Change Management

If you live in the Mid-Atlantic region and don't know what PJM Interconnection is, pay attention. PJM was founded 99 years ago to manage the distribution of electricity over Pennsylania (P), New Jersey (J), and Maryland (M). Since then, the nonprofit company has expanded to include Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Washington DC, half of Kentucky, and significant parts of Michigan, Indiana, North Carolina, and Illinois (including Chicago). It is the largest single power grid in the United States. Headquartered in Valley Forge, PA, PJM provides electricity to 67 million Americans. PJM coordinates the movement of electricity between all the different power companies within its service area, such as PECO in Philly, Delmarva Power in Delaware, and all the other power companies listed in the graph. PJM operates as a traffic cop for electricity generators, making sure that power plants (gas, coal, nuclear, etc.) operating in its service area are distributing electricity as needed across the entire grid so that no area goes without necessary power. Think of what air traffic controllers do at airports, guiding the planes in and out, making sure there is order and no mistakes, 24 hours a day. PJM does that with electricity. The problem is the rapid proliferation of AI data centers, particularly in Northern Virginia and Maryland (around DC) which is the most concentrated collection of data centers in the USA. These data centers just plug into the PJM grid and started sucking up power to the point that PJM is running nearly all the time at max capacity. If you live here and haven't felt the impact of electricity price increases, you will soon. Many power companies have price caps in place, but that won't last. In capacity auctions, where power resources commit to be available in years ahead, prices have gone parabolic; from $2.2B to $14B (a 536% increase), largely due to forecasted load growth from data centers. It's a challenge to generate a political solution with governors of both parties in the service area. Plus, the Trump Administration is now getting involved. The Energy Secretary and Interior Secretary hosted 13 state governors involved at the White House 1/16 where there was an agreement on 2 key principles: 1- Emergency Power Auction - the idea is to compel data centers to participate in financing new power plants by buying 15 years of power in advance. Data centers would bid for these contracts, hence the auction. 2- Price Caps - to shield the 67 million Americans from exponentially higher electric bills, it is proposed to cap electricity bills for 1-2 years. It is unclear who will absorb the risk and cost to make this happen. In many states price caps are already protecting Americans. If a solution can't be reached soon, it is increasingly likely that rolling blackouts will happen across the service area during high-load periods (extreme heat or extreme cold). Be prepared. #riskmanagement #interestrates #fedpolicy

Hospitals are healing patients faster with 30-year-old Australian technology. Most healthcare facilities still operate in the dark. SolarTube skylights channel natural sunlight through reflective tubes directly into patient rooms and treatment areas. No electricity needed. Just free healing light all day. The healthcare transformation numbers: ↳ Faster patient recovery rates documented ↳ 15% staff productivity increase ↳ Reduced eye strain for medical professionals ↳ Lower patient anxiety during procedures Think about that. Tigoni Medical Center in Kenya installed SolarTubes in their COVID-19 facility. Healthcare workers reported less fatigue, increased alertness during long shifts. Patients showed dramatically improved morale and energy levels. At Rogaska Medical Center, natural daylight flooded clinics without unwanted heat. Staff comfort improved. Patient outcomes followed. Italian dental offices meeting occupational daylight standards found something unexpected: patients felt less anxious. Procedures became more comfortable. Natural light calmed nerves that fluorescent bulbs couldn't. Traditional Healthcare Lighting: ↳ Fluorescent tubes causing eye strain ↳ High electricity costs ↳ Artificial environments ↳ Staff fatigue increases SolarTube Healthcare Reality: ↳ Natural light reduces stress hormones ↳ Serotonin production increases ↳ Circadian rhythms regulate properly ↳ Recovery accelerates naturally But here's what stopped me cold: We're medicating depression while keeping people in artificial light. Jim Rillie invented this solution in the 1980s. Launched Solatube International in 1991. Now 2 million units worldwide bring natural light indoors. Healthcare facilities that adopt it see measurable improvements. Staff wellness increases. Patient satisfaction scores rise. Recovery times shorten. The Multiplication Effect: 1 hospital = hundreds healing faster 100 facilities = thousands of staff energised 1,000 installations = healthcare transformed At scale = medicine working with nature VCC in the UK experienced enhanced well-being building-wide. Staff and patients reported feeling calmer, healthier, happier. Simply from abundant daylight. We're not just installing skylights. We're installing wellness. One beam of natural light at a time. Follow me, Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld for innovations that heal environments and people. ♻️ Share if you believe healthcare should harness nature's healing power.

70% of change initiatives fail. (And it's rarely because the idea was bad.) Here's what actually kills transformation: You picked the wrong change model for the job. It's like performing surgery with a hammer. Sure, you're using a tool. But it's the wrong one. I've watched brilliant CEOs tank their companies this way: Using individual coaching (ADKAR) for company-wide transformation. Result: 200 people change. 2,000 don't. Running a massive 8-step program for a simple process fix. Result: 6 months wasted. Team exhausted. Nothing changes. Forcing top-down mandates when they needed subtle nudges. Result: Rebellion. Resentment. Resignation letters. Here's what nobody tells you about change: The size of your change determines your approach. Real examples from the field: 💡 Startup pivoting product: → Used Lewin's 3-stage (unfreeze old way, change, refreeze) → 3 months. Clean transition. Team aligned. 💡 Enterprise going digital: → Used Kotter's 8-step process → Created urgency first. Built coalition. Enabled action. → 18 months later: $50M in new revenue. 💡 Sales team adopting new CRM: → Used Nudge Theory → Made old system harder to access → Put new system as browser homepage → 95% adoption in 2 weeks. Zero complaints. The expensive truth: Wrong model = wasted months + burned budgets + broken trust Right model = faster adoption + sustained results + energized teams Warning signs you're using the wrong model: • High activity, low progress • People comply but don't commit • Changes revert within weeks • Energy drops as you push harder • "This too shall pass" becomes the motto Match your medicine to your ailment: Small behavior change? Nudge it. Individual performance? ADKAR it. Cultural shift? Influence it. Full transformation? Kotter it. Enterprise overhaul? BCG it. Stop treating every change like a nail. Start choosing the right tool for the job. Your next change initiative depends on it. Your team's trust demands it. Your company's future requires it. Save this. Share it with your leadership team. Because the next time someone says "people resist change," you'll know the truth: People don't resist change. They resist the wrong approach to change. P.S. Want a PDF of my Change Management cheat sheet? Get it free: https://lnkd.in/dv7biXUs ♻️ Repost to help a leader in your network. Follow Eric Partaker for more operational insights. — 📢 Want to lead like a world-class CEO? Join my FREE TRAINING: "The 8 Qualities That Separate World-Class CEOs From Everyone Else" Thu Jul 3rd, 12 noon Eastern / 5pm UK time https://lnkd.in/dy-6w_rx 📌 The CEO Accelerator starts July 23rd. 20+ Founders & CEOs have already enrolled. Learn more and apply: https://lnkd.in/dwndXMAk

I just watched a brilliant young mind quit after his first performance review.  The system didn't fail, it worked exactly as designed. And that's the problem. A close friend's son called me yesterday asking for advice. This kid has always been exceptional - top of his class, and one of the most hardworking young minds I know. He joined a company last year, excited to prove himself. His first performance review just happened. They put him on a PIP for "team collaboration issues." Here's what actually happened that past year: + On-time, flawless project delivery. + Zero complaints from stakeholders. + Often stayed late to get things right. But he wasn’t loud. He didn’t hang around in Slack threads and coffee chats or networked just for the sake of being visible. He focused on the work. And that somehow became a problem. When he called me, his voice was shaking. "I keep questioning myself. Maybe I really am terrible at my job." Just imagine an A-player, now doubting his entire future because our review systems punish introverts, misfit metrics, and non-traditional brilliance. I told him what I'm telling you: You're not the problem, kid. The system is. Four decades in this industry, and this still breaks my heart every time.  We're crushing exceptional talent with processes designed for a different era. We measure yesterday's activities instead of tomorrow's potential. The best leaders understand that real performance happens in real-time, not annual reviews. They coach continuously, celebrate wins immediately, and address challenges before they destroy confidence. ✅ Netflix eliminated performance reviews entirely.  ✅ Adobe replaced them with ongoing conversations.  ✅ Google shifted to quarterly goals with continuous feedback. These aren't experiments, they're competitive advantages. While traditional companies waste months on review documents nobody reads, smart organisations invest that time in actual development conversations that drive results. We need to replace annual reviews with monthly check-ins that matter. And most importantly, replace the assumption that people need to be "reviewed" like products with the understanding they need to be supported, challenged, and trusted to grow. That young man will find a company that values his work ethic over his small talk skills. His former employer will keep wondering why they can't retain talent while using the same broken processes. The difference will transform one organisation and devastate the other. So, stop managing performance like it's a quarterly report. Start enabling it like it's a human being's career and dreams. #performancereviews #thoughtleadership

Most change models focus on systems, structures, and processes. The ADKAR model reminds us that real change happens through people. Change rarely fails because the strategy or the process is wrong. It fails because the human journey of change is overlooked. People are expected to adopt new ways of thinking and working without being guided through what that actually requires. ADKAR captures that journey in a simple but profound way. It starts with AWARENESS of why change is needed. Without that, people cannot make sense of what is happening. They need to understand the reasons, the purpose, and the implications for their own work. From there comes DESIRE, the inner willingness to support and contribute to the change. This cannot be created through persuasion alone, but through involvement, trust, and meaningful dialogue. KNOWLEDGE follows as people learn what is expected of them and how to do things differently. This is where training, mentoring, and shared learning matter most. Yet knowledge alone is never enough. It must translate into ABILITY, the confidence and skill to actually perform in new ways, supported by clear goals, opportunities to practice, and a system that enables rather than obstructs. Finally, lasting change depends on REINFORCEMENT. New behavior needs to be noticed, encouraged, and recognized until it becomes the new normal. This is where leaders often move on too quickly, assuming the change is complete when people are only halfway through the process. The strength of the ADKAR model lies in its humanity. It treats change not as an event but as a process of learning and adaptation. It shows that organizational change is always a sequence of individual transitions, each of which requires attention, patience, and care. When leaders understand this, they no longer see resistance as a problem to overcome, but as a signal to listen and to engage more deeply. Real change happens when people understand, want, know, can, and keep doing something new. When that happens, change becomes culture. Which of these five steps have you overlooked most when trying to realize a change?

Signing Off and Stepping Up : My Reflection on Redundancy The accompanying picture captures a poignant moment: signing my separation agreement at VMware yesterday. I believe it’s important to talk openly about such transitions. It helps in normalizing career shifts, even at senior levels, and share valuable insights for those navigating similar changes as a community. My initial encounter a few years ago with redundancy was unplanned, creating a disruptive transition and a confidence hit. In contrast, my current experience at VMware allowed for more preparation, although it still carries a sense of finality - a good sad as I call it - that’s hard to ignore. My Top Lessons Learned 1. Understand Your Non-Negotiables: These are the foundation of how you operate daily. For me, this includes maintaining regular exercise, nutritious food, adequate sleep, and mental fitness practices like meditation and gratitude exercises. They form the bedrock of my resilience. You will not do this perfectly every day so be kind to yourself. 2. Focus on What You Can Control: l chose to invest my time on personal growth. Figure out where you have agency and can see tangible progress. For me this included: 1. Skill Development 2. Financial Planning 3. Personal Projects 4. Physical & Mental Health 5. Seeking Perspectives: I reached out to others who had taken career breaks, gathering insights and perspectives to broaden my understanding of this phase. 3. Fill Your Cup: Lastly, it’s vital to fill your cup with what brings you joy and fulfillment. For me, this means quality time with people I love and like and engaging in empowering work that supports women and girls, which has always been a source of immense satisfaction. Change, especially in one’s career, can be daunting. Yet, it’s these moments that remind us of our resilience and ability to adapt. They urge us to realign with our core values and find strength in what truly matters. In this journey, I’ve come to realize that energy (and therefore time) is our most precious resource, and employing it mindfully is the greatest service we can do for ourselves. I leave with much pride and on a high. And yes I plan to celebrate, as my Lean In Circle reminded me. What have you learned through your redundancy experiences?

It’s an oxymoron. But the AI bank debate ended before it even began. Banking is moving from customer- to agent-centric. And agentic banking is the real shift.   Three structural shifts are taking place:   • 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁-𝗲𝗻𝗱: Banks have always built tools to own the customer relationship - apps, portals, distribution channels. But agents will increasingly sit between customers and banks, making recommendations, negotiating, and even executing on their behalf. The entire customer journey is turned inside out, and banks need strategies to be discoverable, interoperable, and trusted by agents.   • 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸-𝗲𝗻𝗱: Core banking was once the heart of the bank - where accounts, ledgers, and transactions lived. Now agents are creating a new brain layer on top, orchestrating credit, risk, compliance, and operations in real time. Static legacy rules are replaced by adaptive reasoning powered by knowledge graphs, expertise, and reinforcement learning. The bank’s intelligence is migrating out of the core and into an agentic layer.   • 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Banks have long relied on hierarchies of people, processes, and departments. With agents acting as co-pilots and co-pilots evolving into autopilots, every role in the bank will be augmented or reshaped. This is an entirely different operating model where agents collaborate with humans, redefining how work is organized, supervised, and delivered.   These aren’t theoretical shifts - they’re already being put into practice. Huawei, a major provider of financial infrastructure, has released the 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿: a Financial Intelligent Agent Accelerator built to help banks move from pilots to full-scale commercialization.   FinAgent Booster is part of Huawei’s Digital Finance positioning – the application scenarios below are eye-opening:   • 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆𝘀: Accuracy, memory, and latency have long limited digital banking. Huawei employs a master-slave agent framework to interpret intent and coordinate tasks, a memory system that learns from context and past interactions, and full-chain optimization to ensure instant responses. The outcome is akin to a dedicated banker for every client.   • 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: Agents are becoming the bank’s new decision layer. Thousands of reasoning chains and past insights are encoded into models that continuously learn and adapt.   • 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Agents are being embedded to augment every role across the organization. Intelligent contact centres route customer needs to the right resources, insight hubs act as decision-making headquarters, and role-based agents support clients, loan officers, and back-office staff.   For banks, the agentic clock is already ticking.   Opinions: my own, Graphic source: Huawei, Panagiotis Kriaris   Subscribe to my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dkqhnxdg

Want to stay motivated every single day? Borrow a strategy from Harvard. Then borrow another from stand up comedy. Together, they’re a powerhouse for momentum, motivation, and mastery. Here’s how it works: Let’s start with Harvard. Researcher Teresa Amabile studied 12,000 daily work diaries across 8 companies. She wanted to know: What truly motivates people on a day to day basis? What she found changed how we understand drive. The #1 driver of daily motivation wasn’t: Money Praise Perks It was progress. The days people made progress on meaningful work were the days they felt the best. Progress isn’t a luxury. It’s a psychological necessity. So how do we make progress feel visible especially on days when it’s not? Use a “Progress Ritual.” → At the end of the day, pause. → Write down 3 small ways you moved forward. → That’s it. No fanfare. Just ritual. This works because we rarely notice our progress in real time. It gets buried under busyness, meetings, and mental noise. The act of looking back gives your brain the reward it needs to keep going. Momentum builds from meaning. Now let’s add some comedy. Young Jerry Seinfeld had one goal: write new material every day. To stay on track, he created a brilliant system. Each day he wrote, he put a big red X on his calendar. Soon, a chain of Xs formed. And here’s the key: Don’t break the chain. One red X becomes two. Two becomes ten. Ten becomes identity. Whether you’re writing, coding, or training Daily action + visual chain = long-term motivation. Summary: The Two-Part Motivation System From Harvard: Record 3 ways you made progress each day. From Seinfeld: Mark an X for each day you show up then don’t break the chain. Progress fuels purpose. Consistency fuels confidence. Apply both and you’ll stay on track especially on the tough days. Because when your days get better, your weeks get better. When your weeks get better, your months get better. When your months get better, your life gets better. It starts with one small win today.

Ever heard of the Lippitt-Knoster Model for Managing Complex Change? It's a classic in the change management world, laying out the essential pieces needed to navigate big transformations. Taking a cue from that, I've adapted it to fit the world of digital transformation. There are seven key elements you can't afford to miss: Vision, Strategy, Objectives, Capabilities, Architecture, Roadmap, and Projects & Programs. Skip any one of these, and you're asking for trouble. Here’s why each one matters: • 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: This is the 'what' of your transformation. A clear vision gives everyone a target to aim for, aligning all efforts and keeping the team focused. • 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲: Think of this as the 'why' and 'how.' A solid strategy explains the logic behind your vision, showing how you plan to get there and why it's the best route. It’s designed to guide everyone in the company on how to make decisions that support the vision, aligning all efforts and keeping the team focused. • 𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬: These are your milestones. Clear, specific objectives make it easy to measure success and ensure everyone knows what's important. Without them, you can easily veer off course and waste resources. • 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬: These are what your company will now be able to do that it wasn't able to before in order to achieve the objectives. These can be organizational capabilities (like improved decision-making), technical capabilities (such as real-time operational visibility), or other types like enhanced customer engagement or streamlined processes. • 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: A robust architecture ensures all your tech works together smoothly, preventing inefficiencies and costly headaches. This includes various types of architecture such as data architecture, IT infrastructure architecture, enterprise architecture, and functional architecture. Effective architecture is central to reducing technical debt and aligning software with broader business transformation goals. • 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩: Your roadmap is the game plan. It lays out the sequence of actions, helping you avoid uncertainty and missteps. It's your guide to getting things done right. • 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 & 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬: These are where the rubber meets the road. Actionable projects and programs turn your strategy into reality, making sure your plans lead to real, tangible outcomes. From my experience, I think '𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬' and '𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩' are the two most overlooked. What do you think? ******************************************* • Follow #JeffWinterInsights to stay current on Industry 4.0 and other cool tech trends • Ring the 🔔 for notifications!

Starting May 1, 2026, China will implement a zero-tariff policy on all products from 53 African nations with diplomatic ties (excluding Eswatini), significantly boosting market access for agricultural, mineral, and manufactured goods. This initiative aims to deepen trade relations, support industrialization, and diversify trade routes. This policy covers all products from 53 African nations, expanding upon previous duty-free access for 33 least-developed countries to include middle-income nations like South Africa. The initiative aims to boost exports of processed, value-added goods and stimulate investment in African manufacturing. China will further promote trade facilitation, such as upgrading its "green channel" for faster customs clearance and advancing trade agreements. The new policy strengthens China-Africa economic cooperation and offers African nations an alternative to higher tariffs elsewhere. It is expected to enhance trade capacity, though its success depends on overcoming non-tariff barriers, enhancing infrastructure, and fostering local industrialization. But will this deepen African productive capacity or simply accelerate raw material extraction under better branding? Trade policy alone does not create transformation. Strategy does. If this deal is to work for Africans, not just for the politicians announcing it, several things must happen: 1. Move beyond raw exports. Zero tariffs on cocoa beans or unprocessed minerals mean little if we are not exporting chocolate, batteries, and finished goods. Industrial policy must sit alongside trade policy. 2. Fix internal bottlenecks. Ports. Power. Rail. Customs efficiency within Africa. Non-tariff barriers between African countries often hurt us more than tariffs abroad. 3. Align with AfCFTA. This cannot become a substitute for intra-African trade. It should strengthen regional value chains, not fragment them. 4. Protect standards and leverage. African governments must negotiate from a position of long-term national interest, ensuring technology transfer, local job creation, and skills development. 5. Strengthen private sector capacity. SMEs and manufacturers need financing, quality certification support, and export readiness programs, otherwise only a handful of large players will benefit. Opportunity without strategy can become dependency. But opportunity with coordination, transparency, and industrial ambition? That is how continents rise. The real work now shifts from Beijing to African capitals and from political announcements to implementation discipline. #Africa #TradePolicy #Industrialization #AfCFTA #ChinaAfrica #EconomicTransformation