S3•E5 Phil Gilbert
From This Is A Prototype by Doug Powell
December 4, 2025 · 60 min · Season 3 · Episode 5
About this episode
Phil Gilbert discusses his book on driving sustainable change in organizations, drawing from his experience at IBM.
One of the core principles of my leadership courses and coaching engagements is that, as design leaders, we are always agents of change in complex, scaled organizations, always challenging entrenched ways of working and cultural norms, especially in legacy enterprises. But here’s the thing: transforming a company is far easier said than done . In his new book Irresistible Change: A Blueprint for Earning Buy-in and Breakout Success , Phil Gilbert provides an actionable playbook for leaders across disciplines to drive durable, sustainable, and scalable change by turning change itself into a product, and by managing it as you would an early stage startup. Phil was the General Manager of Design at IBM between 2012-2021, and the book documents the design-driven transformation he architected at that historic global technology company during those years, a transformation that included adding more than 3,000 practicing designers to the company globally, and training more than 200,000 IBMers as design thinkers. Last month, I sat down with Phil at the State Theatre in downtown Austin, Texas—the home base for the IBM Design program and its flagship studio—for an evening of stories from our…
People in this episode
Host: Doug Powell
Guest: Phil Gilbert
Topics covered
- leadership
- design transformation
- organizational change
- design thinking
- business strategy
Keywords
- leadership
- design
- change management
- IBM
- Phil Gilbert
- Doug Powell
- design thinking
- organizational transformation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: IBM
Products: Irresistible Change: A Blueprint for Earning Buy-in and Breakout Success
Places: Austin, Texas
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