Bots Like Change…Why Don’t We?

I recently attended a webinar given by my friends at Decade30, Benjamin Bachman and Austin Meadows. One of the bullets on their presentation stated “Search Engines Love Change” which caught my ear immediately because you rarely hear the words love and change in the same sentence (other than “I love to resist/thwart/sabotage change!”). Search Engines love change because they reflect new content. Business owners love this because it raises their social media rankings, gaining them greater visibility. This results in new leads, increased sales and a wider fan base--all good things! New content means new ideas, new products, new comments, new personnel, and new input! Search Engines love change because they employ “bots”. Bots recognize what change can do for a particular site, i.e., business. They reflect this “approval” by raising them up among their peers in the World Wide Web.  People don’t necessarily love change because we’re human and it takes persuasion to get us to buy in. We’re told that it’s all part of human nature. But I think it’s more a function of the culture that the leader promotes for the entire organization. Nothing is more exciting than seeing a regime change where the incoming team is open to any/all ideas. They reflect this vision in their actions by rewarding innovation, cutting our inefficiencies and continually seeking input from all members of the organization. Like bots, they comb through every level to seek out new ideas, new content and better ways of doing key processes. Sir Winston Churchill said, “Kites rise highest against the wind; not with it.” What an amazing metaphor for how high change can take you and your organization when you learn to embrace it.