I gave a talk to about 100 nonprofit and community leaders yesterday about where change comes from.
In this talk, the spoiler was that change really begins with you.
That may feel trite or like a copout, but it isn’t.
You see the cycle of change looks something like this:
Someone has an idea for how to improve their part of the world. They build a story about how this new idea is going to change things for the better. They start taking action and sharing the story. This excites other people and they act. Starting the process all over again.
That is pretty basic, but it is the reality as well.
The way I framed it, there are 3 key ingredients:
- The idea and the story that captures the idea’s power.
- The people you encourage and inspire to care.
- Action, consistent and focused action.
I think we can fall into the trap of trying to make these things more difficult than they are.
I’m not saying the process of change is easy, but getting started is.