“When the winds of change blow our way, we often default to doing what comes naturally, what feels normal. In many contexts, natural and normal serve us well. It’s a very human inclination to rely on our intuition or habit when trying to make the best decision and solve the problems in front of us. However, amid the complexities of change, natural and normal will often derail leaders. To lead change effectively, we must do what’s optimal. The normal path often takes us deeper into polarization by appealing to what we already believe. In this book, I introduce an alternative path to leading change, an optimal path. It’s a path that starts with respect. It’s for those who are tired of the normal path of disrespect, fear, manipulation, and control…”

“For a change initiative to be successful, leaders need to focus on mindset as much as skill set. The Respect, Trust, Influence (RTI) path helps leaders create mindsets that make transition and transformation happen. I developed the change mindset model to help leaders understand people’s typical behavior in change situations. The model also helps us become more aware of how we experience change and how others experience us during change. The four types of human responses are Transformers, Reactors, Controllers, and Resisters…”

“In my book, we will look at two elements of respect that form an optimal sequence for paving a path to trust and influence. The first step in the respect sequence is to suspend assumptions. Suspending assumptions is both the starting point and the leverage point when starting with respect. When we’re leading change, if we assume others see what we see or assume we see what others see, we set ourselves up for failure from the start. The second step in the respect sequence is to value differences. This requires us to suspend assumptions, listen optimally, win hearts and minds, and move people from simply agreeing to believing…”

“Most of us make assumptions by looking at snapshots of the world around us. We catch glimpses of events and base our thinking on those glimpses. We naturally jump to conclusions based on these partial truths. Instead of relying on snapshots, leaders need to fill their perception gaps by catching the full movie. A movie fills in the frames between individual snapshots to give a fuller, truer picture of reality. We often draw false conclusions from snapshots and uncover corrected truths after seeing the movie…”

“By “differences” I mean the qualities that make each individual person unique. Valuing differences means intentionally seeking out differences of opinion, experience, or knowledge because all may contribute to a better result. Valuing differences is foundational when leading change because it helps people believe. When you value differences, you create optimal input, participation, engagement, ownership, and accountability. When leaders ignore or fail to acknowledge differences, employees don’t feel seen, and their unique contributions can be overlooked…”