Change is the algorithm of life, keeping things moving forward. Without change, we get stuck. With it, we experience many emotions. Anxiety, excitement, jeopardy.
As we get older and start to settle down, with families, mortgages and careers, change becomes more complex. One decision affects ten others.
Then, when we get older again, with grown up children and more time on our hands, change becomes a mission: a pursuit of simplicity, calm, balance.
But not for everyone.
Because change demands courage. It asks us to take risks, to step into the unknown. And many people can’t. They hesitate. Held back by fear, doubt, a lack of confidence, encouragement or adventure.
For those people, indecision quietly becomes a decision. And change, like a storm at night, passes by unseen.
For the dreamers like me, change is a constant reflection point; but more often than not, it relates to Made Open and the change we’re trying to create.
At the start of 2025, however, I turned that question inward. I set aside the social change that has driven our business for so long and began to think about the personal changes I wanted for myself.
So I stepped down as CEO of Made Open, hoping to create a less stressful future, with less responsibility.
It was going well but it wasn’t to be. For with change, sometimes you are not the driver but the passenger.
Four months after stepping down, I had to step back in. Not my choice but one I accept and am comfortable with.
Because in those four months, I glimpsed the future. And I’ve realised: being a CEO needn’t pull me away from that. In fact, it could be the vehicle that carries me to it.
So, to anyone facing a difficult change, whether you fear it or it has been thrust upon you, my advice is simple: look for the positive.
Looking back rarely opens doors, looking forward nearly always does.