Why is it called ‘The Churning’?

People often ask me why this book is called “The Churning”. I tell them there are three reasons.

The first is because of the churning that is happening all around us: the changes in politics, the economy, society, technology, and of course in the environment. Together these have created a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. This is the outer, physical churning we face.

The second type of churning we face is the inner, emotional churning that we sometimes experience as a result of all these changes: the feelings of loss, uncertainty, anxiety, and even fear that naturally arise when so much change is happening all at once — and which can make us feel churned around like a sock in a washing machine. This is our inner, psychological and emotional churning.

And the third kind of churning is the type that turns cream into butter: the churning that makes us stronger and more valuable. Because the fact is that change is nothing new, change has always been with us**. The only difference today is the rate and scale of the changes that are happening. So if we develop new skills, attitudes, tools, and techniques we can learn to handle even this higher rate of change — and then we can start to use the change as an opportunity to become clearer about what matters most to us and more able to achieve that.