"The Thrill of the New"

The first was the announcement that the recent jobless increases in the USA were the biggest rises since 1949.

The second was the news that this year is the 200th anniversary of the birth in Shrewsbury, England of the naturalist Charles Darwin.

Now, what, you might think, could possibly connect the two?

Well, in one word: change.

Those newly-jobless workers in the USA, together with the 12 million already out of work, plus others in similar positions all around the world, meant huge numbers of people facing major changes in their lives. Each of these individuals will have to face the loss of a daily routine, the loss of friends and co-workers, and the loss of material things such as money, possessions, and possibly even their homes.

On our Change Management courses at ManageTrainLearn, we often quote the researcher Charles Garfield. Garfield studied 500 peak performers in different industries to discover why they were so successful. His conclusion was that they were not necessarily the most talented or the most able or even the most lucky. The one thing they had in common was their ability to respond to change in their lives.

Garfield discovered that, for these people, change isn't something to be avoided, feared or resisted but an exciting opportunity to grow. For them, change doesn't mean "more"; it means "new". New learning, new skills, new attitudes. And, yes, new routines, new friends, and new lifestyles.

Which leads us to Darwin.

Like Garfield, Darwin came to the exact same conclusion about the success (ie survival) of the natural species of the world, ie that, when faced with changes in their environment, the species that survive and thrive do one thing that the unsuccessful and doomed don't do. They adapt.

Darwin's remarkable achievement, of course, was that he proposed it at a time when the idea was completely unacceptable, almost as heretical as Galileo's proposition, 300 years earlier, that the Earth revolved around the Sun. And probably his most heretical proposition was that it is not only the plants, the birds, and the animals of the earth that survive by embracing change and as a result change themselves. It is also people.

If you are one of the many who are facing huge life changes right now, the first thing we should offer you is the compassion that comes from understanding that loss of what you are attached to can come as a major shock. But following that, I hope you will understand that the loss of the known is an opportunity to discover the thrill of the new. For with the new, comes the chance to adapt, learn and change.

Little wonder that on our Change Management courses, we love to inspire people facing change in their lives and work with this quote attributed to Charles Darwin himself: "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change."