Leading with GRIT: Inspiring Action and Accountability with Generosity, Respect, Integrity, and Truth

Chapter 6The Key to Efficient Change

Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you don't belong.

—Mandy Hale

I remember one of the company's vice presidents saying to me, “That's just management theory—no one does that in practice.” I was asking him about one of the classes I was taking; the subject was change management. At the time, something didn't sit right with me, and only a few years later, as I went on to study change and worked with dozens of companies, training and developing people, I could see clearly that that VP and the rest of his team should have read the book from my management class! Too late for that company—the management team's resistance to change caused its demise. Yes, they made some changes—they remodeled, they changed accounting systems, they spent money on incentivizing people to be creative—but they didn't change their thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs, so they didn't change the way they did business. Naturally, people resisted the change. I'm not sure if they ever realized in hindsight what went wrong. Sadly, that's an all-too-familiar story many have witnessed.

It's either go forward, change, and grow or be stagnant, go backward, and die. That's what happens if we don't make the changes that are necessary for our companies or for our lives. This is the crossroad: Do you want to change or not?

Heraclitus, the self-taught pioneer of wisdom (c. 535–c. 475 bce), knew then “The only thing that's constant is ...