306. The Change Playbook: Adapting and Thriving with Huw Thomas

Change rarely fails because people don’t care; it fails because we misunderstand what drives behavior. With author and change leadership expert Huw Thomas , we dig into the real forces underneath stalled transformations: loss aversion, identity threats, and the quiet stories we tell ourselves that keep us clinging to the status quo. From childhood curiosity to adult routines, we unpack how our wiring prioritizes safety, why we catastrophize the unlikely, and how a few practical shifts can restore agency and momentum. Huw shares a candid look at navigating personal and professional change—moving countries, facing a health crisis, and reframing setbacks as stepping stones. We explore the messy middle of change and the identity tension it creates, including the classic “expert with the legendary spreadsheet” who resists a new system because it threatens who they are at work. Instead of erasing the old self, we talk about upgrading to version 2.0: preserving dignity, building new capability, and making the future identity feel real through micro-wins, visibility, and support. You’ll learn concrete tools: pattern interrupts to test assumptions, emotional labeling to reduce intensity, future-self framing to re-anchor perspective, and success mapping that pairs a vivid destination with the true cost of inaction. We also preview why organizational change is so hard—scale, diversity, influence networks—and why technology and processes don’t create value until humans believe they can, want to, and know how to use them. If you’re ready to stop focusing on barriers and start steering toward the gaps, this conversation offers a clear, humane roadmap. If this sparked an insight, share it with one person who needs it, hit

You can listen to 306. The Change Playbook: Adapting and Thriving with Huw Thomas online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

306. The Change Playbook: Adapting and Thriving with Huw Thomas is an episode from The Leadership Project by Mick Spiers.

This episode is 50:30 long.

This episode was published on Jan 20, 2026.

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