In this HCI Webinar, I talk with Ashlie Marshall about the importance of empathetic leadership in the modern world of work. Ashlie Marshall is a results-driven Chief Strategy Officer at Tier Level who transforms digital marketing challenges into growth opportunities. Since joining the company in 2018, she rapidly advanced from Account Manager to CSO through her exceptional ability to build client relationships and deliver measurable business outcomes. In her current role, Ashlie collaborates with business owners to develop customized digital marketing strategies that align with their organizational culture while driving revenue growth. She simultaneously leads Tier Level's strategic initiatives, establishing infrastructure that positions the company as an industry leader. Ashlie's professional journey reflects her determination to overcome obstacles and help others succeed. Her balanced perspective as a strategist, marketing professional, team leader, wife, and mother informs her holistic approach to business challenges. Through authentic partnerships and forward-thinking leadership, Ashlie continues to create meaningful impact for clients and colleagues alike.

In today’s rapidly evolving world, constant change has become the norm rather than the exception, leading to a phenomenon known as change fatigue—an emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by relentless change without adequate recovery. This fatigue diminishes individuals’ ability to adapt, learn, and engage, fostering cynicism and disengagement that ultimately erode team cohesion, trust, and organizational effectiveness. Change fatigue results in a significant drop in employee willingness to support new initiatives, thereby increasing the risk of project failures and stalling innovation. Traditional approaches to managing change—as isolated, episodic projects—no longer suffice and may inadvertently exacerbate fatigue by pushing teams beyond their limits. Highlights 🏃‍♂️ Change fatigue is emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by relentless change without enough recovery time. ⚡ Change fatigue sharply reduces employees’ motivation, willingness to learn, and engagement, undermining organizational progress. 🤝 Trust and collaboration erode under change fatigue, leading to siloed work and decreased innovation. 🔄 Traditional episodic change management is ineffective and can increase fatigue. 🧠 “Change fitness” builds organizational adaptability through daily practices rather than isolated projects. 📅 Establishing predictable routines helps reduce anxiety and mental load amid constant uncertainty. 🌱 Starting small with one team and simple practices creates momentum for lasting cultural transformation. Key Insights 🔋 Change fatigue drains organizational energy like a smartphone battery: Just as continuous usage depletes a phone’s battery, relentless change consumes employees’ mental and emotional reserves. Each new decision or piece of information is a power drain. Without sufficient recharge, individuals and teams lose the capacity to adapt, innovate, or collaborate effectively. This metaphor highlights the need for intentional recovery and management of change load to sustain organizational vitality. 🧩 Change fatigue erodes trust, the glue of effective teams: When overwhelmed, employees become less willing to be vulnerable, share ideas, or provide honest feedback. This withdrawal fractures collaboration and increases siloed behaviors. Trust is foundational for psychological safety, which is essential for innovation and agile adaptation. Organizations ignoring this risk may see declining team performance and creativity, which directly impacts their ability to implement change successfully. 📉 Employee willingness to support change can drop by 50% under fatigue: The Gartner study cited underscores a critical tipping point: high change fatigue dramatically reduces active support for new initiatives. This decline compromises project success and wastes resources. Leaders often misinterpret these symptoms, launching more change initiatives in a vicious cycle that deepens fatigue. Recognizing and addressing this dynamic is vital to breaking the cycle and restoring engagement. 🧘‍♂️ Negative capability—leaders’ comfort with uncertainty—is a vital skill: Rather than rushing to provide answers, effective leaders embrace ambiguity and create spaces for collective exploration. This approach transforms fear and resistance into shared learning missions, lowering anxiety and increasing psychological safety. Developing this skill across leadership layers is essential for fostering adaptive, resilient cultures that can navigate unpredictable environments. 🔄 Embedding learning into daily workflows reduces disruption and accelerates growth: Continuous, incremental learning—such as brief peer reviews or reflective coaching questions—builds skills organically and normalizes adaptation as part of routine work. This contrasts with traditional, disruptive training interventions that may add to overload and fatigue. Integrating learning habits facilitates a culture of experimentation and low-effort improvement, which enhances both individual and organizational agility. If this helped, please like and share this video to spread these evidence-based strategies. #OrganizationalChange #ChangeFatigue #AdaptiveCapacity #Leadership #PsychologicalSafety #ChangeManagement #ChangeFitness OUTLINE: 00:00:00 - The Unrelenting Treadmill of Transformation 00:01:38 - The Hidden Costs of Constant Disruption 00:03:23 - Five Practical Steps to Reclaim Your Energy 00:05:18 - Building the Muscle for Change 00:06:12 - From Episodic Change to Change Fitness 00:07:06 - Adaptability as Daily Practice 00:08:00 - Your First Step Towards Change Fitness 00:09:32 - Call to Action - Thrive Amid Disruption 00:10:28 - Closing Image

This research examines the escalating crisis of chronic change fatigue, where a relentless pace of organizational transformation depletes employee resources and harms performance. It argues that traditional, episodic management strategies are no longer effective in a world of permanent disruption. Instead, the source proposes a shift toward building sustainable adaptive capacity by fostering psychological safety and establishing predictable organizational rhythms. It highlights that successful companies treat adaptability as a renewable resource rather than a one-time effort. By integrating developmental practices into daily workflows, leaders can transform exhaustion into long-term organizational resilience. Ultimately, the research suggests that thriving in the modern era requires a fundamental redesign of how institutions and individuals approach continuous evolution.

Abstract: Organizational change fatigue has evolved from a temporary stress response into a chronic condition affecting workforce performance, innovation capacity, and strategic execution. Drawing on evidence from organizational psychology, change management research, and neuroscience, this article examines how continuous transformation initiatives—accelerated by technological disruption, market volatility, and post-pandemic reorganization—deplete individual and collective resources while paradoxically demanding greater adaptability. The analysis reveals that traditional change management approaches, designed for episodic transformation, prove inadequate in conditions of permanent turbulence. Evidence-based interventions emphasize building change fitness through everyday developmental practices, establishing organizational rhythm and predictability, cultivating psychological safety, and developing leaders' negative capability. Organizations that shift from managing discrete changes to building adaptive capacity demonstrate improved employee wellbeing, sustained performance during transition periods, and competitive advantage in volatile markets. The article concludes with frameworks for long-term organizational resilience that treat adaptability as a renewable resource rather than a depletable asset.

This conversation examines the escalating crisis of chronic change fatigue, where a relentless pace of organizational transformation depletes employee resources and harms performance. The author argues that traditional, episodic management strategies are no longer effective in a world of permanent disruption. Instead, they propose a shift toward building sustainable adaptive capacity by fostering psychological safety and establishing predictable organizational rhythms. It highlights that successful companies treat adaptability as a renewable resource rather than a one-time effort. By integrating developmental practices into daily workflows, leaders can transform exhaustion into long-term organizational resilience. Ultimately, the text suggests that thriving in the modern era requires a fundamental redesign of how institutions and individuals approach continuous evolution. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this HCI Webinar, I talk with Erin DeVito about Amazon HR cuts signal dangerous trend across Corporate America. Erin DeVito is the General Manager of Impact North America, leading teams that design transformative, people-centric learning experiences. Since joining Impact in 2012, she has helped organizations navigate change, strengthen leadership, and build cultures where people thrive. With more than a decade of experience across operations and senior leadership, Erin brings a deep belief in the power of human connection to everything she does. A mom of five, she’s constantly reminded of the beauty in imperfection, growth, and humour in chaos—and she channels that perspective into creating workplaces where people can bring their whole selves to work and do their best, most meaningful work together.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming ubiquitous, integrated into countless everyday tools and services, from household appliances to complex software. Despite the overwhelming hype portraying AI as a magical equalizer that will solve all problems and elevate everyone’s intelligence, the reality is far more nuanced. AI is not an autonomous genius but rather a highly responsive, literal assistant that requires skilled human guidance to unlock its true potential. Recent research highlights that AI disproportionately benefits those who already possess strong foundational skills, amplifying existing expertise rather than compensating for a lack of it. This dynamic creates a widening gap between skilled and less skilled individuals, companies, and even nations. Highlights 🤖 AI is not a magical solution but a powerful tool requiring skilled human guidance. 🎯 The benefits of AI disproportionately favor those with strong foundational skills. 🛠️ AI amplifies existing expertise rather than replacing core human skills. 📈 Companies investing in AI training gain significant competitive advantages. ✍️ Prompt quality directly impacts the quality of AI-generated responses. ⚠️ AI can produce convincing but false information, necessitating human oversight. 🚀 Effective AI adoption requires a strategic, staged approach emphasizing skill development. Key Insights 🤖 AI as a Power Tool, Not a Magic Wand: The central misconception is that AI will automatically elevate everyone’s capabilities. In reality, AI functions like a sophisticated instrument that requires an informed operator. Without skillful input and critical thinking, AI outputs can be unhelpful or even harmful. This reframes AI from a universal equalizer to a skill amplifier, emphasizing the ongoing importance of human expertise. 🎓 Skill Amplification and Inequality: AI’s power lies in amplifying what users already know. Skilled professionals can delegate routine tasks to AI, freeing cognitive resources for higher-level functions such as strategic thinking and creativity. Meanwhile, less skilled users receive limited assistance, primarily superficial improvements. This “rich get richer” effect risks exacerbating existing skill gaps within workplaces and societies, potentially intensifying socioeconomic divides. 🏢 Workforce Training as a Competitive Differentiator: For companies, the critical factor is not merely the acquisition of AI technologies but how effectively their workforce can use them. Organizations that invest in comprehensive training, promote prompt engineering, and encourage experimentation will dramatically outperform competitors. This shifts the competitive focus from hardware and software superiority to human capital development. 📝 Prompt Engineering as a Core Competency: AI’s output quality hinges on the clarity and precision of user prompts. Effective prompt engineering involves detailed instructions, context, constraints, and defined roles for the AI to play. Treating prompt crafting as a vital skill on par with reading and writing is essential, creating a new literacy that shapes future workflows and communication. 🕵️ The Necessity of Human Oversight and Fact-Checking: Despite AI’s fluency and confidence, it frequently “hallucinates,” generating plausible but inaccurate or fabricated content. Skilled users must rigorously verify AI outputs, cross-check facts, and apply critical judgment. This oversight represents a significant portion of the AI-augmented workflow, making human review indispensable, especially for high-stakes or sensitive content. ⚙️ Staged Automation and Human-in-the-Loop Models: Immediate full automation is unrealistic and risky. A phased approach, where AI initially assists with brainstorming, drafting, and summarizing under human supervision, builds trust and reduces errors. Over time, as users master AI capabilities, more autonomous workflows can be developed. This incremental integration balances efficiency gains with reliability and control. 🌊 Investing in People to Navigate the AI Tide: The most important investment in the AI era is in developing human skills, not just expanding models or computing power. Organizations and societies must focus on teaching people how to use AI effectively, encouraging experimentation, and fostering environments that support learning and adaptation. Only by doing so can we harness AI’s full potential and avoid being overwhelmed by its rapid advance. If this helped, please like and share to spread the insight. #AI #HumanCapital #FoundationalSkills #PromptEngineering #WorkforceDevelopment #GenerativeAI OUTLINE: 00:00:00 - The AI Hype Train and a Sobering Truth 00:00:39 - Intern Not Genie; Foundations Matter 00:01:37 - AI Reflects Your Own Brilliance (or Lack Thereof) 00:02:32 - Gap Dynamics and Organizational Consequences 00:04:15 - From Study Evidence to Playbook and Call to Action 00:05:45 - A Firm's Guide and It’s About People

This research outlines a fundamental AI paradox where the accessibility of generative tools does not equalize performance but instead amplifies existing human skill differentials. Data from Anthropic reveals a near-perfect correlation between the sophistication of a user's prompt and the quality of the machine's response, suggesting that cognitive capital is the primary driver of technological value. Consequently, foundational abilities like structured reasoning, precise communication, and critical evaluation have become more vital than ever for professional success. Organizations are encouraged to pivot from simple technological deployment toward deep investments in human capital to avoid widening internal productivity gaps. Ultimately, the research argues that AI acts as a force multiplier for those who already possess strong intellectual fundamentals rather than a substitute for them.