The rule of 1/3rds

Most of you know that in addition to Penumbra Media and Design, I also have a retail shoe business. Today, we had the typical customer. The one who knows exactly what they want and everything else is ugly.

But what was fun about today is that we had 2 customers sitting next to each other (they were not together) and one hated the shoes and tossed them to the floor. They happened to land next to other lady and she immediately picked them up and exclaimed, "this is exactly what I was looking for!"

Isn't it amazing, no matter how hard we try, we cannot please everyone. For some what we do is perfect. For others, it sucks. the same is true in culture change. In fact, in culture change, it is the rule of 1/3rds. A 1/3rd of your employees will adapt quickly to the new direction, 1/3rd will fight the change and try to keep it from happening and 1/3rd will ride the fence waiting to see which 1/3rd wins out.

Unfortunately for too many companies the lower 1/3rd win and no change ever takes place. But according to the stats 1 out of every 3 employees will not support your culture change. That's scary - but true. The good news is that if we know this going in, we can plan for ti and be prepared. This is the reason we always say that driving culture change it like driving the bus in the movie Speed - never slow down once you get started.

By the way, statistics say that 1 out of every 3 people is ugly. So look to your left and look to your right. If you don't see any ugly....