“Change before you have to.” Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.” John F. Kennedy
“The times they are a’changin” Bob Dylan
In 2025 The Mandt System turns 50! Imagine 50 years of working with people to make workplaces better and safer for everyone. To celebrate this milestone anniversary, in 2025 we will be releasing our newest edition of Mandt, currently being referred to as Mandt 3.0. Change is inherently neither a good or bad thing. We had a vision of where we wanted things to be when we were working on 2.0. We could not, however, incorporate all of the changes for a variety of reasons. With Mandt 3.0 we are making more changes to get us more in line with where we think we need to be. As the Jack Welch quotation earlier states, “Change before you have to.” We want to make sure that we stay on top of current information, methodologies, and technologies to provide you with the best possible material to help everyone lead a better life. We could continue with Mandt 2.0 for many more successful years, but as the JFK quote says, “those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.” We believe that Mandt 3.0 will be much more future focused. Rather than staying with the crowd, we want to be leading the way to a new and better future for everyone.
In our materials we talk about how consistency and predictability make people feel safe. Change would seem to go against that basic idea. A definition of change, however, is to replace (something) with something else, especially something of the same kind that is newer or better. If people know that one thing is being changed to make it newer or better, that should help them to feel safe with the change. Also, over our 50 year history we have made many changes. I would like to think that what we are teaching and doing now is better than it was 50 years ago.
Just because something is newer or better does not mean that the old model was bad. It too was new at some point. The cars we are driving today, for example, have many safety features that did not exist before. I grew up in a period of no seat belts when both the front and back seats were bench seats. We know that seat belts and bucket seats are safer for people.
For those who have been with us for many years, thank you for your loyalty and support! For those who may be new to The Mandt System, welcome! We hope you and your organization will still be fully satisfied with us and our materials and products in the next 50 years! For those who have never experienced The Mandt System, take this as an opportunity to find out what we are about!
Dr.Dale Shannon – Director of Curriculum & Governance
