About Change Strategists

Want To Know More About Me?

Change is challenging, we all know that. But at some point, every business has to go through it. Change is necessary for growth, whether it’s a shift in strategy, a change in leadership, or a transformation in the market.And that’s where we come in.

Change can be scary, but with the right tools and strategies, it can actually help you succeed. We’re not just about change management specific tools; we’re about providing you with resources that can help market your business and drive growth.

About Mark Draper

The human side of AI transformation is harder than the technology. I help leaders get it right.

I spent 17 years inside a fast-scaling business, owning the kind of work that rarely gets a title: making sure that when something new launched, it actually worked — for the people building it, for the people selling it, and for the customers on the other end.

At Verastar, that meant launching three virtual mobile networks on the EE network, negotiating the UK’s first independent virtual electricity arrangement with SSE, and building Sinq Power Ltd from the ground up as a fully licensed electricity supplier. None of those projects succeeded because the technology was clever. They succeeded because the people, processes, and systems around the technology were ready.

That’s 17 years of learning that change doesn’t fail in the boardroom. It fails in the gap between the decision and the delivery.

A bald man with a trimmed beard, wearing a navy blue shirt, stands indoors near a window with a softly blurred background.

Why change management for AI?

When I left corporate life and started working directly with business owners and leadership teams, I kept seeing a pattern. The organisations that struggled with AI adoption weren’t failing because they chose the wrong tools. They were failing because they underestimated what it takes to get people — real people, with real habits and real concerns — to change how they work.

I’ve been studying and practising change management since founding Change Strategists in 2022, building one of the UK’s most-read independent resources on the subject. I’ve lived the frameworks (ADKAR, Kotter, Knoster) through real-world deployments — not as a theorist, but as someone who has stood in front of resistant teams and worked out how to move them forward.

What I bring to your AI transformation

  • 20+ years leading multi-team delivery across product, operations, and technology in regulated industries
  • Practical experience deploying digital transformation at scale — from CRM overhaul to regulatory compliance programmes to greenfield product launches
  • Deep grounding in change management methodology with real operational context
  • BSc (Hons) Psychology, University of Staffordshire — which turns out to be the most useful qualification I have when the conversation turns to why people resist change

I work with CEOs, COOs, and HR Directors at companies typically between 100 and 2,000 people, where AI adoption is a board-level priority but the path to making it stick is unclear.

Let’s talk

If you’re under pressure to move your organisation forward with AI and you’re not sure how to bring your people with you, that’s exactly the conversation I’d like to have.