It sure would be terrific if business change happened the way the books say it’s supposed to happen: You have full support from the CEO, the company practices strong governance to make the right choices with its limited resources, resistance from line employees is your biggest barrier to success … you know, the Way Things are Supposed to Be.
It sure would be terrific. What usually happens instead when you’re given responsibility for a business change is
Organizational change is hard. The following syllogism, while popular, doesn’t explain why.
Major premise: Attempts at business change fail more often than they succeed.
Minor premise: When something goes wrong, it must be someone else’s fault (with “someone else” defined as “someone I can safely call them“).
Conclusion: Business change fails because employees (them to far too many business executives and managers) just naturally resist all change. Why? Because they’re too stupid to understand that all change is good.
