William Bridges
Bibliography:
William Bridges was an American author, speaker, and organizational consultant. He emphasized the
importance of understanding transitions as a key for organizations to succeed in making changes. He
says that transition the psychological process of adapting to change. Transition consists of three phases;
letting go of the past, the "neutral zone" where the past is gone but the new isn't fully present, and
making the new beginning
Philosophy:
William Bridges says in his introduction for his book “Managing Transitions – Making the Most of
Change” (1991) that “you simply cannot get the results you need without getting into “that personal
stuff”. The results depend on getting people to stop doing things the old way and getting them to start
doing things a new way. There is no way to do that impersonally.”
Personal Influence:
William Bridges’ work around not ignoring the personal and psychological side of change resonates with
me and is embedded in my leadership style. As hard as one may try, personal life and professional life
are not completely separate and they definitely impact the other. Again, the leadership training that I
received from my mentor, Dan Miller, has integrated William Bridges’ work throughout.