A message of Change

It's taken me a while for me to post, but the day after we first started talking about change, this email from the president of my company hit my desktop. He's an enlightened individual and gifted speaker - in his address to our company he talks about what is necessary to create change, and I quote:

Today is the day we set aside to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The day is important both as a turning point in our history and also offers an example of leadership that I hope is helpful to each of us.

In almost every survey done in almost any type of organization or group, the most admired trait of a leader is honesty or truthfulness. The number two character trait tends to show up far down the list.

Yet, honesty is not always received with open arms, and neither was Dr. King. One could argue that Dr. King’s best writings and speeches merely tell people the truth. Even though not an elected official, Dr. King may have been one of the few leaders to declare boldly the truth about what was going on all around us.

To paraphrase, Dr. King reminded us that our country was founded on ideals that all men were created equal and asked if a country that prevents some eligible people from voting based on race is really being true to those ideals. He called upon the Judeo-Christian heritage and asked how a country founded on principles that purport to respect the dignity of every human being could prohibit people from going in restaurants, hotels or forcing them to have separate bathrooms. In essence, how could we go against our own widely-held values?

Dr. King’s assertions were not disputed as being incorrect factually as these inequalities existed and everyone knew it. Although very young at the time, I knew it. Further, not many disputed that such actions were immoral, illegal, or both.

So, Dr. King merely was honest and truthful-----he pointed to an environment of inequality that was contrary to so many principles that people believed. In essence, he held up a mirror for us to see ourselves.

Further, although Dr. King did call for more legal enforcement of existing laws, his over-riding focus was to change behaviors by changing attitudes. Notice that he did not say, “I have a dream that one day the Government will make little black boys and little white boys play together.“ Or, “I wish people in Mississippi would comply with laws like they do in Vermont“. I have attached a copy of the “I Have a Dream Speech” to check yourself.

Rather, Dr. King wanted people to treat each other with dignity and respect because it is right the thing to do, rather than because they were made to do it.

Dr. King understood that real change comes by changing how people view the world which thus impacts their attitude toward an issue. Only changes in attitude eventually result in changes to behavior. One can change people’s behavior through force if necessary, but it is not long lasting and it is not sincere because it is not precipitated by a change in attitude. Dr. King did not appeal only to the Government; he appealed to our heads and hearts.

True committed action without corresponding attitude change is a thin edge; and it falls apart with the first rough spot in the road.

Very few important actions are taken merely because people are told to do it. Did the heroes at Normandy keep charging because they were told to do so? Do researchers get up each day looking for a cure for cancer because they have to do it? A good analogy is the difference between reading a song and singing a song----all of us know the difference inside.

Real change only happens when people do things they are committed to doing; and forcing compliance is only a hollow, short term victory. Dr. King feared that the Government forcing compliance to laws might result in some short term changes; but that real change only comes about when people are committed to making that change from within. He wanted us to “sing a song of freedom.”

In my lifetime, I have seen a steady and on going (but by no means perfect) commitment to live up to the ideals Dr. King espoused. It is true that since Dr. King’s death, the Government has done a better job of enforcing laws, and that certainly has helped. More compelling is that Dr. King changed how people viewed inequality, and thus inspired commitment to changing behavior, one person at a time.

So, Dr. King’s honest communication and focus on the harder, longer term way of change has resulted in perhaps the greatest social progress in this country in the past 50 years. He paved the way for the progress in correcting all inequalities. If, as a country we did not deal with the black and white issue; could we ever really deal with any other equality issue?

As an example, would the growth of female sports ever happened if Dr. King had not struck the match to cause us to think differently?

Please take a moment today to think about Dr. King and to see the impact of all the changes that his leadership has effected, not only in his lifetime, but throughout time.

Thanks……Bill