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We say we want innovation.
We reward compliance.
And then we wonder why nothing changes.

In this episode of The Elephant in the Org, we dig into a quiet but damaging contradiction inside modern organisations: the employees leaders like most are often the least innovative.

Our guest, Mark Murphy—New York Times bestselling author, Forbes senior contributor, and founder of Leadership IQ—shares research showing how “dependable,” low-friction behaviour gets mistaken for high performance, while challenge, dissent, and original thinking are subtly discouraged.

This conversation isn’t about bad managers or difficult employees. It’s about systems, incentives, and the unintended consequences of prioritising harmony over progress.

We explore:

• Why compliance often gets rewarded as “performance”
• How toxic harmony quietly shuts down innovation
• The structural pressure middle managers face around risk
• Why psychological safety doesn’t happen by accident
• How meeting design determines who gets heard—and who doesn’t
• Practical ways leaders can surface better thinking without chaos

If your organisation talks a big game about innovation but struggles to hear uncomfortable ideas, this episode will hit close to home.

About Our Guest

Mark Murphy is a New York Times bestselling author, Forbes senior contributor, and founder of Leadership IQ. His research on leadership, performance, and team dynamics has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Washington Post. Mark has advised organisations ranging from Harvard Business School to the United Nations and is the author of Team Players, Hiring for Attitude, Hundred Percenters, and HARD Goals.

🔗 Leadership IQ: https://www.leadershipiq.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markamurphy/

Link to Show notes

📩 Got a hot take or a workplace horror story? Email us at elephant@thefearlesspx.com

🚀 Your Hosts on LinkedIn

• 🐘 Marion Anderson — https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionandersonpx
  
  
• 🐘 Danny Gluch — https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgluch
  
  
• 🐘 Cacha Dora — https://www.linkedin.com/in/cachadora
  
  

💬 Like what you hear?
Follow/subscribe so you don’t miss an episode — and if this one hit home, leave a ★★★★★ review to help more people find the show.

🎙️ About the Show
The Elephant in the Org drops new episodes every two weeks starting April 2024 — fearless conversations about leadership, psychological safety, and the future of work.

🎵 Music & Production Credits
🎶 Opening and closing theme music by The Toros
🎙️ Produced by The Fearless PX
✂️ Edited by Marion Anderson

⚠️ Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily reflect any affiliated organizations' official policy or position.

Topics: employee surveys, listening culture, trust, people analytics, psychological safety, em...

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S3E13 — Cute Survey. What Are You Going to Do About It?
with Jeffrey Fermin (Host of People First, tech founder, advisor)

If your org runs surveys but never closes the loop, people don’t just get annoyed — they stop telling the truth. Silence becomes the culture.

In this episode, we get brutally practical about what happens after the survey:

• Why surveys often become “listening theatre.”
• How dashboards replace decisions
• The trust damage caused by silence (and how fast it spreads)
• A simple five-step Close-the-Loop Ladder you can steal and use immediately:
  Acknowledge → Prioritise → Commit → Explain “Not Yet” → Report Back

If you’ve ever read survey results and thought, “Cool… now what?” — this is your playbook episode.

Link to Show Notes

🔹 Jeffrey Fermin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfermin/

📩 Got a hot take or a workplace horror story? Email us at elephant@thefearlesspx.com

🚀 Your Hosts on LinkedIn

• 🐘 Marion Anderson — https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionandersonpx
  
  
• 🐘 Danny Gluch — https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgluch
  
  
• 🐘 Cacha Dora — https://www.linkedin.com/in/cachadora
  
  

💬 Like what you hear?
Follow/subscribe so you don’t miss an episode — and if this one hit home, leave a ★★★★★ review to help more people find the show.

🎙️ About the Show
The Elephant in the Org drops new episodes every two weeks starting April 2024 — fearless conversations about leadership, psychological safety, and the future of work.

🎵 Music & Production Credits
🎶 Opening and closing theme music by The Toros
🎙️ Produced by The Fearless PX
✂️ Edited by Marion Anderson

⚠️ Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily reflect any affiliated organizations' official policy or position.

Topics: employee surveys, listening culture, trust, people analytics, psychological safety, em...

Send us a text

BONUS EPISODE — and somehow, our 75th.
Your main event today is our conversation with Radhika Dutt, so if you only have time for one episode, go listen to her burn OKRs to the ground first. This bonus drop is the after-party.

Now… for everyone still emotionally recovering from HR in 2025, here’s our annual debrief: Battery Hens, Bullshit & Burnout — HR’s 2025 “You’ve Got to Be F*cking Kidding Me” Year in Review.

Danny, Marion, and Cacha look back at the most unhinged year HR has seen in decades — the RTO theatre, the DEI backlash, the AI delusion spiral, productivity cosplay, surveillance creep, and burnout so widespread it probably deserves its own ICD medical code.

We also celebrate the 23 incredible guests who joined us across The Elephant in the Org and RethinkAbility — a full-on stampede of elephants whose honesty, humour, and humanity kept us going.

If you’ve ever stared at a performance management template and thought, “I’m one KPI away from moving to the forest", this episode is your emotional support beverage.

Happy Holidays! We will see you again in the new year!

Link to Show Notes

📩 Got a hot take or a workplace horror story? Email us at elephant@thefearlesspx.com

🚀 Your Hosts on LinkedIn

• 🐘 Marion Anderson — https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionandersonpx
  
  
• 🐘 Danny Gluch — https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgluch
  
  
• 🐘 Cacha Dora — https://www.linkedin.com/in/cachadora
  
  

💬 Like what you hear?
Follow/subscribe so you don’t miss an episode — and if this one hit home, leave a ★★★★★ review to help more people find the show.

🎙️ About the Show
The Elephant in the Org drops new episodes every two weeks starting April 2024 — fearless conversations about leadership, psychological safety, and the future of work.

🎵 Music & Production Credits
🎶 Opening and closing theme music by The Toros
🎙️ Produced by The Fearless PX
✂️ Edited by Marion Anderson

⚠️ Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily reflect any affiliated organizations' official policy or position.

Topics: employee surveys, listening culture, trust, people analytics, psychological safety, em...