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Welcome to Changemaker stories from LOCAL - an ongoing series of personal interviews with leaders driving change across every industry and discipline. Because change shouldn’t mean going it alone.
This week we spent time with Michael Connor, a technologist, strategist, and innovator with experience across a wide range of companies and industries, to talk about humanity, what makes great work, and why everyone should visit a skatepark soon. Here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Michael:
Great change leaders take a longer view. They look further out to what truly needs to be done, rather than focus on short-term individual gain.
My data science background led me to believe that systems either work or don't. It wasn't until a critical project I was leading started to fail that I began to look closely into the people side of change - the people involved, what they need, and the why.
Human connection matters. Unless we build relationships, nothing meaningful is going to happen. If people are really engaged, great things will follow.
Team bonding can feel like forced family fun. When people do great work together, it's a much better way for people to naturally come together.
Doing something that matters is a great recipe for happiness. If you create things other people care about, you'll be happier in your work.
People much prefer change happening with them rather than to them.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I believe a prototype is worth a thousand meetings.
I hope technology can positively shift culture. When technology takes over our daily toil, it could free people to work on some of the stickier problems in the world, like poverty, loneliness, mental health.
Change starts with listening. Good leaders have the empathy to understand where people are at before they cast a vision.
A Changemaker I admire is Michelle Ruth (the ex-CIO at Coca-Cola). She had a gift for impacting change guided by a simple mantra: always assume that the other person has good intentions. It definitely yields more positive results.
As a proud Atlantan, I love skating with my daughter at the Old 4th Ward skatepark. You see all walks of life having fun and it gives me energy.
My dad has three rules for life. Show up every day. Never give up. Be prepared. If you do these three things, life will work out for you. I think about these rules every day.
Are you a Changemaker? We want to hear from you. Let's talk.