ROI is the hammer in every leader's toolbox. Applied to executive coaching and employee development, it becomes the wrong tool. Andrews and Laing documented a case where training ran negative for three years before producing a 30% return by year five. A meta-analysis by De Meuse, Dai, and Lee found 70 to 94% of coaching recipients sustained real behavior change. The returns are real. The finance department's ruler just can't measure them. A better question: return on induing.

Every leader talks about learning. Almost no one talks about unlearning — the willingness to stop doing what used to work but doesn't anymore. Two research studies from 2007 and 2016 spell out why unlearning is the capability that turns upheaval into creative destruction. Post-COVID gave every business a once-in-a-generation chance to see itself freshly. The real question: what are you ready to let go of?