484: John Sargent, part 2: Fun Transforming MacMillan, a Big 5 Publisher

July 8, 2021 by Joshua
in Podcast

Everyone treat changing corporate culture like a horror show, but John did it. How? Through making it fun.

The way most people talk about it, only dictators can change cultures, I’ll trust his experience over their speculation. This episode begins with his reviewing some of how he implemented that change. My biggest takeaway was his focus on people before technology, what they want, and what makes them tick. The result is their engaged participation.

He also shares the result of his commitment. As usual with experienced leaders, if things don’t go perfectly, they don’t pretend. They share what didn’t work too, I believe from experience finding that exposing vulnerabilities doesn’t make them weak. It connects people.

If you want to change yourself and your organization, you’ll learn from John how to achieve more by having fun, listening, and caring over analyzing forever, coercion, and such.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter