Richard Tyler’s recent piece in The Times featuring Oliver Shaw, CEO of Orgvue, tackles a very real problem: leaders are burned out from constant change. And I get it. When 38% of execs would rather quit than lead another transformation, it’s clear the old ways of managing change aren’t working.
But here’s the thing: Change fatigue isn’t about too much change. It’s about badly managed change.
Change Isn’t the Problem. Whiplash Is.
Before 2020, leaders were managing two major changes a year. Now, it’s nine. And it’s not just what is changing, it’s the pace. Shaw makes a great point: before, we had cheap money, steady markets, and more room to maneuver. Now? Black swan events are happening so often we might as well call them pigeons.
But let’s be real, companies don’t fail because things change. They fail because leaders throw every new challenge on top of the pile without thinking about the cumulative impact. Employees don’t resist change; they resist chaos.
The Myth of “We Need to Go Back to Normal”
There is no BAU (business as usual) anymore. We’re in a permanent state of flux, whether we like it or not. The companies that thrive aren’t the ones fighting to return to some mythical “stability.” They’re the ones building change-ready cultures.
Shaw gets this right. If leaders keep seeing change as a series of one-off events rather than an ongoing state of being, they’re setting themselves up for failure (and a whole lot of stress-induced hair loss).
The Three Fixes for Change Fatigue
So what do we do instead? Here’s the playbook for making change feel like progress, not punishment:
- Stop Running Every Change Like an Emergency Shaw gives a great example of cost-cutting without knee-jerk layoffs. Instead of gutting the team overnight, he used natural attrition to achieve the same goal, without panic, mass resignations, or cultural damage. Leaders need to stop treating every challenge like a fire drill. Sometimes, the best move is to breathe, step back, and let smart policies do the heavy lifting.
- Get Ruthless About Prioritization Not every change needs a town hall, a task force, or a war room. If leaders are running 3.2 major changes concurrently, they need to ask: Which of these actually matter? The best leaders don’t just execute change; they curate it.
- Build a Change-Resilient Culture Change isn’t a project- it’s a muscle. Companies that handle it best don’t just push through each wave; they create teams that can surf. This means investing in adaptability, clear communication, and leadership that knows when to push and when to back off.
Bottom Line: Change Fatigue Is a Leadership Problem
The real issue isn’t that change is happening too fast. It’s that leaders aren’t making it manageable. If companies keep treating transformation as something to “get through,” they’re missing the point. The goal isn’t to survive change. It’s to lead it.
So let’s stop talking about “change fatigue” like it’s an inevitable consequence of modern business. It’s not. It’s the result of poor planning, bad prioritization, and leadership that’s too reactive. Fix those, and change stops feeling like a burden and starts feeling like what it actually is: progress.
Credit to Richard Tyler and Oliver Shaw for sparking this conversation.
