Session 4: The only constant is change

This week's lesson started off with a video entitled Who Moved My Cheese? I actually have the book sitting in my bookshelf at home and I've read it once, so the video was a good recap. The story basically talks about how two different groups of characters adapt to the changes around them. Really enriching and meaningful piece of short story, in my opinion. While watching the video/reading the book, it is very easy to write off the humans as stubborn and inflexible for not spontaneously acting on the change that has dawned upon them, like the mice have. But if we think about it, haven't we, in one way or another, resisted change ourselves? More often than not, we are reluctant to let go of what we are familiar with, so instead of changing ourselves to suit the situation, we are hoping that the situation will change for us. Unfortunately, we are almost always wrong. 


Just some personal experience about being adaptable to change:
As a synchronised swimmer, we deal with changes during almost every training session. The most common change we experience is change in choreography of our routines and it is really important that we, as swimmers, adapt quickly to the coach's instructions. While some may be resistant to the change proposed by the coach, it is evident that more progress is made when we adapt quickly to the change, instead of grumbling about how it disrupts our familiarity of the routine. More importantly, a change could even happen just before a competition. Say a swimmer gets injured and is unable to compete, the reserve has to come in and everyone has to adapt quickly to the new circumstance. Often, it is dependent on the adaptability of the team that determines its success.


Drivers Of World Change & Change Management and Change Leadership
The first part of the lesson was about all the different drivers that brought about world change.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one that is most adaptable to change."

- Charles Robert Darwin

We all know that the world is ever-changing, and nothing will ever stay the same. It is therefore very important that we are versatile enough to adapt to the many different types of changes that will be thrown at us. It will only increase our chances of survival, and keep us afloat with changing times. Prof Shahi talked about how the Russians and Americans were head to head at being the first to land a man on the moon and concluded that it is the competition between two ideologies that spurs the world to develop. I completely agree with this because I highly doubt humans would change something familiar in their lives unless there is a pressure to. A quote by George Bernard Shaw tells us that we have to dare to challenge the status quo. As cliche as it may sound, it is true that we all need to step out of our comfort zones. At this point, I would like to share the video that Prof showed us in class:

The man may seem stupid at first. But once everyone starts joining in, he doesn't look so stupid anymore. I really enjoyed this video because it is a real representation of what society is. A 'crazy' guy comes up with a crazy idea which everyone finds stupid and unnecessary, but once someone starts believing in the idea and everyone else starts following suit, it becomes a revolution. As can be seen from the video, the most important person in the whole process was not the lone nut dancing, but the first person that followed him. I'm sure it took that guy a whole lot of courage to step out of his comfort zone and look stupid together with the dancing man. As he stepped up, he wasn't sure what was coming up next. Two things could happen. One, no one will bother joining in and he will make a fool out of himself for following the dancing man and doing something stupid. Two, he would be the catalyst to gather more followers for the dancing man and it will eventually become a movement. Fortunately for him, the latter occurred. What I found commendable was how he dared to challenge the status quo and was willing to take the risk to wade into uncharted waters.

Similarly, it is these people in the world that makes the difference to an innovation. People can come up with brilliant innovations, but if no one believes in it and is unwilling to test it, even a breakthrough innovation could end up in a flop. 

Lesson Rating: 7/10