Resilience...

...not resistance, is the right (and best) response to change.

I'm sure we've all heard the unchanged adage that

"Change is the only constant thing in life."

Now, whether or not you agree with it doesn’t change the nature of Change...

It remains the same - i.e. "Change."

An equally important thing to know about Change is that:

"Whether or not you resist change, change will still occur."

Change doesn't take any human being's permission in order to occur. For instance, every time you blink, or don't, change has occurred - at least the time has changed from a minute or even second ago.

With that as our backdrop,  we know it's human to (try to) resist change. This fact became even more evident when I had to manage and lead others through a significant Change Journey. As the changes unfolded and the related challenges surfaced, I kept telling myself and others that we needed to be resilient, not resistant to it. It wasn't the easiest thing to do but I know it was the best thing to do.

Being resilient energizes you from within and you show up better and more effective as a leader and even as an Individual Contributor. Being resistant to change drains one's energy and erodes the value one could have added to the future - your future.

A lot has been said by many people about Change and Resilience...but I like this one by  Jamais Cascio:

Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive.

As I wrote this piece up, it occurred to me is that a seed will never "grow" up to a plant if it resists the changes that occur to, in and/or around it. The Palm tree doesn't resist the wind, nor does it let the wind uproot it - it just stays rooted and resilient. Likewise, if you want to thrive not just survive, be (rooted in God) and resilient in times of change.