Change Agency Leadership
Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS President
bassett@nais.org
Required Reading
for the
Admin Team
Creating the Conditions for Success
What is (or should be) on your leadership/change agenda?
Message to Parents: “We’re preparing children for their future, not your past.”
Message to Faculty: “Don’t bother with the ‘The colleges (or secondary schools)
won’t like it’ excuse: The colleges (or secondary schools) will like it.” (Ask them.)
Leading from the Middle
Managing Difficult Conversations: High EQ needed.
Cultivating the First Followers
Dan Pink on the “Science of Motivation.”
Dan & Chip Heath on Orchestrating Change: Switch: “How To
Change Things When Change Is Hard”
6. IDEO on Design.
7. Robert Kegan on Immunity to Change
8. Pat Bassett on Seven Stages of the Change Cycle
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Crises Leadership Case Studies
Creating a Movement ~ Derek Sivers, Ted Talk
PFB: Of the first three dancing guys, how many
are really good dancers?
Creating a Movement – 4 Principles
1. A lone nut does something great...
(PFB: Leaders don’t have to be talented, just a bit crazy.)
2. …but no movement without the first follower.
(PFB: You can’t care about the risk of looking crazy.)
3. Cultivate and celebrate the first follower…
(PFB: Show the way, then honor the first followers: e.g., Joe Biden
in catechism class)
4. …or have the courage to be the first follower.
(PFB: Moral courage the 1st virtue: Be the John Hancock to Thomas
Jefferson or the Reverend Abernathy to Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Return
Play
Return
See 11:00 – 13:07
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.htm
Drivers:
• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose
Dan Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth
about What Motivates Us
 Extrinsic Motivators (carrot & stick) for Faculty?
–
–
–
–
Carrot (“pay for performance”); and
Stick (“probation and firing”).
How are these motivators going in school?
What are the equivalent extrinsic motivators for students?
 Intrinsic Motivators for Faculty?
–
–
–
–
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
What are the equivalent intrinsic motivators for students?
Where do we see these at work for kids?
 Case Study: Name a school change agenda item we’re not
making much progress on: How could we motivate a la Pink?
The Best Way To Pay
“How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda” HBR Jul-Aug 2009
What employees value “at least as much as compensation”
Boomers
Gen Y/Millenials
1. High quality colleagues
2. Intellectually stimulating
environment
3. Autonomy regarding work tasks
Pink’s first principle, autonomy
4. Flexible work arrangements
5. Access to new
experiences/challenges
Pink’s second principle, mastery
6. Giving back to world through
work
Pink’s third principle, purpose
7. Recognition from one’s employer
The Best Way To Pay
“How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda” HBR Jul-Aug 2009
What employees value “at least as much as compensation”
Boomers
Gen Y/Millenials
1. High quality colleagues
2. Flexible work arrangements
3. Prospects for advancement
4. Recognition from one’s employer
5. A steady rate of
advancement/promotion
6. Access to new
experiences/challenges
The Best Way To Pay
“How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda” HBR Jul-Aug 2009
What employees value “at least as much as compensation”
Boomers
Gen Y/Millenials
1. High quality colleagues
1. High quality colleagues
2. Intellectually stimulating
environment
2. Flexible work arrangements
3. Autonomy regarding work tasks
3. Prospects for advancement
4. Flexible work arrangements
4. Recognition from one’s employer
5. Access to new
experiences/challenges
5. A steady rate of
advancement/promotion
6. Giving back to world through
work
6. Access to new
experiences/challenges
7. Recognition from one’s employer
Which motivator can be counterproductive to organizational goals?
Professional Development in Independent Schools:
 “Here’s $2000 per year to spend as you like: go grow.”

As opposed to, “Here’s $2000 each, join or form an online
PLC -professional learning community- on one of the
following topics, and design your professional development
program around that topic, reporting out to the faculty at the
end of the year: 1.) differentiated instruction; 2.) brainbased learning; 3.) blended high-tech/high touch classroom
environments; 4.) formative testing.”
Return
Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is
Hard ~Chip and Dan Heath (Sticky Messages)
The Rider vs. the Elephant
(e.g., adoption of new technology)
1. Direct the Rider (mind)
Find the bright spots
Script the first critical moves
Send a postcard of the destination
2. Motivate the Elephant (heart)
Find the feeling
Shrink the change (limit the
choices – cf. Sheena Ivenger)
Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is
Hard ~Chip and Dan Heath (Sticky Messages)
3. Shape the Path (path)
Tweak the environment
 Build the habits
 Rally the herd
 Example:
– Crystal Jones, TFA first-grade teacher in an inner city
school in Atlanta where there was no kindergarten. “By the
end of this school year, you are going to be third graders.”
– Geoffrey Canada: “If you child attends this school, he or
she will go to college.”
 Case Study: Name a school change agenda item we’re not
making much progress on: How could we motivate a la the
Return
Heath brothers?
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Intentions and Actions: The Gap
-----------
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
PFB Case Study 1:
Quitting Smoking
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Quitting Smoking
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned Behaviors I
Goals:
Do/Don’t Do
that Undermine
Goal
Quitting Smoking Sneaking an
occasional smoke
Rewarding
myself with a
smoke.
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do
that
Undermine
Goal
Quitting
Smoking
Sneaking an
occasional
smoke
Rewarding
myself with a
smoke.
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Invisible Competing
Drivers
Quitting Smoking
Sneaking an
occasional smoke
Smoking as
pleasurable pastime
Rewarding myself
with a smoke.
Smoking as anxiety
reliever
Smoking as oral
fixation preferable to
eating/weight gain
Foot on gas……………………and on brake
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Quitting
Smoking
Sneaking an
occasional smoke
Smoking as
pleasurable
pastime
Rewarding myself
with a smoke.
Smoking as
anxiety reliever
Smoking as oral
fixation
preferable to
eating/weight
gain
Big, Untested
Assumptions
Behind Col 3
Drivers
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Big, Untested
Assumptions
Behind Col 3
Drivers
Quitting
Smoking
Sneaking an
occasional smoke
Smoking as
pleasurable
pastime
I can’t find
equally
pleasurable
alternatives
Rewarding myself
with a smoke.
Smoking as
anxiety reliever
I might
become
someone who
is not me
Smoking
preferable to
eating/weight
Change: Identify drivers and assumptions. Test the assumptions.
gain
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Case Study 2:
Be an Innovator
Lead the Change
Agenda
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
PFB Case Study 2:
Be a Change Agent
Lead the Change
Agenda
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Case Study 2:
Be a Change Agent
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Lead the Change
Agenda
Make the case for
the rider but not the
elephant
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Invisible
Do/Don’t Do that Competing
Undermine Goal Drivers
Case Study 2:
Be a Change
Agent
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Lead the Change
Agenda
Make the case for
the rider but not
the elephant
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Invisible
Competing Drivers
Be a Change Agent
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Keeping peace more
important than
effecting change
Lead the Change
Agenda
Make the case for
the rider but not the
elephant
Fear that you won’t
have followers; that
the change won’t
work - seen as a
failure
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Be a Change
Agent
Lead the
Change
Agenda
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do
that
Undermine
Goal
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Keeping peace
more important
than effecting
change
Make the case Fear that the
for the rider but change won’t
not the
work - seen as
elephant
a failure; fear
change agent
punished
Big, Untested
Assumptions
Behind Col 3
Drivers
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Be a Change
Agent
Lead the
Change
Agenda
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do
that
Undermine
Goal
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Keeping peace
more important
than effecting
change
Make the case Fear that the
for the rider but change won’t
not the
work - seen as
elephant
a failure; fear
change agent
punished
Big, Untested
Assumptions
Behind Col 3
Drivers
No one wants
change
Failure will be
punished
instead of
trying being
rewarded
Return
PFB on the Seven Stages of the Change Cycle
Source: Center for Ethical Leadership (Bill Grace, Pat Hughes, & Pat Turner), Kellogg National Leadership Program Seminar,
Snoqualine, WA, 7/10/97. Reference: William Bridges, Transitions; Kurt Lewin, Field Theory in Social Science; Virginia Satir, The
Satir Model; George David, Compressed Experience Workplace Simulation; Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death & Dying; Tom Peters, In
Search of Excellence.
 The research on change indicates that there are
predictable stages individuals experience whenever a
major change event appears. What are they?
 Exercise:
 Identify 2 major change events in your life
 Indicate the stages you went through as the change
occurred.
 As a small group determine what stages you had in
common despite differences in the change events you
were thinking of.
The Seven Stages of the Change Cycle
Source: Center for Ethical Leadership (Bill Grace, Pat Hughes, & Pat Turner), Kellogg National Leadership Program Seminar,
Snoqualine, WA, 7/10/97. Reference: William Bridges, Transitions; Kurt Lewin, Field Theory in Social Science; Virginia Satir, The
Satir Model; George David, Compressed Experience Workplace Simulation; Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death & Dying; Tom Peters, In
Search of Excellence.
1. Business as Usual: the routine; the frozen state; the
status quo
2. External Threat: potential disaster; propitious change
event; an ending; a “death in the family”; an unfreezing
via the introduction of a foreign element;
disequilibrium; dissatisfaction with the status quo.
3. Denial: refusal to read the Richter scale; anger and
rage; chaos.
The Seven Stages of the Change Cycle
4.
Mourning: confusion; depression.
5. Acceptance: letting go.
6. Renewal: creativity; the incubation state of new
ideas and epiphanies; new beginnings; movement;
vision of what “better” might look like;
reintegration; first practical steps; practice of new
routines.
7. New Structure: sustainable change; the new status
quo; new “frozen” state of restored equilibrium;
spiritual integration; internalization and
transformation of self.
Overcoming Resistance to Change
Conventional Wisdom: Raise the Volume…
 Declare war, demonize the enemy, mobilize the
public
Problems with Raising the Volume in School
Culture…
 Skepticism: Teachers are intellectuals--declarations
of imminent collapse are met with suspicion.
 Good is the enemy of great: Jim Collins’ Good to
Great. Absence of provoking crisis makes avoidance
easy.
Overcoming Resistance to Change
Problems with Raising the Volume in School Culture…
 Success: Track record of independent schools the
greatest impediment to change: We can’t declare war
when schools are enjoying decades of peace and
prosperity. So why advocate change????
 Increasingly the public identifies high quality schools with
innovativeness, and least identifies innovativeness with
independent schools.
 The independent school model may not be financially
sustainable in it current incarnation of skyrocketing tuitions.
 What’s best for kids needs to be reasserted as institutions
almost always over time gravitate towards doing what’s best for
adults.
Effecting Change
Developing Followership for Change:
 Coercive model works (“We’re about to close unless all
faculty including department chairs teach five classes
instead of four with 20-25 kids in each class”)…
…but it works at a high cost to morale.
 Appeal to idealism works (“We have an opportunity to
create a new model here and become pioneers”)…
…but it works only if you have a highly committed
“band of brothers” and strong, visionary, and
inspirational leadership.
Effecting Change
Developing Buy-in for Change:
 Mutual benefit (“What’s in it for me?”) model works
(“Beyond supporting this direction because ‘it’s the right
thing to do,’ we are designing a new framework that is
mutually beneficial to the school and its staff”)…
…but it works only if you build in significant
incentives.
Overcoming Resistance to Change
Alternative to Conventional Wisdom (Raise
the Volume)…
Lower the Noise…
By…
 Talking about/Personalizing Change:
Anticipating the Seven Stages
 Betting on the Fastest Horses
Acknowledging Denial & Mourning
Stages of Change
All change begins not with a beginning but an
ending.
• Example: Getting married = end of…
being single
unconditional love
having your own bathroom (and towels)
the sports car
Effecting Change
Abstracting and Personalizing Change
Faculty exercise: What are your own major change events? A move?
Marriage? Admin job? Can we predict & prepare for stages?
Change Agency: Bet on the Fast Horses
 Main Impediment to Change:
Consensus model of decision making.
(“My biggest challenge is convincing my faculty
members that they are not self-employed.”) ~Lou Salza
 Coalition-building Model: Betting on the Fastest Horses: targeted
buy-in via modeling. Ride the “tipping point” horses. (Malcolm
Gladwell’s mavens, connectors, and salespeople).
 Recruiting “the coalition of the willing.” Margaret Mead Dictum:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the
world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Case Studies
 Professionalizing the
Profession
 Student and School Outcomes
for the 21st C:
Demonstrations of Learning
Change Agency Case Study #1
Professionalizing the
Profession at your School
Strategic Issue: Professionalizing the Profession
Source: Katherine Boles, HGSE/NAIS Seminar, Nov. 2006
Characteristic
Not a Profession
Career Path
Egalitarianism — no career
ladder
Isolation — practice is a
freelance craft
A Profession
Professional Development
Recognition for achievement
— clearly defined career path
Teaming — practices
characterized by teamwork
and collaboration
Poor preparation — "anyone Rigor — High entry
can do it"
requirements: standards,
skills, testing
Little or no mentoring
Mentoring is the expectation
& the norm
Weak or nonexistent
Integral to the career
Research
Practice unrelated to research Research informs practice
Accountability
Outcomes unrelated to
Accountability across the
promotion and salary
board
Little impact on institutional Shared decision making
decisions
Professional Relationships
Entry and Training
Induction
Power Structure
Return
The End!
“So what’s it gonna be, eh?”
A Clockwork Orange
NAIS Strategic Planning: Breakout Groups
(partnerships; school of future;
sustainability, etc.)
Return
Why doesn’t anyone want to sit at the innovation table?
Design Thinking by IDEO (Fred Dust)

Know the threats to your value proposition. For Higher Ed? For
independent schools?
– Fred Dust: The moment Google starts hiring smart self-educated
people who submit digital portfolios of what they can do instead of
college transcripts of what they know, the higher ed value
proposition is in jeopardy.
– PFB: High Tech High. Denver & St. Louis Magnet Schools

Think people first, not business or technology first.
– Segway vs. Zip cars & bikes
– PFB: Hardware before peopleware?

Question assumptions about your users. Look but don't ask, because
you'll get misinformation: What kind of music do you listen to when
alone in your car? Watch people in context. (IDEO design teams
include psychologists and anthropologists.)
– What assumptions do we make about our students? Colleagues?
– How do we punish those who don’t conform to cultural norms?
Design Thinking by IDEO (Fred Dust)
 Expand your comparative set. For schools?
– Grad schools. Military. Museums. Summer Camp.
 Expand your Ecosystem. School 2.0. Do you really need a
new building?
– New School in NYC & Lighthouse School in Nantucket
(and all the Semester Schools).
– Dartmouth quarter plan. Blended learning ½ time.
 Build your own metrics.
– PFB: Demonstrations of Learning. Digital portfolios.
 Undertake small scale experiments. Figure out what do
you immediately.
– PFB: Challenge 20/20
Return
RSAnimate’s 21st C. Enlightenment
Play
Demonstrations of Learning:
“What you do, not what you know, the ultimate
test of education.” ~PFB Tweet
1. Conduct a fluent conversation in a foreign language about
of piece of writing in that language.
2. Write a cogent and persuasive opinion piece on a matter of
public importance.
3. Declaim with passion and from memory a passage that is
meaningful, of one’s own or from the culture’s literature or
history.
4. Demonstrate a commitment to creating a more sustainable
and global future with means that are scalable
5. Invent a machine or program a robot capable of performing
a difficult physical task.
Demonstrations of Learning
6. Exercise leadership in arena which you have
passion and expertise.
7. Using statistics, assess if a statement by a public
figure is demonstrably true.
8. Assess media coverage of a global event from
various cultural/national perspectives.
9. Describe a breakthrough for a project-based team
on which you participated in which you contributed
to overcoming a human-created obstacle.
10. Produce or perform or interpret a work of art.
Return
Return
Tiananmen Square
Return
Lessons in Leadership from Montpelier
How Do You Lead without Positional Power?
(How does positional power work?)
 James Madison arrived at the Philadelphia
Convention in 1787 with no positional power but a big
idea.
 Instead of reforming the Articles of Confederation,
abandon them.
 No one else except Alexander Hamilton came thinking
the Federalist Papers were right.
 Everyone left proposing a new constitution. How?
Three Sources of non-Positional Power
 Informational/Expertise Power: What are the facts?
 Interpersonal/Relational Power: High EQ trumps
all.
 Associative Power: Networking. Malcolm Gladwell’s
“tipping point” leadership: maven, connector, salesperson.
------------------------------
The Slavery Paradox of the Founding Fathers: Leadership is
the art of the messy possible within the long view context of the
ideal potential. What made abolition of slavery possible 100 years
later and the election of Obama 200 years later.
Takeaways from Montpelier
How Do You Lead without Positional Power?
 Positional Power: Since it’s rooted in the
“willingness of the governed” to accept the dicta of
people in power or in coercion by force, outcomes
often compromised.
 Leaders in the Middle have real power: learn to
develop it and cultivate it.
 Leaders in the middle can and do change the world.
Remember Margaret Meade’s observation: “Never
underestimate the power of a handful of people to
change the world. After all, it’s the only thing that
ever does.”
Return
Title
1.
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What
Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen
You’re
holding
me up.
How’s the
project
coming?
You’re a jerk.
I hate you.
Fine,
thanks.
Levels: Stated vs. Implied. Business at hand vs. Threats to my image.
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What
Title
Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen
She doesn’t
get what my
work
demands..
The Spouse/Partner Version
. it wait?
Can
I’m busy
You think you’re only
busy one?
You don’t love me.
Fine.
Return
Puzzle: Mishandled conversations create the very outcomes we dread.
Demonstrations of Learning:
“What you do, not what you know, the ultimate test of
education.” ~PFB Tweet
1. Conduct a fluent conversation in a foreign language about
of piece of writing in that language. (Stanford University
requirement)
2. Write a cogent and persuasive opinion piece on a matter of
public importance.
3. Declaim with passion and from memory a passage that is
meaningful, of one’s own or from the culture’s literature or
history.
4. Demonstrate a commitment to creating a more sustainable
and global future with means that are scalable
5. Invent a machine or program a robot capable of performing
a difficult physical task.
Demonstrations of Learning
6. Exercise leadership in arena which you have passion and
expertise.
7. Using statistics, assess if a statement by a public figure is
demonstrably true.
8. Assess media coverage of a global event from various
cultural/national perspectives. (“Arab Spring” vs. 6th grade US
history unit on “causes of the revolution”)
9. Describe a breakthrough for a project-based team on which
you participated in which you contributed to overcoming a
human-created obstacle.
10. Produce or perform or stage or interpret a work of art.
Grant Wood’s Victorian Survival
Smithsonian Podcast
interpretation by Katy
Waldman, Holton
Arms School
Return
The Five Cs Plus One
 Character
 Creativity
 Communication
 Collaboration
 Critical Thinking
---------------------------------------------- Cosmopolitanism – Cross Cultural Competency
Ten (more) Trends for School Leaders to Ponder
(see Top Ten Trends 2010-11 PPT for First Ten)
1. Boards Become Focused on the Strategic: Trendbook 2012-13
2. Disruptions in K-12 Sector Will Provide Challenges &
Opportunities
3. Disruptions in Higher Ed Will Produce New Expectations
4. The Future of Mobile is the Future of Everything
5. Market Segmentation as the New Marketing Imperative
6. Cosmopolitanism Emerging as the “Sixth Competency” Schools of
the Future
7. Hyper-Parenting and Under-Parenting Exerting a Heavy Toll on
Kids
8. Beyond the 3 R’s of Recruitment, Reward, & Retention: Managing
Talent a Priority
9. Design Thinking Migrating to Schools…and Ideas
10. Schools will be more Flexible, Accommodating, and Innovative
Are We Ready for the Big Shifts?
(cf. MacArthur Foundation, 21st. C. Learning)
The Big Shifts
 Knowing…………….. Doing
 Teacher-centered…… Student-centered
 The Individual………. The Team
 Consumption of Info….Construction of Meaning
 Schools………………..Networks (online peers & experts)
 Single Sourcing……… Crowd Sourcing
-------------------------------------------------------------------- High Stakes Testing….. High Value Demonstration
(robotics; oral video histories; vignettes; inventions;
scholarship; etc. –all captured in a student’s digital
portfolio)
Return
NAIS Film Vignettes
Download from: http://www.blueskybroadcast.com/Client/NAIS/Case/case.html
NB: IGE’s 4-way test: legal, front page, gut, role model.
•NAIS Case Study #1: Harsh Transitions in the Second Grade
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
• NAIS Case Study #2: Shock and Scandal
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
• NAIS Case Study #5: Clash of Styles of Leaders
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
• NAIS Case Study #9: Administrative Evaluations
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
• NAIS Case Study #11: Digging Deeper for the Campaign
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
• NAIS Case Study #13: Taking Charge…by a Trustee
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
NAIS Case Study Film Vignettes
Download from: http://www.blueskybroadcast.com/Client/NAIS/Case/case.html
• NAIS Case Study #15: Marriage of a Student
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
• NAIS Case Study #28: Peanuts Allergy
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
• NAIS Case Study #29: Anonymous Letter from the Faculty
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
• NAIS Case Study #30: Breaking the Rules…by the Adults
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
• NAIS Case Study #31: Admissions Package Deal
(NAIS’s Take on the Issues)
Return
Are you prepared
to face increasing
competition for a
decreasing number of
students?
Return
“St. Louis Magnet Schools
offer an EXCITING,
TUITION FREE alternative
for students of all ages
and abilities.”
Cosmopolitanism & Global
Cross-Cultural Competency
Cross-Cultural Intelligence
(Source: Steven Jones, Consultant)
One Traditional Norm Set
One Multicultural Norm Set
 Directness
 Respect, tact, diplomacy, avoid
 Ambition, aggressiveness, pride,
initiative
“losing face”
 Modesty
 Independence
 Interdependence
 Loyalty to job, institutions;
 Loyalty to individuals, extended
 Strong presentation skills
 Accents, body language
 Seriousness
 Relaxed, playful
 Monochromic
 Polychromic
 Timeliness
 Whenever
volunteerism
family
“The Cultural
Iceberg”
~Dr. Else Hamayan
TWO PHOTOS:
Assignment: “Create the most aesthetically pleasing shot.”
(Two Photos Source: http://gonzophotos.com/wordpress/?p=333)
Same subject, different photographers: Which photo is more
pleasing to you?
Which was photographed by an American and which by an East
Asian?
Culture’s aphorisms: US “squeaky wheel” vs. Japan’s “nail”
Cultural GPS (“There’s an App for that!”)
• iPhone App based on Geert Hofsted’s
research on national cultures, helps the user
“deal with the differences in thinking,
feeling, and acting of people around the
globe…”
• 98 countries
• 5 dimension model:
 Power Distance
 Individualism
 Masculinity
 Uncertainty Avoidance
 Long-Term Orientation
(PDI)
(IDV)
(MAS)
(UAI)
(LTO)
Cultural GPS
Power Distance : Level of acceptance of unequal
distribution of power
 Low: little hierarchy, accessible superiors, belief in
equity & justice, change by evolution.
 High: inequality accepted; hierarchy needed;
inaccessible superiors; privileged power holders;
change by revolution.
Individualism: Level of self-reliance vs. collective
reliance on clans and organizations
 Low: “we” orientation; relationships over tasks; duty
to family, group, society; penalty involves loss of face,
shame.
 High: “I” consciousness; private opinions valued;
fulfill obligations to self; penalty involves loss of selfrespect & guilt
Cultural GPS
Masculinity: Femininity values of caring, quality of life,
modesty, cooperation vs. masculinity values of achievement,
success, heroism, assertiveness, competition, material reward
for success.
 Low: quality of life, serving others, striving for consensus,
small and slow valued, intuition, empathy
 High: performance, ambition, excelling, polarizing, workorientation, big and fast valued, decisiveness, achievement.
Uncertainty Avoidance: Extent to which ambiguity and
uncertainty are threatening: seek to control or ride the wave
 Low: relaxed attitudes where practice more important than
principle; hard work not a virtue per se, emotions not
shown, dissent accepted, flexibility, fewer rules
 High: anxiety and stress high, work-driven, emotions
accepted, conflict is threatening, need for agreement, laws,
rules.
Cultural GPS
Long-Term Orientation: Future-oriented perspective
aligned with a society’s search for virtue vs.
conventional, historical, or short-term point of view,
normative thinking
 Low: conventional, seek stability & absolute truth,
need quick results
 High: see many truths, pragmatic, change-adept,
persevere
Cultural GPS: U.S. vs. Japan
PFB… in Japan: Tsunami Headlines. Department Chair Selection
…in China: Getting on the bus….
What Countries Like/Unlike US?
Cultural GPS: U.S. (GNP) vs. Bhutan (GNH)
Return