Developing Corporate Character

Alan Wilkins explains how an organization with strong character can more successfully adapt to change, develop new skills, and ensure a successful future without sacrificing established values or strengths. He offers step-by-step instructions on how to determine the readiness of an organization to change--and how to identify directions and strategies most likely to succeed. And he reveals the signs that indicate the erosion of corporate character and suggests specific management practices to overcome such problems.

• PrefaceThe Author1. What Happened on the Way to Excellence?Part One: Making Changes While Preserving Character2. Assess Corporate Charcater: Determining What to Keep and What to Change3. Change the Organization Without Losing CharacterPart Two: Developing and Implementing a Corporate Vision4. Negotiate a Shared Vision: Finding a Future That Fits5. Implement the Vision: Making the Dream Real6. Influence Corporate Character from the Middle: Not Waiting for the CEOPart Three: Perpetuating the Distinctive Corporate Character7. Keep Faith with the Corporate Character: Upholding Key Commitments8. Make the Corporate Character Adaptive: Maintaining Tension Between Tradition and Change9. Create Corporate Character That Lasts: Honoring the Past and Changing the FutureResources for Change: A Guide for Assessing Corporate Character in OrganizationsReferencesIndex