Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: Best of First Half of 2026
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News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better.
A midyear roundup of the ten most-clicked Operational Excellence Mixtape links from the first half of 2026, covering leadership, productivity, decision-making, change management, respect for people, and AI. The list shows that readers remain interested in both enduring management principles and emerging questions about how AI will reshape work.
Hi Readers – In need of a Summer break, I've compiled the Top 10 most-clicked links from the first 6 months of 2026, which proved once again that I have no idea what people are most likely to click on. Readers seem to like a mix of old and new. Enduring principles and emerging questions around AI and the workforce.
Here, in descending order, are the most clicked links of 2026:
“Respect for people” might be one of the more nuanced and complex principles of enterprise excellence. So it wasn't surprising that many readers wanted to learn more from Jamie Flinchbaugh on the 4 myths about the principle of “respect for people”.
Putting up a sign is the most ineffective countermeasure to behavioural risk – but it's cheap, easy, and lets you abdicate accountability, so it remains the lazy problem solver's favorite. At least it's good for a laugh, which is what readers found in Mark Graban's artfully curated archive of ridiculous visual edicts admonishing employees to be “more careful”.
Old ideas about influence — “being right,” “being authentic,” “being the hero” — don't cut it in increasingly complex organizations. Readers clicked on a lengthy but compelling essay by Richard Claydon on influence in the modern organization.
January seems like an eternity ago, but readers entering the New Year were clicking on Daniel Pink's advice on how to make 2026 the best year of their lives.
Similarly, readers were keen to learn from productivity expert Cal Newport on the 2 routines to add to your workday in 2026.
Will AI lead to a “happily ever after” ending in the workplace? Time will tell. But Steve Denning explains how Cinderella can help CEOs understand AI and value creation.
If you build a RACI, then clarity will come… not so much. As collaboration increases in organizations, traditional approaches to clarifying decision-rights and accountability are falling short. HBR's Lindy Greer, Jennifer Jordan, and Maxim Sytch lay out what companies get wrong about decision rights and what to do instead.
A lot has changed, even in change management. The old playbooks of linear change processes, project management approaches, and templated change management are failing. PEX Network's Michael Hill rounds up 7 change management myths leaders still believe. Now, let's explain what they should be doing instead.
Operational excellence is obviously something we should all strive for. Right? Maybe not. A former McKinsey advisor explains why operational excellence may be a liability in the current AI arms race.
Who will thrive in the AI workforce? Will the future of work unleash the power of the curious generalist or usher in a dystopia of fully automated knowledge work? Art Smalley reminds AI prognosticators to consider how AI will help all employees think better.
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