“The Change-inator” – Dr. Doofenshmirtz as a Change Leader

Who is Dr. Doofenshmirtz you might ask? Dr. Doofenshmirtz is the “villain”/mad scientist on the show Phineas and Ferb. Who are Phineas and Ferb? (If you are asking this you probably don’t have kiddos who watch the Disney channel.)  This great TV show is about two step-brothers and what they invent everyday. It contains a rare and elusive quality – my kids think it’s really funny and my husband and I are happy to watch it with them.

Certain things always happen in the two 10 minute carefully crafted story lines in each episode:

  1. Phineas always comes up with a new big idea / invention / adventure – “Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today!” (They build city-wide rollercoasters, skyscraper towers that they have to escape from, train monkeys to juggle, build a second-generation robot-building device, build a beach in their backyard, just to name a few.)
  2. Someone always says, “Hey, where’s Perry?” (Yes, the boys have a pet platypus named Perry that is a secret agent…pause to absorb that fact… who disappears to find Dr. Doofenshmirtz and stop his nefarious plan of the day)
  3. And Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz cooks up an evil plan to take over the tri-state area.  Usually using some contraption, e.g. “The Blenderator-inator”, “The Concoction Brew-inator”, “The If a Tree Falls in the Forest-inator”,  the “Shrink-inator” or “The XYZ-inator”…you get the idea.  These are machines with a ray-gun type laser beam he uses on the object of his obsessions.

So it got me thinking, if Dr. Doofenshmirtz were a change leader, what would he do?  There is no question in my mind.  He would definitely invent “The Change-inator”.

Here are some of the settings I would recommend:

  • Not Cranky (Agreeable Mood + Helpful Attitude)
  • Un-Stubborn (Receptive to New Ideas)
  • Nirvana! (Complete Understanding of Change)
  • Freeze Ray Mode (Plan B for particularly stubborn detractors)
  • Platypus Robot Dance (random entertainment factor)

Conspiratorial whisper: Go, right now, and set your DVR for the next Phineas and Ferb episode.  We never know when he might invent this marvelous machine and we need to be ready to steal The Change-inator!

I myself would pay mightily to have these controls at my fingertips (cue mad scientist laugh). As I work to get a business ready for a change, I would only need one stakeholder meeting – instead of that pesky need to have multiple meetings and events to keep sponsors and stakeholders engaged throughout the program and kept informed.  Instead, I would merely roll out The Change-inator, proceed to set the dials for ‘Nirvana!’ and then watch while everyone becomes perfectly aligned with the change plan.

Alas, this evil plan wouldn’t work (none of Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s inventions ultimately work correctly) and it would probably temporarily turn all my stakeholders into 8 ft tall trolls – or worse. But that’s ok, everything would “poof” back to normal at the end of my 10 minute communications meeting.

Until next time…wishing you business readiness success!

Kirsten Jordan is a Partner at PeopleResults.  She can be reached on Twitter @kirstenkbdb