All these case studies, and the dozens of change interventions with which we have been involved, point to a number of principles that provide a powerful yet practical theory through which we can guide successful change. The key to it all rests in understanding that the preeminent task of leadership and management is to create contexts in which meaningful change can occur. The days in which leaders can mandate, control and direct change are in most circumstances gone. The challenge in turbulent times is to recognize that controlled, planned change though maybe an ideal, is an illusion, and that the longer we try to hang onto this idea, the more trouble we are likely to create. Leaders must focus on "context making" in a way that embraces the traditional functions of setting a direction for the future, while creating a sense of space and possibility within which meaningful innovation can occur, and which at times, will challenge the direction being taken. Our key insight around this process is to recognize that this is best achieved through what we'll call a "high leverage incrementalism" that confronts the dilemma that while leaders and managers are charged with leading and managing their organizations, they usually can only do so in a constrained way.

The reality is one of mastering and generating the art of "15% change" throughout an organization. In turbulent times managers need to find ways of creating contexts that evolve: by using their limited but always significant spheres of influence to nurture the creative possibilities that always arise in systems that bring people together. The detailed principles discussed below capture the essence of the approach:

1. Find ways of creating quantum leaps through well-chosen 15% initiatives.
2. Recognize the connection between the "15% principle" and the art of high leverage.
3. Mobilize the effects of "critical mass."
4. Be open to spontaneous and random changes that can produce unanticipated breakthroughs.
5. Recognize how spheres of influence interact.

It's a paradox, but as we have shown, it's possible to create quantum change incrementally. The trick is to be driven by a quantum sense of vision that seeks major transformation, but to find ways of achieving the vision through manageable "doable" initiatives that fall within the 15% sphere of influence. This is a characteristic of all the examples discussed above.

The trouble with a lot of visioning is that it's either so open that it can mean anything, or so precise that it creates a myopic focus. The former dissipates energy. The latter has a tendency to create groupthink and to lock the organization into too narrow a frame of reference. All the case studies discussed above show that change evolves. Its precise pattern and course can never be predicted in advance. The trick is to use the visioning process to create a shared frame of reference that will motivate and allow people to find the 15% initiatives that can lead to major breakthroughs. As we have suggested, everyone in an organization has access to their 15%. When this is mobilized in the context of a shared vision powerful forces for change are unleashed. This idea of unlocking 15% innovation within the context of a shared vision needs to be a guiding principle of all change initiatives since its impossible for change in any complex situation to be an individual affair. [8]

To illustrate this point examine the above picture. Our question, what is this scene? Most people will see a preacher addressing an open air congregation. Now, turn the page, and examine the picture presented there. We've made a "15% change" and placed a flowerpot on the preacher's head. In the process we've created a completely different scene depicting a street entertainer. If this is the picture that you'd seen first, there would be no preacher.

This is what we mean by creating a high leverage 15% change. It's something that is often very simple yet so powerful that it creates a completely new context. In our experience, successful change agents are masters at the art of "finding the flowerpots" that will make an enormous difference to how change unfolds. Revisit our case studies. All of them illustrate this process. The decision to walk a credit application through the approval process at IBM Credit created a completely new context for understanding the basic business problem. The visit of Ford executives to Mazda transformed their view of the accounts payable function. Taco Bell's decision to focus on reducing the cost of everything except the cost of goods. Their 70-30 rule for viewing restaurants. The membership of reengineering teams at Capital Holding and Bell Atlantic. The projects selected as pilots and prototypes at Hallmark. The decision to survey employees for the first time and "break the grapevine" in our opening case. Semler's guarantee that factory committee members could not be fired for making an unpopular decision. All these are examples of "15% flowerpots" that had a dramatic influence in creating a new context in which new initiatives could unfold.

The art of context-making is crucial for successful leadership and management. When this is linked to the "15% principle" and the realization that small changes can lead to large effects, 15% influence doesn't look so small anymore. Properly leveraged 15% initiatives can have a dramatic impact on how change unfolds.


3. Mobilize the effects of "critical mass."

One "15% initiative" can lead to another.....and another and another. Change unfolds. The decision at Taco Bell to focus on increasing value to the customer by reducing the cost of everything but the costs of goods sold brought focus to an abstract vision. This in turn led to numerous ideas and initiatives on how the costs could be reduced, setting in motion further changes resulting in the restructuring and redefinition of jobs, the relationship between kitchen and eating areas, the idea of the kitchenless restaurant, and so on. Semler's revolution was the result of a whole chain of changes that built upon each other and developed momentum along the way. This is the process of developing critical mass whereby a series of changes, large and small, accumulate to create truly transforming results.

One person can never make a revolution. He or she may set it on its way. But it takes the energies, actions and commitments of many others to make it a living reality. When you get enough people using high leverage 15% initiatives within the context of a shared vision, the critical mass effect allows you to reshape the collective 85%. Successful change, often driven through small wins, generates a momentum for further change, as others get on board.


4. Be open to spontaneous and random changes that can produce unanticipated breakthroughs.

Who'd have thought Semler's revolution at Semco could be attributed to his physical collapse and exhaustion? It's a little bit of an exaggeration to present the issue this way, but this event marks the precise moment at which the company began to embark on the journey that eventually led to the democratization and decentralization of the Corporation. Who'd have thought that the reluctance of factory committees to exercise real power could lead to their true empowerment?

The successful management of change requires that we be open to unexpected problems and solutions because they contain the seeds of new development. As Pamela Godwin at Capital Holding put it, problems lead to better solutions. When approached constructively they can point toward developments that could have never been anticipated. All our case studies share this characteristic in that their paths to success were never straight lines. They were journeys shaped by all kinds of twists and turns that, in the end, led to constructive lines of development.


5. Recognize how spheres of influence interact.

Interacting "15%'s" shape much of the total context - "the collective 85%"! To illustrate consider the following diagram. A manager's 15% does much to shape the 85%s of those with whom he or she works, and visa versa. Organizations are domains of interacting spheres of 15% influence. When we recognize this, we translate what seems at first sight to be a very limited individual sphere of influence into an extremely powerful ... Whether we know it or not, our organizations are being shaped, for better or worse, by our individual 15%'s. When we recognize this we open the way to the idea that collectively, we have the means to make major contributions to the reshaping of each other's world!

All five of the above principles contribute to a view of change management that recognizes and mobilizes the natural energies of a system so that change can "self organize" in a way that will find an appropriate path. The leader's task is to help create a context that will allow this self organizing activity to acquire a coherence that addresses the significant challenges being faced. Turbulent times require that we approach change in an opportunistic, open ended fashion. We believe that the high leverage yet incremental change strategy that we have advocated here offers a powerful means of dealing with the complexities and uncertainties of a world where successful change cannot be created by design. Change unfolds. It can be nudged and shaped, but never fully programmed and controlled.


By acting on the "15% principle" we can live through the dilemma of being powerful and powerless at the same time. By working with and through others towards visions we value and share, we can make transformations in the collective 85%. In doing so we practice the art of creating quantum change, incrementally!

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