This book explores why organisational change often fails even when the strategy is sound and the technology works.

It focuses on the human mechanics of change – how people make sense of uncertainty, where responsibility and risk really sit, and what happens when automation and AI increase pace without increasing clarity.

Rather than offering tools or implementation frameworks, the book examines how leadership decisions, framing, and structure shape whether change holds or quietly fractures over time.

Not in the way most AI books are. AI is the context, not the centre. The book is about change, leadership, and responsibility in environments shaped by automation, data, and constant transition. You don’t need technical knowledge of AI to read it. If you are involved in leading, sponsoring, or delivering change in an AI-influenced organisation, the book will feel familiar.

This book is written for people who sit close to the consequences of change, including:

Senior leaders and executive teams

Change, transformation, and programme leads

Project and delivery managers

HR, People, and OD professionals

Consultants working in digital, AI, or operational change

Leaders in regulated, public sector, or complex environments

If you’ve ever felt that a change programme looked fine on paper but felt fragile in practice, this book is for you.

You can expect:

A short business fable that reflects real organisational life

Clear explanations of why certain change patterns repeat

Language you can use with leadership teams

Insight into pressure, accountability, and sensemaking during change

A reframing of “resistance” as a system issue, not a people problem

You won’t find hype, buzzwords, or simplistic answers. The book is designed to help you see what’s really happening, not to sell a solution.

Both.

The book itself is reflective and analytical, designed to shift how you see change. Alongside it is an optional companion guide that offers chapter summaries, leadership reflections, and discussion prompts suitable for teams, workshops, or coaching.

Together, they support both thinking and action – without turning complex issues into checklists.

No.

While the book is written with senior decision-makers in mind, many readers in change, project, and people roles recognise their lived experience in the story.

In fact, it often resonates strongly with those who carry responsibility without authority – and helps explain why that role can feel so heavy during transformation.

Most change books focus on what leaders should do.

This book focuses on what people are actually carrying during change – especially when systems become more automated and decisions are increasingly abstracted.

It doesn’t ask people to be more resilient.

It asks organisations to be more honest about how they design change.

Yes.

The book and companion guide are designed to be used in:

leadership team discussions

programme reset points

executive away days

facilitated workshops

coaching and advisory work

Many organisations use it as a shared language for conversations that are often avoided or hard to frame.

Neurodiversity is part of the lens, but not the headline.

The book recognises that change impacts people differently, and that systems often privilege certain thinking and coping styles. Rather than separating neurodiversity as a “special case”, it treats inclusive design as good leadership and risk management for everyone.

Change doesn’t fail because people are difficult. It fails when meaning, responsibility, and risk are poorly anchored.

In the age of AI, that anchoring matters more than ever.