Chris White

On Making Positive Psychology Work podcast, Chris White talks change from the inside out

November 7, 2016


In the latest episode of her “Making Positive Psychology Work” podcast, Michelle McQuaid interviewed CPO Managing Director Chris White.

Together they discussed “social intrapreneurship” or the practice of creating change in organizations, and how individuals without authority can make positive change. “Making change in organizations is a lot like making change in society, so we can learn a lot from social movement activists and apply it to our context,” White told McQuaid. Identifying ways to activate change, White mentioned four key factors: timing of the change, the coalition of people reacting to the change (positively or negatively), how the change is proposed to stakeholders at all levels, and lowering the barrier to enact change in individual organizations’ respective contexts.

Chris White teaches the Michigan Ross course on social intrepreneurship and with Gerald Davis, he co-wrote the book Changing Your Company from the Inside Out.