Leading Change Without Permission | Alex Budak | Modern Change Management & Leading Change
Change Signal: Modern Change Management that WorksShow Notes
Here are three questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation:
Who gave you permission to lead?
What if 25 percent is enough?
Where have you become the hub?
In this episode, I talk with Alex Budak, UC Berkeley faculty member and author of Becoming a Changemaker, about how change leadership actually spreads through an organization.
We explore why people wait too long to claim the role of changemaker, and why permission often has to be taken rather than granted. Alex makes the case that change management is not a heroic solo act — it’s a team sport, built through values, courage, early champions, and the willingness to let other people shape the work.
There’s practical wisdom here for anyone leading transformation in a large organization: find the 25 percent who can shift the norm, stay clear on the why while loosening your grip on the how, and stop making yourself the hub where every decision has to land.
It’s a conversation about agency, courage, control, and what it takes to help more people step into change.
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 Damon Centola: What are you mistaking for adoption? Who actually makes change feel normal? And are your change agents too scattered?
Here are three questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation with Amy Edmondson: Are we learning — or just performing success? When should a change project be allowed to fail? And what are we afraid to say when the stakes get high?
Here are three questions this Change Signal conversation asks:
Here’s the revised version with an opening sentence and the three questions bulleted.