{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"We Not Me","title":"88% of change fails. How to be in the 12%, Part 1","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1453,"description":"We Not Me turns 150 episodes old this month, and Dan Hammond and Pia Lee are using the milestone to talk about something every leader running a transformation is quietly grappling with: why 88% of organisational transformations fail — up from 70% not long ago. Prompted by a Forbes article on the subject, they dig into why \"transformation\" so often becomes corporate shorthand for restructuring, downsizing, or otherwise firing people, and why that confusion poisons trust before the real work even starts.\nThe conversation centres on Charles Handy's sigmoid curve — the idea that any curve of growth eventually turns downward, and that a new curve must be started while the old one is still rising, not after it's collapsed. Dan and Pia unpack why this is so hard in practice: leaders can see the need for change most clearly, but their teams are always a few steps behind on the emotional journey. Drawing on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's stages of grief and William Bridges' distinction between change and transition, they argue that transformation isn't a communications exercise — it's an individual, leader-led process of helping people let go of identity, status, and habit before they can move toward something new.\nKey Themes & Takeaways\nTransformation failure rates have climbed from 70% to 88% — and much of that is definitional: restructuring, downsizing, and \"realignment\" get dressed up as transformation, which employees correctly read as \"you're fired,\" not \"you're transformed.\"\nCharles Handy's sigmoid curve shows that a new curve must start before the current one peaks — but because performance looks fine on the way up, leaders struggle to convince anyone that change is urgent until it's too late.\nThe transition zone between two curves is genuinely painful: old and new parts of the business end up competing for resources and legitimacy, with the \"old\" side feeling like the unwanted stepchild funding a new venture that isn't yet profitable.\nPeople don't just resist change...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/cTxm0uMo1AuvRTsg1GhIjdn998MJJQ_xMMLaqK_LTcA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zOTk3/MThmYWIxNDllNjc2/YzEwZjVhOWNmZjVm/ODNmNi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}