The Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Theory of Change Management
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Main Feature: The Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Theory of Change Management
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The Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Theory of Change Management
Think back to the last time that you discovered a new approach to working and had a bit of a lightbulb moment.
Maybe you came across a different way to host meetings. Or someone sent you a compelling article about a more efficient way to use email. Perhaps it was a different philosophy on giving performance feedback. Maybe you attended a class and learned a new approach to building decks. Or you saw an article about how to better include your remote colleagues.
Imagine anything new and different that you wanted to implement. Did you do it?
If it was insignificant enough such that it wasn’t disruptive – or even so much so that a new approach would be virtually unnoticed – maybe you did! Or maybe you had enough power and authority to simply try something new without fear of noncompliance or reprisal.
But often we hold back. Noticeably new things seem too disruptive to be worth trying. We worry the host body will reject the new organ and we’ll all be worse off for attempting the transplant.
I realize my language here may seem a bit abstract so let me instantiate it with one of the above examples: Silent Start Meetings. Let’s say you read about how Amazon executive teams utilize the Silent Start to make meetings more effective – an approach where everyone sits around and reads the same documents in silence before discussing the issues at hand in order to avoid long, time-consuming Powerpoints – and you want to give this a shot. It sounds so smart! But the more you think about it you begin to shy away from trying it out. Sure, you can implement this with a team you supervise. They have to listen to you, right? But beyond that it might be met with resistance. It might just feel too weird and different. Better to just do meetings the way they’ve always been done…
This very rational fear stops us from making incremental and transformative changes. To overcome it, I want to suggest we take a lesson from Hollywood. What I call the “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Theory of Change Management.”
When most people hear the name Dwayne Johnson chances are it rings a bell. The handsome megastar is a bonafide box office hit. But before Dwayne Johnson was a household name he was known simply as ‘The Rock’ – a charismatic WWE wrestler. And he didn’t make the change overnight. His early films capitalized on his wrestling fame and attracted audiences by promoting ‘The Rock’ as a feature attraction. His stage name (The Rock) was right above the title (2002):
Turns out, audiences couldn’t keep their eyes off The Rock and it became clear that he could eschew his wrestling persona and enter mainstream Hollywood. This is where the magic happened.
His PR team realized that in order to leave ‘The Rock’ behind and become ‘Dwayne Johnson’ they couldn’t make the switch all at once. They needed to give audiences time to connect the dots between the old faithful (The Rock) and the new and improved superstar (Dwayne Johnson). So for a while they used both. Movie posters and trailers featured Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (2006, 2007):
Once audiences knew to associate the name Dwayne Johnson with the star they knew and loved as The Rock, the transformation was complete and Dwayne Johnson was just Dwayne Johnson (2018).
Today, many new fans probably never knew that the actor with one of the five most followed Instagram accounts in the world kickstarted his career as a Pay Per View wrestling star.
If it isn’t already obvious, the key to his transition from The Rock to Dwayne Johnson was the time spent as both. It gave audiences the opportunity to see the new approach without fear of losing what they’d been attached to all along.
The change formula works for Hollywood: We witnessed similar transitions from rappers-turned-actors Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges and Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson many others.
It can work for you, too. The next time you want to implement a new approach at work, consider the Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson strategy. Try introducing a new method alongside an old one for a period of time and asking for feedback along the way. Then, once everyone is comfortable seeing the new and improved version, ditch the old method and fully embrace the new.
A shameless self-promotional example: I’ve seen this work particularly well with implementing the approach to slide layout and presentation design after teaching the Extreme Presentation Method. Class participants learn how to take long, low-impact decks and turn them into single-slide masterpieces… but they worry that the new approach will be too jarring for their audiences who are used to the same old boring decks. The Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson strategy works perfectly here: the first few meetings, participants are encouraged to bring both the old and the new slides to their conversations and see the reactions from their colleagues. Rather quickly their colleagues see the merits of the new approach and buy in.
So when making a change, consider trying the Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Theory of Change Management. It may help overcome change resistance and pave the way for improvement.
Final note: I’ve never actually seen any of the movies featured above. Not sure what this means for my theory. Or for me...
Jobs and Talent
Are you – or is someone you know – on the job hunt? Got a job you need to fill? Let me know. Maybe I can showcase them here!
What I’ve Been Reading:
Each month I share a few articles and books (and the occasional podcast) that I’ve been digesting. You can subscribe to the LinkedIn version right here.
Personal & Professional Updates
As I write this edition of the Newsletter, FTX has imploded and Twitter seems to be deteriorating right before our eyes. I’ve had a few requests to write about these topics but I’m going to wait until the dust has settled just a bit more before sharing any thoughts!
I’ve been in the pre-beta test for a new social media network called Narwal – thoughtful topic-based discussions with verified accounts only. It’s been fun! You can get on the waitlist if you’d like to give it a try.
I created and shared this simple one-page planning template you can use to prep for important meetings when you want to make sure to ‘show up’ a certain way.
Beginning in January, I will have two slots for executive coaching open up. Let me know if you’d like to nominate someone from your organization.
I am beginning to get excited for Endeavorun’s next running retreat – we’re escaping the cold this January and heading to San Diego!
Whomever invented Daylight Savings Time did not have to spend their mornings looking after a toddler.
That's it for this edition - please reach out if I can be at all helpful.
Be compassionate and intentional.