To persuade a mission-driven organization to embrace radical change, leaders must first clearly articulate what will remain constant. By anchoring the transformation to the enduring mission of "original, independent, reported journalism," it gives employees the emotional buy-in to join the journey.

Resistance is critical information, not just a barrier. It often reveals a team's fear of losing something valuable, such as autonomy, their established identity, or a sense of expertise. Understanding what they're protecting is key to making change less threatening.

Before trying to persuade people, identify the overlap between the necessary changes ('what's required') and what your team already wants to improve ('what's desired'). By starting in this intersection, you tap into latent motivation, creating immediate momentum without having to overcome resistance first.

Before trying to make a change 'feel right,' leaders must first neutralize the negative feelings it generates. Resistance stems from fear, threats to identity, or feeling controlled. Addressing these 'wrong' feelings is the prerequisite for gaining buy-in and avoiding psychological reactance.

When implementing operational changes, anchor the entire initiative on what the customer values. By focusing all discussions on removing obstacles to delivering that value, you make it difficult for internal teams to argue against change based on personal preference or established practices. It reframes resistance as anti-customer.

To manage an overwhelming list of necessary business changes, Walmart's leadership began by clearly articulating what would remain constant: its core values. This provided a stable foundation, making the subsequent, widespread transformation feel more manageable and less threatening for employees.

When driving change, leaders often criticize the past to justify the future. This is a mistake. To secure buy-in, start by honoring the previous state and acknowledging the reasonable decisions that created it. This validates people's past contributions and makes them more open to a new direction.

Instead of attempting a company-wide transformation, leaders should focus on a small corner of the organization first. Perfecting one team's process and culture creates a successful template and builds momentum, making it easier to then replicate that change "room to room" across the company.

To overcome organizational resistance to change, don't try to convert everyone at once. Instead, identify early adopters—or 'co-conspirators'—build successful pilot projects with them, and then use powerful storytelling to broadcast these wins, creating pull from the rest of the company.