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Jim Robertson was on his way to London on January 6, 2003 to start his new assignment. At 33, he was to be the new player in the London management team of Wisant, a technology-consulting firm that thirteen years after its foundation already looked back on a lively and uneven history. This former New Economy star was now fighting for survival in a market that had dramatically changed between 2000 and 2002. Wisant's CEO James Watson had send Jim to London to realign the managerial system of the UK subsidiary, which had experienced a significant drop in revenue over the previous 12 months.

This three-part case-study illustrates key concepts and lessons about leading adaptive change in organizations in the context of turning around Deutsche Telekom, one of the world's largest telecommunication companies. The case portrays some of the efforts undertaken by Deutsche Telekom under the leadership of René Obermann after his ascent to the CEO position in that organization. The case illustrates the challenges associated with resistance to adaptive change, management of expectations of organizational members from their leaders, and the psychological challenges of leading necessary, but unpopular, change efforts under the conditions of pressure from organizational stakeholders, who consciously or unconsciously attempt to divert the change-oriented leader from pushing the organization forward. The case serves as fruitful ground for exploration of the theory of adaptive change as put forward by Heifetz & Linsky (2002), Heifetz, Grashow, & Linsky (2009a, 2009b), discussion of the dangers of leading (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002), and psychological challenges of leading (Kets de Vries, Korotov, & Florent-Treacy, 2007).

This three-part case-study illustrates key concepts and lessons about leading adaptive change in organizations in the context of turning around Deutsche Telekom, one of the world's largest telecommunication companies. The case portrays some of the efforts undertaken by Deutsche Telekom under the leadership of René Obermann after his ascent to the CEO position in that organization. The case illustrates the challenges associated with resistance to adaptive change, management of expectations of organizational members from their leaders, and the psychological challenges of leading necessary, but unpopular, change efforts under the conditions of pressure from organizational stakeholders, who consciously or unconsciously attempt to divert the change-oriented leader from pushing the organization forward. The case serves as fruitful ground for exploration of the theory of adaptive change as put forward by Heifetz & Linsky (2002), Heifetz, Grashow, & Linsky (2009a, 2009b), discussion of the dangers of leading (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002), and psychological challenges of leading (Kets de Vries, Korotov, & Florent-Treacy, 2007).

This three-part case-study illustrates key concepts and lessons about leading adaptive change in organizations in the context of turning around Deutsche Telekom, one of the world's largest telecommunication companies. The case portrays some of the efforts undertaken by Deutsche Telekom under the leadership of René Obermann after his ascent to the CEO position in that organization. The case illustrates the challenges associated with resistance to adaptive change, management of expectations of organizational members from their leaders, and the psychological challenges of leading necessary, but unpopular, change efforts under the conditions of pressure from organizational stakeholders, who consciously or unconsciously attempt to divert the change-oriented leader from pushing the organization forward. The case serves as fruitful ground for exploration of the theory of adaptive change as put forward by Heifetz & Linsky (2002), Heifetz, Grashow, & Linsky (2009a, 2009b), discussion of the dangers of leading (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002), and psychological challenges of leading (Kets de Vries, Korotov, & Florent-Treacy, 2007).

Voith Paper, one of the two big international suppliers of premium, technically complex machines for paper production, has to improve its profitability. This also affects Mr. Kohl, senior sales executive of the product division with the highest turnover. He, however, does not want to save the additional millions through cost or personnel reduction. Instead, he plans to sell the consulting services of his sales engineers and thus meet the financial target.

During the last two weeks of December 2005, the four founding partners of the Rare Find, based in Cape Town, South Africa, were all on the road following up business ideas. Nearly all of these ideas had resulted from a well-placed magazine article in one of the South Africa's leading real estate publications several months earlier.

The Christmas break had provided some badly needed time for the four partners to check some of their initial assumptions and conclusions about how to realize the Lifestyle Portfolio opportunity. While still committed to the basic directions set earlier, they had nevertheless agreed to check the financial implications of some key alternatives.

In early January 2006, the four partners knew that if any changes were made in the approach they had been taking in the months before Christmas (see The Rare Find A), they would also have to make some changes in the December draft of their marketing brochure.

The conversations the four partners had in early January about the Lifestyle Portfolio Project had highlighted the essence of the trade-offs between potential benefits and rewards to fractional owners, financial investors, if there were to be any, and themselves.

This case study provides a discussion of how Virgin Mobile, an innovative virtual mobile network operator, has developed a unique position in the UK market through unique positioning and strong business system fit. The first section of the case discussion focuses on the rather innovative Virgin Mobile's business model and strategy and the firm's underlying business activities that provided a uniquely differentiated positioning in the UK mobile telecommunications sector up until mid 2005. The second section explores how Virgin Mobile was able to achieve sustainable competitive advantage over the period from 1999 to 2005, but then turns to an analysis of how the firm's competitive advantage has been eroded by changes in regulation and a shift in the competitive environment.