Be An Agent of Change
Every one of us inherently has the capacity to influence monumental change inside an organization.
In his commencement speech at the University of Texas, Admiral William H. McRaven started with the UT slogan “What Starts Here, Changes the World,” quickly followed by some interesting facts: The average American will meet about 10,000 people in their lifetime. And if each person only changed the lives of 10 of those people, and each of those people only changed the lives of 10 people, and so on, and so on, then in five generations (125 years) the 2014 graduating class of UT (approx 8,000 people) will have changed the lives of 800 MILLION people. 800 MILLION PEOPLE!!
McRaven goes on to say, “Changing the world can happen anywhere, and anyone can do it.” He then asks, “But what will the world look like after you change it?”
Link to Admiral McRaven’s speech
We each make a significant impact on the people we encounter every day, often more so than we realize. As Admiral McRaven continues his speech, he reminds us of the magnitude of every single choice we make, because those choices profoundly impact others — and there is a ripple effect that follows.
It is often the seemingly small choices that have a far greater impact than we recognize — from the way we choose to handle a difficult situation, to the way we write an email, to the way we interact with our colleagues in the elevator, to the way we show up in a meeting and much more. Every micro-behavior, every word choice, every interaction we have, our ability/willingness to listen to others, the way we handle pressure, the way we provide feedback, the way we handle tension on our teams — every single thing we do and say, don’t do and don’t say has a profound impact on others. And that impact multiplies and spreads well beyond our immediate vision.
Understanding and recognizing the impact we have on others is a distinct reminder about our inherent power. We have the power to influence great change, and that change can drive our business… or impede it. As we well know from Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility!
Sometimes leaders inspire others to problem solve, innovate, and create. Other times they stifle creativity and innovation by tending to their own egos.
Sometimes leaders motivate, encourage, support and cheer on others, and other times they unintentionally demoralize, discourage, and rock someone’s confidence.
Sometimes leaders foster trust with vulnerability and transparency. Other times they mistakenly breed distrust and lack of connection by acting inauthentically.
How you lead is the #1 most important factor in driving (or derailing) the success of your business. It is also the ONE factor you can completely control!
As we acknowledge the power and scale of our ability to impact others, it is important to understand is that our thoughts and all that goes on in our minds (there’s a lot!) are what drive and shape how we show up and behave in every encounter. Seemingly involuntary word choices, mannerisms, and facial expressions are not “out of our control,” but rather controlled and driven by our thoughts — both conscious and unconscious thoughts.
Let me illuminate this idea for you. Think about some recent meetings you’ve attended…
Are you the leader in the room? The one with the most power? Or are you the most junior?
Are you the only woman? The only person of color? The shortest? The tallest? The newest to the team?
Are you trying to make sure you’re heard? Or be chosen to be part of the core team on that high profile project?
Are you worried you might say the wrong thing?
Are you trying to make sure it’s clear to everyone that you’re in charge?
Are you trying to make sure they know you’re smart?
Are you thinking that what that other person just said was realllly dumb?
Are you thinking that you need to shut down what he just said because it could derail the entire project?
Are you worried about what kind of an impression you are making?
Are you wondering if anyone can tell that you don’t follow or understand all the lingo being used? Especially the acronyms?
Are you thinking, “Why am I even in this meeting, it is SUCH a waste of my time?”
Are you wishing you could lead this project because the person leading it now is not managing it well?
We all have had thoughts like these. And every single one of these thoughts affects how we show up and present ourselves — what we say, how we say it, the looks on our faces, the enthusiasm (or lack of it) in our voices, the dismissiveness or the anger or the openness we exhibit, the words we choose or don’t choose.
Our thoughts and our mindset drive our behaviors.
If you want to get the most out of your team and your peers, you want to ensure you’re showing up in every encounter to inspire others, to encourage them and to motivate them. To do so, it’s important to examine what’s going on in your mind (both consciously and unconsciously). And it’s also important to understand what types of thoughts and mindset will enable you to show up as your absolute best self. Given the enormous impact you have in every interaction, as Admiral McRaven so beautifully shared, how can you have the greatest possible positive influence on every person you encounter? How can you ignite positive change among an entire team or entire organization?
Here’s the thing… you absolutely can. You ABSOLUTELY can!
ABOUT
A seasoned corporate leader turned executive coach, leadership development expert and keynote speaker, I founded Intrinsic to inspire business professionals to evolve the way they think about leadership — ultimately creating positive changes and measurable results inside their organizations.
I help people find their joy.
I help people find their power.
I help people move through barriers, over mountains, out of a dead end.
I help people get unstuck.
I help people feel seen and be seen by others.
I help people shine brightly.
I help people become the best versions of themselves, and in doing so become remarkable, game-changing leaders… the kind of leaders everyone WANTS to follow.
After 25+ years as a highly-sought entertainment marketer, I learned a lot from all the leaders I encountered along the way and even more from my own experiences as a leader to teams of people I have had the privilege to work with. I spent many years studying leadership and connecting the dots between what I know from my own experience, what I learned from others’ experiences, and what the research and the greatest minds/thinkers reveal. And it is without a shadow of a doubt that I know this to be true:
How you lead is the #1 predictor in driving (or derailing) innovation, resilience, efficiency, productivity, creativity, sales, and whatever else you are trying to accomplish in your business.
And here’s the greatest part…
YOU HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THIS!!
Unlike all those aggravating external factors and market conditions, you have 100% control over how you show up and lead. But you can’t change what you don’t know isn’t working. By learning what kind of impact you are currently having as a leader, creating greater awareness around your blind spots and opportunities, and carving a distinct path toward the type of leader you want to be / the impact you want to have, you can and will see exponential change in the team or organization you lead. And most importantly, you will see the direct impact on your business!
Founder/CEO, Sara Moscowitz
Prior to founding Intrinsic, Sara held many executive roles inside large organizations, from NBCUniversal to Amazon-owned Audible and more, navigating all kinds of personalities, processes, competing interests, red tape, market conditions, and shareholders. During her career, Sara led shifts in corporate culture, inspired / led teams through innumerable highly strategic initiatives, organizational changes and more. She creates environments centered around collaboration, mutual respect, encouragement and employee value. Sara has built new departments from scratch and overhauled poorly functioning teams into highly productive, well-oiled machines, quite often exceeding stated business goals. Her teams are resilient, loyal, strategic, creative, problem solvers, and they support each other. Sara has created systems, workflow, and structure where none had existed before, and she builds leaders who are confident, nurturing, driven, independent, and most importantly, human.
In 2021, Sara completed iPEC’s prestigious coaching program and received her CPC (Certified Professional Coach) and her ELI-MP (Energy Leadership Index, Master Practitioner). She founded Intrinsic in 2022 and now helps executives and leaders in every industry / field become the kind of leaders everyone WANTS to follow. Highly intuitive with an extraordinary ability to both inspire and connect deeply with people, Sara uses a variety of industry-leading coaching tools and her wealth of professional experience to help leaders at all levels learn new ways to approach seemingly impossible situations and lead their teams (and themselves) to previously unimaginable success.
Sara received her BA in Mathematics, Sociology and Political Science from Indiana University. A single mom, runner, avid concert-goer, artistic baker, lover of the outdoors and award-worthy kitchen dancer, Sara lives in New Jersey with her two teenage kids, who teach her more about life, leadership, courage and self awareness than any job or education ever has.