Comments on: Change – How We Resist It!

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:51:26 +0000

…or maybe an young old dog !

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:49:57 +0000

It seems to me there is some pattern here that indicates age is the factor and not mindset.
One of my first roles after uni was in Canberra -delivering training on a very new Legal Information system.
My observations were this….some of the older lawyers hated it and didn’t want to change, and some were keenly excited and loved it, learned and embraced it. Some of the new young lawyers( young bulls) hated it, knew it all, were rude and thought they knew it all, and this new innovation was confusing them -who had just learned their craft. Others, excitedly embraced the new technology as a process to give them advantage and speedy research.
So, there are young old bulls, and old young bulls ! I want to be a young old bull one day !

By: Father Robin

Father Robin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:07:16 +0000

John

Welcome to the Old Dogs.

By: John Grimes

John Grimes — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:57:43 +0000

Ted,

Whilst I’m in a challenging mood, I’d also argue with your statement that our brains seem ill equipped to handle change. Presuming you mean our minds and thinking processes, I disagree.
Take as an example the number of technological changes that we have had to master over the last 40 years or so. As I left school, the logarithm tables gave way to the slide rule and then a few years later an electronic calculator followed by computers which are now upgraded almost continuously. Mine’s not the greatest mind going around but with a bit of effort it seems to cope.
I’d also challenge the premise of your article that human beings resist change. And that is why I disagree with Greg’s statement. I think our current civilisation is too quick to discard the old in the headlong rush to embrace the new.
It was sobering for me a couple of years ago to travel to Italy and find that there are buildings in current use whose foundations were built by the Romans almost 2,000 years ago. If only all change could be so accommodating, to balance the past with the present to create a better future.
But enough from me it’s time to head back to the cave!

By: Father Robin

Father Robin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:39:11 +0000

For indeed our consciousness does not create itself – it wells up from unknown depths. In childhood it awakens gradually, and all through life it wakes each morning out of the depths of sleep from an unconscious condition. It is like a child that is born daily out of the primordial womb of the unconscious.
C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Glossary

By: Father Robin

Father Robin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:05:07 +0000

Incidentally, a decade is optimistic.

Try two millennia.

By: Father Robin

Father Robin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:07:55 +0000

Sounds like the parable of the Old Bull and the young bull.

By: John Grimes

John Grimes — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:25:12 +0000

Greg says “change for change sake is a good thing”. I put that one up there with “life wasn’t meant to be easy” or “read my lips, no new taxes”!
This old dog isn’t anti-change but I’m heartily sick of it being used as a tool for avoiding the consequences of the last change process.
Let’s have a decade where we bed some things down and see if they work before we race headlong onto the next new you beaut idea or gadget.

By: Father Robin

Father Robin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:16:18 +0000

Greg

When you become an Old Dog you realise there aren’t any ‘new tricks’

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:09:33 +0000

It seems that any significant new development in the world comes from small organisations run by young people. No one has explained to them yet that it can’t be done and they have nothing to lose so they just do it. I read some time back that Bill Gates made the statement that he was not afraid of Apple or Oracle, it was some kid in a garage with a completely new idea that was the biggest threat to his mega-corporation.

A challenge for established corporations is therefore how to create an environment that encourages people to challenge the status quo, be creative and deliver the killer products of the future. Most of our organisations seem to put vast amounts of energy into telling us what can’t be done. The legal, finance, procurement, health and safety and environment departments are the ring leaders of anti-change. Don’t get me wrong I am not against protecting our people or our environment but these departments should be assisting and encouraging organisations to do things right and not telling us it can’t be done which too often seems to be the case. Rules are made to be challenged and changed.