Transformation Truths

Why most transformations fail — and what leaders must do differently
With trillions of dollars spent on digital transformation globally each year, the results
are sobering: only 20–30% of initiatives achieve their intended outcomes.
In this talk, Susan draws on firsthand experience leading both successful and failed transformations to explore why — and what leaders can do differently.
Structured in four acts, the session moves from the hard reality of transformation failure
to the underlying patterns behind it, arriving at four practical truths every leader must
accept:
• Transformation is never the goal — business value is
• Political capital is finite and must be managed deliberately
• Early focus matters more than destination planning
• Measurement should enable learning, not be used as a weapon
The talk closes with two grounding questions every leader should be able to answer
before launching any transformation — practical, honest, and hard-won from the field.
Speaker Bio
Susan Rohde is the founder of Rohde Inc. and a technology executive with decades of
experience guiding public and private sector organizations through complex, high-
stakes transformation. Her career spans executive leadership at a top-five national bank,
a large state government, and six years as Senior Consultant to a major federal agency —
where she helped lead one of the most ambitious project-to-product transformations in
the federal government.
As a BVSSH Advocate, Susan is part of Jon Smart's global community of practitioners
committed to helping organizations achieve Better Value Sooner Safer Happier. She
brings a practitioner's lens to transformation — having both delivered change for others
and led it herself from the inside.
Susan has presented at the AWS Public Sector Summit, the DevOps Enterprise Summit,
and multiple national forums on Agile, transformation, and technology leadership.