The Catalyst: Applying Jonah Berger’s Framework to Medium-Sized Enterprises

The Catalyst: Applying Jonah Berger’s Framework to Medium-Sized Enterprises

Medium-sized enterprises (MSEs) often exist in a precarious space: too large to pivot as nimbly as a startup, too small to absorb inefficiencies like an enterprise giant. Implementing strategic change in this environment is uniquely difficult—internal inertia, middle-management friction, and cultural resistance can derail otherwise sound initiatives. Jonah Berger’s book, The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind, provides a powerful lens through which leaders in MSEs can architect and accelerate meaningful change. Instead of pushing harder, Berger suggests we remove the friction. Let’s explore how his five-part model—REDUCE—can be operationalized in medium-sized businesses.

Reactance: People Push Back When They Feel Their Freedom is Threatened

Understanding Reactance in MSEs

In medium-sized enterprises, top-down change efforts can trigger deep-rooted reactance. Employees and middle managers often perceive change mandates as threats to their autonomy or identity, especially when those changes alter routines, roles, or perceived job security.

How to Apply

• Empowerment Over Enforcement: Instead of mandating changes through executive decree, leaders should design systems that make desired behaviors feel like employee-driven choices. Use language like “Here are some options” or “We’d love your input on how to achieve this.”
• Pilot Programs: Frame initiatives as experiments or pilots rather than permanent changes. This reduces the perceived threat and makes participation feel optional.
• Manager Champions: Equip respected team leads with the rationale and context behind change, and let them deliver the message. Peer influence is far more effective than executive pressure.

Example

When shifting to a new CRM system, instead of mandating adoption, a mid-sized software company created a cross-functional pilot team and positioned it as a collaborative opportunity to evaluate tools. Adoption grew organically from positive feedback.

Endowment: People Are Reluctant to Let Go of the Status Quo

Understanding Endowment in MSEs

Medium-sized businesses often operate with legacy processes and tribal knowledge. Employees have emotional ownership over existing systems—even inefficient ones—because they helped build or maintain them.

How to Apply

• Highlight Cost of Inaction: Don’t just argue the benefits of the new; highlight the risks and inefficiencies of staying the same. Use data to show opportunity costs.
• Make Change Feel Familiar: Use analogies or map new systems to familiar processes. The goal is to make the unfamiliar feel like a natural evolution.
• Transition Periods: Allow dual-running of old and new systems for a limited time to ease transitions.

Example

A manufacturing firm looking to modernize inventory management focused early communication not on features of the new tool but on the hidden costs of inventory errors, lost sales, and rework that the current system generated.

Distance: Too Much Change Feels Threatening or Inaccessible

Understanding Distance in MSEs

Radical shifts can trigger a threat response, particularly in companies where tenure is long and turnover low. Proposals too far from the norm are dismissed as impractical, risky, or not aligned with company culture.

How to Apply

• Move in Increments: Break down changes into smaller, digestible steps. This is especially helpful when implementing new technologies, customer experience strategies, or organizational redesigns.
• Segmented Messaging: Customize communication for different departments or roles. A blanket strategy rarely works when comfort levels and incentives vary widely.
• Bridge the Gap: Use intermediate analogies or tools to make abstract concepts feel more reachable. Help teams see themselves in the future state.

Example

Rather than launch a full remote work policy, a mid-sized engineering firm introduced one WFH day per week with regular feedback loops, slowly expanding once comfort and trust were established.

Uncertainty: When the Outcome is Unclear, Inaction Reigns

Understanding Uncertainty in MSEs

Medium-sized enterprises are highly conscious of resource constraints. Uncertainty about ROI, team impact, or stakeholder reactions often paralyzes decision-makers.

How to Apply

• Lower the Barrier to Trial: Offer demos, beta access, or internal sandbox environments where teams can test change with minimal risk.
• Guarantee a Path Back: People are more willing to try something if they know they can opt out. “Let’s try this for 90 days. If we don’t see improvement, we’ll reevaluate.”
• Evidence-Based Pacing: Measure small wins and showcase results quickly and publicly to create momentum.

Example

To overcome sales team hesitance around new lead scoring algorithms, a B2B SaaS company ran the algorithm in parallel with the legacy model for 60 days, showing improved conversion rates before full rollout.

Corroborating Evidence: People Need More Than One Source to Believe

Understanding Corroboration in MSEs

In a medium-sized enterprise, a single voice of change (even from the CEO) is often not enough. Skepticism, departmental silos, and political dynamics require layered and repeat exposure.

How to Apply

• Multiple Messengers: Encourage change narratives from frontline employees, customers, and external experts—not just leadership.
• Cross-Team Storytelling: Create internal case studies or showcase wins across departments to amplify shared success.
• Outside-In Influence: Bring in advisors, industry benchmarks, or customer testimonials to reinforce credibility.

Example

A logistics company wanted to invest in predictive analytics. Instead of pushing the change from IT leadership, they ran joint workshops with operations, presented case studies from competitors, and had a major client advocate for the benefits during an all-hands.

Making the REDUCE Framework Operational

To integrate Berger’s REDUCE principles into daily business practices, consider building them into your change management toolkit:

• Assessment Checklist: Evaluate each major initiative against the REDUCE model. Where will resistance likely arise? What can you preemptively address?
• Training Programs: Incorporate REDUCE into leadership and manager training to build change fluency across the org.
• Internal Comms Strategy: Align communication cadences and formats to reflect the framework—emphasize choice, evidence, and pacing.

Metrics to Track Progress

While the REDUCE framework is qualitative in nature, progress must be quantitatively assessed for organizational alignment:

• Adoption Rate of New Tools or Processes
• Time to First Meaningful Use (e.g., for a new CRM or platform)
• Employee Sentiment Surveys Before and After Rollout
• Cross-Team Participation in Pilots or Rollouts
• Error Reduction or Efficiency Metrics Linked to Change

These metrics help show not only success but why success happened—closing the loop on what made the change stick.

Executive Guidance for Catalyzing Change

Start with Empathy

Leaders in medium-sized organizations often overestimate their team’s readiness for change. Begin with listening tours, pulse surveys, or informal skip-level discussions. Understand the friction points before launching a change initiative.

Tell a Better Story

Communicate not just what is changing, but why it matters. People don’t resist change—they resist loss. Frame change as gain, not subtraction.

Design Change, Don’t Just Announce It

Execution planning should include how change feels at the team level. Consider internal marketing, gamification, recognition programs, and embedded support structures.

Make Change a Team Sport

Foster interdepartmental ownership and build “change coalitions” of employees who believe in the future state. Use these ambassadors to cross-pollinate energy and insight across the org.

Conclusion: Medium-Sized Businesses, Big Leverage

Medium-sized enterprises are agile enough to implement strategic change faster than corporate giants but complex enough to require thoughtful design to overcome resistance. Jonah Berger’s The Catalyst offers a deeply applicable lens to remove friction rather than apply force. By operationalizing the REDUCE framework—Reactance, Endowment, Distance, Uncertainty, and Corroborating Evidence—leaders in MSEs can drive sustainable, participatory change that aligns with both their cultural DNA and growth ambitions.

In a world increasingly defined by volatility and pace, the ability to be a catalyst is not a nice-to-have. It’s a strategic differentiator.