Rethinking Change and Thriving

Written By John Henderson

Second in The Pivot Mind “How to Thrive in a Changing World” Series

Markets shift overnight. What was certain yesterday becomes fragile today. Technology races ahead, leaving businesses scrambling to keep pace. Political and social systems buckle under pressure. Everyone feels it, leaders especially. We are told to adapt faster, be more agile, and build resilience. But is that enough?

In our previous discussion on How to Thrive in a Changing World, we questioned the belief that change is something that happens out there, an external force we must react to. That view misses something fundamental. Change is not an interruption to stability; it is the condition of our existence. We are not standing outside it; we live within it. We do not navigate change from a distance; we are in it, always.

Change is not an interruption; it is the condition of our existence.

This shift in thinking reframes the challenge. Thriving is not about responding to disruption faster than others. It is about becoming the kind of leader, team, or business that generates the future, rather than waiting for it to arrive. It requires more than adaptability. It calls for wisdom in action.

Wisdom in action is not a passive state nor something we acquire only after the dust has settled. Real wisdom is active. It is a lived capability, the capacity to engage reality skillfully while it is still unfolding. It shapes how we see, how we move, and how we endure. Wisdom in action is not just knowledge, but the ability to see deeply and act decisively. It is not just flexibility, but the ability to adapt while staying grounded in what matters most. It is not just reacting to change but disclosing new futures that would have remained hidden without our engagement.

Wisdom in action is seeing deeply, committing meaningfully, and moving decisively.

Seeing deeply is not just observation; it is sensing what is emerging before others see it. It is recognizing possibilities where others see risk. Seeing is the first creative act, moving toward what could be—before it is certain.

To understand why this matters, we need to reconsider our relationship with change itself. Most leadership thinking treats stability as the norm and change as the disruption. We are told that we must manage change to get back to normal. But this is a misreading of reality. There is no getting back to normal. We are never stable. The world is never settled. Stability is an illusion, a story we tell ourselves. We long for it because we mistake comfort for reality.

Thriving is not about adjusting to occasional disruptions. It is about accepting that flux is the norm and learning to move within it. Thriving requires us to stop seeing change as a threat to our plans and start understanding it as the basic fabric of our existence. The most important skill, then, is not agility. It is the ability to author a future through what we see, say, and commit to, even when certainty is impossible.

The most important skill is not agility. It is the ability to author the future.

This ability to see and commit is deeply affected by the emotional environment we operate in. When uncertainty rises, leaders often fall into fear or opportunism. Fear closes us down. We defend what we know and cling to familiar ways of working, even when they are no longer effective. Opportunism sends us chasing every new possibility. We lunge at quick wins without direction, scattering our focus in pursuit of anything that looks like progress. Both moods shrink the future. Fear causes us to protect the present, while opportunism causes us to run without purpose. Neither allows us to create what is needed next.

Fernando Flores, a former Chilean government minister turned leadership philosopher, developed pioneering ideas about how language and mood shape what is possible in organizations and society. In his book “Disclosing New Worlds,” Flores reminds us that we do not simply think our way through uncertainty. We feel our way through it. Moods structure what is visible to us. They determine whether we see options or dead ends.

Mood shapes what is possible before a single decision is made.

Leaders who thrive cultivate a different mood, a mood of generativity. This mood is more than optimism. It is the emotional and perceptual way of leading others from which we can generate possibility and create futures, even in uncertainty. We will return to this mood later in the series, but for now, it is enough to see that it is the emotional space in which wisdom in action becomes possible.

Moods shape the horizon of possibility. But mood alone is not enough. To move forward, especially when nothing is certain, we need something to anchor us. That anchor is commitment.

Talk of thriving often turns to persistence, the ability to push through hard times. That matters. But commitment is more than grit. Psychologist Angela Duckworth’s work on grit brought much-needed attention to the value of sustained effort over time, but grit alone is not the full picture. Commitment is not just pushing through obstacles. It is authorship. It is the foundation we build around what we care about most. It shapes what we see, because we notice what we care about. It guides how we act, because we move toward what we have chosen to build. When everything is uncertain, commitment gives us a place to stand. Without it, we drift, reacting to every change without creating anything enduring.

Commitment is not the opposite of adaptability. It gives adaptability meaning.

This is why commitment is not the opposite of adaptability. It is what makes adaptability meaningful. Adaptability without commitment is just drift, movement without direction. Real adaptability is the capacity to adjust without losing sight of what matters most.

Our commitments are rooted in care. We stand for what we care about—in business, in leadership, in life. But commitment is not always simple. Psychologists Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey describe how we often hold hidden commitments that resist change, even when we say we want it. This “immunity to change” reveals that commitment is not merely a choice. It is a process of uncovering what we truly stand for. This relationship between commitment and care will return later in this series. For now, it is enough to see that commitment is authorship. It is the act of choosing what we will build, despite uncertainty, and taking responsibility for it. Commitment creates freedom. It is what allows us to move with clarity, even when we cannot see the entire path ahead.

Start by thinking about the following, then share your thoughts below about today’s blog post:

  • Business is not reaction; it is world-making.

  • The future does not happen to us; we bring it into being.

  • What future are you bringing into being?

Next Up: The Myth of Stability – Why “Getting Back to Normal” is a Trap

In times of uncertainty, leaders often cling to the hope that stability will return—that the disruptions will pass, and we will rebuild on solid ground. But this longing for normal is an illusion. Stability is not the baseline of life or business. Change is.

This next essay will explore why the pursuit of stability is one of the greatest obstacles to thriving, how it blinds leaders to emerging possibilities, and why anticipation and not prediction, is the key to shaping the future.

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With gratitude and anticipation,

John Henderson
Founder, The Pivot Mind

John Henderson

John Henderson is a serial entrepreneur, business executive with decades of leadership experience, and the founder of The Pivot Mind.

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The Myth of Stability: Why “Getting Back to Normal” is a Trap
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How to Thrive in a Changing World