| Why Leaders Resist Change. |
|
 |
By Alan Parisse, MBA, CSP, CPAE
October, 2005
Think about this:
The smarter you are, the more successful you have been, the better educated you are, often, the more difficult it is for you to change.
Smart, successful, well-educated people were the best at the old way. They learned, looked and did it the best. While many leaders intellectually accept the need to change, it is a rare leader who lives up to Albert Schweitzer’s dictum. Dr. Schweitzer, the great humanitarian, physician and philosopher put it simply when he said, “Example is Leadership.”
Leaders must start by understanding that the relevant question is not “Did it work?”, “Has it worked?” or “Did it make us successful in the past?” The only relevant question is “What will work tomorrow?”
To be sure, many of the methods, attitudes and beliefs that made for success in the past will work in the future. In fact, some may be more important and could work better. Some will just not work as well. Yet, some will literally turn on you and work against you.
Examples abound:- Many of the attributes that make for success with one’s peers in high school can lead to problems and failure later in life.
- When opera singers attempt to sing popular music, it usually doesn’t sound quite right.
- Perhaps the best example is Michael Jordan’s admirable attempt to change course and become a baseball player. Probably the best basketball player ever, he struggled as a baseball player. He could not make the big leagues or even the top minor leagues. He just wasn’t that good. Why? There were several reasons, but one of them makes the point: his height worked against him. Height is an advantage on a basketball court, but in baseball it increases the strike zone and makes it easier for the pitcher to strike the batter out.
Leaders must understand that the very things that work in one environment can turn on individuals and companies when the environment changes. Obvious? Perhaps. Yet it is often hard for the successful to see it. That is one reason so many early innovators resist the next big change.
One cannot say with certainty who created American jazz, but Louis Armstrong would be a fair guess. Yet Armstrong, the innovator, was not pleased when Charlie Parker fashioned bee bop. Frank Sinatra shaped the image of the pop singer icon, but he was not thrilled when Elvis and the Beatles came along. Henry Ford transformed manufacturing but resisted similar advances in marketing and design. Similarly, the McDonald’s brothers created the fast food revolution and became multi-millionaires in the process. Yet they could not grasp the franchising opportunities that made Ray Kroc a billionaire. Microsoft popularized the personal computer but initially saw the Internet as a threat to their domination of the desktop. In science, many of the greats did their best work in their youth. That is true of Isaac Newton, Alexander Graham Bell and even Albert Einstein. In fact, the combination of tenure and age discrimination laws has created a situation on some campuses where scientists whose prime has long past are left in place to stifle the creativity of youthful innovators. The latter’s lament is summed up in the bitter comment that “science advances funeral by funeral.”
Leaders must question old ways. They must understand that many of our cherished old was of doing things that were not necessarily well thought out to begin with. Moreover, those that were well thought out may no longer be appropriate. So often the phrase, “the way we do things around here” is nothing more than a series of successful solutions to old problems. When the problems change, the need for fresh solutions become paramount.
In a rapidly changing world, leaders cannot allow themselves to stay in the comfort zones that great success creates. To break out, it is useful for leaders to consciously do something “against type.”
To lead by example and to break out of their comfort zone, they must do something completely different. When dramatic actors want to expand their skills, they stretch themselves by taking roles in comedies. The reverse is true for comedians. Smart leaders do the same.
© Copyright 2005. The Parisse Group, Inc.
 Back
to Featured Articles
Questions? Call - (303) 444-8080
or Contact
Us
|
