CREATING YOUR OWN CHANGE
Change can be powerful and profitable. To keep your business profitable, you must change things occasionally. Ignoring the need for change is a big mistake. Just ask the Swiss watchmakers. They did not want to change, and digital technology made them obsolete.
One aspect of change that we often overlook, yet is fundamentally important, is the issue of control. Quite simply, some changes you can control and some changes you cannot control. Understanding this dynamic is vital to making the smartest business and personal decisions.
Too often, change itself overwhelms people and they miss that powerful insight. If you miss that insight, then you will approach all change the same way. That is a mistake. Although all change is approached in similar fashion, a change you can control is approached in some different ways than a change you cannot control.
Having control over the change puts you in the driver’s seat. You become the creator of that change. Although this engenders many advantages, the situation is more complicated than that. Certain key questions arise for which you enjoy the luxury—and endure the burden—of choosing the answers:
Should I Make This Change? Just because you retain the power to make the change does not automatically mean that you should make the change. Precisely because you control the change, it remains important that you realize that you will have to live with the consequences of the change, whether good, bad, or neutral.
Have I Considered All The Data? Sometimes we relish so much in our control over a change that we jump into the change prematurely. To prevent this from happening to you, discipline yourself to consider all the data. Decisions are like Pandora’s box. You can’t put them back into the box. If the change is intrinsically good, then the data will only further support the decision. If the change is intrinsically bad, then the data will save you the heartache of a poor decision.
How Does This Change Contribute To My Larger Strategy? Although the answers to the first two questions may convince you to make the change, the strategy issue is the real clincher. You should evaluate exactly how the proposed change will contribute to, or detract from, your larger strategy. If you have done your homework on the first two questions, then the answer to this third question should not be too difficult. Ideally, you will be able to see how the change affects the big picture.
Creating your own change is an exciting privilege. It means that you get to be in control. The outcome is even more positive when you invoke these three key questions.
