The Bull, The China Shop, and Change

The Bull, The China Shop, and Change

Don’t rock the boat

Don’t burn bridges

Tread carefully, tread lightly

Anyone recognize this type of advice?

Who has been given that type of advice?

And more importantly, how do you feel about this type of “advice”?

For me this type of advice is a trigger point.

A trigger point to ask why and what is happening here.

Hello everyone!

I am Isabella Zaczek and I am an instigator at heart.

And what I want to do today is

Explore the uncomfortable topics and actions around change and the steps we must take to enable change, accept, and implement it.

Expel the myths about change

Extract the essence of change and its success

Without any further ado, let’s see whether the talk holds what the title promises.

The Bull, the China Shop and change.

What is a better way than to start with some historic instigators:

So, I picked the following 3 instigators – anyone recognize them?

MLK – fighting for basic equality and civil rights

Galileo – going against the Catholic church and thus the world with science

The Women Suffragette Movement – standing up for female empowerment and rights

Challenging the status quo - Change processes that have still not been fully implemented centuries and decades later

And are more relevant than ever

So, what do they all have in common…they rocked the boat, they burnt bridges, they did not tread lightly

Going against deeply rooted beliefs, facing mockery, resentment, even death

Here is the very interesting fact about change, I believe, you do want to change for betterment, equality, advancement, and at the same time you must bear with – rejection, resentment and potentially every negative reaction there is – but what if you don’t start change?

Here is an article on Fortune I recently found about political reform:

Both Gehl and Thiry were able to report some recent successes in their reform efforts. But progress is slow and uncertain. Why? Because politicians from both parties, who have benefitted from the existing dysfunctional system, tend to oppose change. They argue business leaders should be champions of the reform.

Granted this is on political reform BUT it is change, nonetheless.

Extract the key message – progress is slow and uncertain and there are those who benefit from existing dysfunctional systems.

Who is your champion and who is your challenger - who has benefitted from no change.

How do we expect change to happen when we do not go where it hurts – it takes a special kind of person to be comfortable with the dark side.

But how many of us are truly and honestly comfortable with the dark, how many of us really believe that it is always darkest before the dawn.

Some years ago, I coined the following quote:

Our uncomfortable truths are the foundation of our permanent (r)evolution! 

How do we expect change to be acknowledged, understood, and accepted if we are not willing to rock the boat, lift the rocks, and guide humans through the storm?

Given some personal tragedies over the past 2 years I turned to the Kübler Ross stages of grief to dive deeper into grief itself.

Some of you m