Innovate, Change, Update, or Die

During my very first national CITRT roundtable, the pastor of the host church took a moment to speak to us. It’s been years since then, but this little nugget is one I won’t soon forget. “There are four options; you can innovate, change, update, or die.”
To this day I still am amazed at the truth in this statement. I’ve been thinking about how I might fall in each of these categories.

Innovate: To create something new.
Now lets bypass the ‘There are no new ideas’ discussion and take this to mean that you can do something no one else is doing. This is definitely an exciting category. You are stepping into the unknown, and with that can come great success or great failure. I’m no good at this. I think my mind is too logical to function this way. I find that most of my ideas are usually just an abstract amalgamation of things I’ve seen or heard.

Change: To transform.
This guy has gotten a bad wrap. Change is when things begin in a new direction. For the better or for worse, as Sam Cooke said,”Change gonna come.” Either way I love it because this is my wheelhouse. Small or drastic, slow or quick, I’m all about change. As I said before I love finding new ways to leverage what we have. I like to think of it as ‘innovation of the existing’, but that’s probably because I’m bitter about not being in the first category.

Update: To make current.
I think this tends to be more of a stop-gap measure than an actual solution but is still a viable path. I think you find updating happening when you are waiting on an innovation or change. Updating is a delicate matter. New principles can not simply be applied to old systems, you must have a very transitional individual who can see through the situation from beginning to end.

Die: To Die(metaphorically of course)
The End. If there is no forward movement because of innovation, change, or updates you will slowly cease to be. Some people are so resistant to progress that it leads to stagnation and then death.

Where do you fall?

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