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Recent Blog Posts
Developing Change and Transformation Leadership Capability
Developing Change and Transformation Leadership Capability The Systematic Approach to Building Psychology-First Leadership Skills, How Leaders Develop the Capabilities to Support Psychological Transition, Measure Their Effectiveness, and Continuously Improve Their Ability to Lead Transformation Successfully The Capability Gap in Change Leadership Throughout this series, we’ve explored the psychological dimensions of change leadership: the distinction between change and transition, the importance of psychological safety, the authenticity paradox, navigating the neutral zone, supporting middle management, addressing competence crises, leading with measured vulnerability,…
Recognizing When You’re the Problem
Recognizing When You’re the Problem The Specific Leadership Behaviors That Create Resistance Even When the Change Is Necessary, How to Recognize When Your Approach Is Causing the Problems You’re Trying to Solve, and What to Do About It Without Losing Credibility The Uncomfortable Truth About Change and Transformation Resistance Leaders naturally attribute change and transformation resistance to others. Employees resist because they fear change. Middle managers resist because they’re protecting territory. Senior leaders resist because they’re invested in the status…
Managing Your Own Change and Transformation Psychology
Managing Your Own Change and Transformation Psychology Leaders Experience the Same Psychological Transitions They’re Asking Others to Navigate, But They’re Expected to Hide It: How to Process Your Own Grief, Uncertainty, and Competence Threats While Supporting Others Through the Same Experiences The Hidden Burden of Leading Change When leaders announce organizational change and transformation, they’re expected to project confidence, provide direction, and support others through uncertainty. What’s rarely acknowledged is that leaders are simultaneously navigating their own psychological transition. They…
Leading With Measured Vulnerability
Leading With Measured Vulnerability The Specific Types of Vulnerability That Build Trust Versus Those That Undermine Confidence, How Leaders Share Uncertainty Without Creating Anxiety, and the Art of Modeling Learning Without Appearing Incompetent The Vulnerability Paradox in Leadership Leadership literature increasingly celebrates vulnerability. Brene Brown’s research has made “vulnerability as strength” nearly conventional wisdom. Leaders are encouraged to admit mistakes, share struggles, and reveal their authentic selves. The underlying premise is sound: vulnerability builds trust, creates psychological safety, and models…
The Competence Crisis in Leadership
The Competence Crisis in Leadership Why Your Most Capable Leaders May Become Your Greatest Obstacles to Change, What Happens When Professional Identity Is Built on Expertise That Transformation Renders Obsolete, and How to Navigate the Psychology of Leadership Development During Disruption When Excellence Becomes the Enemy of Change One of the most counterintuitive phenomena in organizational transformation is how the leaders who excelled in the old paradigm often become the most significant obstacles to the new one. This isn’t because…
Middle Management’s Impossible Position
Middle Management’s Impossible Position Why Transformation Often Stalls at the Organizational Middle, How the Structural Position Between Strategy and Operations Creates Irresolvable Tensions, and What Leaders Can Do About It Caught Between Two Worlds Middle managers occupy a unique position during organizational transformation: they’re expected to simultaneously represent senior leadership’s strategic vision to their teams and represent their teams’ operational realities to senior leadership. During stable periods, this dual representation function works reasonably well. During transformation, it becomes structurally impossible…
Leading Through the Neutral Zone
Leading Through the Neutral Zone Why the Psychological Middle Ground of Transition Is Where Transformations Succeed or Fail, and How Leaders Can Navigate What William Bridges Called the Most Dangerous Phase of Change The Space Between What Was and What Will Be Every significant transformation includes a period that organizations rarely acknowledge and rarely plan for: the neutral zone. This is the psychological middle ground where the old way has definitively ended, but the new way isn’t fully functional yet…
Human Factor Podcast Season 1 Episode 009: Transformation Fatigue When Your Organization Can’t Absorb More Change
Episode 009 Transformation Fatigue – When Your Organization Can’t Absorb More Change Find Out Why You and Your Co-Workers Experience Cognitive Overload Hosts: Kevin Novak Duration: 29 minutes Available: December 4, 2025 🎙️Season 1, Episode 9 Episodes are available in both video and audio formats across all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and via RSS, among others. Transcript Available Below Episode Overview 70% of C-suite executives are considering leaving their roles to protect their well-being. Not…
The Transformation Plateau: Why Change Stalls in the Messy Middle
The Transformation Plateau: Why Change Stalls in the Messy Middle Issue 241, December 4, 2025 The early enthusiasm everyone on the team had was palpable. Six months ago, leaders announced a sweeping digital transformation initiative with all the fanfare that major change initiatives deserve. The town hall was packed, Slack channels were full of employee chatter, and everyone seemed optimistic. Executives spoke passionately about the future and the problems being solved. Early adopters volunteered eagerly for pilot programs. The organization’s…
The Truth About Transformation Revised and Expanded – Leading in the Age of AI, Uncertainty, and Human Complexity
When I published the first edition of “The Truth About Transformation” in 2022, organizational transformations were already failing at a stubborn 70% rate that had persisted for decades despite increasingly sophisticated technology, better project management methodologies, and unprecedented access to change management frameworks. The premise of that book was simple but uncomfortable: transformation failures aren’t primarily technology problems or strategy problems; they’re human psychology problems that organizations systematically ignore because addressing them requires confronting realities that make leaders uncomfortable. Three…
Human Factor Podcast Season 1 Episode 008: The 12 Hidden Types of Resistance – When Support Isn’t Support
Episode 008 The 12 Hidden Types of Resistance – When Support Isn’t Support Find Out Why and How You Might be Manifesting Resistance Hosts: Kevin Novak Duration: 34 minutes Available: November 26, 2025 🎙️Season 1, Episode 8 Episodes are available in both video and audio formats across all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and via RSS, among others. Transcript Available Below Episode Overview Kevin Novak reveals why 80% of project failures come from psychological resistance operating…
Ideas and Innovations Thanksgiving Week Sampler 2025 – A Season of Reflection and Gratitude
Ideas and Innovations Thanksgiving Week Sampler 2025 A Season of Reflection and Gratitude Issue 240, November 27, 2025 As we gather around tables this Thanksgiving week, we pause to recognize what truly matters in our organizations and our lives. The season of gratitude invites us to reflect on the connections we’ve built, the communities we’ve fostered, and the shared purposes that bind us together. This week, rather than exploring a single topic, we’re offering a curated sampler of seven Ideas…