The Book

“[T]hat disease… it’s the disease of thinking that a really great idea is 90% of the work. The problem with that is that there’s just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product.” 

– Steve Jobs

The strategy for leading change has been known, yet misapplied, for decades, so I focused on the craftsmanship: the operational details of our work at IBM that anyone can apply to achieve lasting change, at scale.

 

IBM’s 21st century culture transformation was one of the largest in history.  It fundamentally updated the work of 400,000 IBM employees across 180 countries. But the change achieved was never mandated.

Irresistible Change: A Blueprint for Earning Buy-In and Breakout Success tells the remarkable story of how it happened and its lessons that leaders of any size organization can apply. It cracks the code for getting buy-in for change, the biggest challenge that holds back even the most ambitious change efforts.  

At a time when today’s employees value autonomy and stability, change has to be earned instead of enforced. Phil Gilbert knows this firsthand. To overcome skepticism, doubts and reluctance, he had to reinvent how to achieve change. He had to make change irresistible. 

That’s what this book is about—earning change adoption instead of enforcing it—a proven but innovative approach that leaders can learn and apply to transform any workplace in any sector. As the pace of change increases and as employees become more empowered than ever before, IRRESISTIBLE CHANGE will become the trusted roadmap for the next generation of change leaders.

Available for pre-order now, the book will be published by John A. Wiley & Sons, available November 12, 2025 wherever books and ebooks are sold.
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Praise for Irresistible Change
“Phil Gilbert helped redefine how we thought about change at IBM—treating change like a product people chose to adopt, rather than a mandate to follow. Irresistible Change distills that approach into a powerful, practical playbook.”
Ginni Rometty

Former Chairman, President, and CEO of IBM,
and best-selling author of Good Power
“When embarking on a technology-related change at scale, it seems natural to get focused on the tech when success is actually about the people. They need an appetite and path to change the way they think and work. Phil’s change-as-a-product mindset, experience and stories can help anyone build a more effective approach to transformation, one that results in real, practical outcomes.”
Doug McMillon

President and CEO, Walmart

“Irresistible Change is Phil Gilbert’s brilliantly insightful account of his time leading and driving IBM’s move toward a new way of operating—nothing less than turning a battleship against headwinds and currents. His success was not serendipitous, but instead the product of thoughtful planning, careful communication, and relentless pursuit of doing what works. Less complicated than difficult, change demands deft, committed leadership, and a deep understanding of both the challenge and criticality of adapting.”
Stan McChrystal

General, US Army (Retired)
Founder and Chairman/CEO of McChrystal Group,
and best-selling author of Team of Teams
“The transformation of IBM into a design thinking organization is probably the most amazing corporate transformation in the history of American business. When Phil Gilbert came to Stanford I told him it was impossible—and I was dead wrong. Read this book to understand how he did it, and how you can make change irresistible.”
Bill Burnett

Executive Director of the Life Design Lab at Stanford University,
and best-selling author of Designing Your Life
“This is simultaneously the most radical and most pragmatic story of transformation you will come across anywhere. It would appear ridiculously ambitious to attempt to change the culture of a company the size of IBM and yet Phil Gilbert helps us truly understand what it takes to drive large-scale cultural change through design thinking. Anyone with similar ambition should take careful notes.”
Tim Brown

Chair Emeritus of IDEO,
and best-selling author of Change By Design

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