I recently listened (via iTunes) to Carly Fiorina speak to students at Stanford. You can download it for free at iTunes. Just type in her name and it should pop up.

At one point in the lecture, she talked about the need for adaptive behavior in the new economy. Leaders and people in organizations must be adaptable she postulated because of the rules of the new economy. She quoted Darwin:

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but those most adaptive to change.

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Basically, change or d i e.

The trouble with many organizations is that the people in the organization see change as something to endure–something of an anomaly that will (hopefully) end as soon as possible. If Darwin was right on adaptation, which of course he was, then we should be able to apply the idea to organizations. And, of course, we can. The leaders and organizations that survive, not to mention thrive, are those that understand adaptability and are not afraid of it.

The status quo is very alluring. Just ask K-Mark or Kodak, or even Dell.

Change is hard, no doubt. But, consider the alternative.