A Blueprint for Leading Change with Phil Gilbert

6 snips

Nov 8, 2025

Phil Gilbert, former head of design at IBM and author of Irresistible Change, shares insights on driving lasting change in organizations. He discusses how to navigate cultural challenges and ensure transformation sticks. Gilbert emphasizes the importance of making change desirable and voluntary, rather than mandated. He also reveals his 'Culture Formula' and the role of language and branding in successful initiatives. With real-world examples from IBM, listeners gain a practical playbook for leading effective organizational change.

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INSIGHT

Culture Is The Real Engine

Culture drives outcomes because people, practices, and places determine behavior and performance.
Changing all three is required because each element is built to maintain the status quo by design.

ANECDOTE

Startup Approach Inside IBM

Phil led a 1,200-person IBM unit, cut 40 of 44 products, and simplified mission to act like a startup.
That focused approach boosted market share and morale and inspired the CEO to ask him to scale it company-wide.

ADVICE

Make Change Voluntary And Desirable

Do create change that people voluntarily adopt instead of issuing mandates that breed compliance theater.
Make the new way desirable like a premium product and own failures when teams don't opt in.

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Phil Gilbert joins Joe for a masterclass on leading lasting change—how to move large organizations, overcome cultural antibodies, and build systems that make transformation stick.

As the former head of design at IBM, Phil was tasked with one of the most ambitious corporate transformations of the last decade: to reignite creativity, collaboration, and speed inside a century-old company known for its consistency. Drawing from his new book Irresistible Change: A Blueprint for Earning Buy-In and Breakout Success, he shares the playbook that helped shift IBM’s mindset from compliance to commitment—and what leaders in any field can learn from that journey.

In this conversation, Joe and Phil unpack what it really takes to drive change at scale: how to earn voluntary adoption instead of forcing compliance, why culture must evolve alongside strategy, and how language, branding, and storytelling can make or break a transformation. They explore lessons that resonate from boardrooms to battlefields—how to lead people through uncertainty, protect the integrity of a mission, and create a culture that thrives on iteration and learning.

Listeners will come away with an actionable framework for driving change—one rooted in human behavior, organizational design, and the power of intentional leadership.

In this episode, Joe and Phil also explore:

Why the status quo is resilient—and how great organizations learn to challenge it continuously
How IBM’s “Hallmark” program turned change into a desirable brand, not a mandate
The formula behind lasting culture: people + practices + places
Why forcing compliance breeds “antibodies,” and how to inspire genuine belief instead
How storytelling and small-team “boot camps” made transformation go viral inside a 400,000-person company
The role of senior leaders in rewarding behavior and reinforcing new norms
What the “magic people” and The Captain Class teach us about influence from within teams
Why great leaders think like designers—iterating, prototyping, and refining as they go

Whether you’re leading a military unit, a corporate team, or a creative project, this episode offers a field-tested blueprint for driving change that lasts—one built on empathy, clarity, and a deep respect for the craft of leadership.

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