“We're here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”
Steve Jobs.
As far as I know the concept of putting a dent in the universe was originally put forward by Warren Bennis, a true leadership guru in my view and one whose writings have and continue to greatly influence me.
"Devising and maintaining an atmosphere in which others can put a dent in the universe is the leader's creative act."
Warren Bennis
More about Warren Bennis here.
What kind of an atmosphere are you devising and maintaining and what kind of a dent in the universe are others making as a result?
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Monday, 28 May 2012
The slippery slope of sensationalism
I pay very little attention to the daily news in newspapers or on television. My reason is simple. What is being provided is largely sensationalism and therefore is of no value to me.
Yesterday's Sunday Herald Sun was a great example with the feature all about how Olympic Gold Medalist Grant Hackett had supposedly trashed his luxury apartment (last October!). It caught my eye because I met Grant once when we were both speakers at the same conference. I warmed to his message then and was inspired by his humility. What business is it of ours what Grant did or didn't do in his own home? None of our business as far I as I am concerned. Interestingly the feature article was written by a crime writer. As far as I know Grant has not committed a crime or been charged with one. Again none of my business anyway!
Is is right that Grant should have his name trashed? I don't think so. The biblical story I heard as child has always rung true to me. Apparently a bunch of self-righteous people had gathered to stone a woman found to have committed adultery. Jesus is said to have intervened saying to the those gathered "He who is without sin cast the first stone." Of course everyone walked away. As an aside I have often wondered why they weren't thinking of stoning the man involved as well, but that's another story!
Sensationalism or substance is our choice. It is easy to have a cheap shot at someone else. It is quite easy to shock. It is another thing altogether to provide material of substance and value.
Creating attention grabbing headlines is an art. We all need to become artists. What really matters though is the substance under the headline and whether or not our readers believe we are providing value to them.
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
Yesterday's Sunday Herald Sun was a great example with the feature all about how Olympic Gold Medalist Grant Hackett had supposedly trashed his luxury apartment (last October!). It caught my eye because I met Grant once when we were both speakers at the same conference. I warmed to his message then and was inspired by his humility. What business is it of ours what Grant did or didn't do in his own home? None of our business as far I as I am concerned. Interestingly the feature article was written by a crime writer. As far as I know Grant has not committed a crime or been charged with one. Again none of my business anyway!
Is is right that Grant should have his name trashed? I don't think so. The biblical story I heard as child has always rung true to me. Apparently a bunch of self-righteous people had gathered to stone a woman found to have committed adultery. Jesus is said to have intervened saying to the those gathered "He who is without sin cast the first stone." Of course everyone walked away. As an aside I have often wondered why they weren't thinking of stoning the man involved as well, but that's another story!
Sensationalism or substance is our choice. It is easy to have a cheap shot at someone else. It is quite easy to shock. It is another thing altogether to provide material of substance and value.
Creating attention grabbing headlines is an art. We all need to become artists. What really matters though is the substance under the headline and whether or not our readers believe we are providing value to them.
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Key choices in ensuring success in change
The vast majority of the time life goes according to plan providing we do what we know we should do.
Plans start with an authentic picture of where we are now (current reality) and an equally genuine picture of where we want to go (possibility).
Our next step is to get crystal clear of why (our motive, intention, purpose, reason) we want to move from current reality to possibility.
Lack of clarity on why generally means a hazy how and therefore poor execution.
Next is to create our how we will get where we are going i.e. strategy. Strategy is our compass.
Next we determine (and agree when other people are involved) on who will do what and when.
In the small percentage of the time when you are doing what you know you should be doing and things don’t go according to plan, you have choices to make.
In the gap between what happens and how you respond is choice. Sometimes your choosing moment is a millisecond and other times it varies. Here is the key you have a choice.
Could it be that making the right choices for us in the gap moment between what happens and our response, has a lot to do with how much we are actually doing what we know we should be doing? My answer is yes. I would value your thoughts.
Please comment or email me ian@changingwhatsnormal.com
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
Plans start with an authentic picture of where we are now (current reality) and an equally genuine picture of where we want to go (possibility).
Our next step is to get crystal clear of why (our motive, intention, purpose, reason) we want to move from current reality to possibility.
Lack of clarity on why generally means a hazy how and therefore poor execution.
Next is to create our how we will get where we are going i.e. strategy. Strategy is our compass.
Next we determine (and agree when other people are involved) on who will do what and when.
In the small percentage of the time when you are doing what you know you should be doing and things don’t go according to plan, you have choices to make.
In the gap between what happens and how you respond is choice. Sometimes your choosing moment is a millisecond and other times it varies. Here is the key you have a choice.
Could it be that making the right choices for us in the gap moment between what happens and our response, has a lot to do with how much we are actually doing what we know we should be doing? My answer is yes. I would value your thoughts.
Please comment or email me ian@changingwhatsnormal.com
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
Monday, 21 May 2012
Sustainability is a reason and a result
I was honoured to present the keynote address at the Association for Sustainability in Business Conference on the Gold Coast this morning.
Although I don’t use slides in such presentations below are the slides provided to delegates that share the substance behind the stories shared.
My key points:
Profit is not a reason for being in business, rather a result of being good at business.
Sustainability is both a reason and a result.
We have crystal clear choices as illustrated below.
What choices are you making?
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
Although I don’t use slides in such presentations below are the slides provided to delegates that share the substance behind the stories shared.
My key points:
Profit is not a reason for being in business, rather a result of being good at business.
Sustainability is both a reason and a result.
We have crystal clear choices as illustrated below.
What choices are you making?
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Change management is an oxymoron
Change management in my view, like strategic planning, is an oxymoron.
Change initiatives are highly successful when leadership (both as something we do for other people as well as for ourselves) and management, are thought about and acted on in partnership rather than as the one discipline.
People everywhere confuse strategy and planning, two completely different disciplines. Think about the two together at your peril. Strategy is about how and planning about execution, who will do what and when. The consequences of confusing the two, or thinking about the two at the same time, are usually that great strategies never see the light of day, they get buried in massive documents that just gather dust, or worse, great strategies never get executed.
Confuse change and management or think about the two at the same time and likely that you will suffer a similar fate, what you want to change, won’t.
Successful change is about primarily about leadership. Leadership as John Maxwell has observed is “about influence, nothing more, nothing less.”
I define leadership as the art of inspiring people to bring everything remarkable that they are (that one-of-a-kind each of us is) to everything they do
Leadership falters and usually badly, without management.
I define management as the practice of making it simple for people to bring everything remarkable that they are (that one-of-a-kind each of us is) to everything they do
Change like people can’t be managed. What we can do is manage the systems and processes that will help us to bring about the change/s we are leading.
In all of my work with clients on change initiatives I follow the famous 8 steps of leading change put forward by John Kotter in his 1996 book Leading Change.
I reread this classic book on a plane recently more than a decade after first reading it. Kotter's work has lost none of its power and I still think it is a must read book for anyone leading change particularly as there is a lot of talk about change management when in my view clearly, successful change is much more about leadership that it is about management. It is about both however, together in harmony.
How well are you succeeding in the change/s you are leading?
Please consider carefully my 13 reasons why most change initiatives fail:
#1. The people charged with making the change happen don’t really believe in it and therefore their work is half-hearted at best
#2. The change program is designed to take too long and the status quo wins
#3. The expectations are unrealistic
#4. People are not genuinely appreciated when they do well
#5. People are not held to account when they fail to perform as they agreed they would
#6. Measurements of progress are poor or non-existent
#7. Desired change is actually problem solving which usually means a return to the status quo rather than real innovation
#8. Intentions, emotions, and thinking doesn’t change and therefore any behaviour change that may happen doesn’t last
#9. There isn’t a real shared-view about why the change is crucial/essential
#10. There isn’t a real shared-view on how the change will happen and who will do what, and when
#11. Leaders don’t understand all change is personal first, relationships second, and organisations third
#12. Leaders don’t personally change
#13. Broken relationships remain broken
Great leadership in partnership with great management removes all of these reasons for failure. Crucially the first step on any journey to success is about great leadership and it is great leadership that sustains change. Great management supports great leadership. Great management is very little help to poor leadership.
The people I meet generally fit into one of five categories as illustrated below. And a further general rule is that the people in the two categories on the left often don’t know that this is how their employees perceive them!
How do the people you work with perceive your attitude to change?
Change is hard say some.
I believe change is simple when we observe and adapt the principles of thriving on the challenges of change that we can see and experience every single second of every single day in the change happening to us and all around us.
To be successful does require work and often hard work but change itself is not hard. Consider the foal as she struggles to stand for the first time almost immediately following her birth. Consider more the leadership of her mother inspiring her offspring to take the natural first step into life.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
John Lennon
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
Charles Darwin
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
No BS Mentoring It takes you further than you've ever imagined.
Presentations that solve your problems.
The Changing What's Normal Tribe - Candid conversations monthly online. Exclusive 24/7 access to remarkable personal, relationship and organisational change resources.
Change programs that fulfill their purpose and promise
Changing what's normal master-mind groups that guarantee you succeed in the change/s you lead
Change initiatives are highly successful when leadership (both as something we do for other people as well as for ourselves) and management, are thought about and acted on in partnership rather than as the one discipline.
People everywhere confuse strategy and planning, two completely different disciplines. Think about the two together at your peril. Strategy is about how and planning about execution, who will do what and when. The consequences of confusing the two, or thinking about the two at the same time, are usually that great strategies never see the light of day, they get buried in massive documents that just gather dust, or worse, great strategies never get executed.
Confuse change and management or think about the two at the same time and likely that you will suffer a similar fate, what you want to change, won’t.
Successful change is about primarily about leadership. Leadership as John Maxwell has observed is “about influence, nothing more, nothing less.”
I define leadership as the art of inspiring people to bring everything remarkable that they are (that one-of-a-kind each of us is) to everything they do
Leadership falters and usually badly, without management.
I define management as the practice of making it simple for people to bring everything remarkable that they are (that one-of-a-kind each of us is) to everything they do
Change like people can’t be managed. What we can do is manage the systems and processes that will help us to bring about the change/s we are leading.
In all of my work with clients on change initiatives I follow the famous 8 steps of leading change put forward by John Kotter in his 1996 book Leading Change.
I reread this classic book on a plane recently more than a decade after first reading it. Kotter's work has lost none of its power and I still think it is a must read book for anyone leading change particularly as there is a lot of talk about change management when in my view clearly, successful change is much more about leadership that it is about management. It is about both however, together in harmony.
Please consider carefully my 13 reasons why most change initiatives fail:
#1. The people charged with making the change happen don’t really believe in it and therefore their work is half-hearted at best
#2. The change program is designed to take too long and the status quo wins
#3. The expectations are unrealistic
#4. People are not genuinely appreciated when they do well
#5. People are not held to account when they fail to perform as they agreed they would
#6. Measurements of progress are poor or non-existent
#7. Desired change is actually problem solving which usually means a return to the status quo rather than real innovation
#8. Intentions, emotions, and thinking doesn’t change and therefore any behaviour change that may happen doesn’t last
#9. There isn’t a real shared-view about why the change is crucial/essential
#10. There isn’t a real shared-view on how the change will happen and who will do what, and when
#11. Leaders don’t understand all change is personal first, relationships second, and organisations third
#12. Leaders don’t personally change
#13. Broken relationships remain broken
Great leadership in partnership with great management removes all of these reasons for failure. Crucially the first step on any journey to success is about great leadership and it is great leadership that sustains change. Great management supports great leadership. Great management is very little help to poor leadership.
The people I meet generally fit into one of five categories as illustrated below. And a further general rule is that the people in the two categories on the left often don’t know that this is how their employees perceive them!
How do the people you work with perceive your attitude to change?
Change is hard say some.
I believe change is simple when we observe and adapt the principles of thriving on the challenges of change that we can see and experience every single second of every single day in the change happening to us and all around us.
To be successful does require work and often hard work but change itself is not hard. Consider the foal as she struggles to stand for the first time almost immediately following her birth. Consider more the leadership of her mother inspiring her offspring to take the natural first step into life.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
John Lennon
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
Charles Darwin
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
No BS Mentoring It takes you further than you've ever imagined.
Presentations that solve your problems.
The Changing What's Normal Tribe - Candid conversations monthly online. Exclusive 24/7 access to remarkable personal, relationship and organisational change resources.
Change programs that fulfill their purpose and promise
Changing what's normal master-mind groups that guarantee you succeed in the change/s you lead
Monday, 14 May 2012
"The best way to bring home the bacon is to raise our own pigs."
For this weeks sparkenation I couldn't go past the following from the Name Tag Guy Scott Ginsberg:
“Why torture ourselves listening to voices that don’t matter when we could be executing work that does? Seems to me, the best way to bring home the bacon is to raise our own pigs. That way, when we’re hungry, all we have to do is grab a knife and go outside.”
Please read more from Scott here.
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
PS If you live in Melbourne or Sydney please consider attending the Key Person of Influence event.
I have read Daniel Priestley's Key person of influence book, applied it's great content in my own way and got to know the folk who lead the business here in Australia. I highly recommend this event. I am going in Melbourne myself! It will be a great day to learn how to bring home your own bacon!
You can get your ticket here.
Please read more from Scott here.
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
PS If you live in Melbourne or Sydney please consider attending the Key Person of Influence event.
You can get your ticket here.
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
What Really Matters! Volume 4, Number 1, 2012 has just been released.
My friend and colleague Gary Ryan has just released What Really Matters! Volume 4, Number 1, 2012. This complimentary ebook includes key articles from the OTM Academy (including some of mine) that have been posted from January 1st 2012 through to April 30th 2012.
In the ebook you will discover:
* Why you should know what is on your corporate website
* How to conduct 'Meetings That Matter'
* How clutter detracts from your service levels
* A great opportunity that results from Changing What's Normal
* How to use illustrations to create Conversations That Matter®
*Why you should use the What Makes People Tick personality profile tool
* Why thinking like a chicken is not useful if you are an eagle
* How four extraordinary women have inspired many other people to contribute to a higher purpose
*And much, much more!
You can download this ebook here.
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
* Why you should know what is on your corporate website
* How to conduct 'Meetings That Matter'
* How clutter detracts from your service levels
* A great opportunity that results from Changing What's Normal
* How to use illustrations to create Conversations That Matter®
*Why you should use the What Makes People Tick personality profile tool
* Why thinking like a chicken is not useful if you are an eagle
* How four extraordinary women have inspired many other people to contribute to a higher purpose
*And much, much more!
You can download this ebook here.
Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with leaders to conceive and achieve highly successful change initiatives.
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