Angie Tuglus - TransformAble: How to Perform Death-defying Feats of Business Transformation

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR TransformAble

Business transformation is daunting yet essential to staying relevant; urgency increases with rapidly changing customer preferences, aggressive competition, and unexpected world events. TransformAble is an easy-to-consume business transformation guide that will help anyone scale the mountains and avoid the deadly pitfalls of transformation. It is a guide you will pick up again and again.

MARCY KLEVORN, board member, advisor, and former president, Mobility, Ford Motor Company

Timely and timeless! As COVID-19 showed how quickly unexpected events can change our world, TransformAble delivers a clear, logical, and proven roadmap to successfully lead critical transformations for businesses large and small. This book is a must-read for your entire management team!

JOHN BORIS, former senior executive, GMAC and Ally Financial

Captivating storytelling, entertaining illustrations, and totally relatable. Unlike other books, which often present organizational transformations in implausibly simplistic ways, Tuglus identifies realistic barriers, provides practical approaches, and gives you the courage to take on the challenge of transformation.

LESLEY MA, CIO, NSF International, and former CIO, Cadillac

Profound business transformation principles wrapped in a witty narrative. This book is an essential read for any professional looking to successfully undergo a business transformation or execute critical business pivots.

LEE SENDEROV, chief marketing and digital officer, Foundation Partners Group

This amazing and practical piece of work will open your eyes to what it takes to execute difficult transformations. It has helped me navigate complexity and avoid pitfalls at my own company as we rapidly build out a new billion-dollar business.

VAL GUI, vice president, Upstart, and serial entrepreneur

Always authentic and insightful, Tuglus helps business and nonprofit leaders alike light a path to a stronger future state and meaningful impact. This book is one I will visit again and again as we navigate new challenges and create new opportunities.

DEBORAH PARIZEK, cofounder and executive director, Henry Ford Learning Institute

Finally a book that takes on one of the business worlds most intimidating and poorly understood topics. Real-world, hard-fought experiences bring to life lessons that would benefit anyone who is considering taking on a transformation.

TIM MCCABE, former managing director, KPMG, and former CIO, Aptiv/Delphi

TransformAble is a must-read for anyone involved in driving organizational change. Tugluss insightful, thoughtful five laws distill this complex topic into an enjoyable and thought-provoking common-sense framework that any business leader can benefit from.

BEN SABLOFF, founder and CEO of banking and analytics consultancy, AQN Strategies

A pragmatic yet inspiring guide to business transformation across all areas of an enterprise. The conversational approach that Tuglus employs as she lays out the concepts of meaningful transformations makes this a fantastic book for all leaders.

JASON BRESSLER, chief technology officer, United Wholesale Mortgage

In a world rife with disruptive change, TransformAble is your guide through the vital journey of business transformation. Engaging and easy to read, I have shared this book with other executives, including all of my clients, and you will definitely want to do the same!

PAMELA BURT, business development executive, IBM

Angies insight and experience with business transformation is clear with this handy guidebook. Its a useful read and reference for any exec looking to transform their organization.

TOM TANG, chief information officer, Alliant Energy

Angie Tuglus has honed her approach to the complex challenge of business transformation. Ive seen her go from delivering material business transformation in one company to driving change in many others. In TransformAble, she shares her proven approach with leaders worldwide to help make your transformation a reality.

DR. VICTORIA HUSTED MEDVEC, president and CEO, Medvec & Associates, and professor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Copyright 2021 by Angie Tuglus

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.

Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada

ISBN 978-1-928055-83-9 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-928055-84-6 (EPUB)

ISBN 978-1-928055-85-3 (EPDF)

Editor: Jessica Easto

Cover design and interior design: Naomi MacDougall

All illustrations and author portrait: Angie Tuglus

Published by LifeTree Media,

an imprint of Wonderwell

www.wonderwell.press

Distributed in the US by Publishers Group West and in Canada by Publishers Group Canada

For anyone who is serious about transformation. Its time to turn the possible into reality.

Contents

TRANSFORMATION
PROGRAM

Introduction

YOU WAKE UP one morning to find yourself in an unfortunate situation. The world is hurtling toward you at a rapid pace, threatening to barrel past and leave you behind in the dust. You close your eyes and pretend it isnt happening. Strangely, that doesnt work this time. Before panicking, you try something else: you focus really hard, with all of your might, and try to freeze the world in place. Oddly enough, that also fails.

At this very moment, you, the hero of our story, experience an inescapably powerful flash of clarity. What has worked before is no longer working. Things are going to have to change around here. A transformation must occur.

Business transformation is not optional. The world is evolving at a dramatic pace, changing our lives faster than ever before. Rapid advancements in technology continuously make new things possible. Environmental catastrophes occur, generating cascading impacts through globally interconnected industries and economies. Lives become increasingly digital and connected. Consumer expectations change quickly. Meanwhile, ubiquitous access to information and heavy investment in innovation are leveling playing fields, industry by industry. As barriers to entry continue to lower, new competitors, products, and services are emerging and entering markets faster than ever. In every industry, established players are learning that once they achieve success with a highly profitable offering, maintaining dominance has become more difficult than ever before. An organization cannot sit back and live off a success for long, before serious threats emerge and force substantial business changes.