Pride of Authorship

It's a truism in human nature - most people do not like to make changes and will resist change whenever they possibly can. And that's true even for people who make their living making changes.

For may years I was a management consultant. Recommending and implementing change is pretty much what consultants do. Yet, even though they are agents of change, consultants are also prone to avoiding changes, other than those they've recommended. The phenomenon is so pronounced among consultants that some people have labeled it as "Pride of Authorship."

While consultants spend time and effort getting you to accept and adopt their ideas for change, those consultants caught in "Pride of Authorship" have great difficulty accepting any modifications or changes to their recommendations. They believe their ideas were well thought out and will work successfully and do represent the best alternative. Otherwise they wouldn't have made the recommendation in the first place. Because of this, they fiercely defend against any changes to their change.

Now I don't mean to imply that all or even most consultants have "Pride of Authorship." Nor are consultants the only people who develop recommendations for change and therefore run the risk of being caught in that trap. But I do want suggest that everyone who develops ideas for change consider this fact: it's a very rare person who can develop the best idea for change in a vacuum; that is, without the advice and counsel of others, especially those people who will be impacted by the change.

About me: Dan Pelley conducts seminars and teaches programs on topics of interest to managers. Recent additions to his offerings are a six hour seminar titled "Thriving on Change" and a sixteen hour program titled "Leadership in a Changing Environment."

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
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