A short on-location interview (outside Buckingham Palace) between Kimberly Crowe and Natasha (associated with Spiral Dynamics) that uses the ceremonial "changing of the guard" as a metaphor for transitions in business. They contrast historical/traditional continuity (traditions, branding, identity) with the need to adapt (technology, security, organizational roles), advising entrepreneurs to keep stabilizing anchors while deliberately changing what no longer serves the new world. The piece is conversational, lightly humorous, and ends with a brief sign-off.
Chapters
Hey, folks, it's Kimberly Hobscheid with Entrepreneurs Rocket Fuel and we are here outside of Buckingham palace looking at. Looking for the changing of the guard. And change is really important. So I have here with me Natasha from Spiral Dynamics, who is a change master.
Change is super important and there are all kinds of sizes of change and I'd like to invite you to consider the size of your change. What does Buckingham palace have to do with change? Well, we've got the changing of the guard and what's important with the changing of the guard is they didn't. They were. Not today they're ornamental. But it wasn't always so, was it, Kimberly?
Actually, as a matter of fact, the changing of the guard was an important piece in order to make sure that they didn't fall over when they were locking their knees and blood was rushing away from their head so that they had a chance to relax and sit down and. And then when they were back on duty that they could stay perfectly still and maintain that for a period of time. But the changing of the guard was in order to allow them some respite for from being on guard. And they were very responsible for protecting the palace at the time, guarding that and protecting it as their soldiers. But today things are different.
So they were on guard.
That's right.
And now we still have this ceremonial changing of the guard, but they're not actually protecting the guys with the big guns are hidden somewhere else in the castle.
They have AK47s and there's technology and there's all kinds of different things.
Did you see? I did that. Palace, castle. You see, here's the thing. As Americans, you know, castles, palaces, it's all the same thing, right? You know, they're done in like, they're built in like 1201 or 102 or, you know, something that's amazingly historic.
And for us, you know, it's 200 years. 200 years is a big deal for Americans, but it's not really all that old here in Britain, which is also.
An example of how things do and don't change. Right. There's an anchoring of things that keep us safe, that keep us secure, that keep us st. And sometimes the world around us can change. So as I began with change and transition, what are the things in your life that might be shifting and changing and where do you need stability like this ornamental stability of the changing of the guards.
That's right. So there may be tradition in your business, there may be branding in your business that you want to hang on to. There may be pieces of your business that you want to hang on to, but don't allow that to stop you from implementing things that are really important to. To acknowledge in your business that do need to change. Is there something in your business that needs to transition into the new world so that you can be. Oh, see how I tied in the new world? I love how you tied in the new world. The old world and the new world.
So the palace itself is, I think, the normal place where they hang out, and then the castle is where they vacation in the summer. I think we'll double check that. Do not take what I say is of, you know, about history, of value, because I think I made that up. That's right. But it's okay because, you know, old world, new world. See, in the new world, you don't care about kings and queens. It's kind of this, you know, really anachronistic kind of a notion. But for some people, this is super important. If it's super important to them, you want to honor some of that.
That's right. And there are traditions that are surrounding the royalty here in the uk and there are traditions that are maintained even though that there has been change. And parliament serves a much larger role than it did in the past. And the royalty serves a different role, a different capacity, if you will.
So in transition, pay attention to the things that need to stay safe and stable and anchored to the core of one's identity, and also pay attention to those things that need to change.
Absolutely. Absolutely. So thanks for hanging with us today.
I'm Kimberly, this is Natasha from Spiral Dynamics.
