The only thing definite is Change!
By Tommy JonesIt was August of 1992 when I went through one of my many major changes in life. After nearly twenty years in sales and marketing with a large company, I was, what they called at the time, downsized. Whatever you call it; downsized, right sized, homogenized or other-wised, it was a shock.
A co-worker suggested I read a best selling book at the time called the Popcorn Report, authored by futurist Faith Popcorn. In the book she describes hundreds of ideas for new products to create, new businesses to start and new markets to capture.
One statement in the book has stuck with me over the years. "From the year 1945 to the year 1995 we will go through fifty years of change." Well, duhhh! I can do the math. But, then it went on, ". from the year 1995 to 2005, we will go through what will appear to be another fifty years of change." This caught my attention. Then she went on to predict, ". and from the years 2005 to 2010 we will go through another fifty years of change."
So in a matter of fifteen years we will go through what will appear to be a century of change. How has it seemed to you? Was she right? We have to come to the conclusion that the only thing definite is change, and things are going to change faster and faster. The sooner we accept this fact, the sooner we all come to terms with this the sooner we will reduce the stress in our lives.
Most of the changes in our lives today have to do with the rapid advancement of the technology we work with on a daily basis. Who's to blame? I point the finger at one man, Jack Kilby. Kilby worked for Texas Instruments and in 1958 came up with the idea of the integrated circuit or the microchip. Yes, that little invention that leads to pocket calculators, quartz watches, our beloved BlackBerryT, cell phones, computers and emails and the list goes on.
Way back in the latter part of the last millennium, I had the privilege to speak at a conference for Texas Instruments where Kilby was honored. It was a huge affair and they even had the original integrated circuit, only 7/16 by 1/16 inches, displayed under glass with armed guards around it that was on loan from the Smithsonian Institute.
There was a story that was told at the conference about Kilby, a gentle giant of a man, who offered a piece of great advice to a mother who once asked him, how could she teach here child to be a great inventor? In his plainspoken Kansas voice, he simply said, "Read them fairy tales." He knew that it's okay to dream. In fact, he knew that it is essential to dream, because without dreams, nothing will change. We all have to dream. We all have to change things for the better.
Here's a quote from a popular fairy tail: "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" said the Queen. It's from Alice In Wonderland, first published nearly 150 years ago when life was much slower, but still holds so much truth to today's world of change.
So how do we handle the stress of all this change? First of all we accept the fact that change is definite and we have to communicate it to our associates. A familiar saying around the water coolers in offices across this country in the past has been, "Yah . but that's the way we've always done it!" If you don't accept change then you're going to add more stress to your life. Management has to communicate the fact of change to their associates. The best office decoration I saw was in a vice-president's office of a Fortune 500 company, hanging directly behind his desk, was a nicely framed picture of the above quoted comment. But, there was one thing added, a red circle and a slash going through it. The international sign for NO! He was communicating to his people that NO! That's not the way we're always going to do it! We're going to change to make ourselves better.
We have to read fairy tales, have dreams and create the magic. I tell people I'm a magician, but I don't believe in magic. I believe in the magic of believing. If we believe in ourselves, our family, our associates at work, then we can create the magic to make the dreams and goals we have come true.
Tommy Jones is a motivational speaker, lecturer and magician. He uses the art of magic to visually deliver his message on "The Magic of Managing Change" to companies and organizations throughout the United States.
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