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The Invisible Audit: Five Patterns That Predict Whether Your Executive Team Can Actually Transform

A few years ago I sat in on the kickoff for a two-year operating model program at a midmarket medical device manufacturer. The readiness assessment had come back strong. Eighty-one percent of employees said they understood why the change was happening. Governance was defined, the roadmap was credible, the funding was approved, and the CEO […]

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When the Board Says “Transform” But the Culture Says “Survive”

A division president last year described her situation with unusual clarity. “The board wants bold. My people want stable. And I’m supposed to deliver both without acknowledging the contradiction.” She wasn’t exaggerating. Her board had approved an aggressive digital transformation roadmap tied to a three-year value creation thesis. Meanwhile, her organization had just been through […]

Transformation Governance for the AI Era

Picture a scenario that’s becoming increasingly common. The head of transformation at a Fortune 500 manufacturer pulls a trusted advisor aside after a steering committee meeting and says something that’s surfacing with growing frequency across the field: “Our governance model is fighting the work.” Her organization is eighteen months into a multi-year operating model transformation. […]


The Accumulation Problem: How Organizations Overload Themselves One Initiative at a Time

A division president I spoke with last spring described a moment of clarity that came too late. He had just finished reviewing his organization’s project portfolio and realized that nine of the fourteen active initiatives on his list had been approved individually, in separate steering committee meetings, over a period of eighteen months. Each one […]

Normalized Dysfunction: The Hidden Tax on Every Transformation

Before launching any change effort, find out what’s functioning and what’s functioning around a problem. The difference is where your real ROI lives. Every organization has a department that should be half its size. You can usually spot it during a transformation kickoff. The team in question has more headcount than seems necessary, more processes […]

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Jesse Jacoby


Jesse Jacoby, Founder of Emergent and Author of Emergent JournalI am the editor of this blog and founder of Emergent, a boutique consulting firm specializing in business transformation and strategic change. Welcome!

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Emergent Journal is a collection of business articles containing practical methods, tools, and tips for driving change and implementing business strategies from a people and change perspective. It is published by Emergent, a consulting firm headquartered in Denver and serving Fortune 500 clients across North America.

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