Engine For Change

Part of driving change is overcoming your fear of failing and especially overcoming your fear of succeeding.

What if the change you’re driving actually happens?

What if pushing your limits creates an exciting opportunity to achieve even more success?

What would you do?

Theodore Roosevelt said,

There were all kinds of things I was afraid of at first…but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid.”

Tonight I overcame my fear and submitted an abstract for the upcoming Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization (TOCICO) conference. I hit the “submit” button about an hour ago.

Between loading my abstract and hitting the “submit” button, I sat at my computer for a while, honestly afraid.

But I wasn’t afraid of being rejected; I was afraid of being accepted.

What if they pick me? What if they want to hear about driving change? What then?

You’re reading this personal story because if you’re driving change you’ll encounter more than a few times when fear of success will overtake you.

What if your plan works?

What if their problem goes away?

What if everyone’s lives actually get better?

Too often we allow change to stall, not from failure, but from feared success.

When you’re driving change, try to live like Theodore Roosevelt.

Act as if you’re not afraid until you actually cease to be.

Think what you’ll accomplish then!

Here’s a video of an actual cargo cult .

It seems you can find anything on YouTube.

Thanks Nancy for finding this video.

If you could go to this presentation, would you?  Why?

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This week’s quote comes from the speech, The Forgotten Man, given by William Graham Sumner in 1883.

The Forgotten Man…delving away in patient industry, supporting his family, paying his taxes, casting his vote, supporting the church and the school…but he is the only one for whom there is no provision in the great scramble and the big divide.  Such is the Forgotten Man. He works, he votes, generally he prays–but his chief business in life is to pay…Who and where is the Forgotten Man in this case, who will have to pay for it all?

When you’re driving change you have no forgotten man.  You have answered the question, “Who will have to pay for it all?” and found no one.  Pay in the sense of be taxed (physically, emotionally or financially) against his will to create your change. Your changes are not unfunded mandates, impossible to follow rules or zero tolerance policies. When you’re driving change you’re not forcing a decision, you’re offering a choice, welcoming all who would like to join your cause.

A visualization:

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To improve your understanding of how to share your discoveries and how to believe the discoveries of others, there’s hardly a better teacher for you than Edward Tufte.

His site edwardtufte.com is a treasure trove.  His one day course is a must attend for anyone interested in driving change.  He’ll teach you how to find the gaps in other people’s work and how to fill in the gaps in your own.  I, for one, haven’t been the same since taking his one day course.

Thanks to Nancy for finding me this Tufte gem, Data Analysis for Politics and Policy. I can’t wait to devour it!

For better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”  Theodore Roosevelt

Change is a journey filled with ups and downs, big wins and little intrigues.  Change makes a great story.

Will you mention that day you overcame the seemingly unmovable obstacle?

What about the day you found the first small win and celebrated just because you could?

Whatever story you tell, tell it proudly and tell it often.

This week I was privileged to share my change story.  I’m cheered to report the story and I were well received.

If you can agree with the statement, “We are the stories we tell,” then you should be able to answer the question, “Am I ready to tell my story?”

Make the answer yes.

Want to study up on how to lead change?  Check out the new Kotter International site.

I recommend you start with the 8-steps to Leading Change.

(Hint: This is the link for all of you who tell me you don’t have enough time to read the book Leading Change)

When you’re driving change, try to remember: Every now and then you need to let yourself rest.

When you’re driving change you’re often asked, “Who told you to do that?” (more…)