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Essays on Leadership and Management

The Fast and The Cautious

Transformations in large enterprises follow a surprising pattern.

"Larger the enterprise, slower the change", you might say. When there are thousands of people affected by change, hundreds need to approve. Right? This might be true for 'operational' changes or system changes. Changing something that transforms the culture, speed or nature of the organization does not follow this rule. More often the change looks like a trickle that turned to a tsunami.

The catalyst for such a change is typically a vision coming from up top. No amount of middle management initiative or pitching can effect such a transformation. It's a whole different story if the organization is small to medium sized. A typical multi-national company needs enought top-down incentive to bring transformation momentum.