UX Podcast · James Royal-Lawson & Per Axbom

Change leadership with Maria Giudice

March 14, 2024

The opening is loose and human. James and Per try out a new intro, wonder if they have already read it, then find their way into Maria Giudice and Changemakers. Maria starts with self-awareness. In her coaching work, leaders have to look more plainly at what their actions and behaviors do to other people. The clue is the reaction. Someone may change tone, shift body language, argue, get angry, or pull back. Maria treats those signals as information. Then the leader adjusts. That is where the episode gets practical: changemaking depends on noticing whether people are coming with you or quietly putting up walls. The tone stays calm, and the conversation keeps pulling change leadership back into design practice instead of sanding it into a slogan. Shared vision becomes the anchor. Maria ties it to compassion and empathy for people who disagree, plus the patience needed when a group moves at different speeds. Her metaphor is mountain climbing. Everyone has a pace, so leaders need to see who is leaping, who is building bridges, and who is holding tradition. Autodesk gives her a concrete example. Maria remembers arriving with power, talking up the power of design, and finding design teams around the world ready to join in. But enthusiasm is only part of the story. Change lands differently depending on a person's role, context, and relationship to change. The ending loosens up again with an older rough-sounding episode, pointers to workshops, talks, or courses, and a small Peter Pan joke.

As heard by us

Maria Giudice makes change leadership feel like patient emotional craft, built on self-awareness, empathy, and pace.

In this UX Podcast conversation, Maria Giudice frames change leadership as the art of bringing people with you, rather than pushing an idea through sheer authority.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A calm guide to leading change with influence, not authority, when people do not all move at the same pace.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify