Kevin Novak

The Identity Problem in Measurement Why Leaders Measure What Protects Them Instead of What Reveals Them Measuring What Matters Series Issue 268, June 11, 2026 A division vice president I worked with at a client several years ago sat across from me with a single page in his hand. It contained five proposed additions to his quarterly scorecard. Four of them he approved readily and without comment. The fifth, a measure of how often projects under his division were re-scoped…

Kevin Novak

June 10, 2026

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Human Factor Podcast

Human Factor Podcast Season 2 Episode 026: The Readiness Illusion: Why the AI Agent Era’s Loudest Claims Outrun the Evidence

Episode 026 The Readiness Illusion: Why the AI Agent Era’s Loudest Claims Outrun the Evidence The Agent Era Is Real. We Are Not Yet Ready for It. Both of Those Statements can Be True at the Same Time. Host: Kevin Novak Duration: 25 minutes Available: June 4, 2026 🎙️Season 2, Episode 26 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…

Kevin Novak

June 4, 2026

Two individual minds sharing wavelengths

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Beyond Demographics – The Psychology of Communication That Actually Drives Engagement

Beyond Demographics – The Psychology of Communication That Actually Drives Engagement Issue 267, June 4, 2026 I asked a room of more than 500 association professionals at the ASAE Membership, Marketing, Communications and Technology Conference this week to try something simple. Turn to the person next to you and share one example of two members who look identical on paper but behave completely differently. They erupted in conversation after conversation in what was a packed room. I had to raise…

Kevin Novak

June 3, 2026

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Human Factor Podcast

Human Factor Podcast Season 2 Episode 025: The Collective Transformation Problem: When an Entire Industry Has to Change at Once

Episode 025 The Collective Transformation Problem: When an Entire Industry Has to Change at Once Explore the Human Dynamics of Collective Industry and Organizational Transformation Host: Kevin Novak | Guest: Eric Hoplin Duration: 61 minutes Available: May 29, 2026 🎙️Season 2, Episode 25 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 Season 2, Episode 12 | 025…

Kevin Novak

May 29, 2026

Trust scale on a purple gradient background

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Measuring Trust as a Behavioral Asset – How to Operationalize the Most Important Intangible in Organizations

Measuring Trust as a Behavioral Asset – How to Operationalize the Most Important Intangible in Organizations Issue 266, May 28, 2026 A client I worked with several years ago published trust survey results showing 84 percent of customers reporting high trust in the institution. The figure was prominently displayed in the annual report, repeated in every stakeholder and governance meeting, and used as a justification for the client’s strategy of competing on relationship quality rather than discounts. Two years later,…

Kevin Novak

May 27, 2026

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Human Factor Podcast

Human Factor Podcast Season 2 Episode 024: The Growth Trap – What Scaling Reveals About the Human Side of Transformation

Episode 024 The Growth Trap: What Scaling Reveals About the Human Side of Transformation What Breaks When an Organization Scales Faster than Its People Can Adapt Host: Kevin Novak | Guest: Mike Perino Duration: 69 minutes Available: May 21, 2026 🎙️Season 2, Episode 24 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 Season 2, Episode 11 |…

Kevin Novak

May 21, 2026

Shining Prism reflecting on a purple gradient background

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Readiness Illusion – Why the AI Agent Era’s Loudest Claims Outrun the Evidence

The Readiness Illusion: Why the AI Agent Era’s Loudest Claims Outrun the Evidence Issue 265, May 21, 2026 I have been working with large language models long enough now to have formed a view that runs against the way most of the market is talking about this right now. I sat recently with a request that should have been straightforward. The model produced an output that looked confident and was wrong in ways that mattered. I corrected it. The next…

Kevin Novak

May 20, 2026

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Human Factor Podcast

Human Factor Podcast Season 2 Episode 023: The Pattern Spotter – What You See When You Are Inside Thirty Organizations at Once

Episode 023 The Pattern Spotter: What You See When You Are Inside Thirty Organizations At Once Explore the Recurring Human Behaviors, Resistance Patterns, and Cultural Dynamics that Repeat Host: Kevin Novak | Guest: Erin Fuller Duration: 59 minutes Available: May 14, 2026 🎙️Season 2, Episode 23 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 Season 2, Episode…

Kevin Novak

May 14, 2026

Earthen Fault Line with Lava in purple gradients

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Generational Fault Line – Why Your Change Initiative Lands Five Different Ways

The Generational Fault Line – Why Your Change Initiative Lands Five Different Ways Navigating the Psychology of Generational Identity During Organizational Transformation Issue 264, May 14, 2026 Think about the last major change initiative your organization launched. Not the strategy behind it or the technology that powered it, but the way it actually landed on the people in the room. Was there a pattern? Did the people who had been with the organization the longest push back the hardest? Did…

Kevin Novak

May 13, 2026

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Human Factor Podcast

Human Factor Podcast Season 2 Episode 022: The Diagnostic Map: Why Transformation Fails at the Human Level

Episode 022 The Diagnostic Map: Why Transformation Fails at the Human Level An Eight-Question Diagnostic Map that Leaders can Use before Designing any Transformation Initiative Host: Kevin Novak Duration: 34 minutes Available: May 7, 2026 🎙️Season 2, Episode 22 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 Imagine you are a physician and a patient walks into…

Kevin Novak

May 7, 2026

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