Leading Change
Human institutions and organizations crave stability and permanence. The very word "institution" connotes immutability. When change threatens the stability of organizations, they often seek refuge in "what we have always done. The paradox in that inclination is that change is the most stable and enduring feature of human communities. "What we have always done" is change. As early as 500 BCE, Heraclitus observed the constancy of change: "You cannot step twice into the same river," and further, suggested that "it is in change that things find repose. " Leading change means navigating the ever-present tension between the human need for stability and the inevitability of change.