159. Why We Resist Change (and What Leaders Can Do About It) with Dr Vish Ramakonar
Dr Vish Ramakonar is a change and neuroscience practitioner, academic and corporate trainer with a background in engineering, IT and project management. He lectures at Edith Cowan University and delivers evidence-based programs grounded in neuroscience to support organisational change, resilience, wellbeing and performance.
Vish is passionate about helping organisations create environments where people can adapt, innovate and thrive – not just survive.
In this episode of Ways to Change Your Workplace, Prina Shah is joined by Dr Vish Ramakonar for a deep, practical conversation about why humans resist change – and what leaders can actually do about it.
Vish brings together engineering, project management, change management, neuroscience and teaching to unpack what is really happening in our brains and bodies when change is introduced at work. This is not a surface-level change conversation. It goes beneath behaviours and into survival responses, habits, emotions and identity.
Together, Prina and Vish explore why change often feels exhausting, why resistance is not stubbornness, and how leaders can create the psychological safety required for people to genuinely adapt and embed new ways of working.
This episode is especially relevant for leaders navigating constant organisational change, technology transformations, restructures, or culture shifts.
Connect with Dr Vish: https://drvishramakonar.com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-vish-ramakonar-853a1512/
In this episode, we discuss:
• Why humans are biologically wired to resist change
• How the fight-or-flight response shows up at work
• The link between past experiences, emotions and resistance
• Why change takes more energy than we expect
• The role of habits, automatic behaviour and the subconscious mind
• Why constant change without recovery leads to overwhelm
• The difference between external change and internal transition
• Why people move through change at different speeds
• The neuroscience behind embedding new behaviours
• The cost of rushing change without support
• How leaders unknowingly trigger threat responses
• Ca
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Prina (Helping you find GREAT ways to change your workplace) Shah
