ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joseph Grenny is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Crucial Skills, How does one escape the addictions of pornography, drugs, alcohol, etc? I’ve been told that even if I’m able to finally get to the point of remission, I’ll always be an addict and never completely escape. It’s a hopeless message, but I sense truth in this and fear I’ll have to fight it the rest of my life. Do you have any advice that can help me in my lifelong battle against addiction? Signed, Struggling  Dear Struggling, I have great news for you. While in some cases there might (and I stress MIGHT) be some element of truth to the statement, "I’ll always be an addict"—that statement doesn’t mean what you think it means. The implication of "always an addict" in your note is "I’ll have to fight the rest of my life." That’s the part I can immediately reassure you is absolutely not true, but hang on for a moment and let me get to that point in its time. First, I want to be clear that my coauthors and I are not addiction experts. We study human behavior, so we have opinions about the state of research on issues like addiction recovery. That is not our specialty nor do I have training in addiction recovery. With that said, I will share some opinions on your question. • Will you always be at risk of returning to your addiction? There’s a good chance you won’t. Many people with addictions recover in a way that never affects them again. One of the most dramatic evidences of this point is a major study funded by the U.S. Government in 1971 as tens of thousands of heroin-addicted soldiers were returning from Vietnam. Military officials were terrified that a healthcare crisis would ensue as their systems would have been overloaded with those suffering the effects of addiction. But the crisis never happened. Well over 80 percent of those returning, who were classified as seriously addicted, discontinued drug use after coming home—forever. • How long does it take? I’ll answer this briefly but will refer you to the chapter on addiction recovery in our book Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success for a fuller description. Our work shows that habits change when all six of the sources of influence that shape our habits change. Period. Now, that process can take a while, but understanding those sources of influence helps you recognize that there are discrete actions you can take to move the process along and to understand what work remains. This also explains why so many of the returning soldiers changed so quickly. All of these sources of influence were organized in a way that promoted addiction when they lived in Vietnam. When they returned, for many of them, all six sources changed. So they did, too. • If you’re one of the 20 percent rather than the 80 percent, does that mean a lifetime of struggle? Absolutely not. Even those who continue to feel vulnerable to relapse will tell you that year by year, maintaining the life patterns that keep them "sober" (I use that term generically) become not just easier, but pleasurable. Here’s the good news I promised you. Please read these sentences over and over and over: The way you feel today about your addictive behaviors can feel entirely different just a few months from now. You can literally come to hate what you currently love. You can—and will—come to find loathsome those things that seem irresistible today. Let me elaborate on this last, and most important, point. Our emotions often lie to us. When we experience an emotion (let’s say I’m feeling angry at my daughter) it comes with two embedded lies—it feels true, and it feels permanent. It feels true in the sense that I have a profound conviction that I am totally right and she is totally wrong. My emotion is my evidence that I am right. All of us have had the experience of feeling that way, then getting a little more information and perspective, and having the emotion pivot 180 degrees. We feel remorse, or empathy, or love—whereas seconds earlier we couldn’t have imagined feeling different. Similarly, the emotions feel permanent. We believe the way we feel about something is how we will always feel. For example, I cannot imagine not craving a cigarette. Or being stimulated by pornography. Or getting out of control at the sight of chocolate. Or losing my temper when criticized. Yet, when you talk with those who have realigned the sources of influence in their life, they’ll often use words like "disgusted" when they think about those behaviors today. But don’t trust these other people. Test this proposition against your own experience. Have you ever felt even momentarily different about an addictive habit you struggle with? Have you had moments when you felt no temptation at all? In fact, you felt revulsion for the act? If so, you know already that change is possible. The challenge is working through the process of change until those temporary feelings become the norm. If you want to see a powerful example of this shift, watch this video. It’s a fascinating experiment done by the Thai Ministry of Public Health. A young child approaches people who are smoking in public with a cigarette in her hand to ask them for a light. The smokers are horrified at the thought of this child picking up this habit. Every one of those approached began lecturing the child, citing compelling reasons the child shouldn’t smoke. After listening patiently for a moment, the child would hand them a card with a phone number for smoking cessation services, and ask, "Then why do you smoke?" Researchers observed the smokers after the child walked away. Almost every one of them dropped their cigarette. All retained the card with the phone number. Calls to the help line increased 40 percent on the day of the experiment. Now, this doesn’t demonstrate permanent change, but it shows that feelings can change. That’s the point. In this case, it was temporary. But people who were feeling compelled to smoke moments earlier were suddenly disgusted at the thought and stopped. You need not fear a lifetime of struggle. You may need to be conscious of maintaining the six sources of influence throughout your life, but you’ll want to do it. You’ll derive pleasure from the new life. Your feelings will change. Just keep up the good work. The way you feel today is not the way you will feel a year from now. Warmly, Joseph Related posts: Change Anything: Overcoming Addiction-Part Two Change Anything: Overcoming Addiction Overcoming Career-Limiting Habits

Since reading Mark Britz post It’s All Training Until It Isn’t and related post Learned (Learning) Helplessness many thoughts have been stirring in my head. Before I lost the ideas these posts and the term "learned helplessness" stirred in my head, I wanted to write down a story I was reminded of. It’s a story of how unknown to myself was introduced to this term and the prevalence it holds in society. Before I was part of the Learning & Development world, I was a computer technician in an elementary school. I worked with teachers and sometimes students on how to best use technology in the classroom and of course I maintained it. I never had any sort of official training in the detailed workings of computers or how to troubleshoot them, I just learned by doing. If I didn’t know how to do something, I’d search for an answer! I never thought about this, or my inquisitive nature that I used to troubleshoot every issue imaginable. One day I was helping a teacher create a school newsletter back in the day of Microsoft Publisher (does it still exist)? She was having trouble figuring out how to align a certain group of text on the screen. Rather than exploring, trying, then searching, teachers defaulted to asking me for help. This created great job security for me, but I do believe there’s a better way. Not knowing much about Publisher, I played around a bit and figured out a solution. It didn’t take a search nor did it take a deep level of knowledge of the software. The only thing I used to solve the problem was good ol’ fashioned curiosity. The teacher was so amazed how I could play around with the software and figure out a solution. I thought nothing of this at the time, but I’ve thought of this story as a reminder of how unwilling people are to take part in trial and error. Relationship to Learned Helplessness I think the connection is obvious to the term learned helplessness, but in case it’s not, I’ll explore it a bit further. This teacher in her many years of schooling and training had lost the ability for exploration. This ties in with learned helplessness, she was to the point where she had forgotten how to learn or was unwilling to try on her own. While it made me feel needed and I was more than happy to help, I thought there must be a better way. This is what led me to seek other career paths even if it was subconscious. A large part of my job was comprised of something anybody could have done, it’s just that people had forgotten how to try to do it themselves. More to Come This is only the beginning of my thoughts on this topic, and I’m glad that I have a name to put to it now. I have a lot of research to do on the topic and I look forward to every bit of it. Social learning and learning how to learn are important factors in combatting learned helplessness. It’s not something that will be solved in a few bullet points. It’s deeply engrained in our culture of formal learning and doing. That is part of what I’m hoping to uncover in future posts. It’s part of what I love about L&D, there’s always something to learn, new and old but relevant still. Do you have any stories or experiences that you could tell about seeing learned helplessness in the workplace or school? You might also enjoy: Social and Learned Helplessness in Learning Turn The Curiosity Back On Ten Things That Make Me Cringe

Thank you to all those who entered our drawing to win one of twenty-five free copies of the second edition of Influencer by watching Joseph Grenny talk about the power of the Influencer model to change behavior at our local TED event. If you missed it, click here to watch the powerful transformation story of Jane, a young girl who grew up in poverty in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. We had an overwhelming response, but the twenty-five lucky winners are: Arthur Johnson Jr. Chris Clark Chris Klenk Daniel Hiatt Deborah Carcutt Derek Applegate Elaine Rose Fidelia Herrera Roster Paul Pstivthnkn Kurt Ellis Lynda Sowell Lynette Vetsch Mauricio Soto Mnquaker Nicolas A. Reynolds Pat Hatcher Patty Skerl Randi Schmechel Rick Kotter Sharon Humphreys Sue Burge Dahl TJ Brensen Travis Cunningham Tyler Edmondson Vicky Smith If you won, please e-mail us at editor@vitalsmarts.com to claim your book. Related posts: Special Announcement: Influencer First Chapter Download Special Announcement: Introducing the Second Edition of our Bestselling Book, Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Andrew Maxfield is director of the Influencer Institute, a private operating foundation that seeks to increase humanity’s capacity to change for good. Atilano, a new friend of mine in Mexico, smiles while he delivers bottled water from his bicycle to nearby homes and businesses. His is a small business by nearly every standard, yet it is a powerful component of his escape route from poverty. And it’s working. But that’s only half of the story. It turns out that there are several behaviors besides increasing income that lead a person to the outcome of a reliable financial surplus, and, eventually, to permanently improved economic conditions. Can you imagine what one of those behaviors is? You probably already know the answer—and it isn’t an exciting one. The behavior is: regularly write down every amount of money you take in and spend. People who make a habit (the intersection of ability and reliability) of regular financial record keeping know exactly how much they earn, exactly how much they spend, and can therefore take action if there is an imbalance between the two. Our work with small business mentoring organizations in Latin America verifies this fact: their very poor clients who start small businesses and keep daily financial records manage to escape poverty over time, sometimes rapidly. Those who start businesses but are sloppy with record keeping or neglect it entirely, may never get ahead—and often don’t. So here’s the rub, and it’s probably familiar: what if an all-important behavior is mundane? What if it’s dull, inconvenient, or psychologically painful? This is where we can all learn from Atilano. It’s true that the act of record keeping might be tiresome if you view it as taking away from income-generating work, family time, or whatever you’d rather be doing. But Atilano thinks of his kids and the example he’s setting. He reminds himself of the "why" behind the task. Believe it or not, he considers his ledgers a personal diary—evidence of his hard work and dedication to his family. Taken in that light, record keeping can be a celebration of sorts, a happy daily ritual. Can you think of a way to reconnect the task you routinely avoid to what you care about most? Can you link it to your values and vision and to people you care about? Finding the thread that links what you must do to the grander vision of why you do it can help drum up the motivation you need to do an unpleasant task. Of course, your personal motivation isn’t everything; you also need skills, tools, and social support—and those factors unquestionably contribute to Atilano’s successes. However, you and I can take a big step forward in our efforts to influence ourselves and others when we deliberately find meaning in life’s mundane but vital tasks. Related posts: Influencer Institute: Beating Poverty One Vital Behavior at a Time Influencer Institute: Introducing the Influencer Institute—And a Call to Action! Finding Fault with the Facts

I was working on another post about learned helplessness in learning that I had previously started but felt this was a bit more timely given the eLearning Challenge. I am postponing my other post until next week (or perhaps later this week) so I can get this off my chest. I may write more on each one further down the road, but we’ll see how that goes. One The navigation/timeline needs to be locked down so "learners" can see all of my wonderful content. Two I’m an eLearning designer so that’s the proper solution, never-mind doing a proper analysis to see if it’s even necessary. Three Just use next buttons to progress through software training, we don’t need to make an accurate environment. Four We need to cover all the learning styles to make sure everyone learns. Five Let’s create a virtual instructor led course, and an eLearning course, and a video, and a bunch of job aids. More is better right? Six For previous releases we had a few videos walking users through the application so we should do that again (when task based job aids would have sufficed). Seven This is a compliance course so they have to read everything. We can’t just put a box to select saying they’ve "read" it all.   Eight Mobile learning means we take the courses we’ve designed and put them on a phone, right? Nine From a consulting company: We’ve had a great deal of experience doing that for xyz companies, we can help your company do that too! (of course the problem isn’t actually doing it, it’s making the case and getting funding to do it which defeats the purpose of consultants) Ten Let’s test them on it, that will prove they learned it! Your Turn What are some of the things that you here and see that make you cringe? A lot of these things are very realistic and I see them everyday, I challenge you to share the most horrific tales of real things you see every day. You might also enjoy: Mobile Help Overlays - Ultimate Performance Support for Mobile Apps Touchscreen Toddler Reflecting On The Year - 2013

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE   Dear Crucial Skills, A couple of my employees tend to get all the other staff in an uproar. They constantly turn people against each other and pick on the newbies. How can I address my employees’ tendency to "stir the pot" and help them recognize the harm they’re doing to our work environment? Mitigating Harm  Dear Mitigating, Thanks for this interesting and important question. We’re often asked how to give feedback to direct reports who act in ways that cause problems. Sometimes these challenging individuals are described as having "bad chemistry" with their coworkers. On other occasions, they’re labeled "hard to work with," "troublesome," or even worse. In this case, the individuals in question cause uproars, turn people against each other, stir the pot, and pick on newbies. As their supervisor, it’s your job to do something about the bad behavior. But what? At first glance, suggesting that the individuals in question cause an uproar or turn people against each other may sound like a description of what they do, when, in fact, these particular words describe the effect not the cause. They behave in some particular way to cause an uproar or turn people against each other, but it’s impossible to decipher from these expressions alone which from millions of possible behaviors they enact. If you expect the individuals in question to improve, they’ll need to change their behaviors—swapping out the old and replacing them with new. As a leader, you’ll need to adeptly describe, in detail, what they’re currently doing to cause an uproar and the other effects you’ve described. Describing behaviors requires an understanding of exactly what the offending parties do along with the ability to describe their behavior in a way that is crystal clear. You have to see what others actually do and then metaphorically hold up a mirror so they can see what they need to change. This can get complicated. When you suggest that the problem employees "stir the pot," the metaphor masks the actual actions they take. If you tell them they "stir the pot," they might know what you’re hinting at and change, but it seems unlikely. The same is true with expressions like "picking on newbies." You include a verb that hints of certain behaviors, but alas, also leaves a lot to the imagination. When I talk with people facing similar challenges and ask them to provide the behaviors (causes) behind the effects or vague conclusion they describe to me, they often can’t. Their conclusions are firm: "They constantly stir the pot." That part they feel strongly about, but when I probe for detail, they aren’t able to describe the behaviors the other person enacts. They remember their emotional reaction far more clearly than the actions that took them there. For instance, when trying to help a supervisor with a salesman who was "socially backward," I asked for a detailed description of what the salesman did. The supervisor explained that he was "a nerd, a geek—you know, a dweeb." The supervisor knew what he had concluded about the fellow, and was able to come up with synonyms, but couldn’t describe any actual behaviors. So I asked him, "The last time he did something you thought was nerdy, what exactly did he do?" "He looked like he had no confidence in what he was saying," the supervisor responded. (Also a vague conclusion.) "And what made him appear unconfident to you?" I continued to probe. "He stared at the floor. He started a sentence three different times. He spoke in a low voice. The minute the person disagreed, he backed off even though he was correct . . ." and so forth. At last, behaviors the other person might be able to recognize and replace. This is what the salesman needed to hear and correct. Most of us use shorthand negative adjectives along with vague outcomes when talking with others because such simple expression often works for us. "Quit teasing your brother!" you bark to your son. He knows exactly what he’s doing and what to do instead. He knows because you’ve told him before—focusing on his actual actions. "Yes, I know you said his new shirt was cool, but you said it in a sing-song tone and rolled your eyes—and that appeared insincere." You’ve described several versions of "teasing" to your son, so now when he does it, you can address it in shorthand. However, with direct reports, where we don’t have a long history and the specialized code that comes with it, we need to carefully observe others in actions, take note of the actual behaviors that aren’t working, share those in a direct and non-punitive way, check to see if they understood us, and then talk about replacement behaviors. I’m assuming you’ve watched your direct reports in action and have a whole list of undesirable actions they take, so you’re ready to hold a discussion in a way that will be helpful. Start by holding separate conversations—one with each employee. Privacy is essential. Select no more than one or two of the areas you’d like to talk about. You don’t want to overwhelm the other person. Start by describing the undesirable behavior and what you’d like to see instead. Share three or four example actions and take special care to focus on their behaviors, not your conclusions. Share actions you’ve personally observed—hopefully recently. Open the conversation for questions. Ask the other person if he or she sees it differently, and jointly develop a plan of action. Obviously, there’s a lot that goes into such a feedback discussion. Today, I chose to focus on one element that can turn a painful and vague discussion into a helpful feedback session. Focus on behaviors. Become skilled at both observing and describing them. Know the difference between a behavior and a result or conclusion. Help the other person see what he or she is doing, not merely what you think about him or her. Kerry Related posts: Finding Fault with the Facts Confronting a Coworker’s Temper Tantrums Confronting Destructive and Manipulative Behavior

It’s been a few weeks since I first wrote about Learned Helplessness in Learning but it hasn’t once left my mind. Even last week had some familiar mentions of it but without the name. What I gathered from DevLearn Tweets during Neil deGrasse Tyson’s keynote was that he spoke in part that kids are born scientists, but we beat it out of them. That sounds familiar to Learned Helplessness in Learning. Kids are curious, heck, all ages of people are! As formal education takes hold many of the curiosities are beat out of them by rigid instructions. Some are lucky enough to escape with some curiosity left, but most are not. So, it’s not specific to science. Kids are curious at all sorts of things including learning, but that goes away with years of discouraging exploration. There’s all sorts of things that can lead to the non-interest of learning and not even trying to find the answer. I think I’m most interested in trying to find an answer on how to undue or at least encourage these long embedded habits. So this time I’m exploring social as a solution to the problem. Social Learning This comes with its own set of challenges I admit, but it’s something that otherwise non-existent answers may come from. I must be clear that I’m talking about social learning in the technological sense of the term. Places like Twitter or Yammer rather than the water cooler or lunch with colleagues (although it could apply there also). Social is a great method to combat Learned Helplessness in Learning. While not the only method, and by no means a method that can be used alone, it will definitely assist in the change to self help. Social makes the tools available for users to explore and learn on their own, unfortunately the problem is rarely a lack of resources. The problem in learned helplessness is the motivation for people to WANT to learn. Or at least the problem of feeling overwhelmed with the vast number of resources. Giving them the tools is only one piece of the puzzle, the easiest piece. Social Motivation The challenging part to social learning is motivation. How do you motivate people to want to explore? How do you make them feel less overwhelmed in an information rich environment? Better yet, how do you motivate them not to default to calling a help-desk that costs you money? Pushing that person to look beyond the obvious and do a bit of exploration is a hard sell. There are many distraction out there, laziness is in excess, and there’s usually a phone number that’s easier to find than the answer itself. As you can see I don’t have a lot of answers on how to motivate people to be more social. All I can say is that you must find the benefit to that person. Make it easy to use and easy to find answers so they can do their job better. I know for me, my motivation to be more social has been to learn beyond my job description, making myself indispensable in shifting times. The popular Seek, Sense, Share framework and learning socially from Harold Jarche has been a driving force in my being more social. They are ways to find those answers and broaden your knowledge in a field you didn’t know you had interest in. Call to Action Learned helplessness in learning is a one way ticket to obsolescence in the marketplace. Being more social is one way to improve the chances that you, and coworkers, are not stuck within a bubble expecting others to bring things to you. I challenge you to keep an eye out for those that refuse to explore and learn new things. When you find somebody who is stuck in this rut, try to encourage action in working more socially. Encourage them to find answers outside their comfort zone and expanding those answers beyond what’s spoon fed from others. Speak Up I’d like to hear from you. What do you see as problems in learned helplessness in learning? Do you see any solutions for that? You might also enjoy: First Thoughts on Learned Helplessness Turn The Curiosity Back On How do you get people talking on an enterprise social network?

According to our recent poll, social networks are becoming increasingly hostile, with 78 percent of users reporting rising incivility online and two in five blocking, unsubscribing, or "unfriending" someone over an argument on social media. Specific findings include: 76 percent have witnessed an argument over social media 19 percent have decreased in-person contact with someone because of something they said online 88 percent believe people are less polite on social media than in person 81 percent say the difficult or emotionally charged conversations they have held over social media remain unresolved Social media platforms aren’t the problem, it’s how people are using them that is causing a degradation of dialogue that has potential to destroy our most meaningful personal relationships. Here are five tips for communicating both candidly and respectfully on social media: Check your motives. Social media hasn’t only changed the way we communicate, it has modified our motives. Ask yourself, "Is my goal to get lots of ‘likes’ (or even provoke controversy)?" or "Do I want healthy dialogue?" Replace hot words. If your goal is to make a point rather than score a point, replace "hot" words that provoke offense with words that help others understand your position. For example, replace "that is idiotic" with "I disagree for the following reasons . . ." Pause to put emotions in check. Never post a comment when you’re feeling emotionally triggered. Never! If you wait four hours you’re likely to respond differently. Agree before you disagree. It’s fine to disagree, but don’t point out your disagreement until you acknowledge areas where you agree. Often, arguers agree on 80 percent of the topic but create a false sense of conflict when they spend all their time arguing over the other 20 percent. Trust your gut. When reading a response to your post and you feel the conversation is getting too emotional for an online exchange—you’re right! Stop. Take it offline. Or better yet, face-to-face. For additional advice, including ten things NOT to do when communicating via social media, download our free e-book, "When Crucial Conversations Go Social: How to Handle Heated Discussions via Social Media." Related posts: Antisocial Networks? Hostility on social media rising for 78 percent of users Antisocial Networks? Crucial Applications: How to Hold Slacking Coworkers Accountable

They’re not learners, they’re people. I don’t know if this has any value in stating but it’s something that’s been rolling around in my head for a while. I often hear people referred to as learners, or "my learners" when talking about the audience. It seems odd to me to refer to people in a way that assumes the action that they will get from your creation. I can’t think of another industry that does the same. The most common term I hear for other industries is ‘user’. User seems a better term to refer to people that will be using your course. To assume they’ll learn is a bit presumptuous and in most cases I’d argue just isn’t true. When was the last time you learned something from compliance training? So, let’s start treating people as people, not learners. They aren’t learners unless they’re learning, which isn’t something we get to decide. Once we stop referring to them as learners, it’s easy to realize they are people. They might not be interested in what we’re creating. If we find a course boring then they will too. Just because it’s a course and they’re taking it doesn’t make them a learner. It means they’re required to take it and they’re using it for some other reason (access to application, compliance, meet somebody else’s requirement, etc.) Recognize they’re people, they don’t want to take that compliance course. They find it as boring as you and I do, therefor let’s not waste their time. Let’s figure out what the least we can do for them is as a person, not a learner. You might also enjoy: Ten Things That Make Me Cringe Expand Your Skills Second Screen Revolution

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joseph Grenny is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Crucial Skills, I was recently elected leader of a 30,000 person district in Kenya and my leadership is under threat. For the last three weeks, we have had constant rainfall here. There is water everywhere, rivers have burst their banks, crops have washed away, most roads and bridges have been cut away, and several school buildings and homes have been blown away. Quite a number of deaths have been reported in the process, and most families’ homes no longer offer a good environment for living, as water is oozing through their ground floors. Soon, a malaria outbreak will follow as a result of mosquito bites. Too much water means crop failures and is the beginning of real hunger! Some begin to question or threaten my leadership. What immediate solution can you give me to lead under such a situation? Signed, Leadership Crisis  Dear Leadership, Kenya is a second home to me. I have met some remarkable leaders in your country from whom I’ve learned a great deal about human influence. I am happy to hear of your concern for the people you have been asked to serve. I have some very strong opinions about what you need to do to make a difference and solidify your support at this critical time. In times of threat, people need to know two things from their leaders: You care about my problems. You are competent to help. When people believe these two things about you, they trust you. If people trust your motives and your ability, you have their support. Now, that’s easier said than done. When everything is broken, what do you do first? How do you show your concern when 1,000 things need attention? If you go to work on five of them, those who feel the most pain about the other 995 will think you don’t care. Furthermore, if you try to work on too many things, you will squander your finite resources while making little progress—thus undermining trust. So what can you do? When Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was re-elected as president of Liberia, the country was in a precarious situation. But she did three things that influenced trust in a remarkable way: 1. Go on a listening campaign. Be visible. Be accessible. Listen a lot. Empathize. Do your best to develop a theory of which problems you should address first. This step must not take so much time that people see you as politicking rather than taking action. However, it is crucial not just that you understand people’s concerns, but that they believe you understand. 2. Prioritize. Having listened deeply, set a small number of concrete and time-bound goals. When President Johnson-Sirleaf finished her listening campaign, she announced some very specific commitments she would complete in the first 150 days. If your community is smaller, you may want to set a tighter timeframe—perhaps seven-day, thirty-day, sixty-day, and ninety-day goals. For example, President Johnson-Sirleaf committed that within 150 days, her administration would: Put 6,000 young people to work on road maintenance and beach clean-up projects. Open 150km of feeder roads, linking thirty communities in two counties. Open 150 new sanitation facilities. Complete eleven reinforced concrete bridges. Open seventy-five community wells in three counties. Be sure you only make commitments you have the resources to keep. People will understand that you can’t do everything. As you announce these commitments, you are defining the terms by which people will begin to trust you. If you have listened well, and choose things people find important, they will let go of those things you have not committed to do and calibrate their future trust for you on the terms you set. 3. Go public. The next thing President Johnson-Sirleaf did was make weekly progress reports to the country on her commitments. This accomplished two things: 1) it put pressure on those whose job it was to deliver these commitments; 2) it built trust as people saw steady progress over the 150 days. Every week, Liberians were reminded what they could (and could not) expect from their president. And they learned that she had the leadership competence to fulfill her commitments. Within 150 days, three-fourths of the commitments had been met. Not a perfect record, but far better than people had seen from previous administrations. If you listen well, prioritize carefully, and go public with both commitments and progress, you can demonstrate to your community that you care about their concerns and that they can trust you to deliver. I wish you the best in your leadership and service. Thank you for caring enough to put yourself in such vulnerable circumstances at such a crucial time. Warmly, Joseph