A new manager brought in from the outside. A key retirement. An executive waiting in the wings who finally gets his or her chance. The splitting of the Chairman/CEO role into two separate positions. The departure of unsuccessful contenders. Beyond their obvious effects on individual careers, such changes are also opportunities—often not fully exploited—to bring about significant organizational change. Never more so than when the change takes place at the very top with the appearance of a new CEO. These "appearances" are becoming increasingly common as more industries face discontinuities and more stakeholders assert their rights. Indeed, nearly a quarter of the CEOs of Business Week's top 1,000 companies have turned over during the past two years. How can companies—and new incumbents—better leverage these stressful periods of transition to break out of the performance-limiting aspects of the established order?

Perhaps an oil company president put it best: "This place has had three presidents in five years. My predecessors all made the mistake of trying too hard to get things back to normal. The organization took it as an endorsement of business-as-usual when a lot had to be changed. When I came in, the place felt rudderless. They were watching...