The Busy Leader's Handbook

10Change the Way You Think About Change

If there are two things people hate, it’s change, and the way things are. I recently heard this quote and it really hit the nail on the head. There have been so many books written on change that the subject can feel overwhelming, but it certainly isn’t going away. There will always be forces pushing for change and forces pushing back against it.

A few years ago, I read an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “All Management Is Change Management.” The author made the case that we live in a state of constant, rapid improvement and in this environment, change isn’t anything “special.” It is no longer a big deal, but instead, it should be part of your daily routine. The process of change is ongoing and ordinary. It has to become the essence of how we live.¹

I like the idea of shifting our mind-set about change. Change isn’t some remarkable disruptive event. It just is. It’s a constant feature of our world. It’s not going anywhere. So we need to respond by making sure a healthy attitude about change is woven into the fabric of our everyday lives.

A good analogy is the outdated notion of “going on a diet.” We all know that we can’t “go on” a diet because that implies that at a later date we’ll “go off” the diet. If that happens we will never be able to sustain weight loss. Instead, it’s much more sustainable to adopt a healthy lifestyle. No peaks and no valleys, just a constant striving toward healthy choices. The same is true of ...