If your thinking 💡 hasn’t changed ➡️ in years, don’t expect your results 📈 to

If your thinking hasn’t changed in years, don’t expect your results to.

The biggest barrier to changing your mind isn’t intelligence — it’s discomfort. When new information challenges our long‑held beliefs, values, or identity, the instinct is to defend the familiar. Back in the day, we’d simply say it was hard to “think outside the box.”

But with hindsight, I can see how many of my own deeply held beliefs have changed over the years — mostly because my interests and priorities changed. That taught me something important: change introduced from the outside is resisted; change that grows from within is accepted. Willingness matters.

In work groups, change succeeds when people understand the why, have a voice in shaping the how, and experience early wins that prove the effort is worthwhile. Top‑down mandates rarely create commitment. Early involvement does.

This idea became the second big “aha” moment at The Mirage — right behind catching people doing things right. At a senior staff meeting, Mr. Wynn announced that every management decision must include an explanation of why. And if managers couldn’t or wouldn’t explain why, employees were empowered to say “no.”

Managers saw it as planned insubordination. In reality, it forced them to:

·       Research, understand, and plan what they wanted to say

·       Communicate their plans clearly

·       Listen to comments and objections and respond logically

·       Remove obstacles and adjust appropriately

In other words, it required them to do the things effective managers must do.

The results were dramatic: management performance improved, and employee morale and satisfaction soared. A simple shift in mindset — planning plus communication — created a win‑win environment.

Change becomes positive when it’s introduced with clarity and respect. Engaged employees don’t resist change — they help shape it. And collaboration unlocks potential that command‑and‑control leadership never will.

Forget memos, slogans, and mandates. Give people the tools, the context, and the inspiration to change — and watch them go and grow today. 

George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950): Irish playwright, critic, polemicist, and political activist.[1]

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[1] His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.