The major challenge confronting employees, executives and managers in the foreseeable future is the rapid accelerating pace of change and the uncertainties around the next bend in the road.
Whether your world is the multi national corporate corporation or the family unit change will touch every aspect of your life in dramatic ways for the next several years and beyond, if current trends in technology continue.
Change will be either your benefactor or your downfall.
It has been projected by a number of credible sources that by the year 2010 we will be doubling man's accumulated knowledge base every thirty-five days.
That fact alone conjures up staggering consequences for every man, woman and child on planet earth.
Just try to imagine what your career or profession will be like in just a few short years.
Doubling the amount of information that is available to you is bound to have a profound impact on the way you work, live and play.
Although the available body of information will continue to expand, the amount of time to review, digest, evaluate and utilize this information will not.
It will be impossible to keep current with any degree of competence.
We can only assume that this continued information and technology explosion will create more stress, anxiety and frustration in a great number of people.
We can also assume that given the present rate of technological development that the next generations of computers will manipulate, store and spew out data in mind boggling proportions.
We are witnessing the birth of a new age, an age that will have a great many casualties and few survivors.
Take the present job/employment situation in the United States alone.
Minorities currently fill greater and greater percentages of entry level positions.
Will technology leave this mass of people behind?How will entry level positions be modified in the next several years.
How about the sales profession.
Will technology render a large majority of salespeople obsolete?How about middle management?For the past several years, mid level management positions have been decreasing steadily.
Will this trend continue and if it does, where will it stop?With increasing numbers of employees working at home will the large corporate structures one day all be vacant with broken windows and weed filled parking lots?How will this impact the construction, real estate and any number of businesses? These are just a few considerations I offer for your evaluation.
The survivors will all have one thing in common.
They will see all of this change as an ally and will manage it with increasing effectiveness.
Most people don't like change.
The majority of people resist change.
A great number of people fear change.
These people prefer the norm, familiar, routine and comfortable.
Anything that forces us to adapt or modify is challenged.
So what can we do to limit our stress, failure, conflict and frustration in an ever changing world? Let's first look at what will not change.
First: People will always have control over their attitudes, reactions and thoughts.
They will always have the power of choice.
They can choose to see limited choices, or they can choose to have an expanded view of their life and its future.
Second: Change will leave no corner of the world untouched by its relentless drive for growth, progress and a better life for all of the inhabitants of Earth.
Third: The consequences of all change is either positive or negative.
Change is neutral.
What makes it either positive or negative is the persons reaction or outlook toward the change itself.
Fourth: People will always resist change.
So what would be an effective strategy for the next ten-twenty years in your life, career or business? Step one: Challenge your historical perceptions, paradigms, values, beliefs, opinions, philosophies, approaches and prejudices.
Look for errors of judgment based of clouded perceptions.
What was true yesterday will most likely not be true tomorrow.
Step two: Accept the reality that whether you like it or not, the world is changing and will never be the same.
You can choose to use the change for your own good or be left behind.
Step three: Anticipate, study and evaluate trends in your industry and in general.
Industries change at different speeds.
Watching another can give you accurate insight into what another might do.
Step four: Keep your perspective.
Use your experience as a teacher and a guide into the future, but don't hold on too tightly to the baggage of the past.
The rules are changing.
Don't measure the future by the standards or benchmarks of the past.
Step five: Plan alternative strategies.
Don't get locked into predisposed patterns that could lead to oblivion.
Step six: Travel light.
You will need a quick reaction time and a clear vision towards the future.
Live in the present.
Don't be lulled into the future ignoring the only life you have, now.
Step seven: Remain flexible.
Keep your ego out of decisions, actions and perceptions.
Step eight: Stay calm.
Getting all stressed out and uptight about that which you can not control or prevent will only limit your creativity, imagination and judgment.
Step nine: Welcome change as a friend that will challenge the past and help you become better than you would had you maintained the status quo of the past.
Step ten: Stay in control.
Relax and enjoy the ride.
The next twenty years of your life could be the most exciting, profitable, fun and rewarding of your entire life.
Learn to release the expectedand embrace the unexpected.
I will leave you with a choice and a challenge.
The choice to make change an ally rather than your enemy, and the challenge to use the forces of change to stretch and grow your career, business and life to unprecedented heights.