Competence and Future Shock

Two very interesting stories here about change, the fear of it – and how to stay ahead in spite of it.

Seth Godin recently linked to a 1999 article he wrote that is still valid today. He talks about competence, and how it can be viewed as an enemy of change. He explains that people who are competent, who have a definite, solid skill set, want to keep on doing the same thing. To them, change is bad, even if it could lead to something better. They stay in place, scared of loose what they have. He says “incompetent” workers, ones who keep moving on and doing new things actually have the advantage.

Godin explains:

In the face of change, the competent are helpless. Change means a temporary or permanent threat to their competence. But among the competent, the smart ones realize that change is inevitable, that shift happens — and thus that they are doomed. Hence the tremendous discomfort among our happily competent population.

Along similar lines, Adam Greenfield observed that a large portion of American society has a bad case of future shock (a shocked state from experiencing too much change, too fast). He thinks that due to the current accelerated pace of change, Americans are retreating into an idealized past rather than moving forward.

Fast Company: “In the face of change, the competent are helpless.”