38 Awesome Quotes on Change
1. "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." - Charles Darwin
2. "Change before you have to." - Jack Welch
3. "People don't resist change. They resist being changed!" -- Peter Senge
4. "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." - Leo Tolstoy
5. "The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking." - Albert Einstein
6. "Nothing endures but change." - Heraclitus
7. "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." - Buckminster Fuller
8. "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have." - Margaret Mead
9. "I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed."- George Carlin
10. "The key to change... is to let go of fear." - Rosanne Cash
11. "When people are ready to, they change. They never do it before then, and sometimes they die before they get around to it. You can't make them change if they don't want to, just like when they do want to, you can't stop them." - Andy Warhol
12. "Be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
13. "Things do not change; we change." - Henry David Thoreau
14. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - St. Francis of Assisi
15. "We change whether we like it or not." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
16. "When you're finished changing, you're finished." - Benjamin Franklin
17. "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." - Anatole France
18. "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." - Victor Frankl
19. "Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer." - Shunryu Suzuki
20. "If you want to make enemies, try to change something." - Woodrow Wilson
21. "Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof." - John Kenneth Galbraith
22. "Our only security is our ability to change." - John Lilly
23. "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." - Maya Angelou
24. "Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
25. "The only way to make sense of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." - Alan Watts
26. "The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress." - Charles Kettering
27. "We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing." - R.D. Laing
28. "People change and forget to tell each other." - Lillian Hellman
29. "The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades." - John Kotter
30. "Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got." - Peter Drucker
31. "In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy."- J. Paul Getty
32. "Change your thoughts and you change your world." - Norman Vincent Peale
33. "Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon...everything's different." - Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes
34. "We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us." - Joseph Campbell
35. "It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad." - C. S. Lewis
36. "If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading." - Lao Tzu
37. "The changes we dread most may contain our salvation." - Barbara Kingsolver
38. "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." - Anon
Big thanks to Val Vadeboncouer for locating these quotes.
Idea Champions
Keynotes on Change
One way to deal effectively with the coming changes
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:00 PM
May 26, 2017The Intersection of Innovation and Continuous Improvement
What does creative thinking and innovation have to do with continuous improvement? A lot. Two sides of the same coin.
Interview with Idea Champions' President, Mitch Ditkoff, on GoLeanSixSigma.
Focuses on the intersection of innovation and continuous improvement. Both are needed. Both are complementary.
Indeed, the Managing Partner and Executive Advisor of GoLeanSixSigma, Elisabeth Swan, was an Idea Champions consultant at one point in her storied career.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2017Fail, Fail, the Gang's All Here
Illustration: GapingVoid
Great quotes on failure
MitchDitkoff.com
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:20 PM | Comments (0)
May 16, 2017On Building the Case for Storytelling
One of the biggest challenges that internal change agents have when it comes to fostering a culture of storytelling in the workplace is building the business case -- why it matters and what the impact can be. The quote below, from John Kotter, author of Leading Change, will help. If you need help building your case, shoot me an email and I will send you some more "grist for the mill" -- links to compelling articles and videos on the topic.
Storytelling at Work: the blog
Storytelling at Work: the book
The author of both
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:06 AM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2017If You Want to Innovate, Listen!
If you're interested in raising the bar for innovation in your organization, start listening more. Listening, quite simply, is the most powerful form of influence.
Generally speaking, when we think of influencing others we are thinking about our ability to get others to think and act in ways we want them to, in ways that serve our interests and objectives.
The influence process is most often conceived as the ability to provide compelling arguments -- that is, arguments that are indisputable and indicate there is only one way to proceed.
The influence process is seen as the ability to turn aside all alternative ways of thinking, to demonstrate their inadequacy in the service of making one's own position more compelling.
The ability to influence goes beyond the ability to make a compelling argument, of course. It can also involve the use of power, seduction, or fear to drive others to a particular outcome.
What is much more rarely recognized is the role of listening and empathy in the influence process.
Listening to what concerns and drives others provides a powerful basis for influence because it is by showing how your perspective will affect the concerns and interests of others that you gain others' interest and support.
But the case for listening and empathy goes much further.
If you can truly understand what others value and are concerned about, it can lead you to change your position about what is required to achieve the goals you are striving for.
If you deeply understand others, you can mobilize them, not by manipulation -- but by gearing your approach to address the real needs and interests of your stakeholders.
Listening and appreciating multiple viewpoints can help you gain more acceptance for your ideas and better ideas. And, as it all plays out, these better ideas will eventually attract more support and increase your influence -- so you can then listen more and attract more support.
-- Barry Gruenberg
Illustration: gapingvoid.com
Idea Champions
MitchDitkoff.com
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:45 AM | Comments (4)
May 08, 2017STORYTELLING WORKSHOP DESIGN: One Size Does Not Fit All
If you are looking for a simple way to leverage the power of storytelling in your organization, but haven't found an "off the shelf" solution, I know why: it doesn't exist. And WHY it doesn't exist is because your organization's needs are unique. One size fits all does not fit all. That's why Idea Champions' storytelling workshops are all customized. We mix and match from a broad selection of modules to create the perfect fit for you. All we need to know is what topics you'd like to see us address and in what ratio. Simple. And we don't charge for customization.
THE MODULES
-- Building a business case for the benefits of storytelling
-- Improving listening and feedback skills
-- Activating the innovation mindset
-- Sharing in-house best practices
-- Communicating tacit knowledge (i.e. insight and wisdom)
-- Going beyond your organization's old story
-- Generating new ideas and solutions
-- Increasing trust and teamwork
-- Improving idea selling skills
-- Inspiring action and meaningful follow through
-- Fostering a culture of storytelling in the workplace
TWO EXAMPLES:
Creating the Innovation Mindset
Storytelling at Work
OTHER RESOURCES FOR YOU
We wrote the book
We also wrote the blog
The workshop is taught by this gent
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2017Need a Breakthough? Unplug for a Moment. Take a Break!
True innovators rarely follow the straight and narrow path. Not only do they march to a different drummer, they're often not even on the same playing field as most people. Take Seymour Cray, for example, the legendary designer of high-speed computers.
According to John Rollwagen, ex-chairman of Cray research, Seymour used to divide his time between building the next generation super computer and digging an underground tunnel below his Chippewa Falls house.
Cray's explanation of his tunnel digging behavior is consistent with the stories of many other creatives -- inner-directed, boundary-pushing people who understand the need to go off-line whenever they get stuck.
Bottom line, whenever they find themselves struggling with a thorny problem, they walk away from it for a while. They know, from years of practical experience, that more (i.e. obsession, analysis, effort) is often less (i.e ideas, solutions, results).
Explained Cray, "I work for three hours and then get stumped. So I quit and go to work in the tunnel. It takes me an hour or so to dig four inches and put in the boards. You see, I'm up in the Wisconsin woods, and there are elves in the woods. So when they see me leave, they come back into my office and solve all the problems I'm having. Then I go up (to my lab) and work some more."
Explained Rollwagen, "The real work happens when Seymour is in the tunnel."
We help people dig their tunnel
And sometimes we do this via storytelling (like the one above)
MitchDitkoff.com
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)
The Gotta Have a Process Blues
In 1999, I Co-Founded Face the Music (along with Paul Kwiecinski) -- an interactive business blues band that helps organizations get out of the box, improve communication, and build teams in a fun way.
One day, GE contacted us and asked if we would write and perform eight original blues songs that would poke fun at Six Sigma, as part of their upcoming Black Belt conference. We did. Here's one:
THE GOTTA HAVE A PROCESS BLUES
I woke up this morning,
Put both feet on the floor,
But I didn't have a process
To find the bathroom door,
So all I did was shuffle,
First the left foot, then the right,
Forgot to count the tiles
(Hey boss, I ain't too bright.)
We got green belts, black belts,
Corporate karate
And soon we'll need a process
For going to the potty.
Some charts and graphs would be real cool to help us choose
Just what to name this song 'bout the gotta have a process blues.
Back when we were kids
The only processed thing was cheese,
But now I need a process
Every single time I sneeze.
I say achoo, I blow my nose,
I try to get it right,
My green belt says my charts don't flow,
Not once a gesundheit.
I make no mistakes,
I do everything right,
To make sure nothing breaks
I stay up all night.
I'm a Six Sigma cowboy
With all my charts and graphs,
I measure every joke
And the way it makes me laugh.
We got green belts, black belts,
Corporate karate
And soon we'll need a process
For going to the potty.
A fishbone diagram would be cool to help us choose
Just what to name this song about the gotta have a process blues.
I barely make a boo boo, I rarely blow a deal,
You might call it voo doo, but that's just how I feel,
I'm one in a million
Though my defects number three,
I log on while I'm sleeping
And I've changed my name to "E."
We got green belts, black belts,
Corporate karate
And soon we'll need a process
For going to the potty.
- Blind Willy Nilly (that's me)
Six Sigma and breakthrough thinking
Face the Music on CNN
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:21 AM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2017Why Use a Creative Thinking Technique?
If you have ever jump started your car in the winter with a pair of jumper cables you already know why it makes sense to use a creative thinking technique: to spark your ability to arrive at your preferred destination.
Sometimes, to get you moving, a spark is needed -- a jolt -- and that's where creative thinking techniques come in.
All of us, no matter where we live and what we do for a living, are creative. We are. It's built in. The problem is, for many of us, our creativity peaked when we were five years old. Since then, it's been a slow and steady decline into conformity and conventionality. Our innate creativity has, all-too-often, gotten buried, neglected, and ignored. Like a car engine in winter, it sometimes goes cold. So cold, in fact, that we can't figure out how to get it started again.
Applied in the right way at the right time, creative thinking techniques have the power to re-start your creative engine and get you cruising towards your destination -- able to far more reliably generate bold new ideas, solutions, and non-obvious possibilities.
Bottom line, creative thinking techniques give you access to your own buried genius. And sometimes it takes less than 60 seconds.
You don't need to be an Einstein to use a creative thinking technique, just willing to challenge the status quo, go beyond your assumptions, and be open to conjuring up some bold, new possibilities. Ready?
Here one of our techniques
Here's another
Idea Champions
50 quotes on possibility
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2017Delivering the Unexpected!
Very inspiring 17-minute video. Howard Brodsky on going way beyond the call of duty to surprise and delight your customers. Included a cool anecdote about a pilot who bought pizza for all of his passengers.
The world's best collection of memorable quotes
MitchDitkoff.com
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)
Blow the Minds of Your CustomersIn what ways can you blow the minds of your customers this month? How can you exceed their expectations? How can you deliver the kind of off-the-grid service they will never forget? Check out what WestJet did. Whoa!
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:20 PM | Comments (1)
What Cortisol, Oxytocin, and Dopamine Have to Do With the Impact of Storytelling
There's a quantifiable reason why the most successful Superbowl commericials are all structured like stories. Neuroscientists and neuroeconomists agree. And what they agree on is that it has a lot to do with the chemicals that stories trigger in the brain. Here's a well-written Harvard Review article on this fascinating phenomenon.
MitchDitkoff.com
How to change innovation mindset via storytelling
My award-winning book on storytelling in the workplace
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)
