Are You Blinded by the “Change Obvious”? Dr Jason Fox
In this episode: Navigating uncertainty versus ambiguity, treating strategy as a living conversation, and looking beyond the obvious for weak signals.
Dr. Jason Fox challenges conventional notions of change management by urging us to develop sensibilities rather than just skills. He argues that traditional scenario planning creates an illusion of control that fails when contexts shift radically.
We’re both deeply skeptical of outsourcing strategy to consultants with impressive PowerPoint decks. Rather, Jason suggests cultivating in-house intelligence and attunement to what's emerging. "Strategy emerges from relationality," he explains, emphasizing the importance of collective sense-making.
Perhaps most provocatively, he warns against fixating on the bright, shiny trends everyone's talking about. "When you fixate upon something that's shining bright, it means that it's harder to see what exists in the penumbra," Fox notes — encouraging leaders to develop curiosity, empathy, and attunement to weak signals.
Whether you're leading transformation or just trying to stay ahead of disruption, Dr Jason Fox's perspectives offer a refreshing alternative to business-as-usual approaches.
Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change management.
🎧 New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at thechangesignal.com.
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24:37
You’re over-flexing this change muscle: Dan Heath
Find leverage points that yield disproportionate returns, study bright spots instead of just solving problems, and tap into existing motivation rather than forcing buy-in.
Dan Heath is one of the smartest writers I know about change and transformation, and his new book "Reset: How to Change What's Not Working" explores systems-level change that complements the behavior change approach from his earlier book "Switch."
Dan shares brilliant insights about how teams miss change opportunities by accepting the status quo and believing change isn't possible. He explains why studying your bright spots — the areas already working well — can provide powerful leverage points and practical solutions without triggering resistance.
I love Dan's distinction between the over-developed "problem-solving muscle" and the neglected "success-spotting muscle" that leaders need to strengthen. His most provocative idea? The straight-line path to change that makes analytical sense is often doomed if you ignore what actually motivates people.
The conversation offers practical frameworks for leaders facing tough trade-offs and needing to make courageous choices about what to prioritize and what to let go.
Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change management.
🎧 New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at thechangesignal.com.
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28:28
Ignore The Cynics, Win The Skeptics: Cassandra Worthy
Emotions at work, agency in change, and turning bitter into better: these are the deep insights for what it takes to maintain enthusiasm for successful transformation. In my conversation with Cassandra Worthy, she shares how painful corporate acquisitions led to her developing the "Change Enthusiasm" mindset and framework she now champions.
She challenges the consulting doomsayers who claim 70-95% of change initiatives fail. Instead, Cassandra offers a refreshing perspective: change happens for you, not to you.
Her powerful insight? "Our potential as human beings is determined by what happens at the intersection of change and emotion." Signal emotions aren't to be suppressed but embraced as guides.
Leaders must create courageous containers where people feel safe expressing authentic feelings. By building momentum with enthusiasts and skeptics, you'll eventually win over the cynics, too.
This isn't just theory — it's a well-tested approach from someone who's navigated corporate upheaval from the trenches to the executive suite.
Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change management.
🎧 New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at thechangesignal.com.
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25:47
An MBS change tool: Audit what works (and what doesn’t)
Audit your change tools, map them on a 2×2 matrix, and discover your untapped breakthrough approaches. In my first solo episode, I share a practical framework for evaluating your change management toolkit — perfect for transformation leaders who want to boost their success rate. Inspired by my conversation with Carolyn Webb, I suggest creating a consultant's classic tool: a 2×2 matrix plotting usage against impact.
This matrix reveals four crucial insights about your change approaches. Your high-use, high-impact tools are your trusty go-tos, while the low-use, low-impact quadrant shows what you've wisely abandoned.
The most interesting quadrants? High-use with low-impact (why are you still using these?) and the potential goldmine: high-impact tools you're underusing. These underutilized approaches might be your breakthrough opportunity.
Are you clinging to comfortable but ineffective methods? Or avoiding powerful tools because they're challenging? Your transformation's success might depend on your answer.
Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change management.
🎧 New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at thechangesignal.com.
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4:21
Do this ONE thing before you do ANYTHING else: Caroline Webb
Here's why auditing current commitments is essential before launching any new initiative, how to overcome our powerful bias toward maintaining the status quo, and what a 19th-century philosopher's fence teaches us about intelligent transformation.
When leading organizational change, it pays to first understand what's already in motion. In this bonus episode, Caroline Webb, leadership coach, former McKinsey consultant, and author of "How to Have a Good Day," reveals our tendency to add new initiatives without stopping existing ones—and how this leads to burnout and ineffective change efforts.
Drawing from her experience coaching executives and leading organizational transformations, Caroline highlights our blind spot: we don't even know what we're already committed to. She shares a powerful example of mapping initiatives with a hospital CEO's team, where they discovered projects some thought were finished, others no one had heard of, and many with unclear status.
What makes this conversation valuable is Caroline's no-nonsense approach to the change leader's dilemma: you can't add something new without making space by removing something else. Her insight that every choice—including not changing—comes with "prizes and punishments" and provides a powerful framework for decision-making. The audit process she describes helps not only identify what to cut, but also reveals where you can leverage existing work rather than creating something entirely new.
If you're wrestling with overwhelmed teams, wondering how to create space for new initiatives, or trying to focus on what truly matters, this episode gives you actionable tools to audit your current state before embarking on any change journey.
Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change management.
🎧 New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at thechangesignal.com.
If you’re leading change in organizations, this will be your favourite podcast.
Change is harder than ever. Transformation is more complex, unpredictable and overwhelming than it’s ever been. Change Signal cuts through the noise to find the good stuff that works.
Michael Bungay Stanier, author of The Coaching Habit and organizational transformation student for thirty years, talks to the best thinkers, senior leaders, and experienced practitioners in the world of change, to find what works, what doesn’t, and what to try instead. With Change Signal as your guide, you’ll be more efficient and less overwhelmed, and your change projects will more likely succeed.
Change Signal: Where we cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works.
Sign up for weekly updates at TheChangeSignal.com
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