Joanna Stone

About me

Do people own the change, or were they only ever complying?

That’s the shift I work on: helping organisations move from “we were told to” to “this is ours now.” Because when people own a change, nobody has to push them to keep it going, and it outlives the programme that started it.

Twenty years in, I’ve come at change from both sides, the business logic first and then the people. What I kept running into was well-made change that nobody kept. So I studied why. Then I went where it’s hardest: system rollouts, post-merger integration and fast growth. Long enough in the room with senior leaders and executive teams to tell the difference between real resistance and unanswered questions.

They say I’m a good listener. I am, to what’s said and to what sits between the lines. But sparring partner is the better description: a ping-pong of questions and ideas, back and forth until something clicks.

Creativity is where I go when change doesn’t need more planning or persuading. I build things people can walk into. Simulations, provocations, formats that make the stakes visceral before anyone has to be convinced. It’s why InContext fits me: this is a company built on the belief that people change when they experience something, not when they’re told about it.

I thrive on change myself. And I love helping people find their own appetite for it, including the ones who are certain they don’t have any.