How to Change the World

Culture of Change: Episode 1 Show Notes

“To change the world, start with one step. However small, the first step is hardest of all. Once you get to your gate, you will walk in tall. You said you never did, cause you might die trying.”

- Dave Matthews

Every year the global elite from governments, pseudo governmental entities, multinational corporations, media, think tanks, charitable organizations, and every other institutional construct gather in Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

In 1928, the first edition of Edward Bernays’ Propaganda was published. Bernays’ wrote the short book as a defense of propaganda and ostensibly the global elite. His premise: 

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized.”

In 2023, our invisible governors are more exposed than they’ve ever been. The WEF releases dozens of thought leadership papers every month that reveal the “agenda.” But few seem to realize that the change management infrastructure to implement this agenda – the Great Reset to the New World Order – already exists. 

About a year ago, I was debating a leftist journalist about the impact of the World Economic Forum, and he asked me, “So, what, you think they just get together at Davos and make a plan to control the world? Are they controlling us from Davos?” I was thrown by the question.

Of course they aren’t “controlling us from Davos.” They’re controlling us intimately, in every aspect of our lives. Culture of Change, which airs Sundays at 6PM ET on Badlands Media, will reveal the mechanisms of control that permeate our lives. The extensive network of public, private and corporate entities we see at Davos – as well as many sinister entities we never see – are reshaping the world before our eyes. 

They’re committed to world domination, and they’re closer to success than they’ve ever been. This can be the only reason they’re so exposed – that they believe they’ve already won. 

Who Am I?

For nearly 20 years, I worked in close proximity to the World of WEF, driving large scale change projects for the chief executives of the world’s most powerful entities. I contributed to flagship “thought leadership” papers, one of which was launched at the Davos annual meeting in the early part of the last decade. 

Only in the past two years have I begun to speak publicly about my experiences, for a couple of reasons. 

First, I was in the awakening process. I still am, of course, and if I know anything it’s that I don’t know much. In 2018, as I was becoming a subject matter expert on the business- and people-side impacts of digital transformation and modern technologies, I started to get very uncomfortable. Modern technology requires a lot of collaboration with and trust in technology providers.

“Big Tech'' has become nearly synonymous with social media companies in modern discourse, but social media – even the censorship agenda – is the least worrisome domain. Platform providers – think Google, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM – are massively powerful entities that have convinced the world that technology needs to be outsourced (to them) to keep up with the pace of innovation and transformation. In reality, they’re setting the pace and in just a decade have amassed enough power to enslave the world. I wrote about that here.

I was already triggered by the civil liberty violations by the time of the stolen 2020 presidential election; but after the crime of the millenia, while I was still working in corporate America, I began to see the architecture, the design of the Great Reset to the New World Order. 

The second reason it took me so long to get comfortable with speaking out about the invisible governors is, candidly, I had to be okay with never working in my chosen field again. From 2001 to 2021 I’d put my career first. I was a respected and trusted advisor in large scale corporate change programs. 

Executives of the brands we all use every day paid me to guide their transformation efforts. I wrote many of the programs – wrote the actual words – that shaped corporate culture broadly. I dedicated my life to this work, missed my children’s milestones while traveling the world, advised and trained executives in 36 cities across a couple dozen countries, and I was damn good at my job. 

Speaking publicly means that is all in the past. Becoming okay with that took me some time. 

I know there will be people that knew me then, in my former life, that will watch Culture of Change or read my work going forward. If that’s you, please know that I will never violate my non disclosure agreement. The substance of this show will focus on the words, actions, and tactics that are in the public domain. I am not a whistleblower, nor do I have anything to whistleblow about. I experienced countless examples of corporate behavior that I consider unethical, but only once did I witness an organization that was engaging in overtly illegal behavior. That will be the substance of a future episode, but will not violate the legal agreements I had with my employers and clients. 

What Do You Mean By Tactics?

Answering this question is the heart of Culture of Change. Prior to the third industrial revolution, the digital age, Price Pritchett and Ron Pound were considered the authority on change management. Today, transformation has become an industry and methodologies and opinions about change management are too numerous to index. 

But before transformation became an industry, the work of Pritchett and Pound was held as the gold standard of how to drive change inside of an organization. I argue that it still is, and I offer here an overview of their Handbook for Managers entitled, High Velocity Culture Change. 

To be clear, I am positing that this is how our world is being reshaped by the invisible governors. 

22 Guidelines for Achieving Dramatic Cultural Shifts in Record Time

“Some that recognize the need to change deceive themselves, thinking that they can achieve a cultural transformation without pain and chaos…overhauling the culture is an agonizing process.” - Pritchett & Pound

One: Don’t let the existing culture dictate your approach. “It just doesn’t make sense to try to change culture according to the old rules. The rules themselves are part of the problem.”  Defy tradition. Disregard the norms. Flout the values as relics of an antiquated culture. 

Two: Focus on the future. “The window to the future gives better guidance than the mirror. This is a time for action, not introspection.” Understanding the existing culture is a fool’s errand – just get started doing those things that help the culture change. All hail progress! 

Three: Deliberately destabilize your group. “Culture has a very strong immune system unless you can overwhelm its defenses – weaken the culture somehow – it launches a fierce counteroffensive. It usually wins.” You must be willing to go hard and fast, and you must be comfortable with chaos and destabilization. 

Four: Care harder. “All the blame and negative feelings could cause you guilt and self-doubt. Just don’t confuse caring with keeping people happy.” Sometimes love is tough, and it’s impossible to please everyone. “Taking it slow can be the cruelest move of all.”

Five: Disarm the old culture. “Energy dislikes uncertainty and is drawn to determination. So don’t be tentative. Show commitment to the new culture… Don’t try to calm people or settle things down.” The key here is to not let energy and momentum be used as a weapon by the old culture. You must strip the old culture of its power.

Six: Change the reward system. “Change what you celebrate, what you honor, and who you hold up as heroes.”  Don’t spend time on whiners, complainers, and squeaky wheels. Ignore them. Neutralize them, and dote on those who are living the values of the new culture. 

Seven: Keep score. “Track progress so you can see where the program is bogging down. So you’ll know where the resistance lies.” Surveillance of behavior is important. Monitoring people lets you know where to allocate, rewards and sanctions. Celebrate good behavior. Bad behavior must be spotlighted, the resisters exposed, leaving them no place to hide. Make shame great again! 

Eight: Promote the vision. “The change effort needs to become a cause, a crusade, and your job is to champion the vision…Culture change cannot be achieved by the efforts of a handful…The job is too big.” You must engage and recruit the masses.To do that, you need to give the change vision, drama, glory, and excitement. “Make it compelling…like magnetic north” 

Nine: Free the people. “A cultural revolution calls for liberation of the people. You must free them from the system, the rules of the establishment, the old habits of the status quo. If you can break the chains of this bureaucracy, you break the back of the old culture.” Bureaucracy in this context is essentially tradition and its supporters. Trads are your number one enemy and should be discouraged.

Ten: Crank up the communication effort. “You need to sell people on the purpose, preach hope…with the zeal of a crusading evangelist.” There can be no communication vacuum when changing the culture. Bad news, rumors, and worst case thinking will fill the void – risking that people will abandon the change and revert to the old ways.

Eleven: Expect casualties. “Where will you focus your attention? Will it be on the main pockets of resistance? That would be a mistake.” Ordinarily in any change effort you can expect 20% champions, 50% undecided, and 30% resisters. Instead of trying to convert resisters, make examples of them. “Casualties cause fear. But that’s better than complacency. At least at fear, ratchets up the emotional energy, and you can use that to fuel the change effort. Be willing to sacrifice those people whose attitude and behavior could sabotage the cultural change.” 

Twelve: Demonstrate unwavering commitment. “You have to hit hard or you’ll never overcome the…inertia and the inevitable resistance to change.” You will have setbacks, chaos, disappointments. You may begin to second-guess your approach, but that’s where you need to lean in and push harder. “If you fail to follow through because you grow weary or lose your nerve…any subsequent attempts at cultural change will be even harder.”

Thirteen: Involve everyone. Often people “don’t make any personal connection with the cultural change initiative, and just want to be left alone… But people who aren’t for a change will be against it inadvertently, perhaps but their intent is not the issue.” Their intent is not the issue; the issue is their impact on your efforts. Everyone must be involved – insist upon commitment to the new culture. “The culture change effort can’t benefit from benchwarmers or spectators.”

Fourteen: Make structural administrative changes. “The new cultural ideas must be embodied in new practices that clearly improve…effectiveness.” Make the administration of your new culture incompatible with the old. You’re offering a new way, a new world. Breaking the back of the old culture is a waste of time if you don’t offer something better. 

Fifteen: Provide a living example. “Hypocritical behavior will kill your credibility and sabotage the cultural change.” You can show no allegiance to the old culture. You must be all in on the new culture. Any negativism has the ability to legitimize the resistors. That means even when you face challenges in the new culture, you cannot waver in your commitment. 

Sixteen: Achieve hard results in a hurry. “Negative effects will proceed the positive. The anti-change crowd will roll their eyes and point to all kinds of trouble, insisting that this is a dumb plan that’s being poorly implemented… Don’t get sidetracked per trying to prove the value of culture change with soft data – morale, trust, loyalty, stress levels, or job satisfaction… Morale craters. Attitudes sour. Trust evaporates.” Remember, rapidly changing your culture is going to hurt. 

Seventeen: Bring in a new breed. “ It’s far harder to convert the resistors than to bring in new people who embrace the new culture… Outsiders come in, focusing their energies and abilities on producing results. Insiders meanwhile, worry too much about ‘me issues' and waste energy resisting change.” New people aren’t locked into its traditions, values or beliefs, and in culture change you want to find people who clearly do not fit the existing mold. 

Eighteen: Don’t trust loyalty. “Loyalty to the culture can present a variety of serious problems. The bottom line on all this is that loyalty isn’t everything it’s been cracked up to be… Loyalty is a treacherous thing in a world of rapid change.” You want change makers who are comfortable with the goal posts moving. Loyalty is a relic of tradition. That makes it a liability. 

Nineteen: Build a power base. “You can develop a reputation as public enemy number one and still prevail if you have a good supporting cast.” You want to make sure you have people committed to the change in the best roles. If there are people who wield power that are resistant to the change, “deal with them such that they are disconnected from their main constituencies. Reassign them. Fire them. Or neutralize them somehow. Remember that money is power. The more you make your average adversaries dependent on you for funding their financial needs, the more you gain control.”

Twenty: Encourage eccentricity. “Do you need radicals. Rebels. Revolutionaries. People who howl at the moon. The old culture is sitting on vast resources, stifling, priceless, creativity, and innovative energies… Liberate [them]... turn their fresh ideas, and initiative loose… You cannot achieve culture change without the influence of ‘deviant’ behavior.” I’ll just leave that there.

Twenty-One: Orient, educate, and train. “If you’re going to break the grip of the old culture, seize control of the schools. That’s one of the basic rules followed by revolutionaries.” Schools are the training ground of the old culture, the established social structure. If you want to train on the new culture, you must control the training ground. From the content to the teachers to how the training is conducted, every aspect “should reflect a sweeping change in priorities, values, and beliefs.”

Twenty-Two: Go flat out. “Start out fast and keep trying to pick up speed. Leave skidmarks. Implementing change at high speeds keeps the old culture off-balance.” Bureaucracy [Tradition] has to eat dust.” Move fast and break things and never waver in your commitment to the new culture. “When you get to the other end of this exercise when you look back and reflect on how it is gone you’ll say you should’ve done it even faster.”

Where Do We Go From Here?

We are the resisters of their cultural revolution, and we are already larger than 30%. They benefit from our confusion, and they love the fog of war. Let’s take that element away from them! 

These 22 principles are the tactics by which our invisible governors are reshaping our world, bringing about the Great Reset to the New World Order. In the coming weeks, we will be examining the changes and causes we are all experiencing – and how these tactics originate with the global corporate communists and show up in our local communities. 

Understanding is the first step to fighting back and winning. As Sun Tzu said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” 

“If you close your eyes because the house is on fire, and think you couldn't move until the fire dies. The things you never did, ‘cause you might die trying.” 

- Dave Matthews

The house is on fire. Open your eyes, and let’s get to work.

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Watch Culture of Change on Badlands Media, Sundays at 6PM ET. Show notes and references are available on my substack following each show. Follow me on all the socials @asheinamerica. If you’re interested in advertising with Badlands, reach out to Kitty Gillespie at ads.badlandsmedia@proton.me.