The world is constantly changing. As creative people, we want to be the driver of that change. The innovator would love nothing more than to be the fork in the road that takes the industry in a new direction.

Organizations can either be the source of a disruption, or they can be responding to the creativity of others. Regardless of the source, organizations and individual creators must be able to respond to a world that is changing with or without them.

There are 2 types of change management: Episodic Change and Continuous Change.

Episodic change doesn’t happen very often, but when it hits the consequences can be disastrous. An episodic change is usually a response to what others are doing, such as learning about a new innovation from a competitor. The problem is, this puts you behind the competition. You’re now reacting to what others are doing instead of taking control of your own future.

Continuous change is an ongoing focus within a business to constantly make adjustments. Organizations that use continuous change as a strategy are better able to adapt to evolving situations. They’re less likely to be taken off-guard or caught by surprise by competitors. They understand that how they did things yesterday shouldn’t determine how they should be done today.
And because organizations that use continuous change are doing it from a position of strength, that is, they’re changing while they still have their feet firmly on the ground, they’re far more effective at creating that change.
The company that’s caught off guard has no guarantee that they’ll even have the resources around when the change is needed.

The lesson here is clear. The time to change is before you need to. Whether you’re a businesses or a solo artists, you’d rather be creating the change than reacting to it.