Been thinking about this one a lot recently. We all change and (hopefully!) evolve over time. As I’ve observed myself, friends and acquaintances go through this process, there seem to be two types of people.
The first are individuals who change in a directed fashion. That is, as they age, they change along a vector that goes in a single direction, and once in the new “place,” have a difficult, if not impossible, time going back to earlier “versions” of themselves.
The second are individuals who change in a subsumptive fashion. That is, as they age, they change by adding new “layers” to themselves, while still retaining (and retaining access) to the earlier layers that got them to where they are today.
Both types of individuals change over time, but their outlooks on life seem very different to me.
Bonus thought: This may apply to organizations as well…can your organization access its inner startup when it needs to? Or has it changed so much that it’s impossible to get back to the roots that made it great in the first place?
(See HP)
Great post Chris. I think very few people change in a “directed fashion”. I don’t think people change as much as they say they do/did. We are born with a core and as we grow and change we still maintain that core.
“subsumptive.” Dang, Chris, that’s a cool word.
Although I think I probably fall into the other category.