The single greatest factor in energizing change is an elevated purpose. Elevate the purpose to energize the change. If you need to be somewhere, you've heard the crux of my talk.

How? Well that's where the challenge lies.

What might you consider a force of change or something that energizes change?

I posed the question to the Lead Change Group on LinkedIn and although I didn’t get a huge number of answers, I did get a couple of perspectives. Some people suggested the same things you did. Government, Knowledge, Technology, Globalization. One friend said reflection, thought.

What changes can you recall? Where did the energy for those changes come from?

What are some things you would say have changed since...
Homeland security changes since 9/11?

What changes have come about in the arena of entertainment, music or television, satellite, Internet?

Computers or smartphones?

Think about great changes. Where did the energy to abolish slavery come from? Where did ideas like freedom of speech and freedom of religion come from?

I boiled most everything I heard down to 4 things:

1. Pain
2. Comfort
3. Pride
4. Responsibility

Most of our suggestions are triggers - things that happen outside of us. But things closest to home, the things most real to us are feelings - thoughts and actions inside of us. We live our lives on the inside.

Cooked off to Pain, Comfort, Pride or Responsibility, those are all factors determined by individuals.All of the real energy for change comes from within individuals. I'm open to other suggestions but so far, every other source is really a trigger. Energy for change is inspired. It comes from a decision or a choice we make.

The origin of the word inspire comes from a Latin word meaning to blow into or to breathe into. Energy is internal. The decision to apply energy to change is an internal one.

But we don't want to just blow bubbles. We want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. At some point in our lives, we all want to know if we lived our lives well. Did we make a difference? We all pursue an elevated purpose.

So today let’s talk about 4 ways to elevate our purpose and inspire in ourselves and others the energy for change.

1. The first step is to Focus.

Have you ever surprised yourself? Have you ever exceeded your own expectations? In the 10th grade, back in Memphis, every male had to take ROTC. I figured if I had to go through ROTC, I would see how well I could do. And since I wasn’t spending a lot of time on sports I joined the drill team. It was our first year to have a drill team.

Well, not really that kind of drill team, more like this kind of drill team.

But I have a problem with authority and bureaucracy. Therefore, I stayed in plenty of trouble. Some people in positions of authority don't have much of a sense of humor. Remember too, this was a time when MASH was popular and respect for military authority wasn't. But I learned that if I could drill, certain of my transgressions would be overlooked. My ability to drill became a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card. So I practiced and worked at being good at drilling.

At the end of the year, our first year school and all of our first year cadets placed 3rd in the state drill competition. And, in spite of my problems with authority, in the end, even as a troublemaker, I was awarded Best Drilled Cadet. I think it pained my Sergeant Major to have to grant that award.

When we focus on the best goal, the highest outcome we always achieve more. Had I focused on being the best drilled cadet, we might have placed 3rd, but I doubt it. You see, it never entered my mind that I’d become best drilled cadet. I didn’t even know they awarded it. I wanted us to be a good team. By focusing on the highest objective, we achieved it and other goals as well.

Where I work now, we have a wide-area network that connects tens of thousands of convenience stores to each other and to their credit card processors. If our support personnel only think of themselves as helping a single convenience store, they think less of their job and they are less likely to check carefully and do things right the first time. But when they consider they are supporting a multi-million dollar network and a Fortune 500 customer, they become less careless. Focus on the best helps elevate the purpose.

2. Respect and Appreciate people
Energy is contributed, even volunteered. If we feel coerced, we will hold back. It's in our nature (with a few exceptions. ) If I can get an A with 50% effort, why expend 100%? But in reality, when I choose to bring my energy, I bring my best energy for my greatest endeavors. People who respect me and appreciate me always get my best energy. So as a leader, when I respect others, they remain free to contribute and they also are more likely to contribute their best energy.

The energy to become the best drilled cadet and the energy for our drill team to achieve our goal didn't come from our Sergeant Major or from our Drill instructor or from our platoon leader. It never does. The energy for achievement all starts within us.

That’s why I’m such a fan of character-based leadership. Character-based leadership is leading from who you are rather than from performance or position. When we’re triggered to change from forces outside ourselves, the energy for change is scarce. We commit only the energy we need to get the job done. When the job’s done, the energy is gone. It’s scarce.

The word “should” is my trigger. Whether I’m using the word or someone else is doesn’t really matter. "I should eat less and exercise more." "You should march in a straight line.” Either way, I don’t own the source of that energy. Simply using the word “should” demonstrates my lack of ownership. When I can change “should” to “will” then I own it. I will eat less and I will exercise more.

As a leader, my respect for others turns “should" into “Will you?” Respect asks the question and honors the other person’s decision. They’re free to contribute their best. If they won’t perform, they’ll have to go. If they’re not the best, they will sit on the bench. But it is their choice. They bring their best energy and contribute it, share it, donate it. Respect keeps us all free to choose.

But when we own the source and create the energy to change inside ourselves, we bring life to the work. The effort is no longer a drudge. We have the energy to do things we don’t like. We have energy to endure unreasonable challenges and extreme hardship. The energy inside an individual is almost unlimited when we generate it internally and we engage it voluntarily.

Our third step is to trust people. Trust brings out the best in the best of people. Trust is a litmus test for character. When you trust someone of character, they prove themselves trustworthy. Even if they fail, they will do the actions to demonstrate themselves trustworthy like express guilt, attempt restitution, etc. Trust someone of less-than-stellar character, they also demonstrate their character as well, often by breaching the trust.

When the organic energy from an individual begins to ignite energy in others, often, their performance exceeds the sum of the parts. We all know stories of underdog teams who beat the odds and upset the favorite. Many of us root for them all the time. The unseen force driving those surprise underdogs is the energy inside the individuals on the team.

There was a move in our drill routine where we threw our rifles up and the person next to us caught it. Anyone not fully focused and committed caused injury. The trust created camaraderie and performance that made success possible. Trust engaged a team and created opportunities that never existed for individuals. Our best energy, our greatest effort and our hottest flame are reserved for our greatest purpose. But our greatest achievements are seldom individual. Great mountains make great climbers. Bending steel requires a blazing fire. Our greatest energy always flows, inspired by others toward our greatest purpose.

4. Serve someone
Step 4 is to add a single beneficiary. The minute we do something for someone else we elevate the purpose. In fact, the more people who benefit from our actions, the more elevated our purpose. Give something away and watch what happens. Why else would people contribute to charities or work for non-profits?

The power of a team lies in shared energy working together for a shared outcome. No team wins just for themselves but for each other. No one serves just themselves. Selfishness grows only when we believe greater goals are impossible.

Our best energy chases our greatest purpose. And our energy always burns hottest just like a flame, when there are others burning with us. The greater the purpose, the greater the energy. We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Add one person as a beneficiary, and you elevate your purpose.

Vince Lombardi said, "Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."

So our actions for today:
Focus
Respect
Trust
Serve

You can change your day, your year, your career by following these 4 principles. But I also have to tell you, little of this is my own idea. This works because of the way we're created. You see, I believe we know serving someone else outlasts ourselves. I believe we all innately understand things done only for a small group are less valuable than those done for many. That's why we have words like Legacy and a desire to leave one. We want to outlast ourselves. Deep down inside, we know anything that lasts for 150 years is better than anything that only lasts for 70.

For me, everything I’ve said today was first explained in the Bible. God created us for a relationship with Himself. We broke that relationship by trying to be our own gods. We have all done it. But God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Jesus came to earth and lived and died for us. He lived his life with Focus, Respect, Trust and Service and He made a perfect way for us to freely choose to restore the relationship. Our freedom to choose is respected. We have to initiate the transaction.

Maybe you’ve never thought of faith that way. Maybe you’ve never heard it said that way. I’d be happy to talk more. Remember the energy for change is always volunteered. We can’t demand it or motivate it or manipulate it. The best energy is always volunteered. We have to create an environment where our people want to contribute.

If you have any questions you’d like to ask, I’ll be around to answer them either publicly or privately and we’ll also be talking about this again next week. Thank you for the opportunity.

Mike Henry Sr.
http://mikehenrysr.com