Leading at a Higher Level

Chapter 12Strategies for Leading a Change

Pat Zigarmi and Judd Hoekstra

Leaders often get overwhelmed when they have to implement change. In many ways, they feel caught in a lose-lose proposition. If they try a necessary change, they risk unleashing all kinds of pent-up negative feelings in people. The resisters are seen as troublemakers trying to ruin something good. On the other hand, if leaders don’t constantly drive change, their organization will become obsolete, and everyone will lose their jobs. It’s been said that if you don’t change, you are dying.

Add to that lose-lose perspective a glance at the list of fifteen Predictable Reasons Why Change Efforts Typically Fail, which we discussed in the preceding chapter, and leaders could be ...