Leading with Character and Competence

CHAPTER 6The Second Cornerstone of Competence: Change

[Humans tend to] seek a state of well-ordered, painless, contented, self-perpetuating equilibrium.

Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997)Social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas“The Intellectual Life of American Universities” (speech, 1949)

Choose Change or Change Will Choose You

Author and journalist Sylvia Nasar wrote, “From the beginning of civilization to the 19th century, 90 percent of humanity was stuck in place, even if their country did comparatively well. Average people lived like livestock—they didn’t go anywhere, read anything, or wear much; they ate bad food and didn’t live a very long time.”¹

I would not trade centuries with those people, but at least they took some ...