Navigating Change with Confidence: Insights from Antonia Seymour, CEO of IOP Publishing ALPSP Career Club Webinar | 10 June 2025

In a compelling session chaired by Abigail Barclay - MD of Inspired Search, our executive search division, the audience of the ALPSP Career Club heard from Antonia Seymour, CEO of IOP Publishing (IOPP), about what it takes to lead through transformation with confidence, empathy, and purpose.

Leading Through Unprecedented Change

Antonia opened by reflecting on how the nature of change itself has shifted. “We used to talk about a VUCA world—volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous,” she said. “Now it’s a BANI world: brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible.” Change is no longer episodic—it’s constant, and the stakes have never been higher.

At IOPP, as for many of our clients and indeed ourselves, navigating the pandemic was a defining challenge. While switching to remote work was a rapid and necessary pivot, the real complexity came in shaping what came next into how to shift to a ‘new normal’. Antonia led a transformation of the physical workspace into a “magnet office”—an attractive, flexible space designed to encourage connection and collaboration, complete with great coffee and even a bar. Alongside this, Antonia oversaw the transition of IOPP’s business model to better support open access publishing. This strategic pivot brought in fresh investment and underscored how change can be a positive force—change can indeed be a very positive thing, despite the word so often being associated with feelings of uncertainty and discomfort. A key factor of making change a positive experience is if the people involved  feel a sense of agency and control, and this is where communication is vital… 

Communication, Purpose, and Trust

At the heart of successful change is clear and consistent communication. Antonia stressed the need to always connect back to purpose: if people can understand how the change is in fact consistent with your overall purpose and mission as an organisation, it’s a lot easier for them to engage with that change. Regular employee surveys, open forums, and accessible leadership all help create a culture of listening, trust, and inclusion. The conversation reminded us that while having processes in place to manage finite changes is important, what’s even more critical is having an overall business culture that allows for change. The foundations of this can be built with celebrating small wins, recognising progress, and encouraging feedback. “You don’t need to have all the answers,” Antonia noted. “It’s okay to fail, as long as you learn.” She emphasised leading with humility and co-creating solutions with the team which all helps cement that change-ready culture. 

Making Tough Calls with Empathy

Collaboration is one of the most important priorities for many of our clients, and most important skills to have – indeed, it is on our own core values. It is no surprise therefore that IOPP values collaboration extremely highly, but Antonia also acknowledged that decisiveness is essential when time is short and change requirements are urgent. “You can’t wait for consensus every time,” she said. “Sometimes you need to commit based on the best information you have and stay open to course-correcting.” In sensitive moments—like restructures—she underscored the need to balance firm decision-making with human support such as career counselling and transition services. In other words, while you can’t always wait for consensus, you can always be kind (another Inspired core value!). 

Performing While Transforming

Abigail asked Antonia to share her experience and insight into how businesses manage the balancing act between innovating, making change happen, with continuing to manage the business-as-usual (BAU) activities. IOPP anchors its leadership around four pillars: communication and strategy, short-term goals, external market navigation, and staff development. By breaking the business activities down into these four areas and having clear activities and goals for each, the team can monitor the performance of the necessary BAU alongside driving transformation. And in fact, it’s within these granular activities that a lot of the real change happens: transformation can be the sum of small, daily actions. 

The Future of Scholarly Publishing

Looking ahead, Antonia believes the industry must better articulate its value. With AI, political shifts, and increased scrutiny, scholarly publishing is under pressure. “We can’t assume people understand what we do,” she warned. “We need to be ready to step into the spotlight.”

Personal Insights and Advice

On a personal level, Antonia shared the importance of grit, resilience, and embracing discomfort. “The scariest moment is right before you press ‘go’,” she said. “But once you’re in it, you navigate it. Be brave—and remember, failure teaches us something valuable.”

By cultivating “power skills” like curiosity, flexibility, proactivity, and a growth mindset we can all be change agents! These traits will not only future-proof careers but also help build cultures that thrive through change.

If you are feeling ready for a change in your career or would like to discuss how Inspired can support your ideas about team changes and development, please don’t hesitate to contact us!