“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.”

Boy is that true! Bet you’ve run into that problem more than once in your career; not to mention all the books, articles, etc. that you’ve read about how to fix the problem. However, it’s not going to get fixed any time soon. How do I know? Because the above quote was written by John Locke in 1690!

Preserving the status quo; because we’ve always done it that way; Change!? No way!; not-invented-here syndrome; buy IBM; better to be safe than sorry—what Locke said wasn’t original in 1690 and it’s been said millions of times in thousands of different ways since, hence my belief that it won’t change any time soon.

Further, in spite of the thousands of blogs (my own included) and articles on how to create cultural change in a company, and what happens when it really does change, too many CEOs still don’t get it.

They want a silver bullet to bring forth the innovative, productive culture to which talent flocks. They believe, or want to believe, that if all the right words are said it will happen.

But the only bullet around is the one they need to bite, the one that says that

• Change must start with themselves and that it starts with how they think.

• No person will act differently without thinking differently.

• Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words, and the actions must be sustainable.

Being culturally correct has less lasting worth and chance of success than being politically correct. What’s really in your mind will eventually come out, either in word or action, and people will notice and they won’t forget—ask Mel Gibson.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Business info, Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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