The late British novelist Arnold Bennett penned, “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawback and discomfort.” I can only imagine what he'd say now, given society's incredible pace of change. Despite the drawbacks and discomforts, change is good and a culture that embraces this motto can go further and faster than one that does not.

It's important for me to qualify my remarks by noting that change for the sake of change is not particularly good. For example, I have seen many IT executives make changes for the sake of their own legacy, or to simply look like they're doing something important. That type of change usually leads to failure because change requires perseverance, and people have a hard time rallying behind (and staying focused on) an effort with ambiguous benefits. Similarly, efforts that don't tie directly to business goals and the company's mission tend to fail because people (especially CEOs) want to work towards something tangible.

As Bennett noted, change has both drawbacks and discomfort. While volumes of work exist on the psychology of change, most people can relate to a simple truth: some people love it, and some people don't. People tend to exhibit consistent characteristics and personalities, which I categorize (from a non-psychological view) thusly:

1. Change Seekers – this type is constantly looking for change. They're an ally except when they get impatient or bored. Since they want change, adoption happens for them very quickly, but since they crave change, they create it even when it's not necessary.
2. Change Embracers – the positive types that see most change as a good thing and help facilitate change.
3. Pessimists – this type challenges change but in the face of clear benefit(s), has no problem embracing it. They just don't embrace change by default.
4. The Wall – they resist change for the sake of resisting change. They sometimes quit rather than change.

Understanding these types of personalities can help you work with them to facilitate change. For example, the change seeker makes for a great beta tester, the embracer is good for constructive criticism, the pessimist is good to bounce ideas off of, and the wall…well, the wall is the wall.