Working in corporation change is fraught with many challenges. One of these challenges is ostracisation and rejection of the change agent by the corporate immune system. It is useful to understand why this resistance can be expected. Many change makers struggle with this apparent rejection by their colleagues and with the inevitable frustration due to the glacial speed of progress. The reasons for such phenomena are as manifold as the obstacles one must overcome. However, for this Thursday Thought, let’s consider a core reason why change is so difficult: the fear of the unknown.
Today’s episode summarises some of the groundbreaking analysis of the business, economic, and technological trends of today to predict what the world will look like in 2030 – and how the Coronavirus pandemic will accelerate each of these major trends.
One of the challenges that so many organisations and individuals face is that we have grown accustomed to a steady and stable environment. The relative stability of the post-war period, an anomalous period in world history, has somewhat contributed to our conditioning for stability. As a result, our mental and operational flexibility has atrophied. Progress and change only happen when we adapt, when we permanent reinvent, when we understand that chaos and order are bedfellows.
A practical guide for harnessing new, novel or game-changing breakthroughs
The Radical Innovation Playbook with Olga Kokshagina and Allen Alexander
The chemical reactions involved in striking a match provide a great metaphor for the plight of a corporate change maker.
Swiss cheese Model for Ideas Aidan McCullen. Have you noticed a colleague who was once full of ideas, who has gone unusually quiet? Perhaps you may assume they are just disinterested? You may think they are having a bad day? Perhaps instead, they have fallen prey to a corporate lobotomy? Perhaps they are worn down? Perhaps they just couldn’t be bothered any more.
No matter your business or your position, you can apply his approach to create a workplace where everyone takes responsibility for their actions, people are healthier and happier – and everyone is a leader.
What does Tree Dieback have to do with leadership? Nature instinctively knows what to do to ensure the survival of a species, but we homo sapiens can make things much more complicated than they might otherwise be. Biases, blind spots and clinging to the status quo block our progress. Being aware of this is the first step.
Curiosity is essential, but… Preschool children ask an average of 100 questions per day, but shamefully, by middle school, they all but stop asking questions. In a world of abundant data and information, asking the right question is an invaluable skill. The answer can be found easily, coming up with the right question is much more difficult.
Prometheus risked everything to give us a spark, a fire within. Therefore, it is our responsibility to kindle that spark, to keep it alive and to nurture it on to future generations. We are all born with a spark, however small and however clouded by circumstance. Many of us all our spark to fizzle as we grown older or allow others to extinguish or douse our inner flames. While we will not suffer torture like Prometheus did, not embracing our spark can result in mental torture throughout our existence.