Making change

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

– Leo Tolstoy

“That’s the way we’ve always done it.”

I’m fortunate to get to spend most of my work days fighting against the seven most costly words for any business. I get to consult with many of them in finding ways they might make changes that help their customers, partners, and themselves all better succeed. But in every setting, there’s always a group that is resistant to change. At the end of the day, we all have a degree of change aversion. See if any of these phrases ring a bell:

• If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• We have been very successful with our current methods
• We already tried that idea and it didn’t work
• I’m not sure why we do it that way
• That’s just our policy

All of them a variation on “That’s the way we’ve always done it.” All a variation on “I’m comfortable here, and not really looking for a better way.” But since the only constant is change, they organizations that are always looking to optimize, even if they’re already in a great space, are the ones to reap the benefits. Even if sometimes those first tries at change go over like a lead balloon.

In 2009, when the NFL first started adding pink to its color palette every October to raise money and awareness around breast cancer, the cheers were barely louder than the screams it created with fans, with some groups thinking they were simply looking to paste over the league’s reputation with domestic violence, and others simply hating the “girling up of the game”. But after nearly a decade of committing to the cause, their efforts were so successful that the league actually broadened their scope, allowing teams more say in the cancers and causes their efforts were pouring into. With a massive change, and then a subsequent series of smart tweaks around it, the league has now become one of the primary partners in the fight against cancers of all types.

When former Colorado State basketball standout Becky Hammon was hired six years ago as a full-time assistant coach with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs in 2014, she was the first in her field, and a pioneer. Though Lisa Boyer had been an assistant for John Lucas with the Cleveland Cavaliers 13 years earlier and a ground-breaker herself, the league had still subverted some of that victory in having her paid by the Cleveland WNBA team, and not having her travel with the men’s squad. Hammon’s noted success in San Antonio not only helped open the door for a dozen other women who have coached in the league, with 10 of them still doing so, but also has made her a prime candidate for one of the league’s next head coaching spots.

Until 30 years ago, The Master’s golf tournament didn’t have a single member of color amongst its ranks. A dozen years ago, their commissioner said he’d have female members of the club only if prodded by a bayonet. In 2020, the stance of the club has changed so much that there are widely publicized efforts to broaden their diversity and inclusiveness at a more-rapid pace.

In 2001, Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies had spent eight years as one of baseball’s most colorful stories. The way baseballs responded to altitude altered their bounce so dramatically that Colorado baseball was closer to a pachinko game than anything resembling the sport it was anywhere else. But crew foreman Tony Cowell was inspired to make a change after having an inspiration flying home on a plane. Cowell experimented, showed the club his results, and eventually built the ball storage humidor that now levels the field for visitors and your beloved Rox alike.

It’s certainly been a weird, stressful, and tumultuous year, DNVR Nation. As we head into the 46th weekend of 2020, the one thing we’ve come to expect on a nearly constant basis is change. To our lives, our jobs, our surroundings, and ourselves. But, as daunting as that can sometimes be, there is always a lot of opportunity and possibility in that chaos as well. Here’s hoping you find ways to make the lion’s share of those changes into positives, and that it only improves your life and the way you’ve always done it.