Why does change happen?

It was the essence of the lesson for the week. What is change driven by and how can it be managed? It is essentially a cycle. Change is envisioned by leaders, put into place by change managers, and after change occurs, change leaders are inevitable 'created' again. Thus, the relation of these two topics are very close. Globalization can be said to be the biggest driver of change today.

Everyone seems to agree that after the complete rise of China and India, the United States of America is going to lose a significant amount of influence in the world, both economically and socially. Power is going to shift from the west to the east. It is hard for anyone to refute that, but what is going to happen after America loses its grip on the world? There might be consequences that we cannot foresee, despite gaining some benefits as well. As the chinese saying goes: 一山不能藏二虎. Simply put - in one mountain, there can never exist 2 tigers. Could war be a result when China becomes as big as America? Could India and other world powers seek domination? Even if the war isn't a physical one, it would definitely create a mess at the end of the day.

Moving on to change innovation, there was a concept that caught my eye. While the leader is important, how important is the first follower? The first follower is actually the most important person of all, because he is actually a true leader, albeit one that is not often recognized for his or her efforts. It takes courage and vision for a leader to stand up, but the first person to follow must not only command a similar standard of qualities, he or she must also be persuasive and have the ability to set a trend. The first follower is the link between an idea and the mass application of it. Leaders of such nature are often under-appreciated, and few people would want to take up such a role. However, without them, where would our leaders stand?

It is also key to note that the idea of a follower is not to COPY. One of the readings actually mentioned this: By the time you get to copy an idea, you would probably be copying the route to its demise rather than its success. It would seem contrary to the idea I proposed in my previous blog entry, whereby we can copy and still attain great success. Yet, it is not so simple. We CAN copy and still be successful, but we need to copy smartly. We would have to alter the tiniest details to suit the material to our situation and ensure that we adjust according to change. Yes, copying blindly would get us nowhere. Copying in an intelligent manner is the key.

Change management is an intriguing concept that is similar to, yet vastly different from innovation management. In both forms of management, it is hard to have an outline to follow or a direct route to a certain management outcome. They are very ambiguous, and requires a lot of intelligence and wise decisions to be made at the right timing. I felt that it would have been great if we had put both side by side and did an analysis on them.

It is good that we are made aware of the drivers of change and how it can affect us 20 years down the road. It allows us to be prepared and ready when the change finally arrives. Getting a deeper understanding of change management also allows us to be effective managers in tomorrow's world.

9/10