- Organizations and Change
- The Change Agent
- The Culture
- The People
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
The Change Agent
We believe that change can be instigated and led by anyone. Lack of power is no excuse for inactivity or for anticipating failure. In fact, many acts of leadership you see every day are often performed by relatively powerless people—those whose ability to influence others exceeds the extent of their authority. In healthy companies, people not only lead their peers, but also lead their bosses, all without the official sanction to do so.
Back to Eric Saperston's journey. Along the way he met CEOs, authors, and former President Jimmy Carter. When Eric asked what message he had for Eric's generation, President Carter replied, Remember how powerful you are. Never forget the power of the individual to make a difference. Enroll people in that possibility and change the world, change your community, change your family, change yourself.
We can all take President Carter's message to heart. Appreciate the power you have. If you are a good communicator, genuinely appreciate people, and work well with others, you will have an edge when sharing your ideas. You will have more time to give to the task if the change effort is a part of your job rather than something you are trying to do in your spare time. The primary driver, however, is your passion, your deep and continuing belief in the innovation you are trying to introduce. You need three things to successfully share your idea: your belief in it, the drive to bring it into your environment, and some information on how to do it. You supply the first two; the strategies in this book provide the third.