In change management, is anything supposed to be hidden or is it better to be fully transparent in your approach?

In No Hidden Meanings: An Illustrated Eschatological Laundry List" by Sheldon B. Kopp, the author presents a list of apparently unchangeable "truths" while asserting that nothing is ever hidden.

I have rearranged the order of the list to follow the Decision-Maker's Path (tm). See what difference it makes when you have an imaginary discussion and ask the questions and get Kopp's answers, given his unchangeable "truths."

1. Where are you coming from?

This is it! How strange, that so often it all seems worth it. Everyone is, in his own way, vulnerable. Progress is an illusion. Nothing lasts. Yet, it is necessary to keep on struggling toward solutions.

2. Where do you want to go with the issue?

What do you know...for sure...anyway?

3. What are you waiting for?

Childhood is a nightmare. No excuses will be accepted. All of you is worth something, if you only own it. You can't get there from here, and besides, there's no place else to go.

4. What are your wise ones generally advising?

You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences. You can run, but you can't hide.

5. How are the pros and cons of your issue balancing out?

We must learn the power of living with our helplessness. Yet we are responsible for everything we do.

6. What are the "Powers That Be" saying?

You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless. There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.

7. What is your real agenda?

All of the significant battles are waged within the self. There are no great men. If you have a hero look again: you have diminished yourself in some way. Everyone lies, cheats and pretends.

8. What facts and reasons are you contending with?

The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune. But it is so very hard to be an on-your-own-take-care-of-yourself-cause-there-is-no-one-else-to-do-it-for-you grown up. It is most important to not run out of scapegoats.

9. What insights and oversights are emerging?

All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data. There is no way of getting all you want. You can't have anything unless you let go of it. You only get to keep what you give away. We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power, and partial knowledge. The only victory lies in surrender with ourselves. You don't really control anything.

10. How are you going to tell your decision?

No one else is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else. We have only ourselves, and one another. That may not be much, but that is all there is. Love is not enough, but it sure helps.

11. What are you willing to risk to gain what you can only hope for with your answer?

Evil can be displaced but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems. All evil is potential vitality in need of transformation. The most important things, each man must do for himself. Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again...

12. What is signaling you that the decision you discern is the right one?

You can't make anyone love you. Each of us is ultimately alone. We are all already dying, and we will be dead for a long time. It is a random universe to which we bring meaning. THERE ARE NO HIDDEN MEANINGS.

Do you not see the hidden meaning in this list now? Or is the meaning transparent to you?

Can any meaningful or significant change be managed successully without addressing such "truths" and certain levels of the meaning of life, when any or all are held by co-workers?

Is there a necessary or desirable reason for anything to be ultimately hidden in change management?

See answers from others at LinkedIn.

John Darrouzet