
42 T H E C H A L L E N G E
over jumped 20 percent, and, worst of all, the company’s competitor
captured a major piece of XYZ’s market share.
As he cleared out his desk on his last day, Ken wondered why a
program that had met with such success at his previous company
would fail so miserably at XYZ. What else can we say but ‘‘it’s the
culture, stupid.’’
It is little wonder Ken failed. Instead of taking the time to gain
the respect and trust of his new management team before introducing
his idea, he tried to force them to adapt to a radically different
‘‘aquarium’’ with radically different water conditions. Many organiza-
tions make the same mistake. They ...