Cassandra Worthy, a chemical engineer and author of *Change Enthusiasm*, empowers organizations to thrive during change by utilizing emotional intelligence. She discusses the often-overlooked role of emotions in leadership, emphasizing that negative feelings can lead to growth if acknowledged. Cassandra offers practical strategies for leaders to foster employee engagement, such as open communication and empathy. She highlights how viewing change as an opportunity can enhance resilience and drive innovation within teams.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Cassandra's Career Shift
Cassandra Worthy almost quit her job after a company acquisition led to a negative culture shift.
A mentor's advice, "get bitter or get better", inspired her to change her mindset and see opportunity in the challenge.
insights INSIGHT
Power of Choice
Shifting to a growth mindset involves acknowledging difficult emotions as signals for opportunities to choose and grow.
This mindset shift creates positive emotional contagion, influencing others and driving positive change.
insights INSIGHT
Signal Emotions
Diminishing negative emotions during change prevents employees from seeing opportunity and choice.
Leaders should acknowledge these "signal emotions" and provide tools for employees to process them.
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In 'Change Enthusiasm', Cassandra Worthy introduces a revolutionary approach to viewing change as an opportunity for growth. She emphasizes that only 10% of successful change adoption is about know-how, while the remaining 90% is centered on motivation and willingness to accept change. Worthy provides practical strategies to transform fear and anxiety into fuel for growth, helping individuals and organizations build resilience during turbulent times.
Cassandra Worthy: Change Enthusiasm
Cassandra Worthy enables organizations and individuals to grow through major change and significant shift by harnessing the power of emotion. Whether undergoing a merger, acquisition, start-up, explosive growth, or significant contraction, the strategies and tools of Change Enthusiasm are motivating and energizing workforces worldwide. Her consulting firm was birthed from the pain and challenges she overcame as a corporate executive.
Cassandra’s client base spans the Fortune 500, including Procter & Gamble, Allstate, Jones Lang LaSalle, Centene Corporation, ConferenceDirect, and WeWork. She's a chemical engineer by training and also brings over a decade of M&A experience distilled down into the critical leadership traits required to lead with exception during times of change and trans-formation. She's the author of Change Enthusiasm: How to Harness the Power of Emotion for Leadership and Success*.
In this conversation Cassandra and I explore the critical importance of emotion in the change process. We detail some of the key places where leaders often miss opportunities to prioritize employee well-being. Then, Cassandra shares some practical steps leaders can take that will help employees better recognize signal emotions so they can eventually find opportunity and choice during the change process.
Key Points
Many leaders tend to diminish or ignore negative emotions during change. Actively doing that may prevent employees in getting to a place where they see opportunity — and eventually choice.
Beware focusing too much attention on vision, roles, and responsibilities — and not enough on employee well-being and fulfillment.
The change process is like driving in a car. The structure of the process is the vehicle itself and the people are their fuel.
Have discussion about handling change a regular item in 1:1 agendas and team meetings.
Leaders can enter into the opportunity that change provides by sharing their own emotions. One way to do this is to be explicit in conversation about what is genuinely inspiring you about the change.
Resources Mentioned
Change Enthusiasm: How to Harness the Power of Emotion for Leadership and Success* by Cassandra Worthy
Interview Notes
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