For corporations around the world, radical change is the new normal. Even before an earthquake in the marketplace has finished reshaping one business, its vibrations have begun rippling through another one. Helping companies execute these organizational overhauls has become a sizeable — and, paradoxically, steady — cottage industry of its own. Indeed, some of us have staked our reputations and built our careers developing the ability to guide businesses through such upheavals and out of the shadow of a looming crisis. And so it’s only fair that we share one thing we’ve learned about radical change: It’s often unnecessary.
In our experience, too many senior leaders are shortsighted when it comes to change. They view it only in terms of a dramatic and monumental event, rather than the subtle journey that comes from recognizing understated environmental shifts, some of which first manifest themselves internally. Out of inertia, some managers maintain the status quo until these noticeable trends escalate into predicaments that can only be addressed by implementing radical change. It’s this perspective — or lack of it — that has to change. Companies end up needing structural surgery because their leaders’ own strategic practices do not allow them to sense the earliest symptoms. Their inadequacy puts their organizations’ lives in peril.
We encourage managers to think of the imperative for incremental change like this: Would you... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
Subscribe today to read this article.
Buy this article. Purchase one or more copies of this article in PDF form.
Subscribe today to read the most recent articles and the current issue of MIT Sloan Management Review.
Become a premium subscriber today to read this article and the entire archive of MIT SMR articles.
Sign in if you have registered already for the website
Do you subscribe the MIT Sloan Management Review in print? Enter the email address and password you used when ordering. Don't remember? Lookup your subscription account information
- Register for free access to recent articles and the current issue of MIT Sloan Management Review.
- Subscribe and read articles from the past three years online.
- Premium subscription give you access to the entire archive of articles.
