Stick! - Andy Pritchett

With deceptively simple illustrations, Pritchett manages to convey a surprising amount of energy and activity. He really nails the idea of a puppy with a stick who wants to play.

Library copy

This small book appears to be intended for the employees of organizations going through a major planned change process. The authors are evidently change consultants, and I pity their clients if this is how the consultants recommend companies communicate with their employees during times of great stress. The tone is ridiculously condescending and paternalistic, written in a hearty “just us regular guys” sort of jargon you see with adults who try to come across as “cool” with teenagers. Excerpts from the opening chapter:

“Mother Earth is producing a lot more people. And people cause change. Like, they make stuff.”

“The third powerful force driving change is information. Knowledge. Get this. There was more information produced in the 30 years between 1965 and 1995 than was produced in the entire 5,000-year period from 3000 B.C. to 1965.”

The essential message the authors convey in their 15 “basic mistakes” chapters is that, if you are feeling stressed or unhappy about the change process at your organization, you just need to get over yourself and deal with it, because your unhappiness is all your own fault. “Upper management” has their reasons, which are most likely in your own best interests if you want to continue having a job, and you’re just too stupid or not important enough to understand them. You are not encouraged to ask questions or to try to understand so you can better contribute. You are instead advised to shut up, surrender, get with the program, and follow orders. The only piece of advice that is not couched in a completely offensive manner is the survival tip advising employees to actively seek new assignments in order to keep their skills and work experience marketable and desirable, which is good advice at all times, independent of organizational change.

Compare this to the Managing Transitions book, where the authors actually advise change agents to first sell the problem necessitating the change, communicate the plan, and recognize that changing employee behavior requires that we recognize that people are always losing something in a change and need to be given space to grieve that loss, even while we’re moving them toward a new identity and way of being.

This was a required text for my Organizational Assessment class.

As I was not yet writing reviews when I read this book, I don't have reviews for each of the short stories included in this anthology. So here are my ratings; if I ever reread the book, I intend to add reviews.

★★★☆☆ The Tapestried Chamber by Sir Walter Scott
★★★☆☆ The Phantom Coach by Amelia B. Edwards
★★☆☆☆ Squire Toby's Will by J.S. le Fanu
★★★☆☆ The Shadow in the Corner by M.E. Braddon
★★★★★ The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford
★★☆☆☆ A Wicked Voice by Vernon Lee
★★★★☆ The Judge's House by Bram Stoker
★★★★☆ Man-Size in Marble by E. Nesbit
★★★☆☆ The Roll-Call of the Reef by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
★★☆☆☆ The Friends of the Friends by Henry James
★★★☆☆ The Red Room by H.G. Wells
★★★☆☆ The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs
★★★★☆ The Lost Ghost by Mary E. Wilkins
★★☆☆☆ 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' by M.R. James
★★★★☆ The Empty House by Algernon Blackwood
★★★☆☆ The Cigarette Case by Oliver Onions
★★★☆☆ Rose Rose by Barry Pain
★★☆☆☆ The Confession of Charles Linkworth by E.F. Benson
★★☆☆☆ On the Brighton Road by Richard Middleton
★★☆☆☆ Bone to His Bone by E.G. Swain
★★☆☆☆ The True History of Anthony Ffryar by Arthur Gray
★★☆☆☆ The Taipan by W. Somerset Maugham
★★☆☆☆ The Victim by May Sinclair
★★★☆☆ A Visitor from Down Under by L.P. Hartley
★★★☆☆ Fullcircle by John Buchan
★★★★☆ The Clock by W.F. Harvey
★★★☆☆ Old Man's Beard by H. Russel Wakefield
★★★☆☆ Mr. Jones by Edith Wharton
★★★★☆ Smee by A.M. Burrage
★★☆☆☆ The Little Ghost by Hugh Walpole
★★★☆☆ Ahoy, Sailor Boy! by A.E. Coppard
★★★☆☆ The Hollow Man by Thomas Burke
★★☆☆☆ Et in Sempiternum Pereant by Charles Williams
★★★☆☆ Bosworth Summit Pound by L.T.C. Rolt
★★★☆☆ An Encounter in the Mist by A.N.L. Munby
★☆☆☆☆ Hand in Glove by Elizabeth Bowen
★★★☆☆ A Story of Don Juan by V.S. Pritchett
★☆☆☆☆ Cushi by Christopher Woodforde
★★★☆☆ Bad Company by Walter de la Mare
★★★☆☆ The Bottle of 1912 by Simon Raven
★★★☆☆ The Cicerones by Robert Aickman
★★☆☆☆ Soft Voices at Passenham by T.H. White