It’s a depressing statistic: 70% of corporate change initiatives fail, despite all the time leaders spend creating strategies and explaining them to their organizations.
In this issue, authors Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss suggest another tool to drive change: the power of telling a compelling story. “Research has shown that storytelling has a remarkable ability to connect people and inspire them to take action,” they write in this issue’s cover article, Storytelling That Drives Bold Change. “When your organization needs to make a big change, stories will help you convey not only why it needs to transform but what the future will look like in vivid, specific terms.”
In this article, drawn from their forthcoming book, Frei and Morriss explain how leaders at companies such as Domino’s, T-Mobile, and Uber helped frame change initiatives using narratives that appealed to employees emotions—increasing their odds of success. Another feature in this issue explores a leadership challenge specific to private equity. As Ted Bililies writes in Private Equity Needs a New Talent Strategy, historically, it’s been a sector focused on short-term gains and minimizing expenses—two factors that have limited its willingness to invest in talent development. But rising interest rates and other factors are increasing holding times and limiting the returns available from financial engineering. The upshot, Bililies writes: “Portfolio companies… will have to outperform their rivals, which means they must be motivated by superb leaders who are supported by able, execution-oriented managers.” This article offers a playbook for how PE firms can put more effort into developing their people.
Finally, Matthew Dixon and co-authors explore what it takes to drive business at law firms, investment banks, management consultancies, and other professional services firms. In What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently, the authors explain why partners are under more pressure to sell business—and how they generally fall into five types of behaviors while doing it. Which one works best?
According to the authors’ study, “activators” who leverage events and social media to build relationships, educate prospective clients, and introduce contacts across their firms far outperform “confidants,” “experts,” and the other rainmaker models. “In a world in which clients are less loyal to professional services firms and strong relationships are no guarantee of getting the next piece of business, Activators build robust networks of clients, prospects, and colleagues,” they write. “By being proactive in their business-development approach, they are far more likely to create demand rather than end up facing off against the competition.”
As the end of 2023 approaches, we wish you all the best in finding your next piece of business. Thanks for reading, Daniel McGinn Executive Editor
