The Courage to Change Ourselves
What if the greatest challenge of adapting to change isn’t changing what’s around us—but being willing to change ourselves?
Throughout this week, we’ve looked at adaptability from a number of different perspectives.
We’ve considered what happens when an approach that once worked no longer does.
We’ve challenged ourselves to allow new information and experience to change our thinking.
We’ve questioned traditions and processes that may have outlived the problems they were created to solve.
We’ve explored the importance of holding tightly to the mission while remaining flexible about the methods we use to accomplish it.
We’ve recognized that different people require different approaches from their leaders.
And we’ve reminded ourselves that no matter how much experience we accumulate, we must never stop being learners.
All of those ideas ultimately lead us back to one place.
Ourselves.
We develop strategies.
We build processes.
We establish expectations.
We coach people.
We solve problems.
We make decisions.
We try to create environments in which our organizations and our people can succeed.
But we don’t control everything.
Markets change.
Technology changes.
People change.
Circumstances change.
Sometimes change happens gradually enough that we can see it coming.
Sometimes it arrives before we’re ready.
And sometimes, despite our best efforts, we simply cannot change the situation confronting us.
That’s when adaptability becomes personal.
We can complain that things aren’t the way they used to be.
We can continue applying yesterday’s solutions and hope the world eventually comes back around to our way of thinking.
We can blame circumstances, other people, technology, competition, or the environment.
Or we can ask a much more productive question:
What does this situation require from me now?
Maybe we need to change our approach.
Maybe we need to reconsider an assumption.
Maybe we need to learn something new.
Maybe we need to let go of a process that once served us well.
Maybe we need to communicate differently with someone who doesn’t think the way we do.
And sometimes we simply need the humility to admit:
I need to change.
That doesn’t mean abandoning who we are.
Adaptability isn’t about changing our values every time the wind blows in a different direction.
It isn’t about chasing every trend or compromising our principles simply because doing so would be easier.
In fact, this week we’ve learned almost the opposite.
Know what must remain constant.
Your values.
Your integrity.
Your purpose.
Your mission.
Then have the courage and humility to change the things that don’t need to remain constant.
Your methods.
Your assumptions.
Your processes.
Your behaviors.
Sometimes even your own thinking.
That’s adaptable leadership.
Strong enough to hold onto your values.
Flexible enough to change your approach.
Humble enough to keep learning.
Aware enough to adapt to the people around you.
Resilient enough to bend without breaking.
The world isn’t going to stop changing so that any of us can catch up.
And perhaps that’s the final lesson of Adaptability Week.
We don’t get to choose whether change is coming.
We do get to choose whether we’re willing to change with it.
What have I learned this week about my own willingness to adapt?
What am I holding onto that may no longer serve me or the people I lead?
What must remain constant in my leadership—and what am I willing to change?
CHALLENGE
Think back across this week and identify one thing you know you need to approach differently.
Not five things.
Not a complete reinvention.
One.
Then do something about it.
Because adaptability isn’t demonstrated by recognizing that change is necessary.
It’s demonstrated by having the courage to change.
