Are you dealing with change or uncertainty? This probably sounds like an obvious question! It seems everyone in our orbit is managing through some level of change. At the same time, we are all dealing with uncertainty stemming from policy changes in Washington, not to mention radical changes brought about by artificial intelligence. How do we effectively manage through these challenging times? How do we plan with so many unknowns and moving targets?

Our guest columnist, Chris Schmelzer, is no stranger to leading companies through change as the Chief Change Officer for ChangeMindset. Chris lives in West Michigan and his firm provides change leadership coaching to Fortune 500 companies. He has valuable perspective for us all.

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Digging for Dinosaurs – A Mantra for Leading Change in The Modern Work Environment. By Chris Schmelzer

A team of paleontologists spent weeks carefully unearthing what they believed were the bones of a mighty T. Rex.

Excitement grew with each fragment they uncovered, their vision of the dinosaur slowly taking shape.

But as they pieced it all together, they realized the bones belonged to an entirely different creature – a gentle, long-necked, Camelopard.

What they thought they were digging for wasn’t what they found, but the discovery was just as valuable.

“Digging for dinosaurs” is an analogy for finding clarity during times of change and uncertainty.

The concept is discussed in the book Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar.

The metaphor reflects Pixar’s approach to uncovering deeper insights and refining ideas.

In the book, the creative team at Pixar likens filmmaking to the process of unearthing dinosaur fossils at a dig site.

“You’re digging away, and you don’t know what dinosaur you’re digging for,” says Bob Peterson, a Pixar creative.

“Then, you reveal a little bit of it. And you may be digging in two different places at once and you think what you have is one thing, but as you go farther and farther, blindly digging, it starts revealing itself.”

This metaphor illustrates that, much like paleontologists who gradually uncover fossils to understand the complete structure of a dinosaur, leaders must patiently and persistently work through the unknowns of change to reveal the full potential of their vision.

In the context of leading change, this approach encourages embracing uncertainty and being flexible.

What you need to awaken to, is a knowing that the true nature of the change, often becomes clear only through diligent exploration(action).

And more importantly, your willingness or flexibility to adjust your perspective, will help bring the change to life.

By adopting this mindset, as leader of change, you can more effectively guide your team and your stakeholders through transformation.

It is in this way of being, that you foster a culture that values continuous learning and resilience in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity.

In 2025 the changes we are experiencing in the workplace are accelerating.  With the acceleration of these changes, it is very easy to become gripped by fear and uncertainty.

Leading us to question where we are heading.

However, if we can adopt a new mindset, one of exploration, curiosity, and adventure, we can see the changes that we need to unlock in our teams and organizations, not as something to be feared, but something to be found.

If you are leading change in 2025 – which I know you will be – adopt the mantra “Digging for Dinosaurs”.

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Great advice, Chris. Keep moving forward and adopt a new mindset filled with resilience, positivity, flexibility, open-mindedness and curiosity. If you’re looking at enhancing your culture… these are excellent tenets! Here are some takeaways we found in this piece:

• Change your mindset to embrace exploration, rather than stifling something that might be valuable.
• Encourage and foster curiosity with your team. Take concepts a few steps further.
• Instead of being risk averse, embrace change by imagining the positive that can come with new concepts and ideas.

Chris Schmelzer is the founder of the ChangeMindset Co. and is rewriting how we approach organizational change. His experience and research reveal a critical truth: most change management approaches are fundamentally broken. They treat change like a project, not a human experience.

This realization drove Chris to launch The ChangeMindset Co. which melds neuroscience, positive psychology and organizational change leadership to help enable change in the modern work world.

Chris works with leaders, teams and organizations to help them develop the capability to move from one comfort zone to a new comfort zone.  The future of organizational change is not about managing change and uncertainty—it is about developing the collective capability to thrive through it.

Connect with Chris here: linkedin.com/in/chris-schmelzer

Schedule time with Chris here: https://calendly.com/chiefchangeofficer/introduction-call