Interview – Tony Walmsley and Martin Kerr on Leadership, Change, and Team Dynamics in the context of Asset Management

In this compelling conversation, Martin Kerr interviews Tony Walmsley, a former professional football manager turned leadership advisor, about the intersection between high-performance sport and organizational leadership. Drawing from over 30 years in elite football and his subsequent transition into consultancy, Tony explores the common threads that tie sport and business together—people, performance, and purpose.

The interview reflects on how Tony’s passion for helping individuals and teams achieve beyond what they believe possible continues to shape his work with industry leaders. Through rich analogies, such as asset management being a “team sport,” Tony and Martin delve into the nuances of leadership in complex environments, the dynamics of trust and motivation, and how clarity of purpose can align disparate individuals toward a shared outcome.

With reflections on real-world challenges—ranging from micromanagement to organisational silos—Tony unpacks how emotional readiness, autonomy, and empathy are central to building resilient, high-functioning teams. This conversation provides valuable insight for leaders navigating change, managing performance, and striving to build unity in diverse organisational settings.

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Tony Walmsley (Driving business performance through applied sports thinking)

Martin Kerr (Connecting People with Asset Management)

This is an unbiased Google Notebook LM-generated overview of the book Organizational Change Management for Asset Management. This 24-minute overview speaks to the themes and insights from the book available via your favorite DIGITAL STORE

I hope you get something from it...

Regards Martin

In this podcast I speak to the different elements of an Asset Management System / Framework. The insights provided are from years of implementation experience but also acknowledge that while there are technical aspects of Asset Management, it is an organizational consideration.

• A Framework for Decision Making
• Plan, Do, Check & Act
• Governance and Decision Making
• Framework vs System
• Asset Management Policy
• Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP)
• Asset Management Plan (AMP)

I will discuss key concepts that will help you understand not only what Asset Management is but what it seeks to do. These insights come from years of implementation experience and I hope they will broaden your mind to the fact that everyone on earth is doing Asset Management, but most don't understand that they are. The topics within this podcast are:

• You're already doing Asset Management
• Examples of Value
• Asset Management vs the Management of Assets
• Demand to Value
• Cost, Risk and Performance
• Asset Management Definition
• hy is an Asset?
• What is an Asset?
• You and Asset Management

Different types of Change

Change can be categorized into one of three types:

• Strategic Change
• Tactical Change
• Operational Change

Positioning the type of change creates a context for stakeholders. Types of change are a great way to align Risk and Opportunity.

We have collected our learnings from the field and shared them for likeminded people working in Change, Asset Management and Management Systems. We hope that you will gain insights from our experiences. Each podcast is conveyed through the eyes of the person sharing the experience, not just an academic account of what occurred. These are real-life experiences and approaches.

Why are Principles important?

• They allow us to have purposeful discussions.
• They help us explain the continuum, not the destination.
• They are guiding and promote convergence.
• They are a great way to resolve the ambiguity.
• They assist us to navigate detail especially when we are not experts.
• They promote trust because they influence a discussion based on the outcome as opposed to the detail.

We have collected our learnings from the field and shared them for likeminded people working in Change, Asset Management and Management Systems. We hope that you will gain insights from our experiences. Each podcast is conveyed through the eyes of the person sharing the experience, not just an academic account of what occurred. These are real-life experiences and approaches.

What is a Change Hierarchy?

• Sets the scene for change by separating the WHY from the HOW.
• It is a simple, agnostic and scalable way in which to position change effort in an organization.
• An effective way to discuss the change in the correct context.
• Assists with visualizing and measuring the change.
• Supports business cases for change because people understand how the organization pictures itself now and the change ahead.

The hierarchy is narrow at the top but then spreads out across the organization.

We have collected our learnings from the field and shared them for likeminded people working in Change, Asset Management and Management Systems. We hope that you will gain insights from our experiences. Each podcast is conveyed through the eyes of the person sharing the experience, not just an academic account of what occurred. These are real-life experiences and approaches.

About Them...

• They are human (They have feelings and their own lives).
• They all contribute something (They have a purpose).
• They come to work for many reasons (Money is only one reason).
• They want to belong (Being part of a Team is a privilege).
• They want to be respected (They have knowledge and ideas).
• They want to feel safe (This requires reinforcement).
• They want to be heard (Everyone can contribute…Allow them).
• They want to be acknowledged (People like to be recognized occasionally for their contribution).

We have collected our learnings from the field and shared them for likeminded people working in Change, Asset Management and Management Systems. We hope that you will gain insights from our experiences. Each podcast is conveyed through the eyes of the person sharing the experience, not just an academic account of what occurred. These are real-life experiences and approaches.