Henry Ford famously quipped that, if he had asked them, people would have said what they wanted was a faster horse.
It’s easy to see how this insight applies to new products.
It is more profound to note that it also applies to social change.
Social change is the act of building a car that nearly everyone cannot see.
Worse, they have a vested interest in a faster horse—after all, change involves loss.
For the instigator of that change, the person at the center of that storm, believing in that vision for years is no small feat.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year…fighting for a vision that few can see, when change comes slowly, and feedback loops are imperfect.
(Because, unlike with a product, we don’t even have a traditional market sending back reliable signals).
It is human to doubt your own vision from time to time.
Indeed, when we are building things that might take a generation to come to pass, it’s a miracle we don’t doubt our vision every day.
Don’t be too hard on yourself if there are days when your confidence flags.
Days when you think, “the doubters may be right after all.”
Days when you wonder if people ever really will want that car that you’re so painstakingly building—aren’t they awfully happy with their horses?
I’ve found two things to help me on these sorts of days:
First, I turn to my own tribe of true believers: folks who remind me of what’s possible, why it matters so much, and how far we’ve come. Whether it’s the way they smile, their infectious enthusiasm, or the hard road they’ve walked, we all have people who can shine a light on us and help us remember the things we might have temporarily forgotten.
Second, I return to the clearest, simplest version of that change I’m trying to create, a story so powerful that has a logic of its own, is trivial to remember, and is easy for others to share.
Our story at 60 Decibels is that it’s crazy to think that you can create meaningful, lasting social change if you never listen to the people involved in that change.
What’s yours?
