Disarm Skeptical Executives to Lead Bold Change

In this episode of our Transformation Series, we look at how organizations can turn continuous change from a burden into a lasting capability without burning their people out along the way. Our guest is Girish Ganesan, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at S&P Global, where he leads the people function for around 40,000 employees across 41 countries. Today that means helping people and leaders keep pace as the business and the world around it keep changing. Girish and his team don't treat transformation as a one-off program. Instead, they are making a series of coordinated moves to build the organization's capacity to adapt. Girish explains why the old model of running a transformation, stabilizing, and moving on no longer holds. He shares how S&P Global is putting all 7,000 of its people leaders through a six-month Change Leadership Academy. He also explains why bolting AI onto fragmented processes only makes fragmentation faster, and why people don't fear change in the abstract. What they fear is losing relevance. In this conversation, we explore: 🔄 From Change Events to Reinvention as a Capability: Why the question is no longer "How do we get through this transformation?" but "How do we build an organization that keeps transforming without exhausting itself?" 🧭 Don't Leave the Middle Behind: A common failure pattern is alignment at the top, excitement in the lower layers, and middle managers left to figure it out alone. A six-month Change Leadership Academy for every people leader helps them lead with clarity rather than certainty and turn enterprise change into bite-size priorities for their teams. ⚖️ Balancing Performance with What's in It for People: An AI-native internal talent marketplace makes new career paths visible. An employee-led wellbeing group supports mental, physical, social, and financial health. And continuous listening is replacing the once-a-year engagement survey. 🧩 Redesign the Work, Don't Bolt On the Tech: Asking "Why does this work pass on through seven hands?" turns technology conversations into organizational design conversations about decision rights and accountability. When people are involved in that redesign, there is much less skepticism. 🛠️ Design for Practice, Not Knowledge Transfer: Multi-year skills plans break down when the work changes before the taxonomy is finished. At S&P Global, every AI course is paired with "power skills" like judgment, integrity, and systems thinking, because there's always a human in the loop and change has to be experienced, not just explained. This conversation is packed with actionable insights for anyone in L&D, OD, or people leadership trying to help their organization absorb continuous change. Girish's grounded, people-first approach is a reminder that resilience helps you withstand change, while reinvention helps you benefit from it. 🖥️ Shapeshifters Website: https://www.makeshapes.com/shapeshifters 🔗 Connect with Girish: Girish Ganesan on LinkedIn S&P Global 🔗 Connect with us: Makeshapes on LinkedIn Makeshapes on X Makeshapes on Instagram Makeshapes on Facebook Makeshapes on TikTok

In this episode we explore how to dismantle transactional, soul-sucking meetings and build genuine team trust by mastering the language of intent. Our guest is Chad Littlefield, Co-founder and Chief Experience Officer of We and Me. A TEDx speaker, bestselling author, and creator of the Connection Toolkit™—now used in over 80 countries worldwide—Chad has been named by Forbes as a global expert on asking questions that build team trust and connection. Partnering with organizations like Google, JetBlue, and Starbucks, Chad helps leaders strip away corporate theater, ditch boring slide decks, and design conversations that genuinely matter. In this dynamic and candid conversation, Chad flips the script on facilitation from the very first minute to demonstrate what happens when leaders replace performative exercises with radical transparency. He unpacks why hidden agendas feel like manipulation, how appending two simple words ("so that") transforms organizational resistance into buy-in, and why leaders must eradicate the word "icebreaker" in favor of purposeful connection before content. In this conversation, we explore: 🎯 The Language of Intent and the "So That" Shift: Why having an agenda for a group without clearly stating it borders on manipulation, and how adding "so that" followed by a currency the other person cares about stretches compliance into genuine buy-in. 🤝 Eradicating Icebreakers for "Connection Before Content": Why standard corporate icebreakers breed cynicism, and how intentionally connecting human beings to the core objective of a meeting creates communication shortcuts that save hundreds of hours every year. 👥 Trios as the Units of Transformation: Why real cultural change never occurs while an executive lectures from a podium, and how breaking large rooms into small groups of three exponentially multiplies perspective, connection, and accountability. 🎛️ The Two Dials of Facilitation (Risk vs. Value): How to navigate vulnerability by balancing risk against value, while giving participants complete autonomy over their depth of engagement. 💌 Invitation Over Mandate: Why efficiency is the enemy of connection, and how shifting from mandatory training compliance to irresistible invitations sparks voluntary engagement and boosts learning retention. This conversation is packed with actionable facilitation frameworks and leadership insights for anyone in L&D, organizational development, or people leadership looking to elevate how their teams gather and communicate. Chad’s energetic, human-first approach will fundamentally change how you enter your next meeting. 🖥️ Shapeshifters Website: https://www.makeshapes.com/shapeshifters 🔗 Connect with Chad: Chad Littlefield on LinkedIn We and Me 🔗 Connect with us: Makeshapes on LinkedIn Makeshapes on X Makeshapes on Instagram Makeshapes on Facebook Makeshapes on TikTok

In this episode of our Transformation Series, we look at how to drive enterprise AI adoption from the ground up—without waiting for top-down corporate mandates or fully approved enterprise toolsets. Our guest is Sarah Heller, Director of Organizational Effectiveness Consulting at Dolby Laboratories. Operating at the intersection of business strategy, organizational design, and leadership transformation, Sarah partners with executive leaders and People Business Partners to navigate complex change. Rather than rolling out rigid, top-down training modules, Sarah has focused on equipping leaders to act as force multipliers, designing lightweight experiments to help teams make sense of generative AI in their day-to-day workflows. In this practical and grounded conversation, Sarah unpacks how she began enabling leaders before official enterprise tools were even in place, why classical L&D needs analysis fails in a fast-moving AI landscape, and how she launched low-cost monthly Leader Roundtables that foster peer-to-peer workflow redesign. In this conversation, we explore: 🚀 Don't Wait for the Mandate: Why waiting for top-down direction or approved tools delays transformation, and how diagnostic questioning shifts mindsets from individual productivity hacks to structural team workflow redesign. ✖️ Leaders as Force Multipliers: Why enterprise AI adoption succeeds or fails at the leadership level, and how creating space for leaders to interpret AI's functional impact cascades adoption down to their teams. 🧩 The "60/40" Ecosystem Framework: How to balance an enterprise-wide 60% shared spine of common language and expectations with 40% tailored enablement that meets technical and corporate teams where they actually are. 🔄 The Monthly Leader Roundtable: How Sarah built a low-cost, 1-hour peer forum connecting curious leaders across functions, and the tactical challenge of steering conversations away from cool technical demos toward strategic work redesign. ⚡ Why Classical Needs Analysis Fails: The costly trap of multi-month discovery cycles when technology shifts weekly, and why rapid piloting in the flow of work is essential to keep from constantly chasing outdated needs. This conversation is packed with actionable advice for anyone in L&D, OD, or change leadership trying to navigate the shifting AI landscape. Sarah’s pragmatic, experiment-driven approach will inspire you to stop waiting for permission and start building connection and capability today. 🖥️ Shapeshifters Website: https://www.makeshapes.com/shapeshifters 🔗 Connect with Sarah: Sarah Heller on LinkedIn Dolby Laboratories 🔗 Connect with us: Makeshapes on LinkedIn Makeshapes on X Makeshapes on Instagram Makeshapes on Facebook Makeshapes on TikTok

In this episode of our Transformation Series, we look at why stripping back heavy theoretical frameworks and focusing on real, tangible business problems is the secret to effective leadership development. Our guest is Kristen Hartley, Senior Principal of Executive Development & Effectiveness at Workday. Kristen and her team are responsible for equipping senior leaders with the on-the-ground skills and enterprise-level tools needed to navigate complex change. In a grounded shift away from traditional, content-heavy training models, Kristen's team redesigned their leadership programs to rely on peer coaching and immediate business application. In this highly practical conversation, Kristen unpacks how they shifted Workday's programs to focus on peer-driven problem-solving, how to actually answer the elusive L&D "ROI" question, and why making your learning programs "simpler and more spacious" is the ultimate key to behavior change. In this conversation, we explore: 🎯 Solving Real Problems: Why having leaders bring their most pressing business challenges to a program is the ultimate hack for relevance and proving tangible ROI. ⚖️ Flipping the Instructional Design Ratio: How moving away from the traditional model of 50% content and massively expanding time for peer networking creates better outcomes with less design effort. 🤝 The Hidden Power of Peer Coaching: Why leaders often believe their challenges are unique, and how structured peer consulting proves otherwise. 🌐 Making a Large Organization Feel Small: How the real value of an in-person leadership program is often the informal "vacation space" it provides for cross-functional connection. 🧘‍♀️ The "Simpler is Better" Mandate: Why designers need to stop "gunking" programs with too many modules, and why giving busy executives spacious time to reflect is incredibly valuable. This conversation is a must-listen for anyone in L&D, OD, or change management looking to drive real business impact. Kristen’s practical approach to designing spacious, relevant learning experiences will inspire you to do less telling and create more space for peer wisdom. 🖥️ Shapeshifters Website: https://www.makeshapes.com/shapeshifters 🔗 Connect with Kristen: Kristen Hartley on LinkedIn Workday 🔗 Connect with us: Makeshapes on LinkedIn Makeshapes on X Makeshapes on Instagram Makeshapes on Facebook Makeshapes on TikTok

In this episode of our Transformation Series, we look at the practical reality of rolling out a leadership development program across a complex, global organization. Our guest is Luke Morriss, Global Organisational Development Manager at Fisher & Paykel Appliances. Luke and his team were tasked with building a foundational leadership program for their 4,000+ employees operating across 50 countries. Instead of relying on external consultants or standard HR theory, they did something uniquely powerful: they built a program entirely facilitated by their own senior leaders. In this grounded and highly practical conversation, Luke unpacks the mechanics of how they recruit, support, and scale a community of 50+ internal facilitators, and the massive impact this has had on cross-functional collaboration. In this conversation, we explore: 🚫 Scrapping the HR Speak: Why employees tune out off-the-shelf theory, and why Fisher & Paykel shifted to real leaders sharing real, battle-tested stories. 🤝 The Co-Creation Playbook: How the OD team gets busy executives to actually facilitate (hint: it doesn't involve just handing them a PowerPoint and presenter notes). ⚖️ Consistency vs. Flexibility: How to maintain a standardized global leadership framework while giving leaders the freedom to share their unique, contextual experiences. 🔄 Closing the Knowing-Doing Gap: Moving from foundational workshop learning to peer-to-peer, on-the-job application to drive real business performance. 🌐 The Power of a Shared Language: How a common leadership framework acts as a cultural shortcut, breaking down silos across different countries and languages. This conversation is full of actionable insights for anyone trying to scale learning inside a large organization. Luke’s transparent look at what works (and the scaffolding required to support it) will leave you inspired to leverage the in-house talent you already have. 🖥️ Shapeshifters Website: https://www.makeshapes.com/shapeshifters 🔗 Connect with Luke: Luke Morriss on LinkedIn Fisher & Paykel Appliances 🔗 Connect with us: Makeshapes on LinkedIn Makeshapes on X Makeshapes on Instagram Makeshapes on Facebook Makeshapes on TikTok