Certain Uncertainty

8Radical Empathy: How to Craft Effective Communications About Change

Tamsen Webster

A combination of huge uncertainty and the need to pivot and change direction at a moment's notice means that leadership in the current landscape is challenging. The success of your efforts in navigating these choppy waters—not to mention leading others through them—depends on how good you are at changing people's minds.

Except that people don't like to change their minds.

In fact, when challenged, people will often double down on their beliefs. They have to, really. Doing otherwise would force them to consider whether they're as smart, capable, and good as they think they are. Since that's a consideration basically all humans like to avoid, well, yeah, it makes your job tough.

So, what's a professional mind‐changer like you to do? Well, first, remember that it's always about them, not (just) you. You're trying to create the change in them, sure, and that means you have a lot of work to do. But really, they have the much, much harder task.

Why? Because while you need to figure out the message that will move them (and yes, that's difficult in and of itself), they're the ones who actually have to move. And to create that movement, you pretty much HAVE to change what they believe …

Or do you?

For an example, let's look at how climate change conversations are difficult for both skeptics and environmentalists (see doubling down on beliefs, above). Studies have shown that when climate change skeptics ...