This year at bushCONNECT, I shared some thoughts on how change happens. I’ve done a lot of research the past couple of years on successful examples of social change. There are examples all around us all the time. We often don’t even notice them, much less learn from them.

Looking at these examples can tell us a lot about what works. Whether the change you most want to see is ending hunger or reforming the criminal justice system or any other social change, there’s a lot you can learn from efforts focused on recycling, teen pregnancy, or drunk driving.

First and foremost, they remind us that change is about people.

Change happens when people start to believe and act as if something different is possible. And large-scale change requires a whole lot of people to believe and act differently. Which is another way of saying it is a culture change. Leading culture change requires understanding and relating to people who think differently than you do, and finding ways to include them and win them over.

I hope you’ll take some time to watch the video of my remarks. (The sound is lousy the first few minutes but it gets better!) I hope that you’ll find these lessons from successful change efforts can apply to the changes you want to make, to make our region better for everyone.