Follow me back to 2001 to midtown Manhattan. I promise it will help you see how some old leadership habits die hard.
This story may also help you avert similar costly career and company mistakes.
I walked into a marble-encrusted, swanky Class A office tower to meet one of the world’s most revered investment banks.
The first person I spotted on the elevator was dressed to the nines. She was wearing a $5,000 ivory Chanel suit with matching pumps and purse. The wealth represented in that elevator car probably matched that of a small island nation.
I had been transplanted to a city far from my flip-flop San Diego town.
I wish I was feeling sunny that day, but this was going to be a tough meeting.
I worked for a $2B enterprise software company, and the President assigned me to a five-person SWAT team. We only visited big at-risk customer accounts. I cannot mention names here. You would recognize them immediately.
They needed us to help them make sense of their 7- and 8-figure CRM investments. In this scene, the chairman of the board had called our CEO. He threatened to unplug our software and ask for a $10 million refund.
The intentions behind their big transformation from a paper-based client engagement and deal making system to a fully automated platform fell on deaf ears.
Bottom line: this company was not ready for real transformation. Our sales team had showed them the potential of using CRM—but had forgotten one group in the discussions: their high performing deal makers.
Persuading high net worth investment bankers to change their habit of doing deal-making on cocktail napkins to a “single view of the client” team approach simply wasn’t happening.
And here we are, facing similar pushback as we embark on personal and AI-powered transformation in today’s business world.
Based on the 170+ clients I have advised over the past two decades, I’m seeing how our old definition of transformation, coupled with the speed of change, is no longer serving us. And our stakeholders suffer.
Here’s the good news. Some companies are leading successful, healthy transformations and customer focused initiatives. I get to work with some of them and share their (anonymous) stories.
That’s why I hope you will join me on October 4th from 11-11.25 a.m. Eastern.
In this Friday’s episode of The Mindful Marketer, we unpack the most common transformation traps. You’ll also learn:
- A modern-day definition of transformation
- The 4 layers of transformation
- Why resilience doesn’t work when you’re leading transformation
- Examples of successes and failures
- My top resources for leading high stakes change in your organization
Here’s the link to register. Be sure to register if you cannot attend—you will get the replay.
We have entered a new season of how we work, lead, and learn.
Are you ready to shed your old Chanel?
This post was completely written by me — a human. I did not use generative AI.
© 2024, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved. lisanirell.com.