Here's how you can utilize your experience to drive culture change as a late career professional.

Recalibrate your own belief systems. 1. There is no such thing as resistance to change. Smart people will reject dumb change. 2. Reject the 'change as a journey' metaphor that drives the existing process. Change can arrive in the moment. Like putting milk in the coffee changes the colour instantly. 3. Reject authoritarianism that still bedevils change initiatives. Alignment is for the gulags and leaders are inherently still bosses steering behaviour in an undemocratic manner. True leaders emerge between people at all levels.

Relate to you repertiore of experience to make it tangible and personal. Share exciting examples and how this was creating value for the organization and the people.

Understand the Current Culture: Before initiating any change efforts, it's essential to understand the existing culture within your organization. This involves observing norms, values, behaviors, and communication patterns. Conduct surveys, interviews, or focus groups to gather insights from employees at all levels. Identify Desired Culture: Determine the type of culture you aim to cultivate within the organization. Consider factors such as transparency, innovation, collaboration, diversity, and inclusion. Define clear objectives and articulate the benefits of the desired culture to gain buy-in from stakeholders.

One of the best ways to contribute to an organization and help shift their culture is to provide mentorship. No matter what stage you are in your career you can always benefit by a sounding board. Choosing a mentor who has been in a role before can add a point of view along with experience. Being a mentor means bringing your lifetime of experience both professional and personal to your organization. Sometimes the relationship is formal so there should be parameters set to provide guidance on culture change in a meaningful way. Many times it’s informal benefiting your peers as well as your senior leaders by adding perspective and ideas. Even the CEO can use help when shifting culture. Supporting leadership through change can be invaluable.

This is so important and in change, more than any other communication context, the 7- 38 -55 rule is your measurement of success. This concept first developed by Albert Mehrabian talks to that often only 7% of your message lands, as your tone of voice (38%) and your body language (55%) don't match the words. You need to communicate from a congruent position that aligns all three. And here is the hard part you can't fake it unless you are trained in method acting. So only communicate what you believe in, re-contextualise the corporate statements to be meaningful to you. Communicate in principles that you own as a leader and always use the leadership language of Hope and Esteem. Find a position of hope and tell your team that they can do it!

Mobilize direct contact within your network for concrete exchange and sparring on their and your organization's/team's cultural change story.

Continued learning cannot be over sold. I learned more in the past twenty years than I ever learned in school! I learned from thought leaders, both historic and contemporary, about business philosophy, leadership, emotional intelligence, sales, finance, political philosophy, relationships, parenting, psychology, history and religion. From these I gathered principles of success and happiness that have completely changed my life for the better. About all of this I can only say, I wish I had learned all of this sooner.