Anxiety & Change: A Conversation with Bob Marshak

This is the second video produced in the 'Just in Case…' mini-series by Quality and Equality. In this video, Bob Marshak discusses Anxiety and Change by exploring the following five questions:

  1. Why is it important to talk about anxiety and change now? (1:37)

  2. Isn't some anxiety useful or needed to motivate people to change? (5:31)

  3. What are some ideas about what to do in today's work world about anxiety and change? (11:44)

  4. Do you have any additional thoughts about leadership in today’s organizations? (17:07)

  5. Any tips for how to deal with leaders in a VUCA world? (20:35)

Biography:

Robert J. Marshak is recognized as one of the leading contemporary thinkers about organizational consulting and change. He began his career as a management analyst in a U.S. government scientific agency and later served in senior executive positions in science policy before leaving to start his own global consulting practice. As a consultant, coach, or educator, he worked globally with senior leaders on strategic change initiatives. He most recently served as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence for OD Programs at American University, Washington, DC, and is currently Co-Director of the Bushe-Marshak Institute for Dialogic Organization Development.

Bob is the author of Covert Processes at Work: Managing the Five Hidden Dimensions of Organizational Change (2006), Organizational Change: Views from the Edge (2009), co-editor with Gervase Bushe of Dialogic Organization Development; The Theory and Practice of Transformational Change (2015), and Dialogic Process Consulting: Generative Meaning-Making in Action (2020), as well as more than 100 articles and book chapters on organizational consulting and change.

His contributions as a consultant, educator, and author about language and change, the hidden dynamics of organizations, and Dialogic Organization Development have been recognized by numerous awards including: The OD Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the inaugural Distinguished Educator Award from the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management. A chapter about him and his work is in the Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers (2017). His BA is from Duke University and MPA and Ph.D. degrees from American University.

Articles on Change & Anxiety by Bob Marshak:

  • Bushe, G. R., & Marshak, R. J. (2016). The dialogic mindset: Leading emergent change in a complex world. Organization Development Journal, 34(1), 37-65.

  • Marshak, R. J. (2016). Anxiety and change in contemporary organization development. OD Practitioner, 48(1),11-19.

  • Marshak, R.J., & Bushe, G. R. (2018). Planned and generative change in organization development. OD Practitioner, 50(4), 9-15.

  • Visit www.b-m-institute.com for free articles about Dialogic Organization Development and contemporary organization leadership and change.

Email:

marshak@american.edu