On change and transformation
- You cannot force a caterpillar to change into a butterfly. If you create the right environment it will transform by itself
- Often executives wonder why their caterpillar does not transform into a butterfly, .. just after they’ve cut a big piece of it
- Changing into a butterfly is not enough. To fly you have to let go your cocoon.
- The merger of two fat caterpillars never results in a butterfly
- There is no need to transform from a caterpillar into a butterfly, if you are happy and can keep growing on your little leaf and…if you don’t want to procreate.
- Trying to speed up the transformation of eggs into chickens, by turning up the heat, only results in boiled eggs
- Unlearning is often more important for change than learning.. and much more difficult.
- You can’t have a butterfly without letting the caterpillar die, unless you want to teach the caterpillar to fly.
- Resistance is better than apathy: only dead fish float with the current
- Don’t try to teach a caterpillar to fly! Create an environment where it transforms into a butterfly!
- A starved caterpillar will not change into a butterfly
- Managers very often think they still can get a caterpillar to change into a butterfly... after they just cut off a big piece.
- Arguing increases resistance, because it is about winning. A dialogue decreases resistance, because it is about understanding.
- Pulling at the cocoon will not make the metamorphosis go faster, it will only ruin your chance of ever getting a butterfly.
- Transforming into a butterfly is not enough. To fly you have to let go of the cocoon.
- Celebrate your failures and take enough time to learn from them
- If you never failed, you did not try hard enough, did not take enough risks, did take a leap of faith, did not really learn
- The need for a turnaround is the result of a missed or messed up transformation
- Transformation needs commitment, passion and time… lots of time
- Big change programs are for CEO’s like steroids for an athlete: they only deliver short time results and... cause impotence
- Dependence on authority is the dead of creativity, but you can stand on the shoulders of giants to look further