Latest / The Human Factor: Exploring the Intersection of Humanity, Technology, and Transformation / Season 1 Wrap-Up and Season 2 Preview: The Psychology Behind Transformation Success

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Season 1 Wrap-Up and Season 2 Preview: The Psychology Behind Transformation Success · The Human Factor: Exploring the Intersection of Humanity, Technology, and Transformation

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  12 episodes, 12 explorations into why transformation succeeds
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  or fails, and one consistent truth that emerged across every
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  single conversation. The technology is never the
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  problem. We started this season asking
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  how AI adoption is reshaping trust in organizations.
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  We ended last week examining why workplace dishonesty destroys
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  transformation from the inside out.
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  And somewhere in between, we discovered that the gap between
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  what people say they support and what their behavior actually
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  reveals explains more transformation failures than any
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  technical limitation ever could. I'm Kevin Novak, CEO of 2040,
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  Digital professor at the University of Maryland and
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  author of the book The Truth about Transformation, Leading in
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  the Age of AI, Uncertainty and Human Complexity, along with the
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  Ideas and innovations Weekly newsletter.
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  Welcome to the Human Factor Podcast, the show that explores
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  the intersection of humanity, technology, and transformation,
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  along with the psychology behind transformation success.
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  This is the Season 1 finale of the Human Factor Podcast.
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  We're going to reflect on what we've learned, preview what's
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  coming in season 2, and explore why transformation psychology
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  matters more now than ever before.
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  When I launched this podcast in the fall of 2025, I had a simple
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  thesis. The 70% transformation failure
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  rate isn't a technology problem, it's a psychology problem. 12
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  episodes later, I'm more convinced of that thesis than
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  ever. But I've also learned something
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  that I didn't expect. The people listening to the
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  show, the transformation leaders, the change managers,
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  the executives trying to guide their organizations through
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  disruption, and the individuals seeking to better understand
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  their own and others behaviors. You already knew this.
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  What you needed wasn't someone telling you that people in
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  understanding that human factors matter, you needed frameworks
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  for actually addressing human factors in systematic,
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  measurable ways. So today I want to walk through
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  the arc of Season 1, highlighting the frameworks that
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  emerged and share where we're headed.
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  In Season 2. We began with the question
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  that's defining our error. In Episode 1, Being Human in the
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  Age of AI, we explored why people trust algorithms to
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  recommend movies but resist them for strategic decisions.
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  The trust asymmetry we uncovered explains why so many AI
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  implementations are stalling despite clear business cases.
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  In Episode 2, The Gen. Z Factor, we examined how
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  generational psychology is completely rewiring workplace
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  expectations and why traditional management approaches are
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  failing with 40% of the current workforce.
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  In Episode 3, Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions, we explored
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  the unconscious biases that sabotage even the most
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  thoughtful decision making, from addition bias to assumption
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  errors and. Episode 4 data noise and
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  decision paralysis revealed why access to more data often leads
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  to worse decisions, not better ones.
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  Part 2 We covered the barriers to change the middle of our
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  season. Examine what makes change so
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  very difficult. Episode 5, The psychology of
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  letting go explored by smart people cling to outdated methods
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  even when they know better. And we also learned the deep
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  psychological mechanisms that make unlearning one of the most
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  hardest human challenges. In episode 6, The communication
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  paradox, we challenged our assumptions about communication
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  itself. We'd learned that more
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  communication doesn't create more clarity.
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  Often it creates more confusion because of the psychological
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  defenses that resist change also filter how those messages are
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  received. In episode 7, The Vulnerability
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  Advantage, Elizabeth Stewart joined me to discuss something.
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  Transformation leaders rarely do admit what they don't know.
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  That conversation was one of our most downloaded episodes because
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  it addressed the leadership authenticity gap, the employee
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  sense even when they can't articulate it.
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  In episode 8, we introduced the twelve types of hidden
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  resistance, the patterns that kill transformations even when
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  when everyone claims to be supportive.
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  That episode resonated because it gave leaders and those across
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  the workforce the language for what they were experiencing.
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  The Clinton name. This episode resulted in many
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  across the audience emailing us and thanking us for helping them
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  understand what they were feeling and seeing.
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  In Part 3, we saw it. To make the invisible visible.
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  We focused on detection, measurement, and organizational
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  patterns that undermine transformation.
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  In Episode 9, Transformation Fatigue, we explored the
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  individual crisis killing initiatives before they start.
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  We examined the three hidden cognitive loads that are
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  draining our workforce. In Episode 10, Measuring the
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  Human Factor, we tackled the measurement problem directly.
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  How do you assess psychological readiness?
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  When surveys show high support, the behavior reveals resistance.
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  We learned about the gap between stated and revealed preferences,
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  which of course is where most transformations die.
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  And we also explored frameworks for measuring what actually
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  matters. In Episode 11, The Drift That
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  Destroys, we examined organizational drift, which is
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  the silent force that destroys successful organizations not
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  through catastrophic decisions, but through thousands of small,
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  reasonable choices that gradually pull them away from
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  market reality. And last week, Episode 12, The
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  Lies We Tell at Work, we examined why workplace
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  dishonesty destroys transformation.
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  We learned about performance theater, the strategic
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  admissions, and the optimistic reporting that keeps leadership
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  comfortable while reality deteriorates.
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  And when truth becomes a casualty of organizational
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  politics, transformation becomes impossible.
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  Looking back across 12 episodes, there were three insights that
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  immersed that I didn't fully anticipate when we started.
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  The first resistance is information, not obstruction.
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  When people resist change, they're telling you something
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  about psychological threats that you haven't addressed.
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  Fighting that resistance confirmed the threat.
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  Understanding resistance dissolves it.
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  Second, measurement determines management.
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  You can't manage what you can't see, and traditional
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  transformation metrics measure compliance, not commitment.
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  Behavioral indicators reveal what surveys concealed.
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  Third, identity is the deepest layer.
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  Skills can be taught. Processes can be documented, but
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  when change threatens who people believe themselves to be as
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  professionals, psychological defenses activate that no
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  training program can overcome. Therefore, successful
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  transformation protects identity while enabling evolution.
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  And finally, assessing the road that we travel reveals the
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  myriad of ways we humans react, consider, adapt, and reconcile
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  as we navigate change in our personal and professional lives.
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  As we wrap Season 1, I want to set the stage for Season 2 and
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  beyond. The Human Factor podcast returns
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  in mid February 2026 with new episodes.
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  Here's what's coming. Season 1 again was about
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  understanding transformation psychology.
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  Season 2 is about applying it. We're moving from diagnosis to
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  intervention, from frameworks to implementation.
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  You're going to hear case studies from and about
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  organizations that have successfully addressed the human
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  factor, along with specific strategies that you can use and
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  adapt. We're going to have more
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  conversations with leaders and experts who are doing this work
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  in the field, and we're going to introduce new frameworks for the
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  challenges that emerge most frequently from our listener
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  feedback. Leading transformation while
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  experiencing it yourself, building psychological safety in
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  remote and hybrid environments, and navigating the accelerating
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  pace of change when people are already exhausted.
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  And of course, in addition to the guests we have lined up,
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  Elizabeth Stewart will be back to share her insights and
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  expertise across several episodes.
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  Before we close, I want to thank you for listening.
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  Whether you've discovered this podcast at Episode 1 or
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  somewhere in the middle, you chose to spend time thinking
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  about why transformation succeeds or fails.
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  You sought to better understand your own behaviors and the
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  behaviors of others. That's not a casual commitment.
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  The emails that I've received from listeners telling me an
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  episode resonated, that a framework helped them see their
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  challenges differently, that they shared an episode with
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  their team, and it's sparked productive conversations.
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  Those messages matter to me more than any download statistics
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  ever could. You're not just consuming
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  content, you're doing the work of leading transformation in
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  your organizations, and this podcast exists to support your
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  work. While we're on break between
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  seasons, the Ideas and Innovations newsletter continues
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  every week. If you're not subscribed, you
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  can find it on substack@2040.substack.com or on
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  2040 digital.com. And if you want to
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  assessyourorganizationstransformationreadinesstheassessment@transformationassessment.com provides A baseline for the
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  psychological factors we've discussed all of Season 1.
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  Once you complete the assessment, you're going to
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  receive guidance, resources and more via e-mail over a two week
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  period. My goal and intent is to allow
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  you time to process the assessment results, consider the
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  suggested frameworks, and in conclusion, set a clear path to
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  address the right things that ensure success.
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  Season 2 launches in mid February 2026.
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  Until then, keep questioning the assumption that transformation
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  is about technology, keep advocating for the human factor,
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  and keep remembering that the 70% failure rate isn't
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  inevitable. It's the result of overlooking
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  what matters most. This is the Human Factor
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  podcast. I'm Kevin Novak, thank you for
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  an incredible first season and thank you for watching or
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  listening.