In talking with Fire Chiefs over the past few months, I was reminded of a slogan we have been told since childhood.  When we are in a building fire, we are to stop, drop and roll.   Stop what you are doing, drop to the floor and roll on the floor to move and keep from burning.

The same rules apply to reinvention. When you want to change your organization or habits, you should stop, drop and roll...

1. Stop what you have been doing that is causing you to not get the same results it did previously.  It worked in the past, but for whatever reason (age, lack of interest, regulatory changes, progress, etc.).  Simply repeating a process or program for the sake of doing it is pointless.  It allows others to move ahead of you and get the results you once received.

2. Drop your control.  Quit trying to maintain control when the universe won't comply. You can't MAKE people buy your product or service if the time for it has passed.  You can't motivate others when they haven't obeyed you in the past.  You can't control situations that are out of your reach.  Maintaining control in a downward spiral is useless. You can't change others, but you can change you.

3. Roll with the changes.  Find out what works and what is trending in your sector and go with it.  You are a salmon swimming upstream.  You need to "go with the flow" and find what is working and what is not.  Palm, Inc. would still be in business, if they had seized on the movement to adapt the personal data assistant like Apple did with the iPhone.  

When change occurs, what can you do to Stop, Drop and Roll with the changes.