Bain & Company research has found that only 12 percent of companies that launch major change initiatives fully achieve their goals.

And many companies settle for less than 100 percent of their stated ambitions. Atul Aggarwal, a partner in Bain & Company's New York office and a leader in the firm's Financial Services and Organization practices, said that the same Bain research found that 50 percent of companies achieve between half and 99 percent of what they set out to achieve, while 38 percent achieve less than half.