Only a life in the service of others is worth living.
—Albert Einstein

Being a change leader means being a change agent. Being a change agent means being a change actuator. Sound confusing? Let’s sort it out.

When a person demonstrates the vision, trust, and competence to lead people where they want to go—she becomes a change leader.

When people choose to follow, they entrust the leader with the authority and power to act on their behalf and to take them somewhere—they employ the leader as their agent.

Once the path is plotted and the authority granted, the change agent must then put the followers in motion—she helps actuate the change.

Regardless of the nature of your business, whether you are selling cars, airplanes, software, mutual funds, or life insurance, consider your company a “change agency.” You are selling change. Think of yourself as a change agent employed not by your company, but by your client to actuate change on your client’s behalf. Your company’s resources, as well as those of the client are the vehicles for actuating the change.

Important tasks of the change agent include:

Climbing the value ladder and becoming a change agent that is viewed by the customer as a strategic asset is not a process that happens over night. The best way to get started is to understand everything you can about the forces affecting the customer. Then, help the customer respond to the biggest forces. You will soon be seen as a “friend of the company.”

The next step is to understand the customer’s organization and characterize the people in it. You want to understand what drives them and how they behave. The Four Forces model is very useful for this.

Based on your deep knowledge of the organization, you will be able to assemble change teams and build coalitions for change.

Ultimately, you must work across organizational boundaries, including your company’s organization to formulate a change plan and put it in action.

You are employed by the client to create value on her behalf. Demonstrate your leadership: vision, trustworthiness, and competence. Broker agreement on a change plan.