Formula for Change
Have you ever felt you aren’t #creative enough to bring change? Did you know that there is a formula for bringing out change? C=D*V*F>R
David Gleicher proposed the formula, and Kathie Dannemiller later modified it.
C- Change
D- Dissatisfaction
V- Vision
F- First tangible step
R- Resistance
It is important to note that if you have a zero for D, V or F, you aren’t overcoming resistance, which means you will not bring #change. Let’s explore each factor briefly.
Dissatisfaction is harder to quantify, but it is easy to recognize usually. This is the place many companies focus on to find #differentiation. The issue is that they are focused on improving upon something already known and most likely a commodity. The game changer that utilizes your creativity is when you unearth dissatisfaction that people have simply accepted as the status quo. To do that, you need a vision beyond what is known.
Horses as a method of travel now have a lot of dissatisfaction, but they didn’t before the automobile. Imagine your displeasure if you had to light your home only by candlelight. Ford and Edison didn’t set out to improve the horse or candle. They had a vision. The vision often carries the #creativity for change. It is also the area that doesn’t get expressed. Less than 20% of people feel that they are creative enough. That feeling results in people not sharing ideas and visions because they fear being judged by others.
Action, a tangible first step, often feels like the hardest part. Worry starts to creep in, and our personal risk management adds to the resistance. The fear of not having a complete plan or total funding stops us from moving forward. People believe, without a concrete strategy, that they are dead in the water, so why start at all? This lack of action is where so many amazing ideas get stuck. People miss that the #innovation process is never perfect. In fact, if you are genuinely innovating, you will be ecstatic if your plan is 80% correct. The problem becomes when you try to innovate for everyone by forgetting that only 15% of the market in the first few years will even consider what you are building. Iterations can come later to capture the remaining 85%.
The easiest to quantify initially might be the resistance. It is estimated that unless the value of something new isn’t at least 20% greater than what someone is doing now, they will not change unless forced to by regulation. There are plenty of examples where that resistance is in excess of 100%, and as dollar values increase, the percentage does too. It is a direct reflection of risk mitigation by humans. The best way to overcome this is through demonstrated delivery for others and why testimonials are so powerful. The resistance leads to diluted products to gain acceptance, again trying to please everyone instead of the 15% that value innovation.