Business talks a lot about change, and they generally delineate it into two kinds of change: incremental and transformational. They're both exactly what they sound like, incremental change adjusts a process some, and transformational change adjusts things essentially entirely. Transformational change is the "let's throw out absolutely everything and start fresh" approach, and it's incredibly rare to see in any large-scale way, because it's both very scary and very difficult. General Motors cutting out the Saturn line of vehicles is incremental change. General Motors converting their entire production lines to mopeds would be transformational change.
Why do I bring this up? Because I truly believe that the United States has one of those opportunity-of-the-century moments here. From here on out, I'm talking about a zeitgeist moment that transcends business, industry, social structures and strictures, etc. There are any number of things that this could apply to, so I want to talk about all of them as a group.
One of the tricks with true transformational change is timing. It's hard to pick exactly the right moment to throw away and rebuild. You can't do it while you're successful, because there's no incentive to tinker with a system that's working. When you're UNsuccessful, most of the time, by the time you realize that you need to do it, and have figured out your plan, you're already down the rabbit hole, and don't have the resources to effect transformational change. All change has a cost to it, and transformational change is usually very expensive.
So here's the United States right now, in the situation we're in, and I don't really know if we recognize the opportunity in front of us. There's a possibility that for the next ...four months, maybe, we have the need for a transformative shift in many of our industries, or our programs, or ourselves, and we have the resources to get it started. Once we make the push, even if it takes out beyond that moment of opportunity, the ball will be in motion, and we'll HAVE to let it play out, but by the end of summer, we'll have missed our chance. We have the NEED, we can put together the RESOURCES, and what remains is the WILL for this kind of change, which will probably have to come mostly from the middle class, and the VISION, which will come from where it comes from.
Yes, there are setbacks and hardships to this kind of thinking. I like to use the General Motors example, because it's clearest to me. Regardless of what's come before (legacy and sunk costs are another mental obstacle to transformative change,) General Motors identified the NEED for the change, and to an extent, they've been handed the RESOURCES, but I honestly don't see the WILL or the VISION. I look at what I've seen of their restructuring plan, and it's unfortunately very clear to me that they don't have the leadership necessary to really look at a bold new imagining of the American automobile.
And that's the opportunity America has, right this second. We have it within ourselves for a bold new imagining. Now is the time for a Great Work, a piece of social re-engineering that dumps us on our collective heads and leaves us potentially leaner, faster, more competitive, and more satisfied.
[this is good]
Posted by: Christina <3 | February 25, 2009 at 08:15 PM