How much time do you spend every day trying to make trouble?
I bet the answer is not much. But that's the wrong answer.
In today's corporate world - really in today's politically correct world - we all spend a lot of time and energy worrying about how not to upset or offend people. While we should all maintain a level of decorum and should seek positive (and not destructive) discourse, if you focus too much on trying to keep people happy it is a sure path to ensuring that nothing ever changes.
One of the most difficult parts of affecting change is overcoming inertia. It is easy and comfortable for people to get "set in their ways" and anything that threatens that is going to get very uncomfortable, very fast.
If you want to change things in your organization or in your life you are going to have to come to terms with the fact that you are not going to be able to make everyone happy. You will upset people and you will probably pick up a few enemies along the way - people who are just diametrically opposed to what you are trying to do. If you don't, well, you probably aren't pushing the envelope far enough.
Here is the simple recipe for affecting meaningful change:
- Create a vision for how the world (however big or small that may be) can be a better place if something changed
- Create a narrative story that makes that vision real and tangible for those around you and that paints a picture of this better place
- Do not compromise or make excuses - you must have an undying faith in this vision before anyone else will share it with you
- Pursue that vision with unrelenting passion - do not let naysayers or political correctness stand in your way
Whether you are seeing a vision for how to fix our national healthcare problems or simply a vision for how you can handle a major incident in your organization more effectively, the fundamental process is the same.
Doing this will almost certainly make some people unhappy. Change can be ugly and uprooting people from their comfortable and set ways is never a pretty sight. But this is the price to pay if you want to be a true agent of change.
So ask yourself this question. Does everyone like me? If the answer is yes, you probably need to get out there and shake things up.
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