ChangeMakers

We jump on the World Cup band wagon to talk about what team support and our collective enthusiasm for it tells us about organisations, associational life and democracy.Of course, there is plenty to chat about given all the political interference in these games - and we do talk about Trump and his sporting "knowledge" - but we focus on what we know, the analogies and lessons about strong and weak organisations and whether there are lessons for us all in how we make change.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more about Samuel:Personal site: https://www.samuelmchu.comThe Campaign for Hong Kong: https://www.thecampaignforhongkong.orgDemocracy in Flight: https://www.democracyinflight.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelmchuTwitter/X: https://x.com/samuelmchuFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/samuelmchuInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/samuelmchuFor more about Amanda:Personal site: https://amandatattersall.com/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersallHer new books are called People Power in Cities & Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference.

Anna Funder is one of Australia's most successful and accomplished writers. She has used her craft to explore power abuse and people's response, whether through stories about life under the Stasi in East Germany, the rise of Hitler, or by giving voice to the agency of Eileen O'shaughnessy - the wife of George Orwell. In telling new stories about power she has challenged the narratives of the powerful.In this conversation we explore how her writing is an act of change making, but also what the perspective of a writer might offer to those who seek to make change. Its a celebration of the power of all of us - our ordinary extraordinariness. She also shares how the kind of everyday outrage that we all experience has effected her in particular, driving her to advocate for writing and against the wanton content stealing that is enabling AI and the Tech Bros to make money.Photo credit: Michele Aboud.Anna will be part of an Australian speaking tour in August 2026, dates and tickets can be found here: https://thinkable.events/tours/an-evening-with-anna-funder.You can find out more about Anna's books here:https://www.annafunder.com/Anna's closing address at the 2025 Writers Festival, that we mention in the podcast, is here.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie GrantPeople Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni PressOn Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersallOn Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni PressAmanda is on Socials here:On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersallTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall

The Prime Minister of the Labour Party in the UK just resigned, and looks set to be replaced by Andy Burnham.It got us thinking, what can you change (and not change) when you change leaders? We aren't particularly focused on the specifics of the UK situation - but we wanted to reflect broadly on what it means for organisations to change leaders, and what it takes to change organisational culture, practice and impact in the process.Amanda initiated this digest, having just spent time in the UK and being from Australia, where removing Prime Ministers is a kind of sport. Samuel chips in reflecting on the culture of political parties in the US and organisations he has been part of.In the conversation Amanda mentions two books, they are:People Power in Cities - order it via here - (which talks about the power of failure in strategy)Conscious Tribes - which you can pre-order now (and has the story about the school in it)For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more about Samuel:Personal site: https://www.samuelmchu.comThe Campaign for Hong Kong: https://www.thecampaignforhongkong.orgDemocracy in Flight: https://www.democracyinflight.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelmchuTwitter/X: https://x.com/samuelmchuFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/samuelmchuInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/samuelmchuFor more about Amanda:Personal site: https://amandatattersall.com/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall

Leisel Jones is an Australian household name. She is a champion swimmer with 3 Olympic Gold medals and participated in four Olympics. In her post-Olympic career she has become a powerful advocate, lifting the lid on the kind of pressures and pain that are put onto young hopeful Olympians and sharing her own mental health struggles.She has written about these stories with Felicity McLean in the book Body Lengths.This is how host Amanda Tattersall met Leisel - they were both invited to speak at the Albury Winter Solstice event in 2024. For more on the event see here.In this chat Leisel shares about the some of the challenges she experienced in her Olympic journey and how that led her to advocate around mental health.For more about Leisel: https://leiseljones.com.au/For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie GrantPeople Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni PressOn Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersallOn Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni PressAmanda is on Socials here:On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersallTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersallAmanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ 

Dr Daniel Nour considers himself an accidental change maker, but he is also a pretty prodigious one. A doctor, inspired by the health care that helped his brother as a child, it was an experience offering emergency medical care to a homeless man in London during his medical studies that left him unable to ignore the gaps in the healthcare system, especially for marginalised communities.In response in Australia he created Street Side Medics, a mobile general practice unit that meets and provides medical care to people that are homeless in the places where they are at - at food venues. It started in Sydney and has spread across Australia. His work led him to be recognised as 2022 Young Australian of the Year.Here he talks about that journey and what he learnt creating something from nothing. He explores the art of founding an organisation, the limits of planning and the importance of mentors and vision.For more on Street Side Medics: https://www.streetsidemedics.com.au/For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie GrantPeople Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni PressOn Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersallOn Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni PressAmanda is on Socials here:On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersallTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersallAmanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/

Democracy is in trouble right now. In the US, Trump’s authoritarian impulses are closing over the checks and balances that used to make space for people to participate. In the UK the success of Reform in May’s local government elections reveal that people are increasingly seeing politics as elite sport - choosing to attack the system as a whole. In Australia, the success of One Nation in recent bi-elections suggests that it is also not immune from this anti-democratic movement.In this chat with democracy academic Hahrie Han we explore this challenge, and some seeds of hope that are emerging at the local scale. Recorded ahead of the UCL Policy Lab’s Ecosystem Project gathering in May 2026 (where Hahie and Amanda are both speaking), they talk about source of hope that lie in the practices of a politics that can build spaces that can invite and explore people who are different, and have different opinions to work together.Things might be grim, but we are never without power. This conversation seeks to make practical where collaboration across our differences can make a difference.======We talked with Hahrie back in 2019 - take a listen to it here: https://changemakerspodcast.org/hahrie-han-changemaker-chat/For more on the UCL Ecosystem project, visit: https://ecosystem-project.ucl.ac.uk/For more about Hahrie Han’s work (including her latest book Undivided and her many books on organising, people power and making change), visit: https://www.hahriehan.com/For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)We have a brand new podcast called ChangeMakers Digest - co-hosted by Samuel Chu and Amanda Tattersall, take a listen: https://changemakerspodcast.org/category/episodes/digest/You can keep up to date via:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie GrantPeople Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni PressOn Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersallOn Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni PressAmanda is on Socials here:On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersallTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall