Showing posts with label Change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Change. Show all posts
Is the rate of change getting faster?
There
is a little game that has been played many times. It may seem silly,
but it can help to put things in perspective. Take an extended period
of time and pretend it’s a day. We could date the origins of
mankind to about a million years ago. But for the purpose of this
exercise we can choose a much shorter period.
If
we set the beginning of the Paleolithic era at approximately 40
thousand years ago, and start the day at that time, we find the use
of metals at 9 PM. Archimedes is born at 10.40 PM – Leonardo da
Vinci an hour later, twenty minutes before midnight. The entire
industrial evolution, even if we date it from the 1300s, is in the
last half hour.
Steam
engines appear at 11.51 PM. The experimental use of electricity
starts at 11.53 PM – electric light and power two or three minutes
later. Telegraph begins six minutes before midnight. Telephone,
movies, the motorcar and the airplane around four minutes ago, radio
three minutes, atomic energy and television two minutes. The
prototype of electronic computers came two minutes before our time,
the internet one minute(but it has been widely available only in the
last twenty seconds.) Mobile phones have existed for two minutes, but
their obsessive spreading is in the last ten seconds.
The
important problem isn’t the speed of change – that has no
constant or predictable pattern. It’s the fact that many things
have been around for a very short time (including some that may seem
“old”, but aren’t, compared to the evolution of human culture.)
The biological roots, and largely also the cultural attitudes, of our
species, haven’t changed much since the age of cave dwellers.
It’s
no surprise to find that we haven’t had the time to learn how to
use the resources that we have – or the variety and speed of
communication that were unknown for 99 percent of our history even if
we date it only from the beginning of writing.
Now
we have understood that the enthusiasm for the marvels of progress,
back in the 1800s, was naïve. We know that technical development
can’t solve all problems – and it can cause new, sometimes
dramatic, difficulties and damages. But we still have a lot to learn.
by
Giancarlo Livraghi
Credit: The header image
is available as wallpaper from wall.alphacoders.com
Is The Rate Of Change Increasing?
Everyone says it is.
There's
article after after article telling how things are getting so much
faster nowadays. And that everyone is suffering from Future Shock.
I'm
not going to waste everyone's time by listing them.
Everyone
says it is – but is it really.
Yes,
we're seeing technological change at an unprecedented rate – a rate
that would make my grandparents' heads spin.
But
so what?
What
is actually changing?
I
first touched a computer 46 years ago. It was a dumb terminal, linked
through a telephone line by modem to a mainframe in Milton Keynes
about 400 miles away. Well nowadays, people connect their smartphones
through wi-fi to the cloud. Yes, the technology is faster (much
faster) and more powerful so you can get more stuff done and quicker
– but the principle is no different from 46 years ago. It hasn't
changed.
And
that's not the only example or the most important.
The
biggest thing that needs to change but doesn't is – Us.
The
biggest problem facing us today is that we still think that we're
cavemen.
- We still slash and burn new forests instead of thinking like Modern Man and trying to revive the land that we've already abused.
- We still think resources are limited and go to war over them
- We still act like there are only 12 humans on this planet and so we worry about what our “friends” think instead of getting, newer better friends.
Credit:
The header image is available as wallpaper from Wall.Alphacoders.com
Why I Love Haters
When I was younger, I wasn't the most popular kid. Nowhere near. You know that selection process where everyone stands against a wall and two “captains” pick their teams by alternating between them? Well, I was always one of the last. Nobody really wanted me on their team and when I was finally chosen, I was given some crappy position or task so that I wouldn't get in the way.
So,
I tried to become more popular by trying to please everyone.
That
was hard work especially as there were a small group of people who I
just couldn't seem to please no matter what I did.
Then
around the age of 13, I read an article on presentation. It started,
“About
10% of the world will hate you no matter what you do. They will hate
you just for being you. And 10% of people will love you no matter
what you do. The other 80% will love you or hate depending on …
blah! Blah! Blah!”
I
had stopped reading by that point. My eyes were glued to those
beginning sentences. 10% of people will hate me. And I could name
those people. And there was nothing I could do to change that
situation. They were going to hate me until they died. And the only
thing I could do about it was accept the situation. It didn't mean
that they were bad people. It just meant that I rubbed them up the
wrong way. So I stopped trying to get them to like me.
What
a relief!
I
felt the weight lifted – and I had more time to spend on others who
appreciated it.
This
is an old story (as you will soon see), but one day a girl came up to
in front of a whole of my friends and her friends and the following
happened:
Girl:
I hate you.
Me:
Good. That's great.
Girl
(very confused): You must've misheard me. I hate you
Me:
I heard you. The answer is still good. You see, there are 6 billion
people in the world and I can be friends with all of them. So if you
hate me, that still leaves 5 billion, 999 million, 999 thousand, 998
other people I have to work with. So thank you for making my life
easier.
Then
I thought about it.
If
some people were going to hate me just because I was me, why was I
wasting my time trying to pretend to be someone else. So, I stopped
trying to please anyone and started pleasing myself. The true irony
was that as soon as I did that, I became more popular – much more
popular. I was a little confused. So I asked people why they suddenly
wanted to be my friend. They told me that I wasn't “fake”. They
told me that they loved the way I had opinions and I wasn't going to
change them if they were unpopular. But they told me that they most
loved the fact that I Would give honest answers to their questions.
They may not like the answers I gave them but they knew that I was
not being malicious and I wanted to sincerely help them.
Then
I thought about it some more.
10%
of all the people alive today (7 billion and counting) is 700 million
people. WTF? 700 million people. I can't be friends with that number,
I'm only one person. That's more people than live in the EU. So I
thought, why am I wasting my time on the other 80% who are
indifferent to me by trying to get them to like me when I haven't got
the time to spend on people who actually want me to spend time with
them?
So
I decided, for my sanity, to make more people hate me. And it was
surprisingly easy. All I had to do was be the same person and do the
same things as others loved:
- I'm not fake so that shows up all of the people who are trying to fake it
- I hold opinions and I won't change them just because they “upset” or “offend” other people. My attitude is “You don't like what I say? Fine go away and stop listening to me”
- And people especially hate my honesty. I cannot tell you the number of people who have said “That really upsets me”. And I say “Well, it should because that behaviour/attitude/lifestyle choice is hurting you and upsetting the people who care about you. Oh by the way, I'm not one of them. If you want to carry on screwing up your life, it makes no difference to me”
So
go ahead and hate me. It's only making my life easier
Credit:
The header image is available as wallpaper from Wall.Alphacoders.com
Change Management As A Culture
We cannot react to change because that's way too slow. At that point, the change has happened and is already eroding your efficiency
You
know what happens:
A
change happens
At
first, your organisation ignores it and hopes that it will go away
But
it doesn't. So, eventually your organisation wakes up and decides to
change to fit the new reality.
So
there are meetings and more meetings.
Everyone
mulls over and worries over what is the best way forward.
Eventually,
decisions are finally made to do some things differently – but not
too much. Just the barest minimum to account for the change
Then
the relevant people are re-trained in the new way of things and away
you go
In
the meantime, that change has been rampaging all over your
efficiency, your productivity and, most importantly of all, your
morale – growing and mutating as it went. But there's more bad
news: someone else has reacted faster than you, taken advantage of
early adaption and taken away some of your business.
And
the worst thing of all, is by the time you adapt to the original
change, it's already changed into something and your organisation is
still playing catch-up.
And
that's only on the presumption that you made the “right and best”
changes that took full advantage of the new situation. If you didn't,
then you really are in trouble.
And
that's presuming that your organisation actually decided to change
rather than just carry on with “business as usual”.
The
answer to change is not change management. At best, change management
can only react to change once it has happened and someone has noticed
it and flagged it as needing attention. Does that mean that change
management is bad? No! No! No! Change management is a whole lot
better than No-Change management. The sad thing is that it will
ultimately fail because it cannot adapt to the change fast enough –
even with the best will in the world. At best, all it does is delay
the inevitable.
What
you need is an organisation that anticipates change and so is ready
to respond when it actually happens. That means making an
organisation that is flexible and adaptable so it can respond
instantly.
If
your organisational culture is “Well, that's the way we've always
done it”, then you're just a dead man walking.
If
your organisational culture is “Well, we'll change when we have
to”, then you're just a dead man walking.
If
your organisational culture is “Well, we'll change when everyone
else does”, then you're just a dead man walking.
The
culture has to be “Well, let's do this until something changes and
makes it obsolete. And no one is going to get fired if they have to
pivot to handle change”
Credit:
The header image is available as wallpaper from Wall.Alphacoders.com
Why You Shouldn't Fear Change
The root of all of my problems is that I have no fear of change. Worse, I anticipate it. I know that Change Is Coming. It's as inevitable as the seasons. No one should be surprised by change. Yet they are because they refuse to acknowledge it. It's like the kid hiding underneath the bed covers from monsters – if I ignore it, it won't hurt me.
We
like the past because we think we understand it. No, we like the past
because we think we're better than it. We think that we're so much
cleverer than the people of the past so we can resist change where
they couldn't. And we are wrong.
Now
don't get me wrong. I don't like change any more than the next
person. However, I know that change will happen. I just learned very
early on that things don't stay the same. They can't because we keep
changing them.
Yet
people try to ignore change and are then dismayed when they find
themselves, sidelined, obsolete and out-of-touch.
Where
is the sense in that?
Credit:
The header image is available as wallpaper from Wall.Alphacoders.com
'Shifts' to Help You in Times Good or Bad
Six months ago, the economy was roaring. Stock prices were going up, interest rates were staying low, unemployment was down. A few months later, those indicators all were going in opposite directions. Now, it's hard to tell from day to day where we stand.
I'm optimistic that the current situation is a short-term one, and that long-term prospects are for growth and good times. But that doesn't mean that there won't be dips, sometimes deep, along the way. The question is: Are you positioned to take advantage of the good times and navigate the bad?
You have to expect one as well as the other. Fortunately, there are "shifts" you can take that will serve you well during both.
1. Get out of debt. The quicker the better. You can't take advantage of opportunities when you're mired in debt. And there are opportunities in both good times and in bad. In both, debt keeps you from profiting from the opportunities that present themselves. In bad, it magnifies the negative, as the cost of money increases and debt service becomes an ever-increasing portion of your expenses.
2. Think globally. No longer can we afford to think and act locally. We must have a broader vision. We must think about how our vocation, our business and our industry will operate in a global economy - because it already does.
3. Be entrepreneurial. This is the age of the free agent. Even if we are and plan to continue working in a larger company or organization, we must at least think like an entrepreneur. We need to be "in-trepreneurs." Seniority and experience does not have the value that it did. Producing results - and profits - is what matters.
4. Become a capitalist. The wealthy own assets, the rest own liabilities - things that cost money to own and maintain. Capitalism is not a dirty word. A capitalist, by definition, is someone who owns assets - assets that produce income. Stock, equipment and businesses are assets that generate income. In America, 80 percent of all millionaires are self-made. Be one of them.
5. Be flexible. Things are moving at a rapid pace. This demands adaptability. Things will not remain the same, nor will they go back to the way they used to be. We must be willing to change directions quickly. It's dodge and weave time. It is time to embrace change. Shift happens!
Credit:
The header image is available as wallpaper from wall.alphacoders.com
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