I read these words in a Forbes article when I was researching change and it reminded me of that marvelous book, Who Moved My Cheese – more of that shortly.

Every business leader should see these words as a challenge, the world of business has never moved at as fast a pace as it does today, primarily driven by ubiquitous access to high-speed broadband, the instant access to information that this provides, and advancements in technology.

Barriers to entry that prevented startups from competing with established businesses such as large investments in technology have disappeared with the advent of excellent pay on use ‘software as a service’ packaged solutions.

It’s never been easier to start a business and whist the term Disruptor is overused there are plenty of real Disruptors out there who are eating the lunch of formerly great, profitable businesses that either haven’t noticed or refuse to acknowledge that they must change with the times.

We must all embrace change, indeed more than that we should create an environment in our businesses that encourage challenge and always be looking to improve the way we do absolutely everything.

Tell your new hires that you expect them to challenge the way things are done and suggest new ways of doing things, perhaps things that have been seen done better elsewhere. I always made a point of telling new starters that no one has the monopoly on good ideas so please question and challenge the status quo.

So back to Who Moved My Cheese. I reread this little book recently having given countless copies away over the years and recommended it to many business contacts. It’s a great little story and one of the best and most-read business books ever produced having sold 28 million copies, but more than that it carries a very strong message about the need to embrace change and how to handle it.

So if you are a Business Leader and you have not read it, I suggest you do so, if you have read it I suggest you read it again and in both cases, I suggest you ensure you get your senior leadership team to read it and share it with those colleagues whom they feel will benefit from a different view of change.

Impending change, imposed by staff movement, market conditions, competitor activity, or the need to take advantage of new opportunities, drives a lot of our discussions with our Pabasso – Peer Advisory Board Associates clients.

Don’t become the individual quoted in Who Moved My Cheese: ‘they thought they already knew everything and didn’t want to learn’