Change is hard. If you’ve ever tried to change an aspect of your company, you’ll be familiar with the questions that inevitably arise from such an effort: Why is it so hard to get anything done here? What’s the best way to collaborate with my peers? Why is my organization afraid to take risks?

At Fortune’s Brainstorm Design conference in Singapore earlier this month, Maria Giudice, design leader and co-author of Rise of the DEO: Leadership by Design, spoke about the difficult life of a corporate change-maker. In her previous role at Autodesk, Giudice was tasked with shifting her company from being tech-centric to human-centric. She had no idea how hard it would be.

At Brainstorm Design, Giudice offered attendees six lessons from that period:

1. Silos are sometimes necessary in big companies, but they create fiefdoms. When a company is set up so that different departments are in competition with each other, it’s bad for business. Build a coalition of like-minded people within the company and make change happen together. There is safety in numbers.

2. Executive support is a must-have. There will be those that feel threatened by your changes. You need someone who has your back.

3. Align your work to customer needs. If you align your ideas with customer data and business goals, it’s harder for people to debunk them.

4. Get it done. Some stakeholders get stuck in the present and want everything now. Others get stuck in tomorrow and never deliver. Develop a clear path to execute and work to milestones. Achieve small wins to see big change.

5. You can’t win all the time. Some multidisciplinary teams have people with very strong opinions. Try it their way first. It’s your turn if it fails.

6. Stay true to yourself. “Fake it till you make it” is misguided advice. Embrace your authenticity. It’s not fun to pretend at work. You should have nothing to hide.

Guidice left her audience with a final piece of advice: persist. “Failure is inevitable and it hurts,” she said. “It takes time to recover. If you haven’t failed, you haven’t taken enough risks. When you fall, you’ll see clearly. Once you hit the bottom, creativity can flourish. Then it’s time to redesign.”

改变很难。如果你曾经试着在某个领域推动公司改变，你后来一定不可避免地想过这些问题：为什么想在这里做点事这么难？与同事合作的最好方法是什么？为什么我所在的组织不敢冒险？

本月在新加坡举行的《财富》头脑风暴设计大会上，设计界领袖、《DEO的崛起：设计领导力》（Rise of the DEO: Leadership by Design）一书的合著者玛丽亚·朱迪思谈到了企业变革推动者的艰难处境。朱迪思之前在欧特克（Autodesk）工作时，任务是将公司从以技术为中心转变为以人为中心。她一开始完全不知道这项工作会有多难。

朱迪思在头脑风暴设计大会上向听众介绍了当时学到的6点经验：

1、大公司里，筒仓的存在有时是必要的，但它们导致各自为政。如果公司的设置导致不同的部门间相互竞争，这对企业来说是不利的。让公司内志同道合的人建立联盟，共同推动变革。人多力量大。

2、高层支持是必须的。总会有人因为你推行变革感觉受到了威胁。你需要有人支持。

3、让你的工作和客户需求保持一致。如果你的想法和客户数据、业务目标一致，人们会难以对其进行驳斥。

4、完成它。一些参与者被眼前所困，现在就想拥有一切。还有一些人被困在未来，永远无法实现。设置一个明确的行动路径，努力达成一些里程碑式的目标。通过实现小的胜利来看到大变化。

5、你不可能一直赢。在一些跨部门团队中，成员们的想法往往很强势。先试试他们的方法。如果失败了，就轮到你了。

6、坚持自己。“假装自己是这样的，直到你真地变成这样”是非常有误导性的建议。接受真实的自我。“假装”在工作中一点也不好玩。应该做到毫无隐瞒。

朱迪思还给观众提了最后一条建议：坚持。“失败是不可避免的，而且很痛苦。”她说，“恢复需要时间。如果你没有失败过，说明你冒的险不够多。跌倒时看得最清楚。一旦触底，创造力就会蓬勃发展。这时就该重新进行设计了。”（财富中文网）

译者：Agatha