EMA-I #5 - The Knights of the Change Table - Posted 7/1/11

As I open my last blog, I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to share some of my thoughts on the challenges we all face in delivering strategic change. I hope that this and my previous posts have at least provoked the reader’s mind to look at things again and, maybe, differently. I hope that what I have said makes sense, but if not then at least it may have helped you form and articulate some alternate views. The big thing, I believe, is to approach these matters with conscious competence, an open mind and with purpose.

As a conclusion to the series I wanted to bring out a few things that have helped me in through my career, more so in recent times.

The first item on the table is a quote from Peter Drucker. It is now the strap line on many of my emails and is a personal nudge to the functionaries, the jobsworths and the risk averse among us who hide behind pure process and add little to real progress. It goes thus:-

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

Peter Drucker

Being a change agent and implementer of strategic change requires us to be leaders, something I am sure will come up again in this blog. Adding that strap line to my emails helps to remind me and others regularly of the need to push ourselves and keep an eye on “the right things”.

The second piece is a call to arms for the future. I apologise to anyone who has read this already in my blog ( talesofanactivemind.blogspot.com ), but I think it is worth a reprise here with what I hope is a wider audience.

Interestingly it comes from an advertising campaign for a spirit; in this instance Grey Goose vodka. I came across this in a magazine and it was a toast to “the visionaries who moves us all forward”. It goes like this:-

TO EUREKA!

TO A FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT

TO ASKING WHAT IF?

TO FINDING OUT WHY

TO SO CRAZY IT MIGHT WORK

TO THE GUTS TO TRY

TO SEEING THE INVISIBLE

TO FINDING OBSTACLES INSPIRATIONAL

TO OUTSIDE THE BOX

TO OUTSIDE THE LINES

TO TAKING SMALL STEPS

TO BEING AHEAD OF OUR TIME

I think it is a great toast for a change agent and something you may be able to take, at least in part, into 2011.

The last piece harps back to this entry’s title and relates to a code that helps set change agents apart, yet binds them together at the same time.

I value my integrity highly and look for the same in others. If my integrity is questioned, or I suspect another person lacks integrity it has a huge impact on the way we interact, and thus my ability to influence them. I have recognised a tendency to withdraw from such relationships. This is something I am now consciously watching for and looking to counter my own reactions in search of better outcomes. That said I think a lack of integrity is as obvious as a lack of sincerity and has a huge ripple effect across a group or organisation. While I cannot be responsible for the behaviour of all around me, I can strive to set the best of examples.

The reason I raise this topic is to introduce an example of finding inspiration in the strangest places. In this instance, it is a TV advertisement for a whisky.

As background I have found myself living what I have considered a chivalrous life, but without ever really defining what is, so when I heard this advert it hit deep. The whisky is Chivas Regal and the advertisement can be found on their website here
( http://www.chivas.com/en/INT/Campaigns/?item=0&length=L ).

I commend you to watch it, but if you do not have access to suitable browser I have a transcript below.

Everyone out for themselves

Can this really be the only way?

No. Here is to honour, and to gallantry, long may it live

Here's to doing the right thing, to giving a damn

Here's to the straight talkers who give their word and keep it

Here's to freedom, wherever you find it

And to know the true meaning of wealth

Here's to the brave among us

Here's to a code of behaviour that sets certain men apart from all others

Here's to us

Live with Chivalry!

This spoke to me deeply and clearly and I pass it in the hope it will do so for the reader too. I think that the best change agents are set apart from the rest. We should be proud of what we do and who we are and we should expect that of others.

I hope that I leave you in an enthused and positive frame of mind. We have a lot to do and many depend on us to be their beacon in a world of uncertainty. I hope to remain involved with EMA-I and also keep my own blog going as long as there are readers who find it interesting and worth reading. Please do drop by.

Best wishes for an exciting and rewarding 2011.