How Leaders Inspire Change

It’s easier to be a visionary than a leader. Coming up with ideas is the easy part. How do you get people to move forward?

Moving is hard work. Whether you’re moving your office across town, your filing cabinet to the next room, or just your body up off the comfy seat you’ve been warming for a few hours, it takes effort and energy to create change.

The most intense 10 weeks of my life happened when my husband and I moved to San Diego in 2004. He got a new job and drove down almost immediately to California to start work. I stayed back for a few weeks to put our house on the market and pack up. My days were filled with work, good-bye parties, realtor appointments, trying to find housing in San Diego online (using dial-up!), making travel arrangements, and keeping our yard looking nice for showings. My nights (long nights) were spent packing and cleaning the house.

Meanwhile, we’d also previously booked a trip to Australia right in the middle of all this, which we were not about to give up. I got the house completely packed (even the toilet paper was boxed up) and flew to California to meet my husband for a few days. From there, we went to Australia for 10 days, flew back to Portland, stayed with family overnight, and then loaded our belongings into a U-Haul and drove straight through to San Diego (26 hours). When we finally unloaded the truck and…