It is the most-quoted, most-ignored number in my field: roughly 70% of transformation programmes fail to deliver what they promised. Executives nod at it in slides, then launch the next one exactly the way the last one failed.
After 25 years leading these programmes, I've stopped believing the failures are about strategy, budget, or talent. Most organisations have all three. They fail for a quieter reason: they start transforming before they know whether they're ready to.
It's the equivalent of flooring the accelerator without checking whether the car has fuel, brakes, or a road. The energy is real. The direction is often wrong, and nobody finds out until it's expensive.
So before the next big programme, before the AI rollout, before the reorg — five questions worth more than most strategy decks.
1. Do we agree on the result — or just the activity? Ask ten leaders what "success" looks like and count the different answers. Every extra answer is a future argument, delivered at the worst possible time. Alignment on the outcome is cheap now and priceless later.
2. Where does value actually leak today? Transformation isn't about doing more things. It's about fixing the few that quietly cost you the most. If you can't point to the specific leaks, you're about to transform in the dark.
3. Is the organisation ready to absorb the change? The best strategy dies against an exhausted, sceptical, or under-supported workforce. Readiness isn't a mood; it's a measurable capacity. Ignore it and your beautiful plan meets an immovable culture.
4. Where does AI genuinely help — and where is it theatre? Some decisions get dramatically better with AI. Others just get a more expensive version of the same mistake. Knowing the difference before you buy is the whole return.
5. How will we know it worked? A number. Chosen before you start. Everything else is a story you tell yourself at the review.
Here's the good news buried in that grim 70%: the failure is almost entirely preventable, and preventing it is fast. You don't need a six-month discovery phase. You need a focused diagnostic that answers those five questions honestly — a readiness score, a maturity heat-map, the real gaps, and a prioritised roadmap you can actually act on.
That's exactly what a Transformation Readiness Assessment does, and it's why we deliver ours in five days, not five months. Five days to know whether you're about to join the 70% — or beat them.
The most expensive transformation is the one you launch before you're ready. The cheapest insurance is finding out first.
If your organisation is about to bet big on change — with or without AI — do the readiness work before the roadmap work. Your future self, reviewing the results, will thank you.
A question worth sitting with: of those five, which is hardest for your organisation to answer honestly today? That one isn't a weakness to hide — it's the highest-return place to start. I'd genuinely like to hear which it is for you. 👇