Inspiring Lives: Personal Stories of Sustained Transformation

About the Book

Lessons Learned from Stories of Adult Intentional Change that led to Sustained Transformation, and their implications for Organizational Change and Transformation. This book yields insights about individual circumstances surrounding personal change journeys and how they eventually emerged into a new life of meaning, purpose and destiny. Are the processes of change and transformation the same? What provokes self-initiated (intentional) change in midlife? In a compelling study Inspiring Lives: Personal Stories of Sustained Transformation, author Myrna Araneta, Ph.D., examines the circumstances and processes involved in self-initiated and transformative adult change that yields insights about why and how people intentionally change in midlife. Using descriptive metaphors from nature, this book reveals some lessons learned that offer insights to individuals who will need to undergo a similar journey and their lessons and implications for organizational change and transformation. This book reveals that multiple circumstances that provoked transformative change include external experiences that created internal crises, dilemmas, discomfort, and the leap of faith to innovate one’s life. Findings also suggest that pathways to successful transformation is not one long straight road from a starting point to a finish line but, that it unfolds as a lengthy, evolving, and challenging process. An enlightening read, Inspiring Lives: Personal Stories of Sustained Transformation is filled with insights and lessons that can be utilized and implemented by others seeking to create their own process of change that may lead to personal transformation.

About the Author

Dr. Myrna Araneta, as an organizational systems psychologist, describes her role in organizations as one of providing valueadded partnerships with individuals, groups, and organizations in their pathways to change and transformation, resulting in clarity of insights and effective execution of solutions. She has a total of 25 years of various role assignments as a leader, a manager, and as an internal consultant in organizational development/effectiveness (OD/E) with three of Fortune 20 U.S. corporations. She worked in partnerships with senior executives and managers as well as with individuals and groups across different levels in the organization. Her assignments involved (a) identifying timely initiatives to address business, individual, team, and organizational performance issues; (b) designing and implementing opportunities for work-process change; (c) helping to strategically and effectively deploy diverse human resource talents against the business needs; (d) training individuals and groups in the appropriate use of change processes and organizational development tools for effectively implementing their roles and relationships with others; (e) using performance constellations to tap into the informing and invisible human dynamics, identify directional needs, address human blind spots, and other issues that are barriers to effective implementation of solutions. As an organization systems psychologist, Dr. Araneta consults as a leadership and business organizational systems coach. At present she also conducts in-depth workshops on Integrated Life Redesign and the use of Labyrinths and Mazes in charting pathways to transformation.