Many people have nothing but fear and loathing of change, but waving a cross or handful of garlic is generally not viewed as a reliable means of preventing change or handling it when it comes along. Neither is “We realize now, but we didn’t then, that …”

For those in leadership positions, understanding that change will happen and must be managed is an essential mindset. If change occurs, it can be managed, as long as there is management commitment, the right resources and the right communications.

It is so essential that during the 2014 Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) International Conference that Jenna Taylor of the Shriners Hospital for Children and Gilman Sullivan of Blackbaud offered a set of leadership principles devised by Hildy Gottlieb. They are:

• We accomplish what we hold ourselves accountable for.
• Each and every one of us is creating the future, every day, whether we do so consciously or not.
• Everyone and everything is interconnected and interdependent, whether we acknowledge that or not.
• Being the change we want to see means walking the talk of our values.
• Strength builds upon our strengths, not our weaknesses.
• Individuals will go where we lead them.