Leading Through Change | Rosabeth Moss Kanter | Professor at Harvard Business School, Specializing in Leadership, Organizational Change, Innovation, and Corporate Culture | Season 13 Episode 24 | #245

Why do people resist change? And what separates organizations that successfully adapt from those that struggle to survive? In this episode, I sit down with Rosabeth Moss Kanter, one of the world's leading scholars of leadership and organizational change. Drawing on decades of research at Harvard Business School, Rosabeth explains why change is rarely resisted because people dislike improvement itself. Instead, resistance often comes from feeling excluded, uncertain, or powerless throughout the process. She argues that successful change depends less on announcing a new strategy and more on empowering people to become active participants in shaping it. Our conversation explores organizational culture, leadership, innovation, collaboration, long-term thinking, and the importance of empathy in building resilient institutions. We discuss why organizations fail during periods of transformation, how leaders create cultures of trust, what sustainable companies have in common, and why purpose, values, and storytelling often outlast products, technologies, and even generations of employees. Whether you're leading a business, a school, a nonprofit, or simply trying to navigate change in your own life, this conversation offers practical insights into how people, organizations, and societies can adapt while remaining true to their core values. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 01:35 – How Rosabeth Began Studying Organizations 02:26 – What Is an Organization? 03:40 – Why People Resist Change 06:10 – Empowerment vs. Top-Down Leadership 09:00 – Communicating Change Without Resistance 11:20 – Why Training Matters During Change 12:40 – Change Is a Journey, Not an Announcement 14:10 – Collaboration and Community Leadership 17:05 – Why Great Leaders Lead with Empathy 19:15 – Building a Culture That Embraces Change 23:10 – The Three Pillars of Organizational Culture 27:30 – Leading by Example 30:05 – Long-Term Thinking and Sustainable Institutions 35:00 – IBM, Innovation, and Organizational Identity 38:45 – Stories, Purpose, and Shared Values 41:10 – Collaboration Across Organizations 43:15 – Lessons from Sports Teams and Winning Cultures 45:20 – Teaching Leadership to Children 48:00 – Leadership, Self-Awareness, and Humility 49:45 – What Makes a Great Leader? 51:55 – Kanter's Law and Never Giving Up 53:20 – Final Leadership Advice & Closing Books Mentioned The Change Masters — Rosabeth Moss Kanter Confidence — Rosabeth Moss Kanter SuperCorp — Rosabeth Moss Kanter Men and Women of the Corporation — Rosabeth Moss Kanter Think Outside the Building — Rosabeth Moss Kanter