in the end. Don’t give it one of those, "Trust us; you know we'll take care of you". That’s something that would come out of Washington. That’s like “I did not have sex with that woman”.

I'm sure you mean well but it doesn’t work that way and you know it. You have to work it out in advance. And if you don’t know and can't be sure you can make something happen, tell your new recruits that up front. Most can deal with it but if they

"Well, guys, all I can say is ... he's upright and taking nourishment, but I don’t think he'll be allowed visitors anytime soon."

That little ditty came from a fellow manager in response to our inquiry on one of our fellow change agents. I was visiting headquarters of a company where I'd been working a couple years before. I was looking for a particular person who'd been working on the change project and couldn’t find him anywhere. It was like he’d been banished, no one but this fellow had a clue where he might be. It had been two years and he was lost in the bowels of change, career long gone, working diligently for a paycheck and wondering what he was going to do with his life.

The project he was still working on was long on life support. Senior management had given up but hadn’t pulled the plug. They were in the mode of salvaging something from the ship that had sunk and wasn’t coming back afloat. Each month there was fewer and fewer people working the project but no one had enough compassion or guts to pull the plug and let it die.

What did that mean for the people serving their sentence on the project? It meant that good people, who'd diligently given their careers for the sake of this work, were now nowhere to be found. Finding them was like chasing down leads on the latest Osama sighting but we didn’t have Spec Op's to help. I actually ran into one guy from the project six years later and he said, “Ed, you gave me a life sentence. I’m still ‘working’ parts of the project”.

You gotta’ know it's important to think through the people side of change before you fire the first shot. When you're asking people to put their careers aside and help you drive a change project you need to know what will happen to them in the end. Don’t give it one of those, "Trust us; you know we'll take care of you". That’s something that would come out of Washington. That’s like “I did not have sex with that woman”.

I'm sure you mean well but it doesn’t work that way and you know it. You have to work it out in advance. And if you don’t know and can't be sure you can make something happen, tell your new recruits that up front. Most can deal with it but if they

It was like he’d been banished, no one but this fellow had a clue where he might be. It had been two years and he was lost in the bowels of change, career long gone, working diligently for a paycheck and wondering what he was going to do with his life.

The project he was still working on was long on life support. Senior management had given up but hadn’t pulled the plug. They were in the mode of salvaging something from the ship that had sunk and wasn’t coming back afloat. Each month there was fewer and fewer people working the project but no one had enough compassion or guts to pull the plug and let it die.

What did that mean for the people serving their sentence on the project? It meant that good people, who'd diligently given their careers for the sake of this work, were now nowhere to be found. Finding them was like chasing down leads on the latest Osama sighting but we didn’t have Spec Op's to help. I actually ran into one guy from the project six years later and he said, “Ed, you gave me a life sentence. I’m still ‘working’ parts of the project”.

You gotta’ know it's important to think through the people side of change before you fire the first shot. When you're asking people to put their careers aside and help you drive a change project you need to know what will happen to them in the end. Don’t give it one of those, "Trust us; you know we'll take care of you". That’s something that would come out of Washington. That’s like “I did not have sex with that woman”.

I'm sure you mean well but it doesn’t work that way and you know it. You have to work it out in advance. And if you don’t know and can't be sure you can make something happen, tell your new recruits that up front. Most can deal with it but if they

hat had sunk and wasn’t coming back afloat. Each month there was fewer and fewer people working the project but no one had enough compassion or guts to pull the plug and let it die.

What did that mean for the people serving their sentence on the project? It meant that good people, who'd diligently given their careers for the sake of this work, were now nowhere to be found. Finding them was like chasing down leads on the latest Osama sighting but we didn’t have Spec Op's to help. I actually ran into one guy from the project six years later and he said, “Ed, you gave me a life sentence. I’m still ‘working’ parts of the project”.

You gotta’ know it's important to think through the people side of change before you fire the first shot. When you're asking people to put their careers aside and help you drive a change project you need to know what will happen to them in the end. Don’t give it one of those, "Trust us; you know we'll take care of you". That’s something that would come out of Washington. That’s like “I did not have sex with that woman”.

I'm sure you mean well but it doesn’t work that way and you know it. You have to work it out in advance. And if you don’t know and can't be sure you can make something happen, tell your new recruits that up front. Most can deal with it but if they

sighting but we didn’t have Spec Op's to help. I actually ran into one guy from the project six years later and he said, “Ed, you gave me a life sentence. I’m still ‘working’ parts of the project”.

You gotta’ know it's important to think through the people side of change before you fire the first shot. When you're asking people to put their careers aside and help you drive a change project you need to know what will happen to them in the end. Don’t give it one of those, "Trust us; you know we'll take care of you". That’s something that would come out of Washington. That’s like “I did not have sex with that woman”.

I'm sure you mean well but it doesn’t work that way and you know it. You have to work it out in advance. And if you don’t know and can't be sure you can make something happen, tell your new recruits that up front. Most can deal with it but if they

in the end. Don’t give it one of those, "Trust us; you know we'll take care of you". That’s something that would come out of Washington. That’s like “I did not have sex with that woman”.

I'm sure you mean well but it doesn’t work that way and you know it. You have to work it out in advance. And if you don’t know and can't be sure you can make something happen, tell your new recruits that up front. Most can deal with it but if they can't, then don’t put them on your team.

Real leaders don’t let their people get lost in the jungles of change. They're up front, honest and stand up for their troops. They're enthusiastic and their people know they are going to be there with them night and day, through good times and bad. They know when things are tough their leaders will be with them.

In fact, they're a lot like Chesty Puller, the most decorated Marine of his time. At the Chosin Reservoir in Korea he said, "We've gottem' right where we wantem' now! We're surrounded, so they can't get away this time."

You gotta' be that pumped up and committed and your people will be too!

Ed Kugler