What Are Your Top Three Decisions? David Lancefield
Create to inspire forward motion, link your work to winning, and clarify who makes what decisions—these are the power moves that can elevate change work from frustrating to focused.
David Lancefield brilliantly reframes "change" and "transformation" as words that trigger apathy or fear, suggesting we talk instead about creation.
When you lead change initiatives, David insists you trace a clear line from your project to how the organization will win against competitors and better serve customers. Otherwise, what are you even doing?
I was delighted by his practical insight on decision-making: most people with important roles can't name their top three decisions! Getting this clarity reduces bottlenecks and empowers your team.
Stop being the "downstream person" waiting for strategy to drop on you. Show your relevance earlier and pitch yourself into the process with "unbridled positivity."
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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36:02
Your Change Team Needs More Conflict, Not Less: Liane Davey
Tension drives innovation, productive conflict is essential for change, and effective listening helps you understand what truly matters to people.
Dr. Liane Davey reveals how to use conflict as a catalyst for positive change in organizations where most teams have too little productive tension, not too much.
As a change leader, it turns out that your job isn't to avoid conflict but to create the right kind of "yoga uncomfortable" stretch that makes everyone stronger. Davey's tent metaphor brilliantly illustrates how teams should balance multiple tensions to achieve optimal solutions where "everyone sleeps dry tonight."
I particularly love her advice on giving people an obligation to disagree rather than permission, transforming resistance into purposeful contribution. She shows us how to ask "open drawbridge questions" that help us understand the treasure people are protecting when they breathe fire.
This conversation will fundamentally change how you approach resistance in your next change initiative. The skills Davey shares will help you create the forums where good fights happen and better solutions emerge.
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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20:06
Stop Planning, Start Prototyping Change: John Zeratsky
Here's prototype testing, hypothesis-driven change leadership, and the power of radical differentiation all rolled into one fascinating conversation.
I'm SO over slow, overplanned, change management disconnected from reality. That's why I brought in John Zeratsky, former design leader at YouTube and Google, who pioneered a process for testing new ideas in just five days.
John reminds us that every change initiative is "just a hypothesis until you test it." There's always something unknowable in anything new.
The magic happens when you move quickly from abstract to concrete — creating prototypes you can test rather than spending months in planning meetings. This approach builds clarity and enthusiasm across your team, and helps to persuade your stakeholders to commit.
Most change efforts fail because they're not different enough. Your team thinks it's revolutionary, but stakeholders barely notice anything's changed. John's differentiation process helps identify truly transformative approaches worth the inevitable disruption.
Want to make your next change project succeed? Stop with the jazz hands and vague promises. Test your hypotheses early, build quick prototypes, and ensure your change is genuinely different.
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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28:07
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.
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.
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