Changing with Adversity

The country, relieved from the slogan of change after the Presidential elections, the words have not been as visible as they were couple of months before. We were promised the prospect of change which is still dwindling amongst the economic bailout of financial infrastructure of the country. If the President defines change as reverting back to stability, than it’s not a change. What is going on today is an initiative to hold the system intact and prevent further permeation of bad loans, unemployment, declining education, broken borders and a healthcare system in dire attention.

While standing next to a vending machine, we have an aversion towards people asking for change. This one is different than the one President is offering. People ask for change mostly to break a bigger bill into smaller ones to meet certain criteria of some stores. Referring this simple methodology to business perspective, businesses don’t ask other businesses for change. They ideally transform and improve operations through their own initiatives. They develop strategies focusing long-term and short-term plans like radical, progressive, intermediating and creative changes (McGahan, HBR October 2004). A business that reaches a point where all it has it bigger bills, the business it stands next to already has diversified bills will probably be at a prime advantage. This company is catering to the requirements of the environment.

With a sense of simplicity in our thinking, we can convert complex analogies of change into methodologies from observation within our environment. So this is the advice I would like to offer to the President and to businesses. We are tunneling through our way in a blackout that may not show signs of light at all. Seeing the end of the recession may be the ultimate goal, we need to adjust our eyes against the darkness as to see clearly where we are going. We may approach a division and get axed in the middle or we may also reach a point where we need to climb instead of relying on gravitational forces. What’s important here is to know the sudden shifts in our journey and for one second stop thinking about prosperity. We need to take each step one by one adjusting to each environment. Some steps may require just patience, while other settings will want a more aggressive approach. Adversity here can become the greatest tool. We should learn from each step and move on to the next instead of hoping on to the conclusion with exhibiting change within ourselves.