Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds (Book)
Howard Gardner, Author.  Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2004.

This book offers insights on how we can effectively lead change. "The human mind," writes Howard Gardner, "is a human creation, and all human creations can be changed."

In the first section of the book, he describes the seven "levers" he believes assist or deter the process of mind change: reason, research, resonance, redescriptions, resources and rewards, real world events, and resistances. In the second section he offers case studies illustrating how these levers contribute to or prevent significant mind changes. Although the book is not written for a church audience, the numerous examples and case studies provided are readily transferable to parish life.

Gardner argues that individuals who can make others feel that they matter are most likely to bring about changes that they desire. He also contends that the primary way to effect large-scale change in a diverse population is for the leader to articulate, clearly and authentically, the group’s story and the reason she or he desires change. In addition, the more ways in which a leader can make the case for change—what Gardner calls "redescriptions"—the more apt change is to occur. Finally, the leader’s life and values must embody the story of change that he or she seeks to implement.

Changing Minds would be helpful to any church leader who is interested in dissecting past failures and triumphs and to those preparing for future efforts to transform the communities in which they worship and live.

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See also these resources:

Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership (Book)
Howard Gardner, Emma Laskin, Authors.  New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1996.
Addressing the questions of how we define leadership and how leadership in one sphere translates into others, Howard Gardner considers the life and work of eleven leaders in education, science, business, the military, politics, and faith.

The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations (Book)
Peter M. Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard Ross, George Roth, Bryan Smith, Authors.  New York, NY: Doubleday, 1999.
Peter Senge and others develop and apply systems theory to the leadership task of starting and sustaining productive, developmental life in organizations.