The Inner Game of Change

What if one of the most important inventions of the last hundred years was a steel box? Not the internet. Not the smartphone. A box. In this episode of Stories of Change , Ali explores how a small experiment in 1956 transformed global trade and what it can teach us about AI, innovation and the hidden side of change. Because sometimes the biggest changes do not arrive looking like revolutions. Some...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.  Four years ago, Joan Lurie joined me on this podcast to explore systems, roles, mental maps and how organisations adapt in times of uncertainty. Today, we return to that conversation through a different lens: artificial intelligence. But this is not a conversation about tools, prompts or t...

Why didn't lecturers disappear? For more than 700 years, the role of the lecturer has survived books, the printing press, libraries, the internet, and now artificial intelligence. In this episode of Stories of Change , we explore a fascinating question. How did one of the world's oldest professions keep evolving while the technologies around it kept changing? The story is not really abou...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.  Why is it that people can sit in a room, agree with a strategy, support a transformation and nod enthusiastically at a presentation, only to struggle when the change finally arrives? Today's guests suggest the answer may lie in a concept called psychological distance. Terri Block and...

Stories of Change is a special series from The Inner Game of Change. In this series, I explore stories from history, business, science, education, and sometimes from unexpected places. Some stories are famous. Many are not. Together, we will uncover the lessons hidden inside them and what they can teach us about change, leadership, human behaviour, innovation, trust, learning, and adaptation.  In...

Inside the Messy Middle is a special series from T he Inner Game of Change This fortnightly short series is for people who carry responsibility inside complexity.  Between strategy and delivery. Between intent and impact. Between what was imagined and what must now be made real. In this episode of Inside the Messy Middle , I explore a salient idea: What if organisations are not resisting change… b...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.  Today’s conversation is less about technology and more about people. Four years after our first discussion around bad change , I reconnect with Gilbert Kruidenier to explore the current state of change in a world shaped by AI, overload, constant adaptation, and growing pressure on organisa...

Inside the Messy Middle is a special series from T he Inner Game of Change This fortnightly short series is for people who carry responsibility inside complexity.  Between strategy and delivery. Between intent and impact. Between what was imagined and what must now be made real. In this episode of Inside the Messy Middle , I explore a powerful idea: What if organisations behave like immune systems...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.  Today’s conversation sits at the heart of something we do not talk about enough when it comes to change. We talk about strategy. We talk about tools. We talk about capability and execution. But very rarely do we stop and ask a simpler question. What if the real challenge is not the change...

Inside the Messy Middle is a special series from T he Inner Game of Change This fortnightly short series is for people who carry responsibility inside complexity. Between strategy and delivery. Between intent and impact. Between what was imagined and what must now be made real. These episodes are not about tools or frameworks. They are reflections on judgement, dignity, and the human cost of chang...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.  Today I am joined by Shannon Lucas . Shannon is the Co CEO of Catalyst Constellations, where she works with executive teams to close the gap between the speed of change and the speed of execution. And in this conversation, we explore what that might mean in practice. We talk about discernm...

Inside the Messy Middle is a special series from T he Inner Game of Change This fortnightly short series is for people who carry responsibility inside complexity. Between strategy and delivery. Between intent and impact. Between what was imagined and what must now be made real. These episodes are not about tools or frameworks. They are reflections on judgement, dignity, and the human cost of chang...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.  Today’s conversation is not really about technology. It is about decision making. It is about how we make calls when we do not fully know how something will land. How we rely on instinct, experience, and sometimes guesswork. And now AI is entering that space. Not to replace the human, but...

Inside the Messy Middle is a special series from T he Inner Game of Change This fortnightly short series is for people who carry responsibility inside complexity. Between strategy and delivery. Between intent and impact. Between what was imagined and what must now be made real. These episodes are not about tools or frameworks. They are reflections on judgement, dignity, and the human cost of chang...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.  Today’s conversation is a special one for me. My guest today was actually the very first person I interviewed when I started this podcast during the middle of Covid back in April 2021. At the time, the world was navigating uncertainty, disruption, and trying to make sense of what consisten...

Inside the Messy Middle is a special series from T he Inner Game of Change This fortnightly short series is for people who carry responsibility inside complexity. Between strategy and delivery. Between intent and impact. Between what was imagined and what must now be made real. These episodes are not about tools or frameworks. They are reflections on judgement, dignity, and the human cost of chang...

Inside the Messy Middle is a special series from T he Inner Game of Change This fortnightly short series is for people who carry responsibility inside complexity. Between strategy and delivery. Between intent and impact. Between what was imagined and what must now be made real.  These episodes are not about tools or frameworks. They are reflections on judgement, dignity, and the human cost of chan...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.  “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” That line from George Bernard Shaw captures the heart of today’s conversation. In this episode, I am joined by Dominic Colenso, communication expert, former actor, and author of the bestselling books Imp...

Inside the Messy Middle is a special series from T he Inner Game of Change This fortnightly short series is for people who carry responsibility inside complexity. Between strategy and delivery. Between intent and impact. Between what was imagined and what must now be made real.  These episodes are not about tools or frameworks. They are reflections on judgement, dignity, and the human cost of chan...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.  Some of you may remember Helen Palmer from a past episode of The Inner Game of Change . It was a conversation that stayed with many listeners because of its depth and humanity. Helen helps people learn so something different becomes possible. Her work spans change management, organisationa...

Inside the Messy Middle is a special series from T he Inner Game of Change This fortnightly short series is for people who carry responsibility inside complexity. Between strategy and delivery. Between intent and impact. Between what was imagined and what must now be made real. These episodes are not about tools or frameworks. They are reflections on judgement, dignity, and the human cost of chang...

Welcome to The Inner Game of Change .   where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.   And this feels like a perfect way to start 2026.  Today I am joined by someone who represents the very best of what technology leadership can be. Lev Gonic is the Enterprise Chief Information Officer at Arizona State University, but that title only hints at who he really is. About six mon...

What Do I Want This Change To Leave With Me? Every change leaves something behind.  A lesson.  A trace.  A quieter understanding of who we are becoming. In this final episode of A Change Question , Ali invites you to pause and reflect on one last question: What do I want this change to leave with me? Drawing on Viktor Frankl, T S Eliot, Maya Angelou, and a closing reading from Rainer Maria Rilke,...

Today is a little different. To mark Episode one hundred, I decided not to bring in a guest. Instead, I wanted to pause and reflect on the ninety nine conversations that shaped The Inner Game of Change . This episode is a quiet look back at how the podcast began during COVID, how the name was inspired by Tim Gallwey’s Inner Game work, and why Dr Michael Canic’s first yes helped set the tone for ev...

Welcome to A Change Question — a special mini-series from The Inner Game of Change . In each short, solo episode, I bring you one question worth sitting with — the kind that can gently shape how we think, work, and move through our lives. As change unfolds, our attention often becomes scattered. We try to notice everything. The risks. The effort. The expectations. But each stage of a change has it...