It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Turns out it can also be worth a lot of money. This is probably one of the worst and most primitive graphics still in my library (with apologies to Ribbet Inc. for the aesthetic offence), but it has consistently proven itself to be equal parts simple and profound. With myriad interpretations on this one schematic, I have helped countless executives, managers and front-line professionals to comprehend and act upon the duality and interplay between continuous, progressive improvement and quantum transformational change.

It was informed by the early works of Senge, Scully and Barker, and its underlying concepts continue to accommodate the later works of Gladwell, Taleb, Collins and Sinek. You can map on to it the earliest works of Juran and Deming, and the modern, cultish, Kaizen language of LEAN. It is about organizational behaviour, and it is about the very individual characteristics of risk aversion, self-interest and resistance to change, about innovation and self-actualization. Ultimately, as with all my work, it can be broken down and approached from a deeper understanding of the compound and complex natures of adults, as they seek to learn and apply new pathways towards achievement and fulfillment.

I must credit here my erstwhile client and longtime friend Glenn Harris, a former Vice-President of two universities, and a truly innovative leader. I first sketched this in my hotel room after brainstorming together in his office in an effort to convey the complexities of change behind his ‘Making a Difference’ initiatives. I am sure Glenn would be pleased to know he inspired an elegantly simple model that still has life and relevance some 20 years later.