One in 3 workers are carrying grief about the changes happening at work — and our data suggests this runs deeper than just sadness: layers of feeling invisible, abandoned, and distrusted by the people making decisions. In this fourth episode of Season 7 — The Change Fatigue Remedy Series — Dr Michelle McQuaid sits down with Dr Margaret Wheatley, renowned teacher, advisor, and author of Restoring Sanity, to explore why leaders often transmit the very fear they're trying to protect their teams from — and what it takes to build an island of sanity where people can find refuge from the chaos, trust each other, and do meaningful work together. Drawing on five decades of working with leaders, Meg shows what it takes to build an island of sanity, why acknowledging grief — not fixing it — is what moves people forward, and how leaders create the conditions for creativity, generosity and kindness to be the norm.
01:37 Meg explains why leadership is harder now than it has ever been — and what fear is doing to people's capacity to create, care and contribute.
04:41 Meg shares why planning for a steady state is no longer possible — and why uncertainty, not pace, is now every leader's defining challenge.
07:05 Meg introduces Islands of Sanity — why leaders need to create a boundried space within their teams where people can find refuge from the chaos, trust each other, and do meaningful work together.
11:40 Meg outlines what makes an island of sanity work: being together, honouring each other, and trusting you won't abandon each other when things get hard.
19:32 Meg reframes where meaning comes from when the old markers no longer hold — and why contributing to others is where most people find their footing again.
27:20 Michelle shares the Change Lab finding that 1 in 3 workers are carrying grief — and Meg unpacks what lies beneath it: feeling abandoned, distrusted and invisible to the people making decisions.
29:21 Meg reframes grief not as a problem to solve but as something to move through together — and why feeling it fully is what allows people to move forward.
33:56 Meg shares a practice for transforming the grief or loneliness you're carrying alone into a sense of shared human experience — and why it's the most powerful tool she teaches.
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Want to go deeper? Explore evidence-based tools for navigating change — including our self-paced certificate in leading the heart of change — at thechangelabs.com.
For more of Meg's wonderful work and books visit: https://margaretwheatley.com/
