Most organisations don’t fail because they lack strategy.
They fail because reality changes faster than their plans.

In this episode of The Change Agent, Eric sits down with Mike Jones, Founder and Director of LBI Consulting, to unpack what leadership and strategy actually look like when certainty disappears and complexity takes over.

Drawing on his experience as a former British Army officer and leadership instructor at Sandhurst, as well as his work advising organisations across rail, healthcare, infrastructure, and large-scale enterprises, Mike challenges one of the most deeply held assumptions in modern leadership: that more clarity is always better.

Instead, he introduces a more uncomfortable — and more effective — idea: strategic ambiguity.

This conversation explores why over-specified strategies create fragility, how leaders can set clear intent without strangling execution, and why trust, decentralised decision-making, and freedom of action are essential in complex environments.

Together, Eric and Mike discuss:

• Why strategy should be treated as a practice, not a static plan
• How mission command enables adaptability without chaos
• When clarity helps leaders — and when it quietly makes things worse
• The role of trust and mistake-making in high-performing teams
• How organisational structure drives behaviour, not slogans or culture decks
• Why psychometrics and cognitive diversity matter more than personality labels
• How leaders can re-orient in uncertainty instead of clinging to control
• What to do when leadership climate above you is misaligned or corrosive

This is not a conversation about frameworks, buzzwords, or leadership theatre.
It’s about how strategy actually gets executed by real people under pressure.

If you’re a senior leader, programme manager, executive, or anyone navigating complexity where the stakes are real and the answers are incomplete, this episode will challenge how you think about leadership, control, and responsibility.

🎙️ Listen now — and learn why the ability to hold intent firmly, plans loosely, and ego lightly may be the most important leadership capability of our time.

Learn More About:

LBI Consulting

Mike Jones on LinkedIn

Mike's podcast - "Strategy Meets Reality"

Send us a message and let’s connect!

Support the show

Support Our Show On Apple Podcasts!

Support Us On YouTube by Subscribing!

Support Our Show On Spotify!

Learn More On Our Website!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support the show to help us continue!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449509/support

In this episode of The Change Agent, Eric sits down once again with Dr. Kevin Mays to explore one of the most uncomfortable—and defining—realities of leadership: chaos.

When certainty collapses, plans fail, and people look to you for answers you don’t yet have, how you show up matters more than what you know. Together, Eric and Dr. Mays unpack why our obsession with clarity can actually undermine leadership, how expertise can quietly become a liability, and why the most effective leaders learn to stand calmly in uncertainty rather than rush to control it.

This conversation dives deep into:

• Why leaders must learn to be okay with not knowing
• How emotional reactivity spreads through teams—and how calm does the same
• The hidden ways identity and ego block growth and innovation
• Why leadership is less about answers and more about presence
• How great leaders create other leaders, not followers

Drawing on real-world leadership experience—from military command to executive coaching—this episode challenges the idea that leadership is about certainty, authority, or control. Instead, it reframes leadership as an internal discipline: leading yourself first, so others can follow with confidence.

If you lead people in complex, high-pressure environments—or if you aspire to—this episode offers practical insight into navigating chaos without losing yourself or your team.

Send us a message and let’s connect!

Support the show

Support Our Show On Apple Podcasts!

Support Us On YouTube by Subscribing!

Support Our Show On Spotify!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support the show to help us continue!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449509/support

In this powerful episode of The Change Agent, Eric sits down with Olga Rudnieva, CEO of the Superhumans Center, to explore what leadership looks like when everything familiar has been taken away.

Against the backdrop of war in Ukraine, Olga shares her lived experience leading a national effort to restore dignity, purpose, and hope to those who have sacrificed the most. This is not a conversation about titles or theory — it is about responsibility, courage, and humanity under pressure.

Together, we examine how leadership emerges in crisis, how moral clarity is forged through adversity, and why rebuilding lives is as important as rebuilding nations. This episode is a reminder that real change is driven by people who act when comfort disappears.

🎧 A conversation about resilience, purpose, and leadership when it matters most.

Support The Superhumans Center in Ukraine!

Follow Olga and her work on Facebook!

Follow Olga on Instagram!

Support Our Show On Apple Podcasts!

Support Us On YouTube by Subscribing!

Support Our Show On Spotify!

Support Our Show via Donations below :)

Send us a message and let’s connect!

Support the show

Support Our Show On Apple Podcasts!

Support Us On YouTube by Subscribing!

Support Our Show On Spotify!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support the show to help us continue!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449509/support