What does it take to change your life?
Sometimes, not all that much. As our old friend, Brian Solis, writes in his new book, “Mindshift, “A better tomorrow starts with a mindshift. You unleash a butterfly effect when a mindshift becomes a gift you give to someone else.”
He shares the story of Ford Motors entry into racing to illustrate his point.
Back in the late 1950s, Ford was stuck. Their market share was slipping, and GM was eating their lunch. That’s right about the time when their brash young VP of Marketing, Lee Iacocca, had an idea. What if Ford started racing to reignite interest in the brand? Not just any racing – Le Mans. Essentially, the sexiest and most prestigious racing in the world.
The plan was simple. Buy Ferrari (the King of Le Mans), win races, and sell cars. “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”
But not only did Enzo Ferrari refuse to sell, he insulted them, calling them “Worthless sons-of-*expletive”, and referred to the then CEO, Henry Ford II (Henry Ford’s son) as a “pig-headed boss” who managed a “big ugly factory who made big ugly cars.”
That could’ve been it. Henry Ford II could have walked away and kept making the same big, ugly cars. But something fundamentally shifted for him. Call it rage, call it pride, but he famously said, “Alright, we’ll beat his ass… We’re going to race him.”
That’s the moment everything changed. Within a decade, the Ford team had designed and perfected the legendary Ford GT40 car and not only had beaten Ferrari but was completely dominating Le Mans racing.
And it all started in his mind. These days, a lot of leaders seek out complex solutions. They implement elaborate change management programs, restructure, reorganize the org boxes, and hire expensive consultants to lead them on the journey. But what if real, powerful, lasting change, doesn’t actually require any of that? What if it just requires us to see things through a new lens and then commit to following through?
As writer and futurist, Alvin Toffler, said: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” And that’s all a mindshift really is.
By Brian’s definition, it’s simply the ability to open your mind and heart. “It’s your ability to see something new or differently; to learn and unlearn; to react creatively in times of change.” And it’s a learned behavior. While some of us may be better at it than others, he argues it’s a discipline. A skill we can cultivate over time. A way of life that starts simply by paying attention.
We say often that culture is the one thing your competition can’t steal or copy. And that’s true. But so is what happens in the head and the heart.
It’s kind of amazing when you think about it. The most valuable thing you can do for your business – have a change of mindset – is actually free. It costs you nothing.
The even better news is that in the process, we don’t just transform ourselves. We create the conditions for everyone around us to think and lead differently too.
