2025: A Retrospective in Emotions

It’s that time of year when it’s wise to pause, take stock, and make sense of the year
that was. We’ve always been fans of retrospectives, and this year we decided to try
something different.

With so much noise about AI reshaping how we work*, we wanted to anchor this
reflection in something deeply human: the emotions that shaped 2025 and the
emotions guiding us into 2026.

Here’s what surfaced.

✨ Excitement


This year brought a wave of joyful momentum.

We began showcasing alumni who are doing fascinating things in their practice and
in fields we don’t always get to play in.

  • Elizabeth Beattie hosted a brilliant co-creation session on AI rollouts.
  • Marco Di Santis spoke at Rethink Change on his experience as a
    neurodivergent change practitioner and will co-host a webinar with Dr Jen in
    February.
  • Allie Hartman, founder of the Change Curiosity Lab, joined us on the podcast and will lead a session on AI and Agile Change in early 2026.
  • We also featured Sue Danner (compliance + risk), the UniSuper team, and
    Amy Leighton with a special edition on M&As

We also launched Change Leader: The Basics as an enterprise-ready offering that organisations can deploy on their own LMS — a major milestone in making capability uplift scalable and accessible.

And behind the scenes?
Dr Jen completed Part 1 and Part 2 of her new book and sent these out to Beta
Readers — a huge step forward in bringing that body of work to life. Ok, technically Part 2 will be out by Dec 31! ACCOUNTABILITY. 

❤️ Love

There was so much heart in 2025.

We loved seeing the courage and creativity in the Agile Change Leader Certificate
experiments. Every submission is a reminder of why we do this work.

We loved the intimacy and connection of the Change Communication Masterclasses
— truly special experiences this year.

And we deeply appreciated organisations who invested in capability uplift across
their teams: AMP, Essential Energy, Suncorp, BHP, Elabor8, Department of Home Affairs, Akkodis, Department of Transport NSW, UniSuper, Nova Systems, and more.


It means the world to us.

🙏 Gratitude

We were profoundly grateful for our partnership with the Minnesota Change
Management Network (MnCMN) — a community genuinely pushing boundaries of professional development. Being part of their uplift strategy is a privilege.


On a personal note, this was also a year of loss and adjustment. When Dr Jen took
bereavement leave, the grace, patience, and generosity extended to her were deeply
felt. The same goes for the Beta Readers who stayed with the process as life
temporarily slowed things down — thank you.

 

🌟 Pride

There was plenty to be proud of. We celebrated seven years of the Agile Change Leadership Institute — a milestone many small businesses never reach.

We launched the Change Without Borders scholarship program for practitioners in
low-income countries.

We were honoured to be the only small provider invited to participate in the CMI
global training scan.

We achieved ACMP’s Quality Education Provider (QEP) status and presented at ACMP Global Connect — moments that affirmed the calibre of our programs, our team, and our community.

…And the rest of the emotions too


A wholehearted retrospective means acknowledging the emotions that don’t get the
glossy treatment. They also shaped our year.

 

😞 Disappointment

We were disappointed to engage a debt collector with an organisation we once held
in high esteem. Perhaps we were fortunate to make it this far without needing one,
but it still stung.

 

🤔 Puzzled

We continue to explore how best to grow in larger markets, especially when some
feel earlier in their agile and change maturity journey compared to the Australian
market. It’s an interesting challenge — and one we’re genuinely curious about.

We also found ourselves reflecting on a broader industry trend: many practitioners
are so overloaded with day-to-day demands that professional development often
slips to the bottom of the list. We completely understand it — the pace of work this
year has been relentless. At the same time, we’re consistently inspired by the alumni
who do carve out the time to stay ahead of the curve, and we wonder how we can
make that path easier and more accessible for others.

And like many of you, we’re puzzled by the ongoing pattern of “more change, more
quickly” inside organisations without a corresponding effort to prioritise. There are
only so many hours in a day and only so much capacity practitioners and leaders
can realistically sustain. This feels like an important conversation for our whole
industry to keep having.

 

😣 Frustrated

Our technology platforms gave us more grey hairs: a CRM email bug that went
unfixed, forcing a platform shift; LinkedIn algorithm changes that made visibility
harder; and the usual tech fatigue of running a global learning business.

 

A Wholehearted Year, A Clear Horizon

If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that progress is rarely linear. It’s textured. It’s
emotional. It’s shaped by the people who lean in with us — learners, alumni,
partners, and our community.

We’ll head into 2026 with everything this year gave us:
the joy, the challenge, the connection, the friction, the creativity, the uncertainty, and the deep belief that capability-led change leadership has never been more needed.

Here’s to building braver, more brain-friendly, more agile change leaders  and practitioners —together.

And here’s to the beautiful messiness of another year of learning.

See you in 2026.

 

* yes, we understand the irony of using Gemini’s Nano Banana for the creation of a sketchnote image while decrying the noise of AI…