People Rarely Resist Change—They Resist Losing Coherence

Executive Field Note 018

Change often appears irrational from the outside.

A better system arrives.

A stronger strategy.

A clearer structure.

Yet people hold onto what existed before.

Perhaps they are not protecting the old system.

Perhaps they are protecting the world in which their experience still makes sense.

Change alters more than process.

It alters relationships, identity, competence, status, and expectation.

Resistance may be coherence trying to survive.

What would stop making sense for people if this change succeeded completely?

Published by Executive Insights. A publication of Axiom Research Press