HBR On Leadership Is Your Company Suffering from Initiative Overload?
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Apr 8, 2026 
Michael Watkins, leadership consultant known for organizational transitions, and Rose Hollister, specialist in prioritization and change, tackle initiative overload. They discuss why legacy projects accumulate, how multiple initiatives magnify burdens on frontline teams, why simple prioritization fails, and practical inventory and stop-start practices leaders can use to trim work and protect capacity.
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Top Performers Are Most At Risk
- High performers disproportionately bear extra initiatives and therefore are most likely to leave when they have alternatives.
- Michael Watkins notes overloaded top performers create retention risk when labor markets tighten.
Run A C Suite Inventory And Kill Ruthlessly
- Do a cross-functional inventory: bring C-suite leaders to review every initiative, its business case, and people hours.
- Rose Hollister describes a three-day offsite where executives killed projects and reallocated resources, improving customer scores.
Kill Projects Properly To Avoid Zombies
- When you decide to kill an initiative, actively manage the shutdown to prevent 'zombie' projects from resurging.
- Michael Watkins warns to check interdependencies and enforce the kill to stop hidden pockets of resource reviving it.