Static vs. dynamic cultures

Static cultures, the kind of cultures that have stayed the same for multiple generations, are a real problem.

For a long time, your culture was able to survive by resisting change.

Today, this is far from true.

Farmers in the third world that refuse to plant a new seed or use modern techniques that will produce better yields resist this idea of change.

Why?

Because that isn’t what their parents taught them. It isn’t the seed they grew up using. Worse, what would my neighbors think if it doesn’t work?

With so little room for error, you stick with you know. You can’t imagine more than $3 per day, then why act any different?

The world has shifted so much in the last 200 years, and again the last three decades. Knowledge continues to accumulate faster than anyone could ever process. Change continues to come.

Yet, with all the tools at our disposal, is the culture you are building dynamic?

Are you willing to change jobs in a shrinking field?

Do you consistently ship work that might fail?

Are you able to survive a layoff for the next six months?

Change is uncomfortable. The longer you wait the more painful it becomes.