Jeremie Averous | The Fourth Revolution Blog

How to Avoid Suffering when Changing

“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” is quite a common quote. We need pain to change (and some pleasure to leverage the change). We can still avoid suffering.

Suffering is very much a psychological effect. What makes the difference between pain (external) and suffering (internal) is that we can either react or respond; we can choose not to suffer even in the face of pain. And we have always the choice: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” says Viktor Frankl (ref our post ‘How We Always Have a Choice, Even in the Worst Situation‘).

Change will come with pain. It should not come with suffering or bitterness. You can choose not to let it happen. Choose.

Why Pleasure Can Accelerates Change (only Together with Pain)

It is quite commonplace to state that pain is required for change, and that change occurs when the pain to change is less than the pain to stay in the same condition.

Tony Robbins says that we need in addition to access some kind of leverage to accelerate change. That pain is required for change. And thus, “to access leverage, you must help someone associate massive PAIN to not changing NOW, and massive PLEASURE to changing immediately. The motivation is based on both pain AND pleasure. Pain is short-term motivation, but you need the pleasure side for long-term motivation.”

He continues, “The truth is everyone in life has developed different strategies or patterns for getting out of pain and into pleasure. Thus, if we want to create permanent and consistent change, what we must do is develop a new set of patterns of how to get out of pain and into pleasure. In other words, in order to create lasting change, we must use pain to get people’s attention and energize them to want to make the change, but then we must link pleasure to the new pattern to make it last”

To create change, do not just highlight the pain of not changing – entice the change with immediate and future pleasure. A new way to design Change Management plans?

How Employee Engagement though Empathy is the Ultimate Competitive Advantage

Hugh McLeod at Gapingvoid says: “Employee engagement is the ultimate competitive advantage. Unlike other advantages that can be bought and sold, this one is a bit trickier. It has to be inspired“.

And true enough I lived through a number of instances where employees where fully engaged in the organization – often through decisive acts of leadership from its leaders, and that really made a difference.

Where Hugh makes a point though is that engagement is not just about leadership and inspiration. It is about creating empathy between the participants to the adventure. And thereby creating stories, the stories of the adventures of this group of people.

“Stories in business are especially powerful because they can unite everyone on a common mission. Tell everyone the story of how you got to where you are – and they’ll likely take over the rest. After all, the best books ask us to imagine our own endings…”

What about creating your own ending to the project you are on, together as a group full of mutual empathy?

Why You Need to Accept Yourself First to be Able to Change

“The Curious Paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can Change” – Carl Rogers in the book ‘On Becoming a Person‘. Carl Rogers is a famous psychologist that is one of the founders of the coaching approach to change. His book is highly recommended if you are interested in personal change and growth.

This is a very deep statement. Because of often we think that we should force ourselves to change, with the result that we create resistance and frustration… with poor results.

Carl Rogers’s opinion, forged after decades of giving therapy and counselling, is that deep-seated change is actually possible only when one accepts himself fully, including his emotions and feelings that often tend to be repressed. This deep preparatory work might take months and years before we might be ready for change.

It is interesting that in some respect the same might hold for change in organizations: self-awareness is a necessary pre-requisite.

It might be a good idea to focus first on a deep acceptance of yourself, of your feelings and other psychological and physiological reactions, before venturing down the path of change. A worthwhile investment indeed that will repay multiple times as after, change will become easy and self-sustaining.

How to Look Beyond Aggressiveness and Hate

“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear” – said Gandhi. When we express hate (or even just mundane aggressiveness) we in fact somehow express our underlying fear, our intrinsic insecurity.

It is amazing to consider when someone screams at you, how fragile and fearful that person must be. I find it is an excellent way to overcome the natural rush of adrenaline and the emotional reaction to the situation (which typically hovers around our primitive fight or flight reaction) . Plus it provides some empathy that might come useful in that situation (Of course if it becomes too obvious that you pity the person that is aggressive that might not resolve the problem at this instant so remain just calm and composed!)

Fear creates ravages throughout the world and in our daily environment. Nip the fear out, find out precisely what is feared and you’ll overcome aggressiveness.

How to, and Why Put One’s Eggs in a Single Basket – a Small Company Guide

Mark Twain said, “Put all of your eggs in one basket and WATCH THAT BASKET.” Well, that’s obviously the contrary of the more prudent common wisdom say “don’t put all your eggs in a single basket“! Who is right? What are the situations where it might be worthwhile follow Mark Twain’s recommendation and what are other situations where we might better follow common wisdom?

In terms of risk management, having several egg baskets spreads the risk – there is less risk that the entire egg supply disappears, while at the same time there is a higher probability that some of it will be damaged. When you put all your eggs in a single basket, there is more focus.

Large companies will tend to follow common wisdom – they diversify their risk to enhance long term survival. This leads to average performance as some activities will be under-performing. Small companies don’t have this luxury – they put all their eggs in a single basket, and watching closely and fostering these eggs, with the help of some luck, they might be much better performing. This is what allows small companies to thrive and develop (together with the typical lack of reactivity that plagues larger companies).

Typical entrepreneurs need focus. They have to put all their eggs in a single basket and focus seriously on preserving it and having it grow. Still you can’t exercise such a focus on all areas of your life. Other areas (such as your savings for retirement) need more common risk management approaches.

You need to be choosy on those areas where you put all your eggs in a single basket, but that can be very worthwhile provided you exercise a right level of attention and focus. Choose the area where you will do that and stick to it!

Would Happiness Be Our Greatest Fear?

In this post, Om Swami makes the point that Happiness could be our greatest fear. Even beyond fear of unknown, of death, loss, of failure and rejection! “When good things do happen, we think it’s luck, or plain fluke, that we couldn’t possibly deserve this goodness. This is the fear of happiness. And, it stops most people from chasing their dreams, it’s the obstacle to realizing their full potential“.

According to him, it is a fear that we would learn progressively from being in situations where we would not be adequate. “With the passage of time, this feeling — I’m not good enough — prepares a perennial battleground of two opposing forces, fear and self-affirmation“.

I feel it is true sometimes that the fear of happiness prevents us from taking fully advantage of the situation we are in. I would maybe not fully agree that it is caused by comparing ourselves with other people, maybe it is also a question around whether we really deserve to be happy. Maybe it is not our greatest fear.

Anyway, this question resonates with me – is that fear that prevents me to feel happy? I might be sometimes, somehow. Luckily, Om Swami also provides the antidote: “To think about it, that’s what it boils down to: ‘Let’s go.’ Action is the most potent antidote to fear”

Let’s go!

How the Collaborative Age Requires Global Political Action

I very much enjoyed reading the popular book ‘Capital in the 21st Century‘ by the French economist Thomas Picketty. Of course, I really enjoy the historical approach as I believe that historical perspective can give us really valuable insights into the major changes in our societies – that is quite a similar approach to the approach in followed in my book, although of course I had less time to dwell and research into historical economics series!

I really recommend this book for learning about inequality changes throughout the Industrial Age, and in particular in the 20th century. The book clearly demonstrates that our societies are facing today a particular political challenge regarding both rewarding success and entrepreneurship, and minimizing inequality, in particular when it comes to inter-generational inequality.

One point of the book which is particularly controversial is that the solution for Picketty is clearly some worldwide action on the tax structure. Today it is not possible any more for a single country to develop a tax system that would resist the tendency to inequality, as the financial system is so globalized (re-read our post on When will governments finally realize that the interconnected economy is already here?). There lies precisely one particular issue that I noted in the Fourth Revolution book – political action now needs to be global. We can hide between a super-power that tries to do all the work by itself (with some noticeable success even on the tax side, but limited to its citizens only).

Our political systems need to grow. Nations are outdated. Europe is necessary, and not even sufficient. Global policies must be put in place to be successful in our transition in the Collaborative Age.

Why Your Organization’s Strategic Change Starts With Your Calendar

“Strategic change doesn’t just start at the top. It starts with your calendar.” says Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel, in his book ‘Only the Paranoid Survive‘.

In that he means that the change of focus from executives must immediately be reflected in the way they spend their time. The accustomed committees of the past might not make so much sense in the new picture. More time might need to be devoted to more pressing issues related to the new direction of the organization.

In addition, people will know immediately which are the meetings which are now removed from the calendar of the executive and which are the new activities that retain its focus, and this will induce change throughout the organization notwithstanding deeper change in processes, systems and products.

Changing one’s calendar or time usage requires tremendous discipline, will power and ability to change one’s ingrained habits. Not all leaders are capable of such feat.

If you have decided to transform the organization you lead, have you actually changed your calendar? Have you at least decided to stop going to half of your previous regular meetings?

Why You Can’t Transform a Company Without Changing Its Management

When it comes to real, fundamental change, you can’t change an organization without changing its management. This applies both to changes due to the external environment (such as a major change in the key market serviced by the organization), or simply to changes linked to the change in size and nature of the organization as it grows or shrinks significantly.

This has been my constant observation in all the organizations which I have known deeply enough, when they were faced by major changes.

“I’m not saying they have to pack up their desks and be replaced. I’m saying that they themselves, every one of them, needs to change to be more in tune with the mandates of the new environment. They may need to go back to school, they may need a new assignment, they may need to spend some years in a foreign post. They need to adapt. If they can’t or won’t, however, they will need to be replaced with others who are more in tune with the new world the company is heading to.”, says Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel, in his book ‘Only the Paranoid Survive‘.

Indeed, the most mature executives will know when to change move beyond their comfort zone; some will do the effort and some won’t; at least they are then conscious that they need to move on. The worst situation of course is when executives are not even aware they need to change; or when they languish in the reminiscence of a great, cozy past. This can lead to disastrous situations.

If the organization you lead has to go through a major transformation, you need to change. Or to move on. Don’t think you can continue being what you were before!

Why You Should Learn What Happens At the Periphery of Your Business

“Learn what goes on at the periphery of your business” says Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel, in his book ‘Only the Paranoid Survive‘. He goes on to explain: “When I absorb news or information coming from people who are geographically distant or who are several levels below me in the organization, I will triangulate on business issues with their view , which comes from a completely different perspective. This will bring insights that I would not likely get from my ordinary contacts.”

shakeheadillusion — Can you figure out what it is if you don’t rely on straightforward observation? Watch differently -Shake your head!

In my observations it is not just about observing what happens in the industry or in the particular company. Peripheries are great places where experiments happen, and where people in your organization grow much faster than at the core because of the exposure.

Most organizations do underestimate the value that could be brought to them by their peripheries. It goes to the point where the experience of people sent there (typically, expatriates) is not valued at all by the core organization and gets ultimately lost to competition as these people leav in droves, unsatisfied by the lack of recognition.

With the Fourth Revolution, the importance of the periphery and of groups of people that are not directly within the organization will increase significantly, further from what Andrew Grove observed when he wrote his book in the 1990’s. Organizations that continue to focus excessively on their core will lose competitiveness. Watch for your periphery and leverage on it!

How To Start a Business: Understand Who You Are

I find the following quote quite interesting: “My answer to the question “how do I start up a business?” is “with a thorough understanding and acceptance of who you are.”” – Sue Vizard in an article about coaching businesses.

Of course, the quote might be even more applicable to coaching businesses where the coach must be well grounded to help its clients, still, I believe this quote is very worthwhile to consider for all kinds of businesses, when it comes to entrepreneurial ventures. It requires so much dedication which needs to be backed by so much energy that it needs to be respond to a deep understanding of what makes the entrepreneur passionate.

Sue Vizard continues: “Take time to acknowledge what makes you tick, how you ended up where you are and who you want to be for the rest of your life. Yes, your business will provide an income, hopefully, but it’s also an opportunity for fun and fulfillment.”

Should not we reverse the proposition – if it’s an opportunity for fun and fulfilment, then we’ll find a way to make it provide an income?

Finally, Sue adds: “check how comfortably your business fits in to your dream. And if it does not, then adjust your business, not your dream.” You have been warned!

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