Can we kill the word “transformation” already?

Every PE-backed company is “undergoing a transformation.”
It’s become the universal excuse for underperformance:
“We’re not hitting plan... but we are transforming!”

Let’s decode what that usually means:
– Hired a CFO who finally built a budget
– Fired the founder (again)
– Finance moved from Excel v95 to NetSuite (but still use Excel)
– Marketing got a new logo and still no leads
– Sales has had 3 comp plans in 12 months
– Ops bought an off-the-shelf tech tool and called it “innovation”

And the latest crowd favourite:
“AI transformation.”
Translation: we asked ChatGPT to write a blog post, then spent $2M on a strategy to ‘scale AI’ across the business.

“Transformation” has become the corporate version of saying you’re “on a journey.”
It sounds like progress.
It signals ambition.
But it’s often just chaos in a slide deck.

And let’s be honest: no word has created more margin for consultants.

Say “transformation” and you can almost hear the distant rustle of a slide deck being printed at Deloitte HQ.

Say it three times, and an Accenture partner magically appears in your boardroom like Beetlejuice, with a 400-page RFP and a team of 26 analysts who’ve never operated a lemonade stand.

It’s become transformation theatre:
– The tech stack revamp that just added more tabs
– The org redesign that created new titles but no new outcomes
– The AI strategy no one asked for
– The weekly SteerCo that now exists to discuss why last week’s SteerCo was cancelled

Meanwhile, what actually moves the needle?
Execution.
– Daily numbers.
– Hitting KPIs.
– Hiring managers who manage.
– Closing the loop between strategy and ops.
– Doing the same boring things slightly better every single week.

Transformation is a story you tell.
Execution is a business you build.

Let’s stop rewarding buzzwords over results.
Stop feeding the PowerPoint machine.
Kill the theatre. Do the work.