CEOs pointed to the need to break big visions for change into more concrete, incremental steps that could be more readily absorbed by the business.

"Don't come and tell me about these very high level, very complicated, very theoretical things. Come and tell me this is what it means practically for the company, or the country, or, if we get to that level, the world. Practically this is what it means, and practically this is what our company can do. If you make it practical you will get a lot more attention and a lot more action, otherwise it's one of those things that floats around, let's tick the box, because it's too theoretical for us. The information need to be very much distilled, very specific and to the point. One needs to say, well this is what's happening, but link it to one or two things that people can really see that are happening …things that people will know about if you can. Then clearly say what are the impacts of that for this company. Why is it important that we address it?

Then link that to what our company can do to address it. This is what we can do, we can fly once a month instead of twice a month. That's practical. Don't pick 20, pick three. Then measure those. Once that's vested in the company, then you can take the next two, but we use the expression in South Africa, eat the elephant bite by bite. I think we need to eat this elephant bite by bite as well. If you see the whole elephant you will never even try." (CEO)

"It can actually weigh you down so it's about being very resilient through times when people think that what you're saying are absolutely unimportant to them and nonsense. How are you so resilient so that you can be consistent with your message and what you stand for? Sometimes it is about breaking it down into achieving bit by bit." (Change Agent)

"I think one tactical strategy is to build in very manageable moments of time, in front of people that you need to have audience with and make sure that those moments always count, and that they add up over time." (Change Agent)

Recent research into behavioural nudges suggests that simple and small changes that require minimal effort to be adopted have the potential to enable significant change² and as mentioned earlier, small initial commitments tend to generate more substantial future commitments.³

"As much as you need to have a big vision, you also need to start doing the little things that gets people to realize that it is possible. A couple of tweaks here and a couple of tweaks there." (Change Agent)