Charlotte Allen is the Founder and CEO of Rebel Success for Leaders. In today’s turbulent environment that demands new levels of collaboration, Charlotte works to create a world where change is fun and innovations are successful. She has over 20 years of leadership experience and is a best-selling author. Her latest book is “Rebel Success for Leaders: Lead, Grow, and Sell Fearlessly.” Charlotte brings clarity to topics including change, project failure, competing priorities, customer-centricity, and what being a rebel brings to leadership. Listen in for insights about STEM experts, influence, collaboration, and success.   https://bit.ly/TLP-352   Key Takeaways   [1:49] Charlotte tore her ACL in a ski accident a year ago in 2022. After a lot of physical therapy, she got back on the slopes a year later, to the day. [3:01] Charlotte explains why 70% of business change and innovation projects fail. People tend to have an aversion to change of any kind. We power through it, hoping it’ll be over soon, without focusing on the vision of what we want it to be and how to get there. [4:39] Change and innovation each bring something new into the world but innovation has a positive aura around it. It’s the warm, fuzzy bunny version of change. But the number of innovation projects that get to market is not that different from the number of successful change projects. [6:11] Failure is an important thing to describe. When we launch an initiative within a corporation, we often have organizational fallout. Parts of the organization did not get the communication. Parts are not happy. Some employees are asked to leave as a result of the change initiative. The failed initiative may get repeated. KPIs for initiatives need to be set up in a way we can measure them. [8:46] If the leadership is not clear on where the team is going, there will be a challenge to success. If there is no clarity within the team about how to operate, communicate, and work together, there’s going to be a problem with success. We are extremely driven by tools, metrics, and the latest model, without looking at how people are unable to deliver their best work within the boundaries leaders put them in. [10:10] Competing priorities, the squirrel syndrome, and siloed departments lead to failed projects. [11:21] Charlotte discusses the problems that complexity brings. Complexity is not a friend of successful change. [12:53] STEM people in an organization are not getting the same amount of training and leadership development as the sales team, but they are the experts expected to lead change initiatives. They need to learn two languages, the language of deep experts and the language of change, leadership, and development. But not everybody wants to be in every chair on an org chart. [17:45] There is a large predisposition in STEM workers to get into their work, which they are very good at. They come to a time in their career when they wish they had had more exposure to business elements. Folks that can do the translation between deep expertise and business are unique. We need to be searching for them, training them, and putting them into positions where they can lead. [19:58] Publicly-traded companies have to report out; metrics, KPIs, and spreadsheets are a required part of business. [20:26] In 2023, Charlotte believes leaders will spend more time with, invest in, and develop their people. These efforts can result in fewer people leaving and have positive effects on efficiency and employee satisfaction and engagement. Leaders are seeing that, partly because of changes during the pandemic. There is a large social movement for building community. You don’t build community with spreadsheets. [23:01] Comfort is the enemy of progress. People stay in a toxic environment because it’s a known job, and change is more frightening. There are so many other options out there. You, as a person, have gifts beyond what you are currently delivering. If you are in a toxic environment, there is no