it was January 1986 I was on my first
business trip ever to Douglas County
Nevada I was a chief product officer in
the entire professional services
organization for a small start-up
software company my mission was to teach
the county how to close their books
using our new financial management
system I arrived at the county offices
and I sat down with the treasurer at the
dumb terminal and we began training I
instructed her to select option one
financial management system letter a
general ledger number six year n clothes
and a message popped up on the green
screen press go to execute year unclose
she presco and we enjoyed a cup of
coffee while the programs were several
hours later we returned in there is a
message on the green screen jobs
executed successfully I was elated and
shouted your books are closed she looked
at me with a look of horror on her face
and she said to me with her legal pad in
hand but Heidi you haven’t shown me how
to process all of these journal entries
she was not elated so I reset the
training environment and I called the
treasurer back and I patiently explained
to her my four simple instructions she
press go and we went out to lunch
several hours later we returned and the
jobs had completed successfully again
the treasure was still not elated why
didn’t she understand this amazing new
software was able to do in hours which
he had previously slaved over four weeks
and months sure it seemed much easier to
me but she didn’t understand the process
and she lacked confidence in the results
what would you have done well I stayed
up all night and i coded a series of
reports to include all of the journal
entries that run the treasurer’s legal
pad the following morning I went back to
the county offices
and we sat down at the dumb terminal and
we tried it again cheap resco when we
anxiously awaited for the program’s to
complete execution again but this time
we walked over to the printer where
green bar computer paper was printing
pages or journal entries in the exact
order that she had written on her legal
pad she was elated Douglas County’s
treasurer didn’t necessarily want me to
teach her how to use a new software what
she wanted me to do was to show her
exactly what she had always done
manually using the new software it was
somehow inconceivable to her that the
world was changing and that technology
could now closed her books in a matter
of hours not weeks she didn’t realize
that she would have to change what she
was doing this would be the very first
lesson I learned about technology people
are more important than technology
because technology is about change and
changes always about people this makes
change really really hard digital
disruption has changed everything since
my encounter with the Douglas County
Treasurer smartphones self-driving cars
Pokemon go none of these existed in 1986
or even 20 years ago because everything
is changing everything must change
including you well the antidote is agile
in both the technical and a human sense
today I will focus on the human sense
you see at its core agile is about
change it’s about changing human
behavior and how we interact with each
other it’s about uncovering better ways
of doing things in helping others to do
it it’s a fundamentally different way of
working thinking and being to thrive in
a world of digital disruption in
continuous change we must become agile
the first step to becoming agile is to
embrace the agile mindset of meeting
people where they are I’ve discovered
three dimensions of
this the first dimension is being
present so that we can begin to
understand what it is people worn out so
good at this we’re pretty good at
telling you what we think we’re doing
not even what we’re actually doing or
more importantly why we’re even doing it
agile is relentlessly focused the second
dimension is discovering how we got
where we are or why it is a wise
colleague taught me many years ago that
things are the way they are because
those who are in power desire it to be
that way while this may be true it is
still important to ask why in fact we
have to ask why at least five times
before we get to the essence of the
thing and it’s the essence of the thing
that drives us to the understanding of
why it is without this understanding
it’s virtually impossible to develop a
positive response to change agile is
listening to understand and the third
dimension is imagining what is possible
or the ability to think really big
earlier in my career I began the
practice of asking a question in
rewarding the person with the correct
answer with dinner for two at the
restaurant of your choice I’ve never
offered any limitation as to location or
cost now I have to ask how many of you
are thinking of a three-star Michelin
restaurant right now I didn’t think so
the winner has never chosen a three-star
Michelin restaurant in any city the
winner usually chooses their favorite
local lunch spot we don’t think big
enough we think within our own
experiences we think within our comfort
zones we think small we think safe agile
is courageous we are all capable of
adopting this agile mindset of becoming
agile relentlessly thinking listening to
understand acting with courage in
embracing this fun
many different way of thinking and being
we are not powerless we never really are
with this new agile mindset we have the
power to effectively adapt to change if
we are willing to embrace these three
simple practices in our daily lives
first are you willing to ask for help
this is a key to humility to be
successful we don’t have to have all the
answers who don’t or to know everything
but we must be willing to say these
three words I don’t know humility that
quality of being teachable it’s the cord
leadership discipline it’s a sign of
strength ironically once we’ve learned
how to ask for help it becomes much
easier to help others agile is both
humble and selfless second are you will
need to make mistakes and sometimes even
fail this is the key to curiosity
Lorraine taught me this in my first
management job out of college she was
learning how to use our new accounts
payable system at the end of each day
during the month of parallel processing
she should gather she would gather all
the invoices she had entered and she
would circle all the mistakes she had
made in red and she’d bring all of this
into my office to review with me and
when she was finished he would probably
say Heidi at least you know I’m learning
I’m making mistakes agile is learning
from our mistakes and then finally are
you willing to recognize others this is
a key to compassion several years ago I
had the opportunity to visit the Taj
Mahal on a business trip to India it was
an extraordinary experience during this
same visit I was also asked to bless the
construction of a water supply system at
the kannagi nag our government school in
Chennai it’s basically a community of
slumlord tenements it’s been this way
since 2004 when over 15,000 fishermen
and their families were relocated there
after
do tsunami we arrived at the school yard
Dhanalakshmi the head schoolmaster and
her students they greeted us with a
performance of traditional Indian dances
followed by a display of martial arts
following the program the blessing
ceremony commenced you know the Taj
Mahal it was it was truly a once in a
lifetime experience but that visit in
the schoolyard that afternoon forever
changed my life Dhanalakshmi and her
students they were amazing the students
they were they were filled with respect
they were present they were engaged they
were full of joy they were filled with
an unimaginable amount of curiosity and
respect they were so proud to host us in
their school yard their red dirt school
yard that had lacked even the most basic
water supply capability for nearly 10
years and what did we do we met them
where they were we shared in their
ceremonies and we recognize them
Dhanalakshmi she’s my hero she taught me
the real value of recognition without
have spent my entire life learning
sometimes quickly in sometimes slowly
the spiritual truth about change it’s
not what happens to us it’s what we do
with it as the world changes around us
it’s imperative that we learn how to
adapt to respond to that change if we
are each committed to adopting this new
agile mindset of meeting people where
they are we can optimize our human
potential and transform our workplaces
in communities into courageous humble
selfless curious in compassion spaces that we can all thrive it thank you