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The Tower of Progress - Leading through Transformation by Manoj Khanna - Book cover

The Tower of Progress - Leading through Transformation

by Manoj Khanna
Business, Leadership

About This Book

What if the biggest obstacle to transformation isn't your strategy—it's the lies you've been telling yourself about how your organization actually works?

Ariana Keller has 90 days to transform a dying company or resign. But on her first morning, sitting in a broken call center chair that nobody's bothered to fix in three years, she discovers something that changes everything: the people who know how to save the company aren't the executives in the boardroom—they're the "invisible leaders" on the seventh floor.

The Tower of Progress is the business fiction you didn't know you needed. It's the story of what transformation actually looks like when you strip away the PowerPoint slides and consultant speak—messy, human, and surprisingly possible.

Through Ariana's 90-day countdown and the five years that follow, you'll discover why most transformations fail (hint: you're solving the wrong problems) and what actually works (hint: it starts with a 23-year call center veteran with a hidden spreadsheet that tracks what your million-dollar systems can't).

This isn't just a story. It's a field guide disguised as fiction.

Every chapter includes practical frameworks you can use Monday morning:

  • Leadership Insights that challenge conventional wisdom about change

  • Checkpoint Exercises to diagnose dysfunction in your own organization

  • Toolboxes with frameworks like "Compass vs. Clock" and "The Tower of Progress"

  • Real scenarios from call centers to boardrooms that mirror your daily challenges

You'll meet characters who feel like colleagues:

  • Dorothy, whose unofficial tracking system reveals what official reports hide

  • Marcus, the engineer who fixes things without permission because waiting means failure

  • Ezra, the mysterious strategist who appears when transformation seems impossible

  • The "Realists" who resist change with malicious compliance

Perfect for:

  • Executives tired of transformation theater

  • Middle managers caught between strategy and reality

  • Anyone who's ever thought "there has to be a better way"

  • Leaders who want practical tools, not just inspirational platitudes

What readers are discovering:

"The broken chair nobody fixes" isn't just a metaphor—it's probably sitting in your office right now. The invisible leaders making your company actually work? They're waiting for someone to ask their opinion. The gap between your org chart and how work really flows? It's costing you millions.

The question isn't whether these patterns exist in your organization. They do.

The question is whether you'll recognize them as fixable—not inevitable.

Transformation doesn't require a complete overhaul. It requires seeing clearly, starting honestly, and building from the foundation up. One truth at a time. One connection at a time. One day at a time.

The broken chair is waiting. The truth is available. The transformation is possible.

But only if you start.

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BONUS: Includes discussion guide for leadership teams, implementation toolkit, assessment tools, and resources for creating your own "Tower of Progress."

About the Author

Manoj Khanna - Author photo

Manoj Khanna

Manoj Khanna has spent two decades in the trenches of organizational transformation—as fractional CTO, board advisor, and strategic partner to leadership teams navigating existential change. He has witnessed spectacular failures and quiet, durable successes across insurance, banking, retail, and logistics. The Tower of Progress distills these patterns into a story that leaders won't just remember—they'll use it to transform their own organizations. He hosts The L.I.E. Podcast (Leadership, Innovation & Execution) and is an alumni of Carnegie Mellon and UC Berkeley.

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