No Substitute for Victory: Lessons in Strategy and Leadership from General Douglas Macarthur

Chapter 26. Weigh Change Carefully

Change is an organizational imperative, but the choice of when—and when not—to change is a fundamental leadership issue. Some leaders mistakenly adopt change for its own sake; they create an organizational fetish out of the supposed benefits of constant change. The result: Buffeted by a never-ending stream of new fads and programs-of-the-month, their organizations' priorities become blurred and lapse into chaos. This is why change should never be undertaken without careful analysis.

MacArthur's leadership career was one characterized by many challenging change efforts, yet he always tempered the impetus to change with a practical understanding of the difficulties it entailed. In 1920, for instance, as he took ...