1961 US President JFK establishes the Peace Corps.
“Create change through a vision with moral purpose, attract devoted disciples, secure resources, balance impatience against care in planning, and lead through engaged role modelling”
👏 Happy Friday!
On this day, March 1, 1961, President Kennedy signed Executive Order 10924, establishing the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. The new programme empowered volunteers to provide two years of service abroad, assisting communities with basic needs like food, health, shelter, and education, while fostering cultural exchange and mutual understanding at the person-to-person level. Kennedy had initially introduced the concept during his 1960 presidential campaign and worked closely on the vision and structure once in office before recruiting the first 500+ volunteers who trained that summer and shipped out across the globe by the end of 1961. This proposal was met with enthusiasm, as more than 25,000 letters were received in response to Kennedy's call. The Peace Corps started during the Cold War to spread American values globally in response to Communist criticism, but its focus on altruism went beyond political differences. Since its inception, more than 235,000 volunteers have joined the Peace Corps, serving in 141 countries worldwide.
✅ The Peace Corps remains one of Kennedy’s most vivid living legacies. Six weeks earlier, in his inaugural address, he made his famous call to public service by asking Americans, “To ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Change starts when visionary leaders inspire and attract devoted disciples across bureaucracy and translate ideas into organisational reality with tireless persistence. They secure resources by aligning the vision with existing stakeholder priorities, coalitions, and budgets. They balance impatience against care in planning to allow risk-taking while mitigating pitfalls. Finally, change leaders must personally role model the new way, they must be actively present and engage to ensure momentum and sustainability. Lead Change Through Engaged Role Modelling.
“Create change through a vision with moral purpose, attract devoted disciples, secure resources, balance impatience against care in planning, and lead through engaged role modelling”
👉 The second main responsibility for the leadership team in implementing their organisation’s change is to ‘Model the new way’. This is about making the leader’s change vision a reality by modelling the new way of working. Without the execution of the change vision by leaders, the organisation will not move from the current ‘a’ state to the improved future ‘B’ state. To make this happen, the leadership team is effectively and proactively involved, and responsible for three important subset responsibilities. Working with the sponsor, they must involve employees in the change design and model the new skills and behaviours to enhance the employee change experience. These responsibilities cannot be delegated, they cannot be sent as an email instruction, and they are not the responsibility of the change team.
Have a fantastic weekend with the ones you love and care for, enjoy some fresh air, exercise, eat, drink and be happy.
Further Reading: Change Management Leadership- Leadership of Change Volume 4
Peter consults, speaks, and writes on the Leadership of Change®.
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Peter F Gallagher is a Change Management Global Thought Leader, Guru, Expert, International Speaker, Author and Leadership Alignment Coach.
Listed #1 by leadersHum Top 40 Change Management Gurus You Should Follow in 2022 (Mar 2022).
Ranked #1 Change Management Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Change Management (2023-2022-2021-2020) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #1 Business Strategy Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Business Strategy (2022) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #2 Leadership Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Leadership (Aug 2020) by Thinkers360.
Business Book Ranking
Change Management Behaviour - Leadership of Change® Volume 6, listed among the 50 Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2022.
Change Management Adoption - Leadership of Change® Volume 5, listed among year-to-date’s (Jul 2021) most popular books on business and technology from Thinkers360 member thought leaders.
Change Management Handbook - Leadership of Change® Volume 3, listed among the 50 Business and Technology Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2021.
Change Management Pocket Guide - Leadership of Change® Volume 2, ranked within the top 50 Business and Technology Books (Jan 2020) from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders.