You’re Not Launching a Product. You’re Leading Change.

Most leaders don’t realize they’re in the change business.

They think they’re launching a new product. Rolling out a new process. Hitting a new revenue target. What they’re actually doing is leading change—whether they recognize it or not.

And that distinction matters.

Because when you treat an initiative like an isolated goal instead of the change effort it really is, you miss what it takes to make it stick. You end up focused on deliverables, not direction. On milestones, not momentum. And that’s where change efforts go to die.

Change Isn’t Just Managed. It Has to Be Led.

There’s a lot of good material out there on change management—and we use those tools at CBS all the time. Stakeholder assessments. Communication frameworks. Organizational readiness surveys. They’re all useful.

But those are the mechanics of change.

And if you don’t have someone leading it—someone casting vision, building urgency, and getting people moving in the same direction—the mechanics fall flat.

That’s the difference between managing change and leading it.

The Two Things Every Change Effort Needs

Across 25 years of consulting, I’ve seen all kinds of leaders drive change. There’s no one-size-fits-all personality type. Some are charismatic, others quiet. Some manage by walking around. Others are deeply strategic and operate behind the scenes.

But the good ones—the ones who consistently make change stick—always have two things in common: a clear vision and a strong sense of urgency.

Without vision, people don’t know where they’re going. Without urgency, they don’t care enough to move.
And if you’re trying to get a business to pivot, evolve, or grow without both? You’re just rearranging deck chairs.

I once worked with a leader in the instrumentation space. His company had dominant market share—double digits ahead of the nearest competitor. Most people inside the organization were comfortable. Maybe too comfortable.

But he knew staying still wasn’t a strategy. Instead of scaring people into action, he clearly articulated what the next wave of competition would look like—and why defending market share wasn’t a passive game. He gave the team a reason to believe that moving forward wasn’t optional.

That’s leadership.

You Can’t Fake Buy-In

Another common myth I see: thinking you can drive change from the top down and be done with it.

You can’t.

Even the best-laid plans fail if they don’t reach the people doing the work. Bottom-up alignment isn’t a buzzword—it’s the foundation of lasting change. That’s why, at CBS, we talk so much about engagement. Not just with leadership, but with the teams carrying out the change.

If you can’t show them why it matters—and make it matter to them—it won’t stick.

Leading Change Is a Mindset

We’ve seen clients who have all the right structures in place: SIOP meetings, change offices, KPIs, you name it. But what separates the successful ones from the rest isn’t the framework—it’s the leader’s posture.

Are they driving momentum? Are they building belief? Are they thinking a step ahead—not just of the plan, but of the people?

Because in the end, what feels like “hitting a number” is really something deeper:

You’re shifting how people think, how they work, how they operate together.

You’re not just launching a product.

You’re leading change.

And the sooner you see it that way, the better shot you have at making it stick.

Want to build a team that can lead change from the inside out? That’s what we do. Let’s talk.