Action plans, KPIs, organizational charts — companies are not short on tools to manage their transformations. These mechanisms are reassuring. Yet failure remains common. Why? Because people don’t act based on abstract instructions, but according to the meaning they give to situations.
Too often, companies approach transformation with linear tools: project management, communication plans, individual coaching. These methods bring rigor, but they are not enough to trigger real change. Why? Because they don’t address the heart of the matter: organizational culture.
The more companies lose control, the more they add processes and committees. But in a complex world, this reflex makes the problem worse: it rigidifies systems instead of keeping them alive. What needs to be strengthened are not the rules, but the relationships.
A symbol of strength, Nokia dominated the 2000s with more than 40% of the mobile phone market. Once synonymous with innovation, the Finnish giant collapsed within just a few years. How could a company so powerful almost completely vanish from the industry?
In 2023, General Electric spun off GE HealthCare, which became an independent company with 50,000 employees. In just one year, it generated nearly $20 billion in revenue. But the most interesting part isn’t in the numbers — behind them lies a deep cultural transformation, widely praised by its employees.
In 1998, Daimler-Benz and Chrysler announced their merger to create a global automotive giant. Synergies, economies of scale, complementarity — everything seemed perfectly aligned. Yet less than ten years later, the alliance collapsed. Why? Because the merger of the balance sheets was never followed by a true merger of cultures.
In 2023, Bayer faced a major crisis: debt, lawsuits, expiring patents. Instead of tightening control, CEO Bill Anderson chose an unexpected path — Dynamic Shared Ownership. A radical transformation aimed at dismantling bureaucracy and unleashing collective intelligence. And the early results are already surprising.