Why Credibility is the Key to Driving Sustainable Transformational Change

Dear friend,

Humorist Peter Gallagher's quip amuses me: "Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine." And I am surprised at how much people struggle with or even against change.

When people resist change, it is generally because they fear that they have something at risk they might lose. And when business leaders struggle to create the transformative changes they need, it is often because they are either fearful that they will fail, or, worse, that failure will expose a weakness that will upend their ability to control their organizations.

The reality is that leaders rarely have much control. Great leaders influence the people who ultimately control their destiny. That is why it is the people of an organization that make the leader successful, and not the other way around.

While change may indeed be inevitable, positive, transformational change is elusive in most organizations. This is the real challenge of leadership, and why you should find today's essay particularly valuable.

Have a great week ahead!

prl

Why Credibility is the Key to Driving Sustainable Transformational Change

I increasingly find people struggling with how the world is changing and that their life feels really “fucking hard.” Even people who usually avoid coarse language tend to reveal a raw side of themselves when they believe they are victims. While some people make it their business to victimize others, they fail when we refuse to see ourselves as victims. We win when we understand that we choose how we feel about the world.

Life is hard at times. However, the choices we make determine how hard. We can prepare ourselves for things we either wish to occur or choose to avoid by developing greater emotional intelligence. It is how we become more resilient, resourceful, and prepared for whatever life throws our way. 

When I think about people I have known who are most resilient to significant challenges, I see how those people choose to make meaning of their circumstances in ways that empower them – and often others as well. They influence others because they are credible in how they process their relationship with and understanding of the world, and in how they show up for others. They never see themselves as victims.

Being credible is more than being honest. People who consider themselves victims may vividly describe their frustrations and accurately express their view of the world, but they would only seem credible to those who share that view. 

Misery loves company when we just react and don’t pause to think. We only have influence over those who can relate to our worldview. Feeling that others don’t understand tends to exacerbate the frustration of people who see themselves as victims, stoking their sense of isolation and feelings of loneliness. 

The ability to influence others requires that we cause them to think, especially about things that they usually do not. People who introduce others to new ways of experiencing the world tend to wield tremendous influence on others. Opening doors of awareness inspires curiosity and spurs exploration. We cultivate genuine joy in the world by igniting the inspiration that empowers people to change the world for the better.

I believe the world is hungry for the kind of inspired leadership that improves the quality of the human condition. We’re exhausted from those who claim to lead but instead stoke fear as a means of manipulation, conflating power with influence to serve themselves by diminishing others. They seek to exercise control, destroy their victims’ sense of agency, quash inspiration, and rob their victims of the joy they derive from knowing that their efforts are meaningful and benefit others. Uninspired leadership leaves behind a wake of people who feel desperate, unfulfilled, dulled, and with lives that feel meaningless.

Those leaders who are effective at amassing enormous, positive influence attract willing followers by being credible. By shutting the door on fearmongering and manipulation, we open the door to inspired leadership that enables transformative, positive change to succeed. This is what successfully fuels the success of all movements that drive sustainable, meaningful change.

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Everything nature provides is in a constant state of change. I love taking photographs like this one because they capture the beauty in a moment in time that would be forever gone by the next moment. Rather than resisting change, we must learn to appreciate it - and realize that fighting it is always a losing battle. When we accept that what we control is our relationship to change and not the change itself, we learn to influence how others see their relationships to change. - prl