The Problem with Change: The Essential Nature of Human Performance

by Ashley Goodall

Brought to you by Penguin.

Change and innovation are the cornerstones of dynamic and modern business.

Or so we are told.

Whether it’s a merger or re-org; a new process, policy, or IT “solution”; or reconfiguring the office layout, change has become the ultimate easy button for leaders, who pursue it with abandon and thereby unleash an endless torrent of disruption on employees. The result is life in the a perpetual state of upheaval, uncertainty, and unease.

Yes, companies need to grow, innovate, and adapt to changing needs. But stressed-out employees rarely go the extra mile, chaos rarely produces agility or speed, and it’s hard innovate or grow while bleeding talent to turnover and quiet quitting. This is how change stymies the very progress that it seeks.

Drawing on decades spent leading HR operations at Deloitte and Cisco, Ashley Goodall explores the essential nature of human performance and offers a radical new alternative to the constant turbulence that defines corporate life. By prioritizing team cohesion (instead of reshuffling teams at will), by communicating in real words (rather than corporate speak), by striving for predictability (instead of charisma), by honoring shared rituals (instead of corporately-mandated bonding), by fixing only the things that are truly broken (instead of moving fast and breaking everything in sight) and more, leaders at every level can create environments that allow people to do the best work of their lives.

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Published May 9, 2024

About the author

I’m an executive, leadership expert, and author, and have spent my career exploring large organizations from the inside. I look for the lessons from the real world that help people and teams thrive, and that make work a more human place for all of the humans in it.

I’m the co-author, with Marcus Buckingham, of Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World (Harvard Business Review Press, April 2019), and of two cover stories in the Harvard Business Review: The Feedback Fallacy, (March/April 2019), and Reinventing Performance Management, (April 2015).

My first experiences of teams and leadership were as a student musician and conductor. I was fascinated by the unspoken understanding between people playing together and carried this fascination into the corporate world. I currently serve as the Senior Vice President of Leadership and Team Intelligence (LTI) at Cisco, an organization focused entirely on serving teams and team leaders.

I live in Montclair, NJ with my wife and son. Music has been inside me for as long as I can remember. I revel in the rhythms of words, songs, and human interactions. I look for humor in everyday situations. I love what makes people weird.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter (@littleplatoons), or Instagram (@ashley_goodall). And if you’re someone who believes, as I do, that work can be better, for all of us, than it is today, then join The Freethinking Leader Coalition to learn more at freethinkingleader.org.