#45: REPLAY: Thriving amidst transformation, with Steve Blum, Autodesk

Summary

B2B Agility™ with Greg Kihlström - Episode #45: REPLAY: Thriving Amidst Transformation, with Steve Blum, Autodesk

Release Date: May 27, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode #45 of B2B Agility™, host Greg Kihlström engages in an insightful conversation with Steve Blum, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Autodesk. This episode delves deep into the art of fostering a change-maker culture within organizations, emphasizing how teams can not only survive but thrive amidst continual transformations.

Guest Introduction and Background

Steve Blum begins by sharing his professional journey, highlighting his transition from an electrical engineer to a sales and business leader. His diverse experiences span across sales management, marketing, global consulting, and revenue operations, all culminating in his current role as COO at Autodesk. Steve emphasizes the importance of being open to opportunities and adapting to various roles to build a well-rounded leadership skill set.

Key Discussion Points

1. Embracing Career Transitions

Steve discusses his initial foray into engineering, detailing his innovative work with semiconductors at NCR. An unexpected opportunity in sales engineering prompted his shift from a purely technical path to roles encompassing sales and management. He reflects:

"[...] I decided to make the change and never really looked back from there."
[03:11]

Steve underscores the significance of courage and openness to navigate career changes, advising listeners to seize growth opportunities as they arise.

2. Leading Organizational Change

The conversation pivots to managing significant transformations within Autodesk. Steve outlines two concurrent transformations:

• Long-term: Transitioning Autodesk's business model to a platform-based approach.
• Short-term: Reshaping engagement models with customers and partners.

He shares critical lessons from previous transformations, emphasizing the necessity of clear and continuous communication:

"Whenever you're driving a big change as a leader or as leaders in an organization, you need to focus on communicating the whys behind the what's of the change."
[07:30]

3. Strategies for Effective Change Management

Steve elaborates on strategies that have proven successful in leading transformations:

• Burning the Boats: Committing fully to a change without the option to revert, thus fostering dedication.

  "[...] creating the scenario where there's no return actually helps when you're driving a really big change."
  [08:15]

• Agility and Flexibility: Acknowledging that transformations won't be perfect and being prepared to adapt as new insights emerge.

• Stakeholder Engagement: Involving all stakeholders continuously from the inception to the completion of the change process.

4. Overcoming Resistance to Change

Addressing the inherent resistance to change, Steve provides actionable advice:

"Leaders need to have empathy for those that are going through the change and may be impacted greatest as a result of that change..."
[11:10]

He emphasizes the importance of:

• Empathy and Support: Understanding the challenges employees face during transitions.
• Clear Vision and Storytelling: Articulating a compelling vision that illustrates the benefits of the change for all parties involved.
• Training and Enablement: Providing necessary education and resources to facilitate smooth transitions.

5. Balancing Transformation with Operational Continuity

Steve discusses the challenge of maintaining day-to-day operations while implementing transformative changes. He shares Autodesk's approach of piloting initiatives in specific markets (e.g., Australia) to gather feedback and iterate before a broader rollout:

"We launched the program there. We learned from the experience... positioned us to then be prepared to go and scale it in other locations."
[17:47]

This Minimum Viable Product (MVP) strategy allows Autodesk to refine processes and address gaps without disrupting the entire organization.

6. Prioritization and Iterative Implementation

Steve highlights the crucial role of prioritization in ensuring that essential elements are addressed first:

"We need to be really clear on what are the need to have things, the must haves..."
[18:24]

By focusing on must-have capabilities initially and iterating based on feedback, Autodesk ensures that transformations are both effective and manageable.

7. Enhancing Customer and Employee Experience

A standout point in the discussion is the intertwined relationship between customer and employee experiences. Steve explains that by improving employee engagement and equipping them with better tools and processes, Autodesk can, in turn, deliver superior customer experiences:

"We're a really big believer in if you can continue to create a world class employee experience... you will be in a position to deliver a world class customer experience."
[27:42]

Notable Quotes

• "I actually had to be open to opportunities as they came up. That, by the way, takes a lot of courage."
  Steve Blum, [05:19]

• "We need to be really clear on what are the need to have things, the must haves, not the want to have things..."
  Steve Blum, [18:24]

• "But things work out in the long run."
  Steve Blum, [29:32]

• "Leaders need to over communicate the whys behind the change."
  Steve Blum, [30:15]

Conclusions and Takeaways

Steve Blum imparts several key takeaways for leaders aiming to successfully navigate organizational transformations:

1. Communicate the 'Why': Consistently articulate the reasons behind changes to garner support and understanding.
2. Commit Fully: Adopt approaches like burning the boats to ensure unwavering commitment to transformation goals.
3. Embrace Imperfection: Acknowledge that transformations are iterative and remain flexible to adjust strategies as needed.
4. Engage and Support Stakeholders: Involve all members of the organization throughout the change process and provide necessary support.
5. Prioritize Effectively: Focus on essential elements first to ensure foundational success before expanding efforts.
6. Align Customer and Employee Experiences: Recognize that enhancing employee experience is pivotal to delivering exceptional customer service.

Steve concludes with actionable advice:

"Leaders need to over communicate the whys behind the change... when you can get people bought into why this is going to benefit them, why it's going to benefit their customers while it's going to benefit the stakeholders involved."
[30:15]

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Final Thoughts

This episode of B2B Agility™ offers invaluable insights into managing and thriving amidst change. Steve Blum's experience at Autodesk serves as a blueprint for organizations aiming to lead with agility, empathy, and strategic foresight. Leaders and marketers alike can draw from his strategies to foster resilient and adaptable teams capable of driving successful transformations.

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For more episodes and insights, visit www.b2bagility.com. Subscribe and leave a rating to stay updated with the latest in B2B marketing strategies.

Transcript

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[Greg Kilstrom]

Welcome to the B2B Agility Podcast where we look at the factors that drive success in B2B marketing with a focus on the people, processes, data and platforms that make B2B brands stand out and thrive in a competitive marketplace. I'm your host Greg Kilstrom, advising Fortune 1000 brands on martech, marketing operations and CX best selling Author and speaker. I'm excited to share this episode again. It aired a little while ago, but I thought it was worth replaying. Hope you enjoy. Today we're going to talk about building a change maker culture and how you.

[Steve Blum]

Can help your teams to thrive among change instead of being disrupted by it.

[Greg Kilstrom]

To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Steve Blum, Chief Operating Officer of Autodesk. Steve, welcome to the show.

[Steve Blum]

Thanks Greg. It's great to be here.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah, looking forward to talking about this with you.

[Steve Blum]

Why don't we get started with you giving a little background on yourself as well as your role at Autodesk.

Sure. So I'm currently the Chief Operating Officer at Autodesk and my role is focused on all of the elements of go to Market for the company. So I've got the Worldwide Sales organization, the Customer Success organization, our marketing team, our Global Revenue Operations team, as well as all the engineering and product management teams that build the products that we use to engage with our customers and Partners. So it's not the products that our customers use to create their offerings, but it's the products that we actually use to run the business. So everything associated with engaging with our customers or working with our partners is part of the COO organization.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Great.

[Steve Blum]

Great. So, yeah, so we're going to. We're going to talk about quite a bit about change today. And I wanted to start by talking a little bit about your own personal journey, which I think is in itself a story of change. You started your career as an electrical engineer before you became a sales and business leader. Can you talk a little bit about the changes that you've gone through in your own career that got you to the point of making that transition?

Yeah. So I did start as an electrical engineer. I had a big passion for engineering and math and science and computers when I was younger. Started out working on with semiconductors at ncr. Ended up doing some work in a back room by myself on a tester. I came up with a testing technique for programmable logic devices and found some design flaws in many of the parts that semiconductor companies were making. So I shared those findings with those companies and many of them made me job offers. Some of them were to become an engineering manager. But one company actually asked me to consider a role in sales. They said, you know, we only hire engineers to go into field sales engineering roles. But between your technical background and your ability to communicate, you may want to consider this role. It wasn't something Greg at all that I had thought about in my past, but spent a lot of time talking about it with a colleague of mine who was already doing that role. And I spent a lot of time talking with my wife and I decided to make the change and never really looked back from there. But I do want to highlight something. I've been very fortunate to have a lot of experiences after that role that gave me a rounding out of capabilities that I use in my role today. I went from being a sales engineer to a sales manager. From there, I actually took on a role in marketing. So I gained marketing experience. I then had the opportunity to run a global consulting plus, and then I went into sales management and sales leadership. And when I look back now on those experiences, I'm applying all of those things as part of my role as chief operating officer here at Autodesk.

Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. So, yeah, a lot of evolution there. And you know, I think there's probably a lot of people listening that are. They may be a little reluctant to make a change, although maybe they're you know, whether it's lack of satisfaction in their current job or just, you know, kind of wanting a change. Like, how did you know that it was time to make a change? It sounds like there's been a few kind of iterations in your. In your path. Like, how did you know it was time to make a change in your career?

Yeah, you know, it's. It's a. It's a great question. I don't think there was a time where I knew it. I. I actually had to be open to opportunities as they came up. That, by the way, takes a lot of courage. It. It. You have to be open to going down a path that's uncertain and unknown, even though you may be comfortable in the path you're currently on. So most of those opportunities came up not because I had decided I was done with what I was doing and I specifically wanted that other role. I was happy with what I was doing. But opportunities to grow, to expand, and to try new things came up, and I had the courage to go and give them a try because I realized if I could learn from that experience, it would round me out and I have greater feeling of where do I want to go in my future? So I would tell folks to be open to those opportunities when they come up.

Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's great advice. And, yeah, being someone that's made a few changes of my own in my career, it's. I think it. Nothing's ever easy, but, you know, I think it's. It's almost like a muscle that you kind of exercise and it gets easier to kind of adapt and stuff.

It does. By the way. I mean, to your point, Greg, the more you do it, every time you take a chance and it works, you gain confidence that you can do it again. And actually you have a bolder role, you know, focus on what next could I try to go do. So I agree with you. You do these things that are uncomfortable, the more comfort you get in doing them.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And this kind of segues to our. The main topic I wanted to talk about, and that's thriving amidst change as an organization, you know, instead of being disrupted by it. Let's start by talking about some of your experience at Autodesk. So you've helped lead Autodesk through some major transformations, most significantly, when you transformed your business model. I know you're in the middle of another big transformation right now with the move to platform. As we all know, change is not easy. I've been through several of these with some of the Orgs that I advise and consult with. Never easy, but lots of ways to improve the process. What did you learn from the first transformation that you're now applying to this one?

Yeah, so there's lots of learnings and interestingly, we're working through two different transformations right now. We have a longer term one which is the move the platform. We have a more shorter term one which is focusing on how we're reshaping our engagement model with our customers and our partners. So the business model transformation gave us opportunities to grow and learn that we're applying now. A few things come to mind. First, whenever you're driving a big change as a leader or as leaders in an organization, you need to focus on communicating the whys behind the what's of the change. Oftentimes we go immediately to what are we going to change and how are we going to go change it. We don't spend enough time sharing why are we going to make this change and why is this going to be a change worth making for all the stakeholders involved? And what will that future look like when the change is completed so that people, all the stakeholders can see I'm going to benefit from this change. It's worth it to go through the change. I'm going to go all in to support the change because I will come out ahead at the end of the change. And without doing that, it's hard to go and really connect with people because most people are change averse. They don't want to actually drive change and be a part of transformation, especially when it impacts the way they get things done. So the first thing that comes to mind is communicate the whys behind the what and keep communicating them. Yeah, there's another learning that we had. We created a scenario with the business model transformation where we like burned the boats, if I could use that term. We basically committed externally we were going to be moving from a perpetual business model with maintenance to subscription by a certain date. So we basically moved forward and did not give ourselves a chance to go back. And that drives a lot of commitment. It forces people to deal with the change as opposed to delaying or hoping it will go away, which a lot of people end up doing. They're like, I just can hang tight here. This change will be reversed and we won't have to make the move. So creating the scenario where there's no return actually helps when you're driving a really big change. But when you do that, you have to be really clear that you're not going to get it all right. And I Learned that. We learned that through the first transformation. We're not going to be perfect, perfect. So we need to be agile during the train change transformation window. We need to be prepared to adjust to make changes that are still in support of the overall goal, but maybe changes in the steps in getting there because we learned something along the way. And then finally, I'd say you really need to bring the stakeholders along for the ride all the way through from the very first communication all the way to when the, when the change process is over. You need to share learnings, you need to update on progress, you need to set expectations and then report out on those expectations all the way through. And going back to the first thing, you need to keep coming back to the why and reminding people why are we doing this in the first place.

Yeah, yeah. And that kind of, that's a nice segue to, you know, this idea that, you know, change, change and transformation, it's often driven by, you know, some, some type of business objective. Sometimes it's, it's customer experience driven, but still, you know, at the business strategy level. So, you know, executives and leaders, they've got a view of, of transformation that is sometimes different from those employees. You know, you mentioned people in general are, I would say, change averse.

Yes.

Once they get kind of comfortable in their roles and have, have a routine and stuff like that. So, you know, what does a successful transformation look like to the, the team members involved?

Yeah, and it is tied back to what we were just talking about. You really need to focus in on what's in the change for them. People are going to say what's in this for me? Why is this worth going through the change? Why is this going to be meaningful to my well being? And after I persevere and get through all the challenge of the change, why will life be better for me? So the leaders who can see the business outcomes are trying to drive toward need to work on reshaping what the future looks like for all of the stakeholders involved as a result of going through the transformation. I will say this as well. Change is hard and we all need to remember that. And the leaders need to have empathy for those that are going to be going through the change and may be impacted greatest as a result of that change and having that empathy and showing that caring and understanding, yet focusing on being supportive and showing confidence and conviction that we will get there, we will make this happen and the outcomes that we're striving for are going to be beneficial for all is really going to be key. So the leaders really need to embrace. Not only that it's going to be a challenge and people will resist, but they have to create the storytelling and the vision for why this will be better for all those being impacted. So the team members buy into it and they will persevere and they will have grit and they will be resilient as they work through that change process.

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[Greg Kilstrom]

To all the B2B marketers out there. The B2B MarCom Summit is the region's largest annual gathering of B2B marketing, advertising, PR, communications and media professionals. It brings together professionals from brands, professional services firms, tech companies and more to discuss industry trends, best practices and challenges all focused on B2B. The B2B marcom summit will take place May 23, 2024 in Reston, Virginia in the Washington, D.C. metro area and just a few minutes from the Dulles Airport. I can't wait to join you there. Register today at B2B Summit CO. That's B2B Summit CO, and use the code AGILE15 for 15% off your registration fee. Before we get back to the show, I just wanted to remind you to hit the follow or subscribe button on your app to make sure you get notified when you when new episodes of the show are available. Now let's get back to the show.

[Steve Blum]

And so you mentioned taking an agile or iterative approach to doing this. And certainly I've seen that is certainly the most successful way that I've seen change done as well. How do you kind of know the right approach? I mean, you can do things iteratively, but they're still done in very big chunks versus small. How do you gauge how much? How much, how quickly?

Yeah, so it's a, as I mentioned, we've used this kind of burn the boat, no turning back approach, but we've done that is with the vision of the outcome. Once you have the vision of the outcome and you've built an execution plan to get there, you do actually work through phases of things. And by the way, it's really important, Greg, that the leaders have confidence in themselves and conviction in themselves that along the way, when you hit bumps along the road, that you're still committed to that outcome at the very end. So I've talked with a lot of companies about the experience that we've gone through, and most companies really struggle with keeping that conviction. So you need to have that conviction and then you have to take those iterative steps to getting there. Here's one thing that we've done and we did this in the business model transformation. And in fact, we're applying it again right now in the transformation I mentioned about how we're reshaping how our customers and our partners engage with Autodesk. We've chosen one location as a pilot. That location, by the way, was Australia for us. And we went there first. So we launched the program. It was more of an MVP of capabilities, but we launched it there. We learned from the experience. We knew we wouldn't be perfect and we had gaps, but we would actually quickly fill the gaps, get market feedback, get customer feedback, and then make changes and then built that capability into the future. And so by choosing a place to go and trial it, we learned a lot that had positioned us to then be prepared to go and scale it in other locations. And that was really important because we were learning as we were going, but we were still running the rest of our business in kind of a business as usual environment. The rest of the world. So we told the rest of the world, we will share with you the learnings as we go, but you keep focused on doing things the way you've been doing them. We will Go and try something very different in this one market and then from there we will take the learnings and bring it to the other markets around the world.

Yeah, and so doing an MVP like that, whether that's picking the market, which in that case was Australia picking what maybe there was limited features or, you know, limited change involved or something like that in an mvp, often. How do you think about prioritization? You know, there's, there's a million things that could be done, there's a million things that will be done when, when all is, is when the transformation is done. But you know, how do you coach teams to think about prioritizing the right things so they, you know, the right things get done at the right time?

Well, this is a great question and you're exactly right. Prioritization is key. When folks are going through change, they want the world to be perfect right away, which means they want everything out of the gate. And that's of course not what an MVP is all about. So we need to be really clear on what are the need to have things, the must haves, not the want to have things that will allow us to open up a brand new way of doing business, be able to engage effectively with our customers and our employees and our partners, but also recognize that it won't be perfect and we will continue to iterate and get better. This is a really challenging thing to work through because when folks are going through that change, they want it to be perfect. And we've used kind of this model that we're taking progress over perfection in the way we go about doing an MVP release and then iterating on it. So we want to be able to have something that at least meets the market needs so we know we can operate. We then prioritize the feedback that we're getting along the way to make sure that we're picking the right capabilities that must be implemented next. And then we have an agile process of adding capabilities along the way. And then of course what we do is we share what we're doing and we communicate what we're doing to all the stakeholders involved so that when folks identify, hey, this is not perfect, there are gaps here, we come back to them and saying, yes, we hear you, you are right, we're working on these priorities first, second and third, because these are the must dos. But we are also going to get to the other items that you're asking for and then you have to deliver on those things and you gain accountability, trust along the way and this. And the stakeholders typically gain more Confidence and more trust the further down the path you go.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steve Blum]

So you also mentioned how, you know, with the, with the Australia example, there was kind of two ways of doing things at the same time. Right. There was the way there was a rollout of the, of the MVP and then other teams were focused on, you know, let's, let's maintain what we've been doing for the time being and stuff. And so, you know, often, as in the case of these transformations, sometimes that falls on, you know, the same team is kind of doing two different things at the same time. Sometimes it's separate teams, sometimes it's a combination of both. How do you approach that as far as making sure that the teams don't get distracted by the new at the expense of keeping the lights on, so to speak, as well as having others or potentially even the same people focused on also improving the new? How do you strike that balance?

Yeah, well, you're hitting on something that's really important. This balance is a challenge and it's an ongoing challenge because we want to focus on the transformational work. The stuff that's going to be uniquely different, that's going to position us in a very different way in the future. But you also have to highlight the importance of the work being done by all those that are driving execution on a day to day basis. We're dealing with that right now in this transformation that I've talked with you about. In that there are some people that need to spend a majority of their time on the work associated with this pending or this imminent transformation we're on. And as a result of that, some of the other responsibilities that they have, they're not going to have time to get to. This is where the other folks on the team need to step up and fill in for their colleagues and help do the things to run the business. While those that are dedicated to the transformation can do that transformational work. This is where it's really important for leaders to communicate. Not just with the people who are working on the transformational project, but who are working on all of your projects and highlighting how they are providing impactful, meaningful work that benefits the company. Those that are filling in for those assigned to the, to the transformation are in, in part helping that transformation be successful because they're stepping up for their colleagues and they're helping them out. So you need to make sure that you're, you're recognizing all, that you're involving all, and that they all are making an impact toward this big new change. And you also have to Recognize. And this is something that I talk about as far as being a change maker and driving big changes, Greg, Big changes. Transformations are a team sport and it takes all the people involved, the work, people doing the work and the people who are doing the supportive work around them to keep the business running that are required to make a transformation a success.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And we've touched on the change. Not easy. People generally don't run towards change, barring a few instances, of course. But it's hard to want to change the way that you work after you get a new job. Let's say you settle in, you finally get in the comfort zone and now all of a sudd, someone's coming in saying we got to change everything. And you know, I've seen this in my work. I've seen people, you know, prior to me and my team coming in who have actually, they've waited out a failed transformation or two because they just knew if they kind of stuck to what they were doing, you know, things would kind of ebb and flow and stuff like that. I'm proud to say my team was more successful than the past ones. But it's certainly people can be, can be averse to this change when they, particularly when they don't see the, the end benefits. But, you know, what are some of the best ways that, you know, I know you've mentioned a few things already, but you know, what are some of the best ways you've been able to manage just this, this general resistance to change?

Yeah, so first of all, you're exactly right. We, people resist change. We've been talking about that. You know, keep in mind that we were doing things for decades one way. So it wasn't just a matter of being comfortable. It was kind of our DNA was doing work in a certain way before the business model transformation or before this transformation we're on right now. So there were a lot of people who are very comfortable doing things first in a certain set of ways for a very long time. This is where we always talk about the fact that change management is a really difficult thing to lead. And while change requires an investment in technology, automation, you know, now the use of AI and things, and those could be very challenging things to build out the people side of change. You know, changing people's processes and their mindsets is probably the harder task to go work through because folks don't want to make changes. And this is why, again, we have to go back to communicating the why is behind the what of the change over and over again. So that People understand why this is going to be a benefit to them and why it will be a benefit to their customers and their other colleagues that are going through this change. Communication has to happen frequently. It has to happen consistently. As a leader who's communicated through change, I get to the point, Greg, where I'm almost getting tired of hearing myself say the same thing. But until I've gotten to the point where I say I can't possibly say it one more time, I've recognized I haven't said it enough. And it means I need to keep communicating that way. But it also means that there's a process that we need to make sure we go through with education, training and enablement. If we're moving to a place where skills and experiences need to change, we need to help people transition to the new ways of working. So we need to provide the training and enablement and we need to provide them the time to be able to learn new skills and new capabilities. Now, I will add one other thing, and this is the less popular part of the discussion, but there are times when you're making big, big changes where people may just not want that change or they may not be capable of the change, or they may just not have the passion, enthusiasm to make the change. And it's those situations where you have to be open to having people opt out and choose to go somewhere else because they just can't buy into the program or the big change they have to go through. And that's okay. And we recognize that in our past and we've seen that happen. But we do provide the opportunity for folks to learn how to grow into the new roles and capabilities. And we want as many people as possible to make that transformation along with us.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Last question here. You know, we've been talking a lot about the, the internal view of this, you know, whether it's the kind of the difference between maybe how leadership and stakeholders might view versus employees. But you know, I also wanted to bring it around to the end customer experience because at the end of the day, you know, one of, one of the primary drivers of, of transformations is, is often the, the improving the end customer experience. How do you keep a focus on that among all of the other stuff that we are, we already kind of talk through.

Yeah. So this is, it's a very important point. So I'm so pleased that you brought this up. The whole focus of my organization is delivering a world class customer experience. It's our North Star of how do we ensure that we can turn the customer experience working with Autodesk into a competitive advantage that drives loyalty amongst us and our customers. So we put all of these change and transformation efforts into the context of delivering a world class customer experience. And we communicate all the elements of the why, why the change. We will talk about why is it important for the employees and the stakeholders, but also why is this going to make life for our customers better? Which of course then will produce dividends for Autodesk as well. So we also have done one other thing too. A lot of the elements of change that we've implemented, we're building out automation or technology or difference in processes or capabilities of our people that help improve and enhance the employee experience. And we're a really big believer in if you can continue to create a world class employee experience and that your employees are engaged and they're committed and they feel the purpose of where work when they're communicating with customers, you will be in a position to deliver a world class customer experience. So a lot of our change management is focused on improving not only the customer experience, but the employee experience to support that great customer experience. But to your point on how you began, I think everything needs to start with the customer and if you keep the customer at the center and then talk about all the change associated with delivering a world class experience to that customer, things work out in the long run.

Yeah, yeah. And totally agree, I think with that relationship between customer and employee experience. I know there's some research kind of tying those things together, but I think there needs to be more talking about it because I think it's such a powerful connection there. Well, Steve, thanks so much for joining. One last thing before we wrap up here. You've given a lot of great advice, a lot of great insights already for those listening. What's one next best action you'd recommend for those leaders out there listening who want to be more successful in their next change initiative, maybe the current one that they're, they're currently within. What would your advice be?

You know, so first, thanks for having me as a guest, Greg. I really enjoyed our conversation. You know the one thing I would highlight something I said that first there needs to be that recognition that driving big changes or transformations is a team sport and as a result you need to bring the team along for the ride. So I want to double down on saying leaders need to over communicate the whys behind the change. The why are we doing this? Why will this be better? You know, we've got to make sure that if we're going to say what we're going to do and how we're going to do it. We anchor it in the why because when you can get people bought into why this is going to benefit them, why it's going to benefit their customers while it's going to benefit the stakeholders involved. People can show up on a Monday morning and do something different with passion and energy, and they can persevere and push through some challenges along the way because they know they're getting to a better place. It's a place where they can go beyond what they've ever been able to do before. So I would just kind of reinforce that's the big takeaway. Everyone needs to do that next time they're talking with their teams.

Absolutely. Love it.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Again, I'd like to thank Steve Blum, Chief Operating Officer of Autodesk, for joining the show.

[Steve Blum]

You can learn more about Steve and.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Autodesk by following the links in the show notes. Thanks again for listening to the B2B Agility podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to subscribe and leave us a rating so that others can find the show more easily. You can access more episodes of the show at www.b2b agility.com. that's b2b agility.com while you're there, check out my series of best selling agile brand guides covering a wide variety of marketing technology topics. Or you can search for Greg Kilstrom on Amazon. Until next time, stay focused and stay agile.

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