What Yijing Can Teach Us About Living and Leading in an Uncertain World
There is one thing in life that almost everyone wants—but nobody can have.
We want good things to remain unchanged.
When business is good, we want it to stay good. When our career is successful, we want success to continue. When we are healthy, we want our health to remain.
When we love someone, we hope that love will never change. We even wish that we could remain young forever.
But Yijing teaches us one uncomfortable truth:
Nothing remains unchanged.
The Chinese scholar Nan Huaijin, in discussing the Yijing, highlighted three fundamental ideas: change (变易), simplicity (简易), and constancy within change (不易).
And the first is change.
Everything in the universe is changing.
People change. Relationships change. Businesses change. Technology changes.
Markets change. Our bodies change.
Our thoughts change.
Even things that appear lifeless are constantly undergoing change.
We may dislike change. We may resist it. But we cannot stop it.
And perhaps that is why the book is called Yijing — the Book of Changes.
The Problem Is Not Change
The problem is that we often want life to remain exactly as it is.
When we are successful, we become comfortable. When we have a good relationship, we assume it will always remain good. When our business model works, we keep repeating it.
When we possess valuable knowledge, we assume that knowledge will continue to make us valuable.
Then the world changes.
AI arrives. A competitor emerges. Customers behave differently. A relationship changes. Our health changes.
Suddenly, yesterday's answer no longer solves today's problem.
This is where the wisdom of Yijing becomes extraordinarily relevant.
Yijing does not teach us how to prevent change.
It teaches us 变通 — how to understand change, adapt to it, and move through it wisely.
Water Gives Us a Beautiful Example
Think of water. When water encounters a rock, it does not complain: "Why is this rock blocking me?"
It does not waste all its energy trying to destroy the rock. It changes direction.
Yet it continues towards its destination. This is an important distinction.
Adaptation does not mean abandoning your purpose.
Your direction may change while your deeper purpose remains.
Your strategy may change while your values remain.
Your methods may change while your principles remain.
That is wisdom.
This Is Leadership in the AI Era
Today, leaders face perhaps one of the fastest periods of change in human history.
AI can perform work that once required years of education and experience.
Business models are being disrupted. Skills are becoming obsolete. What worked five years ago may not work five years from now.
The natural response is fear: "Will AI replace me?"
But Yijing encourages us to ask a better question:
"Since change is already happening, how should I change with it?"
That is a completely different mindset. Instead of fearing change, we study it.
Instead of resisting uncertainty, we look for the opportunity hidden inside it.
Instead of desperately protecting yesterday, we prepare ourselves for tomorrow.
Yijing Is Not About Predicting Your Future
This is perhaps one of the greatest misunderstandings about Yijing.
People often associate it primarily with fortune-telling. But its deeper value is much greater.
Yijing teaches us how to understand situations so that we can respond appropriately to them.
- When circumstances change, our response must sometimes change.
- When timing changes, our strategy may need to change.
- When people change, our leadership approach may need to change.
The wise person therefore does not simply ask: "What will happen to me?"
The wiser question is: "Given what is happening, what should I do now?"
That small change in question can change an entire life.
The Wisdom We Need Most Today
We cannot stop ageing. We cannot stop technology. We cannot stop competitors. We cannot stop people from changing. And we certainly cannot stop the world from changing.
But we can develop the wisdom to respond.
That, to me, is one of the greatest gifts of Yijing.
Change is inevitable.
Suffering from change is not.
Wisdom is learning how to change with change.
This is why I wrote Yijing Explained – 2025 Revised Edition.
My purpose is not merely to explain 64 ancient hexagrams.
It is to make the timeless wisdom of Yijing understandable and practical for modern people—so that we can apply it to our careers, businesses, leadership, relationships, wealth and everyday decisions.
Because in an age of AI, disruption and uncertainty, perhaps the most valuable ability is not knowing everything.
It is knowing how to respond when everything changes.
You cannot stop change.
But when you understand change, change can become your opportunity.
That is Yijing, get Yijing Explained at here https://asiatrainers.org/yjbook. One book $35, 2 books $39.9, contact andythecoach@gmail.com
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