The one-sentence summary

It is possible to make sense of life’s changes by viewing change as transitions that bring opportunities as well as turmoil.

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 WHAT THE BOOK SAYS

  • This is a classic originally written 40 years ago, and now updated by the late author’s wife and business partner.
  • Whether you choose change or it is thrust upon you, it is possible to map the transition process. It has three main phases:
  1. The Ending. Every transition begins with one. Too often we confuse them with finality. A fresh way to think about endings is essential to how we can begin anew.
  2. The Neutral Zone: A time of reorientation. How can we make the most of it?
  3. The New Beginning: A successful new beginning requires an understanding of the external signs and inner signals that point the way to the future.
  • All of this involves the difficult process of letting go of an old situation, suffering the confusing nowhere of in-betweenness, and launching forth again in a new situation. Each phase can be understood and embraced, leading to less stress and better decision-making.
  • Careers are punctuated by frequent changes, each of which demands a transition from an old way of doing things and an old identity to a new one. These take a significant toll on productivity by siphoning off energy and time usually used for performing jobs. If that temporary displacement happens only to a few individuals, it is their problem, but when it occurs on a large scale, it becomes the organization’s Regardless of the scale, the transition always starts with an ending. To become something else, you have to stop being what you are now and adopt a new attitude or outlook. Even though it sounds backward, endings always come first. The first task is to let go.
  • In the Neutral Zone, everything feels as though it is up for grabs. And you don’t quite know who you are or how you are supposed to behave. This may feel like a meaningless time, but it’s actually very important. Individuals need to pay attention to signals and cues that indicate what they need to become for the next stage of their life.
  • Rites of passage, a term coined by Dutch anthropologist Arnold van Gennep about a century ago, involves three phases: separation, transition and incorporation. These dovetail well with ending, the neutral zone and the new beginning.
  • The natural ending experience has five aspects:
  1. Disengagement: separation from what has been lost; letting go.
  2. Dismantling: taking apart the structure, be it physical or mental.
  3. Disidentification: loss destroys the old identity someone had.
  4. Disenchantment: disappointment, feeling let down or disillusioned.
  5. Disorientation: feeling bewildered and lost as parts slip away.

 WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT

  • From a personal perspective, there are two questions that can help individuals to explore what transition means when they are confronted by it:
  1. What is it time to let go of in my own life right now?
  2. What is standing backstage, in the wings of my life, waiting to make its entrance?
  • For deeper analysis, consider:
  1. What are the indications that your work life is in transition?
  2. What is the developmental context of this work-life transition?
  3. Imagine that you are really old. What kind of change would you look back on and say was needed at this point?
  • We often dream of returning to normality, but it is a dream. Chaos and change are the new reality, so we need to let go of the fantasy. Considering that we have to deal with endings all our lives, most of us handle them poorly. We take them too seriously by confusing them with finality, as in that’s it, all over, never more, or it’s finished.
  • It is important to accept the need for thinking time in the neutral zone. It leads to understanding about why things are currently the way they are, and why people may feel stalled at the very time changes are happening around them. During this uncertain period, individuals should take time to think regularly on their own, begin a log of neutral-zone experiences, and take the opportunity to discover what they really want.

 WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

  • The book was written some time ago, but the tenets remain relevant to any company or individual in transition.