The illusion of permanence in an age of change

I woke up to the news on the radio this morning: court cases, wars, political arguments, resignations and mergers. Change. Same as every day.

In the Social Age, change is constant and our success rides not on our ability to survive one wave crashing over us, but rather in being agile enough to surf on the waves.

In the Social Age, change is constant: the notion of permanence is illusory. Our ability to react to change, to find stability, makes us agile

Permanence is illusory: our jobs, our health, our economies, none are permanent or guaranteed. They’re steps on a journey, but one where we don’t know the destination.

We have to recognise that disruption is normal, not the aberration, which is why i favour a co-owned and co-created model of change, recognising that it affects and is driven by all of us. It’s stability that’s transient, so why pin our happiness and success on that? The permanence of many things we take for granted is an illusion: 300 years of history is not a predictor of the future.

I talk often about agility: a key survival skill in the Social Age. It’s the ability to read meaning out of the maelstrom. The ability to create meaning and to do it again, tomorrow, differently, reacting to evolved circumstance.

Social Leaders are able to reframe their perspective in relation to evolved technology, circumstance and situation. They are adaptable because their communities act as sense making entities that respond positively to change (because their membership is fluid).

And as we find our way, we share our stories: recently i’ve taken to answering ‘a writer‘, when people ask me what i do.

I do a lot of things, but writing is probably the most important, because it’s here, in this space, at the first point of reflection that i build my legacy. It’s here that i interact with the community and it’s here, if i’m agile, that my ideas evolve (and my actions adapt).

Sharing keeps us agile in an age of constant change.