It starts with ‘I’.

Or as Steve Jobs said, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”

He’s right. To change the world, or even just to change a company, a bit of crazy doesn’t go amiss. And it starts with believing: ‘I can change the world.’ It’s no accident that my five principles to change management all start with ‘I’…

Insight

What do you really know about your customers? Chances are you need to deepen your understanding tenfold. What’s their problem and how will you solve it today and tomorrow? What are the subterranean specifics of the industries and countries you work in? Be obsessed with how you can delight customers. Curiosity about peers and competitors is critical. And answers are rarely in the office ... get out and talk with customers personally to hear from them directly.

Ideas

Never has there been such a misleading phrase as ‘it’s just an idea’. Ideas drive progress. Ideas are disruptive, intoxicating, inspiring. Ideas become visions. They have a magnetic power for others to follow. Ideas change the world.  Just look at how industries like airline, automotive and travel have been disrupted by new ideas to challenge the status quo. Insight is step one. But without ideas, insight is just academic.

Initiative

This is the ‘start-up’ century. Start-ups have been the driver of change and today we all need a start-up mindset. Test and learn, iterate and tilt until you get it right. If you wait until your concept is perfect then someone else will have already taken the initiative and beaten you to it, particularly now when lead times are shortening and being nimble is key. Don’t wait for the ideal and don’t wait for permission – take the initiative, be resourceful, move forward with optimism and energy. 

Impact

Lead or lose. Take the opportunity before someone else does. Execute at speed and with scale. Whether you’re turning around a company or starting a new one, it will be an iterative journey, not a linear one. Regardless of who your customer is, their expectations are constantly evolving. The target is not static – it’s constantly moving, changing and swerving out of view. Speed is a new currency.

I

This is the I that’s also an A: Individual Accountability.

The impact of individual accountability is a make or break. Every. Single. Person. Whilst transformation takes more than any single contributor, every single contributor must know ‘I am responsible’. ‘I matter’. ‘I will make the difference’. ‘I can change the world.’

One great piece of advice I heard is to fire yourself on a Friday and start each Monday as if it’s your first day in the job. Permanent day one mentality. Because the job is never done. The pace of change is increasing. Technology is changing, customer expectation is changing, new ideas are challenging our sense of what’s possible. 

A final ‘I’ could be ‘incessant’. It never stops. So make sure you enjoy the journey and celebrate the wins along the way.