“Growth does not come without change.” – John Ratcliffe
Leaders face a brutal truth: what got you here won’t get you there. The systems supporting your current success become tomorrow’s limitations. Your carefully constructed processes—once innovative—calcify into barriers.
Where are you resisting necessary change?
The data confirms this pattern. A McKinsey study found 70% of transformation efforts fail, primarily because organizations protect what works today rather than building what’s needed tomorrow.
Consider Fujifilm. When digital photography threatened to eliminate its film business, it didn’t optimize film production—it leveraged its chemical expertise to pivot into cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and high-performance materials. That deliberate self-disruption required exceptional courage.
Your team watches closely. They don’t hear your words about innovation—they observe your willingness to let go of comfortable practices. When you protect inefficient processes because “that’s how we’ve always done it,” you signal fear, not leadership.
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy
Growth demands more than improvement. It requires reinvention.
The question isn’t whether you’ll need to change—it’s whether you’ll do it proactively or reactively. Proactive transformation happens by choice, while reactive transformation happens by force.
Which would you prefer?
