Well, of course they don’t. They aren’t you. The noise inside their heads isn’t like yours. They didn’t grow up like you. They didn’t attend the same school, have the same friends or parents. They didn’t live in the same neighborhood as you. And they didn’t face the same challenges or have the same successes as you. In fact they don’t define much just like you do. So, how can they possibly understand…you?
Too often when we’re interested in leading change, we underestimate the power of another culture, another way of seeing the world. We mistakenly believe that our rational (which is likely not rational at all) way of seeing and doing things is universal. It’s not. Otherwise more of us would eat crickets instead of beef.
The hardest part of leadership isn’t figuring out what to change or even how to change it. The hardest part is finding someone who can get as excited as us about where we are going…someone open to the idea. And that idea needs to match the story they are telling themselves…over and over. It’s not rational, but its theirs. And we need to understand that. Find just the right people who believe what we believe…and we can go somewhere together. Probably best to ignore the others for now.
HT to my friend Annette for the reminder.