Michael speaks with Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken about how organizations can prepare themselves to receive and use large investments to spur growth.

What Nonprofits Must Know About Transformational Gifts and Sudden Growth

Sudden, large-scale growth — even when it is welcome — can destabilise an organisation that is not prepared for it. In this conversation with Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Michael explores how nonprofits can build the organisational readiness to absorb transformational gifts and rapid scaling without losing the culture, mission focus, and operational discipline that made them […]

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The Long View: Building Personal Resilience for the Journey Ahead

The Long View: Building Personal Resilience for the Journey Ahead

Dear Change Leader, “How do you keep going when everything feels impossible?“ This question has been on my mind in recent weeks as I’ve listened to leaders describe their experience of this moment. The challenges feel relentless. The uncertainty seems endless. And many of you are wondering how to sustain your energy and clarity when

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The Bonds That Rebuild: Cultivating Team Resilience

The Bonds That Rebuild: Cultivating Team Resilience

Dear Change Leader, When a storm strikes, it’s not the strongest tree that necessarily survives—it’s the grove with intertwined root systems supporting each other through the gale. As we continue exploring resilience, let’s focus on what might be the most powerful dimension: relational resilience—the unique strength that emerges when teams bond through disruption.   The

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Finding Renewal in Disruption

Finding Renewal in Disruption: The Forest Fire Principle of Resilience

Dear Change Leader,   Imagine this scene with me… It’s a windy day in the forest. Trees sway dramatically as gusts intensify, their rustling growing louder in your ears. Suddenly, one tree—its roots perhaps not as deeply anchored as others—topples onto a power line. An electrical arc sends sparks flying in all directions. In these

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The Pathfinder Approach

The Pathfinder Approach: Leading When You Can’t See the Full Trail

  Dear Change Leader,   “How are you doing?” I asked a leader recently. “I’m taking it one day at a time, and I’m okay with that,” he replied, a note of celebration in his voice. You see, until we connected in a CEO Roundtable I was hosting, he had been worried that his ability

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organization's Identity and Purpose

The Prepared Organization with Michael Randel

What does it mean for a nonprofit to be truly prepared for change — not just reactive, but proactively resilient? Michael’s conversation with Mickey Desai centres on the critical role of identity and purpose clarity in enabling nimble, adaptive organisations. When a crisis hits, the organisations that navigate it fastest are those that already know

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Five Critical Mistakes

Five Critical Mistakes with Michael Randel

In this wide-ranging conversation, Michael and Mickey Desai dig into the five most common — and costly — mistakes that leaders make when trying to navigate organisational change. From underestimating resistance to skipping the stakeholder engagement phase, these are the patterns Michael has observed across 250+ client engagements over 25 years. If you lead a

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Navigating Uncertainty: Leadership in Tumultuous Times

Navigating Uncertainty: Leadership in Tumultuous Times

Dear Change Leader, What do you do when you can no longer take anything for granted? When familiar patterns and relationships are disrupted? When routines and well-established processes are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the moment? I believe we’re facing exactly such a moment today. The political and regulatory environment is unstable.

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Leading Through Complexity

Leading Through Complexity: Embracing the Messy Middle

Dear Change Leader, Have you ever found yourself in a meeting where half the agenda items feel like routine business, while the other half discuss existential threats to your organization? This cognitive whiplash isn’t just common in leadership today—it’s the defining feature. Consider what might be on your plate this week: Your finance team needs

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Episode 276 The Power of Pushback

The Power of Pushback

Resistance is not the enemy of change — it is information. In this lively conversation with Cecilia Sepp, Michael reframes pushback as one of the most valuable signals a leader can receive during a change initiative. He shares why leaders who dismiss or suppress resistance consistently fail, and what it looks like to engage resisters

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“The Fatal Flaw of ‘Ready, Fire, Aim’” How Smart Change Leaders Prepare Before They Launch

Dear Change Leader,   Ready. Fire. Aim.   Sound familiar? If you’re wincing right now, you’re not alone. This all-too-common approach to change initiatives might be the most expensive three-word sequence in business.   As one veteran change leader noted in Bent Flyvbjerg’s “How Big Things Get Done”: “Change Projects, not only do they often

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Resources for Psychological Safety

“Psychological safety is the belief that in a group you’re a part of you can ask a question, make a mistake, take a risk, ask for help without fear of embarrassment, exclusion, or retribution.” The Psychological Safety Playbook   Interested to learn more about Psychological Safety and the different it makes in the workplace? I’ve curated on this page a

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