Revisiting Again | Change or Evolve in 2025?

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Commentary by Farrell Tan

Back in 2020, I wrote about the tension between “change” and “evolve.” We were all staring down the disruptions of the big “C,” trying to figure out whether real progress comes from forcing change or letting ourselves evolve.

I’d shared this small anecdote i.e., a teenager insisting his parents had changed him, while they countered that he had simply evolved: picking what to adopt, what to ignore, and how to apply it. It was a family debate, but the truth of it stuck with me. People rarely change because someone tells them to. They evolve because the environment nudges them and because they choose to.

Fast forward to 2025. Different buzzwords, new fires to put out. Yet the same question keeps creeping back in: do we change, or do we evolve?

Change is noisier than ever

You don’t need to look far.

AI is rewriting job scopes faster than HR can keep up. Hybrid work -- once the great hope -- now means half your team’s on mute and the other half’s halfway to burnout. Everyone’s got an ESG dashboard, but how many are actually walking the talk?

And then there’s the generational shift. Gen Z has become the engine room of Southeast Asia’s workforce, and Gen Alpha’s already peeking through the door. They want transparency, inclusivity, and meaning, and they’re not wrong.

In short: change today isn’t a polite knock on the door. It’s a battering ram.

But evolution -- that’s different

Change, in its rawest form, is knee-jerk. It’s the company slapping “AI-powered” on every product. The introvert forcing themselves into extrovert mode at every meeting. It’s survival instinct; fast, flashy, and usually unsustainable.

Evolution is quieter. Slower. More deliberate. It’s where growth happens.

It’s the Malaysian SME integrating AI not because it’s trendy, but because it makes workflow smarter. It’s the Thai manufacturer weaving green goals into its supply chain instead of just the sustainability report. It’s the Singapore start-up rethinking hybrid work so flexibility doesn’t mean always on.

Evolution isn’t about speed. It’s about staying power.

For organisations in APAC, this isn’t theory anymore

Across SEA, we’re seeing two kinds of movement:

  • Incremental evolution: refining policies, nudging culture, streamlining processes.

  • Revolutionary leaps: AI-first strategies, borderless hiring, and sustainability-driven reinvention.

The art is knowing when to fine-tune… and when to leap.

Communicators have a front-row seat in all this

People don’t hate change. They hate change that feels dumped on them. Evolution, when it’s communicated well, feels like progress. And progress? That’s something people can get behind.

At Orchan, this has always been our playground. We’ve seen it play out across clients in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand; even when the starting point looked chaotic. The organisations that thrive aren’t those that react first. They’re the ones that evolve with intent, step by step, without losing sight of who they are.

Because orchestrating change (the kind that sticks) isn’t about shouting “new direction.” It’s about guiding people through it until it feels natural.

Five years on

My conclusion hasn’t changed much, but it’s clearer now: the winners in 2025 won’t be the ones chasing change the fastest. They’ll be the ones who evolve in ways that matter: to their people, their communities, and yes, their bottom line too.

If your organisation’s ready to evolve, not just react, we’d love to help you orchestrate that next step.

changenow@orchan.asia | +603-7972 6377


Original article: Revisiting | Change or Evolve?

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