We love to talk about change, don’t we? We treat it like a distant storm on a weather map—something to be analyzed, tracked, and managed from the safety of a boardroom. We form committees, we assign acronyms, we build 50-slide decks detailing the five phases of our “transformational journey.” We talk about making waves, but we do it from the comfort of the shore, terrified of getting our hair wet. But here’s the problem: disruption is not a distant storm. It’s not a concept. It’s the termites you ignore until your foundation gets wrecked because you didn’t think those little piles of dust were a threat. It’s rude, it’s relentless, and it doesn’t RSVP.
The Glitch in the Keynote
Imagine this. You’re in an audience, and a speaker takes the stage. He opens his mouth to deliver a profound insight, but a few words in, he glitches. Stops. Starts again. Then, a sharp, annoying word interrupts him: “Switch!” He tries again. “Turn!” He physically jolts, as if shocked by his own words. “Shift!” You feel it, right? The confusion. The irritation. You’re thinking, “Is this guy’s teleprompter broken? Is the AV team asleep at the wheel? Is this going to be the whole speech?” You want him to get to the point, but you slowly realize he is the point. He’s not talking about disruption; he’s making you experience it. He’s making you uncomfortable because growth is uncomfortable. And in that moment of shared confusion and dawning awareness, the lesson is tattooed onto your nervous system.
From Information to In-Formation
That discomfort is the lesson. As a Grammy Nominated Spoken Word Artist, I’ve built a career on this single truth: you can’t argue with a feeling. An idea can be debated, a statistic can be dismissed, but an experience is undeniable. My work in Spoken Word Poetry isn’t about just reciting words; it’s about transforming the energy in a room, about moving people from a state of passive listening to active feeling—from information to in-formation. You can listen to a lecture on “Embracing Disruption” and forget it by the time you get to the parking lot. But the visceral feeling of being disrupted? That sticks. It’s the difference between someone telling you a joke is funny and the involuntary eruption of laughter from your own belly. One is data; the other is a goosebump.
The Principles of Felt Change
This isn’t just a performance trick for a Spoken Word Poet on stage; it’s a fundamental principle of human connection and leadership. To truly lead people through change, you have to move beyond concepts and into experiences. The core principles are simple:
- Growth is uncomfortable by nature. You cannot stretch into a new version of yourself, or your company, without disrupting your current form. You have to be willing to feel the burn.
- To master disruption, you must embody it. You can’t just analyze it from a safe distance. You have to beat disruption to its destination—you. You have to be willing to interrupt your own conventions before someone else does.
- Experience bypasses intellectual defenses. Data targets the brain, but experience targets the soul. This is what can make a leader the World’s Best communicator and the most inspiring force on their team. They don’t just present the case for change; they create a safe space to feel it.
Stop Sending Memos, Start Making Waves
So how do you apply this? How do you, as a leader, a teammate, or just a human trying to grow, stop talking about change and start living it? You stop sending memos and start orchestrating moments. You have the meeting with no agenda. You embrace the “yes, and…” that takes an idea to a weird and wonderful new place. You intentionally hire the “chocolate and chipotle” team instead of the safe “chocolate and peanut butter” team, creating a delicious combustion of new perspectives. You become the annoying little brother in the pool of your industry who just can’t stop making waves, who sees the stagnant water and can’t resist yelling, “Splash, splash!” As a Vanguard Artist and Grammy Nominated Poet Sekou, my primary goal is always to be that splash, to be the catalyst for that felt experience.
The next time you’re tasked with leading a change, put down the PowerPoint. Ask yourself: am I creating a weather report, or am I creating a hurricane? Am I writing a concept, or am I choreographing a feeling? The most inspirational leaders, the ones who create real, lasting transformation, are the ones brave enough to make you feel the ground move. Because at the end of the day, change is not a concept you learn. It’s an experience you live through. And it’s time to get uncomfortable.
