“All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.” ~Ellen Glasgow

In late July of 2009, a name that has in many ways defined Chicago for more than 30 years, since 1973 in fact, will disappear.  The Sears Tower will become The Willis Tower.  Now this is strictly about money and corporate ego – this was part of the deal for leasing some space in the building.  Still, as a former long-term Chicago resident, I must say that this decision sucks – I will even go so far as to say that it is stupid.  The backlash is already significant and growing.  You can read more about this decision here at The Chicago Tribune Online.

Check This Before You Make a Change!

Now I am a big believer in change; there was a time that I even identified myself as “An Agent of Change”.  My training in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and my many years of coaching have made me an expert in helping others to change – changing associations, changing limiting beliefs, changing whatever is stopping or slowing them from achieving their goals.  Still, before I change anything, I always carefully explore the ecology of the change on the entire system.  That system might be the life of an individual or the life of a corporation, but I am going to make sure that all of the repercussions (good and bad) of a change are explored in-depth before I make them.  In the case of the property owner of the Sears Tower, I think they did a terrible job of checking and evaluating ecology.

I doubt that much can be done to stop this idiocy at this point.  I am writing this blog entry and my readers, many of which are in the Chicago area, may take some action.  There are websites devoted to protesting this decision and I am sure that the landlord and Mayor of Chicago receive negative correspondence daily.  For me, I have done what it makes sense for me to do about this, at this time, and here is the lesson that I choose to keep with me:  “Be very careful to fully check the complete ecology of a change before you make it.  There are often significant unexpected consequences, commonly negative.  Never change something just because you can – if something has been around for a significant period of time, it is likely to be doing lots of good somewhere/somehow or it would not still be around.”

Goodbye Sears Tower.  I made a point of visiting the Sears Tower every time I traveled back to Chicago – looks the Hancock Tower is getting my business now.

Till next time…Jack

“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.” ~Clarence Darrow