3 quotes by Isaac Asimov that make you better live the change of our time

If you read the book or watch the Foundation series on Apple TV+, you will find key takeaways that can help your personal or professional journey.

People interested in science fiction may have read Foundation, the first published novel by Isaac Asimov of the series that won the one-time Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series’ in 1966.

Apple TV+ has lately decided to make from it a TV series and, there are odds it will become as iconic as Star Wars.

Is it worth reading or watching it? Absolutely and this is why

The Foundation is the story of an institute founded by psychohistorian Hari Seldon to preserve the best of galactic civilization after the collapse of the Galactic Empire and reduce the dark times from 30000 to 1000 years. The whole series is a journey through decadence and rebirth.

This makes the foundation series a Change Management handbook that could be very useful for any transformation journey.

To prove it, we will use 3 quotes from volume I of the saga and distill from them takeaways that can resonate on a personal or professional level before, during, and after the change.

Quote I: “It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.” Part III, Chapter II

The most common reactions to the novelty are indifference (this is nothing special) or disengagement (this is too complex). The denominator is a lack of attention that increases the odds of getting lost in translation.

People like to anticipate filling empty slots with their own experience, making assumptions that make them diverge from a shared understanding. In changing times, stating the obvious is a constructive way of gauging interest, increasing confidence about what people know. A pre-set reputation of a strategist or expert amplifies this interest, providing a sense of achievement of being part of the plan.

Takeaways

Communicating about the change needs to unleash from uneasiness, generate attention, and bring people together.

Quote II: “Any fool can tell a crisis when it arrives. The real service to the state is to detect it in embryo.” Part V, Chapter III

Detecting the consequence of small changes enables nudging with small actions. It is a levy with low energy, highly effective outcome!

This quote completes the previous one removing any suspicion of assertiveness in communicating about the change. Change Management is not about avoiding crisis: it has to do with anticipating and reducing the impact by implementing a plan of actions that avoid specific pitfalls.

Recognizing the value of change management value is a blend of experience and trust

Takeaways

Putting attention to a problem that has not yet materialized is art.

Quote III: “To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well”, Part V, Chapter III

A plan isn’t the same as reality. It’s a conceptual artifact. It will never include all the specifics.

During ideal circumstances, experience help to define the plan to a level of detail relevant to making decisions. In this case, increasing the level of detail will make it resounding and expensive, with no real added value.

During change, by default, a plan will not have all details required to make a decision. But you know what? This is not a planning issue: planning falls short because leaders are unable or unwilling to improvise: denial, blaming (people, technology), passiveness increase the gap between plan and reality.

Managers with no change experience will ask for more details during a crisis. Improvisation means giving a coherent meaning to the information with a mix of intuition and experience.

Takeaways

Diverging from the plan is part of the change journey. Crises can become optimization opportunities, if leveraged with experience and intuition.

Conclusions

Foundation is one of the most famous Isaac Asimov’s book series and, it is now streaming on Apple TV+. People who have an interest in science fiction may have already read the books. Going through the storyline with consulting background will bring to notice gems of change management knowledge.

Change Management is the art of steering toward an undefined goal. Crises are part of the transformation journey.

Thanks for reading. Tweet me @flavalib and let me know you read this!

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