Jeff Skipper can drive a Zamboni. He has also spent 30 years helping clients like IBM, Goldman Sachs, and the Salvation Army move through major transformation. His take: the way leaders talk about change is the problem.
In this episode, Jeff and Nikki dig into what actually works when you’re trying to move people through disruption — without losing the ones you can least afford to lose.
→ Why “change is hard” is the most damaging phrase in leadership — and what to say instead
→ The running of the bulls: every role that shows up during a change initiative, and why each one matters
→ The 5 C’s framework — Clarity, Capacity, Continuity, Credibility, Coaching — and the one most leaders skip
→ What happens when you impress your shareholders by damaging your stakeholders
→ Why the best leaders tell failure stories, not just success stories
→ Jeff’s free resources: the Strategy Accelerator and 99 Ways to Express What’s in It for Me
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Jeff’s free resources — the Strategy Accelerator and 99 Ways to Express What’s in It for Me — are on his website at jeffskipperconsulting.com. Worth downloading.LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jskipper——00:00 – Welcome to Season 900:51 – Meet Jeff Skipper: 30 years leading change (and yes, he drives a Zamboni)01:38 – How a Kindle Flash Sale brought Nikki and Jeff together02:33 – What COVID taught us about getting people to change05:05 – Why “change is hard” is the wrong message: you adapt all the time07:14 – The hidden barriers leaders miss: language, pay, and fear08:27 – Young leaders, digital natives, and the tech-first trap10:37 – Why some people need to slow down⭐ 11:09 – The running of the bulls: every role in a change, and why to tell failure stories13:00 – Why “any questions?” gets silence, and how to fix it13:49 – The five C’s: Jeff’s free Strategy Accelerator15:29 – Capacity: 90 parallel projects and what overload does to people16:32 – What happens if you do nothing: burnout, middle managers, ripple costs18:00 – Cutting people to pay for AI, and losing your best ones19:47 – High-Impact Workshops for Leading Change: 30 scripted exercises22:06 – Where to find Jeff and his free resources
