The Uncomfortable Truth About Being a Change Agent
The frustrating, messy, vital work of transforming your culture.
Everyone loves the idea of change—the success stories, the transformations, the vision of something better. Being a change agent sounds exciting: a meaningful title, a clear mandate, and the chance to fix what’s broken. But ask someone who’s actually done this work, and they’ll tell you a different story.
The path is foggy. It’s messy. You can barely see what’s coming next, let alone where you’ll end up. You’re pushing uphill while others question why you’re even trying.
Here’s what nobody tells you: The title means nothing. The fancy job description, the executive mandate, the budget—none of it protects you from what’s ahead. A formal role doesn’t give you influence or make things easier.
“A change agent is a person who cannot help but to improve things. It’s like an addiction or a habit.” —Henrik Kniberg
What surprises me most is how quickly the excitement fades. I’ve seen it as a former CEO and now as a culture transformation consultant. People who are thrilled to lead change hit a wall the moment reality sets in. They expected progress. They face resistance, ambiguity, and battles that they never saw coming.
The uncomfortable truth? If you’re waiting for a clear path before you act, you’ve already lost. The uphill battle isn’t the obstacle—it’s the entire point. Be bold or go home.
The path of the change agent requires resilience, not comfort. Here’s how to keep going when everything feels impossible.
1. Being a Change Agent Is a Mindset, Not a Position
A job title won’t move mountains. Your mentality will.
Your job isn’t to control change. It’s to create the right conditions. Think of yourself less as the project manager and more as a fire starter. Once you get things started, step back and let it spread on its own.
Some people see problems and just complain. Change agents are naturally curious. They don’t let objections stop them. Instead, they ask, “How can we make this work?” They build movements. They know that real change needs a strong belief that can survive pushback.
When Ron Johnson suggested the Genius Bar to Steve Jobs, Jobs called it “idiotic.” Putting tech support at the center of Apple stores didn’t fit with Apple’s way of thinking. However, Johnson didn’t give up after his boss rejected the idea. He didn’t let his lower position intimidate him. His way of thinking, not his job title, changed Apple stores forever.
Being a change agent doesn’t need a fancy title. It requires the right mindset.
2. Avoid the ‘Us Versus Them’ Trap
Change can’t be owned by just a few people. When you try to make it exclusive, you fail.
I see this pattern everywhere: Official change leaders get so invested in fixing what’s broken that they become territorial. They act like they own the process. They behave as experts who know best. This creates a divide—us (the enlightened change makers) versus them (everyone else).
This approach kills change.
Chief People Officer Kathleen Hogan explained how Microsoft avoided this trap: “Many people wanted a simpler narrative of ‘This is good; that was bad.’ It was really important for us to say, ‘This is how we have to evolve to be relevant in the future,’ versus being dismissive of the past.” Microsoft’s value grew from $300 billion to over $2.5 trillion—not by replacing their culture, but by evolving it.
Real change doesn’t throw the ‘old’ culture—it builds on what already works. The best change agents find what’s good and amplify it. They integrate old and new to create something that feels both familiar and exciting.
Smart change agents build bridges, not walls. As Henrik Kniberg describes in Confessions of a Change Agent, they multiply their impact by activating others rather than trying to do everything alone.
3. Welcome Resistance—It’s Feedback
When change fails, managers often blame people. They label them as “resistant to change,” which only makes things worse.
Here’s a better way to think about it: Resistance is a signal, not a roadblock.
If you’re not getting resistance, you’re not pushing hard enough. You’re playing it safe, rearranging deck chairs rather than making real progress.
When Zhang Ruimin transformed Haier by eliminating 12,000 middle managers and decentralizing into thousands of micro-enterprises, the pushback was brutal. But Haier listened instead of fighting. The resistance showed what people cared about: status, identity, and roles that defined them. This signal told them the transformation was real enough to matter. But also showed them how to talk about change—they reframed the narrative from loss to gain.
Resistance means you’re onto something. It’s not just people saying no—it’s valuable feedback.
Ask yourself: What are people afraid of? What do they think they’ll lose? What story are they telling themselves about this change?
These aren’t problems to fight but questions to answer. Listen carefully. Help people see things differently. Turn critics into supporters by understanding what matters to them.
Resistance also shows you’re heading in the right direction. Keep moving.
4. Focus on Making Progress, Not Perfection
Change is messy because people are messy. Nothing changes overnight, and things rarely follow a linear path (plans included).
Don’t try to change everything at once. Start simple: just get things moving. Break the inertia.
Progress beats perfection every time, and it builds momentum.
Consider the British cycling team’s transformation. They hadn’t won an Olympic medal in 50 years. Yet, instead of changing everything, they looked for one percent improvements everywhere. They improved their diet a little. They made small tweaks to training. They used lighter equipment. They made the bike seats more comfortable. They even washed their hands more carefully to avoid getting sick.
None of these changes were dramatic. But, compounded over time, they created an unstoppable advantage.
That’s precisely how culture change works. Small habits, done over and over, create massive transformation.
5. Make People Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution
Want people to really care? Stop trying to sell them your brilliant solution. Get them excited about the problem first.
When you pitch a ready-made solution, people might nod as if they agree. But this illusion of alignment, as I explain in my upcoming book, doesn’t drive ownership. Instead, you’re moving in circles, not forward.
Try this: Help people understand and own the problem. Explain why it matters. Make it real and urgent for them, then work together to find the answer.
When Paul Polman became Unilever’s CEO in 2009, he didn’t tell his 169,000 employees what to do. Instead, he gave them a problem to care about: “Profits should come from solving the world’s problems, not creating them.” He set three audacious goals and let teams figure out how to meet them. Different teams came up with fresh ideas and found their own solutions—eliminating unhealthy fats, opting for materials that don’t harm the planet, and using less water. Unilever doubled revenues while cutting environmental impact by half. Why? Because people owned the problem, not just the solution.
Something magical happens when people fall in love with the problem: You get more buy-in and better solutions. It’s like asking people to help you cross the river rather than to build a bridge. Someone might suggest changing the river’s course. Another might propose building a raft. A third might find a shallow crossing point you never knew existed.
The best answers come from the people who own the problem—if you let them help solve it.
6. Find Your Hidden Change Agents
Leaders matter, but they can’t do everything. You need more than a handful of people to transform your whole organization.
Your company is full of secret change agents—people with energy, ideas, and influence who aren’t wearing official change management badges. Your job is to find them and activate them.
Research shows that most organizations have people using only half of their potential. The secret lies in getting everyone involved in making change happen.
Take Hewlett-Packard as an example: Engineers were avoiding a thermal transfer problem because it seemed dull, like a “low-level janitorial job.” However, one engineer asked 100 colleagues to help solve it. Together, they created new solutions that saved HP millions of dollars through cooler, more efficient machines.
One person started it. A hundred people solved it.
Who in your organization is ready to be activated? Who has influence even without a title? Who cares deeply but hasn’t been asked to help?
Find these people. Invite them in. Give them the chance to become a change maker.
The Path Reveals Itself
Leading change is messy, unpredictable, and profoundly human. That’s what makes it frustrating—and also special.
You’ll always face resistance and even doubt yourself. But the harder it gets, the more rewarding the journey. The real question isn’t if it will be hard. The question is: How badly do you want what you want?
Don’t wait for everything to be easy or straightforward. The path of the change agent doesn’t reveal all at once—it shows up only step by step as you make progress.
So take the first step. The way forward appears once you begin. Keep going.
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