Wo drückt der Schuh?' - 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆: '𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗲 𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗵?' 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁

Wo drückt der Schuh?" - 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆: “𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗲 𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗵?” 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂? 𝗔𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲. 👠

The only constant in life is change. But how do we deal with it? 🤔

Change provides energy ⚡ - new things to explore, fresh perspectives to discover.

Change drains energy 🔋 - we need to adapt, learn, and get comfortable with the unfamiliar.

Humans are creatures of habit. Even if you’re naturally curious (at Amazon, there’s a dedicated leadership principle “Learn and be Curious” - but let’s not get sidetracked here 😉), you still have your routines. Changing those requires energy.

So a natural reaction to change is pushback. And not all change is good! Sometimes pushback - here we go with Amazon leadership principles again: “Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit” - is the right and only reaction. Other times, we need to overcome our resistance and move forward.

What to do when?

The consulting answer: It depends. 🤷‍♂️

In a discussion with my dear colleague Diana, we came up with this analogy:

𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗲𝘀. First, you look at them and might like them or not - that’s the first moment you encounter change. You can decide not to try them, but you’ll never know if they would have been perfect. Same with change: you need to unpack it to understand it.

Once you slip into the shoe, it might be super comfortable - or not. Even if it’s uncomfortable, maybe those are just minor issues that will disappear once you break them in. Maybe not. 🤔 Also, a shoe can feel amazing in the store but turn out to be terrible once you actually wear it. You really need to try!

𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗲𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲): 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁, 𝘀𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝗶𝘁. 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗳 - 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 - 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝘁. 𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁! 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻! 👀

==> 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲?  ==> 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗲𝘀? 👟

P.S.: While discussing this analogy, we realized there might be some gender-specific aspects to it. Also, being a mountain guy with a gazillion pairs of shoes for different purposes, I think about fitting shoes a little differently than others. But this might be the nucleus for another post - or some good fun in the comments below! ⛰️👟

• Leadership