"When people—executives, in particular—start a change initiative, they believe they understand what will be involved. But, once they get into the process, they are always astonished at how muddled, painful, protracted, tiresome, complicated, and energy-consuming creating change can be. They wish they had known more going in, had been better prepared, so they could have anticipated messy situations and recognized problems before they arose, or, at least, before they escalated into serious trouble. Some might have chosen not to start the journey at all.

I can't claim to make the process smooth or easy; to change an organization in a significant way is not, never has been, and never will be, quick or easy. That's why the majority of change efforts fail or achieve only partial results, and why the successful ones take so long. What I do in this book is prepare you for the realities of living through major change, so once you're into it you'll be less likely to lose heart, go crazy, give up, bail out, or think you're the only one on the planet ever to have felt so worn out and beaten up by trying to make change happen. I liken the change process to an arduous journey of discovery and exploration, not unlike those of the early voyagers. We can provide better maps and technology than they had, but even the best map won't keep the thunderstorms from striking and the monster from rearing its ugly head."