You are so correct about the incremental change and marketing the success out of early pilot projects. Most people don’t want to be the first to try a new process, but they are happy to be the second or third to try it if the first was successful. That’s how you build the “groundswell” as you mentioned. This is a lot easier (straightforward) when the improvements are “in the name of” the customer rather than isolated inside the organization.

The momentum from this groundswell is enough to change the culture of companies from staid and traditional to fresh, creative and mindful of how innovation can cement loyalty to your brand. When customers see that you are thinking on their behalf, they grow more and more loyal.

Change is hard, even when that change is customer-centric. In my experience, even the right change will be fought by a share of the employees (and customers too) who are invested in the old way of doing things. People just don’t like to change.

What we have found successful is (1) make sure you have the RIGHT change in mind (as you mentioned, a change that improves customer experience and (2) start small, with change delivered to “early adopter” employees who are always interested in the new thing. Then, take the success from the pilot and market the heck out of it, to the rest of the organization. You can build a groundswell that way which will ease adoption.

For consumers, the same thing applies. The early adopter consumers will try it first and the rest will wait until they know that the product or service is ready (thank you, Geoffrey Moore). When you can let the early adopters tell the rest of the consumer base that your enhancement is ready, then you will be good to go.

In change, Big Bang has failed every time I have seen it tried. Take the hill one step at a time and you increase the chances of success dramatically