Everyone wants change, as long as does not change them
Everyone talks about change, being out of the comfort zone, yet most seek places, careers or lifestyles that help them feeling safe. Yesterday I attended a networking event, where one of the most discussed topics was the need for Europe to change. Change its culture, its economic processes, its support to NGOs and startups, and many other things.
The speakers were from large multinationals, successful implemented startups, and consultancies. Each one of the speakers and guests acknowledge the need for change. They wanted to embrace change.
The funny part came during the latest part of the event, where we had dinner while rotating tables and talking with different people and experts. It was astonishing for me to see that the previous part of the event was forgotten! Everyone talked about change and accepts that we need to change, as long as it is not about their career, business or perspective.
A quick example [note: for the purpose of being respectful I will use a fake identity] – James has been trying to grow his startup for the past 3 years. It’s an online application that can be used by anyone in the world to facilitate entry tickets for events (similar to Eventbrite). For the simple comparison Eventbrite sold 70 million tickets in 6 years while James’ startup sold 10,000 tickets in 3 years.
We talked for about 30 minutes on the challenges of the events management industry, the different between his startup and Eventbrite. I must have challenged and given about 10 different ideas or perspectives on how we could change his business model, reduce costs, re-design the objective of the company, or even drop it and start again. Not a single idea was close to be accepted.
I thought it was just me, but then another participant [let's assume the person's name is Penelope] joined our conversation for about 15 more minutes and also suggested different approaches to James, with no effect whatsoever.
I gave up. Left the conversation as Penelope did. I engaged into a conversation with Penelope about the need for change and we ended up talking about our startup experience. I was talking about the fun paradox of having a very high visitor to lead ratio and a low lead to customer ration and was not understanding why. She gave me very interesting suggestions and today already researching on them.
As normally I also asked her about her startup experience, where she was facing some serious problems with the performance of her team. Luckily, I thought, one of my expertise areas is team performance. When I thought it would be easy to challenge her, the same reaction as the Jimmy. All the ideas I was giving were like bullets to her. She became upset with the fact that she didn’t think of doing simple things such as team building, connecting the team to the higher purpose of the startup, having weekly evaluations (how hard can that be?) and other small tips.
Decided to end the conversation in the best and nicest way. Left home and honestly the question in my mind was: Is it possible that everyone wants change, but nobody is willing to accept it if it directly affects them?
My take on this? If someone is not willing to be challenged, even if just to consider the different perspective, then they should not have the authority to share their own perspectives and challenge someone else.
Hi Kristina this Julia after reading your post on the change of european attitude and so many things, you changed the way of thinking for me also as how can I change some little things in to the better opportunity.
I am happy to be helpful Julia)
Hey thank you Kristanaljfom I am so much thankful for your lovely gift and wishes.
Good job. To get maximum benefit from Steem Follower do not forget to do manual curation through the platform daily (minimum of 5 votes). This will earn you points which advertise your posts on the platform for other manual curators.
Thank you so much @dana-edwards for your support and advice, I wish you a great day.
I can understand that some people do not want change because it is much work, they need to change the way of their routine, as you may be know people do not like changes much, pardon, the majority. If it works for them. But also they would like to present themselves as open-minded therefore, they listen to other people but do the way how they did
Yes, you are totally right, it is sad we forget that real change must come from within ourselves.
Actually, They don't want change, they want to succeed. It is difficult for many individuals to take responsibility for their failure, so they blame the system and ask for change. the change they seek isn't the same change you ask for, rather it is limited to some obstacles(as they believe) in their way.
If they were asked about the type, extent and stages of the change they seek, they wouldn't have answered.
You are right, it is always easier to blame somebody or something than yourself.
Жизнь это общения. Вот почему перспективы steem - огромные. Но, реальное живое общение намного ценнее.
Да, это даже сравнивать нельзя, спасибо за внимание к моему посту)
It is in human nature to not accept own errors/faults
Exellent post, have a nice and successful day
Thank you Goran, I wish you a successful day too.
Mantap ..nice kakak
Enjoyed your post. The psychology of entrepreneurs and well people generally is always fascinating. I guess that’s why only a percentage of people who make real changes...
Having worked for a governmental entity here in the USA for many years, during which I was involved in a number of teams focused on organizational changes, I can fully appreciate the 'change resistance' that you have described. Given many years of reflection on those experiences, I have begun to wonder if it is more a problem of 'maintaining consistency' rather than only, or simply, resistence to change. I liken it to our conscious self, where we naturally attempt to maintain a consistent story about who we are to the external world. If that is true, if we are using the same or a similar process to manage a business, then it can be described as a form of cognitive dissonance. Just my thoughts. Enjoyed your article.