Management books talk about the nature and speed of change as if it is some new concept, developed over the past 50 years. Academics and consultants develop models and approaches that seek to help business leaders overcome the difficulties of getting people to accept and respond to change.
Yet people cope with change all the time. Births, deaths, marriages, divorces, new jobs, lost jobs: most people seem to find ways to deal with these situations and still function effectively.
Far from being fearful of change, people, on the whole, are pretty good at it, and the history of mankind is, in many ways, a testament to our species’ ability to handle and adapt to change.
In fact, the term, “change is the only constant” is not from a recent management book, but was first coined by Heraclitus, 2,500 years ago.
Not much has changed since.