Author Name: Thomas Jay Delong

One evening in the early 1990s, I sat on a bench in Grand Central Station, trying to figure out if I had the energy or desire to take the Metro-North train home. I considered whether to move our family from the Rockies to New York City to take on a job that seemed beyond any abilities I imagined I possessed. I worried about whether it was possible to effect the changes my boss wanted and the organization needed. I wondered if I could facilitate the senior management team so they could operate more effectively. I worried about whether we could even begin operating with the massive number of offices we planned to create in the coming months. I wrestled with whether it was ever possible to get traders and investment bankers to support each other while sharing the same room or building. I had serious doubts about whether I could provide the necessary feedback to the CEO to help him improve his already exceptional performance. When I looked at my watch and realized it was 1:00 and I had been sitting on the bench for two hours, I knew things weren't going to go on like this. After I was able to get out of my seat, board the train, and head home, I began to think about the fears and traps that plague professionals with a high need for achievement, of which I am an official member. Since completing my doctoral studies in the winter of 1979, I have been thinking deeply about this topic and about how ambitious people are often their own worst enemies. As a professor at Harvard Business School and a former Morgan Stanley executive, I have had countless opportunities to interact with and study professionals with a high need for achievement. Achievement may be an unfamiliar term, but you know the type: motivated, ambitious, goal-oriented, myopically success-oriented, etc. Throughout this book, I will use this and other terms interchangeably to refer to the high need for achievement type. My interest in these professionals has been consistent with my consulting and writing related to the change process. As I listened, learned, and experimented with applying the principles of the Theory of Change to situations involving achievement-hungry professionals, I began to develop a change process for this group; a process that would help them learn and grow from stagnation.