The Bold New Plan to Fix Last Year's Bold New Plan
Bain's Darrell Rigby and Zach First argue that the fix for constant reorganization isn't a better transformation — it's needing fewer of them. Catching small problems while they're still small and cheap beats relaunching a bold new plan every 18 months.
Prompted by “The Bold New Plan to Fix Last Year's Bold New Plan”, Harvard Business Review (Darrell Rigby & Zach First).
The Onion ran a headline years ago that's a little too accurate: "CEO Unveils Bold New Plan To Undo Damage From Last Year's Bold New Plan." I've sat across the table from more than a few Rochester and Buffalo companies living that exact joke — a big reorg every 18 months, each one blamed on the economy or the last guy's decisions, none of them touching the actual problem underneath.
HBR had a piece this week from Bain's Darrell Rigby and Zach First making the case that the fix isn't a better transformation — it's needing fewer of them. Constant upheaval burns out your people, spooks your customers and suppliers, and eats the time you should be spending on the business instead of on the business's org chart.
What did the fix actually look like?
The example that stuck with me: Boston Scientific's CEO inherited a company on its fourth leader in three years and a stock down 90%. He didn't announce another bold five-year stretch plan — he did what he called "brick-by-brick management." Realistic goals instead of hype. Steady reinvestment. Decisions pushed down to the people closest to the work. No dramatic relaunch, just discipline applied consistently. Revenue's more than doubled since.
That's the whole argument, really: catch small problems while they're still small and cheap to fix, instead of waiting until only a bold new plan will do.
Getting the sequencing and the honesty right before committing to a new plan is core to Strategic Advisory.
Originally posted on LinkedIn ↗