I took this picture a few years back - the title - "Paul Nazareth is all about big change". Like most young people it's been my mantra.Recently I was listening to some teenagers interview for a job sharing their passionate commitment to change.
Like most people getting "older" I had the "oh boy, did I sound like that" moment. Who didn't think they knew everything at 18? Cutting them slack is one thing, but who is there to help them achieve the change they seek? I bashed my head against the walls, got beaten up, then beaten down and thrown out of places I really cared for. Places where I could have made a difference. I wanted to warn them.
I prompted them about roadblocks and how to get to solutions. About compromise, consensus and dialogue. Just like 18 year old me, they saw walls to break through, not tools to achieve a purpose.
Change is a dangerous opiant. I was on that drug, thanks to many wise mentors I now know that change is a tool and not a result.
So, I'm out. Change is no longer a key part of my brand. Change, you are the rocks in the sea of hope that daily dashes dreams.
My search is for UNDERSTANDING. In the words of Steven Covey in his international best seller "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" ( the 5th habit ) "seek first to understand then to be understood". Highly effective people make change naturally because of these habits. But progress, peace, productivity are the results.
Are you a recovering "change maker" like me? Have you been burned by the powers that be because they want to shut your dangerous ideas down?
Roger Martin's latest book "The Design of Business" reads like the handbook of how to survive the world of bean counters and status quo'ers. Pick it up, it's full of powerful secrets so you can learn to speak the language that they understand.
You want change? Look in your couch cushions.
You want results? Come join me.
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