purpose of our book focuses on how an organization can
formulate effective business-level and corporate-level strategies to
achieve competitive advantage, earn above average profits, build
and retain talent, and sustain financial strength. This is also true for
nonprofits, with retained earnings substituted for above-average
profits.
For our approach, decisions about the scope of business (i.e.,
markets, competitive industries) constitute its corporate strategy .
Decisions about how to compete within the chosen market(s) reflect
the organization's business-level strategy . Often, the formulation
of more effective strategies to beat the competition requires
continual change efforts.
If you have ever found yourself watching a major golf
tournament on TV, you know that in order to achieve a low score, an
analysis of the situations faced requires the formulation of a
strategy. Such a strategy might be to always choose a “smart and
safe” shot to put the ball back in play after ending up in the woods.
Another simple strategy could be to set a goal of 36 putts per round.
The players must become strategic in managing the game.
Organizational leaders need to do the same when it comes to facing
the changing world of competing to recruit, select, develop, reward,
and retain talent.
An article in Forbes (January 27, 2015), “How to Win the War for
Talent in 2015,” from contributor George Bradt, sounded the alarm
on the war for talent. As we know from our experience in
organizational development, maintaining the status quo process for
finding good people needs to be challenged.This is what we mean
by our focus on harnessing change as an opportunity to develop
talent to beat the competition.
We cannot assume that every “top of the house manager” is a
graduate of a tier-one business school and is current on every
important book or article on successful management of people and
organizations. We should not assume that talented business leaders
are always well-schooled university graduates. If you believe there is
nothing new to learn about the management of change and the
discovery of new ways to find talent, buckle up because you may be
in for a rough ride. In other recent books, and articles about
workplace changes that need to be explored, we find lots of good
ideas but a dearth of ways to implement them. Our book differs
because it shows how to implement new change approaches.
This is a little book with a big message. Accordingly, we begin by
the examination of the roles of the “strategic manager,” defined as
someone (such as a CEO, Executive Vice President or Senior Vice
President) who is concerned with the problems of, and
responsibilities for, sustaining the overall and long-term well-being of
a profit-making or a nonprofit focused organization and its people. It
ends with this message:

Implicitly or explicitly, every organization must define

the scope of its business operations and, within the
chosen scope, determine how it will compete against
the challenges of its rivals while meeting the talent
development needs of its people and customers in
an ever-changing business environment.

Winning college basketball team coaches develop the skills

needed to win games over time and through experience. He or she
can learn when to call a time-out or change the lineup. Many
successful business managers learn in the same way. Both know that
finding ways to engage team members in supporting changes
presents the most difficult challenge of all. This practical book will
show you how to learn and apply specific analytical methods to
affirmatively answer the following seven key questions concerning
organizational changes:

1. Can we use information from our strategic analysis to

determine if we are successfully competing?

2. Can we assess our strategy to determine if it is culturally

aligned?

3. Are we able to think critically about a problem, including the

evaluation of data, testing of assumptions, and the synthesis
of multiple perspectives to solve it?

4. Can we propose changes to the strategy to enhance, or

maintain, or turn around the performance of the endeavor?

5. Can we transform research and analysis into strategic

recommendations for creating important changes that stick
and then motivate employees to succeed?

6. Can we build and present strategic analyses

recommendations to support effective and lasting
organizational changes?

7. Do we have a strategic succession planning system in place,

and at our fingertips, for developing talent?

Finally, organizations often lack a proven system to decide what

changes are necessary and present a way forward. This book
introduces the reader to such a system. The chapters that follow will
outline the process to understand and implement our Strategic
Management System (SMS).
This book addresses gaps between ideas and actions with proven
methods. It is one thing to say “we need to reduce scrap by
redesigning the quality control process” but hard to design effective
ways to do it. We provide methods that will work and can be
modified to meet local needs.
 In summary, we propose the following seven-step model to
beating competitors:
 Introducing Our “Innovation Bank” Concept
To support our seven-step SMS, we differ from other books on
change by offering straightforward proven methods to analyze
challenges that lead to creative solutions to build solid strategies and
achieve sustainable success. We began the development of this
system in the late 1970s in response to business client needs.
The Innovative Methods that we provide are time-tested and
designed to enable the reader to use them to implement new
ideas for strategic action. As an example, our “Idea Box” Method
#1 allows for the creation of thousands of options to improve or
create a product design in less than one hour compared to
traditional brainstorming. This is accomplished through the
identification of the product's attributes and new ways to connect
them to the production and marketing of new versions to meet
customers' changing expectations.

Method #1 Creativity Idea Box: “How to Build a Better

Bathtub.”
Shape and Size Material Features Water System Customer Wants
Room* Rubber Colored lights Waterfall Safety
Diamond Gold No faucets Ceiling tap Status
Heart Stone* Music/TV/Bar Multisource* “Go Green”
Two–person Clear poly Plants Recycle Romance
Mini-size Stainless steel Soft seating* Perimeter “Fun”*

There are over 15,000 possible combinations using this Idea Box
for creating a better tub to meet changing customers' expectations.
i.e., “a room sized stone bath with soft seating and a multi-sourced
water system for a “fun” experience is just one of those new ideas.
Many other innovative ideas are imbedded within the book and are
summarized in Appendix 1. So, where are the opportunities for the
Innovation Bank in your organization?
 1

Harnessing Change

It is a fact that every organization will experience transitions over

time. An acronym often used to describe organizations of today, is
“VUCA” (The Economist 7/7/18). It stands for Volatile, Uncertain,
Complex and Ambiguous.
For example, experienced business executives know that “all
engagements come to an end.” Engagements can refer to any type
of interaction between and among individuals and groups. Scenarios
from both quarters can occur internally or externally.
Consider the following: a long-time employee decides to retire;
another hard-to-replace person decides to leave the organization for
greener pastures; a change in management of a key client causes
you to lose the account; your CEO is accused of malfeasance and is
suspended by the Board. The list of transitions can go on and on,
with negative results often following the events.
Just as often, transitions can be brought about by new
technologies or regulations from governing agencies. Bad luck, such
as storm damage, can also be a major factor.
Harnessing Change refers to ways to embrace change options to
address the VUCA transitions and the actions needed to take as a
result.

Key Reasons for Change Effort Failures

Research tells us that most change efforts fail. A lack of urgency is
usually the primary reason that such efforts collapse under their own
weight. However, many failures of mergers and acquisitions are
usually caused by unmanageable cultural issues even when urgently
acted upon.
Often a “flavor of the month” mentality prevents people from
buying into proposed changes. The idea is that if we wait long
enough, the proposed change will be forgotten as new issues arise
and we can avoid the efforts to make it happen.
Procrastination is the watchword that some people use as a
shield to avoid active participation designed to give them time to
dodge getting on board. Common avoidance replies to requests for
participation often emerge as “It needs more study” or “We tried
that before” and “It's not in the budget.” Avoidance becomes a work
style for too many resisters of change. Another huge problem is the
fear of losing something if a strategic change is made in an
organization. People tend to fear the unknown.
A typical fear-driven response is, “If it ain't broke don't fix it!”
There is an alternative way to view the status quo as an opportunity
to seek change rather than looking at it as too uncomfortable to
move ahead. Think about a car that you have owned and carefully
maintained for several years. It still looks good, runs well and is all
yours with no bank as a partner.
However, it is approaching 10 years of age with 200,000 miles on
the odometer. Out-of-sight parts made of rubber are beginning to
deteriorate, presenting potential unexpected problems. New
technologies that appeal to you for safety are lacking. While it ain't
broke now, might it be a good idea to keep your eyes open for an
upgrade before you have no choice but to get rid of it?
In other words, continually be on the lookout for new
opportunities to improve how your organization operates while you
preserve effective operations. This is not an easy task and the way
leaders work to achieve this is critical.
If you believe you are comfortable dealing with change, let it be
known that you encourage the generation of new ideas, and
employees will not be punished for suggestions on new directions.
To help you with this, an “Open to Change” self-assessment to help
identify the degree of your openness to change is in order.

Method #2 “Open to Change: Self-Assessment” *

Consider the following agree or disagree statements and respond to them using the scale
with total frankness:
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
1 2 3 4 5
1. I continually look for new ways to improve my business skills.
_____
2. I make things happen while others just watch.
_____
3. I know that maintaining the status quo often leads to failure.
_____
4. Reasonable risk-taking is comfortable for me in business and in my life.
_____
5. I continually share our business challenges with my staff openly.
____
6. I encourage business decisions to be made at the lowest possible levels.
_____
7. I am comfortable with ambiguity and risk.
_____
8. I feel excited about new ways to solve business problems.
_____
9. I am positive about the future of our organization and optimistic about life.
_____
10. I trust the people who work for me to make good decisions.
_____
11. I drive out fear in our organization at every opportunity.
_____
12. I believe that we can learn from our failures and encourage risk-taking by employees.
____
Total Score _____

*Self-Assessment Scores: Change ready, and supportive change leaders score low
on this assessment. People who need to reflect on their change readiness will
score high. The scores will range from a low of 12 to a high of 60. The closer a
person scores to 12 the more ready they tend to be when accepting change.
 Understanding Change Supportive Leadership
Behaviors
Some leadership styles support the idea that the examination of
changes as should be viewed as opportunities to beat competitors
rather than as things to fear and avoid. There are at least 10 or
more theories of leadership that are addressed in textbooks or
presented at seminars and workshops. This book is not intended to
be a text on learning all about those theories. As an active executive,
you have undoubtedly had the opportunity to sign up to attend a
seminar or encountered the various theories in your studies. Like
many of us, you may have found contradictions, duplications, and
perhaps felt some confusion in what was under discussion.
In our experiences derived from our research, teaching and
application of leadership styles in a variety of businesses, we suggest
that “keeping your leadership behaviors simple” will offer the best
chance to introduce change initiatives that work well and “stick” as
standard operating procedure.
As an example of simplicity, among the many leadership skills
you will need to master is learning and discovering ways to motivate
people. This effort entails finding out what they want from the work
experience and tailoring rewards for high performance to meet those
needs.
Just as important, learning about your own needs emitting from
the work experience, and the behaviors you exhibit in pursuing
them, is paramount for leadership success, and understanding how
you are perceived by those you lead is another lens to use in
ensuring such success.
When the performance of someone or some department is below
expectations, effective leaders address the weaknesses using
communication techniques in a mature manner rather than a
parental approach. Respected leaders are known to find solutions to
difficult challenges where everyone wins in contrast where one
faction “wins” and others lose. Respected leaders accept the fact
that changes pose risks and view good faith failures as opportunities
to learn and continue to move ahead to achieve strategies.
There are several self-assessment instruments available to help
you understand the way you view your leadership skills and how
they may be viewed by others. See Appendix 1 for
recommendations.
We recommend Peter G. Northouse's book entitled Leadership –
Theory and Practice as a valuable, highly readable, and concise
overview of the most important findings on leadership styles
available (SAGE Publications, ISBN: 0-7619-2566-X (pbk)).
Seminal Change Research Theory: Serious researchers
began to explore the topic on change theories in the 1930s. The
best-known work from that period is that of Kurt Lewin who
introduced the concept of reducing the forces that wish to maintain
the status quo in an organization and opened the door to a more
critical thinking approach to change in organizations.
In the 1960s, Donald Kirkpatrick built upon past research and
modeled an approach to managing change with specific steps and
proceeded to add planning charts designed to bring a more
humanistic approach to the process.
In the 1980s, John Kotter refined the existing research to step up
a multistepped plan to bring about planned change that had a better
chance to stick than experienced in the past. In 2017, then Secretary
of State, Tillerson, spoke of “delivering incremental wins” (WSJ
10/20/17), a key concept of current research and its application to
managing change.
So, how does the application of past and recent research work to
make change “stick”? Where should you start? As professional sport
team managers know, going back to basics can be a good first step
toward making changes to improve performance.
For example, first try listening to employees and even their third-
party representatives. Common knowledge tells us that most people
don't listen well. Poor listening skills often lead to botched change
efforts. To strengthen your change management skills, here are
some simple steps to remember to become an active listener:
 Method #3 “Three Key Listening Skills for Successful
Change” – Opens the door to effective problem-solving
discussions.”
1. After the other person finishes presenting an idea, repeat what was said before you
provide a personal response with your “two cents worth”.
Here's a typical exchange in a manufacturing situation about cost of living wage decisions.
Union Steward: “Chief, we think that we need to change the way things are done around
here.”
Boss: “OK, so the union thinks that systems for making cost of living wage decisions need
to be changed.”
Union Rep: “Right”.
2. Before introducing more information, ask a clarifying question to show understanding
and open the door to meaningful discussion.
Boss: “The scuttle-butt seems to say that we give too little, too late. Is that the issue?”
Union Steward: “You got it right, boss”.
Boss: “So what* do you suggest?”
Now, both players are starting from the same place and the floor opens to a detailed
discussion.
*Note: The word “what” is an important term to keep in mind and use to keep a positive
discussion going. It invites the other party to contribute his or her ideas for moving to a
constructive conclusion.
Too often the word “why” turns up, and it presents an adult to child challenge to the
discussion resulting in a response of “because”.
Simple example:
Mother: “You can't go out tonight.”
Child: “Why?”
Mother: “Because I say so, and I'm your Mother! End of story!”
Substitute Boss for Mother and Employee for Child to get a clear scenario.

As a discussion progresses, continue to use the first two steps

and, from time-to-time, add step three: summarize the content, to
ensure ongoing understanding of what changes are being proposed.
The acid test of listening is “Are you thinking about what you will
say next or are you able to repeat, clarify and summarize the
opposite speaker's views before moving on?”
The secret to knowing when someone is not truly listening is
when he, or she, or you say “Yeh, but…”
When “Yeh, but” is voiced the listening has stopped and the
conversation becomes adversarial. It's another “killer statement” that
will begin to derail any needed changes.
With an issue such as cost of living decisions, the organization
deals with one of the great dissatisfiers mentioned in motivational
research: organization policies. Unpopular policies are one of the
“third rails” of management that can lead to job dissatisfaction,
spawning a multitude of problems in the acceptance of change.
Experienced executives know that many people fear change in
the workplace because they fear the loss of something. For example,
changing location of the main office may result in disruptions of
family routines because it will take longer for the person to get to
the office. A working parent may have to drop off a child at a care
facility by a certain time. Having to leave sooner for work could
make this impossible to achieve.
For this reason, getting to know your people and their needs will
help you to make better decisions concerning the changes being
proposed and how they may affect meeting those needs. Granted,
some changes cannot be avoided, and the chips will fall where they
may no matter what you try to do. However, if relocating the office is
an option, it needs to be weighed against the pros and cons of doing
so. There is a simple way to approach this decision.

Method # 4 “Forced Choice Analysis” * – Presents a system

to weigh pros and cons of a proposed change with the its
potential to add value to the organization.
Proposed Change: Office Relocation (re: Vision to Become Dominant in Our Market)
Pros Cons
Reduce Costs Lose 3 key workers
Improve Image Loss of Production Time
Improve Technology Less Parking Space
Etc. Etc.
Conclusion: Pros v Cons
Alternative:

*Forced Choice Analysis is another contribution by Kurt Lewin.

Reward Systems That Support Change Efforts

Another very important area ripe for evaluating possible changes
using this method is with the reward systems offered by your
organization. Looking at the Pros/Cons of new rewards, based upon
employee needs, will guide your managers in offering intrinsic and
extrinsic rewards that mean something to your people. Well-
intentioned, but undervalued rewards, can have the opposite
motivational effect you desire.
Recently, a well-meaning head of a city department began giving
out a homemade gift to each employee as the holidays approached
every December. While reacting cordially to his face, the discussion
around the water cooler went something like this:
“Someone needs to tell him to keep his stupid gift and fight to
get us a raise once in a while.”
His innocent but sincere act simply increased the level of job
dissatisfaction rather than being received as a meaningful reward. A
small matter, perhaps, but it continued the practice of granting
rewards under a flawed system and was unproductive.
In another situation, one of the most confusing rewards was that
of a public entity that recognized smokers were not provided with a
separate area to smoke. Many non-smokers complained about the
smoke outside the doorways from building to building. In an effort to
alleviate the problem, management decided to construct a number
of gazebos designated as smoking areas. Therefore, doorways would
no longer be a gathering place for smokers. The gazebos were built
and were “strategically” located at a designated number of feet from
all campus buildings. Sounds like a great solution!
However, unexpected problems arose:

1. Soon non-smokers wanted their own “smoke free” gazebos.

They did not want to be in a smoking gazebo due to the
odor.

2. Security Officers were not allowed to leave their posts during

working hours. Therefore, they could not leave their stations
to smoke. Violation of this policy could lead to termination.
 This was an especially problematic situation for the
evening/night shift personnel.

So, does one leave the post and smoke, not smoke at all or
violate the policy? (The night crew came up with their own solution
that did not violate security policy but did work within the new
organization policy. In effect, the employees came up with their own
creative solution, by staying inside and outside at the same time by
placing one foot inside and the other foot outside!)
Are there rewards that your organization offers that also fit the
flawed system bill? After all, how many times will a four-inch high
trophy, with a plastic label awarded for meeting sales goals, be
appreciated?

Encountering Resistance to Change

When dealing with the resistance to change, it is a good idea to
identify the people who will resist or embrace workplace changes
and to what degree. In large organizations you will make good
progress in doing that if you get to know the formal and informal
leaders of the departments/units and their employees. By doing this,
we gain a better understanding of what needs the units and people
have that can be satisfied through the work accomplished and
rewards given.
The same is true for small organizations with less than 100
employees. However, there should be more opportunities to gain an
understanding of what the motivators are for your people. The CEO
of such an organization should get to know the core leadership
members of the organization by first names and gain insights into
what really matters to them and the people who follow them.
This can be communicated in many ways, but the best is often to
make the change a part of the discussion whenever appropriate.
Engage your managers in adopting this “chatting around the water
fountain” approach. Such opportunities exist in informal discussions
about work that happen during lunch and on work breaks. Don't rely
on one-way communications such as memos and emails. They offer
no or little opportunity to use listening skills and receive constructive
feedback. Be careful not to overload conversations that only focus on
the proposed change. Be ready to adjust plans as you build up a
“knowledge of the room” perspective that often reveals hidden
resistance points.

Method # 5 “Categorizing Employee Openness to Supporting

Changes” – Suggests formulation of a plan to identify pilot
program change project targets within the organization.
Employ the following three-step approach to accomplishing the task:

1. Create a simple chart with the headings of “champions who

will embrace change,” “resisters who will fight for keeping
the status quo,” “players who will accept changes,” and
“those who don't seem to care one way or another.”

2. Begin to list the names of the leadership core in the various

categories.

3. Group those who fall in the “champion” and “accepting”

categories to seek units/departments where change is more
likely to be embraced and succeed. These become your pilot
program targets.

Pilot programs should be launched within units/departments

where a tendency to embrace change and risk-taking is high. In
other words, choose a pilot program target where the chances of
success are very high. Otherwise, failure at that point can lead to a
disaster and another failed change effort.
Our consulting experiences show that a success in one
department can lead to others when they sense that the change
improved job satisfaction and worker productivity. No one will want
to be left out of a good thing.
 As one of our hotel clients said after taking one of our leadership
development programs, “I can see this taking off throughout the
whole company.” He was correct, and we were invited from one
property to the next, all by word of mouth. The same can happen
within your organization's departments when the pilot program you
launched gains a reputation of having a high value to all.
When you have determined that a pilot program for an
organizational change is needed and that its chances of success are
high, you will need a plan to proceed. There are many project
management systems that are available for use and you most likely
have one that you favor. Choose what you like and begin to move
ahead.
Please keep in mind that successful systems require gaining the
support of those affected by the change and therefore always open
to resistance. Excellent communication will be required along with
the ability to be flexible when needed. We always need to avoid the
“this too will pass” resister who can often sink your ship.
When reducing resistance, keep the following key moves in mind
and apply them whenever you can:

1. To reduce the fear of losing something, spend time showing

how people will fit into the change.

2. As you promote the change, you will discover that some

people will fear being embarrassed because they don't know
how to carry out a new system. They fear of looking “stupid.”
This presents an opportunity for management to offer
training to enable people to move ahead with new
systems.Such training can be presented as part of the
personal development of employees that may lead them to
new opportunities in the company. Recall that achievement
can be a powerful motivator for certain people. Good training
programs can be designed to be pleasant experiences seen
as rewards for high potential workers.
 3. Make it known that the workers who embrace the needed
changes will be rewarded for doing so as it can help the
organization beat competitors. Make sure the rewards are
valued by the staff and have a reasonable chance of earning
them. In other words, people who make the effort and
succeed can expect to be appropriately rewarded. Once
again, pick the place where your pilot program has a good
chance of success.

Realistically, there will be people who will resist to the very end.
They don't seem to care about fitting into changes, and don't think
they need training. They often feel that they know everything
already and are indispensable. They may withhold information
needed to move the new ways forward. At some point, you will have
to decide if employment for these folks should be terminated.

Opposing Forces Found in an Organization

It is critical to understand that there are two sets of forces at work
in every organization regarding change versus maintaining the status
quo. It is our fate that an ever-changing work environment needs to
be managed to avoid the demise of our enterprise. Newspapers
present a good example.
When the digital train entered the newspaper station, too many
papers resisted the change. Ink on paper was the way things worked
and this digital stuff would also pass. When the train left the station,
papers were not on board.
One of the first disasters was the loss of classified advertising. In
the past, papers were the only game in town and ads sold by the
word. Yellow pages were the competition, but platforms like eBay,
Monster.com and Yahoo moved out front.
Newspaper customers were often unknown to the papers and
were controlled by independent distribution operations. Now they
could turn to many other sources to receive and offer opportunities
when they wanted to do so, using the methods they desired and at
low world-wide transaction costs.
Status quo sources were strong and the forces for change were
often disregarded. Do you know how your organization stands
regarding these powerful forces? Can you envision what your
operation will look like in five years?
Consider the following diagram that illustrates the two forces
concept:

When the forces are in balance, with timely changes and

carefully selected status quo processes still meeting the changing
business environment demands are in place, the successful
organization remains sustainable and vibrant.
 Possible “Death” of the Organization
If the forces for the status quo grow stronger than the forces for
change, and no longer satisfy the demands of the changing business
environment, the organization falls out of balance and becomes
much less sustainable. The failure of the organization to beat the
competition weakens and it may no longer exist. Again, envision the
scenario where information and news given with ink on paper may
become a rarity and, in time, totally disappear.
To combat this weakening scenario for your situation, begin by
drawing up a list of the changing demands of your markets and the
customers that you serve. Brainstorm, with your change champions,
proposed changes needed to meet new demands. Continue by listing
the forces for maintaining the status quo that may prevent you from
meeting these demands before your competition does so.
Identify the departments that are more open to necessary
changes and begin to design ways to reward those people as they
support changes that you propose.
Identify the employees who fear losing something from your
proposed changes and create opportunities for increasing their
understanding of how they will fit into new systems and offer
training where needed. Deliver rewards for those who buy in.
The key concept here is not to try to press harder for change
forces but to reduce the forces for maintaining the status quo.
Think of the problem of moving a higher volume of water
through a pipe. There are two solutions: increase the pressure on
the water, risking a rupture in the pipe, or make the pipe bigger. Try
making the “Change Pipe” bigger.
In essence, you will need to reinvent the way your organization
carries out its vision and mission in order to continue to thrive.
This requires creative thinking and the courage to embrace new
ways of solving emerging business challenges.
There are many examples of organizations that faced extinction
but reinvented themselves and continued to grow. Sometimes the
follow-up success was short-lived (Chrysler saved by Iacocca) and
others (IBM) who sustained growth after recovery. As in the case of
Chrysler, continuing market challenges forced them to revisit the
ways to compete, and other events followed Iacocca's dramatic,
successful, courageous financial and image building moves. His now
famous quote was, “We borrow money the old-fashioned way…we
pay it back!” (Go Chrysler!)
Today, we can look at a surprising example of reinvention
concerning the city of Athens, Greece. The ancient city sustained
itself through tourism for decades but fell on hard times after the
European Union formed. Financial problems crushed the entire
country. But no greater loss was felt as that of Athens. Crime rose,
neighborhoods declined, civil unrest ensued, and tourists stopped
coming.
A rebirth is underway but not all problems have been addressed
and resolved. However, tourism has picked up. A ready source of
value is the information gathered daily by large editorial staff that
alone has risen at a rate of increasing by about 11% per year over
the past 10 years (The New York Times 6/24/18). How was this
turnaround accomplished for this gem of the ancient world?
Taking advantage of competing travel spots facing political
uncertainty, fears, and turmoil, the city assessed the resources that
could come to bear on alleviating the loss of visitors. New art
exhibitions, concerts, and cultural talks began to gain the attention
of vacationers.
Grants from Greek foundations were obtained to sponsor Greek
writers and artists, opening the door to a feeling of creativity and
entertainment. Cooperation with artists from other countries added
to the growing mix of talent. Also, comparisons of Athens to Berlin
as destinations for travelers who love art and culture began to
emerge, resulting in expectations for a record number of tourists in
2018.
Another good example of reinvention of an industry is the
reenergizing of the “ink on paper” publishers of news and events.
The fact that 98% of people who read newspapers reside outside
metropolitan areas shows that a market for this product still exists
(The Economist 6/23/18).
 Given that data, small (under 25,000 circulation) papers who
recognized that they were in the information business, and not the
newspaper business, continue to grow. Many publishers reinvented
newspapers by focusing on community news and not international
stories involving reporting by local writers and neighbors and
partnering with local events and programs. These moves create a
great sense of loyalty, “It's our paper”, and offer a very focused
market for advertisers. Large metropolitan papers do not have these
advantages.
There are still opportunities for such papers to continue providing
information, even with the data showing heavy losses in areas with
populations averaging 100,000 residents. Information companies
that once relied on ink on paper make good examples by using the
information archives built over many years. This information is for
sale to digital competitors and other media that lack the ability to
collect it. Synergistic relationships between print and broadcast exist
now with some television networks placing broadcast facilities in
editorial departments of newspapers.
Another smart move is to create focused publications for
underserved high populations that help to serve and build
communities of readers. Information from all these efforts can also
be connected to online subscriptions for those generations who get
their information solely online.
We have been looking at very large organizations in the above
discussion. But we must ask, “What have smaller businesses, facing
seemingly impossible business challenges, done to maintain market
share while growing it for the future?”
A stunning example of continuing reinvention belongs to a
charity, the March of Dimes. It was founded by President Franklin
Roosevelt in 1938 as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis
(NFIP). The common name was Polio. In 1943, NFIP was able to
fund a study to examine polio in North Africa. It took 11 years to see
success by the creation of a vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk. This dreaded
illness was defeated by Salk, the NFIP, and millions of volunteers
during that decade.
 However, this tremendous achievement now placed NFIP in a
precarious position. Should they cease to exist now that their vision
and mission had been accomplished? Was there a reason to continue
the operation of this well-oiled, volunteer-loaded outfit? A “Yes”, was
the ultimate answer.
The organization refocused on new critical health areas relating
to children. The first was “Birth Defects” followed by Healthy
Pregnancy” and on to “Premature Births.” NFIP influenced legislation
dealing with these concerns and has continued while addressing 30
health disorders.
They remained in the health-care business and adjusted to the
changing needs of their communities. Investigate their website for
updates. So, what is your business and what needs to be anticipated
to successfully continue? How can you avoid the “It ain't broken”
trap? Here's a diagram with the essence of our recommendations:
 2

A Strategic Management System

How Does Strategic Management Differ from Tactical

Management?
For our Strategic Management System (SMS), a simple way to think
about the differences between strategy and tactics is with the words
“how” and “what.” Strategic thinking poses questions starting with
the word “how.” Tactical thinking poses questions starting with the
word “what.” Both may contribute to your mission and vision. Here is
a scenario for the hospitality industry with examples of both strategic
and tactical moves:
Strategic: “How can we reduce department conflicts to align the
efforts and needs of food and beverage with those of property
security to meet our mission of guest safety while envisioning
exceeding our guest expectations?” (possible proposal: “We need a
change in the culture to build mutual respect between
departments.”)
Tactical: “What additional resources do we need to bring about
a more effective alignment between food and beverage and
security?” (possible proposal: “We should hire more people in
security by cutting food and beverage ranks.”)
Here's a scenario for our fictious EveryOrg, Inc.
Word reaches corporate that the general manager of the Boston
Television Unit has been critically injured in a car crash and is not
expected to survive. The industry “sweeps” (ratings) period starts in
three days and is the most stressful two weeks of the year.
Tactical Response: appoint someone from our replacement
plan to temporarily take over until we can find a highly qualified
person to fill the job.
Impact: Possible breakdown of our rating feedback system
leading to ineffective results now and down the road.
Strategic Response: Move our “Ready Now” executive from
our succession plan into the job to handle the immediate “sweeps”
challenge and beyond, if needed.
Impact: Continued use of our rating feedback system to produce
highly effective results now and later.
Suggestion: brainstorm a similar event for your industry and the
impact of the actions that you are able to take today to respond. Is
there a succession plan in place or simply a “fill-in for now,”
replacement plan?
We strongly recommend the following SMS as the key method for
identifying the opportunities in the markets you serve, defining
threats in those markets from your competitors, and finding a way to
build and maintain a continuously evolving competitive advantage.
The SMS also helps to define and update the vision and mission of
the organization that wants to enjoy a sustainable record of success.
We should never assume that our mission and vision are understood
and supported by all our people.
The SMS is made from several interrelated elements and can
become a powerful method, providing a framework for making
successful strategic decisions. Think of it as a mobile hung over a
child's bed. As the youngster experiments with it, she realizes that
the parts are connected to each other.
When she pulls on one part it makes another part move. In
organizations that understand the interrelated nature of successful
operations achieved through well-aligned resources with mission and
vision, the SMS becomes standard operating procedure.
 Using the Mission and Vision Statements to Propose
Changes
At this point, we need to start an exploration of our SMS by clarifying
the differences between, and uses of, mission and vision statements.
Here's a good example from a non-profit organization:
In the 1990s, an organization of antique toy collectors, facing
loss of members and possible club extinction, reenergized itself by
creating a show for the public where members could offer items for
sale from personal collections that were no longer wanted by the
owner. The move was a completely new way to operate, generate
revenue, and build membership in the organization that had relied
solely on member dues to remain sustainable.
Antique shows were a hot new opportunity at that time, and the
club took advantage of the change in buying habits of collectors. The
original mission of the club was to provide a collegial environment to
exchange information about collecting and to trade duplicate pieces
with club members.
Some members held a vision to promote the growth of the hobby
through public information presentations and media news outlets. In
this way, new members could be recruited and hard-to-find antique
toys might come to light from the public to be added to collections
of club members.
Revenue generation through a commercial antique toy show was
not connected to the original mission or vision. To complicate things,
neither the mission nor vision were ever put to paper and as time
passed seldom, if ever, referred to in club discussions. The action
was a tactical response to immediate needs. It was not a result of a
planned strategic analysis of the organization concerning threats and
opportunities.
The show prospered for more than 20 years but as members
aged the show grew smaller in terms of the number of exhibitors
and the drop in public attendance. With falling revenues and
increased costs of exhibit venues, this presented a business problem
to the club. This situation was not limited to local club shows.
Technology enabled eBay to offer a toy show every day to collectors
at no cost, and large commercial shows began to suffer and fail. In
one major national show, the aisles between tables grew wider over
time.
At this last commercially promoted event some of the exhibitors
were seen playing cards hours before the show was scheduled to
end. The word around the floor was, “We can't even make table!”
(pay the cost of renting space). The show permanently closed after
this event. It had been successful for approximately 10 years.
A new club show committee was formed to find ways to make
the show sustainable and grow or to end it. The committee
generated several tactics to bring about changes to save the show.
Ideas proposed were to raise the price of admission to the public,
increase the cost of table rentals to exhibitors including members,
and cut back on the size of the exhibit floor rented. The ideas were
implemented, the show continued but after another losing event, it
was abandoned.
The organization continued to dwindle in size and faced
extinction once again. New ways to ensure growth and sustainability
had to be found, and simple tactical changes could not do the job.
Looking back at the SMS, can you determine when and where
the toy organization went in the wrong direction? One reasonable
conclusion could be that the SWOT portion of the SMS was ignored.
The failure to analyze the internal and external factors resulted in
taking rejuvenation steps that did not address the potential causes
of the business problem faced by the organization. Certainly
demographics, such as age and competition from eBay, needed to be
addressed.
More importantly, the mission and vision of the club were never
formalized and quickly faded from view. Worse, they were never
used to guide decisions in the long run. The detailed use of the SMS
will be explored in Chapter 8 of this book.
 3

Critical Thinking Skills for Success

Here is a conversation that most of us have heard at one time or

another:
“It must be true because I saw it online. He did it. They said that
there was no doubt he did it.”
Reactive thinking response: “Wow! He needs to get the chair.”
Critical thinking response: “Who are “they?”
As shown below, critical thinking requires an understanding that
there are different levels of thinking to produce solutions to current
change challenges confronting us. They range from memorization to
evaluating the results of changes made in an organization. We
suggest a new way to solve business problems that employs the
“Levels of Thinking” concept.

Levels of Thinking
High Level 6. Compare result of the plan to desired state**
5. Create new solution and implementation plan**
4. Break the elements of the problem into parts
3. Use past knowledge to address possible problem causes
2. Summarize the problem in your own words
Low Level 1. Repeat the elements of the problem from memory

**Top Management's Key Strategic Level of Thinking.

Here is an excerpt from a meeting of key executives and

department heads, where the following discussion took place among
members of the top management team and pivotal managers:
 Mgr. Jack: “We need to maintain a profit margin of 25% to meet
investor expectations.”
Mgr. Alice: “In other words, our investors are not getting what
they expected as return on investment if we fall below the 25%
level. Correct?”
Mgr. Jack: “Correct. What we need to do is to look at the
production line using the 25% target as a measurement of success
in holding down costs.”
Dept. Head Joan: “Okay, but what parts of the production line
should be examined? I know that in my department we are good on
the costs of drilling the base plates but I'm not sure about the
packing phase. We have eight interrelated steps in what we do. So,
where do we start?”
SVP Terry: “I believe that we need to look at this problem
through a slightly different lens. Obviously, this is not a simple
problem to be solved by a quick one- or two-step plan.”
“Here's what I propose. We have five major line departments and
three staff departments. Each one has a series of steps that affect
how we control costs to meet margin goals. Everybody from HR to
Marketing to Shipping needs to revisit the costs that are generated
and needed to succeed. I know that this will be a new way of
working, but we should start by asking all concerned to present
revised budgets showing valid ways to cut costs and still carry out
the functions we need.
Let's talk about details.”
At this point, assume that SVP Terry's new approach is approved
and presented to the CEO. At that meeting, a CEO working at the
highest level of thinking would likely pose the following questions:
CEO: “Terry, I like the approach designed to have the
departments work together to present an integrated budget, but
there are some gaps in the plan. We've never had one like this in the
past. If I am to advise the Board on this plan, I need to know about
some details. Please add the following sections to the plan:

1. Outline where we are now in terms of department and

overall costs as they affect our margin.
 2. Summarize the new targets for cost-cutting by departments
and overall company.

3. Set a target date for the new cooperative budget to be

presented to me.

4. Explain the metrics to be used to evaluate the degree of

success achieved. In that way I can prepare the Board
presentation confident that we can make a judgment of its
success and have a good chance to solve this nagging
margin problem.”

Upon close inspection, you will note that the levels of thinking
started with Mgr. Jack at the low level by repeating the problem from
memory. Mgr. Alice summarized the situation and Mgr. Jack
confirmed her understanding of the challenge. The Department
Head kicked the discussion up a notch by breaking the problem
down in its key parts and the SVP presents a possible solution to
attacking the problem.
In this case, it was up to the CEO to employ the highest level of
thinking by raising the questions of metrics to evaluate the progress
of the SVP's plan so a cogent report can be presented to the board.
Is your organization consistently capable of effectively applying
critical thinking skills when discussing business problems and
seeking solutions? If so, is there room for improving those skills and
leveraging them out to other staff levels? If application of critical
thinking is lacking, and you see its value, how can you go about
introducing it to the organization?
We suggest that your HR department take the lead on designing
an educational program to introduce the concept starting with the
business unit with the highest chances of a successful adoption of
the system. You will find a link to a PowerPoint introduction on the
subject in Appendix 1 to get HR started on a training design.
In the meantime, begin to make your direct reports aware of the
power of critical thinking by posing questions to them during
everyday conversations about business strategies, the changing
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
the stage. There had stood the portrait of her, and there the picture
of Rose; both were gone! She even noticed that the little tea-table
was pushed away, and divined Allestree’s secret feeling. She knew
every detail of the room, the tapestries, the worn Turkey rug,
Robert’s old cigarette-case. It was intolerable; she rose, and going to
the table, where the telephone stood, saw Allestree’s portfolio and
the pen and ink. She would leave a line to explain her visit before
she called a cab, and she opened the portfolio to look for a scrap of
paper; as she did so her eye fell on the page of a letter written in old
Mrs. Allestree’s clear hand; unconsciously she read the lines before
her:
“Margaret has broken up Fox’s happiness twice, once when she
broke her own engagement to him, and now in separating him from
Rose—”
She closed the book sharply, suddenly aware of what she did and
deeply shamed by it, but the thought of the personal dishonesty of
her heedless act was lost in the sharper pang of realization; she saw
at last the light in which her actions had appeared to others. She
stood still, her face frozen, and a cry sprang to her lips from the
depths of hidden passion, the cry of some mortally wounded wild
creature who faces death alone. She knew it, she did not need to be
told it, but others knew it too! It was the bitter drop in her cup of gall;
the wild anguish which swept away all other realities, even the desire
for life, amazed her. For one moment she hated Rose with all the
strength of her undisciplined soul, the next a great wave of
humiliation submerged her being. She turned, forgetting the
telephone, forgetting everything but a desire to escape the meeting
with Allestree, groped her way to the door like a blind woman and
went down stairs. At the foot she hesitated; a step in the street made
her fear to meet Robert at the door, and she turned and plunged into
the curiosity-shop. She found herself behind the chintz curtain, in the
place which evidently served as a living-room for Daddy Lerwick,
and she saw a table spread for supper, while the scent of garlic
streamed from a pot on the stove. Hurrying across the room she
lifted the curtain and entered the shop.
Daddy Lerwick was leaning on the counter talking to a young girl and
passing a necklace back and forth in his fat hands. At the sound of
Margaret’s step they both turned and looked at her in surprise, a
surprise which gave place on his part to servile courtesy. But
Margaret scarcely noticed him; instead she saw the pale, worn face
of the girl, the pinched misery of her look as she glanced at the
stones in Lerwick’s coarse fingers. Margaret’s eyes following hers,
lighted, too, on the jewels; it was a topaz necklace, the mate to the
bracelet which she had prized so long ago. The intuition of misery,
the sixth sense of the soul which—no longer atrophied with
selfishness—had suddenly awakened within her, divined the secret.
She read the suspended bargain in Lerwick’s eye, the hopeless
anguish in the girl’s. It was only an instant; the thought came to her
like the opening of a dungeon door on the glare of midday. Then she
drew back to avoid an encounter with two more customers who had
entered the shop and who began at once to ask the prices of the
objects in the windows. Lerwick went forward to answer them; the
girl leaned on the counter, hiding her face in her hands; a shiver of
misery passed over her and Margaret saw it. Moved by an impulse,
as inexplicable as it was unnatural, she touched the shabby sleeve.
“What is the matter?” she asked softly.
The young woman looked up startled, but only for an instant, the
next the dull misery of her look closed over her face like a mask,
though her lip trembled. “He’s offered me fifteen dollars,” she
faltered; “I—I suppose I’ll have to take it.”
Margaret quietly put out her hand. “Will you sell it to me?” she said; “I
will give more and you will not have to give your name.”
The girl’s cheek crimsoned; she hesitated and gathered the necklace
into her hands; the gesture was pathetic, it bespoke the actual pang
of parting with an old keepsake.
Margaret saw it. “Come, come with me,” she said and led her back
through the door to the studio entrance; she no longer feared to
meet Allestree; a new impulse stirred her heart.
Under the light there she opened her purse and hastily counted her
money, she had a little over a hundred dollars in small bills. Hurriedly
thrusting a dollar or two back into her pocketbook, she pressed the
remainder into her companion’s hands, saying at the same time:
“Keep your necklace, I do not want it; I only wished to help you save
it.”
The young stranger looked at her in dull amazement, stunned by the
incomprehensible sympathy and generosity when she had long since
ceased to look for either. She drew a long shuddering breath. “Oh, I
can’t take so much!” she gasped out, “you—you must keep the
necklace!”
Margaret regarded her sadly. “Child,” she replied, “I’m more unhappy
than you are; I do not want either the money or the necklace; keep
them both!”
“Do you really mean it?” the girl whispered, her eyes fastened on the
face opposite in absolute wonder and doubt; “you really mean to give
me all this—and you want nothing?”
Margaret smiled with stiff lips. “Nothing!”
The pinched, childlike features of the stranger quivered; it seemed
as if the frozen sensibilities were melting under this touch of common
humanity. Suddenly she burst into an agony of tears, slipping down
upon the stairs, her slender shabby figure racked with sobs. “He
heard me!” she cried, “there is a God!”
Margaret looked at her strangely. “Do you think so?” she asked
vaguely, with parched lips, “do you believe in God?”
“Yes,” the girl cried, clasping her hands, “I prayed—oh, God, how I
prayed! It seemed as if He didn’t hear me, no help came and I
couldn’t pay; I couldn’t pay, and they didn’t believe me any more
because I’d failed—you don’t know, you’ve never failed like that! I
thought God didn’t care, that He had forgotten—but now—” she rose
from her knees, her face still wet with tears but singularly changed, “I
shan’t have to do it!” she cried, “here’s enough to begin all over
again, I can go on, I’m saved! He heard! Don’t you believe it? Don’t
you see it must be so?” she persisted, unconsciously catching at
Margaret’s draperies and her thin toil-worn hand closing on their
richness.
“For you, yes,” the older woman replied slowly; “good heavens, I
never knew how much money meant before!” she murmured,
passing her hand over her eyes again, “and you think—God heard
you—God?”
“He sent you!” the girl cried, exultantly, wildly happy; “oh, yes, I’m
sure of it—oh, God bless you!”
A strange expression passed over Margaret’s face. She leaned back
against the wall, pressing her hand to her heart. Then, as the girl still
sobbed softly, she touched her shoulder. “Open the door,” she said
quietly, “I—I must go, can you help me? I’m a little dizzy.”
The young woman sprang to her and put out her arm eagerly. “Let
me help you; oh, I’d do anything for you!”
Margaret smiled, a wan little smile that made her haggard brilliant
face weirdly sad. “It is nothing. There, the air from the outside makes
me well again, this place is choking!”
The stranger walked with her to the corner, eager to help her, to call
a cab, to put her on the cars, but as Margaret’s faintness passed she
refused, putting aside her protests with firm dismissal. “No, no, I can
go home,” she said bravely; “good-bye, I’m glad I could help you.”
“Oh, let me go with you, let me do something!” the girl appealed to
her eagerly.
But Margaret dismissed her and they parted, the young stranger
hurrying away down a narrow by-street while her benefactress
walked slowly toward the nearest avenue. But she had gone only a
few steps when she turned and looked after the shabby figure, which
was only a short distance from her. A vivid recollection of that cry
that God had heard her prayer, the absolute conviction of it, swept
over the stricken woman, and moved by an impulse which she did
not pause to question, Margaret ran after the girl through the
gathering mist and overtook her, breathless. She turned with a
frightened look, full of dread, no doubt, that she must yet give up the
miraculously acquired wealth, and she started when Margaret laid a
thin, ungloved hand on her arm.
“I wanted to ask you,” she began,—and then changed the sentence
swiftly into a command,—“pray for me to-night! You believe there is a
God—perhaps He’ll hear you again!”
“Indeed I will!” the girl cried, bewildered; “oh, I wish—”
But the unfinished speech was lost; Margaret had turned and swiftly
disappeared again into the folds of the mist; like a shadow the girl
saw her vanishing into deeper shadows; something uncanny and
marvellous seemed to lurk in the very thought of her beautiful
haggard face, the wildness of her smile, and the young woman
hurried away, hugging her treasure close, almost persuaded that she
had talked face to face with a being from another world.
 VI
AVOIDING the crowded thoroughfares, and no longer remembering
her physical weariness or that she had walked for hours without food
or drink, Margaret hurried on.
She had thought of death, and the means to attain it most swiftly and
easily, but as she passed the brilliantly lighted chemist’s window, with
its arch hung with bright red Christmas bells, she put away the
thought; it was too cheap and sensational and, after all, if there really
were a God could she take that swift, shuddering plunge through the
blackness of death to meet Him? The wages of sin is death! It
thundered in her ears, making God the avenging Deity of the Old
Testament, for how little do those who preach sometimes divine the
pictures which they frame of Him who was lifted up, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, that all men might be saved!
A strange new light began to come into Margaret’s soul, and against
it her thoughts took on dark and sharply outlined forms like the
shadows thrown on a white screen by the stereopticon; she began to
understand. Happiness, after all, was a dream, an imagination, a
word; it came not from any visible cause, but lay hidden in every
man’s heart like hope imprisoned in Pandora’s box. The secret of it
came to her at last,—life moved in an orbit; the past held the future,
the future the past, the present was but the connecting link in the
inexorable circle, it could not be broken while memory existed, while
a reckoning was required. She could no more break the links with
her past than she could destroy her immortal soul.
In her heart a new, secret thought, born of the strange girl’s
gratitude, moved her out of herself. She remembered Mrs.
Allestree’s words, and her love for Fox suddenly purged itself of its
passionate agony, its jealousy, its pain. Like a woman in a dream she
found her way at last to the hotel and climbed the stairs. Her face
bore too terrible signs of anguish, and she shrank from the elevator
and the curious stare of the servants. It was the dinner hour and the
corridors were deserted. She went quietly to her own room and did
not ring for her maid. She noticed that her evening gown had been
put out and the fire tended. Gerty was not there, she would scarcely
be there before nine o’clock, and Margaret went to her desk and sat
down and began to write in feverish haste; if she delayed, if she
stopped to think she might never do it and she was determined. She
bent to her task, white lipped and haggard, writing page after page to
Rose Temple. She poured out her heart; in righting Fox she scarcely
thought of herself, except that she should never see him again, that
Rose must and should marry him! For abruptly the divine impulse of
self-immolation had been born in the midst of the tumult of her soul;
a woman’s heart, like a eucalyptus tree, trembles with the
remembrance of anguish and the eternal sacrifice of love.
As she finished it the clock struck and she looked up startled; it was
eight o’clock; she had been out more than four hours. She sealed
her letter, stamped it and rose. For a moment her strength failed her
and she stood irresolute, but she was unwilling to trust another hand,
and she opened the door and took Rose’s letter down to the post
herself, avoiding the elevator again. After she had dropped it in the
letter-box in the lower hall, she climbed the long flight wearily to her
room. The fearful energy of the last few hours dropped from her like
a cloak, the effort was too much and she felt an overpowering
weakness, a sinking sensation; she had had such moments before
and the doctor had furnished her with some restoratives with a grim
injunction to avoid tiring herself. A vision of his grave face flashed
across her now and warned her. With the sudden ineffable sinking
and yielding, which came over her like a cloud and seemed to drop
her slowly, softly into space, was born a keen desire to live; Estelle’s
voice pierced her memory like a knife; she seemed to hear that
plaintive cry—“Mamma, mamma, come home!”
She made one more supreme effort to reach the medicines and was,
indeed, but a few yards from the cabinet which held them when her
strength yielded to that awful dark cloud which seemed to be
pressing down upon her, pushing her lower and lower into the depths
of silence. She slipped like water to the floor, her head upon her
outstretched arms, a faint shudder ran through her; she was dimly
conscious of sinking down, down into a black, fathomless abyss.
Again Estelle’s voice quivered through the clouds and mists and
reached her heart; she tried to struggle back, up through vague
distances, to answer it, but the mists grew thicker; she heard it once
again, no more! The soft, ineffable clouds pressed closer, enfolded
her; she sank lower, floated off over the edge of space and lost even
thought itself.
 VII
FOR three days Fox had been under an almost unbearable strain.
Before and after speaking to Margaret of their marriage he had
plunged in the same agonizing struggle with himself. What diabolical
power had been at work to ruin his life, to frustrate his ambitions?
The strong egotism of his nature was aroused in all its absorbing
passion. On every hand he saw disaster; he had builded well in all
respects but one; in that he had miserably failed, and behold the
inevitable result! Like Margaret herself, he saw clearly at last; if he
had kept away from her, if he had broken from the spell of her
fascination and remained out of reach, this would never have been;
he had no one to thank but himself. It is usually so; when we get
down to the fundamental principles we have ourselves to blame for
the fall of the Tower of Siloam.
As he faced the immediate prospect of marriage with another
woman, he realized the strength and hopelessness of his love for
Rose. To think of her even in the same moment with Margaret was
abhorrent to him; he did poor Margaret scant justice at such times,
and the vivid realities of her newspaper celebrity was a scourge to
his sensitive pride. For these things he must give up all, he must pay
the price. He who crossed his path when this mood was on him was
unfortunate,—Fox was not a man to spare. His cruel irony, his
poignant wit had never been more feared on the floor of the House
than they were in those few days before Christmas.
The day after his decisive interview with Margaret he was late at the
Capitol, lingering in his committee-room after the others had left. On
his way home he dined at the club and was detained there by some
out-of-town friends until nearly eleven o’clock. When he finally left
the building he started home on foot, and even stopped at a news-
stand to buy some papers and magazines. It was twelve o’clock
when he went up to his rooms, and he was startled as he walked
down the corridor to see his door open and the vestibule lighted.
Sandy came to meet him with the air a dog wears who knows that a
friend is waiting for his master.
Allestree was sitting by the table in the study, and as Fox entered he
rose with a sober face, “I’ve been waiting for you for an hour,” he
said; “I have bad news.”
Fox stopped abruptly, his thoughts leaping instantly to Rose. “Bad
news?” he repeated in a strange voice.
Allestree met his eye, perhaps read his thoughts. “Yes, the worst,” he
replied; “Margaret is dead.”
“Margaret?” Fox dropped the papers he held, on the table, and
looked at him, bewildered; “impossible!”
“I wish it were so,” Allestree said quietly, hurrying on with his
disagreeable task; “it seems that she was out to-day for a long time
alone; no one apparently knows much about it except the elevator
boy and he says she was away from the hotel four hours or more. As
nearly as we know she was on foot and in the streets most of that
time. I know she was in my studio while I was out;” he colored as he
spoke; he had found his mother’s letter on the floor and piecing the
facts together had divined much. “She came home alone, went to
her rooms and was found there later, unconscious, on the floor.”
“Good God, where was Gerty?” Fox exclaimed, with a gesture of
horror.
“Margaret had sent her to Mrs. White with Estelle; there was some
painful scene in the street with the child—” Allestree stopped an
instant and then meeting his cousin’s eye he hurried on—“when
Gerty finally got to the hotel and found her it was too late; the doctors
say that if help had been at hand she might have been saved. As it
was she never regained consciousness. Gerty telephoned to my
mother, but she will not be back until to-morrow morning; when I got
there Margaret was gone.”
Fox sank into a chair by the table, and propping his head on his
hands stared blankly at a sheet of paper before him. “Why was I not
told?” he demanded hoarsely.
“Gerty tried to get you, both at the Capitol and here, but we could not
find you.”
“I was at the club,” Fox exclaimed and then: “Merciful heaven,
Allestree, how terrible, how harrowing! How impossible to realize!”
Allestree looked at him thoughtfully. “Do you think so?” he said, “it
has seemed to me for more than a year that I saw death in her face;
she had, poor girl, a face of tragedy.”
Fox groaned, covering his own face with his hands. His anger
against her of a moment before smote him with horrible reproach.
Living, he had ceased to love her, dead, she seemed suddenly to fill
his life to the exclusion of all else; she came to him again in the
guise of her thoughtless, happy, inconsequent youth which had
forged the links between them. He rose and began to walk the floor,
his pale face distorted with passion. “My God!” he cried suddenly; “I
—Allestree, is it possible that she divined the truth? That she knew
me for what I was, a sham, a mockery, a whited sepulchre?”
Knowing him and the unhappy woman, whose love for him had
wrecked her life, Allestree knew too much to speak; he was silent.
The storm of his cousin’s passion rose and beat itself against the
inevitable refusal of death. Poor Margaret! a few hours ago she had
held the power to ruin his career, now she had slipped quietly away
from him into the great Silence; the mute appeal of her unhappy love
touched his very soul as it had never touched it in life; the
impossibility of laying the blame for life’s miseries on the dead came
to him with overwhelming force, and she, who a moment before had
been guilty, in his thoughts, of embarrassing his future and blighting
his life, became suddenly the victim of his vanity, his idle pleasure
seeking which she had mistaken for love. He remembered, with
sudden horror and self loathing, his coldness, his bitterness toward
her, and the manner in which she had received his proposal of
marriage. A swift electrifying realization of the scene tore away his
selfish absorption; his manner of asking her had been almost an
insult to her high spirited pride, to her love, which had humiliated
itself by the first confession on that night in the deserted ballroom
where she had poured out the wretchedness of her soul. She had
come to him wounded, homeless, and he had all but cast her off in
his passionate selfishness, his hatred of the loveless marriage which
his honor had bound him to make.
If he had only loved her, if he had but dissembled and seemed to
love her! Overwhelmed with grief he searched his mind for one
reassuring recollection, for one instance which should acquit him of
complicity in the tragic agony of her death, but he found none. He
had neglected her, denied her, tried to evade that final moment when
he must ask her to be his wife, and through all she had borne with
him with a sweetness unusual in her stormy nature; she had loved
him well enough to make allowances, to forgive, to overlook! And
now passing away from him without a word, she had left only her
final kiss of forgiveness on his cheek, the wild rush of her tears at
their last parting. Henceforth he should never speak to her again,
never hear her voice, never know how deeply she had suffered,
never ask her forgiveness. The fact that the sequence of events was
inevitable, that a woman no sooner seeks a man’s love than she
loses it, gave him no relief. In his own eyes he had been little short of
a monster of cruelty to a dying woman because, forsooth, he loved
another—younger and more beautiful!
Memory, too, tormented him with the thought of Margaret, young,
sweet, confiding as she had been when he had first known her and
loved her; he thought less of the moment when she broke faith and
married White; her fault was less now than his; the error of a
beautiful, wilful girl seemed but a little thing before the awful fact of
her wrecked life, her tragic death. Through all she had really loved
him, that one thing seemed certain; her spirit in all its wild sweet
waywardness had held to this one tie, her love for him, and when
she had turned to him at last in her wretchedness seeking
happiness, asking it, pleading for it like a child, she had received not
bread but a stone! He knew now that no living woman could have
misunderstood his coldness, his tardiness, his indifference, and in
his cousin’s pale and averted face he read an accusing
understanding.
He threw himself into a chair again and sat staring gloomily at the
floor. “What madness!” he exclaimed at last, with sudden fury; “how
dared Gerty neglect her so? She was ill, weak, unprotected!”
“Gerty was no more to blame than others,” Allestree observed
quietly.
Fox threw back his head haughtily, and their eyes met. “I was willing
to give her my life,” he said bitterly, “I had no more to give!”
Allestree rose. “It is over,” he replied gravely; “we cannot bring her
back; come, you will go there, she would wish it, I know,” he added,
“and there is no one else!”
The awful finality of those words and the reproach they carried was
indisputable. Fox rose with a deep groan and went out with him,
without a word, to face the greatest trial of all.
 VIII
IN a little pension on the rue Neuve des Petits Champs, Rose
Temple had been working patiently at her music for six months and
more, studying under one of the great Italian teachers, a man who
had trained more than one prima donna and was, therefore, chary of
his encouragement. The enthusiasm which she had brought to her
task having been gradually dispelled by sharp disappointments, she
had struggled on, determined to succeed at last.
The first test of her voice before the maestro and his French critics
had been a failure, a failure so complete that she came home to
weep her heart out on the faithful shoulder of the elderly cousin who
was her chaperon and comforter. The weakness of a voice, beautiful
but not yet fully trained, her trepidation at singing before the maestro
and his assembled judges, together with the long strain of
preparation, had united in her undoing. She came back to the
pension without a word of encouragement, feeling at heart that she
would never sing a note again.
She sat down, laying her head on the little writing-table, amid a wild
confusion of Miss Emily Carter’s pens and papers, and gave way to
her despair. “I shall never sing again!” she said, “never—I’m a
miserable failure; I haven’t any more voice than a sparrow, and
there’s all that money wasted, thrown away!”
Miss Emily eyed her quietly. She had the intense family pride which
is nurtured in the State of Virginia; she did not need to be told, she
knew that Rose had the loveliest voice in the world. As for these
nasty, little, fat, insinuating Frenchmen! She took off her spectacles
and smoothed her hair back from her temples; it was done as they
did hair forty years ago; it matched her immaculate turn-over lace
collar and hair brooch. “You’ll blot my letter, Rose,” she said calmly,
with a little drawl that was inimitable; “I don’t see what you’re crying
about, it will make your nose red; as for these horrid little Parisians,
they know about as much about you as they do about heaven—
which isn’t enough to get there!”
In spite of herself Rose laughed feebly. “You’re the most prejudiced
person I know, Cousin Emily!”
“Prejudiced?” Miss Carter’s nostrils quivered scornfully, “I wasn’t
raised within forty miles of Richmond for nothing, Rose Temple!
Don’t you suppose I know a gentleman when I see one? What in the
world can you expect from that person if he is a singing master? He
wears a solitaire ring on his little finger and a red necktie. I reckon
I’ve got eyes if I do wear spectacles.”
“But he’s trained half the great singers of the world, Cousin Emily,
and at first he was so kind about my voice—to-day—” Rose winked
back the hot tears—“to-day he never said a word!”
“Pig!” ejaculated Miss Carter unmoved.
Rose laughed hysterically. “I shall never sing; I’d better take to
washing and ironing for a living!”
“You’d make a fortune,” retorted Miss Carter ironically; “while you
were mooning you’d scorch all the shirt bosoms and smash the
collars.”
“You’re not a bit encouraging; no one is!” Rose said helplessly,
leaning back in her chair; “it makes my heart ache to think of wasting
poor father’s money so!”
“And I reckon he’d give the whole of it to keep your little finger from
hurting; he thinks you’re a chip of the moon. And how in the world do
you know you’ve wasted it yet?” continued her cousin, calmly
indignant; “perhaps you didn’t sing well to-day; is that any reason
you won’t to-morrow?”
Rose looked at the angular figure opposite, and the color came
again slowly to her cheeks and the light to her eyes. “I’m so glad you
came, Cousin Emily!” she exclaimed; “without you I should have just
given up, they looked so—so indifferent, those men with their eye-
glasses and their notebooks and their stare.”
“Stare? I should think so!” replied Miss Carter severely; “I’ll put a
Frenchman against anything for staring. I believe myself that Paris is
a Sodom and Gomorrah boiled into one, let me tell you! How any
nice sweet girl can marry one of them— Rose, if anything should
ever induce me at any time to think of marrying one, clap me into an
insane asylum, you hear?”
And Rose, burying her face in her hands, laughed until she cried.
But without Miss Carter and Aunt Hannah her courage would have
failed her often in the months which followed. She was put back at
the alphabet of music and worked with the beginners. More than one
night she secretly cried herself to sleep without daring to tell Cousin
Emily of her weakness. Homesickness, too, pinched her and took
the color from her cheeks, but she worked bravely on. She had
reached Paris in June and she had failed at her trial in September.
The months which followed were crowded to the brim, and she tried
to shut her heart and her ears to news from home, except that which
concerned her father. The judge’s letters were purposely cheerful
and optimistic, he said so little about financial difficulties that it
seemed like a troubled dream to Rose; she never quite realized all it
meant to her future.
At last, after many months, her instructor told her one morning that
he should bring some competent judges to hear her again and, if she
succeeded at this second test, he should try to give her a great
opportunity to win her place in the world as a singer. Rose’s heart
thrilled. The great man said little, but at last she perceived that he
believed in her in spite of her failure, that her voice had finally won
his confidence. A word from him was more than a volume from
another; it meant success or failure. The girl, full of her dreams of
singing and redeeming all with her voice, trembled all over and
turned pale. There was a great excitement at the little pension that
night; confident though she was, Miss Carter secretly wiped away a
tear, and they both worked late to give some fresh touches to the
girl’s white gown which brought it up to date; it was a year old, and
not made in Paris! They began to see such differences, to recognize
the enchanting creations in the show-windows and out walking on
the fashionable women on the boulevards.
However, Cousin Emily had her opinion about its owner’s
appearance in that same old white frock, and she stole out and
bought a single rose for the young singer to wear the next afternoon.
Aunt Hannah helped dress her; it was a great occasion; the little flat
looked as though a whirlwind had struck it, and at last the two went
out in great trepidation to keep the appointment. Secretly Miss Emily
longed to give those Frenchmen a piece of her mind about criticizing
the voice of a sweet young girl, but she only retired discreetly to a
corner and looked on with a peculiar moisture on her spectacles
which required the constant use of her handkerchief.

As Rose ceased singing and the last clear notes of her voice floated
into the distances of the great empty concert-hall, the thrill of its
sweetness, its purity, its young confident power, seemed to fill the
very atmosphere of the place with exquisite music; it could not quite
pass away into silence, it remained at last, if not in the ears, in the
souls of the listeners, a little group to the right of the stage who had
gathered there to hear the wonderful pupil, his youthful prima donna,
the great gift which, he believed, the new world had for the old.
In the midst of her song she had forgotten herself, her audience, her
first failure, even the world itself, while her young ardent soul poured
out its joy and its grief in those splendid notes. Love, that great
interpreter of the heart, had unlocked hers to sorrow, she sang with
the heart of the sorrowful; she was, first of all, as Allestree felt, an
impersonation of youth, and she sang with the soul of youth which
hopes forever; she loved, purely, unselfishly, gently, and she sang
with the love of the world on her lips, and singing thus was
supremely lovely; what matter if the old white dress was a little out of
fashion? She was a figure as symbolic of youth with its splendid
hopes, its faith, its untried strength, as she was the very
personification of beautiful womanhood.
No one spoke, no one applauded, but not an eye was dry.
But to Rose, whose ears were not filled with her own music, the
silence which followed it came with a shock of terrible revulsion. She
waited a moment in keen suspense, but no one spoke, no one
moved; the wave of silence that followed the wave of sound engulfed
her hopes, she remembered that first disappointment. Bitter dismay
swept over her, she turned away to hide her emotion, but the
maestro crossed the stage at that instant and held out his hand; he
could not praise her but there was actually a tear in his eye.
Rose looked up, and reading his face burst into tears of joy, her
hopes suddenly fulfilled.
Then the party of judges broke out with a round of applause and one
little Frenchman, with a polished pink bald head and mustaches,
shouted: “Brava!”
In the end they crowded around her and overwhelmed her with
compliments; they were eager to invite her to a supper and drink her
health in champagne, but the staid Virginia cousin, in the old-
fashioned black bonnet and the old black alpaca gown, which
outraged Paris without hiding the good heart beneath it, frowned on
this hilarity; her deep-seated suspicion of the Parisian in general had
not been dissipated by this burst of applause. She insisted that
Rose, who was trembling with excitement and the strain of the long
hours of training, should go straight back to their little apartment to
rest. A decision too full of wisdom for even Rose, eager though she
was for the sweet meed of praise, to resist it.
They drove back in a fiacre, a wild extravagance which they
ventured in view of the great success and the immediate prospects
of a fortune; the cousin felt that they were immediate.
“You all were always talented,” she said to Rose, as they drove down
the rue de Rivoli; “your mother could do anything; we always said so.
Cousin Sally Carter, too, is going to be an artist, and no one ever
made preserves like Cousin Anna’s! I reckon it’s in the family, Rose.”
“Oh, Cousin Emily!” Rose sighed, and hid her face on the alpaca
shoulder, “oh, if I can only, only sing so well that there shall be no
more terrible trouble for father!”
“Now, don’t you worry about the judge, child,” Cousin Emily replied
soothingly; “it will all come out right and, anyway, the best families
haven’t money now-a-days!” she added with ineffable disdain, “it’s
very vulgar.”
“I think I’d risk having it, though!” Rose said, with a sigh.
She was really in a dream. The softness of spring was in the
atmosphere as they drove through the gay streets, and all the trees
in the garden of the Tuileries were delicately fringed with green; the
voices of children, the sounds of laughter, now and then a snatch of
song, reminded them that it was a holiday. Rose thought of home;
the Persian lilac must be budding, the tulip trees, of course, were in
flower; a pang of homesickness seized her, a longing to see the old
house again—ah, there was the sorrow of it, could they keep the old
house much longer? With these thoughts came others, deeply
perturbed, which she tried to thrust away. She knew of Margaret’s
sudden death, but she had heard but little of it, of Fox nothing. Her
father’s letters excluded the whole matter; Mrs. Allestree’s were
chary in mention of it, and from Robert there was no word on the
subject. Gerty English, strangely enough, had not written since
Margaret’s death, and Rose could only piece together the dim
outlines of a tragedy which touched her to the soul. There had been
moments when she had been bitter against poor Margaret, had held
her responsible, now she thought of her with pity.
As these things floated before her, in a confused dream of sorrow
and regret, she was scarcely conscious of Cousin Emily’s chatter, or
of the streets through which they passed, but presently they were set
down at their own door and she paid the cabman; Cousin Emily’s
French was excellent but it belonged exclusively to the classroom
and the phrase-book, and no one in Paris understood it, a fact which
bewildered her more than any of her other experiences.
They found the pension disturbed by a fire in an adjoining house,
and Aunt Hannah was sitting on top of Rose’s trunk with her bonnet
on, waiting to be assured that the flames could not reach her.
“It’s all out, Aunt Hannah,” Rose assured her, laughing; “the
concierge says it was out half an hour ago.”
“He don’ know nuthin’ about it, Miss Rose; he ain’t sure dat he’s a
liar, an’ I knows he is, bekase I’se caught him at it,” the old woman
replied firmly; “de place might be afire sure nuff. It was one ob dem
’lection wires dat set de odder house off, an’ dis place is full ob dem;
I don’ tole him ter cut ’em loose, an’ he keep on jabberin’ like a
monkey; I ain’t got no manner ob use fo’ dese French people no-
ways!”
“Nor has Cousin Emily!” laughed Rose, taking off her hat and tossing
it to Aunt Hannah, while she passed her hand over her bright hair
with a light, deft touch which seemed to bring every ripple into a
lovelier disorder; “the poor concierge is a good soul, and he does
make us comfortable here.”
“Mebbe he is, an’ mebbe he ain’t!” said Aunt Hannah grudgingly;
“dese men folks allus waits on a pretty girl, honey, but I ’lows he’d
cheat yo’ jest de same; I’se got my eye on him sure!”
“I wish you’d take off your bonnet and get my trunk open,” retorted
Rose good naturedly; “then we’ll see if we can put the concierge in it
—if he misbehaves!”
“My sakes, honey, I done clean forgot ter gib yo’ dis letter; it’s a
telegram, I reckon; it come jest befo’ de fire broke out, an’ I’se been
settin’ on it ter keep it safe.”
It was a cablegram, and Rose stretched out an eager hand for it,
with a thrill of anticipation; it seemed as if her father must be
reaching out to her across the seas, that he already knew and
rejoiced with her for, surely, all his prejudices would dissolve at the
assurance of her success.
She opened it with trembling fingers, a smile on her lips. It fluttered
and fell to the floor; it was a cablegram to summon her home, the
judge was very ill.