John Kenneth Galbraith, an eminent Canadian American economist, said, “Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof!”  Spot on Ken!  I’ve seen it time and time again.  People trying to justify why they don’t need to change rather than opening the mind and searching for innovative change.  It’s been recognized as the most dynamic and sometimes only way to make step improvements.  

Even going back in time Nehru said, “The wheel of change moves on and those who were down go up and those who were up go down”, and even Darwin said, “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” 

So, why is change something people feel so difficult to embrace?  Is it fear?  Is it arrogance?  Certainly one of the doctrines I preach to anyone coming in to my team is that being able to accept change is simply not enough.  They have to have an insatiable appetite for change.  Sometimes the response to the need to change is amazing.  Woodrow Wilson said, “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.”  Think about it, isn’t that the truest statement ITHOE! 

Not someone I agree with on a regular basis, but on this quote I make an exception, Barrack Obama said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.  We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.  We are the change that we seek.” 

Even Andy Warhol (not sure that he had much in common with the President?) said, “They say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”  Yes that means you, me and us!!  It’s time not to just read this philosophical stuff, it’s time to get up and act.  The problem usually lies with people who find it difficult to admit that they need to change.  Unless that admission is forthcoming, change will not take place and the future will stagnate. 

As Epictetus, the Greek philosopher said, “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows!”  Ohhhwaahh!!  Brutally honest again, huh?  Cuts to the quick doesn’t it?  But it’s oh so true.  We’ve all seen and heard this one over and over.  Felix Adler, who was a social reformer and lecturer in ethical culture made a very simple but very relevant statement to the construction materials industry.  “We cannot adopt a way of being that was satisfactory a hundred years ago.  The world in which we live has changed, and we must change with it.”  Very simple, you may say obvious, but needs to be said again and again because it is so often ignored. 

Some great people, past and present, have been quoting on the issue of change forever, pleading, ordering, persuading and advising.  So why is it that so many of us ignore the advice of people who we all recognize as great?  John F. Kennedy said, “Change is the law of life.  And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” 

Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote the best seller, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” said, “If you want things to be different, perhaps the answer is to become different yourself.” 

Pearl S. Buck, the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature said, which is just painfully true in most I come into contact with, “You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.” 

Finally a quote my sister-in-law Sue emailed me from across the pond, Sue you could have posted a comment on the blog instead of sending an email.  It was a quote by Mahatma Gandhi which, if anyone has read this far, is the quote that you should stick on your windshields, on your desk or wherever you will see it most, “YOU MUST BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD.”

 You’ve probably realized change is something I’m really passionate about and just like a daily safety inspection in a facility, a daily “change” hour is something I always try to do.  Because of the nature of the people and world around us, this can be a very frustrating pastime so the change quotation that I try to live by is this, “God grant me the strength to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Happy New Year to y’all!  It is a new year, it is 2010.  It is the time to make all those New Year resolutions.  Or is it?  Did you know that statistics show that only 3% of New Year resolutions are ever kept, seen through to fruition and sustained?  So why do you think that is?   Simple really, a New Year’s resolution means a commitment to change and that is the reason for a 97% failure rate.  We Americans are good at a lot of things, but let’s face it, change is not one of them.

So forget all about New Year resolutions and instead focus on something that will benefit us all, more, in the long term, and that is the whole concept of change.  2009 laid the foundations for 2010 to be a year of step change in the American way of life.  It will be a year like no other for the population to embrace changes in culture, the economy, unemployment, lifestyle and the environment.  That’s just the top five.  All of these issues have headed in the wrong direction, their bubbles finally burst and only in the last few months have individuals and businesses knuckled down to react and do something about it.  Businesses have finally begun to right-size by evaluating their markets and revenues and taking the appropriate action.  In previous years this would have been addressed by taking on more debt but, with a step change, that avenue has been closed.  Tough action and difficult decisions are necessary now to keep companies afloat.  That is what managing in a cyclical economy is all about.  There is not and should not be an easy way out.

This obviously is a cultural issue and historically, one of the most difficult things to change is culture.  Things have to get really bad before the momentum to change culture gathers speed.  Things are really bad and that is why I believe 2010 will be seen as a year of significant, widespread change.  The companies and the leadership that get through this year will be fitter, leaner and more environmentally conscious as well as better and quicker decision makers.  They won’t be the ones to gripe and moan about the economy, government, stimulus … they’ll manage their way through it and they’ll be the ones to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The population, individuals themselves, will not be untouched by the step change that is taking place.  Outside of unemployment, which obviously causes stress and hardship on individuals and families, there will be a cultural shift in spending and aspirations.  No longer will the great American people be able to live far beyond their disposable income.  The credit is just not there and when it is, interest rates are unacceptable to most.  This guys is a step change.  Back to the days of, “If you can’t afford it, you can’t have it!”  It is tough because we’ve all had it so good for so long but now is the time to embrace the change that is necessary to create a better long term future for us all.

I feel sure that 2010 will bring about these changes whether we like it or not.  We need to approach the New Year with our eyes wide open, backed with tenacious determination.  Don’t just accept the change, welcome it.  Grasp it.  Live it!  If we all do this we may even be able to make some New Year resolutions in 2011 and blow away that 3% success rate.