Change happens. Sometimes it’s for the better, other times for the worse. Change is constant. Without it, we’d be standing still and failing to move business forward. As I’ve experienced change in the work world, it’s become clear that there are two ways people react when change arises. Two types of people: complainer or conqueror. The question is; which one are you?
Complainer or Conqueror
When change occurs, people act in one of two ways. They either complain or conquer. It’s that simple.
Complainers see every change with fear. They don’t like anything outside they norm. The way they’re doing things right now is how they want to be doing them next week and even 5 years from now. The thought of having to relearn their ways sounds like an awful waste of time and even an awful challenge.
Then you have conquerors. Rather than sitting around and dwelling on the downsides, conquerors charge into it and find the good in change. Let’s be clear, change doesn’t suck any less for this group when compared with complainers. The difference is that they take even negative change as a “That sucks.”, but then move along quickly to find the bright side. They understand that no matter the change, sitting still won’t get them anywhere.
Whenever change comes along, people seem to separate themselves into one of these two responder types.
Complainers and Conquerors In Action
We see this behavior often in marketing.
Every time Facebook or Google make an update, the complainers parade around like the sky is falling. They can’t stop blaming others for what they see as changes that will end everything.
Instagram just announced a change to their feed and instantly we see articles about how it’ll be the death of the platform. The complainers have gone so far as to start a petition that’s collected over 300k signatures because they can’t see any good in the change (as the New York Times quoted a wise man on Reddit saying, “Online petitions. The least you can do, without doing nothing at all.”).
And on the other side, there are brands doing awesome despite these changes. There are those that look for the good in each update. I frequently write about these changes and how marketers can make the most of them. Recently, we shared how the Instagram feed update will benefit marketers. And even with so many still crying that change is bad, it would seem some agree that it will bring about good things for most.
Where complainers still give you an earful about how they’ve been screwed by Facebook and their changes to the News Feed (some of those changes over 2 years ago and they’re still complaining), the conquerors know how to get great results from Facebook despite the changes they’ve made.
Which Are You?
In the end, we must all choose which we are.
You can be a complainer and find the bad in every situation. You can stand still and believe that every change is meant to screw you in some way. To refuse to roll with the changes and stick to your ways even when they no longer work.
Or you can choose the route of the conqueror. It doesn’t mean you can’t feel a bit upset about change (that’s often natural). But you get over it quickly and start finding how to make the best of it. You conquer change and then do it again the next time change happens too.
Complainer or conqueror; which will you choose to be?
