Leading, Influencing and Managing Change based on the novel 1984 by George Orwell

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has" Margaret Mead once stated. Her statement exactly expresses why the peaceful revolution of 1989 in former East Germany was successful in not only changing the political system from totalitarian socialism into a real democracy but also re-uniting West- and East Germany: the people overcame the government. Beyond this, it also explains why Winston Smith, the main character and rebel in George Orwell’s novel 1984 failed in the battle against the totalitarian regime under which he lived: he was not the “people” and only part of a group of two. Consequently, the goal of this term paper is to develop implications for leading change based on my readings. First of all, I will give a summary of the novel 1984 written by George Orwell. In the second part of this paper, I will draw a comparison between the scenario of 1984 and the real world example of former East Germany in 1989 to underline the applicability of the leadership implications given later. After this distinction, I will analyze the different leadership styles of the key characters Winston Smith (rebel) and O’Brien (the system) in 1984 as well as of Reverent Christian Führer (the rebel) in 1989 who initiated indirectly over a time frame of six to nine years the peaceful revolution in the former German Democratic Republic
(GDR). As for the counterrevolution in the GDR, I will point out briefly how the system as a whole tried to prevent the collapse of the nation. This paper ends with a conclusion.