“The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
~Socrates
Change is not easy. It’s confusing, unclear and perplexing. It’s hard to pursue something when it means what you know, and have become expert at, is becoming less and less relevant. It’s natural to fight change, to deny it and ignore it.
However, every leader is a change agent, for better or worse. They can move their organization forward, or keep it where it is. Either one is change, because as the world morphs and grows, if you do nothing, you’re effecting change. Just not in a positive way.
The most fundamental principle of change can be found in your mirror. When we’re not looking into the mirror it’s easy to fool ourselves that we’re the same people we were 10 years ago. But we’re not. If change were’t a real factor, we’d still have 8 tracks and AM radio would be on top. People wouldn’t be watching TV less to an alarming level (which they are), Netflix would have failed, and no one would “get” Pandora.
Real leadership is understanding change, and adapting to the opportunities it offers. Those who can do that will survive and thrive, those who can’t will be forever cemented to a past that doesn’t exist any more… and is being outdated everyday.
