Leading Through Disruption: Rahul Karan Sharma on Human-Centered Transformation

In this episode of Catalysts, I sit down with Rahul Karan Sharma—organizational development consultant, fractional CLO, and Forbes Coaches Council member—to explore what it really takes to lead through change that matters.

Rahul has spent 20+ years helping companies navigate post-merger integration, cultural alignment, and leadership acceleration. But his secret isn’t in a strategy deck—it’s in centering the people behind the process.

Together, we unpack:

• Why most change efforts fail—not because of planning, but because of people
• How poor communication during transitions drives attrition and burnout
• The difference between executing a training and building real leadership capability
• How fractional CLOs can fill a crucial gap for small and mid-size organizations
• What leaders get wrong at the “achiever” stage—and how to move beyond it
• Rahul’s proprietary CLIMB Framework, a roadmap for evolving from invisible contributor to legacy-building influencer
• Why internal trust is the most undervalued currency in transformation
• How “visibility is the new currency”—and why content matters for leaders

Transformation is personal. It requires consistency, empathy, and the courage to lead from the inside out.

🔗 Connect with Rahul on LinkedIn or at rahulkaransharma.com

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Transcript

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Hey there and welcome back to Catalysts, the leaders shaping the future of learning and growth. I'm your host, Jacob Ratliff, and this is the show where we spotlight the bold thinkers, the builders and the leaders who aren't just responding to change in our industry. They're driving it. And today I'm really excited to be joined by Rahul Karan Sharma, who is an organizational development consultant. leadership strategist, fractional CLO, and member of the Forbes Coaches Council. He has spent the last two decades helping organizations turn disruption into transformation, not just through systems and structures, but through people, whether it's post-merger integration, cultural alignment, or leadership acceleration. Rahul brings a unique blend of strategy and soul to the table. So in this episode, we are going to explore how leaders can meet the moment during high stakes change, why traditional transformation efforts tend to fall short, and how his proprietary CLIMB framework turns uncertainty into opportunity. Rahul, thank you so much for joining me here today. I'm really excited about our conversation. Well, it's pleasure. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to be here. I'm very excited to chat with you and share the learnings, share what I have done so far with our listeners. Very excited. Thank you and let's go ahead and start with one of the big questions here, which is that I've seen you say that confident, capable leadership is the non-negotiable in any transformation. What are the biggest gaps you see in how organizations currently approach transformation? Absolutely. So what I have observed is when the merger is happening, whenever a change management is happening, big, small, the focus is always on the processes, focus is on the assets, focus is on things which are all great, but not people, unfortunately. So no one really thinks, and when I say no one, I mean, I don't want to generalize it. People do talk about people or the leaders do talk about people, but the advantage that they need to have uh is not given. And what I mean by advantage is the communication. Communication right from top to bottom. uh In change management, it is not enough for leaders to share the information with their middle management and rely on them to pass on to their uh their team members, because if you have any of the middle manager who is not in sync with whatever leadership is doing, the information that that individual will cascade will not be very conducive for the organization's health. So that is the reason I say that's where one bigger thing I see, I notice that we miss is the people, people who are leading the change, because what happens, Jacob, Let's say when if you are a change leader, we will as a leader, we will talk about, hey, you need to do this for this group. You need to do this for that group. But very rarely we talk, hey, by the way, how are you doing, Jacob? How are you dealing with this change? What questions you have? Because we at times take things for granted and okay, these are our champions. They will work with us. They will do whatever it takes. Yes, no doubt about it, but they are also human being, you know. a therapist who is dealing with so many individuals who are having all the not so great experience that therapist also needs a therapy. Otherwise it will be very challenging for the therapist to lead a very uh confident life. So that's what I have observed is uh most of the organization miss that people aspect when it comes to the transformation. Absolutely, and so I know that you step in as a fractional chief learning officer for companies and a lot of these high stakes transitions. First, I'm wondering if you could tell, share a little bit for anyone who's not familiar with what the concept of a fractional CLO is, but also, you know, you're talking about the people aspect. What does that role of a fractional CLO play in relation to that people element or component. Absolutely. So, ah what does a fractional CLO does is the companies who are not in big size, they don't have a very set, steady L &D learning and development group. Even if they have, they just have a trainer, but they don't have someone who is actually designing the programs, making sure that programs are run, the wait should be run. So I help people on a consulting basis, maybe 10 to 15 hours a month, depending on the need. Another aspect of leadership development, Jacob, is it's not just doing an execution of a program. So what typically happens, leadership development, the way it happens is, okay, this is the program, high potential program, four weeks, eight weeks training, done. And then whoever it is that person is doing, he steps out or she steps out. Because nine out of 10 times clients engage external facilitators. uh experts like me to execute these kinds of programs. Now the challenge happened is development leadership development is not an overnight process. Leadership development is not that you you can be perfect in one week or one month or two months. It's an ongoing process. So as a fractional CLO what I do is I step in and I stay with the company for a longer period. It's a retainer basis. So once the individual has gone through my program, I am still connected with them. So maybe it is a monthly coaching with them, making sure that they are meeting what they are supposed to do, understanding what challenges are they facing. Because when we are in our conversation in the training, everything looks hungry. yeah, it can be done. It can be done. But the moment you step in to execute that particular strategy or particular aspect, that's where you hit the roadblock. Now you have two choices, either you call that trainer who did the training, which nine out of 10 times doesn't happen, or you go to your leader. Now, if the leader has not been part of that program, yes, they can guide you, but not the way things are happening. So that's what I help organizations, Jacob. Typically it is a small to medium enterprises. And I come from the staffing background. for over 20 years. I really, the staffing is in my blood. So I can just pick up the knack where the problem is in the operation, why this team is not functioning the way it should function without looking at data. That's the kind of acumen I have when it comes to staffing. So it really becomes fairly easy for me if I'm working for an organization, recruiting teams or a staffing organization. Yeah, so you're really partnering with organizations for the long haul rather than just kind of coming in, delivering an event, so to speak, and then stepping out. Now, we know that most change efforts fail not because of planning, but because of people. So we have these two elements here. We have planning, we have people. How do you help leaders bridge that gap and how do those two elements relate to each other? Yeah, that's a great question, Jacob, because this is an irony that 90 plus percent of change management efforts fail. That's according to Harvard research and people and the change they are, I say it is there, they go hand in hand because change is something everyone is excited. All of us are excited, but that excitement is only there when that change is coming from within. The moment that change is coming from someone else, we tend to resist that change. And that someone else, I'm not talking about an organization, I'm not talking about your manager, I'm talking about, you know, maybe your spouse, your friend, your parents. I mean, even your close ones, when they are asking you to do something, you would resist. So here in organization, When the change management is happening, is decided, the change is decided in the boardroom by, you know, eight to 10 great leaders. But the repercussion of that change management initiative is to the ground level individual. Now look up the history, any change management process that has happened, any merger and transformation, merger, acquisition or transformation. There are so many people who quit. The attrition is very high during that phase. There are some good people who... who leave the organization. There are certain people who you want to go, they also go, but the irony is the great people go, potential people who have lot of potential to go. So with, as I said, that they go hand in hand. And one of the challenge that I see Jacob is communication is the problem when it comes to the change management. And in that communication, communication is the only problem. Again, I will repeat. So in communication, communication is the problem. And here is my suggestion, what I recommend to our people is there has to be regular huddle meetings when this change management is happening. And this huddle meeting does not be like a town hall. It should be in a smaller group so that people are more open to share what they are feeling. Because they will... uh they will feel something and execute something, it will have a high impact on that overall change management process. So I always recommend leaders to do those mini hurdles. Number two is if you are not confident about that change management process, make sure you don't talk to your people till you get confidence because you may not be saying anything, but the way you show up, says everything. So if you as a middle management, you as an executive leader, you need to be confident of this overall change management process. Otherwise it will become very, very challenging. Thank you. And one of the things you said that really stood out to me was that planning and people go hand in hand. And my mind immediately goes to the famous quote, of course, that almost everyone has heard, I'm sure, which is that culture eats strategy for breakfast. I think back to uh a strategy course I took in my MBA program, where one of the first things out of my professor's mouth was no. culture does not eat strategy for breakfast, they go hand in hand. It's like saying that uh peanut butter eats jelly for breakfast. No, they go together. And that's exactly what I hear you describing here is that really it depends on having these two pieces that are tightly integrated. Correct, correct. And how you are involving people in that planning. Because think about this, if I am taking a decision on your behalf, how I making sure that it is fruitful for you. Just taking a decision does not mean everything. I, as a leader, I need to make sure it is a fruitful for Jacob. Jacob has spent 10 years with my organization. I want to make sure that Jacob is comfortable with this change. Or if he's not comfortable, I need to learn what is that reasoning behind that is uncomfortableness because I can't just throw change management on people that hey we have to do this by 30th of this month, period, no problem, no question asked. No, that is not how it happens and uh most of the people quit the organization just because they are not involved, number one. Number two, they are not seeing the growth or they are not seeing that how things will shape up. post that change management. They don't believe in the new leadership. That is big. I have seen time and again organizations, executive board, they hire CEOs from outside and they bring in in two to three years. Again, we are back to square one. Now who burned the prizes of that change management? The leader who made the decision to bring the CEO. he does not face anything. He is still making his money. It is the employees who are facing the burnout. It is the employees who are facing the challenges of getting their W-2 properly because of the bonuses. They are short because they rehired someone else. We are going through the change management process. So I think we need to be very empathetic when it comes to change management. We need to be thinking for the people because it is the people who makes the company. It is not the other way around. If you don't have people, there will be no company. There will be no organization. And it is not about that one instance that is the change management uh instance. Jacob, it is all about the culture. What culture are you setting up? When we as a family, we are having a conversation. If I lie to you, you will not figure out. But if my family is sitting next to me, they are seeing, my dad, my dad is lying. What kind of culture I am setting. So you don't know, but I have done something. So people around me, they know that I have done something wrong. Similarly, as leaders, we need to make sure that we are doing whatever we are doing. We doing for heart. We are not doing because we are power hungry. We are doing because we need to empower others. It is all about the empowerment, not about the power. That is what I would I would say, Jacob. ah when it comes to the change manager. Absolutely, thank you. And so I'm really excited to ask you a little bit more if you could speak about this Climb framework that you've developed and give us a quick intro to it. What is it and what are the elements of it? Absolutely. So uh the rationale behind building this framework was based on my experience of 20 plus years in corporate journey, that every leader goes through a specific journey. And while the organizations and including me when I was heading, we do a very regular monotonous kind of a training for everyone, but every leader's journey, every leader is different. So is their journey. So this framework I created to more like a one fit one approach rather than one size fit all approach. So it stems on the component of collaboration and confidence. So higher the collaboration, higher the confidence, lower the collaboration, lower the confidence. So these are the two, you can say X axis, Y axis. Then there are four stages that I have defined. First stage is invisible. So every leader, before they become a leader, they are invisible. They are not heard, no one sees them, they are not visible, even they don't come to office, no one cares. From there, they move to a potential stage where someone sees potential in them, someone wants to invest in them, but still they are not that leader material. They are more a doer, they are more an individual contributor. After that, they move to the third stage, which is the achiever stage. This is the stage where they are going great guns. They are the limelight of every award ceremony. They are making good W-2, bonus, vacations. Everything is happening great. But after a few years, some of them, they lead to burnout. And either they quit or they go slow in their approach. And some of them who are able to navigate their journey carefully, they move to that influencer stage. So these are the four stages. Then now the CLIMB, how this CLIMB acronym, CLIMB framework comes in is our CLIMB framework talks about how you move from one stage to another. So if you are in an invisible stage, the C in CLIMB stands for Cultivate Your Mindset. So for you to move to the potential, you need to have the right mindset. If you focus on the self-pity more that no one's talked to me, no one is listening to me, you can always go onto that rabbit hole. But if you change your mindset as how you can really make a difference, it will really move your journey in the progressive mode. When you're in a potential stage, the L in the climb is you need to leverage your strength. Because what happens most of the time, we don't know ourselves. According to the research, only 11 % of corporate leaders are self-aware. So when we have the right potential, but we don't know who we truly are, We try to uh mimic how other executives or other sales professional or other successful people are doing in our company. We just blindly just go and start doing their things or start copying their things without knowing what is our true strength. So in order for them to move from potential to achiever, it's important for them to uh leverage their strength. Now in the achiever stage, Most of the people they just go after, they just keep running, running, running, running without realizing that they need to take care of themselves. They think that, okay, I only have this 10 years. I need to just make money and then take rest. But it does not happen that way. If you have to lose 10 pounds, you cannot do it by running 24 hours. It will never happen that way. So it's important for you to know your purpose. So the I in CLIMB stands for integrating your purpose, integrating your purpose and vision. And then you move to the influencer, Jacob, the last two, the and B, it's not that you become influencer, then you are king of the jungle. No, you still have to do the work. And that is magnify your impact, that is the in the CLIMB framework, and B is the build your legacy. So this is how the Climb Framework, and I use Climb Framework in each and every conversation or each and every intervention that I do, because I have created the questionnaire where people can identify where they are in that particular stage out of these four stages that I mentioned. And then once they are done with that assessment, they get oh another eight to 12 page document, entire about my framework. how they can convert their mindset from a pessimistic to positive mindset. So it's all free. So it's just they need to uh log into my website and click their uh link to do the assessment. So that is in nutshell. I know I took some extra time here, Jacob, but that is in nutshell about the client framework. That was perfect, thank you. And so we have kind of these stages or ways to move through these stages all the way from cultivating your mindset to building your legacy. Is there a particular part or shift in that framework where most leaders tend to get stuck or maybe even where they experience the biggest transformation? So in my experience, have seen most of the leaders, they get stuck in the achiever stage. And again, it's my experience. And why achieve a stage? Because when they are at that stage, their power becomes more powerful for them rather than the people. So they lose track on that aspect. They become a little arrogant to a certain extent. They become that, I have done this, I am this, I am that, and they lose their momentum when they are working with people. So especially for leaders, it's not about how well you are doing, it's all about how well your people are doing. And once you are able to educate, once you're able to empower your people, things will go in a very different time. So that's what I have observed and I'm seeing a whole lot of people in last couple of years, Jacob, leading to burnout, leading to those mental health issues, the chronic health issues. And I firmly believe that all these issues are related to, because we spend most of the time at workplace, almost 50 % time at the workplace. And the people whom we are working, the leader is responsible how things are getting shaped. Because how you are being dealt at the workplace really dictate how your entire day will go. When you reach home, are you taking stress at home or you are happy mood? Because if your manager has given you a lot of stress, I'm sure it will not be very easy for you to de-stress. So it's important for us as leaders really make sure that we reduce uh our young professional going to hospital or having those mental health issues, learn the way they want to be groomed, learn the way we can really uh make them more productive, make them more successful and make them more accountable for what they are doing. So achiever stages where I see most of us, we get stuck and really become challenged for moving from that to influencer. And it sounds like moving from achiever to influencer, if that's where the biggest challenge is, sounds like that's probably where the biggest transformation occurs. Is that a fair assessment? Absolutely, absolutely. And there are another thing which I forget to share is it doesn't mean that once you are at influencer stage, you're done for life. No, the moment you change your team, the moment you change your organization, it's just like, know, John's Maxwell five levels of leadership. You you start right from level one, even if you're at level five, you again start from level one, the moment there is a new member in your team. the moment you have a new leader in the organization, or either you are moving or someone else is moving, it changes. So it's not that you are at one stage forever. You need to keep working on it to make sure you stay where you are. Absolutely, thank you. So in the last few minutes of our conversation, I want to shift gears a little bit to talk about some of the practical lessons you've learned from the field. So I know you've worked across a variety of industries, tech, education, staffing, to name a few. What's a story that sticks with you of an experience where transformation succeeded because leadership rose to the moment or rose to the occasion. And so, and that's a great point. I've never thought from that perspective, but as you are making me think that there are a couple of instances where things have happened more positively. And it was back in 2009, I would say, without naming all the details, but there was a time where we had to do something that we never did. because after 2008 financial meltdown, things were not doing great for most of the organizations and we were tasked to increase our revenue. So we had to do something that we never did, which is the business of staffing business, which is in the different market. Yes, we did it in US, but we never did it in a different market. And for that transformation, the reason I'm... sharing this story because it was one project and we made team, there was no team in place. So we just beg, borrow, steal. I connected with all the existing leaders, two people from this team, two people from that team and we all came together to execute this project. Long story short, this project was very much, it was highly successful. We were able to deliver things to our client as expected. And eventually that became as an icon for the organization. It became company within a company, which is almost $300 million company today, which was, which what started in back in 2009, 10 days, just one project. And now today it's, it's a million dollar, probably close to a billion dollar organization. And it all happened because There was no one person who was accountable. Yes, I was leading that initiative, but I was not marching the orders because I was also fairly clueless of how things will shape up. I was also learning on the go. And so we did more as a teamwork. We spoke to people. Like one common example, will tell you, in US, a standard notice period is two weeks. In this country, it ranges from one month to three months. And we gave the commitment to our end client thinking that, okay, it's two weeks. Yes, we will deliver in eight weeks. Without realizing, without knowing that, okay, my God, this is the huge difference. But still we were able to make it happen. It was challenging, but we did it and this was all because of the people. Everyone was involved, every single one. It was not People were not working in silos. Everyone was aware of who is doing what and when. And we were having a regular job because we were supporting our US uh business as well. So again, it's all about people. People were the biggest asset and it was because of them, we made it happen. Yes, leader role was okay, but then it was all the team. So it's the teamwork. Absolutely. Thank you. And you know, I'm as I initially discovered you, know, listening to your new podcast, as well as some other interviews you've done, I really get the sense that, you know, you're someone who really leads from the inside out, leads from your heart and soul. And you're doing a lot of it. You're really visible. So how do you think about showing up externally? through content, thought leadership, general influence in the field. What role has that played in your career and your leadership journey? Absolutely. So thank you for the acknowledgement. uh But yes, it is not something easy. ah The first thing is you need to be true to yourself. the inside out approach that you mentioned, yes, it uh is correct. But in this content management and the visibility phase, there are so many things that is going around. One will go crazy. I was at one point in time because I was not in too much into social media. When I started my entrepreneurial journey, my coach told me that, man, you need to be on Facebook. You need to be on Twitter. Facebook is the way to go. And I was not in Facebook. My wife opened a Facebook account when we got married that that's simply it just for sharing family's pictures. But then I need to learn, okay, what is the art of doing it? So it's all about learning on the go. And when it comes to the content management, what I have worked for me. I mean, yes, I do my scheduling of post uh early on, specifically when I'm traveling. There are times that, know, just overnight a thought comes to you and you want to give that message. You want to pass on that message to the team. So it's very, very helpful for leaders to be visible because if you are visible, that's how you will get the opportunities. I always tell, so when I do my keynotes at colleges, Jacob, I talk about not for how to find a job. It's about how employers can find you, how you can create your persona in such a way over the four year of your uh undergraduate degree that employers find you. They come to the campus finding, hey, I want you to talk to John Toe. Hey, I need to talk to Ms. Rose. Hey, I need to hire this person. That will only happen when you are visible, when you are sharing your content, when you are making sure that uh people know you for who you are, not just be a silent consumption or silent consumer of the content. Because I noticed a lot of people, just consume your content and they don't do anything. My recommendation would be if you're consuming it, at least if you're not doing anything, just give a like, at least it will be helpful for the algorithm for that person who is making all this effort. So, and if you are liking anything, put it in the comments. I mean, show your love, show that you really care, show how it has helped you. I mean, I get a lot of messages, Jacob, specifically in last year and a half when I have started my entrepreneurial journey from employees who have worked with me almost 10 years. I hired them back then and a lot of stories I'm learning now, I was not aware. One person told me that you don't remember me, but you know, I was a recruiter and you called me to congratulate me because I got an interview in your account. day, I was thinking in my head, hey, that's a very common and normal thing that I do or a leader should do when any good win happens for your people. But I was not aware that it was so important for that person that he still remember it for after 10 years that you made my day that day because you called me, you personally congratulated me. So what I'm saying is sometimes you do things you don't know how it will impact others. The only person who knows is the person who whom it is impact is making. keep doing, keep sharing. that to your point, visibility is the key. would say I will not hesitate in saying that visibility is the new currency, because if you are visible, that is how you will get leads, that is how you will get projects, that is how you will get new opportunity. So I really oh request our listeners to give some focus on to that. I made that mistake, Jacob, for 20 years. I thought, okay, why do I need to be visible? What would this will do to me? What that will do to me? And I realized that when I started my entrepreneur, that is when I had the realization, my God, no one knows me out of the organization. So it took time for me to set up my stuff, ah my business, because of the lack of visibility. So I always tell people, you know, be visible and then sooner you start is better. Absolutely and I love that visibility is indeed the new currency. And speaking of that, one last question for you today which is for people who listening at home who want to follow you online or connect with you, where's the best place for them to do that? How can they find you online? Absolutely. So the best place would be LinkedIn. Just type my full name, you will get me. My website is also RahulKrenscherman.com. For people who are looking to build their culture, build their inner transformation phase, only connect me is my humble request if you're really serious about making that change. Because I am very selective who I choose. I work with those clients who are really serious in doing that investment. Unfortunately, I do not want to spend time with companies who just want to check the box because for me, this is my work and I take it very, very seriously. I want to make sure that whoever I am with, whoever I'm associated getting associated, that person or that organization is getting the value. That person really sees the difference. That company really sees the difference. I don't want to be just one time. come and go. That is not why I have spent 20 years in corporate and what I'm doing right now. So I'm very happy what I'm doing. It's less a business, but it's still, I'm happy what I am doing right now and the clients that I'm working with. So the best way again is LinkedIn, but yes, reach me if you're really looking forward to the transformation and you're really interested in investing in your people. Excellent. Rahul, thank you so much for joining me here today. This has been an absolutely lovely conversation. I really appreciate your insights and sharing your learnings with us. It's been really, really valuable. Thank you, Jacob. Thank you for the amazing work that you are doing for the community. uh Podcasts like this are uh really important for people to know the different perspective because as an LND leader, believe everyone is not looking for training. Everyone is not looking for coaching. It's just about a different perspective. So these podcasts allow people to have a different perspective and that really makes a difference. So thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, I really appreciate it. So to conclude, you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if today's conversation got you thinking about how your own presence online could better reflect your expertise and... build visibility to attract the kinds of opportunities you're ready for. That's exactly the kind of work I help LND leaders with. So please do connect with me on LinkedIn or learn more at executivebrandbuilder.com. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next time on Catalysts.