Change

To my son Tommy,

I am constantly amazed at how resistant people are to change.  It doesn't matter if the change is for the better or not,  people are so entrenched in what they do, new things are shunned.  Newton's first law in physics states, and excuse me if I paraphrase, an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an external force.  This law actually transcends physics and is easily applied to the human psyche as well.

I have first hand experience of this today.  I rolled out ipad tablets to our field mechanic foreman.  You could smell the fear in the room.  "Beware of geeks bearing new technology" was written in neon across their foreheads.  There are a few that are excited but the majority are petrified by the prospect of change.  Even though this has the potential to make their job much easier and allow our workforce the opportunity to really improve our company,  change in their mind is still bad.

This is going to be a rough transition but I have been through rougher.  Transferring from the written time sheet mentality to the computer net book mentality was no easy task.  I think everyone just got used to the net book system and now we throw tablets at them.  The sad truth is those that were conscientious and courteous and paid attention to details with the older systems are the same ones that will succeed with the ipad system I rolled out.  The ones who fight change and were poor at giving information and bad with details and reckless or uncaring or even purposely misleading before, will still get the same results no matter how much technology we throw at them.  Hopefully though by the new system, I have taken away a good amount of the excuses and those who fail to do their job properly will be more evident.

I don't want to say blindly embrace change as you grow but I don't want you to shy away from change either.  Learn to adapt and recognize the good and bad of change.  Ironically, change is one of the world's constants.  Also realize that as much as things change, the core principles stay the same.  The underlying being that you are will always shine through no matter the system, from pen and paper to digital pixels.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo