A Sense of Urgency

But it all begins with a high enough sense of urgency among a large enough group of people. Get that right and you are off to a great start

But the very best available evidence, everything I have seen in my work over the years, suggests that the number-one problem they have is all about creating a sense of urgency— and that’s the first step in a series of actions needed to succeed in a changing world.

Most organizations handle step 1 poorly. Many fail elsewhere too

external change demands internal change

Countless statistics demonstrate these trends. Two of my favorites: patents filed in the United States have gone from 132,000 in 1986 to 211,000 in 1996 and on to 452,000 in 2006, showing both huge increases and an accelerating rate of growth

With complacency, no matter what people say, if you look at what they do it is clear that they are mostly content with the status quo.

the very beginning of any effort to make changes of any magnitude, if a sense of urgency is not high enough and complacency is not low enough, everything else becomes so much more difficult. The difficulties add up to produce failure, pain, disappointment, and that distressing 70 percent figure.

Better execution of our innovation initiative is our challenge.”

set of tactics for creating true urgency;

“What is the single biggest error people make when they try to change?” After reflection, I decided the answer was that they did not create a high enough sense of urgency among enough people to set the stage for making a challenging leap into some new direction.