A change can make perfect business sense and still stall when the organization rewards the opposite behavior. In this episode of Make or Break, Mo Berkner Boyt is joined by Chris Kreuser, CEO of LaMarsh Global, to explore what it takes to prepare an organization for change, and to successfully prepare a project for launch.

Chris shares the journey from leading change at Caterpillar to consulting with LaMarsh and eventually purchasing the company. After more than a few attempts at retirement, Chris returned to carry forward founder and industry giant Jeanenne LaMarsh’s legacy and lead the company into its next chapter.

Drawing on stories from manufacturing and consulting, Mo and Chris unpack a parts reuse initiative that collided with existing rewards, a CEO who challenged leaders to learn firsthand from Japan’s quality performance, and why change plans should begin with diagnosing risk rather than a checklist of activities.

In this conversation, you’ll hear about:

• How culture and incentives can work against a sound business case.

• The difference between preparing a project and preparing an organization to accept it.

• What active leadership sponsorship looks like at every level.

• Why change support should fit the initiative, rather than follow a one-size-fits-all process.

• Chris’s experience with C2IQ assessment feedback and practical coaching suggestions.

• The kite metaphor: giving teams an anchor by explaining what is not changing.

Watch the full conversation for practical lessons you can bring to your next change initiative, and subscribe to Make or Break for more conversations about the human side of change.

Follow Make or Break on your favorite streaming channel to effectively manage human risk during organizational change:

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Follow + Connect with our guest:

Chris Kreuser

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-kreuser-lamarsh/

Website - https://www.lamarsh.com/

In this episode of Make or Break Hot Take Edition, Mo Berkner Boyt sits down with Michelle Yanahan, principal and owner of ChangeFit 360, for a conversation about what change leaders keep getting wrong. Michelle argues that too much change work is still measured by activity instead of impact, shaped by templates instead of context, and managed like a project when people actually experience it as a constant, overlapping human reality.

Throughout the conversation, Michelle makes the case for a more disciplined and more human approach. She points to behavioral science as a practical lens for identifying the specific actions people need to take, measuring behaviors that predict adoption, and reinforcing change through the leaders, peers, and relationships closest to the work. She pushes for metrics tied to behavior, leader support, stakeholder voice, and the outcomes the change is meant to produce, rather than lagging indicators typically used.

Mo and Michelle challenge some of the field of change management’s cookie-cutter techniques by calling out the false comfort of deliverables that do not drive results, and questioning the idea that people adopt change one initiative at a time.

Michelle’s perspective on AI brings the argument into the present: organizations treating AI as another technology rollout will miss the deeper culture shift underneath it. The throughline is clear from start to finish: change becomes more effective when it is designed around human behavior and connection and the lived experience of the people asked to implement it.

Follow Make or Break on your favorite streaming channel to effectively manage human risk during organizational change:

https://c2iq.io/spotify

https://c2iq.io/apple

https://c2iq.io/audible

https://www.youtube.com/@C2IQMakeorBreak

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Follow + Connect with our guest:

Michelle Yanahan

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-yanahan-changefit360/

Website - https://changefit360.com/

In this episode of Make or Break Hot Take, Mo Berkner Boyt talks with Rachel Breitbach, Practice Lead and Senior Advisor at Farwell, about the key elements that help people navigate change. Rachel shares her own path from aspiring sports broadcaster to HR and ultimately into the world of change leadership as a “recovering HR professional.”

A central theme of the conversation is that change is about plans and executive alignment. And it is ultimately about trust, whether teams understand the change that is occurring and know what they need to do differently to ensure that they feel equipped to do it. Rachel argues that strong change leadership depends on trust and introduces the TIE Model: transparency, inclusion, and empathy, as an effective change management strategy. She also challenges the instinct many leaders have to wait until they have all the answers before communicating. In her view, waiting too long creates more fear than honesty ever does.

Their conversation also explores psychological safety, ownership, and the importance of helping people move from feeling like change is happening to them to feeling like they have agency within it. Together, Mo and Rachel touch on that there might be something to be learned from the Tooth Fairy and make the case that resilience, connection, and trust are not abstract cultural ideas.They are practical capabilities that leaders can strengthen to help organizations respond to disruption more effectively.

Follow Make or Break on your favorite streaming channel to effectively manage human risk during organizational change:

https://c2iq.io/spotify

https://c2iq.io/apple

https://c2iq.io/audible

https://www.youtube.com/@C2IQMakeorBreak

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Follow + Connect with our guest:

Rachel Breitbach

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-breitbach/

Website - https://www.gofarwell.com/