Evolving Enterprises: Stories of Growth Transformation

Lily Pender, co-founder of The Whole Story, explains how her theatre background has led to her helping leaders and organisations communicate more effectively through storytelling. She describes how storytelling techniques improve presentations, in-the-moment communication and strategy alignment by helping leaders deeply understand their audience, clarify their own relationship with a message, and...

Today Chris Walters talks about how systems thinking can transform the way PMOs (Project, Program, and Portfolio Management Offices) make decisions. Chris shares how his discovery of systems thinking in the 1990s reshaped his approach to managing change, helping him see beyond technical processes to the wider systems of people, politics, and purpose. We explore how PMOs operate within constant flu...

In this follow-up episode of Evolving Enterprises , Professor Eddie Obeng returns to explore why change so often fails and how leaders can overcome the barriers that stop transformation in its tracks. Building on his bestselling book All Change , Eddie explains why poor problem diagnosis, human resistance, and ego-driven meetings derail progress, and introduces practical approaches like his “Perfe...

Martin is joined by Professor Eddie Obeng, renowned change guru, TED speaker, and award-winning innovator, to explore the challenges of navigating transformation in a world where change moves faster than we can learn. Eddie reflects on his early career at Shell, the lessons of working in highly structured environments, and the pitfalls of clinging to outdated business models, KPIs, and heuristics....

In the final part of this three-episode series, Professor Martin Parr explores what organizations should do next when thinking about embedding AI into their business. It’s not about rushing to buy the latest tech — it’s about mapping challenges, opportunities, and timing. Just as self-driving cars perform better than tired or distracted drivers, AI can outperform human processes weighed down by bo...

In this episode of Evolving Enterprises , Professor Martin Parr shares the personal journey that led him to create a systems thinking consulting practice. Frustrated by seeing great technologies gather dust on the shelf, Martin explains how systems thinking became the bridge between innovation and real-world adoption. We explore how systems thinking is uniquely powerful at unblocking “stuck” situa...

Series 3 of Evolving Enterprises begins with a deep dive into how leaders can deal with complexity by using systems thinking. As we begin series 3, Mary Beth Hosking interviews Professor Martin Parr to explain why organizations often confuse solutions with problems — like CEOs demanding “AI because everyone else has it” rather than asking what problem they really need to solve. We unpack how syste...

In this episode Martin talks with Lesley Diaz, founder and principal consultant at Collaborance, about navigating people and power complexities through collaborative governance and polarity intelligence. Lesley shares her systems thinking journey, from early work in the Australian mining industry to teaching in the USA. Lesley explains how she helps organizations find a balance. This balance could...

In this episode Martin talks to Stephanie Craig, President of Kith about managing complexity through effective crisis management. Stephanie shares her framework for categorizing crises into different types: Strategic, Preventable, External, and Social, emphasizing the importance of preparedness, stakeholder understanding, and mindset. Stephanie explains how proactive planning and identifying vulne...

In this episode Martin talks to Andrew Rogoyski, Director of Innovation for Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence, exploring Organisational, People and Power complexity through the lens of social impact. They begin with the positive and negative impact of technology such as social media, and how this drives particular human behaviour, moving on to talk about the potential future imp...

In this episode Martin speaks with Professor Erica Yang, CEO of Chilton Computing about the evolving role of technology in the UK’s care sector. Focusing on three key types of complexity—organizational, people, and structural—they explore the increasing demands on care services due to an aging population with complex health needs, and how emerging technologies can support both recipients and provi...

In this episode Martin talks to Hollie Hodgson, who is Head of Account Management at Tussell.com and Chair of the TechUK Scale-Up Council. Martin and Hollie talk about complexities in public procurement and how changes in government policy are being enacted rapidly through changes in the procurement system. Hollie shares insights into how Tussell’s market intelligence platform supports UK public s...

Please forgive the audio quality – this was recorded right after the conference finished. This is a conversation with Orian Medes who is a professional focusing on Growth and Development within businesses. We talk about how PMO (programme, portfolio and project management) professionals are perfectly placed to realise value from within an organisation. The role of a PMO is to ensuring that strateg...

In this episode we offer a practical overview of the six distinct forms of complexity that organisations face: technical, process, structural, organisational, people, and power. Drawing on systems thinking, Martin explores how each type demands a different approach—ranging from optimisation and workflow redesign to cultural insight and addressing power dynamics. The episode unpacks relevant tools...

In this episode we focus on how organizations help change to happen using a psychological stages of change model, originally developed for addiction recovery, the model helps explain how individuals move from denial to action, often looping back through relapse. Martin illustrates this with the BBC's decision to not renew Jeremy Clarkson’s contract, emphasizing the role that boundaries play i...

Today we look at the organizational and people dimensions of complexity. Laura Watford of STEMunity shares her journey of organisational development, highlighting the impact of coaching on her approach to developing STEMunity and growing in confidence as a female entrepreneur. Laura describes her recent inspiring STEM events for children including an incredible event in the Mary Rose museum.

In this episode we continue to explore how to deal with the people dimension of complexity. Today I am talking to Genovefa Kefalidou, a lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Leicester. We talk about the importance of user-centric design in AI. Genovefa explores how evolving technologies—from smart homes to AI interfaces—require human trust, comfort, and inclusion to succeed....

In this second podcast, we talk about information security and about how much information we are each willing to give up so that we can be provided with particular services. We focus on 5 areas that are most critical to consider to build our skills if we are to make sure that our AI solutions are effective: (1) productivity - new ways of looking at productivity, (2) value - what value do you want...

Today I am talking to Professor Alan Brown, Professor of Digital Economy at the University of Exeter and Director of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Digital Leaders. We talk about how small and medium sized companies can get the best from AI. We cover how AI can help in education. We also talk about the Feasibility, viability and desirability of new solutions. We will look at relationships with t...

I really want to hear your views about the podcast, what topics and who I include in series 2. Please do have your say in the survey https://rb.gy/qlbau2 .  We live in a complex world yet some leaders try to pretend that complexity is not there. Systems thinking provides prescriptions for standard types of complexity. In this episode I will talk about the 6 types of complexity that we are concerne...

Today I am so pleased to introduce Toby Lowe who is a Visiting Professor of Public Management. We talk about what is wrong with New Public Management, and how it can lead to people manipulating the metrics. Toby talks about the pressures he faced while he was CEO of a charity to lie. We talk about how to govern and fund public services, and that there is choice in this, meaning that the old ways o...

In this episode of Evolving Enterprises, I am very lucky to be joined by Joseph Paris, CEO of Xonitek Consulting Group. This year marks the 40th year of  Xonitek. We will be looking into what first led to Joseph’s interest in operational excellence. We discuss how the challenges faced by companies and people around the world are very similar. We talk about the importance of trust and stakeholder e...

In this episode I am delighted to talk to Laura Watford, co-founder of STEMunity about her inspiring journey from classroom teacher to STEM education innovator, highlighting the challenges and breakthroughs that led to the creation of a charity dedicated to improving STEM opportunities for underrepresented groups. In her career Laura has been a STEM network leader for local educators for the Royal...

Today I am delighted to be joined by Bob Scott, Honorary Treasurer and Board Member of the Operational Research Society for this third podcast exploring Operational Research (OR). Bob is a former Senior Vice President of Capgemini. Today we explore OR applied to the automotive industry and the effect of having decisions taken in isolation. We talk about how a deep understanding of a business is on...

Today I am delighted to be joined by Bob Scott, Honorary Treasurer and Board Member of the Operational Research Society for this second podcast exploring Operational Research (OR). Bob is a former Senior Vice President of Capgemini. Today we explore the difference that OR can make to the North American paper industry and in vastly reducing packaging costs in Europe.