When organizations make incremental changes, e.g. the introduction of a new product to an existing product line, traditional training programs that treat everyone the same, usually do a pretty good job. When moving a group of people in a new strategic direction, e.g. shifting from hardware to software sales, one-size-fits-all rarely achieves the desired results. So what do you do? In the end we have to bring EVERYONE along, don’t we? Well, Peter Drucker put it nicely in his HBR article in 1999: “It takes far more energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence. And yet, most people – especially most teachers and most organizations – concentrate on making incompetent performers into mediocre ones. Energy, resources, and time should go instead to making a competent person into a star performer.” Focusing on your top performers, those that are ahead of the pack with regards to the new strategic direction, creates a dynamic that cannot be achieved when trying to make everyone happy. It is that dynamic that strengthens the belief in future success, drives the exchange of effective practices and ultimately pulls the organization in a new direction.