How to Start a Change Initiative
The Change Signal with Bryan Walker
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Bryan Walker, longtime IDEO partner, joins me to explore a different way of thinking about change and transformation in large organizations. We talk about why so many change efforts stall—not because of bad strategy, but because they’re designed too linearly, too distantly, and too separate from the work itself.
Bryan challenges the instinct to start with structure and big plans. Instead, he makes the case for starting small, learning through action, and letting the work itself reveal what needs to shift. It’s a move from abstract programs to practical experimentation—and it changes how leaders show up.
We also explore what it takes to make change actually land. Not just belief in the idea, but confidence in the doing, and ultimately a shift in identity: this is who we are now.
If you lead change in a complex organization, this is a grounded, human, and quietly challenging conversation about what it really takes to make transformation stick.
Here are three questions that sit at the heart of this Change Signal conversation with Bryan Walker:
What are you changing too early?
Where are you too far away?
And what real issue are you avoiding?
ABOUT BRYAN:
Bryan Walker is a partner at IDEO, where he works with large organizations to drive transformation through design thinking and human-centered approaches. He is also the co-author of the Harvard Business Review article “Culture Change Needs to Have a Movement, Not a Mandate.”
Music Credits: Rest in the Garden - SackJo22 ft Duckett & The Stubble Field Break (Mana Mixed) - Mana Junkie ft Apoxode
