Quotes On Change
"People can't live with change if there's not a changeless core inside them. The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value." -- Stephen Covey
"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." -- Richard Feynman
"Change is not only likely, it's inevitable." -- Barbara Sher
"Change can either challenge or threaten us...Your beliefs pave your way to success or block you." -- Marsha Sinetar
"Everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable But that still implies that change is like death and taxes it should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable. But in a period of upheaval, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm." -- Peter F. Drucker
"Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got." -- Peter F. Drucker
Change is the only thing constant
Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand. Chinese Proverb
Change yourself and your work will seem different (Norman Vincent)
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things ( Theodore Levitt)
Cut the "im" out of impossible, leading that dynamic word standing out free and clear-possible ( Norman Vincent)
Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved (William Jennings Bryan)
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself (Tolstoy)
He who stops being better stops being good. (Oliver Cromwell)
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain (Maya Angelou)
People underestimate their capacity for change. (John Porter)
"One key to successful leadership is continuous personal change. Personal change is a reflection of our inner growth and empowerment." (Robert E. Quinn)
"Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up." ( James Belasco and Ralph Stayer
Flight of the Buffalo (1994)
"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things."(Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (1532)
"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 P. Kotter, Leading Change
"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place." (Washington Irving, Tales of a Traveler (1824)
"We are chameleons, and our partialities and prejudices change place with an easy and blesses facility, and we are soon wonted to the change and happy in it." (Mark Twain)
"Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times." (Niccolo Machiavelli)
"People don't resist change. They resist being changed!"— Peter Senge
"Even those who fancy themselves the most progressive will fight against other kinds of progress, for each of us is convinced that our way is the best way."— Louis L'Amour
The Lonely Men
"The nature and structure of belief systems is important from the perspective of an informational theorist because beliefs are thought to provide the cognitive foundation of an attitude. In order to change an attitude, then, it is presumably necessary to modify the information on which that attitude rests. It is generally necessary, therefore, to change a person's beliefs, eliminate old beliefs or introduce new beliefs." — Richard Petty and John Cacioppo Attitudes & Persuasion
"All is connected ... no one thing can change by itself." — Paul Hawken
"Natural Capitalism, Yoga Journal October 1994
"Your success in life isn't based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers and business."— Mark Sanborn
"When a mature and able manager feels bored, he should seriously consider changing jobs, changing companies—or simply retiring. It is not fair to anyone for half a leader to hold a full-time leadership job." — James L. Hayes
"Everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable. But that still implies that change is like death and taxes — it should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable. But in a period of upheaval, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm." — Peter Drucker
Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999)
"Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day." — Frances Hesselbein
The Key to Cultural Transformation, Leader to Leader (Spring 1999)
"It is a bad plan that admits of no modification."— Publilius Syrus
First Century BC
"The most successful businessman is the man who holds onto the old just as long as it is good, and grabs the new just as soon as it is better."— Robert P. Vanderpoel
"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."—John F. Kennedy
"Ten years ago, Peter Senge introduced the idea of the 'learning organization' Now he says that for big companies to change, we need to stop thinking like mechanics and to start acting like gardeners." — Alan M. Webber
Learning for a Change
"Everything is in a process of change, nothing endures; we do not seek permanence."
— Masatoshi Naito
"Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness."
— Marshall McLuhan
"Keep in mind that you cannot control your own future. Your destiny is not in your hands; it is in the hands of the irrational consumer and society. The changes in their needs, desires, and demands will tell you where you must go. All this means that managers must themselves feel the pulse of change on a daily, continuous basis.... They should have intense curiosity, observe events, analyze trends, seek the clues of change, and translate those clues into opportunities." — Michael J. Kami
"When we see the need for deep change, we usually see it as something that needs to take place in someone else. In our roles of authority, such as parent, teacher, or boss, we are particularly quick to direct others to change. Such directives often fail, and we respond to the resistance by increasing our efforts. The power struggle that follows seldom results in change or brings about excellence. One of the most important insights about the need to bring about deep change in others has to do with where deep change actually starts." — Robert E. Quinn
"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