Monday, September 5, 2016

#Change=Permanent


“Change the Way You Look at Things and things would change!” - Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

The word ‘change’ evokes two primary reactions - excitement and fear – and depending on one’s state of mind and level of intensity, it may feel as though these emotions hit simultaneously.

It becomes extremely difficult to manage change when it comes with little to no warning, one has no control over it, and it significantly impacts ones professional and/or personal life.  In other words, you are caught in an instant state of flux that takes a significant amount of energy, focus, and confidence to manage.

In a world of Disruptive Innovation, each one of us has multi-dimensional roles to play. There are list of goals, and stretch goals. We do our best to balance Guest Delight and Personal delight. At the end of the day, we do the best within our power, take one day at a time, and once in a while – we take a deep breath to appreciate everything around us.

As the 'Ease of doing business' improves across the world 'the art of doing business' is becoming challenging day by day. It's not only about what the guest needs, it is also about when, where and why he needs. Businesses strive hard to predict what the guest needs. They also bet heavy on defining what the guest thinks he needs. So its Adapting to change versus Leading change and sustaining through it.

Be it any business, any industry the choice is either you bring change, or you change for ever(even wiped out). Blackberry, Nokia, Sony weren’t small companies. They ruled markets for decades, yet they couldn’t really sustain competition when it came to innovation, when it came to adapting to change. They could have responded, but it was too late.

Our personal lives are no different when it comes to Change. As we continue to grow and flourish in our careers, our careers have changed over decades. The new generation talent is better equipped, skilled than the millennials. World across Talent Strategies are being designed towards ‘Juniorization’ of roles. Which means when a senior level professional leaves, back-fill the position with a junior level candidate and promote someone internally.

So does it mean that there no value for experience, depth. Of course there is, but to succeed and sustain in a role one also needs to have diversity & flexibility. There should be willingness to keep himself/herself updated & relevant.

Sam Levenson says, ‘you must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself’.

I was lucky to be part of a conference where one of the leaders not only shared her personal story of dealing with change, but also shared how she found ways to drive it, control it, So, if you are in a state of flux, battling through change, below thoughts (my rough notes of her inspirational talk) could be of some help.

  • Easy! Take a Deep Breath. Start by putting the change into perspective - break it down into small pieces and address one thing at a time.
  • The BIG Picture.  Determine the overall impact to your life and which parts of the change process you CAN control.  Get involved and drive it forward.  
  • Move ‘the Fear to the side’.  Focus on the potential of making the most of the impending change.  Apply any sense of ambiguity to motivate you with positive energy that will increase your recovery time.
  • Seeking Help is Okay! In our work and in our lives we all need emotional and professional help to achieve our goals during times of change.
  • Be the Driver of Change.  Anticipate it, look for signs, and when you realize you may have not confronted the obvious, remember that change will take its’ course, with or without you. If possible, be a role model for being open to change and responding to it with poise.
  • The Resilience Test:  Change helps you shape your patience, flexibility, adaptability, and can be used to improve your persistence in other aspects of your life.  
  • Remember, you either win or learn.  Change presents a great opportunity to learn - how to do something new, how to work better as a team, how to grow as a person.  Sometimes it does all of the above.


Resisting Change may be an old school of thought. One should rather be fearful of not experiencing the exhilaration and excitement of what change brings to our lives. So, why don’t you Change the way you look at things, Things would change!

12 comments:

  1. wow bro.. really an amazing writeup with deep meanings of life.. wish u all the best..

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  2. Goodone Gopal. Really liked the step by step process which you laid out to identify n resolve the issues to move further up in life. Keep churning more such tngs. Goodluck

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  3. Goodone Gopal. Really liked the step by step process which you laid out to identify n resolve the issues to move further up in life. Keep churning more such tngs. Goodluck

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  4. This is the most inspiring and challenging topic of today's everyday evolving professional world. You have done a justice to it to set the tone , spot on !!

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  5. This is amazing as always u r great at all this.

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  6. Wow! This is one of my interesting topic and you have penned it well. Love the reference to the term "Juniorization" and see many large Indian IT companies adopting to this in large scale. Finally you have summed it up pretty well. Adopting to a change and evolving as the time passes is crucial for one's survival.

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  7. Fantastic article; you said a great thing in a very simplified and action oriented way. Very inspirational and exciting. Keep up this good work!!!

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  8. Good and a very inspiring write up.

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  9. Nicely written, Gopal. It's so important to see the positive side of change and enjoy the change process. Like you have said, you win or learn!

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  10. Very nicely summarized Gopal. Great write-up..!

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  11. Well written. Cud relate to most of the points. Positivity- tats what we all need to change our world rite now.

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