The Truth About Transformation

Why do so many transformation efforts fail-despite clear strategies, strong leadership teams, proven frameworks, and massive investment?

Because organizations continue to underestimate the only force that determines whether change takes hold: human behavior. In this revised and expanded Second Edition, strategy and transformation expert Kevin Novak exposes the truth behind why business model evolution is so difficult-and why the gap between vision and execution remains stubbornly wide, even in a world transformed by artificial intelligence. Drawing from decades of frontline experience leading large-scale transformations across industries, Novak reveals how organizations unintentionally sabotage their own change efforts through misaligned incentives, cultural blind spots, unexamined assumptions, and the deeply ingrained behaviors that keep legacy thinking alive.

New in the 2025 Edition:

• The real impact of AI and automation on culture, leadership, and decision-making
• The rise of transformation fatigue and why employees are out of capacity
• Why leaders face a new identity crisis in the AI era
• How AI acts as a mirror that reveals-and accelerates-organizational dysfunction
• A contemporary framework for navigating the emotional and psychological realities of disruption