“Get busy living or get busy dying” – Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) Shawshank Redemption (1994).
One of the best quotes from one of my all time favorite movies. It is a great personal reflection but also a message that you can use to describe most organizations. How many companies are out there dying right now and do not even know it? Companies that have held on to past success, old ways of working, and stifled innovation. They may be profitable today, but are they going to be able to meet the rapidly changing demands of customers and market conditions? Are they ready to change?
From my experience, the answer to the above questions would be maybe. I have been involved in change as a change leader and as a front line associate. I have seen initiatives that worked well, and others that never realized their potential. Successful changes were driven by leaders that embraced the change and were able to get others to buy into their vision or strategy. The ones that failed lacked support from the leaders or managers did not know how to move associates through the steps necessary to make the change stick.
I believe that change and innovation have a symbiotic relationship. For organizations to remain great they need leaders that embrace and understand both.
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