This mixtape-style post curates ideas and examples about making work better through systems, leadership, and culture. It challenges self-improvement thinking that assumes people need fixing, drawing on Oliver Burkeman and James Clear to argue that behavior is shaped more by systems and environments than by discipline or willpower.
The post points to GE Aerospace as evidence that Lean works when continuous improvement is the operating system, not a side initiative, with CEO Larry Culp emphasizing employee-led improvement and customer-defined value. Other themes include why many improvement efforts fail to stick, the limits of tools like SWOT and OKRs, the role of relationship-building “bridgers” in scaling change, flat employee engagement data from Gallup, and the need for human-centered leadership when rolling out AI.
News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better.
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email.
Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation
Lean delivers measurably better value at GE Aerospace
It's pretty well-documented that the lean revolution failed to materialize throughout the 21st century. Why? Pick your reasons. But in general, if you want something to change you need to deliver reliable results.
GE Aerospace released its 2025 Q4 report where CEO Larry Culp credits his lean management system with “driving incremental gains that compounded into meaningful operational improvements”, with revenue and profits consistently up by double digit percentages. In his letter to shareholders, Culp leads his letter to shareholders with a story of an employee-led improvement (such as an electronic tape dispenser called the “Gerald” named after a plant leader) as a proof point of how a culture of continuous improvement is helping drive measurably better value.
What makes Culp's letter so powerful? He reminds us that respect for people is operational, not philosophical, and that value is measured by the customer, not just financial statements.
Why most continuous improvement programs don't stick
Culp is the exception and not the rule when it comes to leaders and continuous improvement. Most continuous improvement programs are implemented as something “on top” of the core responsibilities of teams. The results are predictable: improvement becomes optional as sponsorship and excitement fade and the pressures of day-to-day operations crowd improvement efforts out. In other words improvement is not continuous. Continuous improvement sticks when it stops being an initiative and starts becoming the operating system.
SWOT and OKRs are not strategy
Most of us were taught that strategy is an analytical practice, where deduction will lead us to a perfect set of tactics to be deployed to the workforce. Roger Martin, renowned author of Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Work, believes that everything we learned in business school about strategy is wrong.
Martin joins Tiffani Bova to reflect on the hundreds of articles he has posted about strategy on Medium in the first installment of a 12-part series on strategy. I can't wait for the rest!
Creating a Culture of Improvement
Do you have enough ‘bridgers' in your organization?
Every organization believes that innovation is something you test in a small corner and, once its proven, scales readily across the organization. And every organization is then disappointed when the scale fails to emerge. I even wrote about my own experience with the failure of ‘model cells', citing the need for personal connection to drive adoption. It turns out that I may have been onto something.
Employee engagement remains unchanged, lower than 2020 peak
Gallup's engagement survey shows that US employee engagement remains unchanged from 2024 to 2025 at 31% engaged, down from the 2020 peak of 36%. What can leaders do about it? According to the survey, clarity is caring. Employees want to know that their leaders care about them, set clear expectations, and provide role clarity. Not a tall order in my opinion.
Human oversight and change management are non-negotiable when leading through AI
The world was abuzz after the World Economic Forum 2026 Annual Meeting in Davos, mostly due to the speeches of several world leaders, including a memorable one by my country's leader. But politics weren't the only thing discussed. Marie Myers, CFO of Hewlett Packard, shared HP's AI rollout as a change management journey, and reminds us that the future still belongs to human-centred leaders.
Coaching – Developing Self & Others
At some point, you're going to have to eat a marshmallow
I post a lot about self-improvement, habits, time-hacks etc., and I've personally gained a lot of insight from many of these ideas. But many of these techniques start from the premise that there's something wrong with us that needs fixing. Oliver Burkeman challenges us to simply dedicate more time to things we truly enjoy in 2026.
Discipline isn't the most common habit among people with self-control
Any improvement professional or influencer knows that simply relying on people's goodwill to perform well is doomed to fail. This is why putting up the signs and re-educating/re-telling consistently fails to produce change. Prevention strategies beats will power every time. Habit guru James Clear shares that discipline isn't the key to self-control – creating an environment that prevents temptation is.
For a good chuckle, check out Mark Graban's collection of ridiculous signs from managers attempting to change behaviours.
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If you’re working to build a culture where people feel safe to speak up, solve problems, and improve every day, I’d be glad to help. Let’s talk about how to strengthen Psychological Safety and Continuous Improvement in your organization.
