--- title: "The Little Black Book of Change: Ch. 1 / Shift 1: Letting go of the past (part 2 of 8)" description: "Part 2 of 8 e-books giving you complimentary access to The Little Black Book of Change: The 7 Fundamental Shifts for Change Management that Delivers." image: https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/hubfs/AB-LBOC-chapter1.jpg --- - [Home](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/) - [How we help](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/how-we-help) - [Leadership & team development](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/how-we-help/services/leadership-and-team-development) - [Enabling change](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/how-we-help/services/enabling-change) - [Collaboration & business partnering](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/how-we-help/services/business-and-supplier-partnering) - [Culture transformation](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/how-we-help/services/culture-transformation) - [Breakthrough Thinking methodology](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/how-we-help/services/methodology-breakthrough-thinking) - [L&D programmes](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/how-we-help/our-programmes) - [Blended & virtual learning](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/how-we-help/services/virtual-breakthrough) - [Challenges we solve](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/how-we-help/challenges-we-solve) - [Clients](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/who-we-work-with) - [Who we work with](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/who-we-work-with) - [Case studies](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/case-studies) - [Where we work](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/where-we-work) - [About](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/about) - [Our people](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/about/our-people) - [Humanifesto](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/about/our-story) - [100% responsibility](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/about/responsibility) - [Careers](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/about/careers) - [Resources](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/ebooks/little-black-book-of-change-ebook-series-part-2#!) - [![leadership](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/hubfs/leadership_link.jpg)Leadership blog](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/leadership) - [![podcast](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/hubfs/podcast_image.jpg)Podcast](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/podcast) - [![Whitepaper blog](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/uploads/files/whitepaper-thumbnail.jpg)Whitepaper blog](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/whitepaper-blog) - [![Whitepaper](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/uploads/files/whitepaper-blog-thumb.png)Whitepaper](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/whitepaper-landing-page) - [Contact](https://www.achievebreakthrough.com/contact) - [Login](https://training.achievebreakthrough.com/login) ###### E-book # The Little Black Book of Change: Ch. 1 / Shift 1: Letting go of the past (part 2 of 8) ![Achieve Breakthrough](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/hubfs/AchieveBreakthroughLogoAbDeviceOnlyFullColour.png) ### Achieve Breakthrough ![The Little Black Book of Change: Ch. 1 / Shift 1: Letting go of the past (part 2 of 8)](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/hubfs/AB-LBOC-chapter1.jpg "The Little Black Book of Change: Ch. 1 / Shift 1: Letting go of the past (part 2 of 8)") The LBBC synopsis  The Little Black Book of Change (The 7 Fundamental Shifts for Change Management that Delivers) is now available as a free 8 part e-book series. Start downloading today your go-to-guide to delivering effective and transformative change that lasts. The Little Black Book of Change is co-authored by Achieve Breakthrough CEO Mike Straw and Paul Adams - an experienced CEO of both corporate and SME organisations, as well as one of our longstanding clients. The book provides a practical, concise and insightful guide to understanding your organisation and inventing something extraordinary - and is based on Achieve Breakthroughs core leadership and cultural philosophies.  It is not about 'run of the mill' change programmes. It is about delivering extraordinary results – something that is not at all predictable. It will be your insight into creating significant shifts in the way people think and behave which can be applied in any area you wish; from improving service levels to cost reductions, innovation or increasing market share.   Chapter One / Shift One: Letting go of the past In the book The Merlin Factor, Charles E. Smith warned that one of the greatest obstacles to performance breakthroughs in organisations was peoples’ beliefs. These beliefs are “logical” (to them) and self-limiting about what’s possible for them to achieve – and they’re purely based on the past.   There is an alternative - which Mike and Paul explore in this e-book chapter. Instead of leading from the past, you can lead from the future. In order to lead from the future, you need to define a future achievement that would normally be considered impossible at the time of commitment given the existing ways of working, historical performance and current evidence – and then you make an absolute commitment to it. #### Thank you for filling in the form firstname, we hope you find this content valuable.  [Download this eBook](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/hubfs/Achieve-Breakthrough-The-Little-Black-Book-Of-Change-1-Letting-Go-Of-The-Past.pdf) #### Welcome back firstname, please complete the form below to download the document. ### Share - [![twitter](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/hubfs/icon-twitter-pink.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/ebooks/little-black-book-of-change-ebook-series-part-2&original_referer=http://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/) - [![linkedin](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/hubfs/icon-linkedin-pink.png)](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/ebooks/little-black-book-of-change-ebook-series-part-2&source=http://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/) ### Keep reading ###### [![](https://thinking.achievebreakthrough.com/hubfs/Untitled%20design-39.png) E-book Read. 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