The False Alignment TrapSKIP TO CONTENT
Harvard Business Review LogoChange management<br>The False Alignment Trap
Leaders often behave as if they agree on why, what, and how to change—when they actually don’t. That’s why most transformation efforts fail. by Julia Dhar, Kristy R. Ellmer and Philip Jameson
From the Magazine (July–August 2026)
Cheuk Lun Alan Lo & Vanessa Lyu
Summary.<br>Most organizational change efforts fail not because of poor execution but because senior leaders fall into a false alignment trap—believing they agree on why, what, and how to...more<br>Leer en españolLer em português
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Decades of experience and research have consistently shown that most organizational change efforts fail. In 1993 Michael Hammer, who launched the business-process-reengineering movement, somberly concluded in his book Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution that “as many as 50% to 70% of the organizations that undertake a reengineering effort do not achieve the dramatic results they intended.”
Read more on Change management or related topics Managerial behavior , Collaboration and teams , Interpersonal communication , Internal communication and Management communication
A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2026 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Julia Dhar is a managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group. She leads the firm’s People & Organization Practice in North America and is a fellow at the BCG Institute. She is a coauthor of How Change Really Works: Seven Science-Based Principles for Transforming Your Organization (Harvard Business Review Press, 2026).
Kristy R. Ellmer is a managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, the leader of BCG Transform, and a coauthor of How Change Really Works: Seven Science-Based Principles for Transforming Your Organization (Harvard Business Review Press, 2026).
Philip Jameson is an associate director at Boston Consulting Group and a coauthor of How Change Really Works: Seven Science-Based Principles for Transforming Your Organization (Harvard Business Review Press, 2026).
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Read more on Change management or related topics Managerial behavior , Collaboration and teams , Interpersonal communication , Internal communication and Management communication
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