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This Is How Change Fails To Survive Victory (And What To Do About It)
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, corporate America began hiring an unprecedented number of DEI executives to ensure inclusive workplaces. Investors began pouring money into ESG funds and President Biden signed into law the biggest investment in clean energy ever. Mckinsey reported progress for the LGBTQIA community in the workplace.
We are clearly in a different era now. Legislators are targeting ESG funds for destruction. Major firms such as Walmart are rolling back diversity policies. Upon taking the presidency, Donald Trump began a full assault on DEI programs. Activists who just a few years ago thought victory was inevitable are now besieged on every front.
This cycle of progress and backlash is so consistent we have a name for it: The failure to survive victory. Every revolution inspires its own counterrevolution. That’s the physics of change. But like the physics of flight — where lift must counteract gravity — the key to overcoming it is to understand its principles and put them to work for your own purposes.
How Change Is Triggered
We tend to think about change in personal terms. We remember a time when something persuaded us to change our behavior, to exercise more or to eat well, to study more diligently or to shift…
