The Only Constant - A Playbook for Change Leaders

"If you're not leading change, what are you leading?" In this week’s episode, Aric Wood, Tigerhall's Chief Strategy Officer, challenges us to move beyond change management to embrace change leadership as a C-suite imperative. With the average employee now facing 17-18 significant changes annually (compared to just 1-2 a decade ago), organizations that delegate transformation to s...

Here's a stat that might make you spit out your coffee: 80% of AI projects launched last year failed to deliver on their promises. Yikes! In this conversation that's refreshingly no nonsense, Nellie chats with Shankar Kalyana, CTO at Stantec, about why so many change leaders are struggling with AI implementation and what the successful 20% are doing differently. Shankar cuts through the AI...

We've all heard that phrase "work smarter, not harder." But has anyone actually told you what that means in practice? For those of us leading change and transformation, the gap between working ourselves to the bone and actually creating impact can feel frustratingly wide. This week, Nellie speaks to Chris Hirst, former Global CEO of Havas Creative, and author of ‘No Bullshit Change’, ‘No Bullshit...

Whenever change initiatives are being presented within senior leadership meetings, many times leaders nod enthusiastically, but privately harbor doubts about changes. After all, a comfortable lie is often easier than an uncomfortable truth, but this is why change initiatives often derail despite executive sponsorship. Join Barbara Roos (Director of Change Centre of Excellence at Intel Corporation)...

Nellie Wartoft and Aric Wood tackle a critical question: Why do we treat marketing with precision and personalization, but neglect these strategies in change communications? Discover how personalization, multi-channel engagement, and innovative technologies can revolutionize change campaigns in organizations.  ---- Connect with: Nellie Wartoft CEO of Tigerhall Chair of the Executive Council for Le...

Change is constant. But how do you turn it into action? Too often, leaders overcomplicate the process, losing engagement along the way. Join Greg and Nellie Wartoft as they break down how to get teams unstuck, the eight essential coaching questions that move people from idea to execution, and why real leadership means telling someone when they have spinach in their teeth.  ---- Connect with: Nelli...

Change is ever-present, but how do leaders navigate when the change itself keeps changing? Join Nellie Wartoft and Farrar Frazee as they dive into the turbulent world of change management. Discover the personal and organizational strategies to handle continuous change, how to maintain credibility and trust, and why transparency and self-care are crucial for change leaders.  ---- Connect with: Nell...

Driving change in a large organization is like driving down a slippery road. You shouldn’t break (or brake) the news of a change all at once; instead, success comes from breaking the news gradually to different levels of your organization, allowing each level to intellectually and emotionally process the transformation before they face questions from their team.  Join Barbara Roos (Director, Progr...

After a weekend of TikTok and Netflix, why do we expect employees to pay attention to emails and SharePoints? The bar for engaging content is high, and if you want to engage your workforce, you shouldn’t miss this episode with Aric Wood (CSO, Tigerhall). Join Aric and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss how to think like a marketer to activate change at scale, how to build strong two-way feedback loops...

“Everyone knows how to communicate.” So, then why do so many change initiatives fail? Is it due to poor communication or are other factors at play? Join Andreina Martinez (SVP Business Transformation Leader, IPG) and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss the key roles that soft skills and middle management play in successful transformations.  Connect with: Nellie Wartoft CEO of Tigerhall Chair of the Exe...

The water is nice and warm… but is it getting too hot? In Chris Hirst’s experience (as the former CEO of Havas), businesses do realize when they are frogs in boiling water but they often act too late to keep their organization safe. Join Chris Hirst and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss identifying what’s actually under your control as a leader and breaking old patterns by making new mistakes instead...

Are you ready for “How to Win Friends and Influence People” turned corporate? Join Farrar Frazee, former SVP of Transformation, Change, and Program Management at AssuredPartners, and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss influence in the workplace and the framework that Farrar developed to oversee the all-important relationships with key stakeholders: the Influence-Attitude Matrix.  Connect with: Nellie...

Imagine waking up one morning and having to get the whole population of Barbados on board with your decisions. That’s essentially Suzanne Long’s job as Chief Sustainability and Transformation Officer at Albertsons with their workforce of over 250,000 employees. Join Suzanne and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss onboarding at scale, fostering belonging, and co-creating local initiatives while remainin...

You don’t graduate fresh out of university and end up with a Chief Transformation Officer role. So, how do you get there? Join Ani Shehigian, Chief Transformation Officer at IDG (International Data Group), and Nellie Wartoft as they talk about Ani’s career path, the key traits of a CTO, and how curiosity can lead you to places you’ve never thought of before.  Connect with: Nellie Wartoft CEO of Ti...

Start the year off with a bang, with the top 10 change leadership learnings of 2024! Join Nellie Wartoft, Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change, as she dives into the most talked about and best advice for change leaders from conversations across 2024. Connect with: Nellie Wartoft CEO of Tigerhall Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC) nellie@tigerhall.com

Only 26% of businesses have achieved meaningful business value from their AI proof of concepts. Which begs the question: is it the technology or the companies themselves that are falling short? Join Julien Willard, Partner at IBM, and Nellie Wartoft as they look at the key factors that enable an AI implementation.  Connect with: Nellie Wartoft CEO of Tigerhall Chair of the Executive Council for Le...

They have a vested interest in seeing the company succeed. But how are board members inadvertently halting strategic innovations? Join Rob Pierre, co-founder of infinity.co and Jellyfish, and Nellie Wartoft as they bring you into the boardroom and expose how age-old beliefs of what boards should be is getting in the way of what boards could be.  Connect with: Nellie Wartoft CEO of Tigerhall Chair...

It’s tempting to swoop in and try to make your mark when you start a new job as a transformation leader. But is that the best course of action? Join Sergio Tortora, Senior Transformation Leader, former GE, PwC, AIG, and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss the research you should do before signing a contract, the important questions to ask once you’re on the job, and how to structure your first 90 days....

Is ESG about doing the right thing? Or is it more about making smarter business decisions? Join Suzanne Long, Chief Sustainability and Transformation Officer at Albertsons Companies, and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss food waste, DEI, and optimizing operations across a corporation. Connect with: Nellie Wartoft CEO of Tigerhall Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC) nellie@tigerha...

Scripted messages just don't work in today’s corporate world. People want authentic, meaningful conversations with their leaders, not talking points from HR. Join Greg Merrill, Nike’s former Global Head of Digital Transformation, and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss why authentic leadership is essential for building trust and making a real impact in your organization.   Connect with: Nellie Wartoft...

Agile methodologies have taken software development teams by storm but how can change and transformation teams also reap the benefits? Join Sergio Tortora, Senior Transformation Leader at AIG, and Nellie Wartoft as they separate the true benefits of agile from fiction and the needed work conditions to build an agile transformation team.  Connect with: Nellie Wartoft CEO of Tigerhall Chair of the E...

Too many cooks in the kitchen doesn’t always seem to apply to client-consulting teams during change and transformation engagements. Join Andreina Martinez, SVP Transformation Leader at the Interpublic Group, and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss how silos threaten the success of large scale technology implementations and the importance of independent oversight in managing deployment dependencies. Con...

“Workplace sentiment during a large-scale change” is incredibly vast. How do you break that down into actionable groups of people you can work with and influence? Join Dr. Polydefkis Loukopoulos, Chairman and Managing Director at Signify, and Nellie Wartoft as they explore the differences between champions, soldiers, rebels, and saboteurs. You’ll learn how to recognize these different groups and i...

Middle managers are often tasked with leading change through their direct reports but how do they make sense of and get behind changes they weren’t part of the planning process for? Join Dr. Polydefkis Loukopoulos, Chairman and Managing Director at Signify, and Nellie Wartoft as they dive deep into the sensemaking and sensegiving framework and how senior change leaders can work better with middle...

It’s June, 2022, and the 116-year-old Kellogg Company has just announced that it will be splitting into two companies - later called Kellanova and WK Kellogg. This is the story of the 18 months that followed that announcement, through to the NYSE listing in October 2023. It’s a story of incredible leadership, of trust and authenticity, and of first-class change activation with a people-first minds...