Name: Pragmatic Change
Author: Mark Winter

Don't squeeze harder. Free people up to move where they need to be.

I love the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs.

The best coaches know: at this point in the season, you can't squeeze your players any more. But what is our temptation as leaders, when the pressure is on and all eyes are on us?

I'm sad one of my all time heroes LeBron James is out. But I'm intrigued by what Mike Brown is building in New York. From being fired four times, to (in his first year with the team) making the Finals!

And now, on the cusp of success in a city with notoriously high expectations...he's making it all about the players.

I'm in my own 'playoff series' right now on a project. I just hope I've positioned us right for success.

Change, Leadership, TransformationMark Winter2 June 2026Strategy, Leadership, Change, Decision-Making, Frameworks, Complexity

What does it mean to lead complex change in 2026?

You know how I'm supposed to open a LinkedIn article. Especially one published on a Monday...who does that?!

Recognisable caricutures from the Boardroom. A leadership vignette. A clever mixture of intruige and just enough panic to make you keep reading...

Instead, I'm compelled to share a gem from my Evernote files, saved during my Masters at the University of Sydney in 2012.

It's from a British physicist named Mark McKergow. He coined a word using Japanese roots because English didn't have one for the concept he needed. It's 2026 and I keep coming back to it.

Because the way most organisations are approaching complex change right now lacks the substance that McKergow was writing about fourteen years ago.

So what does it actually mean to lead complex change in 2026?

Change, Leadership, TransformationMark Winter26 May 2026AI, Change, Leadership, Strategy, Complexity, Frameworks, Decision-Making, Transformation