Rapid Organizational Change

CHAPTER 1The Refraction Layer

Many CEOs of companies complain of resistance to change in their organizations. The problem of resistance to change appears to be particularly acute in Japan. In fact, many CEOs of companies in Japan lament that the Japanese are the most resistant to organizational change of any people in the world. I often hear this even from business leaders who are Japanese themselves!

Most CEOs have been able to build a leadership team around them whose members are change‐oriented and like‐minded in thinking. Sometimes that team extends to one or two layers of management below. Yet, it is frequently the rest of the organization that is viewed as remaining stubbornly recalcitrant. But is it really?

What is Refraction Anyway?

My father is one of the world's foremost experts on wave phenomena. A brilliant mathematician who found his calling in the field of geophysics, he developed methods for imaging the interior of the Earth using sound waves propagated from the surface. I remember seeing printouts on the walls of my father's study, showing the different geological layers deep in the interior of the Earth—where there is hard rock, soft rock, water, and even oil! Other printouts showed how the different layers bend, reflect, and dampen the sound waves.

It is the difference in substance from one layer to the next that alters the waves when they pass from a layer of one substance to another. A wave may be bent, and change direction. Or it may be partially deflected ...