WorkCookie - Get Ahead with Industrial/Organizational Psychology in the Workplace

Most organizations are extraordinarily good at activity and extraordinarily bad at progress. Meetings that produce more meetings. Initiatives launched before the last ones landed.

Leaders who are permanently busy and chronically stuck. This is not a strategy problem. It is a pattern problem, and patterns live in culture, not in org charts.

This episode examines the invisible cycles that keep organizations in motion without forward momentum: the norms, assumptions, and unspoken rules that make dysfunction feel like diligence. 

In this episode: Meagan Bond, Tom Bradshaw, LindaAnn Rogers, Nic Kruegar, Stacy Lee, Rich Cruz

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References:

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.

Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999

Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. Wiley.

Gallup. (2025). State of the global workplace: 2025 report. Gallup.

Glassdoor. (2025). The hidden costs of layoffs: Workforce trust, engagement, and organizational performance. Glassdoor Economic Research.

Keller, S., & Aiken, C. (2009). The irrational side of change management. McKinsey Quarterly.

McKinsey & Company. (2021). The state of organizations 2021: Ten shifts transforming organizations. McKinsey & Company.

Overmier, J. B., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1967). Effects of inescapable shock upon subsequent escape and avoidance responding. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 63(1), 28–33. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0024166

Peterson, C., Maier, S. F., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1993). Learned helplessness: A theory for the age of personal control. Oxford University Press.

Russell Reynolds Associates. (2025). Global CEO turnover index: 2024 year in review. Russell Reynolds Associates.

Samuelson, W., & Zeckhauser, R. (1988). Status quo bias in decision making. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 1(1), 7–59. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00055564

Society for Human Resource Management. (2019). The high cost of a toxic workplace culture: How culture impacts the workforce—and the bottom line. SHRM.

Society for Human Resource Management. (2024). SHRM Q4 2024 civility index: The state of workplace civility in the United States. SHRM.

Organizations spend billions on strategy, technology, and process redesign, and then wonder why results do not follow. The answer is almost always the same: culture was treated as an afterthought rather than the operating system beneath everything else. When culture is decorative, change is cosmetic.

 I/O Career Accelerator Course: https://www.seboc.com/job
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References:

Gallup (2025). State of the Global Workplace.

CultureCon & Fauna (2025). WorkPossible: Humanity at Work.

McKinsey & Company (2020). The Science Behind Successful Organizational Transformations.

Edmondson (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams.

Kotter & Heskett (1992). Corporate Culture and Performance.

Work Institute (2024). Retention Report.

SHRM (2022). Human Capital Benchmarking Report.

Why organizations investing in artificial intelligence without investing in human readiness are setting themselves up for failed adoption and wasted capital

In this episode: Dr. Heather Morton, Tom Bradshaw, LindaAnn Rodgers,  Nic Kruegar, Dr. Jagadesh Chander, Cynthia Cole

 

 

I/O Career Accelerator Course: https://www.seboc.com/job

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References:

2026 Global Human Capital Trends. (2026). Retrieved from https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/talent/human-capital-trends.html?id=us%3A2ps%3A3gl%3Achc26%3Aawa%3Agreendot%3Anonem%3AK0219492%3A041326%3Akwd-461493411780%3A196756941353%3A804670332474%3A%3A&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23331251908&gbraid=0AAAAADenGPBvHbAOgkq78Jysdo7i1C0lG

 

Crumley, B. (2026, February, 25). Businesses bet big on AI while cutting workers—economists say that’s produced ‘zero growth’. Inc.  https://www.inc.com/bruce-crumley/businesses-bet-big-on-ai-while-cutting-workers-economists-say-thats-produced-zero-growth/91307695

 

Daly, S. J., Wiewiora, A., & Hearn, G. (2025). Shifting attitudes and trust in AI: Influences on organizational AI adoption. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 215, 124108.

Lee, C. P., Lee, M. K., & Mutlu, B. (2026). Making the Invisible Visible: Understanding the Mismatch Between Organizational Goals and Worker Experiences in AI Adoption. arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.03078.

 

McKinsey & Company. (2025, January 2025). AI in the workplace. A report for 2025.  https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/tech-and-ai/our-insights/superagency-in-the-workplace-empowering-people-to-unlock-ais-full-potential-at-work

 

Ratanjee, V. (2026, February 14). The deficit reflex: Why change management keeps solving the wrong problem. Forbes.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/vibhasratanjee/2026/02/12/the-deficit-reflex-why-change-management-keeps-solving-the-wrong-problem/

We discussed what happens when different personalities collide at work, and how those moments of tension can either derail teams or drive growth.

We also explored the psychology behind conflict, communication breakdowns, and practical strategies for turning personality differences into stronger collaboration and better results.

In this episode: Nic Krueger, Tom Bradshaw, LindaAnn Rodgers, CT Sanders,  Lee Crowson
 
I/O Career Accelerator Course: https://www.seboc.com/job
Visit us https://www.seboc.com/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/sebocLI
Join an open-mic event: https://www.seboc.com/events
 
Reference

Vîrgă, D., Curşeu, P. L., Maricuţoiu, L., Sava, F. A., Macsinga, I., & Măgurean, S. (2014). Personality, relationship conflict, and teamwork-related mental models. PloS one, 9(11), e110223. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110223

We discussed the role of personality assessments in the workplace, what they do well, where they fall short, and how they should be used responsibly. We also broke down the science behind testing, the risks of misuse, and how organizations can apply these tools in a way that adds real value.

In this episode: Nic Krueger, Tom Bradshaw, LindaAnn Rodgers, CT Sanders, Josh Strauss, Natasha Desjardins, Brendan Grech, Lee Crowson, Dr. Jagadesh Chander
 
I/O Career Accelerator Course: https://www.seboc.com/job
Visit us https://www.seboc.com/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/sebocLI
Join an open-mic event: https://www.seboc.com/events
 
References
 
Krishnamurthy, R., Hass, G. A., Natoli, A. P., Smith, B. L., Arbisi, P. A., & Gottfried, E. D. (2022). Professional Practice Guidelines for Personality Assessment. Journal of Personality Assessment, 104(1), 1–16.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2021.1942020
 
Paradigm Personality Labs. (2024, October 22). When and how to use Big Five and MBTI personality assessment tools.
https://paradigmpersonality.com/resources/big-five-and-mbti-personality-assessment-tools/
 
Serapio-García, G., Safdari, M., Crepy, C., Sun, L., Fitz, S., Romero, P., Abdulhai, M., Faust, A., & Matarić, M. (2025). A psychometric framework for evaluating and shaping personality traits in large language models. Nature machine intelligence, 7(12), 1954–1968.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-025-01115-6
 
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. (n.d.). Personality tests.
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/assessment-and-selection/other-assessment-methods/personality-tests/