Change or (r)Evolution ?

Every day I hear people in organizations talk about Change. We have change managers, change agents, change programs, ... it seems like there is nothing else but change. And we all know, change is often associated with rather negative feelings, like shock, denial, frustration, depression, stress, anger, ... (check Kubler Ross curve to find more out about it). SInce organizations are always changing changing changing, employees always go through these emotions, which impacts their productivity.

Evolutions and Revolutions (the only difference between these two is that revolution are more enthousiast evolutions) are associated with emotions like hope. Hope for a new future, hope for a better life, hope for progress, ...

So next time you'd better start a revolution instead of yet another change program. Just be aware, revolutions require bigger commitment and engagement from everyone and that is why they last longer than any change program.

PS. Start by switching your jobtitle from Change Manager into Evolution Manager and behave upon it

Out most important skills for the future

Every year, around September, millions of children go back to school. They learn about math, how to read, history, geography, art, ... Luckily most children are eager to learn and absorbe what inspiring teachers tell them. But I believe this doesn't prepare them for the future. They need more.

Fact 1 : The amount of new technical information doubles every 2 year. This means for student starting a 4 year technical or college degree that half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study.

Fact 2 : Simon Sinek states that technology is great. We can find tons of information on the internet, but, ... we learn most when we meet people. The personal contact between 2 people creates more trust between those people and more easily open ups our mind to learn from each other. The best online communities of practice, meet regularly in person, because this improves the connectivity between the people in the community.

These 2 facts bring me to the most important skills we should help our kids to develop :

• How to keep up-dated and constantly learn
• Connect with others IN PERSON

But, hey wait a minute... should we learn our kids to develop these skills, or should we encourage them to maintain these abilities, because as a father, I see every day that children already have these abilities, but they loose it sometimes on their way to certified wisdom (= college degree). 

Isn't every kid curious to discover ? And isn't every kid able to make contact with another kid when they are on the same playground ? Yes they are. 

It is clear we'll have to keep learning all life long. So you'de better stay curious and eager to learn and get connected to interesting people you meet on your journey of life. This is to me the key to life of over growing wisdom.