I was convinced of that today during a meeting at work. I’ve been planting the blogging seeds at work for several months, with some success at the IT management level, but was reminded quite aggressively by a coworker that some people have a real hard time with something new.

To some people, change brings disruption, uncertainty, fear, and anger. Obviously they don’t understand what a blog is for or what it can be utilized for. The reaction I experienced today has made me certain that there are some people that you simply can’t reach. Their ability to grasp new concepts and really understand the significance of the difference from existing ideas is a wall blocking their ability to learn new skills.

The amazing thing to me is that intelligent people actually fear things. Rather than take a minute or two and actually listen to a quick explanation or demonstration, they simply make knee-jerk assumption and move on, not knowing what they missed.

Oh well, more opportunity for me!

UPDATE: If anyone is interested in a tactic to address some of the things I’ve talked about here – check out Ann Michael’s post The Change Resistors: Snipers on her Manage To Change blog.  There are some great tips on dealing with individuals who enjoy shooting down ideas simply because of lack of understanding.