Seth Barnes Jun 2, 2011 8:00 PM

Necessary change vs. the march of folly

Newsflash: We're moving Talia and Joe's wedding start time from 4 pm to 6 pm. We're experiencing record heat here in Georgia and rather than baking ou...

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Newsflash: We're moving Talia and Joe's wedding start time from 4 pm to 6 pm. We're experiencing record heat here in Georgia and rather than baking our guests in the 100 degree sun, we're making the change. My sense is, if we don't make it, most people will be focusing on the heat rather than the wedding.

Of course such a move, two days out, creates havoc. Everyone involved in the ceremony has an opinion and some felt it was too late to make the call. We have to contact all the vendors and the 250 guests, and yeah, we don't have phone numbers for many. It's going to be fun.

But it's the right call and someone had to make it. It's the sort of decision I've had to make often over the last two years at AIM as many ministries like ours have struggled to survive. While they were tough decisions, they positioned us to continue growing. With the world changing all around you, you either adapt or die.

The problem is that most folks temperamentally hate change (especially the 40% of the population that are SJ's - the guardian temperament [and in deference to Joy's comment below, I say that with great appreciation for them]). And around the world, whole cultures are set up to venerate the status quo. We're creatures out of the book Who Moved My Cheese, the classic fable about change.

My dad is reading a book called The March of Folly. It's about this dynamic of seeing the need for change, but continuing in a straight line like lemmings over the cliff anyway. It's especially true for governments and bureaucracies. The author makes the point that "when incapacity is joined by complacency, the result is the worst possible combination."

On a personal level, the key, I think, is to know how you respond to change and to manage yourself. Let others help you with it.

I don't have the time to puzzle out why we resist change so - maybe you can help me with your own thoughts. I have to get busy calling the guests.

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