Transforming Your Organization by Overcoming the 75% Failure Rate

The Multifamily Innovation® Podcast

Ever wonder why 75% of major organizational transformations fail? Dr. David White, cognitive anthropologist and transformation expert, reveals the hidden dynamics blocking your company's change efforts.
Most leaders approach transformation by focusing on people: hiring new talent, reorganizing departments, or implementing top-down mandates. Yet the real barriers to change lie in what Dr. White calls "dominant logics" - the deeply embedded ways of thinking that have driven your organization's past success but now actively block its evolution.
These dominant logics aren't abstractions - they manifest in concrete business practices. Your budgeting processes, strategic planning methods, meeting structures, and decision-making frameworks all quietly reinforce the status quo, making transformation nearly impossible without systemic intervention.
Through fascinating examples, Dr. White explains how risk-averse cultures might excel in quality control while suffocating innovation, or how customer-centric organizations can become trapped in patterns that prevent necessary pivots. The paradox? The very dominant logics that created your success now prevent you from adapting to changing market conditions.
Transformation requires more than surface-level changes. Dr. White outlines how organizations must map their entire system of practices, identify where dominant logics are helpful versus harmful, and develop leadership teams capable of implementing sustainable change. This isn't a quick fix - it demands patience, objectivity, and the willingness to examine practices leaders themselves may have created and championed.
Whether you're navigating digital transformation, implementing AI, scaling rapidly, or managing a merger, this episode provides crucial insights into why your smart, experienced team keeps hitting invisible barriers. Discover how to diagnose your organization's cultural DNA and craft transformation strategies that actually stick.
Visit https://www.culture-logics.com/ to connect with Dr. White, or explore his book "Disrupting Corporate Culture" for deeper insights into breaking through organizational barriers to change.

About the Multifamily Innovation® Council:

The Multifamily Innovation® Council is the executive level membership organization that makes a difference in your bottom line, drives a better experience for your employees, and allows you an experience that keeps demand strong for your company. The council is uniquely positioned to focus on the intersection of Leadership, Technology, AI, and Innovation.
The Multifamily Innovation® Council is for Multifamily Business leaders who want to unlock value inside their organization so they can create better experiences and drive profitability inside their company.
To learn more or to join, visit https://multifamilyinnovation.com.
For more information and to engage with leaders shaping the future of multifamily innovation, visit https://multifamilyinnovation.com/.
Connect:
Multifamily Innovation® Council: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/
Patrick Antrim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickantrim/

Chapters

1. Transforming Your Organization by Overcoming the 75% Failure Rate (00:00:00)

2. Introduction to Barriers of Change (00:00:38)

3. The 75% Failure Rate of Transformations (00:02:50)

4. Culture as Dominant Logic, Not Just People (00:05:36)

5. How Success Creates Resistance to Change (00:09:20)

6. No Silver Bullets: Systemic Approach to Change (00:16:38)

7. Mapping Business Practices That Block Growth (00:21:19)

8. Leadership Skills for Sustainable Transformation (00:27:44)

9. Episode Wrap-Up and Future Topics (00:31:23)