Hard Questions About Change (With Answers) | Michael Bungay Stanier | Modern Change Management & Leading Change

Here are three questions that shaped this special Change Signal episode:

Where are you pushing on walls instead of leverage points?

What is resistance trying to teach you about the system you’re changing?

And how small could your next experiment actually be?

In this episode, I join Dave Stachowiak and the Coaching for Leaders community for an open Q&A on the messy, human reality of leading change inside complex organizations.

I respond to questions from leadership practitioners who know the theory of change but wrestle with what it looks like in practice — especially when systems push back. We explore why most change efforts stall, not because people don’t care, but because leaders misunderstand the systems they’re trying to shift.

I talk about resistance as a signal rather than an obstacle, the importance of finding real leverage points, and why small, fast, low-stakes experiments often teach us more than carefully engineered pilots. We also dig into what it takes to lead change without formal authority, where relationships matter more than titles, and how influence actually works inside organizations.

If you’re leading change, transformation, or complex initiatives — especially without a big title or a big budget — this conversation offers a clearer, more grounded way to think about how change actually moves.

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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