In the high-stakes theater of corporate strategy, the a “Decision Point” on a strategic question is often treated as a bureaucratic finish line. A board deck is approved, a budget is allocated, and a memo is broadcast to the company. But for the world’s most innovative leaders, a decision point about innovation or transformation isn’t just a green light for a plan; it is a fundamental shift in the company’s “identity”.
The most effective leaders understand that true innovation doesn’t come from a decision to try – it comes from a declaration of being.
The Power of the Present Tense
Most strategic failures happen in the purgatory of “working to become.” When a CEO says, “We are working to become a digital-first organization, making significant investments across our pillars of ….” they are inadvertently giving the organization permission to remain exactly what it is today. “Working to become” implies a future state that hasn’t arrived yet, leaving the heavy lifting to some distant version of the team. If the staff aren’t personally involved on the “change committee”, it’s even worse because they assume there will be blind-spots and square pegs coming eventually to fill round holes.
The “Magic Wand” of the innovative CEO is the Identity Shift. They move the goalposts from the future to the present: “We are X.”
This isn’t just semantics; it’s a psychological pivot. By declaring a new identity, the leader changes the filter through which every employee views their daily tasks. However, this isn’t a “fake it ’til you make it” strategy. To avoid cynicism and burnout, this declaration must be handled with three pillars of strategic precision.
1. Targeting Bridgeable Gaps · Identity Over Tactics
The fastest way to lose a room is to declare a reality that is physically impossible. If a CEO stands up and says, “We are a fully automated AI-driven firm,” while the staff is currently drowning in 45-tab spreadsheets and manual data entry, the team won’t feel inspired, they’ll feel gaslit and trapped in a Dilbert cartoon strip.
The secret is to define the Identity as the “North Star” without immediately mandating the Tactics.
- The wrong way: “We are now a paperless company. Throw away your printers by Friday.”
- The “magic wand” of Identity: “We are a team that values high-touch customer care over manual data entry. Our teams are constantly on the lookout for ways we can elevate more of their time from other activities.”
By focusing on the value system (Identity) rather than the immediate reorg or software rollout (Tactics), the leader creates a Bridgeable Gap. The team understands the destination, but they aren’t being asked to teleport there. The Identity provides the “Why,” which makes the inevitable “How”—the messy work of building the bridge—attainable.
There is a balance between this extreme and of declaring a new Identity every year. Care should be taken to focus on values & priorities (something that is easier to change, about which the CEO is the undisputed expert, and which should not change often), allowing room for a likely stream of projects, process & policy changes needed to re-align the organization’s reality to the new identity “north star”.
2. The Strategic Freeze · Protecting the Culture
When a shift is declared, the instinct of many executives is to bring in outsiders familiar with their new approach into key roles in the organization, who supposedly bring the “new DNA.” While well-intentioned, this often backfires.
We recommend that leaders implement a temporary, unofficial hiring freeze during an identity shift. While this certainly helps the bottom line, the primary driver isn’t budgetary; it’s cultural.
Bringing new talent into a team midway through an identity crisis creates friction. New hires don’t know the “old way,” so they can’t help you dismantle it. Your current team, however, knows exactly where the bodies are buried and “what it means” to be a member of the organization. They know which processes are legacy junk and which are vital.
By limiting resourcing to implement a change to contractors and turn-key outsourcing, the CEO sends a powerful message: “We have the right people on the org-chart; we just need to change the way we work to align to this new direction.” The leader then empowers the existing staff with a specific challenge:
“Since we are now this new entity, tell me which of our current processes no longer fit. Where is the friction preventing us from fully achieving this vision?”
This turns the staff from victims of change into the architects of it. They build the bridge themselves, ensuring the new structure is rooted in reality rather than imposed by an outsider who doesn’t understand the nuances of the business. When speed bumps are inevitably encountered, they are crossed without drama, with unanimous consent when the “old answer” is in conflict with the organization’s new Identity.
3. The Security Factor · Commitment and Retention
Innovation and fear cannot coexist in the same brain. If employees believe that “finding efficiencies” or “adopting new tech” is a prelude to their own layoffs, they will (quite rationally, even if subconsciously) sabotage the process.
This is where the CEO’s most powerful statement comes into play: The commitment to the current team.
Our TOP Recommendation for achieving innovative change – an “Identity + Team” Formula
Economic realities are always in flux, and no leader can promise “jobs for life” in a vacuum. However, a firm statement regarding the retention of the current headcount during the transition is a massive morale multiplier.
When a CEO says, “Here is our new identity, and we already have our team”, the atmosphere across the entire organization shifts from anxiety to opportunity. The message becomes twofold:
- Job Security: Your role is safe during this interim period of discovery.
- Professional Growth: You are being given the chance to work with leading-edge technology and have a direct voice in how we evolve.
This creates the best possible high-trust environment. Employees are no longer “protecting their turf” or their manual processes out of fear. Instead, they become eager to automate the mundane parts of their jobs because they know they will be redirected toward higher-value, more interesting, more career-escalating work within the new identity.
It’s All Downhill from Using the “Magic Wand” of Identity to Communicate Change
Of course, innovation isn’t a switch you flip; it’s a process of alignment. The “Magic Wand” of the CEO isn’t about claiming to have all the answers, but about having the courage to declare the destination and the wisdom to let the team build the road(s) from here to there.
| Feature | The Old Way (The Plan) | The New Way (The Identity) |
| Language | “We are trying to…” | “We are…” |
| Focus | Tactics and Reorgs | Values and North Star |
| Hiring | Hire outsiders to fix it | Empower current team to solve it |
| Psychology | Fear of obsolescence | Pride in evolution |
By treating the “Decision Point” as a moment of identity rather than just an approval of tactics, CEOs can move their organizations through the “Bridgeable Gap” with speed, grace, and most importantly, the full support of the people who make the business run.
