We are told you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. But what if you could? Having spent the past two decades helping leaders and organizations embrace the changes they’d rather fight or ignore, I think changing the minds of even the most stubborn individuals is possible. However, the process is very different from what conventional wisdom suggests.
While stubbornness is nothing new, we live in an era when it is more prevalent than ever. You could almost describe obstinance as one of the hallmarks of our age. Yet changing people’s minds is something we spend a lot of our lives attempting. We spend 40 percent of our time trying to sway the minds of others, but our persuasive efforts are only successful three to five percent of the time.
One of the dominant emotions associated with stubbornness is fear. Although we’re often told that humans are inherently afraid of change, recent research reveals this is not true. It is not change that we fear most; it is loss. Whether it’s a loss of pride, dignity, or certainty, successful persuasion isn’t as much about selling the upsides of change as it is about lessening the loss.
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-- Michael McQueen
