Companies that claim to be “transforming” seem to be everywhere. But when you look more deeply into whether those organizations are truly redefining what they are and what they do, stories of successful change efforts are exceptionally rare. In a study of S&P 500 and Global 500 firms, our team found that those leading the most successful transformations, creating new offerings and business models to push into new growth markets, share common characteristics and strategies. Before describing those, let’s look at how we identified the exceptional firms that rose to the top of our ranking, a group we call the Transformation 10.
What the Best Transformational Leaders Do
Learn from Jeff Bezos and Reed Hastings.
May 08, 2017
Summary.
Companies that claim to be transforming seem to be everywhere. But stories of successful change efforts are exceptionally rare. A study of S&P 500 and Global 500 firms reveals that those leading the most successful transformations – creating new offerings and business models to push into new-growth markets – share five common characteristics and strategies: Transformational CEOs tend to be “insider outsiders;” they use culture change to drive engagement; they strategically pursue two separate journeys; they communicate powerful narratives about the future; and they develop a roadmap before disruption takes hold.
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New!
HBR Learning
Strategy Planning and Execution Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Strategy Planning and Execution. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
How to develop a winning strategy—and put it to work.