Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
—Jean Jacques Rousseau

Have you ever short-circuited an electrical wire? When you short-circuit a wire, it either blows a fuse or starts a fire. Either way, the electricity goes out and everything stops working until things are fixed. That’s an appropriate way to think about what will happen if you try to take a shortcut in the change process. What seems like a way to speed things up at the time can end up not only taking longer, but it can also cause significant damage that can take a long while to fix, if the damage is reparable at all.

A successful change leader must be highly disciplined. An extremely successful change leader must be extremely disciplined.

What is discipline? Discipline is adhering to order.

Successful change leaders have a well-organized, systematic approach to driving change—and they adhere to it.

A couple years ago, I was in Denver, Colorado, for a conference and I took in a game of baseball with some friends. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Brad Hawpe of the Colorado Rockies was at bat, down five runs to six, with two outs and two strikes. The Rockies were one swing away from losing—only a home run on the last swing could save the game. Incredibly, Hawpe hit a homer into the center stands! The Rockies won seven to six in the eleventh inning. It was amazing!!

Yes, one-in-a-million miracles can happen. But do you want to be successful one out of a million times, or do you want to succeed every time?

Change is like a fragile house of cards that must be carefully built, one card at a time, in a certain order.

Do not succumb to the temptation of taking a short cut, or doing something out of order, before its time has come.

You will always be under pressure, particularly from your management, to speed things along and may even be encouraged to take short cuts. Ask yourself and your management, “Do I want it done right (resulting in a purchase order), or right now (resulting in a lost opportunity)?” Many times the question becomes, “Do I want the purchase order later—or never?”

That is not an excuse for sitting by the phone expecting an order magically to come in. On the contrary, as a disciplined change leader, you have a well-organized, systematic approach that you have to create and execute. You have roadblocks to remove, risks to mitigate, a coalition to energize…the list goes on. So, put down this book and get to work!

Be extremely disciplined – and be extremely successful. Be disciplined—adhere to order. Get the order later, rather than never.