Change. Up until about four hours ago I had been working in partnership with a very talented and terrific person for the last 2 years. One click of the mouse, one opened e-mail, and several hours later, The Change Exchange was born. They say change happens for a reason, that change can be a good thing. The morning sun is indeed coming up and the new day certainly will be a much different one than yesterday. It will have a new focus, new opportunities, and will be the beginning of a new adventure. How can you not look forward to that?
Change has many definitions but the one I am living right now is " to transform or convert". I transformed from a partnership to working solo. I am not new to the world of change. I have several decades experience in the worlds of organizational development, performance and productivity improvement, and as the Air Force's equivalent of a business consultant. I know that change is needed in many areas that affect our lives and society so The Change Exchange will focus for now on bringing change in our places of work, our schools, and our communities. You also can not even begin to address the process of change in any of those areas without talking about leadership. Leadership is the reason change initiatives succeed or fail. They are the enablers or the barriers. So we'll start with those issues but I am sure that the focus will change over time.
So let me ask you this. What one or two things do you think need to be changed? In your personal life, professional career, local community, or the world we live in that would really improve the quality of your life, place of business, the city where you live, or the planet that we share? After that, let's see what we can do to change it...
Congratulations, Dave, on your new blog. This is very exciting! Love the concept of the necessity of change in all of the areas mentioned above. Perhaps where we need changing most is in our homes. I like to say that we are all forever becoming. The look of the blog is great too. Bravo, friend!
ReplyDeleteJudith,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for stopping by the "new home". You have been a great source of friendship and support and it's greatly appreciated.
I was born in 1954 and one of the two greatest changes I have seen that have impacted our society are the changes in the "family" structure. This is by no means meant to be disparaging or judgmental, it is a simple fact. I have been reading a terrific book by David K. Shipler "The Working Poor, Invisible in America" Mr. Shipley validated what I had learned while researching the War on Poverty. You can't isolate the causes of the challenges facing the working poor as they are interlocking. The lack of a good education affects employment possibilities. If you don't have adequate health insurance, it can affect your employment and the list continues. This is the reason I think looking at education, the workplace, and community development areas will be important. Like Mr. Shipler says, "If the problems are interlocking, then so must solutions be." This to me is the reason the War on Poverty was never won and why bazillions of dollars get spent on programs and services that don't work or on't meet the needs of those they are supposed to help. Working folks shouldn't be poor...
Thanks again Judith. Family, and perhaps the rest of the village, can play a key role making a huge difference in improving the quality of life for every citizen and the communities they live in.