New Skills to Navigate Continuous Change

In this episode of HBR IdeaCast, hosts Alison Beard and Adi Ignatius explore the challenges of navigating continuous change in today's fast-evolving business landscape, particularly with the rise of AI and shifting organizational dynamics. They welcome Niloufar Merchant, former Apple executive and author of 'Our Best Work,' who argues that traditional change management—top-down, directive, and confidence-driven—is outdated. Instead, she advocates for a collaborative, curiosity-driven model where leaders and teams co-create solutions together, embrace discomfort, and value competence over confidence. Drawing on real-world examples from Adobe, Orange Theory, and internal innovation exercises, Merchant emphasizes the importance of normalizing uncertainty, inviting diverse voices into problem-solving, and redefining success beyond speed and output to include creativity, collaboration, and psychological safety. The episode concludes with practical advice for leaders: reframe meetings as idea-generation spaces, practice 'asking what I don’t know,' and protect team well-being by modeling sustainable work habits. Key takeaways include: 1) Shift from rewarding confidence to rewarding curiosity and competence; 2) Use structured 'idea-a-thons' to unlock bottom-up innovation; 3) Treat strategy and execution as one continuous process; 4) Reimagine meetings as forums for new thinking, not regurgitation; 5) Leaders must model vulnerability and protect time for reflection; 6) Change starts with small, replicable team practices; 7) True leadership in uncertain times comes from deep curiosity, not certainty; 8) Well-being is not a side effect of productivity—it’s a foundation for innovation.