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Video · Leading change

How to Create Change

Simon Sinek on why change stalls when you try to convince the sceptics, and why a rollout should start with the early adopters.

By Simon Sinek · 7:59

Simon Sinek speaking to a large audience in black and white, with the words "Don't try to convince others, do this instead."Watch on YouTube ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Simon Sinek explains why most new ideas die inside organisations: people who benefit from the status quo resist, and trying to convince them turns into a fight. Drawing on Everett Rogers' diffusion of innovations, he argues for starting with the early adopters instead and letting their experience create the demand. He also shows how a small barrier to entry can make people want in rather than keep them out.

Most AI rollouts I see try to win over the whole organisation at once. Everyone gets the licence, everyone gets the training, and the loudest sceptics set the tone.

Sinek's advice is simpler. Stop trying to convince people who don't want to be convinced. Find the ones who already believe it could work, give them something remarkable to do with it, and let them pull the rest along.

For a pilot, that means choosing the team as carefully as the tool. Start where people want it. The link opens a few minutes in, at the part that matters.

Highlights

  • Stop trying to convince sceptics. Find the early adopters who already believe what you believe.
  • Most change stalls short of the tipping point because it starts with the wrong people.
  • A small barrier to entry can filter for real early adopters and create demand.

From the transcript

My rule has never been to try and convince people who don't want to be convinced because all you're going to do is fight. I'm right, you're wrong, and they're going to say no, I'm right, you're wrong—and you're both right contextually.

TopicsExperimentsChange

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