This week I am traveling in Wisconsin from Green Bay to Milwaukee and to Chicago by week’s end. I am working with companies at the front line of their finance transformation efforts. Our discussions and workshops are as much about how we manage culture and change as they are about the technical aspects of new approaches.

An unexpected trend has been occurring. I am increasingly finding organizations that have already convinced themselves that they need to change. They are eager skip any discussion of the need for change (they want to move straight to changing). I typically find their leadership driving this effort, urging their people to get on with it. This is a very refreshing trend, as it indicates the many years of planting seeds are finally yielding fruit. The speed of implementation is accelerating. My previous post on the OODA loop provides useful information on becoming adaptive.

On my brief stop in Green Bay, I took time to visit a place I had wanted to see since I was a boy: Lambeau Field, which is the home of the American football team the Green Bay Packers. As I was growing up, the Green Bay Packers were perennial champions. They had great players, but they were led by a legendary coach, Vince Lombardi. He is credited with transforming them into world champions. His teams had a tempo and approach you could easily scout. Even if you knew what plays they would run, the Packers challenged you to try and stop them.

Eventually, other coaches found new approaches that countered the Packers’ game plan. But before that happened, they built a championship legacy. These history lessons have much to teach if we take time to study them. I will be reading from Vince Lombardi’s story. Whether you are transforming a football team or a finance organization, there is a lot you can learn from a good book.

Look for me in Wisconsin or Illinois this week. Next week, I will be in Kansas City and Omaha. If you are in these areas, please drop me a line or send a comment. I would love to hear your story and come see how you are transforming finance. ###