Tag Archives: status quo

“The gravity of the status quo is so strong.”

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“The gravity of the status quo is so strong.”

—From a webinar with Michael Bungay Stainer and Chip Conley

Image from Unsplash by Mark König

Tidal Locking is a term used in astronomy where a planet or moon does not rotate on its own axis as it travels around a star or planet. Two examples of tidal locking are the moon that circles our earth and Mercury as it circles the Sun.

In both cases these celestial bodies only show one side of themselves to the objects they orbit.

Where in your life are you tidally locked to the status quo?

In what ways are you traveling around the world, operating in the same ways, showing the same face in all your interactions?

EXERCISE:

What steps can you take to diminish the gravitational pull of the status quo?

What patterns can you break to have new worlds emerge in your life?

If all it took to upend the status quo was the truth

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“If all it took to upend the status quo was the truth, we would have changed a long time ago.”

—Seth Godin, American Author

In Seth Godin’s newest book, This is Marketing, he suggests that to be effective, all marketers must have the courage to create tension. Some people actively seek tension because it works to push or pull those we hope to serve over the gap from the present to a better future.

For those who resist change and prefer the relative comfort of the status quo, these influences/marketing messages fall on deaf ears. In such cases, the truth does not set us free, for fear of whatever future we wish to avoid.

Godin suggests that the status quo doesn’t shift because something is true, it shifts because culture changes, and the engine of culture is status.

EXERCISE:

Examine where you and others in your personal and professional communities embrace change and find yourself open and receptive to the abundance of marketing messages coming your way. Where might saying yes and embracing such new ways of thinking or acting improve your status?