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We Can’t Wait for Change
Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “If we don’t change the direction we’re going, we are likely to end up where we are headed.”
Transformation is possible for anyone willing to learn and live good values, value people, and collaborate with others to create a positive values culture. That means you can change your world.
Gandhi said, “For things to change, first I must change.” Changing your world requires a similar shift in thinking. You need to challenge your assumptions—from assuming you can’t or shouldn’t try to change your world to someone who can and should. You need to believe you can do something about the problems you see. You need to believe you can make a difference no matter who you are, where you are, and with whatever you have. You need to have hope.
Jonathan Sacks, in The Dignity of Difference, wrote, “One of the most important distinctions I have learned in the course of reflection on Jewish history is the difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is the belief that things will be better. Hope is the faith that, together, we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue; hope, an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope.”
Have hope for yourself. Adopt a change-your-world mindset. Recognize that people change when they:
- Hurt enough that they have to. The most basic impetus for change is pain.
- See enough that they are inspired to
- Learn enough that they want to
- Receive enough that they are able to. The world is not looking for more dreamers. It is looking for dream makers. Brad Montague, the creator of the Kid President videos and television show, stated it clearly, “Dare to Dream, but please also Do. For Dreamers are many, but Doers are few.”
As Pastor Tony Evans said, “If you want a better world, composed of better nations, inhabited by better states, filled with better counties, made up of better cities, comprised of better neighborhoods, illuminated by better churches, populated by better families, then you have to start by becoming a better person.” The first step in that process is having hope that you can.
The negatives in life may attract our attention and open our eyes to the need for change, but only by being positive and by helping to create and offer a better way can we positively change our world. Creating positive change in communities is similar to developing people. Good leaders focus on people’s strengths and help them to develop those strengths. They don’t focus on their weaknesses. Similarly, to help others live a better life, you don’t focus on their problems. You focus on positive solutions that provide a better way for them to live.
As Ralph Marston, author of The Daily Motivator, said, “Success requires both urgency and patience. Be urgent about making the effort, and patient about seeing the results.”
Motivational speaker Jim Rohn said, “Without a sense of urgency, a desire loses its value.”
In Dare to Lead, Brené Brown shares an interesting discovery she made after talking to a large, diverse group of top leaders, “We started our interviews with senior leaders with one question: What, if anything, about the way people are leading today needs to change in order for leaders to be successful in a complex, rapidly changing environment where we’re faced with seemingly intractable challenges and an insatiable demand for innovation? There was one answer across the interviews: We need braver leaders and more courageous cultures.”
Malcolm Gladwell said in a presentation on his book David and Goliath, “The most successful entrepreneurs not only have courage and imagination, they also have a sense of urgency. They’re not willing to wait. They have a burning desire to get something done.”
Become a Catalyst for Change
Some of the greatest catalysts for change in the world took small steps that seemed insignificant at the time—without fanfare, recognition, or reward—and simply allowed one step to lead to the next, ultimately leading to great change.
Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman said, “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
Many things in life just happen, but positive change isn’t one of them. Changing anything in our world requires someone to be the catalyst. When President John F. Kennedy launched the Peace Corps, he said that everyone has a change-the-world speech inside them.
The phrase “strike while the iron is hot” comes from the blacksmithing trade. Metalworkers understand that timing is crucial if they want to successfully manipulate metal. Similarly, change won’t occur unless you step forward and start taking action. If you lose the sense of urgency, your cause can become like cold steel.
Mother Teresa said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
Here’s how to get started: Change from good intentions to good actions. Good actions represent the dividing line between words and results.
Management expert Peter Drucker said, “You cannot predict the future, but you can create it.”
Become a Possibilist
Professor and physician Hans Rosling said, “I’m not an optimist. That makes me sound naive. I’m a very serious ‘possibilist.’ That’s something I made up. It means someone who neither hopes without reason, nor fears without reason, someone who constantly resists the overdramatic worldview. As a possibilist, I see all this progress, and it fills me with conviction and hope that further progress is possible.”
Take Ownership
Maxwell writes, “In my book Put Your Dream to the Test, one of the first questions I recommend people ask themselves is this: Is my dream really my dream? Why? Because if the dream you intend to pursue isn’t really yours, you won’t own it. And if you don’t own it, you won’t do what it takes to achieve it.”
Tyler Perry, founder and owner of Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, is the first African American to own a major film studio. He once said, “I’ve never been one to knock on the door and say, ‘Please let me in.’ I have always tried to make my own way. I do not think change comes from asking people to let you in. I think change comes by becoming owners of studios, owners of projects, owners of content.”
“When you can afford to quit, you can’t afford to quit,” Perry explained, noting that when you’ve made it, you no longer need to do more. But that’s when you can do more—more than you’ve ever done before. That’s when you can make the greatest difference.
Use Your Past Changes as Inspiration for Future Change
Greek philosopher Plutarch said, “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.”
Invite Others to Join the Cause
As soon as another person works with you and is influenced by what you’re doing, you are a leader—a leader whose why is bigger than you. Martin Luther King Jr. said about the importance of leaders, when it comes to change: “May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership… Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause.”
As the Friendship Principle says in Winning with People, “All things being equal, people will work with people they like; all things not being equal, they still will.”
Focus on What You Can Do
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Austin said, “We can’t change everything, but we can change something.” You will never be what you ought to be until you are doing what you ought to be doing.
Do Something
In the words of Duane Mellor, a leader who helped implement the positive changes in Avondale, “The smallest deed is greater than the largest intention.”
We All Need One Another
The only thing that limits us in a time of crisis is our lack of creativity. Along with creativity, we need to recognize that we all need one another.
We don’t want to miss what happens when we work with others to accomplish the vision. Everything multiplies. The greater the vision and the more difficult the cause, the more we need people to work together to accomplish it. The Law of Significance in The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork says, “One is too small a number to achieve greatness.”
Entrepreneur and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman said, “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.”
Leadership consultant and speaker Gustavo Razzetti noted, “A study by the Association for Training and Development (ATD) found that you are 65 percent more likely to meet a goal after committing to another person. If you also establish an ongoing partnership, your chances increase to 95 percent.”
Chuck Swindoll wrote years ago on the importance of a group of people working together, “Nobody is a whole chain. Each one is a link. But take away one link and the chain is broken.”
There is truth in the old adage that team means Together—Everyone—Accomplishes—More. When you partner with the right people—people who are on the same page, who have the same values, who are willing to work for the same cause, who will fight for one another—it makes all the difference in the world
One of the most important questions you need to ask as soon as you connect with other people is “Do we have a values match?” The Law of Identity in The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork says “Shared values define the team.” If your values and the values of the people on the team match, you will experience alignment, unity, and effectiveness.
At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin reputedly said, “We all must hang together or we will hang separately.”
Rocky Balboa in the Academy Award–winning movie Rocky expresses this idea. Talking about Adrian, his girlfriend, he said, “She’s got gaps, I got gaps, together we fill gaps.”
Collaboration is More Important than Cooperation
Cooperation is unity for the sake of unity. Cooperation says, “Let’s just get along or else nothing will get done.” Collaboration is unity for the sake of shared vision. Collaboration says, “Let’s work together because this has to be done.”
Author and speaker Patricia Fripp said, “A team is not just people who work at the same time in the same place. A real team is a group of very different individuals who share a commitment to working together to achieve common goals. Most likely they are not all equal in experience, talent, or education, but they are equal in one vitally important way: their commitment to the good of the organization. Any group of people—your family, your workplace, or your community—gets the best results by working as a team.”
Let’s All Get on the Same Page
The Inevitable Return says, “Give to others long enough, and we receive more than we give. Love people deeply enough, and love returns to us tenfold. Lift people up, and we get lifted even higher.”
Here’s why many attempted movements fail:
- Lack of Unity
- Absence of a Positive Goal: It’s difficult to create a focused agenda and build a movement when you’re against something instead of for something.
- Inadequate Leadership: When we see a problem or injustice, author Seth Godin said, “The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond. But the hardest thing is to initiate.” Great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t start out as great leaders. In fact, King didn’t elevate himself to be the leader of the movement. Others did. He was part of a small group who wanted to do something about racial injustice in America. When he got started, he and his friends simply did what they could where they were.
- Lack of Organizational Support: That doesn’t mean it needs to be a single formal organization in a traditional sense. It just needs to comprise people who are dedicated to helping all the players who are involved.
- Thinking Money is the Answer: There’s one other roadblock that can keep a potential movement from moving forward. It’s believing, If we just had the money, our problem would be solved.
A Waterfall: Top-Down—It Requires Leadership
Transformation begins with influence, and influence always flows from the top down, like a waterfall, not upward.
A Ladder: Bottom-Up—It Encourages Mobility
While influence flows down, transformation climbs up. That’s why we associate it with the image of a ladder. When you help people to improve their lives, they rise up.
In 1931 the phrase the American dream was coined by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America. The American dream [is] that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.
Each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.
A Heart: Inside-Out—It Embraces Values
Businessman Bill McDermott said, “Every movement has a single point of origin.” That origin is always in the heart of a person. It is an expression of the heart, birthed in the values that person has embraced, and from there it flows outward and manifests itself in the individual’s behaviors and communication. From there, it can spread to others.
Joined Hands: Side by Side—It Desires Partnerships
The Law of Mount Everest in The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork says, “As the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork elevates.” Transformation of any community is a Mount Everest type of challenge, which means it requires many people working together. That means engaging in partnerships.
A Table: Few to Many—It Enables Growth
Mass movements don’t begin with the masses. They begin with a few people. When people can sit around the table together as equal contributors, everyone wins.
A Bridge: Here to There—It Leads to Transformation
Good values create growth. Growth creates transformation. Transformation creates movement. Movement creates change. And change helps us cross over into a better future. Each of these stages, together, forms a bridge from here to there. Crossing the bridge and taking that journey from here to there becomes a great story, one worth telling.
Experience the Value of Values
Vision and mission are the head and the heart of people. But values are their soul.
Everything rises and falls on leadership. But do you know what two things are responsible for making leadership rise? The first is competence. No one wants to follow an incompetent leader. The second is values. Values are principles that guide your decisions and behaviors. Good values allow leaders and everyone else to help others.
What is your vision of a better future? Simon Sinek said a just cause must meet five criteria:
- For something—affirmative and optimistic
- Inclusive—open to all those who would like to contribute
- Service oriented—for the primary benefit of others
- Resilient—able to endure political, technological and culture change
- Idealistic—big, bold, and ultimately unachievable
Maxwell adds that it must be based on good values. Being has to precede doing if you want to change your world.
How do you know whether a value is good? There’s one standard that it must meet. It must value people—all people, all of the time, in all situations.
As Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, said:
There’s an old saying: an empty bag doesn’t stand up straight. Without values, a person is empty and weak. Good values provide structure and meaning. They also help people to live more stable lives.
In his book First Things First, Stephen R. Covey wrote, “There is no shortcut. But there is a path. The path is based on principles revered throughout history. If there is one message to glean from this wisdom, it is that a meaningful life is not a matter of speed or efficiency. It’s much more a matter of what you do and why you do it, than how fast you get it done.”
What you do, why you do it, and how you do it are based on your values. If your values are good, your life will be stable.
The book of Proverbs contains so much practical wisdom. Its pages are filled with insight into values, including these three:
- Generosity is the fuel for transformation. It is the opposite of selfishness. Proverbs says, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
- Humility is the spirit of transformation. It is the opposite of pride. Proverbs says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
- Integrity is the strength of transformation. It is the opposite of deceit. Proverbs says, “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”
Here’s the reality. For leadership to be good and lasting, it must be preceded by good living. Good living comes from good values. If there’s a disconnect between what you say is important and what you do, then teaching values is worthless. So is rhetoric. The actions we take are what give us real credibility. That’s why we believe the most important words any leader can say are “Follow me.”
Good values always add value to us. And they make us more valuable to others.
Management consultant Richard Barrett said, “Organisational transformation begins with the personal transformation of the leaders. Organisations don’t transform; people do!”
Transformation Happens One Table at a Time
The table is a place where everyone helps everyone improve. The most dramatic, penetrating, and long-lasting changes come around a table with a small group of people.
What Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said is true: “Talking can transform minds, which can transform behaviors, which can transform institutions.”
Here’s how transformation tables work and how you can start using them to change your world.
1. Transformation Tables Start Small
One of the fantastic things about transformation tables is that anyone, anywhere can start using them to create transformation.
2. Transformation Tables Provide Common Ground for People
As professors Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler stated in their book Connected, “Our interconnection is not only a natural and necessary part of our lives but also a force for good. Just as brains can do things that no single neuron can do, so can social networks do things that no single person can do.”
3. Transformation Tables Re-Form and Reinforce People’s Identities
Transformation tables work—because they help people to change how they think about themselves.
4. Transformation Tables Connect Awareness to Application for People
This is key. Everyone is asked to contribute at the table. Disengaged people rarely grow or stimulate growth in others around them. But when people are open and engaged, incredible things happen. Each person’s contribution provides perspective to the others in the group. The result? Everyone’s awareness about themselves increases.
5. Transformation Tables Give People a Way to Track Transformation
Radio personality Earl Nightingale say, “If you will spend one hour a day every day for five years on the same subject, you will become an expert in that area.”
When Maxwell wrote The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, that lesson learned became the Law of Process: leaders develop daily, not in a day.
Benjamin Franklin used to get up every morning and ask himself, “What good will I do today?” When he went to bed, he asked himself, “What good did I do today?” He judged that good came from a set of personal virtues.
6. Transformation Tables Help People Do Life Better Together
John D. Rockefeller said, “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”
People who learn good values at transformation tables become the kind of people who do care, who will help, and who can be trusted. And that creates an environment of encouragement that benefits everyone.
What Gets Done Gets Measured
Measure what matters. —John Doerr
Author and former Gallup researcher Tom Rath recently wrote a book titled Life’s Greatest Question. It’s a kind of sequel to Now, Discover Your Strengths (see this Post to learn how this was a pivotal book for me), which he coauthored. He was frustrated by the self-focus of many people who used StrengthsFinder to learn about themselves. Many readers made self-satisfaction their focus, whereas Rath believed the purpose of finding your strengths was to add value to people and “make meaningful contributions over a lifetime.”1 In fact, the title of the book was inspired by a speech by Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question [is] ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Keeping score brought energy and fulfillment to people’s lives. Measurement matters. You may have heard the phrase “what gets measured gets managed,” which is often attributed to Peter Drucker. It later evolved into “what gets measured gets done,” a popular catchphrase in business and manufacturing. For the title of this chapter, we’ve turned this phrase around. Why? Because in the world of helping people and nonprofit organizations, many people judge their effectiveness based on how their efforts make them feel rather than on results. That’s no way to change the world.
In the foreword of John Doerr’s book Measure What Matters, Alphabet CEO and Google cofounder Larry Page—one of those Stanford dropouts—described how Doerr used to help him and his pitching partner, Sergey Brin, turn their slide-deck ideas into the transformation engine that we call Google today. Page said, “As much as I hate process, good ideas with great execution are how you make magic.”
For Google, measurement came in the form of OKRs (objectives and key results), which were derived from management by objectives (MBO), a goal-setting system developed by Peter Drucker, one of the most widely known influential thinkers on management and systems. John Doerr had learned about them and used them at Intel, he taught them to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and they transformed the internet—and the world.
It’s true that we measure what we treasure.
The Law of Priorities in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership says leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment.
Use a process called the Five Ds:
- Discover—Find out what’s really going on and who is doing something about it.
- Design—Develop a strategy that begins with the end in mind and builds on your strengths, not your weaknesses.
- Deploy—Implement your plan. Start small, fail soon, and adjust often.
- Document—Measure to make sure that your intended outcomes are being accomplished.
- Dream—Start the cycle over, expanding what works and abandoning what doesn’t.
Microsoft Founder Bill Gates said, “In philanthropy, I see people confusing objectives with missions all the time. A mission is directional. An objective has a set of concrete steps that you’re intentionally engaged in and actually trying to attain. It’s fine to have an ambitious objective, but how do you scale it? How do you measure it?”
“Begin with the end in mind” is one of Stephen R. Covey’s seven habits of highly effective people. No matter how much we plan or how hard we work, we’ll be truly effective only when we’ve envisioned what a win looks like in the end. You have to know what your target or destination is before you can get started on the journey.
John Doerr put it this way: “Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.”
Peter Drucker, one of the great analytical designers in the world, warned about this in his book The Effective Executive: “One either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.”
Walt Disney didn’t waste words when he said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
W. Edwards Deming’s logic, “In God I trust; all others must bring data.” In order to figure out what’s really going on and how you can make a positive difference, you have to document the results of your activity and ensure they are contributing to the outcomes you desire.
In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell asserts that an idea spreads like a virus after it reaches a certain small percentage.
Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society: “When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,” said Boleslaw K. Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at the Department of Computer Science and director of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center at Rensselaer. “Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”
Let’s Keep Talking
We are today where our conversations have brought us. We will be tomorrow where our conversations take us.
“I live on the other side of yes,” Larry Stockstill (Author of Model Man, summarized here) said. “That’s where I find abundance and opportunity. It’s where I become a better and bigger self. The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity. So I try to say yes whenever I can.”
When you live on the other side of yes, you believe there is always an answer. When you live on the other side of yes, you think and speak positively. You stop asking, “Can we?” and you start asking, “How can we?”
And like Larry Stockstill, you use positive words to inspire positive action in others.
The Law of Communication in The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork states interaction fuels action. Without communication, positive change just doesn’t happen.
Here are some guidelines for having transformation conversations with people.
1. Transformation Conversations Start with Reality
In his book Managing in Turbulent Times, Peter Drucker wrote: “A time of turbulence is a dangerous time, but its greatest danger is a temptation to deny reality.”
As you get ready to start a transformation conversation, it should sound more like this: “Yes, we have problems, but there are answers to this problem. And we must be part of these answers.”
2. Transformation Conversations Generate Better Ideas and Solutions
When it comes to generating ideas, dialogues are always better than monologues. And polylogues—that’s a conversation involving three or more people—are even better. If one person can come up with good ideas, a group can come up with many good ideas. And when you get enough good ideas and enough people working together to improve them, you can generate great ideas.
3. Transformation Conversations Offer Hope
Without hope, people won’t keep working toward transformation. But with it, they will keep striving.
Psychologist Shane Lopez, who was a senior scientist for Gallup, pointed out the difference between wishful thinking and hope—and how much stronger hope is. “When we hope, we have high expectations for the future and a clear-eyed view of the obstacles that we need to overcome in order to get there. We are primed for action. But wishful thinking can undermine our efforts, making us passive and less likely to reach coveted goals.”
The balance between realistic thinking, the desire for a better future, the energy and will to act, and taking responsibility to create positive change—is powerful. However, the power is released only when that hope is expressed.
As Casey Gwinn and Chan Hellman observed in their book Hope Rising: How the Science of HOPE Can Change Your Life, “Hope is the belief that your future can be brighter and better than your past and that you actually have a role to play in making it better.”
4. Transformation Conversations Celebrate Successes Through Storytelling
Good Stories do several things, including:
- Move people emotionally
- Communicate truths: Storyteller, poet, and teacher Merna Hecht said, “There is a tremendous difference between news and Story. The news media informs the mind—in important ways, I don’t deny that. But storytelling is the kind of information that allows transformation.”
- Stick with people: Facts fade, but stories stick with people. When they embrace the story, even if they’ve forgotten the facts, the story can lead them back to the truth contained within it. (For more on this idea, check out my summary of Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick – http://www.outofthisworldleadership.com/2014/03/29/want-your-messages-to-stick/.)
- Inspire others: Michael Margolis, the CEO of Get Storied, said, “The stories we tell literally make the world. If you want to change the world, you need to change your story. This truth applies both to individuals and institutions.”
5. Transformation Conversations Provide a Supportive Community
6. Transformation Conversations Activate People’s Potential
It’s Your Turn to Change Your World
Each phase of the journey represents growth and expansion for anyone who wants to change their world.
Phase 1: I Want to Make a Difference
Phase 2: With People Who Make a Difference
Change is greater when everyone works together, each person bringing specific skills, talent, and experience to the table to make everyone better. When people collaborate, movements often start.
Phase 3: Living Values That Make a Difference
Phase 4: Taking Action That Makes a Difference
Hope, though powerful, is not enough to change your world. Action is what actually makes the difference. And to keep making a difference, we need to continue talking to one another, to have ongoing transformational conversations.
What step will you take to change your world?
If you can just make things better for someone in your world, you will experience the reality, joy, and satisfaction of making a difference.
You can change your world. Remember, transformation is possible for anyone willing to learn and live good values, value people, and collaborate with them to create a positive values culture.
To get started, go to ChangeYourWorld.com