Is Your Change Program a Chocolate Teapot?

with Aidan McCullen

September 23, 2026

The Change Signal with Aidan McCullen

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This Change Signal conversation with Aidan McCullen asks three practical questions for anyone leading change in a large organization:

What if change isn’t an event?
Where does power really live?
Who needs to win before transformation can move?

Aidan McCullen, host of The Innovation Show and author of Undisruptable, joins me to talk about what it really takes to lead change when reinvention is no longer occasional but permanent.

Aidan brings a useful dose of realism to change management, transformation, and innovation. He argues that the “change muscle” has atrophied, partly because many organizations still treat change like a project with a finish line rather than a capability to build.

We get into the unglamorous but essential work of change leadership: mapping power, understanding resisters, creating small wins, giving other people credit, and getting enough air cover to survive the corporate maze.

There’s also a memorable warning about chasing “chocolate teapots” — the easy wins that look like progress but don’t really move the dial.

For senior leaders responsible for transformation, this is a conversation about stamina, politics, allies, and the quiet discipline of making change real.

ABOUT AIDAN:

Aidan McCullen is the host of The Innovation Show, author of Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention for Individuals, Organisations and Life, and a 2025 Thinkers50 Innovation Award recipient. He works with leaders and organizations on innovation, disruption, AI, transformation, and the operating models needed to keep reinventing before the market forces the issue.