99: Why Transformations Die Just Before They Succeed
Episode Details

The most dangerous moment in a transformation isn't the start, it's the stretch right before behaviours actually start sticking.


Build your own CTO Playbook at www.theCTOplaybook.com - the leadership platform built for the full CTO journey. Coaching, podcast, and community to help you lead with clarity, confidence, and strategic impact.


My guest is Anders Wengelin, partner at Friktion in Malmö, who spends his weeks inside large Swedish healthcare organizations trying to help them build new core capabilities without reaching for a neat plan.


Leaders kill change at the exact moment it's about to take hold. Not because the work is failing, but because nothing visible has shipped yet.


Anders walks through how his team thinks about behaviours as the only concrete thing in an organization, and why operating models, maps and rollout plans are abstractions people hide behind. If you've ever felt the pull to add structure the moment ambiguity shows up, this one will sit with you.


Three questions, nine parts, and one uncomfortable truth about what real change looks like inside large, regulated organizations.


You'll Learn:


[0:00] Introduction

[2:40] Why large, compliance-heavy organizations struggle most with acquiring adaptivity

[6:00] The detour every tech-heavy org takes before talking about what actually matters

[14:06] Why leadership teams grasp for maps and plans the moment complexity shows up

[21:13] The three questions behind Friktion’s transformation strategy playbook

[30:00] The camera test for behaviours, and why curiosity isn't a behaviour

[33:45] How behaviour spreads like a virus, and why rollouts never work

[38:26] The three nested loops that keep continuous change moving

[41:11] Success looks like nothing is happening right before momentum kicks in

[45:41] Why you don't need a majority before behaviour change tips

[52:34] The trap of sneezing at a crowd instead of infecting one context properly


Want to go deeper on everything Anders covered? Friktion's sandpapers are free to download at friktion.se/sandpapers.


Find more from Anders on LinkedIn.


Find more from Adam onLinkedIn andYouTube, and explore coaching, cohorts, and how you can stay up to date at theCTOplaybook.com, helping you build your own playbook for your path at your pace.

Episode cover art for 99: Why Transformations Die Just Before They Succeed
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