Creating WE

Creating WE is a book written about the ever-increasing popular style of transformational leadership. Written by Judith Glaser, a pioneer in the field of transformational leadership who has helped numerous organizations, large and small, to change and deal with challenges inside each individual organization, tells her stories about transforming organizations for the best. Her stories are about real world organizations and managers learning how to work through their challenges, while adapting new ways and ideas to run a workplace. Although this concept of helping struggling organizations adapt to new beliefs and attitudes may seem easy, it is far from it. Even with Glaser being as amazing as she is at what she does, she cannot provide fast, quick, and easy ways to convert an organization from “I” thinking to “WE” thinking. Instead she shows how the difference between “I” thinking and “WE” thinking and provides tools for leaders to use while working toward an overall “WE” centric culture within the organization, from the very upmost position to the very bottom. For change to be effective it takes lots of time and patience. Glaser’s life was traumatically changed when she was diagnosed with cancer. She uses her battle with cancer to help describe her “WE” centric model. When discussing her cancer she states:
“Cancer cells are not like normal cells. They are alone; they are isolationists disconnected from the larger organism. They are territorial, growing all over the other cells. Cancer cells draw the energy and health out of healthy cells, and they protect themselves from harm in a way that enables them to live as though they were not connected to the larger system in which they are contained” (Glaser 5).
Later in the book Glaser looks at cancer cells and compares them to failing leaders within organizations, making connections like, cancer cells drawing energy and health out of healthy cells, which in a organizational perspective is a horrible boss or leader who’s negativity and poor leadership qualities ends up effecting the rest of the passionate and enthusiastic workers. Glaser describes that to be able to create a “WE” centric thinking organization, there are three crucial elements that must be followed and lived by. They are, believing “WE”, learning “WE”, and becoming “WE”. Believing is about changing the attitudes and beliefs in the organization and how employees should act and behave. Learning is about getting rid of and forgetting about old beliefs and accepting the new “WE” centric and transformational beliefs. Finally, Becoming “WE” is all about changing how the organization and people within the organization think, from “I” to “WE”. The point I most agree with through out this whole book is communication being key. When she creates a “WE” environment she really puts an emphasis on communication from the top to the very bottom. She believes everyone in the organization should and needs to be in communication about everything. This point I really do believe in. Communication is the one thing in my mind that can either make an organization go belly up or become as successful as it wants or as it can be. Judith Glaser is without a doubt a brilliant and courageous woman. I believe that there is a lot of truth to what she says in her writing, but at times I feel as if it is taken way to far. I am and have been a believer in transformational leadership and a “WE”