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Change arrives at the top of a system as transforming, liberating, rewiring. By the time it reaches the people expected to implement it, it is do more and do it faster. Something happens on the way down, and trust is what gets lost in it.

Sophie Tidman and Carolyn Norgate on the language we use about change, and what it does to organisations running some of the hardest reform programmes in the country. Recorded after a Mayvin alumni session in June called Useful Weirdness: Practising Change When the Default is More and Faster, with a room made up largely of civil servants.

Along the way: a senior leader who described his organisation as a tree and then wanted to pull the branches, war metaphors hiding in words like "digging in", how systems leadership becomes everything-ism, and what it costs to keep curiosity alive in a system that runs on accountability. They land on relational public services as the new language worth watching.  

References

Antonia Romeo, "A message from the Cabinet Secretary", Civil Service Blog, 20 February 2026: https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2026/02/20/a-message-from-the-cabinet-secretary/

Peter Block, The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters, Berrett-Koehler, 2002.

Institute for Government on the damaged relationship between Civil Servants and Ministers: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/trust-lost-ministers-civil-service

Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Live Well: https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/live-well/

Cabinet Office Test, Learn and Grow, the £100m public service reform programme focused on relational practice, amongst other things: https://testlearnandgrow.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/18/what-is-test-learn-and-grow/ 

Bob Marshak, "Managing the Metaphors of Change", Organizational Dynamics 22(1), 1993, pp. 44-56: https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(93)90081-B and "Changing the Language of Change", Strategic Change 11(5), 2002: https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.604

Vanda Scaravelli, Awakening the Spine, HarperSanFrancisco 1991 (reissued Pinter & Martin, 2011). The exact line is "To absorb the teaching requires infinite time and no ambition."

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What do organisations do with anger? Mostly, they manage it away. It's inconvenient, it's dangerous, it belongs in therapy or the exit interview, not the team meeting. We think that's a mistake.  

In this conversation, Sophie and James sit with rage, the grief that usually sits beneath it, and the discipline of metabolising strong feeling rather than suppressing or spilling it. They talk about the reassuring patriarch and the girl boss, two roles that keep everyone else comfortable but at what cost? They reach for the warrior who can hold a clear boundary without going to war, and the hearth fire that needs both containment and air. Prometheus, Joanna Macy's "time of astonishing loss," and the quiet revolutions that don't make the news all find their way in. Two practitioners thinking aloud about how we might build organisations with more room for what we actually feel.

Referenced in this episode: Anthea Lawson, How Not to Save the World (Oneworld, 2025), on activism that doesn't recreate what it opposes. Also drawn on: Joanna Macy on astonishing loss, Silvia Federici on joyful activism, Donna Haraway on staying with the trouble and letting each other be "unforgivably wrong," Hannah Arendt on labour as relational, William Blake on righteous anger, and Erin Manning on the minor gesture.

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There's a particular kind of leader dominating the world right now — fast, certain, dominant, always with an answer. This podcast asks: what if that's exactly the wrong response to the moment we're in?

In this episode, James and Carolyn dig into James's essay No More Heroes — an exploration of how heroic, hyper-masculine leadership has become the default setting for power, and why that matters for all of us. Drawing on Raewyn Connell's work on hegemonic masculinity, Arlie Hochschild's concept of the "second shift," and Anthea Lawson's idea of the "entangled activist," they trace how a particular kind of dominance reproduces itself — in politics, in organisations, and in the people trying hardest to resist it. The conversation takes in communal narcissism, double binds, and Elizabeth Grosz's notion of "the nick of time" — the moment when real change actually becomes possible.

This isn't a conversation with conclusions. It's an invitation into the kind of dialogue that's harder to find than it should be: honest, self-implicating, and genuinely curious. James reflects on his own research into masculinities, the paradox of "mansplaining feminism," and what it looks like when a leadership team learns to sit with discomfort rather than whack-a-mole their way through it. The question they keep returning to isn't what's the answer? — it's what does it feel like to stay in the mess, together?

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In this episode, Sophie Tidman and Sarah Fraser explore Discernment in the Age of AI. The conversation builds on our December AI for Changemakers webinar, where a lively mix of enthusiasts and sceptics came together just before Christmas to grapple with what AI is really changing in organisations. Sophie and Sarah reflect on AI as a mirror for culture and power, the growing importance of leadership judgment, and why the real challenge now is not speed or adoption but choice. They explore what disciplined experimentation looks like in practice, the vulnerability leaders need to model as they learn in public, and how organisations can create just enough structure to explore AI without rushing to premature certainty. This is a conversation about leading well when the tools are powerful, the future is unclear, and discernment has become perhaps the critical organisational capability.

If this sparks your interest, please get in touch to hear more about our AI for Changemakers offerings and our research agenda for 2026.  

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This episode follows Mayvin’s November alumni event “Measuring in the Messiness”. A conversation that set out to talk about evaluation and somehow ended up being… surprisingly enjoyable.

Sophie Tidman and Carolyn pick up where the event left off, exploring why evaluation so often feels heavy, awkward or quietly avoided. And what changes when you stop treating it as a final judgement and start using it as a way of noticing what’s really going on as work unfolds.

They talk about how what gets measured quietly shapes behaviour and why the most important shifts are often the hardest to name.  And how developing better language and sharper patterns of noticing helps people make sense of those shifts, rather than losing them because they don’t fit existing measures.

Along the way, they draw on Sharon Varney’s work on leadership in complexity and the limits of looking only in the rear-view mirror. Erin Manning’s idea of the minor gesture, the subtle movements where change actually starts. And Nora Bateson’s notion of warm data, the relational, context-rich information that helps organisations make sense of themselves without pretending things are tidy.

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AI is moving fast. But the real challenge is not technical. It is human.

In this episode of the Mayvin Podcast, Sophie Tidman is joined by Hugo Pickford-Wardle to explore where AI is leading us, and what it asks of us as humans at work. Together they unpack why AI can feel both unsettling and deeply empowering, how it acts as a trickster technology that exposes our assumptions about value, productivity and intelligence, and why integrating AI is less about figuring out tools and more about choosing who we are becoming.

This is a reflective, practical conversation for leaders, change-makers and anyone trying to stay human while facing into the future of work.

To explore more of Hugo's work, take a look at:

📬 The Free Newsletter: AI Optimist– Your weekly dose of practical AI optimism
🎓 AI Night School: AI Courses for you to become AI Fluent

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Join us as we dive into the evolving world of organisational development (OD) in the age of AI. In this episode, our hosts - Sarah Fraser, Tim Haynes and Markus Edgar Hormeß - reflect on a recent hands-on workshop where OD practitioners experimented with teaming alongside AI.

We unpack the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI into the workplace, from building trust and navigating power dynamics to fostering intentional experimentation and learning. Discover how creating “playgrounds” for safe experimentation can break down barriers, encourage human connection, and unlock new ways of working.

Whether you’re an OD professional, a leader, or simply curious about the intersection of people and technology, this episode offers practical insights and thought-provoking reflections on the future of teaming with AI.

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So much of our technology promises us freedom from friction. One click, instant results, fewer awkward conversations with strangers. But what if friction—the messy, human kind—isn’t the problem to be solved, but the very thing that makes life worth living?

In this episode, Sophie Tidman talks with Rob Chapman, co-founder of Neya, a young AI company with a countercultural aim: not to make us faster or leaner, but to help us belong. Together they explore what happens when we resist the cult of efficiency and instead design tools that deepen trust and weave people back into each other’s lives.

It’s a conversation about community, leadership, and the strange paradox that in trying to make everything smoother, we risk sanding away the very rough edges that give our connections—and our organizations—their meaning.

If you'd like a reading list(!) here are the books we refer to in the podcast:

1. The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
2. The Age of Heretics: Heroes, Outlaws, and the Forerunners of Corporate Change by Art Kleiner
3. Uncharted: How to Map the Future by Margaret Heffernan
4. Machines of Loving Grace by Dario Amodei

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In this special episode of the Mayvin Research Hub podcast, young voices share their imaginative ideas about the future of work, think glass-filled homes, exciting tech, and careers that are both fun and meaningful. With a focus on happiness, creativity, and informal workplaces, they offer a playful yet thoughtful glimpse into what work could look like in years to come.

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In today’s episode, we have a very special treat as we are joined by Paul Kaushal, Learning and Development Manager at Hymans Robertson. Parul joined our Principal Consultant Ash Thomas to talk about their collaborative partnership,  helping leaders at all levels in the firm figure out their own ways to work well in complexity.

They discuss taking  leaps of faith in Learning and Development and how taking a mindset of experimentation can support greater ownership of personal learning and growth, and helps turn collective insight into real-world change through action learning. Enjoy! 

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