Mark Nadler [Archive.org URL]

Any genuine shift in strategy implies a change in emphasis; it might involve different customers or markets, new technologies or business processes, unfamiliar leadership styles or management techniques. This requires that leaders learn new skills and master new approaches—a big challenge in itself. Even more problematic, a new strategy undermines the organization’s political profile in very tangible ways. It alters priorities, resource allocations, and reporting relationships. It threatens the power, status, scope of responsibility, and business philosophies of important and influential people. Some will be incapable of learning new skills, whereas others will be unwilling to accept a revised role, much less a different approach to doing business. Whether they are unwilling or unable, some members of the senior team simply need to move on; the longer they stay in place, the more difficult it will be to implement the new strategy.

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