Happy Thursday, everyone. I'm Frank Richardson, an organisational psychologist observing the workplace with curiosity and care. Each week, I share insights to help HR leaders better understand the people behind the processes and build cultures where both individuals and organisations can thrive.
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This week in workplace whiplash 🌀
Another week, another round of corporate whiplash, where the leadership playbook keeps getting rewritten faster than HR can laminate it:
🧠 AI is coming for your workflows (again)
Corporate tech and HR teams are suddenly best friends, teaming up to re-architect jobs around AI “coworkers.” Translation: the robots aren’t replacing you yet, but they might be your new desk mates
👉 WSJ🧩 Neuroinclusive design hits the boardroom
New research argues that companies are missing serious ROI by ignoring neurodiversity in workplace systems, meetings, and communication norms, and that “inclusion” without redesign is just optics.
👉 HR News Today🌍 HR trend trackers sound the alarm
Hybrid fatigue, authenticity pressure, and AI anxiety top this week’s list of forces reshaping how (and why) people work (oh, and leaders are scrambling to look human while managing machines).
👉HR Future
Because whether it’s neuroinclusion, AI, or trust fatigue, the message is the same: the leadership edge no longer comes from control, it comes from credibility… just ask Mamdani.
When Zohran Mamdani became New York’s next mayor, the headlines focused on politics, but underneath was a workplace parable in disguise.
His campaign ran on street-level energy, social media, and grassroots coordination that felt more like a start-up Slack channel than a political machine. And that’s exactly why people paid attention.
Mamdani’s rise shows what employees (and voters) are demanding everywhere: less hierarchy, more humanity. The old command-and-control playbook isn’t just outdated; it’s losing the room.
🧠The Behavioural Science Lens
Underneath the campaign strategy sits a set of human truths that every leader should care about. Here’s what the research says about power, belonging, and why people rally when they feel seen.
Power distance and participation: Some leaders still treat hierarchy like it’s a personality trait. But research on power distance shows that modern teams do better when influence is shared, not hoarded. In low power-distance cultures, people expect their boss to ask, not command. And trust grows when leaders listen sideways, not just down.
Social identity and the “one of us” effect: Humans are wired to follow people who feel like part of the tribe. Social Identity Theory explains why leaders who mirror their team’s values, language, or struggles earn deeper loyalty. While you don’t have to be exactly like your team to connect with them, you do have to show that you understand where they’re coming from.
Distributed leadership and outcomes: When authority circulates instead of bottlenecking at the top, collaboration increases. Recent research highlights both the good and “dark” sides of distributed leadership: it can energise teams, but only if responsibility comes with clear boundaries and credit. Sharing power without structure just creates chaos with better branding.
Collective efficacy: Psychologist Albert Bandura called it “collective efficacy”: the shared belief that together we can do hard things. That’s what turns a group into a movement, whether it’s a campaign or a project team. When people believe their contribution matters, they don’t just comply; they commit.
🚀 What This Means for Leaders
Stop confusing control with clarity: People rarely need another directive. They need context. Spell out the problem, the decision, and the trade-offs so your team can move with you, not around you. Control might get compliance, but clarity earns commitment.
Listen sideways, not just up and down: Most organisations are great at broadcasting and terrible at listening. The truth usually lives in Slack threads, shared docs, and quiet DMs. Pay attention there, that’s where trust is built and weak signals show up early.
Let power move, don’t just hold it: Give teams space to test, learn, and decide within clear guardrails. Shared authority creates creativity when people know where their lane begins and ends.
Measure belonging like you mean it: Ask people if they feel part of a story, not just a spreadsheet. Look at who’s shaping decisions, not just who’s invited to the meeting. Belonging isn’t a soft metric, it’s the reason people stay when things get tough.
Hire people with conviction, not a LinkedIn glow: Charisma fades under pressure. Hire people who know what they stand for and can back it up when things get messy.
💬 Final thoughts
Mamdani’s moment highlights a broader shift. Teams respond when leaders open the tent, not just the slide deck. Participation builds trust. Trust builds effort. Effort compounds into results.
If you want a culture that moves, design for contribution and keep influence in motion. The best leadership signal many teams can hear right now is a genuine invitation to help shape the work.
How's the depth of today's edition?
If something here speaks to you, I’d love to hear it.
Until next week,
Frank
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