Executive Overview Many organizations find themselves trapped on a “transformation treadmill”—repeated cycles of bold restructurings aimed at fixing the damage left by previous ones. These constant shake-ups often lead to change fatigue, eroded morale, and a diversion of resources from innovation to organizational cleanup. While fundamental changes are sometimes necessary, the most effective leaders manage transformations by minimizing the need for themthrough the cultivation of a healthy, self-renewing business ecosystem.
1. Mastering Systems Management Rather than managing isolated parts, successful leaders view the business as a complex, living system where the performance of the whole depends on synergistic relationships.
-
The “Brick-by-Brick” Approach: Mike Mahoney (CEO of Boston Scientific) broke the cycle of serial reinventions by focusing on strategic fit. He replaced unrealistic hype with “realistic hope,” aligning the company’s purpose with market growth and innovation advantages.
-
Optimization of Strategic Fit: By constantly sensing shifts and pruning unproductive activities, organizations can evolve in sync with the real world, avoiding the trauma of large-scale upheaval.
2. Detecting Emerging Realities Early The need for desperate transformations often stems from neglecting underlying problems for too long.
-
Forward-Looking Metrics: Effective measurement systems rely on metrics designed with the people using them. They shift focus from “gotcha” report cards to learning systems that track market growth rates and innovation quality rather than just output counts.
-
Combining Data with Human Judgment: Leaders must leverage both empirical evidence and intuition to ask: “What is the cost of delay?” and “What ripple effects could this change have across the broader system?”
3. Increasing Agility to Keep Crises Small Business agility allows organizations to turn unexpected disruptions into opportunities. Ed Catmull (Pixar) championed the idea of addressing small problems before they escalate into major crises.
-
Open-Innovation and Psychological Safety: Encouraging teams to show work-in-progress and conduct postmortems fosters a culture where truth is prioritized over ego.
-
The “Notes Day” Strategy: Instead of standard “rightsizing,” mobilizing the full workforce to solve productivity challenges unleashes potential and reinforces a collective “winning spirit.”
4. Growing Value Through Stakeholder Alignment Transformations often fail when they merely shift value from one group (e.g., employees) to another (e.g., shareholders) under pressure.
-
Collaborative Value Creation: Satya Nadella (Microsoft) revitalized the firm by shifting from a zero-sum mentality to an ecosystem-wide collaboration, embracing open-source and strategic partnerships.
-
AI-Assisted Impact Assessment: Emerging AI tools can now simulate how different stakeholder segments will react to strategic shifts, allowing leaders to optimize for fairness, trust, and long-term value creation.
Source: https://hbr.org/2026/01/get-off-the-transformation-treadmill?ab=HP-magazine-text-2