The Inevitable Resistance to Change

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I just dropped off my 5 year old (almost 6) to Kindergarten. We’ve been having a few issues as she has had to adjust to an environment consisting almost entirely of learning, from a preschool where life was all play. Last week when I picked her up, she said it was “too long” and “borin” (yes, I left off the ‘g’ because that is exactly how she says it.) She has become somewhat impatient, easily irritated by her classmates, and hit a little girl the other day because of these things. (Lovely, I know.)

It made me think of the way we do life, and then it made me think of the way we do business. People are so programmed to do what they usually do. I mean, we are all somewhat resistant to change. Even people like me who kind of thrive on it, still have our times when it’s not so cool. I mean, I always button my shirt from the top down. I always put my right sock on before my left. I always put my mascara on my right eye first, even though my eyeliner is still wet because for some reason, I do the opposite with it. Just random, everyday things that we do without thinking.

Now, for business…I was really excited to have a meeting the other day with someone from a magazine which I won’t mention the name. The thing is, this is a guy whose background is radio, print, magazine, and advertising… all of which are hurting right now. This corporation has been doing things the same way year after year after year, and they are feeling the impact because of this. He gets that they need to move to an extended platform in regard to social media. He gets that the audience of the magazine needs to be broadened (at least for folks like me to be interested as a 30 something small business owner…and there are LOTS of us), and he also gets that they are dying as a magazine. Unless change happens and happens fast, that’s exactly what will happen. All I really heard in the meeting was resistance…because the publisher won’t do this, the editor won’t do that, we’ve always done things like this… (I could go on, but I’ll stop at these.)

In Seth Godin’s blog today, Competing with the singleminded, he nails it on the head when he says, “You want to do the new thing, but of course you must do it in a measured, rational way…Which is great, unless your competition doesn’t agree.”

Corporations know they need to move to a more engaging platform because, quite frankly, it’s in their face on a daily basis. But some are just too formed to one idea to consider something else. Business is changing every day. Just because it’s always worked for you in the past, doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you today. Just as my daughter must learn that preschool is now over, and I could probably change the way I do things to make my life smoother, corporations must change to a platform of REAL in order to survive. Communication is key. Don’t be afraid of change. Survival is about evolution.