After taking this summer off with my family, I began working with a coach who had been highly recommended by a friend. In our first session, he asked me whether I had ever considered writing about my experiences. I hadn’t, not in a serious way. I was unsure whether I had it in me to write something that people would want to read, something that would make a difference in their lives. As it turns out, 10 days later, I had written 15 articles with encouraging feedback from a few friends. I guess I had a lot to say.
My voice often comes in an urgent tone, like in a manifesto, to provoke a reaction and instigate change. I get excited when I discuss my passions - and I am passionate about driving successful transformations.
My voice is also fueled by frustration with how poorly transformations are managed and executed across the board, with over 70% failure rate, and by the number of fruitless experiences I’ve had trying to convince some leaders to do the right thing. I learned the hard way that people often have hidden motivations behind their actions, along with a multitude of arguments they can launch to readily defend their most questionable behaviors.
The majority of people look at that dismal success rate and at the incompetence of some of their leaders and simply accept the situation for what it is. I can’t do that.
Call me naive if you want. I think I am an idealist. I believe that business can and should be done better, and I have a restlessness that compels me to take action. I am unafraid to be bold and experiment with ideas and approaches until I get them right. I am inspired by possibilities and loathe routine. And I get bored when I am not learning.
I believe that business transformations should be the new norm for every company and that we should execute them in a much better way, consistently achieving exceptional results. I believe that success in large, complex, and lengthy transformations can unlock the holy grail of employee engagement like never before. I believe that employee engagement should be an imperative, not an exception. I believe that every business should have a clear purpose; that they should worry about the impact they have on their employees and communities and not only about the value created for their shareholders. I believe that diversity makes us better in every single way, and that we should champion it until it does not need to be called diversity anymore. And I believe that, above all, we have the capacity to make better decisions every day - and it is incumbent on us to choose to do so.
I started to write because I realized I had important insights to share. I want to create a better world for my daughters, their friends, and their friends’ friends. I realized that the world I envision won’t come true if I sit by the sidelines. So I am jumping into the driver’s seat - and I hope you will feel the urge to join me for the ride.
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