Why Did the Dinosaurs Go Extinct?

How can you tell if your company is in danger of losing its capacity to change? Be on the lookout for some early warning signs:

1. Resting on your laurels. You see companies ignoring declining market-share, or in high employee turnover or customer satisfaction numbers. Do you view bad numbers as a blip on the radar screen or do you look for trends and seek to understand them?
 
2. Discounting customers’ expectations and competitors’ innovations. Many companies stick their head in the sand and seem bent on protecting the way that they have always done things. They are more interested in defending their decisions and their approach than they are in exploring new ideas.
 
3. Discouraging new players and new voices within the company. Does your company have a tendency to find ways to say that “the next generation doesn’t really understand the situation” or that some people with strong opinions based on experience elsewhere “don't understand the way we do things here?”   If you do, this is a sure way stay stagnant.
 
Whether the topic is a new HUD-1 form, or any other change, I challenge you to ask yourself “Am I secretly hoping that change won’t come?”  Has that ever an ingredient of success?  There's not much future in being a Dino!