Changing Conversations

What if most transformations fail because we're using rigid, top-down methods to build organisations that are supposed to be adaptable and alive? And what would it take to become less ‘Tin Man’ and more ‘octopus’?

These are the key questions we discuss in this episode of Changing Conversations with Phil Le-Brun.

Phil is an enterprise strategist at Amazon Web Services, former Corporate VP and International CIO at McDonald’s, speaker, and author. In his current role at AWS, he is a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies and public sector organisations.

In this conversation, we share:

• Why organisations should be less ‘Tin Man’ – mechanical and process-bound – and more ‘octopus’: curious, decentralised, and adaptable.
• The transformation trap: why rigid, top-down transformations often disempower people, and why you experiment your way to success rather than plan it.
• The three shifts that make organisations more vital – clarity, ownership, and curiosity – and how they reinforce each other.
• Why ownership must be both given and accepted, and how leaders rob people of agency by piling on governance instead of trusting the front line.
• A practical starting point: gather your team around the anti-patterns, turn fixes into small hypotheses to test, and remember ‘spread, not scale.’

We'd love to keep this conversation going. To continue the conversation with us, send your reflections and questions to us at [email protected].

You’re also welcome to use this episode as a conversation starter by sharing it with your colleagues and friends.

What if the anxiety AI stirs up isn't a problem to suppress, but a signal worth listening to? And what if daring to pause for the uncomfortable, human conversations about AI is exactly what helps organizations move forward? 

These are the key questions we discuss in this episode of Changing Conversations with Morra Aarons-Mele. 

Morra is a leadership advisor and coach, speaker, author, and host of the top-rated Anxious Achiever podcast. She is also the founder of the award-winning digital consulting firm Women Online. 

In this conversation, we share: 

• Why AI anxiety is not irrational but deeply logical, since our nervous system is wired to react to uncertainty and a loss of control. 
• Why anxiety, understood and channeled rather than suppressed, can be data and even a leadership superpower to leverage rather than a weakness to hide. 
• How reconnecting with your values and your craft – what only you can do – helps you reclaim agency when AI makes work feel like something happening to you. 
• Why leaders default to talking about AI's opportunities and tools while avoiding the emotions underneath, and why those conversations are so necessary. 
• A simple way in: asking honest questions like "How does AI make you feel?" and "What's the conversation we're not having?" to open space for real dialogue. 

We'd love to keep this conversation going. To continue the conversation with us, send your reflections and questions to us at [email protected]. 

You’re also welcome to use this episode as a conversation starter by sharing it with your colleagues and friends.  

Why do great companies rarely fail by doing something foolish, but far more often by doing the same smart thing for too long? And in a world of constant disruption, what does it take to change direction without losing momentum?

These are the key questions we discuss in this episode of Changing Conversations with Yves Doz.

Yves is a leading expert on strategic management, agility, and innovation, Professor at INSEAD, and an experienced leader and advisor to companies around the world.

In this conversation, we share:

• Why conventional strategy – a periodic, analytical exercise – is unfit for an increasingly fast-moving, complex world.
• The three capabilities that work together to create strategic agility: strategic sensitivity, resource fluidity, and leadership unity.
• How companies erode their own strategic agility while chasing worthy goals like clear direction, efficiency, and strong leadership – turning past success into rigidity.
• Why anomalies deserve attention, not just the averages we default to, since the small signals we learn to ignore are often the first sign of disruption to come.
• How high-quality dialogue unlocks strategic agility: sharing starting points – your assumptions and how you see the problem – rather than debating finished conclusions, and learning to disagree openly, then commit fully.

We'd love to keep this conversation going. To continue the conversation with us, send your reflections and questions to us at [email protected].

You’re also welcome to use this episode as a conversation starter by sharing it with your colleagues and friends.

What if leading innovation isn't about pushing your vision onto others, but inviting them to co-create the future with you? And how do leaders create the conditions where individual slices of genius become collective genius?

These are the key questions we discuss in this episode of Changing Conversations with Linda Hill.

Linda is a leading expert on leadership, collaboration, and innovation. She teaches these topics at Harvard Business School, where she is an award-winning Professor and Faculty Chair of the Leadership Initiative. She is also the Co-Founder of Paradox Strategies and InnovationForce and a best-selling author of multiple books, including Collective Genius and, most recently, Genius at Scale.

In this conversation, we explore:

• How innovation comes from collaboration and co-creation, not flashes of insight from lone visionaries.
• The ABC of leading innovation: being an Architect who builds culture and capabilities, a Bridger who works across organisational boundaries, and a Catalyst who sparks ecosystem movements.
• Why leaders must learn to amplify differences and manage conflict constructively rather than minimising it prematurely.
• Why the biggest barrier to innovation isn't lack of ideas but career risk – when failure is career-ending, leaders don’t want to take the chance.
• How microactions matter for innovation: using invitational language, making space for a variety of voices in the conversation, engaging sparring partners to challenge assumptions, and killing ‘zombie projects’ that drain resources.

We'd love to keep this conversation going. To continue the conversation with us, send your reflections and questions to us at [email protected].

You’re also welcome to use this episode as a conversation starter by sharing it with your colleagues and friends.

Are large, established organisations really doomed dinosaurs in the face of digital transformation? Or can they become ‘dancing elephants’ that adapt and thrive?

These are the key questions we discuss in this episode of Changing Conversations with Julian Birkinshaw.

Julian is a leading expert on strategic agility, innovation, and digital transformation. He taught these topics as a professor at London Business School and now serves as Dean at Ivey Business School. Julian is also a trusted advisor to senior leaders and a best-selling author of multiple books, including his most recent book, Resurgent.

In this conversation, we share:

• That 473 of the Fortune 500 companies have survived the entire internet revolution – established organisations aren't inherently doomed.
• Why management model innovation matters as much as technological innovation.
• How to be both paranoid and pragmatic about disruption like AI – taking threats seriously while recognising that fast followers can beat first movers.
• The importance of connecting processes to value drivers and ensuring everyone understands how their work links to what matters.
• Why leaders must invite real conversations with unfiltered feedback rather than polished presentations where everything appears ‘green.’

We'd love to keep this conversation going. Send your reflections and questions to us at [email protected]

You’re also welcome to use this episode as a conversation starter by sharing it with your colleagues and friends.

 Why is disturbance necessary for real change to happen? And how do leaders learn to welcome it rather than avoid it – both within themselves and in their organisations?

These are the key questions we discuss with Deborah Rowland in this episode of Changing Conversations.

Deborah is a pioneering expert on organisational change and change leadership. She is the best-selling author of numerous books, including Still Moving, and her latest book, From Ought to Is, which is piping hot off the press.

In this conversation, we share:

• That leading change starts with looking inward first – noticing your own patterns and reactivity.
• How to use emotions not only as personal, but also as systemic data to gain insights into the group and organisation.
• The difference between action – the unconscious repetition of past routines – and the movement that happens when patterns are disturbed.
• Why “edge and tension” is among the most important outer skills leaders can use to create movement, even though it is often avoided or poorly handled.
• How practices like check-ins, changing physical space, and asking “What’s the conversation we’re not having?” can change conversations and organisations.

We’d love to keep this conversation going. To continue the conversation with us, send your reflections and questions to [email protected].

You’re also welcome to use this episode as a conversation starter by sharing it with your colleagues and friends.

Why does working with AI as a teammate unlock exponentially better results than treating it as a search engine? And how do you actually build that collaborative relationship? 

These are the key questions we discuss in this episode of Changing Conversations with Jeremy Utley. 

Jeremy is a leading thinker and speaker within innovation, creativity, and collaboration with AI. He teaches these topics as an Adjunct Professor at Stanford and advises CEOs and leadership teams. Jeremy also shares his expertise more broadly through his writing and podcasting. He is the best-selling author of IdeaFlow and host of the wildly popular podcast "Beyond the Prompt: How to use AI in your company." 

In this conversation, we share: 

• That most people treat AI like a search engine when they should be having real conversations. 
• How giving AI permission to ask you questions can significantly improve the quality of the output, enhancing (rather than replacing) your human intelligence. 
• Why leaders need firsthand experience experimenting with AI to imagine the future of their organizations. 
• The power of starting with personal, emotionally meaningful questions rather than work tasks to overcome fear and build fluency with AI. 
• How simple questions like "Have you tried AI?" can shift organizational cultures to support the spread of AI collaboration. 

We'd love to keep this conversation going. To continue the conversation with us, send your reflections and questions to us at [email protected].  

You’re also welcome to use this episode as a conversation starter by sharing it with your colleagues and friends.  

Why spaciousness matters for leading in speed—and how to create it

These are the key questions we discuss in this episode of Changing Conversations with Megan Reitz.

Megan Reitz is Associate Professor at Saïd Business School, Oxford, and Professor of Leadership and Dialogue at Hult-Ashridge Executive Education. A leading voice on leadership, speaking up and organisational dialogue, her latest research explores spaciousness: a quality of attention that reveals relationships, interdependencies and possibilities hidden in constant doing mode.

In this conversation, we share:

• That leaders operate in two modes of attention: doing (instrumental, narrow) and spacious (open, curious, unhurried)—and why “spaciously doing” integrates both
• How your presence shapes others’ voice and performance—and practical micro-pauses to shift how you show up
• Why we often avoid space (fear, success = activity) and the myth that spaciousness means doing nothing
• How to design for creativity and safety in fast-paced systems (rituals, metrics, environments)
• A practical framework: SPACE—Safety, People, Attention (speed bumps), Conflict (dissonance), Environment

We’d love to keep the conversation alive. Reach out to Katrina and Stig to challenge us, ask a question, recommend a future guest and give us feedback.

Why is consciousness important for leading in complexity? And how do you grow your consciousness?

These are the key questions that we discuss in this episode of Changing Conversations with Lisa Doig.

Lisa Doig is a pioneer in the field of values and consciousness, designing, facilitating and training practitioners in profoundly transformational leadership development programs that are accessible to business leaders. Lisa founded Corporate Evolution in 2002 and her background includes 20 years in the oil and gas industry, and 15 years working as an external facilitator for McKinsey & Company. 

In this vulnerable conversation, we share:

• That consciousness is expanding your view and your ability to navigate uncertainty and complexity
• How expanding consciousness is related to the fears that limit your ability to see
• A values-based approach to personal development
• How consciousness links to organisational development

We’d love to keep the conversation alive. Reach out to Katrina and Stig to challenge us, ask a question, recommend a future guest and give us feedback. 

To what degree do you lean into conflict at work?

If you’re like most of us, it’s not always the most natural tendency – but there are business results to be gained for getting the balance right.

In this episode we are joined by Amy Gallo. Amy is a workplace expert who writes and speaks about effective communication, interpersonal dynamics, gender, difficult conversations, and feedback. She is the best-selling author of Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) and the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict, as well as hundreds of articles for Harvard Business Review.  

In this conversation we discuss:

• Why both getting along and healthy conflict are important in driving transformation
• What level of conflict to strive for in high performing teams
• How to surface tensions when you are working together with others

We’d love to keep the conversation alive. Reach out to Katrina and Stig to challenge us, ask a question, recommend a future guest and give us feedback.