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How to Start a Change Initiative. Bryan Walker

Wed, 06 May 2026 14:02:00 -0000

Here are three questions that sit at the heart of this Change Signal conversation with Bryan Walker:

What are you changing too early?
Where are you too far away?
And what real issue are you avoiding?

Bryan Walker, longtime IDEO partner, joins me to explore a different way of thinking about change and transformation in large organizations. We talk about why so many change efforts stall—not because of bad strategy, but because they’re designed too linearly, too distantly, and too separate from the work itself.

Bryan challenges the instinct to start with structure and big plans. Instead, he makes the case for starting small, learning through action, and letting the work itself reveal what needs to shift. It’s a move from abstract programs to practical experimentation—and it changes how leaders show up.

We also explore what it takes to make change actually land. Not just belief in the idea, but confidence in the doing, and ultimately a shift in identity: this is who we are now.

If you lead change in a complex organization, this is a grounded, human, and quietly challenging conversation about what it really takes to make transformation stick.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Just How Dead is Change Management? Caroline Kealey

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0000

Three questions this Change Signal conversation with Caroline Kealey invites you to sit with:

What old model are you still relying on?
What are you actually moving toward?
Are you creating clarity or just more noise?

I came across Caroline’s work through a sharp claim: change management is dead. And as we dig into it, you’ll see why that might be less dramatic than it sounds — and more useful than it first appears.

Caroline Kealey is an executive facilitator working at the intersection of change, leadership, and communication. What she names clearly is this: the nature of change has shifted. It’s less planned and linear, more emergent, ambiguous, and unfolding in real time.

That makes most traditional models feel tidy, reassuring — and increasingly unhelpful. Instead of following a roadmap, leaders are asked to act as a compass, setting direction without pretending to have certainty.

We also explore what actually enables change now. Not better plans, but better conditions: agency, belonging, and what Caroline calls “certainty anchors” — things people can hold onto when everything else feels fluid.

And we get practical about communication. In a world of overload, more information isn’t the answer. Helping people make sense of what’s going on might just be the key.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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The OG of Scenario Planning Jeremy Bentham

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0000

Here are three questions that sit underneath this Change Signal conversation with Jeremy Bentham:

What future are you not exploring?
Where is your strategy getting lazy?
Are you helping people learn — or making them resist?

If you lead change in a large organization, you already know the future refuses to behave. Jeremy Bentham —who led Shell’s scenario planning team for sixteen years and helped shape how one of the world’s most sophisticated organizations thinks about uncertainty — joins me to explore how to work with that reality rather than fight it. His core idea is simple but demanding: the future is shaped by competing forces, and multiple outcomes are always plausible. If you’re only planning for one version, you’re not being strategic — you’re being optimistic.

We talk about how scenario thinking isn’t about producing reports, but about building a mindset that helps you make better decisions under uncertainty. Jeremy walks through how to identify what’s steady, what’s uncertain, and what actually matters — so your strategy can hold up across different possible futures.

And then we get into influence. Because even the smartest thinking fails if it doesn’t land. Jeremy shares why senior leaders resist being taught — and how change really happens when people discover insights for themselves.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Kübler-Ross was Wrong! Jacqueline Kappers

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0000

Here are three questions sparked by this Change Signal conversation with Jacqueline Kappers:

What loss are you ignoring in your latest transformation?
Where might you be grief-shaming your people?
What would change look like if you treated it as individual, not linear?

If you lead change projects inside a large organization, you already know that most transformation efforts struggle not because the strategy is wrong, but because the human response is misunderstood.

In this episode, Jacqueline Kappers challenges the reflex use of the Kübler-Ross grief curve in change management. It was never designed for organizational transformation, and when we force people through tidy stages, we risk doing change to them rather than with them.

Her central idea is simple and uncomfortable: every change begins with loss. Promotion, restructuring, system rollout — it doesn’t matter — something ends before something new begins.

She also introduces the idea of a “grief fingerprint” and a “change fingerprint.” People don’t move through change in neat phases; they oscillate between past and future, certainty and ambiguity.

For senior leaders in change leadership, transformation, and organizational development, this conversation offers a more human, practical way to build change capacity and unlock performance — without pretending that loss isn’t part of the deal.

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AI Won’t Fix Your Change Problem. Andrew Kilshaw

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0000

As I reflect on this conversation with Andrew Kilshaw, three questions stand out:

Who are you really trying to move?
What recipe are you missing?
Is AI saving you — or just augmenting you?

Andrew Kilshaw has led transformation inside organizations like Nike, Sanofi, BlackRock, and Shell, and now works at the intersection of change and AI. He brings both experience and perspective — someone who’s seen what actually works when theory meets reality.

If you lead change in a large organization, you already know this: not everyone is coming with you. Andrew Kilshaw offers a practical way to work with that reality, breaking the organization into thirds and making the case that your job isn’t to win everyone over, but to build a coalition that creates momentum.

We also push on a deeper assumption about transformation. Most organizations don’t lack capability — they lack coherence. The ingredients are already there: leadership, data, people, and intent. The challenge is connecting them into something that actually works.

And then there’s AI. Not as a silver bullet, but as a layer that amplifies what’s already happening — better decisions, better insight, better coordination. Used well, it creates capacity and clarity. Used poorly, it just adds more noise.

This is a conversation about focus, judgment, and where to put your energy when everything is already in motion.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Let’s Netflix and Change: Jessica Neal

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Jessica Neal:

Are you modeling the change you’re asking for?
What nostalgia is quietly slowing your organization down?
And are you chasing consensus when you should be making decisions?

If you lead change in a large organization, you already know the challenge isn’t just strategy. It’s people, pace, and the gravitational pull of the status quo.

In this conversation, Jessica Neal — former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix — shares what it actually takes to shift culture and move transformation forward inside a scaling company. One of her core insights is simple and uncomfortable: if leaders aren’t visibly living the change, it won’t happen.

We also explore why experimentation beats grand transformation plans. At Netflix, change often looked less like a rollout and more like a tiny experiment: try something, see what happens, learn, adjust.

And then there’s the tension between speed and process. As organizations grow, well-meaning leaders add rules to control risk, but those rules often slow the very people capable of making good decisions.

If you’re responsible for transformation, culture, or change leadership, this conversation offers a practical lens on how organizations actually evolve — and why the hardest work often starts with leaders themselves.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Stop Writing Boring Change Messaging: Donald Miller

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0000

Here are three questions to sharpen your thinking from this Change Signal conversation with Donald Miller:

What story are your people living inside?
Are you the hero of the change — or the guide?
Can your strategy fit on a napkin?

If you lead transformation inside a large organization, you already know this: change management fails less because of bad strategy and more because of bad framing. Donald argues that every human being sees themselves as the hero in a story — and if you want to shift behavior, energy, and buy-in, you must change the plot points of that story.

We explore why leaders must resist the urge to play the hero and instead become the empathetic guide — the one who names the “hole,” listens deeply, and throws the rope. It’s a practical conversation about empathy, involvement, and why treating adults like children creates resistance that’s hard to undo.

And then we get concrete. Donald shares his PEACE framework — Problem, Empathy, Answer, Change, End result — and makes the case that memorable soundbites, repeated relentlessly, often beat beautifully crafted strategy documents. If you care about change leadership, transformation, and making your message stick, this one’s for you.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Where Should You Intervene? Dr. Leyla Acaroglu

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:00:00 -0000

Here are three questions to sharpen your thinking from this Change Signal conversation with Dr. Leyla Acaroglu

What are you editing out of your understanding of the problem?
Where are you treating a living system like a tidy plan?
And what intervention would actually shift the dynamics?

Dr. Leyla Acaroglu is a sustainability strategist, systems thinker, and founder of Disrupt Design. Her work sits at the intersection of design, behaviour, and complex systems, helping leaders move beyond surface-level fixes to understand how change actually happens in messy, real-world environments.

If you lead change in a large organization, you already know the official story: change is messy, political, and rarely linear. What Leyla brings is a practical way to work with that reality, instead of fighting it.

We talk about why most change approaches fail when they treat complexity like a puzzle to solve rather than an ecosystem to understand. Leyla shares how systems mapping helps you see what’s really going on beneath the surface — values, power, worldview, and the invisible connections shaping behaviour.

She walks through a simple “capture the chaos” method (pen, paper, no self-censorship) that surfaces leverage points for intervention. And we explore what it means to lead change as a dynamic response: iterating, adjusting, and staying in the flow as the system shifts.

If you’re searching for smarter approaches to change management, transformation, and change leadership, this is a grounded, useful conversation.

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Does Caring Less Help You Lead Better? Michael Bungay Stanier

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 04:00:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Michael Bungay Stanier:

What if your success has nothing to do with the outcome?
What if you’ve already won before the project is finished?
And what if caring less is what makes you more effective?

If you lead change inside a large organization, you already know this tension: you’re accountable for results, but you don’t control everything that shapes them. In this solo episode, Michael Bungay Stanier explores the paradox at the heart of change leadership — how to care deeply about the work while loosening your grip on the outcome.

He introduces a practical spectrum for how leaders relate to outcomes, from disengaged to overly attached, and points to a more useful stance: being fully committed to how you show up, while accepting that results are shaped by forces beyond you. It’s not detachment; it’s discipline.

Michael also offers three drivers for navigating this tension: staying ambitious for meaningful work, embracing your “cosmic irrelevance,” and returning, again and again, to the everyday practice of doing the work. If you’re leading transformation, this is about building the internal capacity to stay steady, focused, and human when the stakes are high.

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How to Find the Next Wise Move: David Lancefield

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that David Lancefield asks in the quest for modern change mastery:

Where are you stuck in one system?
What linkage are you overlooking between systems?
And what’s your next wise move?

David Lancefield, strategist and leadership advisor, argues that all leaders are systems leaders — whether they admit it or not. Real change doesn’t live in a plan or a single silo; it emerges in the messy spaces where systems overlap.

He explores five interconnected systems — inner, relational, organizational, technological, and societal — and shows how to navigate them without freezing, overreaching, or waiting for perfect clarity. You’ll learn how to see the patterns that hold your organization in place, and how small, intelligent actions can ripple outward.

David also reframes what it means to act with agency: listening for what’s missing, seeing where you’re complicit through silence, and stepping forward even when control is impossible.

If you lead transformation in complex environments, this episode offers a grounded, systemic way to see more, link more, and move smarter.

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Be A “Discovery-Driven” Change Leader: Rita McGrath

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Rita McGrath:

Are you still treating change as an interruption?
Do you know whether you’re facing disruption or just noise?
And are you leading with certainty when curiosity is what’s required?

In this episode, I talk with Rita McGrath about what senior leaders are getting wrong about change — and what actually helps organizations adapt when the ground won’t stop shifting. Drawing on her work at the intersection of strategy, innovation, and leadership, Rita makes the case that change is no longer episodic. It’s the operating environment, and leaders who keep reaching for old playbooks are quietly increasing risk.

We unpack a precise and useful definition of disruption — not “big change,” but the moment something once complex becomes easy, and something once expensive becomes affordable. That’s the kind of shift that rewires value chains and demands a different response from change leaders.

Rita also explores what she calls discovery-driven leadership: staying deeply engaged without micromanaging, listening for weak signals at the edges, and treating so-called failures as hypotheses that didn’t pan out. If you lead transformation in a large organization, this conversation offers a sharper lens on modern change mastery — practical, grounded, and refreshingly honest.

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The Four Leadership Paradoxes: Michael Bungay Stanier

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three questions worth exploring from this Change Signal episode:

Are you leading change from technique or from who you are?
Where are you avoiding the tension that real leadership requires?
Can you care deeply about outcomes while letting go of control?

If you lead change or transformation inside a large organization, you already know that tools and frameworks only take you so far.

In this solo episode, I explore what sits below the waterline of effective change leadership. It’s not just about better questions, smarter plans, or tighter process design. It’s about the “being” of leadership — how you show up, how you relate, how you hold the process, and how you sit with outcomes.

I introduce four paradoxes that sit at the heart of modern change leadership: humble confidence, fierce love, light and grounded process, and the tension of caring and not caring. These are not problems to solve but tensions to hold.

For senior leaders responsible for organizational change, culture shifts, and transformation initiatives, this episode offers a practical and human lens on change management. It’s about mastering presence, embracing paradox, and leading change in a way that builds agency rather than compliance.

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The Environment Is Running the Show: Kristen Berman

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Kristen Berman:

What if your environment matters more than your intentions?
How specific are your behaviours — really?
And what structures in your system quietly cancel the autonomy you think you’re giving people?

Kristen Berman brings a behavioural scientist’s lens to change, and she makes a simple but unsettling point: most organizations try to shift beliefs when they should be redesigning environments. We dig into how tiny details — distance, defaults, visibility, timing — shape decisions far more reliably than persuasion or mindset work.

Kristen also explains why so many change efforts stall at the first step. Leaders define ambitions like “increase engagement” or “coach more” without getting uncomfortably specific about the exact behaviours they want people to do, when, and how often. The magic, she argues, is in that specificity.

We explore agency, too, and why you can’t create it with encouragement or slogans. People feel agency only when structures change — meeting norms, workflows, approvals, and habits that shape day-to-day experience.

If you’re leading transformation or behaviour change in a large organization, this episode offers practical tools and a sharper way of seeing how change actually happens.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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What Really Moves/Changes a System? Helen Bevan

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Helen Bevan:

Is your belonging actually just assimilation?
Are your relationships stronger than your strategy?
And what fear is your system quietly running on?

Helen Bevan has spent decades leading large-scale transformation inside the NHS, and she brings that rare blend of deep experience and fresh thinking. She makes a compelling case that the real levers of change aren’t the ones we normally obsess over—plans, resources, or methodologies—but the relational fabric that holds a system together.

We talk about belonging as a core condition for change, and why the best leaders know how to help people both “belong” and “unbelong” as the system shifts. Helen also shares the surprising results of a major five-year transformation experiment, where social capital — not expertise or investment — predicted which organizations moved forward and which fell behind.

And we explore agency: why you can’t give it, why people have to build it themselves, and how leaders can create the routines that make that possible. If you’re navigating complexity, leading transformation, or trying to spark change in a large organization, this conversation offers practical insight into how change actually travels through a system.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Hard Questions About Change (With Answers). Michael Bungay Stanier

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three questions that shaped this special Change Signal episode:

Where are you pushing on walls instead of leverage points?
What is resistance trying to teach you about the system you’re changing?
And how small could your next experiment actually be?

In this episode, I join Dave Stachowiak and the Coaching for Leaders community for an open Q&A on the messy, human reality of leading change inside complex organizations.

I respond to questions from leadership practitioners who know the theory of change but wrestle with what it looks like in practice — especially when systems push back. We explore why most change efforts stall, not because people don’t care, but because leaders misunderstand the systems they’re trying to shift.

I talk about resistance as a signal rather than an obstacle, the importance of finding real leverage points, and why small, fast, low-stakes experiments often teach us more than carefully engineered pilots. We also dig into what it takes to lead change without formal authority, where relationships matter more than titles, and how influence actually works inside organizations.

If you’re leading change, transformation, or complex initiatives — especially without a big title or a big budget — this conversation offers a clearer, more grounded way to think about how change actually moves.

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How to Be Unafraid of Data: Neil Hoyne

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Neil Hoyne:

How is data really used in your organization?
How much uncertainty can your culture comfortably handle?
And what ideas are your people quietly shelving because they don’t think anyone will listen?

If you lead change in a large organization, you already know the promise of being “data-driven” often runs into the reality of politics, incentives, and human behaviour. Neil Hoyne — author, analyst, and Google’s Chief Strategist — joins me to explore how data can help transformation, and also how it can unintentionally slow it down.

We dig into the difference between using data to learn and using it to justify decisions already made. Neil explains why intuition isn’t the opposite of data, but a compressed form of expertise that deserves to be surfaced and tested.

We also talk about what really shapes a data-driven culture: the decision standards leaders set, the level of uncertainty they’re willing to tolerate, and who takes responsibility when experiments fail.

If you’re navigating change management, digital transformation, or complex initiatives where data plays a starring role, this conversation offers a practical, human way to think about decisions, experiments, culture, and influence — so your organization can move faster and learn smarter.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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How an Engineer Would Map Your Org. Emily Moore

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Emily Moore:

Who’s missing from your system map?
What are you rushing to solve?
And what is resistance actually trying to protect?

If you lead change in a big organization, you already know the neat diagrams rarely survive contact with reality. Emily Moore — engineer, educator, and longtime industry leader — joins me to explore how systems thinking becomes far more useful when we stop pretending the world is tidy.

We dig into the surprising truth that most “systems maps” forget the most important element: the people who hold influence, create friction, or quietly keep things running. Emily shows why the real work of change begins when you sit with ambiguity a little longer than feels comfortable, resist the urge to leap to solutions, and allow humility to do some heavy lifting.

We also talk about resistance — why it’s not just inevitable but essential. Emily argues that vocal laggards often reveal leverage points the formal org chart hides.

If you’re navigating complex transformations, leading change management initiatives, or trying to make progress inside tangled systems, this conversation will help you see your organization — and your role in it — with fresh eyes.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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The OARS of Real Engagement. John Anthony

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with John Anthony:

Are you engaging people before you try to influence them?
What resistance are you avoiding that you should be exploring?
And how do you know whether you’re dancing with someone… or wrestling?

John Anthony joins me to unpack why so many change conversations in large organizations stall, even with experienced leaders at the helm. He draws from motivational interviewing to show how change works best when it’s done with people, not to them.

We talk about why your first job is positioning yourself as a supporting partner, not a persuader. JA explains the power of OARS — open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, and summaries — as a simple way to diagnose whether you’ve actually engaged someone before asking them to move.

We also explore resistance as a source of insight rather than something to avoid. JA makes a compelling case that paying attention to the discord is what shifts people from outright cynicism into genuine consideration.

If you lead transformation, change management, or complex initiatives, this conversation with John Anthony offers practical tools and a more human way to navigate the messy middle of change.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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My Three Most Powerful Insights about Modern Change Mastery: MBS

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 05:10:00 -0000

Three questions sit at the heart of this Change Signal episode:

How much responsibility for change is owned throughout your organization?
How much room is there for more change?
How good are your mechanics at change?

In this solo anniversary episode of Change Signal, I reflect on a year of conversations, experiments, and learning — and make the case that change management is a tired label for the realities leaders now face.

I introduce three core drivers of modern change mastery: claimed agency, real capacity, and technical excellence. I explore why so many transformation efforts stall even when the plans look immaculate, and why ownership, space, and craft matter more than control.

Along the way, I reframe the experience of change itself — from kitchen fires and fast-food efficiency to more nourishing, adaptive systems that can flourish under pressure.

If you’re leading change in complex environments and wondering why the old playbooks keep falling short, this episode offers a clearer orientation for the work ahead.

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Change Lessons from Jugaad Innovation. Simone Ahuja

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Simone Ahuja:

Are you solving the real problem or just the first one?
What constraint might actually spark creativity?
And who’s missing from the table when you design change?

In this episode, Simone Ahuja — innovation strategist, intrapreneurship champion, and longtime student of jugaad — joins me to explore how change really happens inside large, complex organizations. She shows why the most valuable innovations don’t come from big budgets or big teams, but from leaders who know how to work with constraints, stay fluid in their approach, and widen the circle of who gets to shape the solution.

We talk about why so many change projects stall before they even begin, often because teams are solving the wrong challenge or operating inside systems that resist anything unfamiliar. Simone offers a practical, grounded way forward: think smaller, go earlier, and design experiments that create momentum instead of overwhelm.

If you lead transformation, change management, or innovation work — and want tools that work in real organizational life — this conversation with Simone is going to be useful, surprising, and energizing.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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🎧 A new episode every week (and sometimes two!)

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How to Clear Your "Head Trash." Charlie Gilkey

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Charlie Gilkey:

What if success scares you more than failure?
Where is your “head trash” quietly derailing your best ideas?
And who belongs in your corner so your ambitious projects don’t stall?

In this episode, I’m joined by Charlie Gilkey — author, coach, and champion of helping people finish what matters. If you’ve ever found yourself stuck between a big vision and the messy reality of actually delivering change, this conversation will feel very familiar.

Charlie gently exposes the inner frictions that stop meaningful change from taking hold, especially for experienced leaders. We talk about the fears we don’t admit, the competing priorities we don’t notice, and why the lone-hero model quietly limits our impact.

You’ll hear practical tools too, including Charlie’s 5-10-15 rule to help you make progress on what matters, rather than just staying busy. It’s a simple way to reclaim time, focus, and momentum without adding pressure to your already full plate.

If you lead transformation, change initiatives, or complex projects, this episode offers a mix of insight, self-reflection, and concrete practices to help you not just begin, but truly finish.

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Friction. Good or Bad in Change? Robert Sutton

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0000

Here are three big ideas that stand out in Bob Sutton’s conversation:

leadership is about being a trustee of people’s time
friction isn’t the enemy—it’s the signal
and power makes you blind to the mess you’ve created.

Bob—Stanford professor, author, and organizational psychologist—joins me to explore why good intentions in big organizations often create bureaucratic nightmares. We talk about what happens when leaders chase “efficiency” but forget empathy, and why treating time as a shared, limited resource can transform how teams work together.

He reminds us that not all friction is bad: the best leaders know which processes to streamline and which to slow down so people have time to think, connect, and create quality work.

And he unpacks a truth that’s both humbling and practical—power shields you from everyday inconvenience. The forms you don’t fill out, the meetings you skip, the hoops others jump through: they’re invisible to you unless you go looking.

If you’re leading change in a large organization, this one’s about designing systems that respect time, energy, and reality.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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How to Lead With the Plan: Charles Conn

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Charles Conn:

What’s the smallest experiment you can start today?
Where can you loosen control without losing direction?
And could your team learn faster if you planned less?

Charles Conn — investor, conservationist, and author of The Imperfect Leader — joins me to talk about how great change leaders stop waiting for perfect clarity and start moving through curiosity. He argues that big “master plans” have had their day. Progress now comes from small, reversible bets, the kind you can learn from quickly and cheaply.

We explore why senior leaders should push more decisions to the edges, how to create trust inside small, cross-functional pods, and why imperfectionism is the essential mindset for real transformation.

If you’re steering large change projects or guiding cultural shifts, this episode is a practical invitation to trade certainty for learning — and to rediscover the messy, energizing craft of strategy that actually works in complex systems.

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What “Trust State” Are You In? Rachel Botsman

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Rachel Botsman:

What kind of trust are you actually building?
How much uncertainty can you hold before you grab for control?
And when was the last time you slowed down enough to build real trust instead of just speed?

Rachel Botsman—Oxford University lecturer, author of How to Trust and Be Trusted, and one of the world’s foremost thinkers on trust—joins me to explore the fragile, fascinating relationship between trust and change. She makes a compelling case that trust isn’t about control or certainty; it’s a confident relationship with the unknown.

We dig into why every change is a “trust leap,” why leaders need to spot their people’s different trust states, and why “move fast and break things” might be the worst mantra for transformation.

If you’re leading a big change or cultural shift, this episode offers a fresh, human take on what actually helps people cross the sea of uncertainty with you.

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Are You Measuring What Matters? Dr. Ryan Brown

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Dr. Ryan Brown:

What are you measuring that doesn’t matter?
Where might your data be lying to you?
And what if the “immeasurable” parts of change are exactly what count?

Ryan’s a behavioral scientist who studies how organizations measure what actually works—especially in complex, human systems of change. We talk about why measurement needs to start with humility—the courage to admit you might not know what’s really creating impact—and how clarity about your true objectives changes everything.

He shares his simple but powerful framework: measure across three domains—feelings, thoughts, and behaviors—so you capture both what people do and what they believe. And we dig into the hidden traps of data itself: how metrics get gamed, why context shapes truth, and why “data never speak for themselves.”

If you lead large-scale transformation, this episode helps you move beyond dashboards and surveys to something more essential—learning what’s real, what matters, and what’s worth measuring at all.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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The Obvious/Elusive Idea That Transforms Meetings: Misha Glouberman

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that Misha Glouberman asks in the quest for better change gatherings:

What if the way you’re structuring your events is stopping the very change you want to create?
How might things shift if you assumed everyone involved was a competent adult?
And are your “best practices” actually working against your goals?

Misha Glouberman is a master of human dynamics and group design — a facilitator who’s spent decades helping people run better meetings, conferences, and community events. In this short, lively conversation, he shares four simple rules for creating gatherings that actually work — and how those same rules apply to change projects of every kind.

You’ll hear why most organizations forget to ask the most basic question (“What’s this for?”), how to design experiences that align with your real goals, and why giving people more control creates more engagement, not chaos.

If your change initiatives involve bringing people together — in rooms, on screens, or across departments — this episode will make you rethink how you host, design, and lead.

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What Project Management Must Be Today: Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez:

Are your projects actually shaping your future?
Is your team a true team — or just a group of people in meetings?
And what if success isn’t about deadlines at all?

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, author of Powered by Projects and one of the world’s leading voices in project management, argues that most organizations are running too many projects — and mistaking motion for progress. Every project you approve is a bet on your organization’s future. Fewer, simpler, more purposeful projects deliver more meaningful change.

He challenges how we measure success, suggesting that being “on time and on budget” means very little if no one benefits from the outcome. Real success lies in delivering tangible value to stakeholders — even if that takes longer than planned.

And he’s refreshingly blunt about accountability: if your project doesn’t have a visible sponsor, stop it immediately. Because groups don’t deliver projects — teams do.

If you’re leading transformation or portfolio change, this conversation reframes project management from bureaucracy to boldness — and shows you how to make every project count.

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Are You Influencing Without Knowing It? Vanessa Bohns

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Vanessa Bohns:

Are you overlooking the influence you already have?
What if social proof beats every logical argument?
Could your smallest comments be shaping culture the most?

Vanessa Bohns, professor of organizational behavior at Cornell and author of You Have More Influence Than You Think, has spent two decades studying how influence actually works — not in theory, but in the everyday reality of teams, leaders, and organizations.

We talk about why influence isn’t instant or obvious — it’s delayed, cumulative, and often invisible — and why showing people what their peers are doing changes behaviour faster than any motivational speech.

She also reveals how the tiniest inconsistencies, like a side comment or an eye roll, can quietly undo even the most polished change message.

And the practical takeaway? Be present, ask directly (and in person), and make it easy for people to say no, so their yes really means yes.

If you’re leading transformation or culture change, this conversation will help you see your influence — and your everyday leadership moments — in a whole new way.

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Why You Build Belonging Before Belief: Hahrie Han

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three big insights that emerge from this Change Signal conversation with Hahrie Han:

Are you creating value or just convenience?;
Does belonging come before belief in your organization?; and
Are you building agency or just compliance?

Hahrie Han, political scientist at Johns Hopkins University and author of How Organizations Develop Activists and Undivided, has spent her career studying how people build power that lasts. She brings a sharp, human perspective on what drives genuine participation and why small, intentional acts often change systems more than sweeping plans.

The conversation explores why engagement depends less on ease and more on meaning, how “radical belonging” can transform even divided communities, and how leaders can use small, safe failures to build confidence and agency across teams.

You’ll also hear practical tools for turning involvement into influence — designing scaffolding that helps people learn from risk and own their results.

If you’re leading transformation, culture, or change projects in a big organization, this conversation offers fresh, grounded insight into how participation turns into durable power.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change. This is the podcast for transformational leaders seeking modern change mastery.

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Campfires Not Stadiums: Building Belonging: Charles Vogl

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three big insights that emerge from this Change Signal conversation with Charles Vogl:

Leadership maturity means rejecting the “Superman” myth of doing it all alone;
Real change requires creating spaces where the rules are rewritten; and
Belonging — and transformation — scale through small, steady “campfire” gatherings, not grand events.

Charles Vogl, author of The Art of Community, has spent his career helping leaders move from heroic independence to interdependent impact. Drawing from his work with the Peace Corps, the military, and mission-driven organizations, Charles shows how leaders can build communities that hold trust, courage, and connection — without losing focus on performance.

The conversation explores how to create “sacred spaces” where vulnerability is safe, why deep community often looks boring on the surface, and how scaling change means working in small units with intention.

If you’re leading transformation, culture, or organizational change, this episode offers grounded, practical insight into how belonging becomes your most powerful change strategy — and why it’s time to put the Superman cape away.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change. This is the podcast for transformational leaders seeking modern change mastery.

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Common Mistakes in Leading Transformational Change: Linda Ackerman

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Dr. Linda Ackerman Anderson:

What if change were treated like finance?
Are your leaders modelling the change — or just managing it?
And what hidden costs are you paying for “too much change, too fast”?

For forty-plus years, Linda has studied what actually derails transformational change. Her insights aren’t about tools or templates — they’re about discipline, mindset, and meaning. She shows why relevance and personal connection drive real engagement, and why most organizations still treat change as an event instead of a strategic function.

We dig into the trap of leaders who delegate transformation without transforming themselves, and the illusion that people can “add” change on top of already full plates. It’s an unflinching look at how organizations overload, under-resource, and unintentionally resist the very change they want.

If you lead change projects in a large organization, this episode will help you see the patterns behind slow traction and surface-level buy-in — and how to lead change that actually sticks.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Are You Pretending Change Has No Cost? Paulo Pisano

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Paulo Pisano:

Is complexity masking your real priorities?;
What sacrifices are you pretending aren’t happening?; and
How are you building protagonist mindsets?

Paulo Pisano, CHRO at Booking.com, has spent his career leading transformation in large, global organizations where change is never simple. He brings a grounded perspective on how to simplify without dumbing down, and why leaders need the discipline to stop saying “yes” to everything.

The conversation explores why honest change leadership means naming losses and trade-offs instead of painting everything as a win. Paulo shows how acknowledging sacrifice reduces victim mindsets and keeps people engaged in the process.

You’ll also hear about the mindset shifts he’s championing — helping people move from victim to protagonist, from knower to learner, and from silos to true one-team collaboration. These are practical, human tools for embedding change in ways that actually last.

If you’re navigating transformation or change leadership in a big organization, this conversation offers fresh, pragmatic insights into what really makes change stick.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change. This is the podcast for transformational leaders seeking modern change mastery.

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A Fresh Take on Courage for Change: Dave Ulrich

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 05:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that emerge from this Change Signal conversation with Dave Ulrich:

Why do so many leaders know what to do in change but fail to actually do it?
If change is always messy and iterative, how can leaders set expectations without killing momentum?
What does it really take to lead through paradox instead of choosing sides?

Most change leaders treat transformation like a neat plan: set the strategy, communicate the vision, and drive execution. Dave Ulrich, one of the most influential HR and leadership thinkers of the past 30 years, argues that this mindset misses the real challenge.

In this conversation, he explains why the knowing–doing gap is the biggest barrier to transformation, how to embrace experimentation and failure as part of the process, and why courage in leadership often means knowing when not to act.

The most provocative idea? Great leaders don’t eliminate tension — they learn to navigate the paradoxes between instinct and data, boldness and patience, top-down direction and bottom-up energy.

If you’re leading change management or organizational transformation, this conversation offers a practical, human, and honest look at what leadership really requires.

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Are You Your Own Saboteur? Kirstin Ferguson

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that emerge from this Change Signal conversation with Kirstin Ferguson:

Why does character matter more than competence when it comes to inspiring transformation?
Do everyday leadership moments shape culture more than big, staged gestures?
What happens when leaders ask better questions instead of always giving answers?

Kirstin Ferguson, leadership thinker, board director, and author of Blindspotting: How to See What Others Miss, knows the difference between leaders who drive lasting change and those who unintentionally stall it by leaning too heavily on expertise.

In this episode, she explains why character-driven leadership sparks trust, how small daily interactions quietly accumulate into culture, and how curiosity creates the conditions for real transformation.

Most provocatively, Kirstin shows why competence on its own isn’t enough — and how the most effective leaders unlock momentum by asking better questions.

If you’re leading change management or organizational transformation, this conversation offers a practical, human, and transformative approach to leadership.

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The Hidden Politics of Change Leadership: Dan Pontefract

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Dan Pontefract’s three big insights on modern change mastery and leading meaningful organizational transformation:

Managing up is a critical part of change leadership, and there are smarter ways to do it;
Culture isn’t “soft” — it’s the real work of change and can’t be delegated away; and
Purpose, balance, and generational shifts are forces shaping how transformation actually succeeds.

Dan, formerly CLO at Telus and SAP, didn’t just improve engagement — he shifted it dramatically and built transformation capability that lasted. Today, as an author and advisor, he’s helping senior leaders connect strategy, culture, and humanity in ways that stick.

If you’re steering change management or organizational transformation, this conversation speaks directly to your challenges. You’ll hear practical strategies for navigating executives who quietly resist, cultures that talk engagement but don’t live it, and projects that risk burning people out.

This is about change leadership that’s grounded, human, and effective.

👉RESOURCES:Dan’s website: https://www.danpontefract.comLearn more about his books: https://geni.us/danpontefract

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Is Your Exec Team BORED of change? Probably. Kate Lye

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that emerge from this Change Signal conversation with Kate Lye:

Why do executive teams excel at functional expertise but falter at systems thinking?
Can CEOs transform their organizations without first transforming themselves?
What happens if change leaders never secure permission to call out executive sabotage?

For decades, Kate Lye has watched change programs fade into irrelevance, and she knows why. As a performance partner to CEOs, she’s seen how even the sharpest executives unintentionally sabotage transformation by clinging to their comfort zones.

The real obstacle isn’t employee resistance. It’s leaders who mistake cheerleading for leadership, or strategic talk for actual work.

Lye explains how to spot the moment when a change effort quietly slips from priority one to priority nowhere. She argues that contracting conversations with CEOs — where you establish the right to challenge and hold them accountable — aren’t optional. They’re essential.

Most provocatively, she points out that while executives thrive in functional expertise, they struggle with systems thinking. That’s why they so often hand off the heavy lifting of change to others while reserving for themselves the figurehead role.

If you’re tired of watching transformation initiatives stall, Kate’s insights will shift how you see executive engagement. This isn’t about winning buy-in — it’s about getting leaders to own the role they play in whether change succeeds or fails.

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Does Insubordination Help or Hinder Change? Todd Kashdan

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Todd Kashdan:

Are you cooperating too much for change to succeed?
What personal costs are you willing to pay for principled rebellion?
Why do people hide their real beliefs just to fit in?

My friend Todd Kashdan, psychology professor and author of The Art of Insubordination, brings some unexpected wisdom about what it really takes to lead transformational change in organizations.

Todd argues that early cooperation actually destroys the cognitive diversity you need for breakthrough solutions. Instead of seeking harmony, change leaders should encourage criticality, independence, and productive conflict.

But here’s the trade-off nobody talks about: effective insubordination means accepting real personal costs — hits to your wellbeing, relationships, and peace of mind in service of meaning and purpose.

The most powerful insight? Change leaders can amplify unheard voices by leveraging their organization’s “socially attractive” people — and by separating ideas from their originators to overcome bias.

If you’re tired of change initiatives that revert to the mean, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on principled rebellion. Todd shows why being a transformational leader sometimes means being the rebel your organization needs, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change. This is the podcast for transformational leaders seeking modern change mastery.

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The Hidden Rituals of Change: Michael Norton

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three provocative questions that emerge from this Change Signal conversation with Michael Norton:

Can we ever escape ritual?
Why is ambiguous loss harder to process than clear grief?
How can we honour the past while creating a new identity?

Most change leaders assume ritual is all incense and corporate retreats. Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton sees it differently.

His research shows that the most powerful organizational rituals aren’t the big, top-down ones imposed by leadership. They’re the small, everyday practices teams invent for themselves — like who brings lunch on which day, or clicking emojis at the start of Zoom calls.

Norton also introduces the idea of ambiguous loss: the grief we feel when something hasn’t clearly ended but has fundamentally changed. Think of keeping old business cards from a company that no longer exists. This kind of loss is everywhere during organizational change — yet it’s rarely acknowledged.

The answer isn’t to erase all the old or dictate the new. Like blended families inventing fresh holiday traditions, successful change preserves meaningful parts of the past while creating new rituals for the future.

If you’re leading transformation and wondering why people resist seemingly small changes, this conversation will reshape how you think about the human side of organizational change.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change. If you’re a transformational leader, this is where you seek and find modern change mastery.

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The Four Change Friction Traps: Loran Nordgren

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that Loran Nordgren asks in the question for modern change mastery:

Are you accidentally creating resistance by making your ideas sound too revolutionary?
What if the anxieties you're avoiding are exactly what you need to address?
Why does pushing harder on change often make things worse?

Loran Nordgren, a behavioural theory professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School, flips change management on its head. Instead of focusing on making ideas more appealing, he argues we should be removing psychological friction.

His "fuel versus friction" framework reveals why breakthrough changes often fail. The issue isn't that people don't see the value — it's that invisible barriers are holding good ideas back.

You'll discover why framing change as "evolution" works better than "revolution." Loran shares practical tactics like the South by Southwest email templates that doubled attendance without flashy marketing.

Most provocatively, he suggests that many of our change intuitions don't just fail — they actually amplify resistance. This conversation challenges how you think about urgency, buy-in, and the role of anxiety in organizational change.

If you're tired of change initiatives stalling despite obvious benefits, this episode offers a different lens for diagnosing what's really going wrong.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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Power Literacy for Change Leaders: Larissa Conte

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here’s what Larissa Conte asks us about modern change mastery:

Is “power” something that’s learned and usable?
What might happen if we focused on possibilities rather than problems?
How can you expand your ability to handle more success “wattage”?

My guest Larissa Conte calls herself a "power alchemist" — which will either intrigue you or make you roll your eyes. Either way, stick with this conversation.

Larissa argues that "power literacy" is the skeleton key that unlocks every other leadership skill. She distinguishes between "shadow power" (the stuff that creates headwinds and dysfunction) and "power that serves the whole" (the energy that creates flow and momentum).

Here's what's provocative: she suggests that as change leaders, we're often unconsciously sabotaging our own efforts. We resist not just threats to our ego, but also being truly seen and acknowledged for our capabilities.

The practical insight? If you want transformation to stick, you need to give at least 51% of your focus to what you want to create, not what you're trying to fix.

This isn't your typical change management conversation. Larissa brings embodied wisdom to organizational transformation, helping you recognize when you're creating headwinds versus flow in your change initiatives.

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How to 3x Training Results: Chris Taylor

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Chris Taylor:

Are your high-stakes moments sabotaging skill development?
Why practice once when you could daily?
What if home practice beats workplace training?

My friend Chris Taylor, founder of Actionable, has spent eighteen years obsessing over what Bob Sutton calls the "knowing-doing gap." Why do people get inspired in training rooms but then struggle to change their actual behaviour?

Chris shares a simple but profound matrix that reveals why so much workplace development creates "brittle commitments" that shatter under pressure. The problem isn't the content — it's that we're asking people to try new behaviours only when the stakes are highest and stress hormones are flooding their systems.

His data from 7,000 programs shows something counterintuitive: the secret isn't better training content, it's turning situational commitments into foundational daily practice. Think of it like sports—professionals don't practice when they're playing.

The most powerful insight? When people practice workplace skills in their personal relationships, success rates double again because the meaning deepens and opportunities multiply.

If you're leading change initiatives, this conversation will shift how you think about embedding new behaviours in your organization.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek and find modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Why Curiosity Drives Change Capacity: Scott D. Anthony

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Scott D. Anthony:

What's systematically killing curiosity in your organization?
Can you hold your team in that sweet spot between comfort and chaos? And
Are your excuses actually avoiding the real work of transformation?

Scott D. Anthony, Clinical Professor of Business Administration at Tuck and innovation strategist, challenges how we think about change leadership in large organizations. Most companies lose their curiosity, focusing only on whether spreadsheet numbers add up — a pretty boring question.

The real work is building adaptive capacity through deliberate discomfort. You need people uncomfortable enough to learn but not so uncomfortable that they shut down or find scapegoats.

Scott shares the remarkable DBS Bank transformation story, from Singapore's lowest-ranked bank to globally recognized innovator. Their secret weapon? The Gandalf scholarship program that generated 30x returns on learning investments.

And here's where it gets interesting: successful leaders develop paradoxical thinking. They perceive danger while staying optimistic, allocate resources while avoiding rigidity.

Here’s where he gets helpfully provocative: When leaders say, "I wish I could, but my shareholders won't let me," that's just avoiding hard work. Every organization claims its situation is uniquely difficult — it's not.

Change management isn't about finding better excuses. It's about building curiosity, managing productive discomfort, and developing the mental agility to hold competing truths.

Change Signal. For transformational leaders seeking modern change mastery. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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How to Plan for Resistance: Lisa Reynolds

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Lisa Reynolds:

Are you actually enabling resistance?
When did you last grieve something?
How many individual changes are you actually managing?

Lisa Reynolds leads change management at Christus Health, where her small team punches way above their weight across a massive healthcare system. She's learned that change work is fundamentally about relationships, not processes.

Her approach flips conventional wisdom. Instead of treating resistance as the enemy, she sees it as valuable feedback that can be mitigated by 50% through proactive people strategies. Rather than rolling out enterprise-wide initiatives, she focuses on the individual human experience of walking through change.

The conversation gets delightfully practical. Lisa shares everything from "potty training" (posting flyers in bathroom stalls for busy nurses) to the symbolic power of cutting down dead trees on day one of acquisitions. She reveals why face-to-face communication trumps system emails every time.

But it's her philosophy that shines brightest: change is humanistic at its core. You can't bypass the relationship-building work, and you can't skip the grief process when people leave familiar systems behind.

This is change management stripped of corporate speak and grounded in what actually works with real humans.

Change Signal. Where ambitious leaders seek and find modern change mastery. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Training's Biggest Blind Spot Revealed: Julie Dirksen

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Julie Dirksen’s three key insights about modern change mastery:

most training fails because it ignores immediate relevance;
organizational change temporarily destroys people's competence and professional identity;
corporate learning only addresses logic while ignoring the emotional brain that actually drives decisions.

Julie Dirksen joins me to dissect why most corporate training feels like "high school, but worse." She's spent years figuring out how to design learning that actually changes behavior, not just fills heads with information.

Her printer repair experiment reveals why engagement isn't about jazzing up content—it's about timing and immediate application. When your printer's broken and you need it fixed, suddenly that boring YouTube video becomes fascinating.

But here's what really stuck with me: change doesn't just alter what people do, it shatters who they are. Take someone who's unconsciously competent at their job and force them to learn new processes, and you've just broken their professional identity.

Julie introduces the elephant-rider metaphor to explain why purely rational training approaches fail. Your logical brain might understand why change is necessary, but your emotional, experiential brain—the elephant—often has other plans.

If you're leading transformation efforts and wondering why smart people resist obviously good ideas, this conversation will shift how you think about supporting behavior change in organizations.

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Your Brain on Change: Prof Dan Cable

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Here are three big questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Dan Cable:

Are you leading with fear-based management?;
How much "freedom within the frame" are you offering? and
How do you use dopamine to best fuel your change efforts?

Dan Cable, Professor of Organizational Behaviour at London Business School, argues that as the world moves faster, leaders can no longer afford to use fear as the primary tool to drive change.

The conversation explores how neuroscience reveals what actually works in transformation. Cable introduces his "seeking system" concept — a part of our brain that's naturally wired to love learning and minimize future surprise.

You'll discover why organizations systematically beat curiosity out of people, even though curiosity is exactly what they need for change. Cable shares practical examples, including a fascinating KLM social media experiment that cost just €10,000 but generated over a million visits.

The discussion challenges conventional wisdom about control, compliance, and execution. Instead of trying to turn humans into robots, Cable suggests we embrace the messy, unpredictable, emotional reality of how people actually thrive during change.

Change Signal. Where transformational leaders find modern change mastery. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Three Paths Through Failure. A CEO, a counsellor, a consultant

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 04:10:00 -0000

A CEO, a counsellor, and a consultant share a key question each about change:

How do you really make things safe for people?
Could powerlessness actually, ironically, be a superpower?
What’s the difference between guardrails and control layers?

What if everything you know about leading change is backwards? Garry Ridge turned WD-40 into a global phenomenon by doing something that sounds like career suicide — actively encouraging people to share their mistakes.

Ian Cron watched a wildly successful private equity executive hit rock bottom and say five words that changed everything: "I'm out of ammo." That moment revealed why admitting powerlessness might be the most powerful thing a leader can do.

Mark Smith faced a massive change initiative spiralling toward chaos with 280+ people across multiple programs. Instead of adding more governance, he did the opposite — gave teams complete autonomy within clear boundaries.

If change has ever felt like you're pushing water uphill, you'll find something here that flips the script. These aren't your typical change management playbooks. They're counterintuitive approaches from a CEO, a counsellor, and a consultant who've learned that sometimes the path to transformation runs directly through what feels like failure.

The insights might make you uncomfortable. That's probably a good sign.

Change Signal. Where transformational change leaders seek modern change wisdom. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Should You Lie About Change? Michael Bungay Stanier solo episode

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 04:10:00 -0000

The three key insights from this episode: change is orienteering through unknown territory, not following a GPS route; organizations are addicted to efficiency when they desperately need experimentation; and the best experiments are designed to fail safely, not succeed predictably.

I'm diving solo into why small experiments might be the only sane approach to change in these chaotic times. After 30 years in this game, I've learned that "change management" is mostly a delusion — you can't manage your way through the unknown.

Most organizations want Google Maps for transformation, but what we're actually facing is orienteering through a misty valley with no clear path. Your company is probably designed to exploit what it knows, not explore what it doesn't, which creates a fundamental tension for anyone trying to lead change.

I'll walk you through what makes a good experiment, share some strategies for convincing skeptical stakeholders, and explain why you might need to run "two books" — one official, one real. Plus, why kindergarteners consistently outperform MBA students at innovation challenges.

If you're tired of change plans that feel more like wishful thinking than actual strategy, this episode offers a different way forward.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change and transformation.

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Are Your Meetings Killing Change? Keith McCandless

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Keith McCandless’s three key insights: meetings fail because we use five invisible patterns that systematically exclude people; anyone can facilitate breakthrough conversations using simple rules, no charisma required; and boosting both autonomy and responsibility simultaneously creates wildly productive teams.

Most change leaders know meetings suck, but Keith McCandless, co-author of The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures, reveals exactly why. We're drowning in unconscious patterns — presentations, managed discussions, status reports — that stifle the very people we need most.

But let me alleviate an anxiety you might have. You don't need to be a master facilitator to unlock your team's potential. McCandless shares simple structures that work every time, like Creative Destruction, where you imagine the worst possible outcome of your work, then stop doing whatever creates it.

The real shift? Developing deeper confidence in people than they have in themselves. When you use these patterns, product managers start standing on chairs and singing their ideas (no, literally.).

This conversation is candid, practical, and delightfully snarky about why traditional change management creates conformity instead of transformation. If you're tired of the usual approaches to engaging people during change, this episode offers genuine alternatives that work.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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Why Stories Matter More: Jennifer Garvey Berger

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Jennifer Garvey Berger’s three key insights: connectivity matters more than individual talent in complex systems; small experiments beat both over-planning and paralysis; and stories are legitimate measures of change before numbers shift.

If you've ever had a change plan that hasn't quite gone according to plan (and honestly, who hasn't?), this conversation with Jennifer Garvey Berger will shift how you think about leading transformation. She's spent three decades figuring out what actually works when everything feels unpredictable and out of control.

Jennifer challenges the "all-star team" approach most of us default to. Instead, she argues for building networks of diverse perspectives because you can't predict whose viewpoint will matter most until after the fact.

She also makes the case for experiments so small they feel almost trivial – like fancy lunches that generated $10 million in revenue. The key is making them smaller than you think, more fun than traditional initiatives, and designed specifically for learning rather than guaranteed success.

And here's something that might surprise you: Jennifer suggests that rumors and stories are often the first real indicators of change, long before your metrics show anything. In human systems, shifting narratives actually is real change.

This isn't about lighting incense and appreciating each other's light within. It's practical wisdom for navigating complexity without losing your mind.

Change Signal. Where ambitious leaders find modern change mastery. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.

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Can You Change Yesterday's People? Mark Surman, Mozilla

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Mark Surman’s three key insights: spending years wrestling with whether your foundational values still make sense; accepting that legacy teams can't build the future, so you need separate structures; and mastering the ability to think across different timescales simultaneously.

Mark Surman, Mozilla's president, shares the messy reality of transforming a 25-year-old organization for the AI era. He's replaced 60% of staff, created entirely separate companies, and spent five years questioning whether Mozilla's core values around privacy and open source even work anymore.

This isn't your typical change management playbook. Mark talks about the "righteousness stick" that nonprofit employees wield to resist transformation, why he set up independent entities to avoid the innovator's dilemma, and his ongoing struggle to help people let go of the past without losing what made them special.

You'll hear practical advice about validating that your communication actually landed, the temperament required to shift between strategic and tactical thinking, and why change leaders need to resist the temptation to force transformation down people's throats. Mark's honest about what's working, what isn't, and whether this whole thing might end up being a "flaming dumpster fire of disaster."

If you're wrestling with organizational transformation, this conversation offers both wisdom and warnings from someone deep in the trenches.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change and transformation.

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Is Your Organization Change Allergic? Anne Gotte

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Three key insights from Anne Gotte: change management is as outdated as "personnel" organizations must diagnose their change allergies before attempting transformation; and leaders need to embrace clumsy imperfection while providing clear direction.

Anne Gotte is SVP Global Talent & Organization Effectiveness at Mondelēz and she brings refreshing honesty to the messy reality of organizational transformation. She's worked at Bumble, Ecolab, and General Mills, collecting scars and wisdom along the way.

This conversation challenges the traditional playbook. Anne argues that "decree change" — where executives design solutions in isolation, announce them broadly, then expect magic — as well and truly reached its expiration date.

Instead, she advocates for building ongoing change capacity rather than managing episodic projects. Her approach starts with uncomfortable questions: Who are we today? What makes any change difficult for us? How do our systems contradict our change story?

The discussion explores why change feels clumsy (spoiler: it's supposed to), how to honour uncertainty while providing clarity, and why slow can actually be fast. Anne's insights about getting comfortable being uncomfortable offer a different path forward for change leaders tired of pretending transformation should feel orderly and predictable.

This is change leadership for grown-ups who've learned that the mess is actually the work.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change and transformation.

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Start with the Gnarliest Problem: Rodney Evans

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Three key insights: Change work isn't transformative anymore—it's operational; your organization does everything the same dysfunctional way; and everyone secretly benefits from broken patterns.

My guest, Rodney Evans from TheReady, has abandoned talking about "adaptability" because people's eyes glaze over. Instead, she starts every conversation with leaders by asking about their gnarliest cross-functional problem that can't be solved.

Why does this work? Because everyone has experienced that moment where important work gets "chopped up, parceled out across the org chart where it goes to die."

Rodney introduces her depth-finding model — four organizational zones from sky to midnight that reveal how change actually happens. The insight that stopped me cold: how your organization does hiring is how it rewards, makes strategy, and handles everything else.

A particularly uncomfortable truth? Broken organizational patterns persist because everybody gets something out of them, even while complaining. The solution involves naming the pattern and stepping outside it through small interventions in how work actually gets done.

This conversation will shift how you see organizational change from discrete projects to continuous evolution. If you're tired of the same problems recurring, Rodney Evans offers a different way forward.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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The Imperfection Advantage: Charles Conn

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Could it be that your strategic planning is actually paralyzing you, your biggest critics hold the keys to breakthrough innovation, and the military metaphors you're using to lead change are fundamentally broken?

Charles Conn, former McKinsey partner, former Head of Rhodes House, and current chair of Patagonia's board, brings a provocative challenge to how we think about transformation. He argues that our obsession with perfect planning is the enemy of progress in uncertain times.

Instead of waiting for clarity, Conn advocates for small, reversible experiments that build capability while you learn.

But here's also what’s true: you need to actively seek out the people who aren't impressed by you — the unhappy customers, the skeptical colleagues, the ones giving you one-star reviews.

Conn shares a powerful framework for breaking overwhelming problems into manageable parts, focusing on high-impact, low-difficulty components. He also reveals why Amazon never bought a bank to enter financial services, and how two Stanford students disrupted orthodontics by seeing through their customers' eyes rather than the industry's.

This isn't theoretical change management — it's battle-tested wisdom from someone who's led transformation at scale and lived to tell the tale.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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How Many Times Should You Fight Your Boss? Molly Graham

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Discover why emotional "monsters" sabotage change projects, learn the "fight it three times" rule for managing upwards, and understand why grief is the most overlooked emotion in transformation work.

Molly Graham has scaled teams at Google and Meta, and now runs Glue Club for startup operators. She brings hard-won wisdom about the messy human side of change that most leaders pretend doesn't exist.

The conversation digs into why competing visions create "zebra-giraffe" disasters and how to craft clarity that actually sticks. Molly shares her mentor's brilliant approach to influencing stubborn bosses without burning bridges.

What I thought was most powerful? Her insight about work grief. Leaders race ahead to the future while their teams are still mourning what they're losing. It's the marathon effect — you've crossed the finish line while everyone else is still running the race.

Oh, and then there's Bob. Molly's personification of the emotional chaos that comes with any change, good or bad. Once you meet Bob, you'll never look at resistance the same way.

This isn't your typical change management playbook. It's real talk about the loneliness, emotion, and community that make or break transformation efforts.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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Finding The Real Constraint: Dan Heath

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Why does nobody care about your billion-dollar vision, what can Chick-fil-A teach you about bottlenecks, and how does fixing one problem always create another?

Dan Heath drops some astute and provocative truths about change leadership that'll make you rethink and reset your approach to change. First up: your carefully crafted corporate vision probably sucks because it's all about hitting numbers instead of serving real people.

Heath's blunt takedown of “corporate visions” is just a warm-up. He reveals how the theory of constraints can reset your change strategy by focusing obsessively on the single biggest bottleneck … and he tells a great story about Chick-Fil-a to make the point

Here's the bad and the good news: solving constraints is like organizational whack-a-mole. Fix one bottleneck and another pops up somewhere else. And that gives your change process focus.

This isn't your typical transformation advice – it's provocative, practical, and grounded in real stories that'll change how you think about leverage points. Heath challenges the sacred cows of change leadership with insights you won't hear anywhere else.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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The Easiest Change Strategy: Roy Baumeister

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 04:15:00 -0000

Most change programs get the sequence backwards; uncertainty secretly sabotages willpower; and using your non-dominant hand might triple your success rate.

My guest, Roy Baumeister, is one of psychology's rock stars, and he's spent decades studying what actually works when it comes to willpower and behaviour change. Turns out, we've (mostly) been doing it wrong.

Here's the thing: everyone assumes you need to change minds before you change behaviours. Roy's research suggests the opposite. Get people acting differently first, and their attitudes will follow.

Here's where it gets really interesting. Your people aren't running out of willpower during change — they're hoarding it. When uncertainty creeps in, our brains go into conservation mode, making everyone look resistant when they're actually just being smart.

There’s a surprising way around that. Start ridiculously small. Roy's former student had people practice tiny willpower exercises — like opening doors with their non-dominant hand — before tackling smoking cessation. The success rate tripled.

If you're leading transformation in a large organization, this episode will flip your assumptions about human behaviour, willpower, and what actually drives lasting change. Sometimes the smallest interventions create the biggest shifts.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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Beyond Resilience: Shatterproof: Dr. Tasha Eurich

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 04:10:00 -0000

What if the pain you're pushing through is actually the data you need; resilience programs are burning billions on the wrong problem; and there's a psychological theory that could transform your change work, but almost no one in business knows about it?

Here's the uncomfortable truth: we're living in a "chaos era" of chronic, compounding stress that our bodies weren't designed for. Traditional resilience — that "bounce back" mentality — was built for isolated crises, not the relentless multi-domain pressure your people face daily.

As a change leader, it’s time to go beyond resilience … for you, your team, and for the people who you’re inviting through change.

Dr. Tasha Eurich’s new book "Shatterproof" challenges the foundation of how we approach resilience.

She reveals why 95% of large organizations are investing in resilience programs that aren't working. The real issue? We're ignoring three fundamental human needs rooted in Self-Determination Theory: confidence, choice, and connection.

When these needs get frustrated, people develop "shadow" behaviours that sabotage your change efforts. But there's a four-step process to help your people become "shatterproof" — not just surviving change, but growing forward through it.

This isn't about adding more wellness programs. It's about fundamentally reimagining how transformation actually works in the human psyche.Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change and transformation.

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The Three Voices Sabotaging Change: Otto Scharmer

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Could it be that the biggest barrier to change isn't resistance from others, but three voices in your own head? And what if taking action too quickly is actually making everything worse?

Otto Scharmer, creator of Theory U and MIT lecturer, reveals why most transformation efforts fail at the deepest level. The problem isn't strategy or resources—it's that we're fighting internal enemies we don't even recognize.

Scharmer identifies three forces that sabotage every change leader: the voice of judgment (killing creativity), the voice of cynicism (creating emotional disconnect), and the voice of fear (keeping us trapped in old patterns). Recognizing these voices is literally fifty percent of the battle.

But here's the real kicker: he argues that our obsession with action is backfiring. When we jump from challenge to immediate response, we're just reacting—and reactive responses are the number one problem in organizations today.

The alternative? Learning to "let go and let come"—creating space for genuinely new solutions to emerge rather than recycling the same old approaches.

This isn't fluffy theory. Scharmer shares practical exercises (including one "brutal" MIT practice) and explains why the interior condition of the change leader determines whether interventions actually work.

If you're tired of change initiatives that create more problems than they solve, this conversation will shift how you think about transformation forever.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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Trust: Your Change Leader Superpower? Rachel Botsman

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Learn why trust is contextual, resistance signals engagement, and successfully navigating change requires embracing uncertainty.

In this episode of Change Signal, I dive deep with Rachel Botsman, the world's expert on trust and Oxford University fellow, to explore how trust enables change — and how change can damage trust.

Rachel challenges us to identify our organization's "trust states" and segment our communication accordingly, just as marketers would.

What if those resistant employees aren't difficult, but deeply invested? What if your real trust influencers aren't who you expect?

I love Rachel's definition of trust as "a confident relationship with the unknown."

It elegantly captures the tension at change's heart and invites us to develop what Keats called "negative capability" — holding space for ambiguity instead of rushing toward false certainty.

For change leaders obsessed with acceleration and momentum, Rachel offers a provocative counterpoint: perhaps fragility, care, and patience need to become part of your change vocabulary.

Because as she memorably puts it, "Move fast and break things. Worst mantra ever. Don't break people."

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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Solo with MBS: Are you a Change drama queen?

Wed, 28 May 2025 04:10:00 -0000

Discover how a simple three-role model can reveal dysfunctional patterns, what your least-played role says about your biggest triggers, and which powerful questions can transform strained relationships during change.

In this LinkedIn Live, I dive into the Karpman Drama Triangle—a model I've used for 30+ years as both a self-management and change management tool.

We all play Victim, Persecutor, and Rescuer roles, especially when stress levels rise during transformation initiatives. The question isn't if you'll fall into these patterns, but how quickly you can notice and exit them.

Here’s a killer insight: The Rescuer might seem heroic, but this role creates victims and disempowers those around you. (Sound familiar?)

Listen to the full interview to find the three questions that can pull you out of the Drama Triangle.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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You Have to Work with the Resistance: Adam Kahane

Wed, 21 May 2025 05:45:00 -0000

Collaborating across differences, embracing unpredictability, and balancing power with love: these are the keys to transforming your organization's most challenging dilemmas.

Adam Kahane teaches us that meaningful change often demands working with people we don't agree with, like, or trust. He calls it "radical collaboration."

Think you need alignment before taking action? Think again.

Kahane's most counterintuitive insight is that you need far less agreement than you think to collaborate effectively. Simply connecting as fellow humans provides enough foundation to move forward together.

For change leaders navigating complex transformation, Kahane offers a powerful framework: integrate power (self-realization), love (unity), and justice (fair relationships).

Without this balance, power becomes "reckless and abusive," while love remains "sentimental and anemic."

Kahane's wisdom from transforming social systems — from organizations to entire countries — will challenge your assumptions about collaboration and control.

Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change, transformation, and growth.

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