Can You Make It Seem Inevitable?

I can remember certain times when leaders that I worked for were so influential and so convincing tht what they were promoting seemed inevitable. People realized, as in the Star Trek Next Generation shows, that "resistance is futile."

Not because the leaders were ruthless. Not because the change was imposed (the way the Borg would impose it!) but because there was no stopping the change.

When GE made a major move to go paperless, things happened that make resistance futile. Documents became easier to find online. Approvals for information took online shortcuts. Copy machines and printers disappeared. We didn't completely eliminate paper, but we saved enough to fill many forests.

When Whole Foods does Good Organics training, there's no ducking it. You don't get to choose. Leaders project the confidence, urgency, and insistence to make your change in knowledge deeper and inevitable.

One of my favorite leaders of all time, Jim Hursey my high school track coach make training seem inevitable and right -- because the always difficult workouts he coaxed us into always improved our performance. It was change for the better because it clearly worked.

As leaders, we need to bring about that kind of change: working, effective, transformative change. And, to make it inevitable because it is so clearly the right path to go.

The art of leadership is making positive change seem inevitable.

Easy? Not always. Worth it? Absolutely.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

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