"The need for change is not an indictment of the past"

I heard an absolutely amazing statement from a business consultant the other day.  He said, "The need for change is not an indictment of past performance."  I have to admit, this statement is absolutely spot on.  I spend a lot of time writing about change, because as leaders, we spend a lot of time managing change.  What we all need to remember, is that the need for change is inevitable.

As I've stated previously (see, for example, "Change is the law of life!", "The law of continuous improvement", or "Survival of the fittest?"), there are three constants in life: death, taxes, and change (my own addition to the famous cliche).  As Jim Collins discovered in his research on organizations that made the leap from Good to Great and were Built to Last, the organizations who do not change with time are the ones who end up failing.

It's a rather simple, yet profound, statement of fact - organizations that fail to change over time are organizations that fail.  In other words, the need for change is not a criticism of how an organization has been led in the past.  What worked for an organization or leader in the past may simply just not work in today's rapidly changing, competitive environment.  

The ancient Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius said, "Everything's destiny is to change, to be transformed, to perish.  So that new things can be born."  The need for change is not an indictment of the past.  Rather, the need for change is a simple matter of survival.