Reflecting today on some writings by Gene Appel as I work with a new batch of clients.

SEVEN UNCHANGEABLE RULES OF CHANGE

Mark them well. In forty thousand years, they have not changed one iota:

1. People do what they perceive is in their best interest, thinking as rationally as circumstances allow them to think.

2. People are not inherently antichange. Most will, in fact, embrace initiatives provided the change has positive meaning for them.

3. People thrive under creative challenge but wilt under negative stress.

4. People are different. No single “elegant solution” will address the entire breadth of these differences.

5. People believe what they see. Actions do speak louder than words, and a history of previous deception octuples present suspicion.

6. The way to make effective long-term change is to first visualize what you want to accomplish and then inhabit this vision until it comes true.

7. Change is an act of the imagination. Until the imagination is engaged, no important change can occur