Second City Works presents "Getting to Yes, And" Getting to Yes, And… | Caroline Stokes – A Call for Radical Collaboration
Dec 2, 2025
Caroline Stokes, author and leadership coach who helped launch PlayStation, returns to discuss her new book on reinvention. She explores leadership nervous systems, the aftershock era demanding systemic change by 2030, AI’s promise and paradox, trauma’s workplace impact, the power of confession, and how improv practices reshape leading and following.
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Nervous System Must Say Yes Before Change
- Real change requires the nervous system to accept it before behavior follows.
- Caroline says that 'yes' to change arrives at different times and once it lands people must redesign communication, habits, and business practices.
Act Now To Hit 2030 Net Zero
- Prioritize systemic shifts now because we have until 2030 to reach net zero and current distractions hinder progress.
- Caroline urges CEOs to pause long enough to reassess their role in consumerism, quarterly targets, and planetary survival.
VUCA Evolved Into BANI For Our Era
- The world shifted from VUCA to BANI to describe today's complexity as Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible.
- Caroline uses BANI to explain why organizations must adapt faster than traditional management thinking allows.
