Leadership

The Five Daily Reflections of the Change Agent

Posted on April 7, 2016 by simongterry

Reading Seeds for a Boundless Life, a book on Zen Buddhism by Zenkei Blanch Hartman, I came across a reference to the Upajjhatthana Sutra’s Five Daily Reflections. The Sutra recommends daily reflections to help Buddhists to focus less on their attachments to ego & desires and more upon their actions.

Reflecting on these, I saw a parallel to common challenges for each change agent’s practice of bringing about a better world. Change agents are taking on difficult work, not for the benefits of ego or any personal desire. Change agents act out of a purpose to make an impact that helps others. At the same time what surprises many who take on change is that the road is harder and more difficult than they ever expected.

Every change agent lives with these five daily reflections:

I can’t go back. There is no way to go back.
I can’t avoid obstacles. Obstacles are the work.
I don’t have forever. Time is limited.
Everything changes. Loss is part of that change.
My actions and my interactions are how I make the change work.

Once a change agent sees the need to make a change in the world, it becomes impossible to ignore. They can’t wish it away or pretend things are as they were. They can’t undo their commitment to purpose.

Embracing that commitment means accepting that there will be obstacles to be overcome. The obstacles aren’t inconveniences or distractions. They are the work to be done to bring about the change.

Time is always a constraint. Time demands we make the most of every opportunities to create change. Time means we must start now. Time means we must involve others.

Just as we must embrace the obstacles we encounter in our work, we must accept that there will be loss in bringing about change. Some things we lose will be important to us and to others. Part of a change agent’s role is to help others understand and manage that loss.

We have only our actions and our interactions. That is how we bring about change. That is how our change will be judged. Ends don’t justify means. The means are a key part of the change.

Change agents can and do wish it were different. Keeping reflections like these ever in mind helps us to avoid the disillusionment that comes along with unmet expectations and unfulfilled wishes. Change agents are pragmatic and realise that little changes without the hard work to make change happen.

How a possibility hunter thinks

Posted on March 14, 2016 by simongterry

What makes Change Agent Worldwide members tick? Lois Kelly interviews Jonathan Anthony.

I’ve had a crush on Ben Franklin for a long time. I named a company after one of his experiments, (Thunder House), my office is in the former 1772 bookstore and printing press of one of his protégées, his Junto inspired my long-running book club.

Thinker, creator, writer, experimenter, activist, diplomat, conversationalist, risk taker, and passionate advocate of free speech. This guy wasn’t interested so much in what was, but what could be. He pushed thinking to the edge with an innate sense of wonder and curiosity. Most of all, he made things happen.

So when I met Jonathan Anthony, a fellow Change Agent Worldwide member, via video call, I thought, “Wow, he’s like a modern day Ben Franklin with a cool accent.” (Jonathan grew up in Britain.)

(Note: if you’re part of fascinating online social networks give yourself a treat and hop on a video call to really get to know interesting people. It’s like a runner’s high without the first mile of pain, and you’ll learn something surprising.)

A voracious reader, learner, writer, and participant in diverse social networks inside and outside his company, Jonathan sees emerging patterns early on, “translates” what these might mean to business, and then pulls his company to the edge of that big trend. He shows people what’s possible before that possibility has entered the zeitgeist.

Jonathan is a possibility hunter.

“I drive ideas to the edge, ideas that are way too big for the organization. I go big because the organization will always push back and make the thinking smaller,” he explains. “The edge is a renewal process for any organization. Ideas on the edge eventually becoming the center.”

He’s able to create that healthy creative tension because he’s good at reading people and his Spidey Senses help him understand how to navigate within the organization.

“As a corporate intrapreneur and change agent you can’t just be smart,” he says. “You have to have a feel for the organization – and map new ideas to the environment. Having thick skin, being OK with ‘no,’ and a healthy self-esteem also help.”

Jonathan has worked in Vancouver for Teekay Corporation for nine years. His title is director of corporate communications, though what he does goes far beyond that traditional title. He is strategist, activist, scientist, artist, imagineer.

Most of all he is a giver, generously offering ideas to people in our Change Agents Worldwide community, inviting his team to think bigger, and guiding his company’s leaders out to the edge of possibility where the air is fresh and the views are both expansive and majestic.

Inside the mind of a possibility hunter

What were you like as a child?

Totally certain of myself, smart, fun, annoying, but interesting.

What are your most distinctive character strengths?

Ability to read people and situations.

What is your favorite word about work?

Act.

What is your least favorite word about work?

Process.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally about your work?

The power of networks.

What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally about work?

Process. Same old, same old.

What sound or noise at work do you love?

Hearing my team talking out loud about their work, and about what they’re hearing and learning on Yammer.

What sound or noise at work do you hate?

The phone ringing. It’s almost always a cold call from marketers.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Video artist.

You can connect with Jonathan @ThisMuchWeKnow and on his blog: This Much We Know.

The Dizziness of Freedom by Diana Renner

Posted on July 16, 2015 by simongterry

Diana Renner and I were discussing working out loud this week when Diana mentioned that she had an unpublished blog post in development that I recognised as the feeling of the ‘trembling finger’ when I am about to work out loud. This guest post is a result of that conversation. It is too good not to be widely shared – Simon Terry

It has been almost two years since I stepped into the unknown and became an independent consultant. Looking back, it feels less like a step and more like a leap. In a single gesture of defiance, I traded security for freedom, leaving behind a relatively comfortable, predictable role in a large organisation. I had never expected to end up working on my own. But the promise of freedom was alluring. It still is. At the same time freedom opens up possibilities that are terrifying.

In his book The Concept of Anxiety, Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard explores the immense feelings of dread that accompany that moment when we find ourselves at a crossroads in life. The moment when the choice to do something hangs in perfect balance with the choice to do nothing. Kierkegaard uses the example of a man standing on the edge of a tall building or cliff, from where he can see all the possibilities of life. As he looks over the edge, he experiences both a fear of falling and at the same time a terrifying impulse to throw himself intentionally off the edge.

Every edge I have stood on has provoked feelings of dread and excitement. Whether going into a first meeting with a new client, writing a few pages in my book, or facing a bored and unmotivated group, I have struggled with what Kierkegaard calls our dizziness of freedom. Just like Kierkegaard’s protagonist, staring into the space below, I have contemplated many times whether to throw myself off or to stay put.

However, what seemed risky and largely unknown two years ago rapidly has become part of a familiar landscape. It would be natural to relax and enjoy the view… Yet I have learned that it is at this very point that I need to become more vigilant than ever and exercise my freedom to choose in three key ways:

To rally against the safe but numbing comfort of the status quo. I need to keep reminding myself that the greatest learning is just outside of my comfort zone. I need to keep stretching myself to keep growing.
To resist the strong pull of the crowd. I have found perspective on the margins, not looking to the outside for approval or acceptance, not following a trend just because everyone else is following it.
To interrogate the world’s criteria for what is good or successful. I am suspicious when I am being offered a formula to quick success or many riches. It is powerful to be able to question mainstream expectations, and carve my own path with courage and purpose.

The responsibility that comes with the freedom to choose is terrifying. But the cost of not choosing is even more so.

We need to welcome this dizziness of freedom as a sign that we are, in fact, just where we need to be. A sign that we need to slow down and reflect on the risk, then step off the edge anyway.

Diana Renner – Leadership consultant, facilitator, author of ‘Not Knowing – the art of turning uncertainty into opportunity’, Chartered Management Institute Book of the Year 2015, UK.

www.notknowingbook.com
www.notknowinglab.com
Twitter: @NotKnowingLab

The Unbearable Lightness of Being [a Network]

Posted on April 6, 2015 by simongterry

Like an amoeba, networks have the resiliency to change their shape at will.

When we launched Change Agents Worldwide back in January 2013, we wanted to experiment with a new kind of organizational model. We wanted to create a commercial enterprise that was effectively, a network. Many of our original charter members saw the efficacy of working together in an egalitarian system of shared values and were eager to experiment with new ways of working.

Over the course of time, we shape-shifted on our original business model, yet still retained the values that brought us together originally. Of course, the network gained new nodes and lost nodes, but in balance, our members are still tightly aligned inside and outside on the social web in philosophy and practice.

As the key founder and “big idea” conceiver originally behind Change Agents Worldwide, I have taken immense pride in the work all our Change Agents have contributed to growing our brand and achieving the worldwide recognition we now enjoy today. Over the summer of 2014, I decided to turn my attention to using this newfound knowledge to solve an important societal problem. With that decision, I realized we needed to reshuffle the back-office deck within the network in order to continue our journey.

Our founders met in January 2015 to discuss a few new models for the company going forward. Simon Terry, one of our partners, presented an interesting new model for the business going forward that we all loved. We came to an agreement as the original partners to transfer ownership of Change Agents Worldwide to Simon Terry, as a result.

Simon has demonstrated an uncanny ability to take these new messages about working in a network, succeeding as a leader in the network era, and how organizations can benefit at every level of the maturity scale by working socially to a whole new dimension. All of us who originally conceived Change Agents Worldwide are thrilled to see Simon put his energy behind the brand and continue to bring our story to an international audience.

The best news is – we are a network. We’re not going anywhere. All the founders, charter members, new members are still an active part of Change Agents Worldwide. Wiser, older, stronger, and looking to the future. You might say, we are under new “un” management.

Congrats Simon from all of us!

Leadership in Transformation

Posted on December 7, 2014 by simongterry

A common topic of debate in the Responsive Organization movement is whether an organization can become responsive or it must be born that way.

Undoubtedly many of the leading case studies of future of work organizations are organizations created or rebirthed from near death by charismatic founders. Some use this as evidence that the elements of a responsive organization must be present from the beginning. In a previous post, I pointed out that we cannot rely on transparency alone to make change occur for us. The power structures in a traditional organization will prevent most radical change.

I am unambiguously in the optimist camp here in Change Agents Worldwide and the company in the optimist camp inspires me. I have seen organizations change enough to not recognise their former selves. Change to more responsive ways of working is possible. The question is how.

What gets in the way

Chris Argyris’ classic article Teaching Smart People to Learn is a rich source of observations of what gets in the way of a Responsive Organization transformation. In particular, Argyris notes that:

… There seems to be a universal human tendency to design one’s actions consistently according to four basic values:

1. To remain in unilateral control;

2. To maximize “winning” and minimize “losing”;

3. To suppress negative feelings; and

4. To be as “rational” as possible—by which people mean defining clear objectives and evaluating their behavior in terms of whether or not they have achieved them.

The purpose of all these values is to avoid embarrassment or threat, feeling vulnerable or incompetent. In this respect, the master program that most people use is profoundly defensive. Defensive reasoning encourages individuals to keep private the premises, inferences, and conclusions that shape their behavior and to avoid testing them in a truly independent, objective fashion.

These hidden values in most organisation get in the way of the transparency-led transformation that many hope to see. The Responsive Organization poses a threat to control, a threat of losing and negative feelings. Importantly the delegation of authority in a Responsive Organization may cause people anxiety as to objectives and rationale for action.

The role of leadership is to act as a counterbalance these natural human values and shift the behaviours to that of a Responsive Organization. We need to create rationales for action more powerful than embarrassment. We need to create community to generate trust, support and connection. We need to enable learning through conflict and experimentation.

Purpose:

Leaders must create a strong rationale for the transformation. In cases of crisis, startup or near death of organizations, this rationale can often be imposed by a charismatic individual. The external circumstances enable a threat-based narrative to bind people together in a defensive rationale for change.

However, most organizations are successful to their own terms. As Argyris notes, we want to feel successful even if our results don’t pass external muster.

Leaders need to leverage two elements to create a strong rationale for change in this context:

The Purpose of the organization: a purpose is the ultimate rationale for why people come together in an endeavour. It defines the common impact the group of people wish to have on the world. As a higher agenda, it is the perfect rationale for change for even the most successful organizations. Purpose is a mastery quest. Very few organizations have the capability to completely fulfil their purpose. They can however strive to better realise it.
External orientation: No closed system will find a rationale for change. External orientation is where organizations find the challenges and opportunities that define the purpose into specific improvement opportunities. Leaders need to relentlessly focus the organization on its customers and community to see transparently the challenges and opportunities that exist for change. Well defined external impacts in this community will be what can drive the autonomy of teams in the organization. Using customer and community data in line with Purpose, also enables change agents to overcome embarrassment-based resistance in the organization.

Community:

Individuals will need support to take on the risks of a Responsive Organization. The role of leaders is to create the sense of community that will support an individual through that change. At the heart of that community will be engagement with others and a growing sense of mutual trust. Leaders set the tone for any community. They must also work hard to reinforce these key community behaviours

Engagement: Engagement begins with transparency and connection. I cannot truly care about the others in my community until I know who they are and understand their purposes, concerns and circumstances. Leaders need to create the conditions to enable people to be more social, to connect, to solve and to share their work challenges together.
Trust: Engagement will build trust as it builds understanding. Transparency will reinforce trust. However, leaders need to take on the role of fostering responsibility and accountability as engines of growing trust in the organization. When people see that individuals and teams are accountable for driving change then they will have greater trust in the change agenda.

Learning:

This post is deliberately not titled like a listicle e.g. ’The 3 or 6 things to transform an organization’. Even a basic familiarity with change highlights that formulas will work only up to a point. Leadership needs to be adaptive to enable any system to change in a sustainable way.

To be true to their purpose and stakeholders, to leverage the potential of their community, each organization will take an unique path through change. The role of leaders is facilitate the individual and organizational learning required:

Experimentation: creating a culture of rapid iteration to address challenges and opportunities will accelerate the cycle of learning in the organization. Leaders must help this experimentation culture to overcome the resistance identified by Argyris and also to spread and have a wider influence in the organization. Lessons learned must become new truths which will take a sense-making role for leaders in the wider organization and mean leaders must champion new ways of working when they arise, whatever the personal costs.
Conflict: The biggest reason that organisational transformations fail is an unwillingness of the leadership of the organization to allow uncertainty and conflict. Conflict will happen. The uncertainty associated with conflict is inevitable. Efforts to suppress this will either undermine transparency, the rationale for change, engagement or learning. Failure to embrace conflict takes many names: politeness, bureaucracy, politics, corporate speak, history, culture, etc. Failure to embrace conflict is an unwillingness to learn and improve. There will always be resistance when change comes and it must be addressed. Leaders need to create and sustain the right kinds of constructive conflict – driven by purpose, based in facts from an external orientation & experimentation, mediated through an engaged community.

Change is Coming. Lead.

I have seen the potential of purpose, external orientation, engagement, trust experimentation and conflict to drive change. Supported by leadership these are the elements of each organisation’s transformation. These elements are critical to a Responsive Organization.

Throughout this post I have referred to leaders and leadership. This need not be hierarchical leadership. Change takes change agents. Clearly it helps if leadership and power are aligned in an organization in reinforcing the need for change. However, the changes described above are not capable of being implemented by top-down edicts. These changes must come as individuals and groups discover their power and are influenced as a result, This kind of leadership relies on influence and can begin bottom up or even from the middle management so often scorned in organizations.

Change is possible. Change is coming. Smart people can learn. Your people and your organisation can better realise their potential and their purpose. A Responsive Organization transformation will occur if you are prepared to lead the change.

Lead.

This post was first posted on simonterry.tumblr.com

What Does it Mean to be a Change Agent?

Posted on October 7, 2014 by simongterry

Over the summer, our network went through some rocky reverberations. Conversations cropped up that forced us to think carefully about what we’re attempting to do here at Change Agents Worldwide. The process, although difficult, was healthy, sobering… cleansing.

We divided into three international regional teams and set about to examine who we are and what we’re interested in achieving. Key to that introspection was a focused exploration into our values. Individually, every professional executes against personal goals and ambitions, but collectively – within the network – we needed to capture the essence of what it means to be a change agent in our network. Scripting our values became the pedestal upon which we’d build a new business model that served our greater purpose. As a startup, we’d been experimenting with a new model for management consulting. The disruptive nature of what we were attempting to do, combined with competing ideas of how to go to market, resulted in difficulty convincing potential clients and network members to embrace the new model. It was obvious we were headed for that dreaded startup pivot, yet we resolutely agreed we would not pivot on our values or what we wanted to achieve. We, in the purist sense, meant everyone in the network. Not just the founders, everyone. At Change Agents Worldwide, every individual has an equal voice and the ability to course correct, question, or object to any aspect of our business.

From the very beginning, we’ve been focused on a single goal: to Change the World of Work. It occurred to us that although there are many thought leaders in and around the social web who believe the same things we do, and who teach, write, and speak brilliantly about these same concepts, they may not self-identify as a change agent. Going forward, we agreed we needed to create a manifesto, a credo that would define uniquely what we believe and who we are as participants in the network. We crowdsourced this credo over a period of weeks. From here, we’ve crafted a refreshed understanding of who we serve, how we will serve them, and who rightfully belongs as a member of our network. Every existing member of our network signed the credo. And going forward, signing the credo is part of our on-ramping process.

If you see yourself in the description above, consider joining us. We have an incredible team working on leading-edge projects and breakthrough ideas in some of the largest institutions in the world. We are, in fact, changing the world of work every day. In subsequent posts, I’ll be writing about some of those advancements and achievements. There’s never been a better time to be a Change Agent in our network.

Do Pivots Matter?

Change Agents Go to Washington!

Posted on September 23, 2014 by simongterry

Drowning in paperwork? Demoralized by endless meetings where you sit and sit and sit, and have no voice? Tired of performance management reviews that have little to do with your potential or passion? Frustrated by knowledge that buries itself in graveyards of email thread coffins?

Then, we have a workshop for you. Come get rejuvenated in November and learn how your work experience can be joyful, interesting, and rewarding. Changing behaviors at work is challenging, but results in greater productivity, innovation, job satisfaction, and loyalty.

For the first time, a crack team of our Change Agents will descend from the cloud and lead you through a discussion of how you too can “work in the future.”

Where: KMWorld 2014, Grand Hyatt, Washington D.C.

When: November 4, Tuesday morning, 2014

Workshop Description:

W9: Flexible & Agile Workstyles & Processes for the 21st Century Organization

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Susan Scrupski, Change Agents Worldwide

Joachim Stroh, Change Agent, Change Agents Worldwide

Catherine Shinners, Founder, Merced Group

Carrie Young, Principal, Talk Social To Me

The Future is already here and evenly distributed among the global members of the Change Agents Worldwide (CAWW) network. This half day workshop shares their secrets: how they work, their values, how they adopt/adapt/exapt new ways of working with their global team. A team of Change Agents discuss leading organizational concepts such as: new models for organizational design, the power of self-organization, social and organizational network analysis, and more. They’ll talk about the cornerstone of what makes their networked organization work: transparency, trust, authenticity, and a culture of sharing and cooperation. The CAWW network exemplifies how social and operational integration yields iterative improvements in responding to customers, working collaboratively with partners, and creating value in the marketplace. The workshop also talks about what supports their work: SWARMS, Pods, Cookie Jars, Green Rooms, and other new processes based on agile and self-organizing principles.

The workshop will review our philosophical principles, explain the practical application of these principles and demonstrate how they’re exercised in a network-based organization. We’ll also lead audience members through a series of hands-on exercises to experiment with putting these ideas into practice. It will be an interactive day of learning and sharing. We’re looking forward to cooperating and collaborating with new friends of the Change Agents Worldwide network.

We have a special conference registration discount for anyone wishing to attend KMWorld 2014 too. The discount will get you $100 off the early-bird rate and $200 off the regular rate. Please let us know if you’re headed to KMWorld in the comments. See you there!

Smarter Innovation: Road Map to the Future

Posted on September 17, 2014 by simongterry

Last spring, we were approached by the Academic Director of Columbia University’s Graduate Information and Strategy program, Katrina Pugh. She had received word about the innovative way our Change Agents work out loud in the cloud. We were asked to contribute to a management book published recently by ARK Group, “Smarter Innovation: Using Interactive Processes to Drive Better Business Results.”

The goal of the book is to shed light on insights that have been growing in our knowledge space – tacit knowledge sharing, conversations, collective intelligence, applied analytics – but which have never been wrapped together in a coherent way to address such as pressing problem. As our global economy steps out of its long slumber, it will be the innovators who expand opportunity and prosperity for their employees, customers and societies. – Kate Pugh

Our chapter in the book resides within the topic focusing on social and operational integration. We go into great detail about how we work, our values, our innovative business practices, and the strength of our network-based decision-making when it comes to modern organizational design and methods. Authored primarily by three of our Change Agents, but collaborated on by our whole team, the chapter defines how Change Agents Worldwide “works.” And, of course, the way we work is a reflection of how our network wants to work. Every change agent in our network believes in the principles we espouse, so it should come as no surprise that we actually work this way.

The book is fascinating. It’s available today on the ARK Group web site. Contributions by leading consultants and thought leaders who hail from Columbia, Deloitte, Emory University, 3M, Motorola, Pfizer, Intel, and many others have presented cutting-edge examples of how large and small companies are innovating with customer service, supplier intelligence, sales, knowledge retention and discovery, inventory, and open patent alternatives.

If you just want to read our chapter, Innovation by Design, you can download it today from our web site. For all of those who’ve pre-ordered the chapter on our web site, you will be receiving a notification shortly that it’s available for download.

Feel free to download our first e-book as well, Changing the World of Work. One Human at a Time. We are currently working on new book ideas, so make sure to subscribe to our newsletter list to keep up with our new products and services. Lots of good stuff coming from our worldwide team of Change Agents.

You Can’t Put a Price on Epiphanies

Posted on July 17, 2014 by simongterry

MrZvrD_g_400x400 — Anthea Rowe, StarTech

$17,000.

That’s the estimated value of the free consulting I received during my seven days in the Green Room. But that doesn’t begin to capture the actual value of the experience. Because you can’t put a price on epiphanies. Or a mindset change. Or the increased excitement, confidence and enthusiasm I developed after working with Change Agents Worldwide (CAWW) for a week.

I submitted my question to CAWW in May 2014. Submitted with bated breath. What were the chances this international collective of brilliant thinkers and do’ers would want to discuss my small company’s challenge? But they did!

My question was: “How can we retain the close-knit culture of our small organization even as we experience dramatic growth?” I work for a small tech company based in London, Ontario, Canada. As recently as last year, it was possible to know everyone in the company by name. Now , with new hires joining us every week, that intimacy is no longer possible. Or at least, so I thought. The Change Agents helped me realize there are many things we can do to keep the StarTech culture alive and strong even as we grow like crazy.

The conversation in the Green Room was vibrant and crackling with energy. I asked a ton of questions of them, and they asked many of me. It was a dialogue in every sense of the word.

Whatever question I asked, there was always a seasoned expert available and eager to address it. Whether it was about our hiring process, corporate culture, change management or plain ol’ intranet solutions – there was always a helpful Change Agent ready to share relevant insights.

And the insights included a powerful mix of theory and practice. Change Agents use evidence from psychology, sociology, organizational behaviour and management research to establish the principles for 21^st century workplaces. They also have a plethora of case studies from organizations large and small that have implemented communications strategies, engagement campaigns, and more around those principles.

So, what did I learn? I learned the future of employee communications is about enabling. Enabling employees to connect with each other. Enabling employees to find their own information. Enabling employees to work out loud so that others see what they’re doing and want to help. The future of employee communications is building platforms that enable employees to connect and self-organize. The future is decentralizing communications so message come from the people who own them.

The dozen or more Change Agents who participated in my session were helpful, friendly and sincerely interested in supporting my company’s success. These people are serious when they say they want to “change the world of work!”

They were a diverse group with a wide range of experience: in-house comms, IT and knowledge management types; consulting and management expert types. Many Change Agents currently work in-house – at the UN, Lexmark, Teach for America, etc. – or used to work in-house – e.g., as SVP of HR for an international bank, or an IT and comms professional at IBM. These people know the challenges of moving projects through organizations, getting buy-in… all that good stuff. The other Change Agents members are independent consultants, and they’ve worked with many companies across a range of industries (many of them household names).

The best part about my week in the Green Room was that it epitomized the “Work Out Loud” culture CAWW advocates to clients. Using their online platform, I interacted with subject matter experts all around the world at different times of day and in varying amounts. Some Change Agents were regular contributors throughout the week; others popped in when they saw questions that interested them. But all were helpful. Importantly, the timing always worked for me because I could drop in and out of the discussion as my schedule allowed.

If you have a burning question or planning opportunity related to your organization, my advice to you is this:

If CAWW is ever gracious enough to open their doors to another Green Room participant, leap at the chance!

This is a Guest Post by Anthea Rowe, Communications Manager at StarTech. Ms. Rowe applied to be one of Change Agents Worldwide’s Green Room clients. If you’re interested in applying to become a Green Room Candidate, apply at this link.

Facelift Marks the Next Chapter for our Progressive Ideals

Posted on May 11, 2014 by simongterry

Change Agents Worldwide has a unique business model that is in perpetual beta, as our friend and fellow Change Agent, Harold Jarche, likes to say. Everything we do, we do ourselves including all our branding and our web site. Funny thing is, we don’t have a web designer or UI/UX professional in the network. We’ve spent a tiny amount of funds on a couple freelancers, but for the most part, we are boot-strapped and we don’t have a marketing budget. We love that about us. We only answer to ourselves, and we only do things we can afford.

Last February, we spent a little money on a photographer to immortalize our first annual dinner. My partner, Joachim Stroh, says hiring that photographer was the best idea I have had so far. (Should I be worried?) Lol.

When we launched our web site, we wanted to establish an image of being bold, being different, being courageous enough to tell our story with imagery that would establish our brand. The company is maturing, and today we are well over 50-strong in our network. We are now replacing our edgy images of lobster girls, turkeys on the beach, and space travelers that were designed to attract the kind of people who’d be willing to be bold with us. That worked, and we now proudly feature actual photos of our Change Agents with some select quotes. See for yourself.

Change Agents Worldwide is not about technology. It’s not about organizational redesign. It’s not about KM practices or e-Learning or Innovation or Change Management. Change Agents Worldwide is about people. People who share what they know about all these things and more with their colleagues to be the change they want to see in this world. The bright people in our network are not ego-less, but our hearts are bigger than our egos.

If you want to hang with brilliant, caring people who also want to change the world, join us. Better, if you want to fix what’s broken in the depths of the soul of your company, hire us. If you’re just a little “transformation-curious,” try us. We’re right here on the Web, and we’re always open for changing the world of work.