Tag Archives: change

Reframing Resistance to Change

we can't change people to our view if we don't understand theirs

No standard behavior change, no innovation. It’s that simple. True Innovation results in a step-change where we can’t imagine going back to the old way, but the road to that outcome is full of rejection. It’s hard to overstate how important this is: if you’re not getting rejected you’re going the wrong way.

Complaining is not a strategy

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos starts his High Orde... Many companies may start their lives playing to win, but inevitably end up playing not to lose. It is this cycle of being proactive and then reactive that may become a fact for your organization.

Many books and blog posts have been written about the many reasons companies fail, a key reason is because they stop paying  attention to customers, and instead focus on competitors. It is a very interesting dynamic to observe how companies may start innovating but then decide to align themselves with their competitors…

The question is: why?

The answer comes down to human nature. Success hides problems, and our tendency to become complacent after having some success puts us in a state of reaction. As a result, competitor activity becomes a huge source of anxiety and frustration for company leaders. For me, a clear signal that a company may be loosing its footing is when it talks a lot about what competitors are doing and how they have to match them; not what they are doing differently.

Sure, other competitors may take advantage of trends in technology and ride a wave that ends up disrupting existing businesses; but very rarely are companies created with a deliberate need to crush existing companies. That happens after the fact!

It is very simple, the future happens to you, not other competitors.

10% of the majority: when ideas get adopted

Domino Effect

Domino Effect (Photo credit: k.landerholm)

How long does change take?

Interesting question. And one that, at least to me, doesn’t have a concrete answers. But a good answer is that it takes time. It simply doesn’t happen overnight.

But, we do know that if we want to accelerate change then it is best to aim to win over / enlist a few people in our crusade.

From Rebels at Work:

Innovation must reads of the week: The secret phrase innovators use

Innovation must reads of the week: The secret phrase innovators use

Storified by Jorge Barba · Sat, Sep 22 2012 19:34:24

New post — How can we spur innovation at work — and in ourselves? http://goo.gl/BOvVIEric Barker
Ten Ways to Get People to Change http://s.hbr.org/TcMdpcHarvard Biz Review
The power of observation: How companies can have more ‘aha’ moments http://gigaom.com/2012/09/15/not-enough-time-to-save-time-the-value-of-rapid-ethnography/Greg Satell
The Secret Phrase Top Innovators Use http://ow.ly/dQ9cw by @WarrenBergerBlanchard LeaderChat
"’Follow your passion’ might just be terrible advice." http://www.fastcompany.com/3001441/do-steve-jobs-did-dont-follow-your-passionCo.Lead

If you like these links, check out all the previous “Innovation Must Reads of the Week“. And don’t forget to

What are you doing to escape old ideas?

change is inevitable. Change is constant

“The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones.” – Keynes

Coming up with new ideas is a piece of cake. But escaping the pull of the tried and true is the difference between staying releant or not. Old ideas are like oxygen, we don’t even know they are there.

For example, a days ago Nilofer Merchant argued that Michael Porter’s model of Competitive Strategy needs an update. She posted her thoughts on HBR of all places. But see, it’s true.

Change will happen whether you like it or not

Companies are still scrambling with the rise of social networks like Twitter. If people think you suck they’ll gladly express themselves and let everyone else who listens to them. Oh and by the way, this happens in real-time.

This is the type of change most companies have not embraced.

But you know what, this change in communications was going to happen eventually the moment we had access to the internet. Social networks simply accelerated the process. All change tends to break with existing convention and social networking is no different.

There are other changes happening because of the internet, that of ‘easy access to information’. As content creation and information sharing accelerates, knowledge creation is accelerating.