Change, Choice, and Consequences

You are, like everyone else, what you do and deliver, and what you deliver is very public and noticeable.

Success is a choice—the ever-present reality of Change, the Choices you make, and the Consequences of those choices.

•   Change

•   Choice

•   Consequences

You get what you plan and work for….

Change. Change is scary for most of us. We know how to deal with today. Some would rather deal with current reality rather than getting out of their comfort zones and take a risk to change what we do and how we act. As counter-intuitive as it might at first sound, change can be quick if only we find the right incentives for people to change.⁴ One only has to identify those rewards that make it practical for people to change. Major changes have happened very rapidly when the consequences of change appear as worthwhile to people.

Choice. We do make choices; not making a choice is a choice. We can be the masters of change or the victims. No matter our choices, the consequences are ours to own. We have to commit to our choices and carry them through until we get the results we desire.

Consequences. What happens to us is largely up to us. If bad things happen, we can be resilient and learn, or give up and drift from day-to-day. Means—our choices about how to change—lead to ends, results, and consequences. It seems smart to link our choices to the consequences we want and not leave it up to others to decide for us.

The basic choice for any planning is the frame of reference for our primary client and beneficiary we use. There are three options:

•   our external clients and society as the primary beneficiary of everything we use, do, produce, and deliver (This is called the Mega level.)

•   our organization as the primary beneficiary (This is called the Macro level.)

or

•   our workgroup⁵ as the primary beneficiary (This is called the Micro level.)

If you choose other than Mega as the primary client and beneficiary—external clients and society—then you are assuming that everything you use, do, and deliver will be worthy to those who judge our success, including our neighbors and our shared world.

Think for a moment: don’t we all depend on everyone we deal with—from supermarkets to physicians, to car manufacturers and restaurants, to airlines—to be first focused on our survival and well-being? They should be able to rely on us for the same.

Choosing Mega Thinking and Planning: Important Variables to Consider