In this episode of The Practitioner Scholar, Dr. Sharon Ravitch sits down with Dr. Bridie Fanning, Managing Director at Accenture and former Chief HR Officer, to discuss her critical contributing chapter to the ground-breaking new book, Leaders as Architects of Change (edited by Dr. Sharon Ravitch and Dr. Raghu Krishnamoorthy). While modern headlines focus heavily on what artificial intelligence can automate, Dr. Bridie Fanning argues that the future of work will not be dictated by technology, but by leadership choices. This conversation dives deep into her chapter's core ethos: that AI is fundamentally a human learning story, that leaders must build psychological safety for continuous experimentation, and that traditional, linear change management models must be entirely rewritten to align with the framework of the book.

Key Takeaways:

• Amara’s Law in Action: Why we are currently overestimating AI's short-term hype while drastically underestimating its massive, long-term societal and operational impact.
• The Death of Traditional Change Management: Moving away from traditional "Point A to Point B" transition models and adopting dynamic, continuous, and iterative organizational capabilities.
• The "Inverted" Problem-Solving Approach: Why leaders must stop asking "What can AI do?" and instead start with their biggest organizational pain points, working backward to find technical solutions.

Great collaboration doesn't happen. It's designed. So why do so many leadership teams still treat it as something that should just emerge naturally?

In this episode of the PennCLO Podcast, The Practitioner Scholar, Dr. Sharon M. Ravitch speaks with PennCLO mentor and lecturer Dr. Phillip Ellis about designing organizations for collaboration, resilience, and adaptive leadership.

Based on Phillip’s chapter in Leaders as Architects of Change: Designing Organizations for Connection and Resilience in Times of Uncertainty, this conversation explores why many teams struggle to collaborate in a world of uncertainty,and how leaders can create the conditions for deeper trust, innovation, and collective problem-solving.

Together, they unpack:

Why collaboration is a leadership design challenge

• How “systems of knowing” shape teams and organizations
• Why traditional leadership models struggle in uncertain environments
• How leaders can foster more adaptive and resilient cultures

Leaders who treat collaboration as a soft skill keep getting stuck results. This conversation makes the case for designing it instead.

What if uncertainty isn’t the problem—but the point?

In this episode of the PennCLO Podcast, Dr. Jennifer Neumaier sits down with Penn CLO doctoral alum Dr. Lucrecia Grandolini about her chapter on leading through uncertainty from the book Leaders as Architects: Designing Organizations for Connection and Resilience, co-edited by Dr. Sharon Ravitch (University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education) and Dr. Ragu Krishnamoorthy, Director of the Penn CLO program.

Drawing on her global experience across financial services, consulting, and clinical psychology, Lucrecia challenges the traditional “plan–predict–control” model of leadership—and offers a compelling alternative.

Together, they unpack:

• Why uncertainty is both deeply human—and deeply misunderstood
• The hidden cost of control: how it erodes trust and psychological safety
• The “living iceberg” metaphor—and what leaders miss beneath the surface
• What uncertainty-friendly organizations actually look like in practice
• Four essential leadership practices for thriving in complexity

This conversation is a powerful invitation to stop trying to eliminate uncertainty—and start designing for it.