Change Champions Must Change First and Be -

 Change Champions Must Change First and Be -

Sacrificers, Affable, Innovative, Noble

Trustworthy, Listeners, and Yeomanly

 

(This post is a sequel to the one published on 26 February 2022.)

“Welcome, bhavi shikshan Samrat(education emperor)! I’m sure your grand dream of the digital-age educational institute is unfolding fast?” said Ram, spontaneously overjoyed to see his closest friend Krishna.

 

“Guru, I’m in no way a bhavi Samrat, I feel like I’m deep in the ditch that I dug myself. I remember that I had almost opted out of the training tour to the U.S. due to similar desperation, but with your counselling I benefitted immensely and made the right decision.

 

Now, everyone around me, including my family, is up against my plan. I won’t get into the details, but need your guidance to salvage my plans. Even the people in the area where I plan to set up my institute are not supportive.” 

 

“Sure, my dear friend. I’m happy to have a frank and serious discussion. We have solved many problems in the past and can surely tackle the ones you face now. But be prepared for a ruthless analysis and hard solutions.

 

“First of all, you are trying to usher in a radical change in a remote area. You have read so much and will remember the unpleasant harsh truth that humans complain about hardships and misery, but deep within, most are content in their comfort zones and routine activities. Any suggestion or even a hint  of change creates storms of imaginary calamities, invasion of their culture and traditions and violations of values cherished for ages. Such negative attitudes do not change easily. It is said ‘old does not yield without resistance and new is not accepted without protests’. 

 

“All social, corporate, political reformers or change champions must assimilate this harsh truth and change themselves first, to become, in the new lingo, ‘cool’. They must be prepared to pursue their cherished mission despite difficulties, and even be ready to die. Many reformers preferred death and refused to budge from the chosen path. You should assimilate and make the below dictum your conviction and an article of faith. 

 

Change Champions Must Change First and Be

Sacrificers, Affable, Innovative, Noble

Trustworthy, Listeners, and Yeomanly

 

“Everyone is busy in the pursuit of happiness but for reformers, the creed is ‘Happiness of Pursuit’. There’s a book written by Chris Guillebeau with that title. I strongly encourage you to read it. 

 

“You should also study the lives of reformers like Savitribai and Jyotiba Phule. In the comparative darker age, they initiated ideas of educating girls and having common classes for all castes. They were subject to crude and often cruel harassment from those opposed to their ideas. Jyotiba’s father, under pressure from some highbrow leaders, asked them to leave the ancestral house and the couple was even excommunicated. When Savitribai walked to the school people en route verbally abused her and even hurled dirt and cow dung at her. 

 

“The Phule couple did not swerve from their chosen noble mission but maintained their dignity and found solutions. Savitribai would carry spare sarees to change the soiled ones after reaching school. What an admirably positive and constructive approach!”

 

Krishna said, “Guru, I now realise that as compared to these stalwarts, heroic reformers my troubles are trivial, only private talk and a lot of rumours. What you shared is eye-opening for me. But, to keep the emotional and time costs to the minimum please give me some guidelines."

 

Ram said, “First and foremost, as I said earlier, change yourself and become ‘cool’. It is said that if you make yourself acceptable, the agreement will follow. It seems to me that you probably – subconsciously - went in as a messiah to emancipate them. They may be illiterate, but they are intelligent enough to sense that and resisted.

 

“As a first step, master and adapt Robert Greenleaf’s concept of Servant Leadership. The main elements appear simple, but you must make genuine efforts to assimilate these and put them in practice. The people you are going to help must be convinced that you are a changed leader and genuinely want to serve them. The elements are given below:

                            Selfless, Empathetic, Resolute,

                        Virtuous, Authentic, Needful, Thorough

“Secondly, in order to  make it a genuinely collective effort to improve society, create a trust with some family members and prominent citizens of your and neighbouring places.

“Thirdly, to get local guidance and wider support, form an Advisory Committee of eminent persons including government officers.

“Fourthly, form Administrative Teams or Clusters as follows: 

∙       Goals Cluster

∙       Roles Cluster

∙       Communication Cluster

∙       Negotiation Cluster

∙       Finance Cluster   

 

And, finally, never ever lose your cool, hurt anyone, and continuously expand your network.