Getting Curious Instead of Getting Stuck

How do you feel about Daylight Saving Time?

As a morning person who loves early light and has observed that standard time may, indeed, better support our circadian rhythms, I’m not a fan. 

However, for everyone grumbling about dark mornings this week, there’s someone else celebrating longer, lighter evenings.

Whenever I run a poll on this topic, the results are almost always split evenly—half prefer bright mornings, half prefer brighter evenings.

And when a third choice is added—“Pick one, just don’t keep changing it”—the results divide into equal thirds.

At one time, Daylight Saving Time and the process of changing clocks back and forth made sense, at least to some.

Some argued that it helped to conserve energy during WW1 and WW1.

Later, it was said to help conserve energy during the oil crisis.

And, as recently as 2021, some officials have proposed keeping DST year round as part of the “Sunshine Protection Act.” 

We can think about this debate in the context of leadership and change management.

Change is complicated.

The response to proposed change is sometimes, “This is how we’ve always done it.”

Or, “it's too hard to change it now.”

And even if we were to change it, about half of the population would likely be unhappy with the decision 

Even when data suggests Standard Time may be better for our health, many still prefer Daylight Saving Time for the lifestyle benefits it offers—like playing in a softball league after work, taking an evening family walk after a long commute, or, simply not caring about sunrises, as a friend explained to me this past week:

“Give me an 8pm sunset! Lol I don’t go outside early except Saturday mornings for beach volleyball and there’s enough light by 8am when we start so I’m good! I’ve seen maybe 5 sunrises my whole life 😹.”

Values shape how we feel about all sorts of things—our company’s remote work policy, what’s in our food, and yes, whether the sun rises at 6:43 or 7:43.

By getting curious about what drives other people’s perspectives, we can better understand their opinions and decisions –whether we are rolling out a big initiative at work, or navigating a heated conversation about a heated issue. 

What do you think?