John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the US said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” The challenge is how many of us know that change is the law of life, respect, and abide to it and enjoy the future? On the contrary, rather, change is resisted and unwelcomed in many lives, homes, organizations, and communities.

Kevin Cashman, the author of ‘Leadership From the Inside Out’, argues that we fear change since it always involves both creation and destruction. But these two happenings are part of who we are. Ninety eight percent of our atoms are exchanged with new ones in the course of one year. Cashman put it in perspective: “Every moment our atoms are changing; our thoughts are changing; our emotions are changing; our relationships, our finances- change is endless and constant.”

While change is this much intimate with us, why a few people sense and master change more than many of us do? Why some leaders have more affinity with change and capitalize over its occurrence while others fight against it unsuccessfully? Futurist Alvin Toffler asked in his book ‘Future Shock’ a very interesting question, “Why do some men hunger, even rage for change, doing all in their power to create it, while others flee from it?” 

Think about why one person survives the pending danger and catastrophe while many remain victims? Why one company survives while others go bankrupt and extinct? Even in this global economic meltdown, while many companies are undergoing bankruptcy, why few companies are unaffected and even striving? Daft in his book ‘Organization Theory and Design’ warned, “Today, every company must change and innovate to survive”. But how many company leaders are pro-change and engage in continuous innovation?

While both Wal-Mart and K-Mart were on the same footing a couple of decades ago, why Wal-Mart outsmarted K-Mart in the retail business and became on top?  Why Jeff Bezos saw a striving online bookstore business and formed Amazon in 1994 while the traditional bookstores never imagined that such a business would finally challenge them? Xerox and Apple were developing personal computers in parallel but why the management of Xerox couldn’t sense the timing to market Alto, the first developed personal computer, while the co-founder of Apple Steve Jobs- who visited Xerox’s PARC Lab in 1979- got insightful technology breakthroughs and jump-started Macintosh and pioneered the personal computer revolution? The question could continue…

There could be many factors but there is no question about the ability of such leaders to sense a pending change ahead of the curve. Though I cannot be sure, right now, the very source of these leaders’ ability to discern change ahead while their counterparts are obsessed about the past and preoccupied with present happenings, I would agree with Toffler that such leaders have the ability to create a coherent image of the future more than their counterparts. I also agree with Cashman that such people are bold enough to break from old patterns and open up to change.

However, having this sense of discernment and breaking away from the status quo isn’t enough to orchestrate change and sustain it. It takes to adopt the three stages of change model of Lewin successfully. These are: unfreeze (making ready for change), implement change (transition), and refreeze. However, leaders should be aware the challenges of the middle stage of the change, the transition, and give it their prime attention. This stage is the toughest because people in this phase are convinced that the status quo is challenged but they aren’t certain about the future and are confused. Let’s take two examples from history and among the contemporary leaders.

Deschenes and Rogers, in their article ‘A systems view of Jesus as change agent’, named Jesus the most successful change agent in history. Jesus finished executing the three stages of socio-spiritual change. He commanded his followers to 'duplicate' the same change in the rest of the world, and left the scene (Mark 16:15). Among the three phases, one can easily appreciate the transition was tough for the people. He challenged the old ways and multitudes were touched by his preaching (Matthew 7:28). However, few believed in him while many of them confused and unable to make the transition.

Likewise, Barack Obama got more than 50 million votes and elected President under the banner of change. During the campaign, he could be able to challenge some of the old ways of doing things in Washington and promised change and many got inspired. However, he is confronted in the transition stage where many people are showing wariness and look confused and uncertain about the future.