Preparation: The Power to Change

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~~Victor Frankl~~

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” ~~W. Edwards Deming~~

I attended the 6th annual Women in Business Summit* this weekend. It was an incredible gathering of professional women, some entrepreneurs and some corporate, and a great opportunity to network and learn. The keynote speaker, in a rather synchronistic turn of events, was not the scheduled speaker, but instead Karen Hinds, Founder and CEO of Workplace Success Group, LLC. http://www.workplacesuccess.com.

The theme for the event, and therefore the topic of the keynote was The Power to Change. I found Karen’s presentation exhilarating, and want to share with you some of the take-a-ways from my perspective.

You need a plan. If you’re going to change you need to actually prepare for that change. You don’t (can’t) change until you’re ready to adopt that change, internalize it, and make it your new reality. Change isn’t real unless it’s sustained. And, you can’t sustain a change until you are ready and prepared to do so…

Karen gave us an acronym, which as the mother of an almost 5 year old boy, I thought was nothing less than brilliant. You need to ICE it.

1. Identify the thing that you want to change
2. Commit to actually changing it
3. Execute the change

We know, and see it all the time, that life’s lessons are repeated until they’re learned. (You may recall my balance issue or my clearing the clutter episodes…)

What lesson are you still trying to learn? And are you prepared to sustain the change?


*The WIB Summit is organized by Kisha Samuels, the founder of Events of Joy (http://eventsofjoy.com) and you can find more information about WIB here: http://www.wibsummit.com

You can follow Kisha on Twitter @WIBSummit and Karen Hinds @worksuccess. Tell them @HireEffect sent you…