Change Signal

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.

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 seeking modern change mastery, you’re in exactly the right place.

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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.

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 seeking modern change mastery, you’re in exactly the right place.

***

WHEN YOU’RE READY

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

The Change Signal newsletter. Short, practical, weekly

***

CONNECT

💼Connect on LinkedIn

***

SAY THANKS

💜Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

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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.

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 seeking modern change mastery, you’re in exactly the right place.

***

WHEN YOU’RE READY

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

The Change Signal newsletter. Short, practical, weekly

***

CONNECT

💼Connect on LinkedIn

***

SAY THANKS

💜Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

💚Leave a review on Spotify

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.

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 seeking modern change mastery, you’re in exactly the right place.

***

WHEN YOU’RE READY

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

The Change Signal newsletter. Short, practical, weekly

***

CONNECT

💼Connect on LinkedIn

***

SAY THANKS

💜Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

💚Leave a review on Spotify

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.

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 seeking modern change mastery, you’re in exactly the right place.

***

WHEN YOU’RE READY

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

The Change Signal newsletter. Short, practical, weekly

***

CONNECT

💼Connect on LinkedIn

***

SAY THANKS

💜Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

💚Leave a review on Spotify