Breakout Spotlight: Why One Speaker Says People Are the Hardest—and Most Important—Part of Change
Listen. I was never on the path to business leadership. “Business” was about the farthest career aspiration from my vision board… or whatever we called a ‘vision board’ in the early 2000’s.
I spent my formative college years studying Shakespeare, Milton, and a variety of literary theories (my favorite being ‘reader response theory’ – Copilot it!), with every intention of becoming a Literature professor, or a non-profit pioneer, or something that protected my delicate, 21-year-old heart from the soul-crushing Corporate America experience.
Fast forward 20-some years and here I am – an IT Leader with over two decades of tech and leadership experience in Corporate America – periodically working in Oedipal jokes on the sly to find any other closet classical literature nerds that may have also found their way into the IT profession.
How have I made it 20 years in this professional, extremely business’y world without losing my soul? Well… I’ve done it by focusing on people. Specifically, the intersection of people and technology adoption.
What I’ve found is that people are the worst. People are messy. They have thoughts, feelings, and emotions that defy logic and fairly regularly reject reasonable technology changes because they just can’t with them right now.
If digging in to the messy side of humanity sounds horrible to you, you are not alone. Many business leaders feel this way and when they do, they skip spending time on the messy people element of a project and instead try to bulldoze or breeze past the people part – only to end up failing or underperforming against their business and financial goals.
This wildly uncomfortable, at times way too personal, segment of business is where the recipe for success lives. Unlocking a desire and a willingness to come along for the ride when the future and the change looks scary is the only way we really move things forward. Change is inevitable for everyone – everywhere – always. But… it doesn’t have to be scary or something to avoid. If leaders are willing to invest the time in cultivating relationships – built on trust and mutual respect – they can accomplish truly outstanding things.
I’m excited to share my observations on how leaders can do this in their own organizations and introduce you to the Worst People of 2024 – and how they, too, were able to embrace change against all odds. As an added bonus, we’ll talk about why a female perspective can be the X factor in building those bridges to success – if we are bold enough to use our unique voices.
Meet the Author
Kelly Grosskreutz | Women’s Leadership Conference Breakout Speaker
If you're ready to explore a more human approach to leadership—one that embraces the messy, real-life challenges of leading through change—you won’t want to miss Kelly’s breakout session at the Women’s Leadership Conference on October 8th. Her journey is anything but typical, and her insights are refreshingly honest, practical, and empowering. Whether you’re in tech, nonprofit, or corporate leadership, Kelly’s session will leave you with new tools, a few laughs, and a renewed belief in the power of people-centered leadership. Make sure to add her session to your schedule—we’ll see you there!
Don’t miss out—register today and get your ticket at womensleadershipwi.com/register. We can’t wait to see you there!