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Irresistible Change
A Blueprint for Earning Buy-In and Breakout Success
“Phil Gilbert helped redefine how we thought about change at IBM—treating change like a product people chose to adopt, rather than a mandate to follow. Irresistible Change distills that approach into a powerful, practical playbook.” “When embarking on a technology-related change at scale, it seems natural to get focused on the tech when success is actually about the people. They need an appetite and path to change the way they think and work. Phil’s change-as-a-product mindset, experience and stories can help anyone build a more effective approach to transformation, one that results in real, practical outcomes.” “Irresistible Change is Phil Gilbert’s brilliantly insightful account of his time leading and driving IBM’s move towards a new way of operating—nothing less than turning a battleship against headwinds and currents. His success was not serendipitous, but instead the product of thoughtful planning, careful communication, and relentless pursuit of doing what works. Less complicated than difficult, change demands deft, committed leadership, and a deep understanding of both the challenge and criticality of adapting.” “This is simultaneously the most radical and most pragmatic story of transformation you will come across anywhere. It would appear ridiculously ambitious to attempt to change the culture of a company the size of IBM and yet Phil Gilbert helps us truly understand what it takes to drive large scale cultural change through design thinking. Anyone with similar ambition should take careful notes.” The transformation of IBM into a design thinking organization is probably the most amazing corporate transformation in the history of American business. When Phil Gilbert came to Stanford, I told him it was impossible—and I was dead wrong. Read this book to understand how he did it, and how you can make change irresistible.” In Irresistible Change, Phil Gilbert shares bold, carefully uncomfortable moves—like flying stakeholders in on a Sunday and banning laptops on Monday—to surface hidden resistance early. By designing for discomfort, he transforms skepticism into belief and makes lasting change truly irresistible.”
GINNI ROMETTY- Former Chairman, President, and CEO of IBM, and bestselling author of Good Power
DOUG McMILLON- President and CEO, Walmart
STAN McCHRYSTAL- General, US Army (Retired), Founder and Chairman/CEO of McChrystal Group, and bestselling author of Team of Teams
TIM BROWN- Chair Emeritus of IDEO, and bestselling author of Change By Design
BILL BURNETT- Executive Director of the Life Design Lab, Stanford University, and bestselling author of Designing Your Life
JOHN MAEDA- VP of Artificial Intelligence and Design, Microsoft Corporation, and bestselling author of The Laws of Simplicity
Phil Gilbert (Author)
9781394367757, Wiley
Hardback, published 17 November 2025
224 pages
23.1 x 15.8 x 2.5 cm, 0.408 kg
A blueprint for change leaders to learn from one of the largest transformations in corporate history Irresistible Change:A Blueprint for Earning Buy-In and Breakout Success details one of the largest and most formidable transformations in corporate history: to shift the foundations of work for IBM’s nearly 400,000 employees and thousands of interdisciplinary teams across 180 countries and help them become more entrepreneurial, agile, and customer focused. Written by Phil Gilbert, IBM’s former General Manager of Design and architect of this ambitious change effort, this book is part narrative and part field guide. Irresistible Change describes how the choices made at IBM affected the Change Program Office’s development at each stage of its growth and provides readers with key insights they need to conduct transformational change within their own organizations. This book includes insights on:
Irresistible Change is an essential roadmap for the next generation of change leaders in organizations of any size.
Introduction: Transforming How Change Is Adopted Chapter 1 Setting the Stage 1 Chapter 2 Branding the Program 17 Chapter 3 Designing the Leadership Team 31 Chapter 4 Selecting the First Projects 49 Chapter 5 Driving the Adoption 65 Chapter 6 Communicating the Progress 83 Chapter 7 Finding the Magic 103 Chapter 8 Raising the Money 119 Chapter 9 Building the Environment 137 Chapter 10 Finishing the Job 155 Appendix: The Irresistible Experiences Playbook 171 Acknowledgments 193 About the Author 195 Index 197
Subject Areas: Business & management [KJ]
