The older you get and the longer you’ve been in the job, the less likely you are to respond well to change.

And what happens? Change happens! And you are fast becoming a dinosaur.

So why do we resist change? Isn’t it something to do with comfort zones? Even success can become a comfort zone. You build a company, you give great service, you charge commensurately high prices, you get money in the bank, you build your property or investment portfolio, everything is going great. Do you change anything? Do you constantly search for new ideas, new ways to improve the business, new products (bananas that you can add to the bunch), or do you figure “Why fix it if it ain’t broke?”

My philosophy is “If you come back to Harbour and Associates in a year’s time and it ain’t changed, then I’m not doing my job” and this when the business is 43 years old!

I think every company can benefit from having a Change Merchant. Someone who is less involved in the day to day running of the business and who can spend a chunk of his or her energy thinking about how the business can be improved, coming up with great ideas, testing them implementing them and at the same time thinking of the next great idea. Its got to be someone at the top, one of the directors or partners.

But what about you, the employee? If something happens to change the way you do your job (new apps, new devices, new customer needs) grab it, don’t resist it – it will happen anyway and if you don’t take it on board, someone else will and you’ll have become less valuable to your company and hey! times are tough.