Breaking the failure cycle: a product-led approach to change
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What is transformation fatigue?
We’ve all seen it. A bold new strategy launches with enthusiasm and intent and all the right buzzwords: ‘digital-first’, ‘agile’, ‘customer-centric’. Teams rally. Workshops ignite ideas. There’s clarity, ambition, and a genuine belief that this time, transformation will be different. But then, reality hits.
Timelines stretch. Priorities compete. Legacy systems resist new ways of working. The momentum fades, and before you know it, there’s a feeling becoming increasingly familiar to anyone working in the business landscape: transformation fatigue.
Exhaustion sets in when organizations repeatedly attempt to shapeshift without delivering on their promises. This goes beyond burnout – it represents a form of organizational learned helplessness. Teams become disengaged. New initiatives face skepticism or indifference. Leaders struggle to justify further investment, while middle managers find themselves trapped between an ambitious strategy and daily execution. Even well-intentioned transformations stumble before they begin. Momentum diminishes. Promising initiatives fade. The decay has already begun.
And while this unfolds inside the organization, customers feel it from the outside. Internal confusion almost always translates into inconsistent experiences and eroded trust. But here’s the truth: this cycle is not inevitable!
Breaking the failure cycle
Transformation fatigue isn’t caused by aiming too high. Rather, it’s caused by changing the wrong way. Too many transformations are still approached as isolated projects: fixed in time, rigid in scope, disconnected from the everyday work of delivering value. They become something done to the organization, not with or by it.
The way forward is shifting to a product-led operating model, which embeds continuous improvement into everyday work. It empowers teams to focus on outcomes, not just outputs. It prioritizes customer value, supports learning over compliance, and builds the long-term capabilities needed to adapt and evolve.
The impact of this shift goes beyond operations. It reignites belief. People see progress and feel part of it. Leaders make more confident decisions. Teams feel supported, not stretched. Most importantly, customers experience meaningful, consistent value.
So, if an organization is caught in a cycle of transformation fatigue, the solution isn’t a bigger budget or a flashier campaign. It’s a better approach to change, and it’s time we start treating it that way.
To deepen this perspective, I collaborated with Amy Edmondson, author, renowned Harvard Business School professor, and #1 ranked thinker on the Thinkers50 list. We explored how organizations can move beyond cycles of disappointment and toward sustainable, meaningful transformation. The result is our latest thought paper, Breaking the failure cycle, which offers practical insights for leaders ready to shift from stalled change efforts to a more sustainable, product-led approach.
Because breaking the cycle isn’t about pushing harder, it’s about changing how we change. And that starts with rethinking the way we work.
Additional insights
Breaking the failure cycle: hard truths and real strategies
Make overcoming transformation fatigue your unfair competitive advantage
Creating a digital business transformation strategy to thrive
