Episode 19: Cassandra Worthy
People don’t like change. It’s a scientific fact. Chris Pennington writes for Emerson Human Capital Consulting that our brains are “hardwired to resist change.” He refers to a part of the brain called the amygdala which is our brain's mechanism to process fear or threats. It’s the part of the brain that releases the flight or fight hormones. Rosabeth Moss Kanter in her Harvard Business Review article “Ten Reasons People Resist Change,” talks about change resistance in terms of “Loss of Control,” “Excess Uncertainty,” “Surprise Surprise!” and “Everything Seems Different.” All variables that make people want to flee or fight. And yet change we must. Henry Ford summed it up beautifully, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Enter Cassandra Worthy. She is a global keynote speaker, author and consultant who is the CEO and optimistic mind behind Change Enthusiasm. Her three-step method of “Signal. Opportunity. Choice.” provides a blueprint for organizations in transition as they help their employees accept inevitable changes by embracing what she calls the growth mindset. What distinguishes Cassandra’s approach is that a significant part of her pedagogy is based upon the acknowledgement and leveraging of the employees’ emotions in this change process. As a scientist and chemical engineer, she views emotions as the fuel to support or sabotage change. The more an organization can get right with the emotions of their employees, the better chance they have of successfully launching the new path forward.
She also views change as an opportunity for those who are on the receiving end of this complex change bargain (each individual employee) to take a stand for themselves and their future. Cassandra synthesizes it quite succinctly from advice she received when she herself was growing through a significant shift in her previous work life with Proctor & Gamble, “In this moment you can get better, or you can get bitter. And it’s your choice.” Better is moving towards the future. Bitter is embracing stagnation. The choice is always in our own hands.
