John Fallon on corporate finance

John Fallon is the former CEO of Pearson, where he led one of the most challenging digital transformations of any publicly traded company—shifting a legacy publishing giant from selling ~20 million US college textbooks per year to a subscription-driven, digital platform business. This episode was recorded live at LHH’s Executive Exchange Conference in London, and John joins us to share hard-won leadership lessons from the front lines of disruption. For years we’ve been told only nimble startups survive disruption. But that story misses a quieter truth: most of the Fortune 500 was founded long before the internet—and many incumbents have adapted through multiple platform shifts. In his new book, Resurgent, John (with Julian Birkinshaw of London Business School) makes a contrarian case: established organizations can fight back—and even thrive—if they get clear on their enduring value, redesign for transformation, and lead change like the human “contact sport” it is. In this conversation, John breaks down why disruption often unfolds over decades (not months), how to separate a temporary headwind from a structural shift, and why identifying your company’s true “job to be done” matters more than clinging to any one product. He also shares practical leadership tools for navigating politics, building alignment, empowering middle managers, and sustaining people through prolonged upheaval. What you’ll learn in this episode • Why incumbents are often more resilient than we assume—and what the data says • How to spot the difference between “secular vs structural” change (and why timing is so hard) • The “job to be done” lens: how Pearson moved from textbooks to learning outcomes • Why digital transformation is less about tech and more about people, culture, and organizational design • How to reduce “the meeting after the meeting” and create real disagree-and-commit execution Episode Timeline 00:00 — Welcome + sponsor: LHH + live event context 01:10 — The big myth: “only startups win disruption” 03:55 — Why incumbents survive more than we think (Fortune 500 resilience) 06:10 — Disruption timing: why most industry shifts take years (and that can be harder) 07:55 — Pearson’s transformation 10:55 — “Secular vs structural” signals: why leaders get tricked by early stability 13:25 — Purpose and patience: why mission helps employees and markets endure the journey 16:00 — The “cross tests everything” idea: crisis reveals core identity (personal + corporate) 19:00 — Finding enduring value: the organization helped define it, not the CEO alone 21:00 — Middle managers as “shock absorbers” (and why they’re key to transformation) 24:00 — Why transformation is political: dual-speed orgs + legacy economics funding the future 27:55 — Centralize vs decentralize: where each model actually works 31:00 — CEO isolation: where to find real counsel (CFO, CPO/CHRO, chair/board, home) 33:55 — Culture vs strategy: why it’s a false dichotomy 36:10 — Close + thanks Additional Resources • Resurgent (book): https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/resurge... John Fallon on LinkedIn:   / johnfallonpearson   Thank you to our guest John Fallon. Thank you to our executive producer Zach Ness, our producer Nazanin Homayoun Jam and our editor James Pearce. If you like what you heard, please follow, download, and subscribe. — Kaihan Krippendorff