#82 Colin Savage: A Change Addict’s Quest Across Borders—From Canada to Japan and Beyond — Part Two
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What is Colin Savage's journey as a change addict?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. This is a three-part series with Colin Selvidge. In part one, the first episode, we'll dive into Colin's fascinating journey as a self-proclaimed change addict turned change guru. Colin's career spans continents, cultures, and industries, seven countries lived in, seven more seconded to, and projects in over 70 nations. From organizational transformation to personal reinvention, he has mastered the art of embracing change and applying those lessons to life. In this conversation, Colin unpacks his unique perspective on change. How throwing himself into the unknown led to unparalleled growth and insight.
From leaving Canada with nothing but a suitcase and ambition, to navigating industries from telecommunications to financial services, Colin shares how the constant evolution around him became his greatest teacher. In the next episodes, we'll explore the learning required for transformation, why Colin believes lifelong learning is outdated and skills decking is the future. And finally, in part three, we'll tackle AI, human intelligence, and why every one of us needs a personal AI strategy. Buckle up, this one is a ride. Like you said, one of the threats running through your experience is change, and strategy You've worked with so many firms and organizations, guiding them through their transformations, so you must have seen countless business cases unfold.
What have you learned from these consulting projects and organization change initiatives that could apply to individual situations? Are there lessons from these business cases that also resonate on a personal level? especially when we face dilemmas or crossroads in our own lives.
One example is going to be a bit of a surprise to people because they will have read, potentially, how traditional this country is. And this is Japan. So I lived in Japan, as I mentioned, for quite a long time. And with a job in a flight insurance company, we're in Japan. Brazil, we're seeing something that's a bit unique. In Japan, one of the largest minorities and they are people who travel to Japan as youth. They have access to visas and other things, and they start their working life in Japan. So they're actually indoctrinated. They learn working culture from being in Japanese companies, a lot of them, and otherwise. They learn things like, hey, life insurance is important. You need to have it. The discussion went, how are we going to go build this business idea? And
What came about was I learned that change, individual, team, and otherwise, comes from doing a lot of promotion. So Japan is a lot about individual conversations to get support or get direction. Big organizations are great at providing that direction, but often indirectly. You have to be acute to the change. So, hey, why don't we consider this? Why don't we do that? But also, it's measured and it's planned change. You can't just come up with an idea and throw it at people and get them to say yes or no. You've got to research your idea. This is the market size. These are the people. Look, they would buy. This is how it would benefit them if they stayed where they are or then when they moved back. This is how we could think.
a dovetail or a pipeline into getting new people in a new market we might make. So it took a lot of time, but I was very surprised and very proud that we actually managed to get this kind of a lead. We, I got support from lovely people within the organization. They provided their time to me. We moved ahead. It took two years, but the change did happen. And it was actually a real shining example of just because you think a culture and a group of people are traditional in their practices, doesn't mean they're averse to change. You just need to be, from that change addict thing we were talking about, Not willy-nilly, not, hey, let's just do it for the sake of doing it.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is Colin Savage's journey as a change addict?
0:11–6:12
2
How can collective decisions enhance personal change?
6:12–9:57
3
What is the difference between lifelong learning and skill stacking?
9:57–12:15
4
How can cultural perspectives influence change initiatives?
12:15–17:00
5
What are the challenges of implementing change in traditional organizations?
17:00–20:26
6
How do personal relationships affect career decisions?
20:26–23:48
7
What role does continuous learning play in personal growth?
23:48–30:51
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Chief Change Officer™: Ensemble
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