“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.” – Ray Goforth
Part of Newton’s First Law of Motion says that an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. That’s relevant here for two reasons. First, this is the first time in more than a decade of doing this blog that we’ve mentioned physics. Second, that Law applies to our businesses – and personal lives – in addition to the physical bodies to which Newton was referring.
We spend a lot of time wishing for things to change in our businesses. We aren’t happy with our level of profitability, we aren’t happy about our workforce, we aren’t happy with our customers, and on and on. But we usually don’t do anything about it. If you listen to most leaders’ list of complaints this year, and come back in five years, you’ll probably hear the same list.
Why is that? Why do we continue to put up with things in our organizations or careers or lives that we aren’t happy with? If we’re so frustrated with things, why don’t we do anything to change them?
I’m sure there are plenty of complex answers, but a lot of them boil down to the fact that too many leaders think that what they do doesn’t matter. They observe things around them that they don’t control, and they think that means there must not be any things they control. If they don’t control anything, they any attempt to make change will fail, so why bother trying?
I’m not going to attempt to address the psychological or even societal reasons why we might believe that, but that belief is there. And it paralyzes leaders – and everyone else – all over the world. We learn to live with things that make us unhappy because we think we have no choice.
There are certainly things that happen that we don’t control, but there are a lot fewer of them than we think. Part of being a leader means believing that your actions and the actions of those you lead can absolutely shape the environment you operate in. If, as a leader, you don’t believe that, then you’ve ceased to lead, and for the good of your organization, step aside and give someone else a chance.
Better yet, work on your beliefs. Pay attention to the way you think and talk about your ability to make change. Surround yourself with people who believe change is possible. Eliminate negative noise. You can make a difference, and you have a responsibility to do so. Get to work.
