Book Review: Who Killed Change?

Who Killed Change?

A body lies dead on the floor with no apparent injury. Agent McNally races to the scene of the crime, the ACME organization. It was his third homicide case of the month all with the same last name – Change.

In a book written in the style of a Detective Colombo-style whodunit, motivational speaker and uber management author Ken Blanchard addresses the different factors in an organization that can maim or kill change.

Nearly 70 percent of all change initiatives within a business fail, according to Blanchard, who co-authored the book “Who Killed Change?” with leadership consultant John Britt. Some die quickly while others die protracted, painful deaths that can dry up a company’s morale and resources.

With so many businesses trying to navigate their way through this topsy-turvy economy, it’s a timely book.

It’s a quick read and probably not your style if you like meaty, analytical business management books. But if a fun read in a clever fashion suit you, the book does a good job of outlining how to effectively lead people through change without disenfranchising them.

The book opens with the death of Change and follows with McNally’s interviews of characters such as the myopic Victoria Vision, perennially late manager Ernest Urgency and Clair Communications, who is stricken with laryngitis.

Bailey Budget tells Agent McNally that she’s a firm believer that the amount of money invested in a given Change should be directly proportional to the investment of effort and quality of work being done by members of the team such as Spence Sponsorship, Perry Plan and Carolina Culture.

“If these characters aren’t doing what’s necessary to enable Change, there is no reason for me to commit any funds to a Change that’s destined to fail,” she tells McNally. 

After the mystery is solved, the 143-page book offers a helpful chapter exploring the best practices and related questions identifying where a given change is set up to succeed and where it might fail.

For example, when looking at the issue of “sponsorship” related to change, it defines a sponsor as “a senior leader who has the formal authority to deploy resources toward the initiation, implementation and sustainability of a change initiative. It then recommends how to strengthen sponsorship of change by taking action like making sure that sponsors are modeling the behavior expected of others. There are accompanying questions on the issue. For example, if your sponsors are not using the behaviors listed above, do they know they are expected to use those behaviors?

It’s a fun, lighthearted book that puts a new spin on a timely topic – solving the mystery of leading people through change.