15 chapter 1 • AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SIX BATTERIES OF CHANGE But the energy of a leader is not enough to achieve great results. The entire organ- ization needs to be energized to achieve change success or breakthrough perfor- mance; i.e. what is required is organizational energy. Organizational energy can be defined as “the extent to which an organization has mo- bilized its collective emotional, cognitive, and behavioral potential to pursue its goals”.5 The emotional component is the extent to which people are passionate and enthusiastic in their pursuit of the company’s goals. The cognitive component refers to the capacity to be alert to, and crea- tive in the face of, new opportunities or threats. The behavioral component is the extent to which employees will go the extra mile, or stretch themselves to achieve shared goals. A company’s organizational energy is a collective dynamic force that is much stronger than the sum of individual forces or motivation. The intensity of energy differs from company to company; in some organizations that collective force is strong, in others it is barely present. High-energy companies have mobilized all their employees to work together to achieve great results. Low-energy companies lack such energy. Their people may feel emotionally distant from the company’s goals or they may feel little excitement or hope. They are in “sleep mode”, happy with the status quo. They lack the vitality and ambition to improve or to reach for something new or different.6 Energy, however, can be positive or negative. As a result, high energy is not always better. Some organizations have high levels of energy but use it in a destructive way: employees and managers may have internal fights; marketing fights prod- uct development; or sales is at odds with operations. Energy is wasted internally. Staff is overwhelmed by projects, without clear definitions of scope or appropriate resources. Other organizations lose energy when strategic projects fail to inspire employees. In this case, new initiatives are met with skepticism and employees op- pose moving in the new strategic direction or resist adopting new so-called best practices.