Posts from Awesome Folks #164

A weekly round up of blog posts I've been reading

Emily Webber
August 08, 2025

Hello folks,

This week, Vodafone’s new campaign is playing on my mind, it’s called “Just Ask Once”.

“Vodafone launches ‘Just Ask Once’, a promise to customers that when they need help, they can ask once, and their query will be sorted.”

Did Vodafone just invent customer service, wrapped up into an ad campaign as a unique feature?

I’ve just spent a few weeks helping my elderly neighbour get back online, after she had spoken to (and was ghosted by) multiple call centre staff somewhere in Warrington, bringing her to tears. It feels rare for big telecoms companies to make any kind of effort.

And it’s got me thinking about organisational culture and its effect on customer service, organisations where staff care about where they work are far more likely to treat their customers well. If people feel disengaged, then I can’t see how it’s possible to campaign them into caring.

There’s a post or a talk somewhere there, watch this space.

Enjoy this week’s posts, and happy Friday.

Emily

People and Culture

Research: The Hidden Penalty of Using AI at Work

Oguz A. Acar, Phyliss Jia Gai, Yanping Tu and Jiayi Hou

Researchers conducted an experiment with 1,026 engineers in which participants evaluated a Python code snippet that was purportedly written by another engineer, either with or without AI assistance. The code itself was identical across all conditions—only the described method of creation differed. The results were striking. When reviewers believed an engineer had used AI, they rated that engineer’s competence 9% lower on average, despite reviewing identical work—and the penalty was more severe for women and older workers.

hbr.org/2025/08/research-the-hidden-penalty-of-using-ai-at-work

Organisations and Systems

The illusion of alignment

Misalignment in digital projects often hides behind surface-level agreement. Cultural norms like politeness, power imbalance, and rushed decision-making lead to fragile consensus. Real alignment takes trust, open challenge, and shared definitions before delivery, not after.

www.ashmann.co/the-illusion-of-alignment

Lessons From Three of Japan's Most Progressive Workplace Pioneers

Joost Minnaar

I just returned from a few intense, inspiring days in Tokyo. The reason? To meet with Yuji Yamada (our Rebel Cell Japan coordinator), some of…

www.corporate-rebels.com/blog/lessons-from-three-of-japans-most-progressive-workplace-pioneers

TBM 370: Dependencies Aren't Your Problem

John Cutler

Thought experiment.

cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-370-dependencies-arent-your-problem

Facilitation and Decision making

5 Mini-Workshops You Can Run on Your Own (No Outside Help Required)

Jackie Colburn

You don’t always need to wait for a big strategy offsite to kick off meaningful conversations with your team. In fact, lightweight…

jackiecolburn.medium.com/5-mini-workshops-you-can-run-on-your-own-no-outside-help-required-c78e5055200d

Approaches for Teams

Five Practical Tips for Any Team to Reduce Risks, Increase Agility, and Deliver Value

Johanna Rothman

A colleague recently asked me how a team can deliver something useful in the next four to five weeks. “That's all? Just four to five weeks?” I asked. Yes, that was all the time they had remaining. They'd worked on this product for a while, but that was the time they had left. This problem […]

www.jrothman.com/mpd/2025/08/five-practical-tips-for-any-team-to-reduce-risks-increase-agility-and-deliver-value