In today’s rapidly changing business and political environment, practically all organisations must be willing and able to change their strategy to achieve their objectives. Small family businesses, multinationals and entire nations often must adapt and evolve their strategy to remain relevant. Still, many transformational change programmes fail as managing change is one of the most arduous leadership functions. Many like to think they support change as long as this does not affect them adversely. In reality, organisations, like people, are often highly resistant to change, even when they know it is necessary. Change programmes can be incremental or radical, but they are invariably complex and messy. No amount of theoretical learning at business schools can prepare a leader for the stark realities of leading an organisation through the pain barrier of transformational change. Various empirical studies confirm that when change initiatives fail, and most initiatives do, they rarely fail due to technical skills. They fail in people’s skills. The literature on why change programmes fail is growing and consensus is building on the reasons for change management failures. Organisations seek to change because their current performance does not meet the expectations of their stakeholders. Some business and political leaders bury their heads in the sand and perpetuate the status quo when the case for change becomes evident. The result often leads to bankruptcy, a hostile takeover or sanctions by regulators that cripple some organisations. A change programme must start with a systematic approach. Regardless of the scope of the change, it will almost always be disruptive to business employees or citizens of a country. Today, business and political leaders recognise that change is a highly complex process and that a heavy-handed, top-down approach is rarely practical. However, postponing change or merely discussing the need for change without following up with a well-articulated implementation plan often leads to stagnation. Procrastination makes inevitable future change management that much more difficult. Successfully implementing change, whether large or small, remains one of the most daunting challenges facing leaders. Too often, we hear business and political leaders speaking about their vision for the organisation or country they lead. However, they usually fail to give equal priority to how the change will happen, leaving employees and citizens confused and worried about their future.