Know Your Tuning: How Do Your Default Responses to Environmental Factors Affect Your Ability to Lead Adaptive Change?

By: Alexander Grashow and Marty Linsky and Ronald Heifetz

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Synopsis: Each person is like a stringed instrument, tuned in a slightly different way from everyone else. Your tuning derives from many different things: your childhood experiences, genetic predispositions, cultural background, gender, and loyal identifications with various current and historic groups. Those strings vibrate continuously, communicating to those around you who you are, what is important to you, where your sensitivities lie, and how you might be vulnerable. Knowing how the environment is pulling your strings and playing you is critical to making responsive rather than reactive moves. This chapter will help you evaluate how your strings are tuned to respond to the challenges and opportunities of adaptive change. This chapter was originally published as chapter 15 of "The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World."