Cassandra Worthy, CEO of Change Enthusiasm Global, took to the stage at the 2023 Women in Retail Leadership Summit, held April 17-19 in Phoenix, to help attendees tap into the power of change. She said change is something that every single person has gotten a lot closer to in the past few years.

“As you think about all this volatility, all this change happening in and around you, your industry, your business — specifically within your teams and your organization — as you think about the months and the years ahead, the level of volatility and uncertainty that will remain, I’m certain there’s room for maybe a bit of frustration. Maybe some fear, anger, anxiety,” she said. “So now is the time to learn how to harness the power of that emotion, that energy, to fuel your growth and not just the growth of your incredible business, but the growth of  you as an individual, as an innovator, as a leader.”

Worthy spent several years in corporate America, leveraging her degree in chemical engineering at retail, predominantly at Procter & Gamble. She said it was a career that was constantly dealing with significant shift and change, and it sparked in her the Change Enthusiasm® model that she teaches organizations around the world today.

She said even before Day 1 of her professional career, she had been “uniquely groomed” for change. Throughout her years as what she calls the “front runner of millennials”, she said she learned adaptability, resilience and perseverance — and that’s what she teaches.

Her Change Enthusiasm® model works in three steps: Signal, Opportunity, and Choice.

  • Signal is the difficult feelings. The fear, the anxiety, the frustration, the anger, the grief. “It means something very big has happened for you,” she said.
  • Opportunity is realizing that you have power, that you have control and say in your experience. It’s when you spend time weighing options, exploring what’s possible.
  • The third step is making a conscious, productive choice to inspire better feeling and ultimately achieve a better results.

She said following this strategy will give you a sense of enthusiasm for every major change you might face. The goal is for this strategy to allow you to become a point of inspiration to your teams, your peers, and your customers.

“This is about that regular day-to-day emotional flow that happens when we’re going through change, notably in the workplace,” she said. “It’s about recognizing the difficulty of change, allowing it to exist in yourself as well as those around you, and knowing it means we sit in a moment of opportunity and it’s up to us to choose how we move forward together, better, stronger, as we evolve,” she said.

Women in Retail Leadership Circle members can watch all session recordings from the 2023 Women in Retail Leadership Summit here. Not a member? Apply today!