From Here to There: Defining the Future

From Here to There: Defining the Future

Takeaways

“The change leader’s job is to create advocates for the change at every level of the organization.” Jack Welch

From Here to There: Defining the Future

What it Means

Creating a compelling vision, crafting a clear roadmap and executing an effective communications strategy are key ingredients of managing change. Great leaders can paint a picture of the future state that not only captures the mind, but also the heart allowing participants in the change process to see how much better things will be after the change efforts have been completed.

Why it Matters

·         A change initiative rarely gains great momentum without a tangible, passionate cry for change.

·         It creates unity and common ground among all the people touched by the change.

·         People engaged in the project need to understand where they are heading, how to get there and what’s in it for them.

“Change has few cheerleaders in its early days, but when the change process works and brings great results, everyone is the father of the change.” Jack Welch

Action Plan

From Here to There: Defining the Future

Whether you are managing a smaller project in your department or leading a massive integration between corporations, creating a compelling vision and a roadmap, and having a clear plan to communicate them are fundamental criteria for successful implementation of any change initiative. The activities that follow will:

·         Summarize the key components necessary to create your own vision for change

·         Outline the elements necessary to build your roadmap

·         Review key steps to develop your communication plan

Your Starting Point

1.      Do I already have a concise version of the Shared Need (refer to What’s in it for Me?)?

2.      Do I have some high level talking points of what the Vision could be?

3.      What informal input have I already collected about the Vision from key leaders?

4.      What are the key stepping stones (aka milestones) that will be a part of the roadmap?

5.      Do I have a good understanding of which communication tools are available in my organization?

6.      Which parts of the organization will require the most communication and why?

Quick Wins for Managing Change

Depending on what your responses were in the What’s in it for Me? Activity, the four simple activities can be a great support as you begin to create the foundation of your Vision, Roadmap, and Communication Plan. The purpose here is not to formalize the entire change initiative at this stage, but rather to begin to get people talking, imagining the possibilities and to identify areas of consensus and divergence.

·         Gather key leaders in the organization to brainstorm ideas about the Vision.

1.      How do they envision it?

2.      Which points seem to be common across multiple leaders?

3.      Where do you see differences?

·         Following the brainstorming session, review your notes and start consolidating the different points of view, until you are able to summarize the issues in a handful of bullet points.

·         Write down the key items that will need to change in order to reach the Vision: this will be the foundation of your Roadmap.

·         Finally, write down the stakeholders that will be negatively affected by the changes. You will need to spend extra time on your Communication Plan for these groups.

Key Questions for Developing a Vision

As you develop your vision, it is essential to think about (and answer) several questions in order to craft the right message and secure early buy-in from a few key leaders in the organization. Review the following questions and write out your answers.

1.      What are the key components of the status quo that need to change?

2.      What will be different in the future?

3.      How will people behave differently in the vision? What’s in it for them?

4.      Who are the few key leaders that will need to support this vison and make it their own? Why did you select each of these leaders?

5.      What messaging about the vision (or future state) of the organization would most likely resonate with each of them? Why?

6.      What will customers experience? How will the vision benefit them?

7.      What is the immediate next step to move in the right direction?

Remember to leverage key foundational items from your “Shared Need,” which you developed earlier in the process. The Vision should leverage the Shared Need as its foundation and then project a forward looking statement on how the organization will change for the better.

Creating Your Roadmap

To realize your vision, you have to be able to measure how far you’ve come and how far you still have to go—and to do this, it’s critical to have a roadmap.

A roadmap is a simple summary of the key milestones you need to reach, in order to eventually realize your Vision. The key ingredient of a powerful Roadmap is simplicity. Don’t get bogged down in the details and the how (this is where your project team will be focusing their efforts). For now, focus on identifying the key stepping stones that mark a significant progress in the right direction.

To define your roadmap, follow this exercise:

1.      Define the “Gap” between your current state and the Vision.

2.      List the key things that will need to change in order to execute the Vision under the following headings:

Processes

Which key processes will need to change (or be created) in order to deliver the Vision?

Capabilities

What type of capabilities will the organization need to develop to accomplish the Vision?

Structure

Does the organizational structure need to change to support the Vision? If yes, write down what types of changes need to be made.

Infrastructure

Does the Vision require any major infrastructure changes, such as IT systems overhaul or new systems?

3.      Collect these thoughts from #2 on sticky notes and aim to narrow down your key milestone list to 6 or 8 maximum. The sticky notes make it easy to line them up on a wall and play around with their order. Make note of which items need to precede other milestones (e.g., make the acquisition prior to changing IT systems, etc.).

4.      The simpler and cleaner you keep the roadmap picture, the easier it will be to communicate and remind the organization where they are in the process.

5.      Require that the change initiative teams use this roadmap as part of their detailed project plan. The Vision, Roadmap, Project Plan and Communication Plan need to go hand-in-hand.

Communication Plan

The Communication Plan is one of the most important tools for the success of your initiative. Change Leaders who successfully implement initiatives know that this document is not just something that is used at the beginning of the project, but gets used throughout the entire life of the project.

Remember that the communication Plan only provides a framework for the regular communication of the project and its key milestones. There should also be plenty of informal an ad hoc communications to supplement this plan. In particular, think about those who will be most negatively impacted and whether you need to provide some additional communication mechanisms for them. You may want keep them informed more frequently, to help generate buy in.

Many organizations use a simple Excel sheet to plan their communications and periodically reassess the communication plan effectiveness. Whatever organization tools your employ, at a minimum, you will want to identify four key components:

1.      WHO is your target audience for that specific communication (e.g., major stakeholder groups Sales team, Manufacturing Plant, etc.)? For broad communications, such as a Company quarterly newsletter, it could be all employees. Reference your Stakeholder Map to ensure all your key constituents are captured.

2.      WHAT is the purpose of your communication? Are you communicating the achievement of a major milestone? Is it a status update? Is it a call to action?

3.      WHEN will you deliver communications to specific audiences? It could coincide with existing planned events (Town Hall, Team retreat, Quarterly Review, Weekly Staff Meeting, etc.) or it could be a separate event. In some cases, you may not have a specific timing in mind, make sure you list as a minimum the calendar week or month as a placeholder.

4.      HOW will you actually communicate and via what channels? You may be using live events to deliver a speech or a presentation. Or you may be using indirect channels such as emails, company newsletters, the company intranet site, etc. Remember that repetition is a key to success, so more is better. In addition, alternate the type of medium you use; some people assimilate better through an oral communication, others are more visual and will be more receptive emails, flyers, etc.

5.      One of the advantages of creating this in list in Excel, is the ability to sort the columns in different ways. As you complete your list, sort your list by WHO and then by WHEN. This will enable you to see how often you will be reaching each key audience.

6.      Communication should be frequent and use at least a couple of different mediums for each stakeholder. As a rule of thumb, if your initiative spans the course of a year, you will want to reach each audience at least on a biweekly basis throughout the life of the project.

Below is an example of a Communication Plan.

Target Audience	Communication Date	Channel	Communication Topic
Sales Team	2/2/19	Sales Team Meeting	Vision, Q&A
All Employees	2/17/19	Town Hall	Vision, Status Update
Operations Team	2/24/19	Email	Status Update, Next Steps

Game Pages

From Here to There:

Your Starting Point

Developing a Vision

Communication Plan

Creating a Roadmap

For each section, summarize the following items:

1.      Name of the milestone

2.      Brief description. Remember to include measureable goals, since this will eventually drive your measurement system.

3.      Estimated timeframe.

Current Status	Starting Point	Today’s Organization	Today’s Date

Milestone	Name of Milestone	Brief Description	Estimated Date
1
2
3
4
5
6

Future State	Name of Milestone	Brief Description	Estimated Date

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There are 3,141 counties in the United States. 

The President won 3,084 of them. 

Clinton won 57. 

There are 62 counties in New York. 

The President won 46 of them. 

Clinton won 16. 

Clinton won the popular vote by approximately 2.8M votes.

In the five counties that encompass NYC, (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Richmond & Queens) Clinton received well over 2M more votes than the President. 

Therefore these five counties alone almost accounted for Clinton winning the popular vote of the entire country. 

These five counties comprise 319 square miles. 

The United States is comprised of 3,797,000 square miles. 

When you have a country that encompasses nearly 4,000,000 square miles of territory, it would be ludicrous to even suggest that the vote of those who inhabit a mere 319 square miles should dictate the outcome of a national election.

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Roman Catholic Exemption to the Political Vaccination

 1)      I am a practicing Catholic, and my belief is sincere and meaningful.

2)      The Catholic church has, over the centuries, extensively addressed issues related to bodily integrity generally and vaccination specifically, including issues of voluntariness and vaccine mandates.

3)      Regarding COVID in particular, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) published a “Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines”[1] on December 21, 2020, stating that:

a)      COVID-19 vaccines that used cell lines originating from aborted fetuses are morally compromised. [Note: The J&J vaccine “is an adenoviral vector grown in the PER.C6 cell line that originated from a healthy 18-week-old aborted child.”[2] The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were tested using the “morally compromised HEK-293 cell line,” originating from “a child aborted in the Netherlands in 1972.”[3]] Catholics have a moral duty to avoid use of such vaccines.

b)      However, this moral duty “is not obligatory if there is a grave danger, such as the otherwise uncontainable spread” of COVID-19.

c)       “In the absence of other means to stop or even prevent the epidemic, the common good may recommend vaccination.”

d)      “In such a case, all vaccinations recognized as clinically safe and effective can be used in good conscience.”

e)      “At the same time, practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary.”

f)       “Those who, […] for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, must do their utmost to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent.”

4)      To summarize, the moral duty to avoid use of these three COVID vaccines is not obligatory only if:

a)      The spread of COVID-19 is otherwise uncontainable,

b)      There is an absence of other means by which to stop or prevent the epidemic,

c)       The vaccines are clinically safe, and

d)      The choice to receive a vaccine must be voluntary.

5)      If any element is not satisfied, the moral duty to avoid using the vaccines is obligatory. In which case, _____________________’s vaccine mandate violates my Catholic faith.

6)      Even if all elements were satisfied, a non-obligatory moral duty does not equate to me taking a vaccine, much less authorizing a vaccine mandate. It merely means that, as a Catholic, I have the option to evaluate the evidence myself and make my own prudential decision whether to receive a vaccine; to repeat, “it must be voluntary.” I can choose to not take a vaccine, in which case I must “avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming [a] vehicle for the transmission of the infectious agent.”

7)      Here, all four elements have yet to be satisfied.

8)      The threshold issue is voluntariness: “vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and […], therefore, it must be voluntary.” This mandate violates my Catholic faith because it is, by definition, not voluntary.

9)      Rather than a coercive mandate, ____________________ should emphasize the virtue of Prudence, allowing each student/employee to make a prudential decision whether to take a COVID vaccine. Failing this, _____________ should follow the science by changing the mandate to acknowledge two additional “means by which to stop or prevent the epidemic,” two additional forms of protection that are equivalent to or greater than protection gained via some or all of the three COVID vaccines:

a)      Naturally acquired immunity via prior COVID infection and subsequent recovery; and

b)      Prophylactic ivermectin, taken weekly in accordance with the FLCCC Alliance protocol.[4]

10)   Consistent with the CDF note, I am already taking the most effective “other prophylactic means” as an alternative to vaccination: ivermectin taken weekly as a prophylactic, per the FLCCC Alliance protocol. Regarding ivermectin’s efficacy against COVID, as both prophylaxis and treatment, please see the attached 4-page summary. The full 47-page meta-analysis is at

https://ivmmeta.com/

11)   If _____________________ decides to acknowledge the ivermectin evidence and allow this form of protection as an alternative to vaccination, I am willing to sign something weekly verifying that I am taking the medication.

12)   Furthermore, there is evidence that the three COVID vaccines are not clinically safe. The AMERICA’S FRONTLINE DOCTORS, et al. v. XAVIER BECERRA, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, et al. complaint mentions some of this evidence, including myocarditis and pericarditis in young men, per the CDC.[5]

13)   The most concerning piece of evidence is a graph created using data from Pfizer (next page). As background:

a)      All three vaccines utilize the Spike protein. Recent studies[6],[7] indicate the Spike protein alone (without coronavirus infection per se) is enough to cause damage, inducing symptoms similar to catching COVID-19. This fact appears to have come as a surprise to the vaccine developers.[8]

b)      The three vaccines were designed to anchor the Spike protein to the cell; the Spike protein was not supposed to flow freely in the blood. After injection, the Spike protein was supposed to initially stay in and around the injection site, then eventually end up in the liver to “get chewed up by various destructive enzymes.”[9]

14)   However, the Pfizer data (chart on next page) show something different happening in reality:

a)      During the initial 8 hours after injection, the Spike protein is flowing freely in both the blood plasma and whole blood. This indicates that the “anchoring” did not work. This was not supposed to happen.

b)      The Spike protein is then concentrating in both the ovaries and bone marrow. This was not supposed to happen either. The Spike protein was supposed to end up in the liver to “get chewed up by various destructive enzymes.”

15)   Thus far, there is only one year of data available on these three vaccines; nobody knows what the long-term effects will be. This makes Point 14(b) particularly concerning. Concentration of the Spike protein in the ovaries suggests infertility or birth defects as long-term effects, and concentration in the bone marrow suggests leukemia or autoimmune disorders.

16)   As a Catholic, I support life. This position is not limited to opposing abortion; it extends to opposing both COVID vaccines tested using aborted fetal cell lines and a vaccine mandate that may, based on available evidence, cause infertility in females and/or birth defects in future children.

17)   _______________________’s vaccine mandate applies to both males and females. As a Catholic, I believe that any risk of infertility - for anyone - is an unacceptably high risk. Forcing female students/employees to take this risk by mandating vaccination when the safer alternative of prophylactic ivermectin is available and known is unethical, inhumane, illegal, and in violation of my Catholic faith. ___________________ should eliminate its vaccine mandate, but failing that, female students/employees should be exempted from the mandate.

[1]https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html[2]https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2021/03/03/opinion-its-time-to-get-beyond-vaccines/[3]https://www.usccb.org/moral-considerations-covid-vaccines[4]https://covid19criticalcare.com/covid-19-protocols/[5]https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/myocarditis.html[6]https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.121.318902[7]https://www.contagionlive.com/view/spike-protein-of-sars-cov-2-virus-alone-can-cause-damage-to-lungs[8]https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-save-the-world-in-three-easy-steps/id1471581521?i=1000525032595[9]https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/05/04/spike-protein-behavior

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Prager University: What Made George Washington Great

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Transcript 

It’s hard to imagine there would have been a United States of America without George Washington.

He was there at the birth of the nation. He successfully guided it through war and nurtured it in peace.

How did he do it?

Not by being a great general, a potent political theorist, or even a clever politician. He was none of those things.

And yet, he was admired by generals, political theorists and politicians. Why?

Because he was a man great men trusted. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and so many others looked up to him—literally. He was one of the tallest men of his era at six-foot-three. Add courage, integrity, and wisdom, and you have a truly impressive figure.

Let’s start with his courage. That was never in doubt. If anything, he had too much of it.

Bold to the point of rashness as a young man, he fought for the British against the French over control of the Ohio Valley, then the Western-most point of the American wilderness.

Throughout that conflict, known as the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution, Washington was always in the thick of the action. His aides often struggled to keep him from surging too far ahead of his own troops. In one battle, his coat was pierced four times by musket fire. Horses were shot out from under him. Amazingly, some would say miraculously, he was never wounded—not so much as a flesh wound.

By the time the revolution broke out in April of 1775, Washington was firmly committed to the cause of American independence. He arrived in Philadelphia in May of that year to offer his services to the Continental Congress.  He was quickly made commander of the new rebel army. There was only one problem: there was no army to speak of. There was just a rag-tag collection of state militias. How was Washington going to defeat the greatest military force in the world with that?

It was a problem the general struggled with for eight and a half years. That he managed to hold the army together, organize it into a disciplined fighting force and guide it to victory was testament to his fortitude, his patience, and his personal bravery.

Of his integrity, one need only to look at what he did when the war ended: exactly what he promised to do when the war began.  He resigned his military command and went home to Mt. Vernon.

By stepping down, Washington raised himself up as the embodiment of republican heroism. It is said that King George III asked the London-based American painter Benjamin West what Washington was likely to do when peace came. West replied that Washington would probably return to his farm. The king was astounded. “If he does that,” His Majesty declared, “he will be the greatest man in the world!”

This story may be apocryphal, but the Newburgh Rebellion, and how Washington handled it, is not. With experience had come wisdom.

As the revolution wound down, a group of officers refused to give up their arms until they were paid. If they didn’t get their money, which Congress didn’t have, they would take control of the government.  It was not an idle threat. No less a figure than Alexander Hamilton was in a panic.

Washington, no great orator, sought to defuse their anger. They had risked everything to create a republican society, he told the officers. To abandon the cause now, when true victory was so close, would mean all their sacrifices would have been in vain.

However convincing the speech may have been, it was a simple gesture that carried the day. Washington concluded his remarks by reading to them a letter sent to him from a member of Congress. Suddenly, he stopped. From his pocket, he pulled a pair of spectacles. None of the officers had ever seen him wear them. Putting the glasses on, Washington said, “Gentlemen, you must pardon me. I have grown gray in the service of my country and now find myself going blind.”

He finished reading the letter and left the hall without another word. The gesture, sincerely offered with just the right touch of stagecraft, pierced the hearts of his men. Many were moved to tears. They immediately passed a resolution declaring their loyalty to civilian government. George Washington had saved the revolution once again.

It wouldn’t be the last time. During the writing of the Constitution and during his eight years as President, Washington was repeatedly called upon to hold the fractious young nation together. He never failed to do so.

We commonly refer to George Washington now as the father of our country. It’s hard to imagine any nation ever had a better one.   

I’m John Rhodehamel, author of George Washington: The Wonder of the Age, for Prager University.

Study Guide

https://www.prageru.com/sites/default/files/study-guides/rhodehamel-what_made_george_washington_great-studyguide.pdf

Take the Quiz

https://www.prageru.com/videos/what-made-george-washington-great

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