By Chris Laping

In 2015, I walked away from a steady job and an awesome team. People said I was crazy. Hell, at times I questioned whether or not I was crazy. In many ways, it broke my heart to leave my CIO role at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. And at the same time, it was completely necessary… 

To be honest, I wasn’t at an intersection of walk or don’t walk. Rather, the choice I was facing was, “How fast should I run?” 

Every day, we hear how the world is changing through tech and innovation. But the strategies we use to lead our companies, teams and stakeholders don’t seem to match the need. There are plenty of battle scars to prove it: Gallup reports 70% of all change initiatives fail and that the US economy loses up to $150 billion a year due to failed IT projects. For me, this reality created a burning desire to help. 

It wasn’t just about the stats though—I was also focused on the hard-working, well-intentioned people who are hurt when things go wrong. I’ve met so many IT professionals who just want to make a difference; create a positive impact with their implementations. Yet they feel their work isn’t valued or adopted.  

Conversely, I’ve met many people who have expressed experiencing intense stress because of technology changes at work. So, I left. Convinced that many of the conventional methods for leading and supporting change were missing the mark, I set out on a journey to write a book and start my own company. As part of my work, I felt it was important that I get vulnerable by sharing a journal of stories and experiences about my own successes and failures. This is how my book, People Before Things, was born. 

In the spirit of being vulnerable: I had no clue how hard it was going to be to write a book. 

It’s not that I routinely suffered from writer’s block; those who know me would tell you I’m never at a loss for words. Instead, I had so much to say. This made it extremely difficult to organize my ideas and explain myself fully, without developing a doorstop of a manuscript. 

The editing process was painful. I definitely threw away more material than I ever expected I would. And if I’m honest, I had a bit of insecurity about the book not making a difference. I know there are many brave authors who say, “I don’t really care if readers like it or not.” For me, the stakes were high so I couldn’t take that position. Change is hurting many organizations and people, and I want to help! 

So, here we are … I am offering a free digital copy of People Before Things to the Quest Oracle Community! The book is a reminder that our customers will never love us if our team members don’t love us first. And how we treat people during disruptive change determines if they’ll love us.  

I recently saw a 10 Reasons why ERP Implementations Fail list, and the top three reasons were: 1) Failure to set up realistic expectations 2) Failure to embrace change and 3) Lack of commitment by key stakeholders. I believe these challenges can be solved through strong leadership and influence skills.  

Said another way, I believe that change isn’t an end-user problem; it’s a leadership opportunity. 

An English poet and writer, G.K. Chesterton, was once asked, “What’s wrong with the world today?” His answer was, “Dear sir, I am!” That’s what People Before Things is all about. It starts with leaders who are willing to accept responsibility for the conditions needed to be successful with change. 

I hope you enjoy the book. More importantly, I hope it makes a positive impact on your organization. Onward and upward!