It is tempting, during a crisis as severe as the Covid-19 pandemic, for leaders to respond to big problems with bold moves - a radical strategy to reinvent a struggling business, a long-term shift to virtual teams and long-distance collaboration. Indeed, so much of the expert commentary on Covid-19 argues, as did a recent white paper from McKinsey & Company, that we are on the brink of a "next normal" that will "witness a dramatic restructuring of the economic and social order in which business and society have traditionally operated."

I\'d argue that even if we do face a "next normal," the best way for leaders to move forward isn\'t by making sweeping changes but rather by embracing a gradual, improvisational, quietly persistent approach to change that Karl E. Weick, the organizational theorist and distinguished professor at the University of Michigan, famously called "small wins." Weick is an intellectual giant; over the past 50 years, his concepts such as loose coupling, mindfulness, and sensemaking have shaped our understanding of organizational life. But perhaps his most powerful insight into to how we can navigate treacherous times is to remind us that when it comes to leading change, less is usually more.

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