6. Loud does not equal large.
Just because the opponents of change are loud doesn’t mean they’re a large group. The most opposed people make the most noise.
Don’t make the mistake most leaders make when they assume large = loud. Almost every time, it doesn’t. (See Principle 5 above.)
7. Most people opposed to change do not have a clearly articulated vision of a prefered future.
They just want to go back to Egypt. And you can’t build a better future on a vision of the past.
Remember that when they tell you about how good things used to be.
8. Fear of opposition derails more leaders than actual opposition.
You will spend a ton of time living through your fears. Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s the determination to lead through your fears.
By the way, this does wonders for your faith.
9. Buy-in happens most fully when people understand why, rather than what or how.
What and how are inherently divisive. Someone’s always got a better, cheaper, more expensive, faster, shorter, longer way to do what you’re proposing.
So focus on why when you’re communicating. Why reminds us how we got into this in the first place. And why motivates.
Always start with why, finish with why and pepper all communication with why.
