One-liners on Change

Food for thought

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