Podcast

Real Transformations With Phil Gilbert – TWMJ #1022

Welcome to episode #1022 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation).

At a moment when organizational change is too often treated as a mandate rather than an experience people choose to embrace, Phil Gilbert has spent his career proving that transformation only sticks when it earns genuine buy-in. Phil is a design executive, transformation leader and former General Manager of Design at IBM, where he architected one of the largest cultural and operational shifts in corporate history, helping nearly 400,000 employees across 180 countries become more entrepreneurial, agile and customer-centered. Trained as both a designer and systems thinker, Phil brought design thinking out of studios and into the core of enterprise decision-making, reshaping how teams collaborated, how products were built, and how leaders understood their customers. His work at IBM addressed hard truths, including the company’s struggles with usability and missed opportunities in the early cloud era, by treating change itself as a product worthy of rigor, investment, and care. That experience became the foundation for his book Irresistible Change – A Blueprint For Earning Buy-In And Breakout Success, which blends narrative and field guide to show how large organizations can scale transformation by focusing on people, practices, and environments rather than slogans or top-down directives. Phil’s approach reframes culture as an outcome, not an initiative, arguing that lasting change emerges when employees see themselves in the future being designed. Beyond IBM, his work as an executive coach and advisor continues to focus on how leaders navigate complexity, align teams, and thoughtfully integrate technologies like AI into human systems without eroding trust or creativity. Grounded in real-world execution rather than theory, Phil’s perspective challenges organizations to stop forcing change and start making it irresistible. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 1:02:49.
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Here is my conversation with Phil Gilbert.
Irresistible Change – A Blueprint For Earning Buy-In And Breakout Success.
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Chapters:

(00:00) – Introduction to Phil Gilbert and His Journey.
(01:26) – IBM’s Transformation and Challenges.
(04:17) – The Shift from Technology to Product.
(10:55) – Implementing Design Thinking at IBM.
(16:30) – Cultural Change and Its Impact on Outcomes.
(22:53) – The Role of Teams in Transformation.
(26:40) – Branding the Change: Hallmark Program.
(32:22) – The Importance of Team Selection in Transformation.
(34:59) – Creating Demand for Change.
(37:23) – Agency and Team Resilience.
(38:06) – IBM’s Market Position and Transformation.
(41:14) – The Shift in Work Dynamics.
(44:46) – Rethinking Office Spaces.
(48:58) – Irresistible Change and Transformation Failures.
(53:51) – AI Integration and Market Forces.
(59:38) – The Impact of Design Thinking on Business.

Download the Podcast here: #1022 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation).

Before you go… ThinkersOne gives you direct access to the experts shaping tomorrow’s conversations. Get their insights on leadership, AI, culture and innovation all delivered to your team before the rest of the world catches on. Ideal for your meetings, off-sites, and lunch & learns.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.