How likely are you to lead a revolution when you see change that needs to happen? - SmartBrief

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How likely are you to lead a revolution when you see change that needs to happen?

Last week's poll question: How likely are you to lead a revolution when you see change that needs to happen?

2 min read

Leadership

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SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 220,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our newsletter.

How likely are you to lead a revolution when you see change that needs to happen?

  • Extremely: I’m the first one to call for big change: 18.4%
  • Very: I often take up new causes: 39.6%
  • Kind of: I’ll lead change but only if I’m really passionate about it: 39.0%
  • Not very: It would take a lot to get me to step forward: 2.8%
  • Not at all: I’ll always let others lead big change: 0.3%

Rebels with a cause. It’s encouraging to see 60% of you taking up causes you believe in. The question to ask is if your cause is having the desired effect. Does it pick up momentum and lead to real change, or does it tend to sputter out and be forgotten when you move on to the next cause? To have a real impact, nail down the core components of a revolution: find a big problem, find other people sick of the same problem, define the future state and galvanize the masses. If you’re going to take the risk of starting something, put the conditions in place to see it through.

Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS. Before launching his own company, he worked at McKinsey & Co., Capital One and Scotts Miracle-Gro. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He’s the author of three leadership books: “One Piece of Paper,” “Lead Inside the Box” and “The Elegant Pitch.”