Change feels threatening to our brains because we perceive it as a threat to survival, but leaders can overcome this resistance by reframing change as an ongoing journey rather than a destination, preparing teams with continuous education and skill development to embrace change as the only path to future growth and competitive advantage.
- The brain perceives change as an existential threat because we've learned to survive with current methods, making any shift feel dangerous to our existence.
- Four major factors are accelerating change: larger volume, increasing scope, unpredictability, and faster speed driven by political, economic, technological, and societal forces.
- Leaders must shift perspective by viewing change as a continuous transitional journey rather than a one-time shift, since new changes continuously follow previous ones.
- Treating change like a special occasion creates disappointment when successive changes arrive; instead, cultivate a mindset of perpetual transition between paradigms.
- Future ROI comes from change itself—maximum returns from current methods are already exhausted, making continuous education and skill development essential investments for staying competitive.
It has been said that people don’t like change. I believe that. Based on my education and experience, I have come to believe that change is perceived by the brain as a threat. This threat is not minor. The brain actually is quite binary in its function and change can be perceived as existential (a threat to existence — life itself).
You see, over the years we have learned how to survive with the way we are doing things: we put food on the table, clothes on our backs and a roof over our head because we have figured out what we need to make that happen.
Then someone (or something) comes along and says, “Let’s do it differently!” That is threatening to our brains. So if that is the root of the fear behind change how can we overcome feelings of overwhelm in today’s age?
Change continues to come at us daily. Not at a pace that is comfortable or even at times, manageable. So let’s learn a little more about it so we as leaders, can devise strategies that help us cope with change.
In a recent article (Harvard Business Review, May-June 2026, page 30) the authors point out that four factors are in play:
A larger volume of change is coming at us, the scope of that change is increasing and change is becoming more unpredictable, driven by political, economic, technological and societal forces. Speed of change has increased dramatically.
What we have to do to stay in the lead position is create a shift in perspective on change. Change needs to become embraced more like a journey than a shift in location. Once change has created a new reality the forces are still in play to bring further change so it truly becomes never-ending.
Another important thing to keep in mind is being excited for change as if it were a special occasion is setting up a real “let-down” because when the successive change starts it can feel like the previous round of change was a loss. We need to think of it as transitional. Moving us from one paradigm to the next knowing there will be more following that is the mindset we need to cultivate to handle change successfully.
Much of what we encourage our staff to embrace such as continuous education, expanding knowledge of current expertise, learning completely new sets of skills and more (like embracing technology), can be expensive and we as investors need an ROI. The thing is that any future ROI is going to come from something we have changed. We have already tapped out the maximum return in the way we are doing things now. Change will drive future profits.
It is not an easy journey but it is a simple one. You must prepare yourself and your team members to embrace change. That embrace is truly going to be the only thing to keep you the one who’s driving!
