In a world obsessed with pace and performance, the faculty leads for our new cohort on the Ashridge Doctorate in Organizational Change invite us to take stock, pay attention, and consider doing change differently. 

Starting with Everyday Life—Rob Warwick 

For Rob Warwick, change doesn’t begin in strategy rooms or away-days. It begins in the unnoticed patterns of everyday life. 

“Most people who come onto this programme have already been really successful,” he says. “There’s often a curiosity about where that success actually came from.” 

Rob has spent decades exploring that question across sectors—from transforming NHS systems to coaching senior leaders. His fascination lies in what he calls the practice of everyday life: the small, often invisible moments where relationships and choices shape the future. 

“If we become deeply curious about the everyday,” he says, “we gain agency, the ability to choose, to see our impact, and to act differently.” 

That reflexive stance sits at the heart of the Ashridge Doctorate in Organizational Change, where research begins not in theory but in lived experience. 

→ Join Rob’s colleagues at our upcoming DOC faculty workshop, “Change in a changing world: What approaches might help?” on 1 December. 

Attention as the Gateway to Change—Jane Stevens 

When Jane Stevens talks about change, she speaks from the thick of it. A former NHS consultant turned leadership educator, she understands complexity not as a concept—but as a daily reality. 

“Healthcare is infinitely complex,” she says. “We often start change with an ordered plan—where do we want to get to, how will we get there? But there are so many contingencies that this kind of approach is often unsuccessful.” 

Instead, Jane invites leaders to start somewhere far more intimate: with attention. 

“What really matters to you? Where do you choose to put your attention?” she asks. “We can follow what everyone else is looking at, or we can pause and think more choicefully.” 

In her work on resilience and wellbeing in healthcare, Jane has found that attention—the act of noticing—is a quiet form of leadership. 

→ Jane’s question sits at the heart of our upcoming DOC faculty workshop: how can attention become agency in complex systems? 

Designing for Flourishment—Sharon Varney 

For Sharon Varney, change isn’t just about adapting organizations to survive; it’s about re-imagining them to thrive. A long-time consultant and educator, she’s drawn to the intersection of complexity science and organization design—an area she believes could be far more ambitious. 

“Too often, organization design is a reflex,” she explains. “We solve yesterday’s problems. Complexity thinking asks us to face forward—to design for the next 25 or 30 years—not the next restructure.” 

Sharon’s work challenges leaders to look beyond the org chart and ask deeper questions: What kind of workplace might sustain human and ecological flourishment? What long-term patterns are we shaping now? 

Sharon’s curiosity is infectious; practical, yet visionary. “Complexity invites us to think differently about what design could be,” she says. 

→ Sharon will explore this live with Nick Wilding and DOC-curious participants at our December 1st online faculty workshop. 

Slowing Down to Go Further—Nick Wilding 

In his day job, Nick Wilding helps steer Scotland’s transition toward its climate and biodiversity targets—a transformation touching every corner of society. At first glance, his world couldn’t be more different from a reflexive doctoral program. Yet, as he tells it, they are deeply connected. 

“In the Scottish Government, the pace can be frenetic,” Nick says. “What I get—and what I offer—through this work with Ashridge is the space to breathe, to slow down, and to ask: who needs to be in this conversation?” 

For Nick, action research isn’t abstract methodology; it’s a practice of inclusion and integrity. “We can’t make this transition alone,” he says. “We need all the voices in the room—especially those not usually invited.” 

His question lingers: If not us, who? If not now, when? 

→ Join Nick and Sharon for our upcoming faculty workshop, ‘Change in a changing world: What approaches might help?’ where we’ll explore what happens when real-world challenges meet reflection. 

A different kind of Doctorate 

What unites these four practitioners isn’t a single model or framework but a shared stance: curiosity, reflexivity, and a belief that sustainable change starts with how we pay attention. 

If you sense that traditional change models aren’t enough for the complexity you face, this faculty’s invitation is simple: pause, inquire, and bring change differently. 

Our new cohort join us in January to embark on a radical new journey with the Ashridge Doctorate in Organizational Change. Interested in applying? Email caroline.monfort@ashridge.hult.edu or visit the website. 

→ Register for “Change in a changing world: What approaches might help?’”—a free online faculty workshop with Dr. Sharon Varney and Dr. Nick Wilding on December 1st at 12:30-2pm (GMT). 

Register Here