Adapting to change

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col Zindell Richardson
  • 45th Aerospace Medicine Squadron, Commander
Just recently I took leave and made a trip to my hometown, Campbellsville, Kentucky. I noticed how much the small town, my former high school, and the campus of the college I attended had changed. The area looked great and although the town was still small it was prospering with a noticeable hint of modernization. I spent quite a bit of time in the house that I grew up in. I became very mindful of a quote that my dad often made to my brothers and me stating "The only constant in the universe is change, it happens because of or in spite of us". Never before had change been so obvious to me.

I began to think about the changes that we face in life and particularly as military members, especially during this time of year, the PCS season, as we enter new work environments encountering new personalities and challenges. We all have some resistance to change but we must understand that change is necessary to move forward and not become stagnant. How do we adapt, and how do we get others to buy in and understand that change is for the greater good with the concept of progression. We have to help others realize that we must reinvent continuously as this helps us learn and if we stop learning we stop leading. We need to look at changing systems and processes in order to work smarter and better. This allows the creative minds we lead and encourage to blossom. We must look at change as a method of seeing the future and developing others, setting all up for success.

With any change come challenges, pitfalls, and the possibility of disappointments. We must prepare ourselves to expect this and have back up plans and alternatives in place. Simply stated you may have to take a step backwards in order to take two steps forward. Change is going to happen whether we like it, accept it or not. If we do not change we become extinct. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy said it best: Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.