Change Catalyst: Leading People Through Transformation
Change Catalyst is Trait #24 on the EQ side of the Winning Kite. Learn how leaders like Gary Kirsten, the Patels of Kiran Gems and Salil Parekh drive change — plus the ADKAR model to do it yourself.
Every company today is reorganising, merging, going digital or shifting a plant across the country. The hard part is never the plan on the slide — it is the human beings who have to change. A change catalyst is the person who can look at a situation, see that the status quo is no longer good enough, and then carry other people across the gap. This is Trait #24 in Stars at India Inc., and it is the trait that quietly uses all the other 23.
In short- A change catalyst recognises the need for change, removes obstacles, and leads others through it.
- It is more emotional than technical — it needs persuasion, empathy, initiative and optimism.
- Gary Kirsten transformed the Indian cricket team without changing the players — he changed the culture.
- Kiran Gems and Infosys show change leadership at company scale; Pratik Patil shows it at community scale.
- Use the ADKAR model — Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement — to lead any change, one person at a time.
Where this sits on your Winning Kite
Change Catalyst is one of the final traits on the EQ — left — side of The Winning Kite (KITE Leadership Framework). That placement is deliberate. In the framework, EQ, RQ and PQ together lift you to Success, and you rise on balance, not on any single strength. Change Catalyst sits near the end of the EQ cluster because it draws on everything before it — self-awareness, empathy, persuasion, initiative, optimism, active listening. You cannot lead people through fear and uncertainty on technical skill alone. The more of those earlier traits you own, the stronger a change catalyst you become.
What a change catalyst actually does
A change catalyst is someone who initiates or manages change. The competence has three parts: identify the need for change, remove the obstacles blocking progress, and lead others in pursuit of it. The first step is recognition — being able to look at a situation and admit that “good enough” has stopped being good enough. Then comes the harder work: questioning the status quo, getting others to agree something must change, and removing whatever is standing in the way.
Being a change catalyst is far more than technical expertise. It takes a set of emotional skills — the ability to persuade, to stay committed, to keep motivated, to take initiative, and to remain optimistic when others are anxious. Ratan Tata, former chairman of the Tata Group, showed exactly these competencies when he led the group through a period of huge change, diversifying its businesses and expanding globally until Tata became one of India’s largest and most respected conglomerates. Closer to our own decade, Infosys faced a rapidly changing IT market and rising competition from global players. Their response was to bring in a new CEO, Salil Parekh, as a catalyst for change. Under him, Infosys reshaped its business model, grew its earnings and climbed back up the market. Recognising the need, and then having the emotional force to enlist others behind it — that is the job.
Gary Kirsten: changing a team without changing the players
In 2007, the Indian cricket team suffered a humiliating exit in the first round of the Cricket World Cup. The BCCI knew something had to change and brought in a new coach — Gary Kirsten, a former South African cricketer. Kirsten was a change catalyst for that team. He understood the need for change and got to work quietly, building trust and credibility with the players one relationship at a time.
Look at the dressing room he inherited: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh. This was not a team short on talent. What Kirsten did was study the strengths and weaknesses of each player and tailor his coaching so that each one gave his best. He did not import a new system and impose it. He changed the culture, not the personnel. In 2011 that team won the Cricket World Cup — India’s first in 28 years — with Dhoni hitting the winning six in the final and Yuvraj Singh named Player of the Tournament for his all-round performance.
This is the single most important lesson about being a change catalyst: you do not have to be the innovator. Kirsten did not reinvent batting or bowling. He inspired, aligned and freed people who already had the ability. Transformational leaders work like this — they don’t just order followers around; they appeal to emotion, meaning and a shared sense of identity, painting a picture of the goal that makes people want to work towards it. That is why Salil Parekh, Ratan Tata and Gary Kirsten belong in the same conversation even though their fields could not be more different.
Kiran Gems: change catalysts at company scale
In March 2023 I was invited as a keynote speaker to a Women’s Day celebration at the Sahara Hotel in Mumbai. There I met the leaders of Kiran Gems — one of the biggest natural-diamond manufacturers in the world. It was founded in 1985 by Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel, Mr. Babubhai Patel and Mr. Mavjibhai Patel, starting with a modest diamond-manufacturing operation in Mumbai. Over four decades it has grown across India and globally, broadening its range, quality and service.
What struck me is that Kiran Gems’ success comes from a willingness to change and adapt, rooted in a philosophy of trust, integrity and ethics. Its leaders have played the change-catalyst role again and again. Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel, the Chairman, entered the industry over forty years ago and worked his way to the very top, learning every stage of diamond manufacturing hands-on — which is why he has such deep expertise in rough-diamond procurement and manufacturing technique. Mr. Dinesh Lakhani, a Director, joined the diamond business at just 17, learned every department from the floor up, and is known for his problem-solving and his ability to both formulate strategy and ensure it is implemented — driving the group’s marketing, global sales and distribution to its No. 1 position. Mr. Mavjibhai Patel, the Managing Director, and Mr. Rajesh Lakhani, a Director, have done the same, using their experience to keep innovation and growth moving. By continuously embracing new technologies, ideas and approaches, these leaders took Kiran Gems from a small workshop to a global leader — the very definition of a change catalyst working at company scale.
What makes a great change catalyst?
According to Mary Shapiro, a professor at the Simmons School of Management, technical expertise is essential — but emotional intelligence matters just as much. Effective change leaders know themselves well, carry a great deal of empathy, communicate clearly, can adapt and bounce back, and hold a strategic understanding of where the organisation is trying to go. Vineet Nayar, former CEO of HCL Technologies and author of Employees First, Customers Second, puts it simply: an effective change catalyst inspires and empowers people to drive change themselves — by building a culture of trust and openness, giving employees a voice, and creating a place where people feel safe to try new things and learn.
I have seen this at community scale too. At the Islampur Business Forum I met Mr. Pratik Jayant Patil. He comes from a prominent political family — his father, Jayant Patil, is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra — yet Pratik chose entrepreneurship and philanthropy over power and status. He founded the Islampur Business Forum to give local entrepreneurs a platform where they could collaborate and lift each other up, a genuine win-win. Humble, grounded and endlessly curious, Pratik is a constant learner, always open to new ideas that can bring about change. He leads by example, recognises the need for change, drives it forward with conviction, and supports others through the process. Leaders like him aren’t just stars in their domain — they create a ripple effect of positive change around them.
Becoming a change catalyst: the ADKAR model
Recognising change is one thing; carrying real people through it is another. The most practical tool I teach for this is the ADKAR model, developed by Jeff Hiatt. It manages change at the individual level — one person at a time — through five stages: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement.
Take a common workplace situation: a team leader introducing a new project-management software. Here is how ADKAR plays out.
| Stage | What the change catalyst does |
|---|---|
| Awareness | Explain why the change is happening — better efficiency, collaboration, streamlined processes — backed by data and examples. |
| Desire | Address individual worries and show the personal upside: easier tasks, time saved, professional growth. |
| Knowledge | Run training, share resources, and appoint “change champions” who can guide their colleagues. |
| Ability | Monitor progress during the transition, spot obstacles, and offer one-on-one coaching or extra help. |
| Reinforcement | Recognise and celebrate wins, fix lingering issues, gather feedback, and fold the change into daily routine. |
Notice how much of ADKAR is emotional, not technical. Awareness and Desire are about persuasion and empathy. Reinforcement is about optimism and recognition. That is why change leadership belongs on the EQ side of the kite. When you apply ADKAR patiently, one person at a time, you stop pushing change onto your team and start pulling them along with you — which is exactly what Gary Kirsten did with a dressing room full of stars.
If you have followed the earlier EQ traits in this series, you will see how they converge here. Change Catalyst is where self-awareness, empathy, motivation and initiative all get put to work at once. It also hands you straight into the last trait on this cluster — read the companion piece on Trait #25: Leadership — and it draws on the full architecture of the Winning Kite. If you want your managers to actually lead transformation rather than survive it, that is precisely what we build in our corporate training programs.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a change catalyst?
A change catalyst is someone who recognises when change is needed, removes the obstacles blocking it, and leads other people through the transition. It is Trait #24 on the EQ side of the Winning Kite and draws on all the other 23 emotional-intelligence traits, especially persuasion, initiative, empathy and optimism.
Do you have to be an innovator to be a change catalyst?
No. A change catalyst does not have to invent the new idea or product. Gary Kirsten did not reinvent cricket; he inspired and aligned people who already had the talent. The job is to give a change meaning, build trust, and carry people across the transition.
What is the ADKAR model?
ADKAR, developed by Jeff Hiatt, is a five-step framework for managing change one person at a time: Awareness of the need to change, Desire to support it, Knowledge of how to change, Ability to implement it, and Reinforcement to make it stick.
Why is change catalyst an emotional-intelligence skill and not just a technical one?
Technical expertise tells you what to change; emotional intelligence lets you take people with you. Leading change needs self-awareness, empathy, communication, resilience and the ability to persuade. Without those, even the smartest restructuring stalls against fear and resistance.
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