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 – Introduction01:35 – How Rosabeth Began Studying Organizations02:26 – What Is an Organization?03:40 – Why People Resist Change06:10 – Empowerment vs. Top-Down Leadership09:00 – Communicating Change Without Resistance11:20 – Why Training Matters During Change12:40 – Change Is a Journey, Not an Announcement14:10 – Collaboration and Community Leadership17:05 – Why Great Leaders Lead with Empathy19:15 – Building a Culture That Embraces Change23:10 – The Three Pillars of Organizational Culture27:30 – Leading by Example30:05 – Long-Term Thinking and Sustainable Institutions35:00 – IBM, Innovation, and Organizational Identity38:45 – Stories, Purpose, and Shared Values41:10 – Collaboration Across Organizations43:15 – Lessons from Sports Teams and Winning Cultures45:20 – Teaching Leadership to Children48:00 – Leadership, Self-Awareness, and Humility49:45 – What Makes a Great Leader?51:55 – Kanter's Law and Never Giving Up53:20 – Final Leadership Advice & Closing Books MentionedThe Change Masters — Rosabeth Moss KanterConfidence — Rosabeth Moss KanterSuperCorp — Rosabeth Moss KanterMen and Women of the Corporation — Rosabeth Moss KanterThink Outside the Building — Rosabeth Moss Kanter