Levi's Changes Everything

It sounds like a war room, or a political campaign.

We had that kind of camaraderie. The lights stayed on later and later. I'd walk in at night and there'd be food everywhere -- pretzels, licorice, popcorn. It was like we were in a different world. I was waiting for the elevator one day when someone got out by mistake. Another person on the elevator said, "Don't get out on that floor, that's the weird floor." We didn't think we were weird. We did think we were doing some important work.

Change Is an Art, Resistance a Science

We all like to think we could "shake things up" at our company if we got the chance. What makes an effective change agent?

Early on I gave a talk to the Third Floor group. I said, "There are 200 people in this room, and you're all going to be A's. Some of you are going to be ambassadors -- people who can help your colleagues understand what we're doing, explain the benefits, move them forward. And some of you are going to be assassins -- people who will kill our chances for success." It turns out we also had a few Z's -- zealots. Some people took to this work like you wouldn't believe.

What's the difference between an ambassador and an assassin?

A change agent needs courage, flexibility, balance, humor. Balance is probably the most important. There are so many times when you get really excited, then really depressed. Most of our people had those qualities. We had very few outright failures.

There are two skills I wish we had more of. One is the ability to communicate verbally with different types of audiences. It's a rare skill. Change agents have to be able to reach people, and they can't use the same language, messages, and styles with everyone. The second skill is a better understanding of what it takes to work in teams. We didn't know nearly as much about teamwork as we thought we did. It was a long learning process.

You are, in a sense, Levi's chief change agent. How has your life changed?

I spend a lot more time in meetings! I spend a lot more time in "exploration" mode. There's no handbook for this stuff, and I don't have a lot of personal experience to fall back on. I've had to dial up my personal learning quotient.

I've also had to change my management style -- that's probably the most important change. Even before I took this job I wasn't satisfied with my management style. Or, to be more accurate, some people who worked for me weren't satisfied. I was a controller. I got too much into the details. I focused more on what was wrong, not what was right.

One of my best friends from college called me one day. She'd been at a dinner party and met someone who worked at Levi's. She told me she asked him, "Do you know Tom Kasten? Isn't he just the funniest guy?" He said, "Are we talking about the same guy? The Tom Kasten I know is definitely not funny."

Those things have an impact. So I've worked on changing who I am at the office. I'm still aggressive. I'm still competitive. I still want to win. But I've learned to do it differently.

It wasn't an easy transition, by the way. Sometimes I fell back into the old behaviors. Or people wondered what to make of it. "Is he for real? What's his angle?" But if I hadn't changed, I couldn't have done this job.

The flip side of change is resistance. What's your advice for dealing with resistance?

I have three rules about resistance. First, expect it. Human beings inevitably exaggerate the joys of the past, the pain of the present, and the risks of the future. It's perfectly natural.

Second, don't take it personally. I made that mistake. People would push back and I'd want to scream, "Why can't you see it?"

Third, understand that resistance comes in code. Few people ever say, "I don't want to change because I'm scared." It's almost covert. You need to crack the code.

I've made a list of the codes I hear again and again: "Our customers haven't asked for this level of service"; "Our customers don't want what they say they want"; "Our competitors aren't doing what they say they're doing"; "This makes sense for the company, but it won't work in our division"; "Our performance is good enough -- we don't need to turn the place upside down."

Whenever I hear those statements, I know what's going on. I've cracked the code.

That's how to identify resistance. How do you manage it?

You've got to take the fear out of change. You know that terrible phrase, "Carry the wounded but shoot the stragglers"? We made it clear that we weren't going to "shoot" anyone. We promised to do everything in our power to bring people along. That doesn't mean everyone wants to come along. Some people genuinely don't agree with what we're doing.