When we were cavemen (and women) and we saw dark clouds coming, we got very nervous. Clouds meant a change in the weather. Bad weather often resulted in death.

We learned the lesson that change equals death. That was an important formula for staying alive.

Unfortunately, that’s a hard lesson to unlearn.

Oddly, it’s a lesson that didn’t, for some reason, stick with you.

Can You Teach Others a Lesson?

You’re a disrupter. You argue for change. You do it inside your firm, and you do it at meetings with your peers.

You see the industry changing, you build your case, and you make your argument. Your friends, colleagues, and co-workers just shrug and shake their heads.

You’re moving forward with change, and they’re staying right where they are doing right what they’ve been doing.

Why Some People Can’t Be Taught

You represent change, and change always encounters resistance. After all, change equals death, right?

Why do others resist your message of change?

• They resist because you represent an idea that takes them out of their comfort zone.
• They resist because you represent an idea that shifts the money from the establishment to others.
• They resist because you represent an idea that breaks down the existing structure.
• They resist because you represent an idea that takes power from the powerful.
• They resist because you represent an idea that moves everyone forward, and they like it the way it is.
• They resist because you represent instability, and the status quo seems safe.
• They resist because your idea requires work, energy, and adjustment, and resisting allows them to sit back and do what they’ve been doing.

They will delay, obstruct, distract, and prolong the debate. They don’t want to change. They’re still cavemen.

There are clouds on the horizon.

Change doesn’t equal death anymore.

In fact, the opposite is true now.

Failure to change equals death.