The Playbook for Leading Change

Leaders continually receive multiple messages on how to lead successful organizational change. “Create buy-in. Model the way. Connect strategies to the organization’s vision. Garner input. Engage others in decisions. Co-design strategies.” The confusion created by these multiple messages has contributed to a high failure rate in change initiatives, as organizations struggle with watered-down approaches that offer generic solutions instead of tailored, practical guidance. This book is a compendium of simple, easy-to-implement change strategies that work - all in one source. When working with organizations such as American Express, Mayo Clinic, Eaton, Honeywell, Target, AT&T, US Bancorp, Kraft Foods, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, Nabisco, PepsiCo, and The New York Times, the authors have witnessed firsthand how leaders struggled with conflicting messages from various “flavor-of-the-month” models. The complexity of today’s organizational environments -- especially post-pandemic -- has only magnified this challenge. Leaders seek clarity amid the noise and need strategies that are adaptable to their unique environments. The Playbook for Leading Change provides simple, concrete strategies that, with a little help from AI, can be customized for immediate action—so leaders can breathe a sigh of relief with more confidence. When these strategies are implemented in manageable “baby steps” using five core change principles, the probability of success improves significantly. This book presents hard evidence in a nonacademic fashion by showing why these strategies work and how to engage them most effectively. It helps leaders move beyond “gut instinct,” which sometimes works but often fails, and instead adopt evidence-based approaches that can be applied with confidence. With organizational environments becoming increasingly complex, the need for clear, reliable, and practical solutions to change challenges is more compelling than ever. Essentially, the authors provide a precise and quick read that will lead to tactical strategies for leading organizational change. They have taken the best-of-the-best practices from their three contexts (as leaders, consultants, and professors) and merged them into a single, straightforward book -- it offers one-stop shopping for those who need practical guidance on navigating change. The Playbook for Leading Change demystifies the process, equipping leaders with tools and insights that cut through the confusion and enable them to lead change initiatives with greater success.