Our job is to deliver more revenue, better customer engagement, more cash, cheaper products, more customers, higher profits, fewer problems, etc. We’re paid to deliver.

The problem is, most of us don’t focus on the adjective; better, more, cheaper, higher, fewer, etc. We focus on the noun; profits, cash, revenue, customers, etc. For most of us focusing on getting the cash, the profit, the revenue is enough. More, better, cheaper, faster, just get in the way of it being “gud nuff” (good enough).

Ignoring the better, faster, cheaper, etc. eventually stops working, because someone, somewhere moves. Your competition is providing cheaper products, they have higher profits, they have fewer problems, they have better customer engagement. Eventually, we have to move too. We have to focus on the adjective.

Here’s the rub. Focusing on the adjective, forces change. Getting more revenue, means something has to change. Increasing profits, something has to change. Engaging with customers better, yup, change and people don’t like change. They fight it.

Change agents can be unpopular people, especially if the change is big, innovative and contrary to the status quo. You know, the change that could have the biggest impact.

The best know this and embrace their isolation.  They’ve gotten comfortable being the odd person out. They’ve learned to handle the abuse, the attacks and the resistance. To change agents, pissing people off, means they’re headed in the right direction and positive change is worth the ire of the change resistors.

If you aren’t pissing people off, you’re not a change agent and that means your part of the status-quo or worse a change resistor. The status-quo has a shelf life. Don’t have an expiration date, piss people off.