A Turning Point for Change

Change always happens mid-stream but where does it start?

The low point for me as a teen drummer arrived early on when I prematurely joined a band. One night on stage I started horribly wrong. The band leader quickly realized the situation was unrecoverable and simply turned around and yelled “Just!… Stop!... Playing!”

Change must happen mid-song or mid-course or it’s not change. It’s never easy, never a straight path, never ego-centric, and never perfectly articulated. Change is utilitarian, brash, unrefined, blurry, audacious… Messy.

These characteristics make it problematic to consider the topic of change in terms of formula or “steps.” In my experience finding a successful path to change is often elusive even in the face of pressing need. (If it were easy, we’d all be seeing & embracing change far more frequently!) There is, however, a singular characteristic that I believe exists in all change: The crisis point. This is the point where someone has a realization that what is happening right now is incompatible with long-term success. Critically, too, this realization must result in action.

What’s a “crisis point” though? It needn’t be dramatic or external — it’s simply a catalyst — a moment in time where the need for change becomes overwhelmingly apparent. The larger and/or less change-ready the team, the greater the…