Keeping the change...

I don't think its any real secret that we live in a constant state of change, its become almost a way of life, yet I recently read a study suggesting that almost 2/3rds of major change efforts in organizations fail! When interviewed, many Fortune 500 executives said that resistance was the primary reason change efforts fail. Not lack of skill or ability or resources, but the human reaction of resistance.

Looking even deeper we may find that the root cause of an organizations resistance to change feeds more from policies in the break room then they do the board room. In fact I'm 95% confident that change has never been the problem, its trust. Everyone has already successfully handled a lifetime of change (or they wouldn’t be there complaining in the first place). Its dealing with the unknown that gets people complaining, scared, insecure and skeptical. If you have their trust in the far corner of the break room you have their willingness to change when tough decisions come from the board room.

Ruff year....

Calling on all leaders, high potential, undiscovered or miscast talent: the business world is ready, is calling and needs you now more than ever! We have all suffered through some very tough times in 2008 culminating with the very public and very tragic Bernard Madoff scandal. The 70-year-old former stock market chairman was arrested Dec. 11 after he "Madoff" with as much as $50 billion in a giant Ponzi scheme. While there no doubt are many lessons we take from this I believe none are more important than understanding the fundamental consequence of educating a man in mind before morals.



As we look to the new year executing the strategy of our existing businesses, ideas of new businesses or brainstorming on those yet to come, lets first look around and answer the most important question of "who?"...That is, who is involved, what do they bring and where do they best fit? As individuals lets ask, am I engaged and is my work aligned with my passions and talents? Use the chaos of today to make the changes necessary to prosper tomorrow!



The dog days of last year are now behind so lets do our part in moving on by ignoring the urge to pass blame, make excuses or complain about current situations. This new year will be no better unless we all commit to finding a creative and consistent approach to tackling 2009.


To your prosperous new year!