Working with Fortune 500 firms globally, I often encountered the metaphors “burning platform” and “straw man.” The former was meant to suggest that people would move if you set the floor on fire, and the latter that it was useful to create a simulacrum before committing to the actual movement of, and communication with, people.
I found these to be colorful metaphors but superficial actions, clever in the conference room, and ineffective in reality. I finally chided one senior executive group by pointing out that in that very room they needed straw men on a burning platform—move or be consumed by change.
Ironically, the facile kids’ game “follow the leader” has morphed into a management philosophy. People in organizational life do not ...
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