Change is a threat when done to me, but an opportunity when done by me.
Interpretation
Change can be seen as either a daunting threat or a valuable opportunity, depending on whether it is imposed on us or initiated by us.
In this quote, Rosabeth Moss Kanter highlights the dual nature of change, emphasizing that it is perceived negatively when it is external and uncontrollable, but positively when we take charge of it ourselves. This perspective encourages individuals to embrace change as a proactive force in their lives, suggesting that taking ownership of change allows for growth and new possibilities.
In practice
During a team meeting about project shifts, one could remind members that 'change is a threat when done to me, but an opportunity when done by me' to foster a more positive attitude.
Tribalism reflects strong ethnic or cultural identities that separate members of one group from another, making them loyal to people like them and suspicious of outsiders, which undermines efforts to forge common cause across groups.
Organizational structures that allow divisions and departments to own their turf and people with long tenure to take root creates the same hardened group distinctions as Congressional redistricting to produce homogeneous voting blocs - all of which makes it easier to resist compromise, let alone collaboration.
The way innovating companies are designed leaves ambiguities, overlaps, decision conflicts or decision vacuums in some parts of the organisation. People rail at this, curse it-and invent innovative ways to overcome it.
The boomers' biggest impact will be on eliminating the term 'retirement' and inventing a new stage of life... the new career arc.
The middle of every successful project looks like a disaster.
I've found that small wins, small projects, small differences often make huge differences.
Heaven and Earth are meeting in a storm that, when it's over, will leave the air purer and the leaves fertile, but before that happens, houses will be destroyed, centuries- old trees will topple, paradises will be flooded.
The very notion that millions of workers displaced by the re-engineering and automation of the agricultural, manufacturing, and service sectors can be retrained to be scientists, engineers, technicians, executives, consultants, teachers, lawyers and the like, and then somehow find the appropriate number of job openings in the very narrow high-tech sector, seems at best a pipe dream, and at worst a delusion.
While law-abiding Muslims are forced to hide in their homes, and animal-rights activists are labeled as terrorists for undercover filming of abusive treatment at factory farms, right-wing hate groups are free to organize, parade, arm themselves to the hilt and murder with chilling regularity. Itβs time for our society to confront this very real threat.
Terrorism needs to be de-legitimized in the way that slavery has been. Doing so will make governments and individuals think twice before becoming a party to terrorism; it should also make it less difficult to garner support for international action against those who nevertheless carry it out.
The more time you spend in your discomfort zone, the more your comfort zone will expand.
Most kids just follow the cycle. My grandfather didn't finish high school. My father didn't, and I didn't. But you can break the cycle. You can have a successful marriage and be a good father.
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