Change initiatives are often launched with great fanfare. The CEO joins an earnings call and speaks passionately about how the effort will enable the organization to explore emerging frontiers or reimagine the way it does business. Top management rallies around the new vision of the future. But the excitement starts to dwindle as the news travels down the hierarchy. By the time it reaches the company’s rank-and-file workers in a town hall or email, it lands with a thud—generating apathy and anxiety. It’s no wonder that roughly 75% of change efforts fail to capture long-term value.

“People closer to the decision making feel more favorably toward change than those further away.”

This scenario reveals a critical phenomenon that can be observed in many organizations. We call it “change distance”: People closer to the decision making (often senior leaders) feel more favorably toward change than those further away (often rank-and-file employees). This finding builds on our research on change aversion—the idea that people inherently view change as negative, and that emotion overwhelms their ability to consider the potential benefits of change. The more space that exists between people and the initiative’s center of gravity, the more pronounced this effect becomes.

Change distance is a powerful force, and likely underlies many failed transformations. It is also logical: Change initiatives originate at the top, where CEOs brainstorm with their closest lieutenants, weigh options, create a roadmap, and give the green light for implementation. Because they are deeply engaged with decisions from the start, this group has less change distance. They’ve bought in. In contrast, a lower-level employee might only receive that companywide email where everything feels set in stone. Without agency, they experience more change distance—and their aversion starts to rise.