42. The Top 3 Skills Change Agents Need in 2026

Want to build skills like this to help your team succeed in 2026? ⁠Learn about our Capability Catalyst program⁠.

Enterprise change is getting harder, not easier—and in 2026, “having the right ideas” isn’t enough to move transformation. You need personal capability that lets you see what’s really happening, design with real users, and move groups through hard conversations without turning everything into theater. Good intentions and smart frameworks may have worked in the past, but what got us here won’t get us where we need to go.

In this episode, Rodney and Sam dive deep on the three most useful transformation enabling skills for the coming year, and share practical ways for how to level up your capability toolkit to thrive in our current pace of change.

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Mentioned references:

• Sam's teaching
• metacognition
• Bloom's taxonomy
• "MG" - McChrystal Group
• situational awareness
• "the balcony"
• The Mom Test
• The Future of HR
• Matt Basford
• "business model fit chart"
• "Henry Ford quote"
• Liberating Structures

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s good right now?

04:09 The Pattern

05:49 Skill 1: Metacognitive awareness

10:16 Reframing your interactions and experiences

15:57 Building your metacognition skills

21:05 Skill 2: User-Centered Design and Feedback

28:45 User feedback is not a one time activity

34:34 Skill 3: Expert facilitation

39:39 Real skilled facilitation is mostly invisible

43:03 Lots of work happens outside the room

50:08 Leveling up as a facilitator

52:30 Wrap up: Leave the show a review and share with a friend

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.