Wharton@Work

March 2020 | Reading List

Leading Successful Change, Revised and Updated Edition: 8 Keys to Making Change Work

In the seven years since the first edition of Leading Successful Change was published, new technologies, global volatility, shifting consumer preferences, and economic uncertainty have reshaped the business landscape. Staying ahead is harder than it’s ever been, as turbulence shakes markets and intensifies competition.

One thing hasn’t changed, though: The majority of change efforts still fail. Authors Greg Shea and Cassie Solomon have revised and updated their book to address the problem in the current environment. They share their proven, research-based method for leading change, which they developed over a combined 50 years of helping organizations succeed.

Shea, adjunct professor of management at the Wharton School and Aresty Institute of Executive Education, and Solomon, president and founder of The New Group Consulting, Inc., explain the real reasons change efforts fail and how to avoid them. They also provide a detailed roadmap, the 8 Levers of Change, to implement their approach, and design a work environment that supports change efforts.

Shea and Solomon go behind the scenes at companies like Twitter, Viacom, and IKEA, where change initiatives succeeded despite the turbulence and hyper-competition in their markets. These new cases, along with updated and expanded application examples, offer unique insider views of the different kinds of roadblocks to change and how organizations overcame them.

For those who’ve attended the Leading Organizational Change program at Wharton Executive Education (which Shea directs), the new book offers a timely refresher. For readers who haven’t been to Wharton, the book provides access to many of the frameworks and techniques taught in the program. Either way, it’s a powerful, tested approach to one of every company’s most daunting challenges.