Are you equipped to lead change?

It's not a big secret that most people are averse to change, since it's more comfortable to retain the status quo — even if it's not working. This creates a significant challenge for today's executive and family business leaders, especially those with the vision to make transformational changes; having great new ideas is one thing, but understanding how to get buy-in from those who must implement them is another.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is considered a visionary leader, and he recently announced a radical change to the way the company operates. This year, following the example of fashion brands that have haute couture and mass-market lines, Starbucks will start opening luxury Reserve stores where customers can get a more rarefied and expensive assortment of coffee. It's an interesting concept, but like anything else that's new, the employees who will roll it out must embrace the change, or it's likely to have a quick and painful death.

Transformational change has been defined as a shift in the business culture of an organization resulting from a change in the underlying strategy and processes that the organization has used in the past. The Starbucks example is certainly transformational, but who's to say what might fall under that heading at other companies? For your business, monumental change could be anything from using a new software program or dealing with a total rebrand to dealing with minor or major organizational restructuring.