Posts from Awesome Folks #170

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

Author

Emily Webber
October 03, 2025

Hello folks,

I’ve just got back from Agile Cambridge, where I ran a workshop on Icebreakers that don’t suck (I’ll be blogging about that soon). It’s been brilliant catching up with friends, meeting new people, taking some time out to think and being inspired by others’ ideas.

Three photos from the week, a misty view at Churchill College, Cambridge, a speaker at Agile in the Bench and people in my workshops busy discussing ideas with each other.

Some of the common themes of the conference were fostering healthy team and organisational dynamics, and, of course, AI, with a healthy dose of scepticism about how those two things intersect.

I’ll next be speaking at Fast Flow (London), and then Ripples Bristol, both of which have brilliant line-ups, so if you are in the area, make sure you grab a ticket.

Enjoy this week’s posts, and happy Friday.

Emily

People and Culture

Change Management: How to Avoid the Hero Trap

David M. Sluss

When leading change, seeking overinflated credit and taking extreme ownership can cause trouble.

sloanreview.mit.edu/article/change-management-how-to-avoid-the-hero-trap

Leaders at All Levels: How a Leader at Fidelity Supercharged Productivity

With Lauren Dreyer

Learn how one Fidelity leader shifted from a command-and-control style to distributed leadership in this video.

sloanreview.mit.edu/video/leaders-at-all-levels-how-a-leader-at-fidelity-supercharged-productivity

What Happens When AI Sets Wages

Maxime C. Cohen, Eddy Hage-Youssef and Warut Khern-am-nuai

Generative AI is no longer just automating text; with AI-based wage-setting, it’s shaping paychecks, livelihoods, and access to opportunity. Left unchecked, these systems risk reinforcing, or even widening, global inequalities. New research shows that AI-based wage-setting can be fairer, but only if it’s designed and governed that way.

hbr.org/2025/10/what-happens-when-ai-sets-wages

Organisations and Systems

New Research Shows How an “Idea Marketplace” Can Boost Innovation

Kaihan Krippendorff, George S. Day and Jayshree Seth

Many companies already have the ideas they need to innovate but lack effective systems to surface and connect them. Research shows most employee ideas go unreviewed, leaving major value untapped. Strengthening “idea marketplaces” by streamlining processes, flattening structures, and fostering a culture of idea-sharing can unlock hidden insights, reduce duplication, and turn overlooked ideas into lasting competitive advantage.

hbr.org/2025/09/new-research-shows-how-an-idea-marketplace-can-boost-innovation

The AI productivity myth is more harmful than you think 

Himanshu Saxena

Perceived productivity may be up thanks to AI, but there's debt collecting in the shadows.

leaddev.com/culture/the-ai-productivity-myth-is-more-harmful-than-you-think

Forget the org chart. Start with delivery

Katherine Wastell

Most operating model designs start in the wrong place. They begin with the organisation chart. Boxes, reporting lines, governance structures. It looks neat on paper but doesn’t tell you much about how value is delivered. It’s best to start with delivery. With how value flows to customers. Once you

www.katherinewastell.com/blog/2025/10/1/forget-the-org-chart-start-with-delivery

Outcomes and Objectives

What leaders get wrong about the latent cost of technical debt 

Shafeeq Ur Rahaman

Where do leaders go wrong with tackling tech debt?

leaddev.com/technical-direction/what-leaders-wrong-about-latent-cost-technical-debt

Other Things

Unpacking Digital ID - can the government deliver on its ambitions?

Careful Industries

A look at what has been proposed, how it might work, and whether it will be effective.

www.careful.industries/blog/2025-9-unpacking-uk-governments-digital-id-announcement