Business as Usual Was Never Stability. How to Lead When Disruption Is the Norm.

Disruption is not the exception anymore. It is the operating condition. In year two of SparkEffect's organizational trust research, 85% of people reported a significant disruption in the past two years, up from 71%. Host Kim Bohr sits down with researcher Aaron Delgaty, PhD to unpack what that means for the people holding organizations together, and why the direct manager has quietly become the single load-bearing point of trust. ─── ABOUT THIS EPISODE ─── Aaron Delgaty, PhD is a cultural anthropologist and the founder of Note & Niche. As SparkEffect's research partner, he led year two of the State of Organizational Trust report. Read the 2026 report: https://info.sparkeffect.com/trust ─── KEY TOPICS ─── ► Why business as usual was never about stability ► Why support is widespread but thin on the ground ► Why AI hit managers twice as hard as employees ► What people actually want from a manager during change ► Why quality of support beats quantity ► How trust moves revenue, retention, and reputation ─── CHAPTERS ─── 0:00 Disruption as the new operating condition 2:48 Why business as usual was never stability 5:50 Intervention is widespread but thin 8:42 The fire extinguisher nobody knows about 9:19 Why AI hits managers twice as hard 21:46 The manager who has your back 25:01 Quality over quantity, and the four Rs 29:49 Trust is not mysterious 32:44 Sweat the small stuff ─── RESOURCES ─── ► SparkEffect 2026 Trust Report: https://info.sparkeffect.com/trust ► Aaron Delgaty, PhD on LinkedIn:   / adelgaty   ► Note & Niche: https://www.noteandniche.com/ ► Book, Working Relationships: https://a.co/d/iLPmqvb ► Kim on LinkedIn:   / kimbohr   ► Kim on Instagram:   / kimbohr_sparkeffect   ► Executive Coaching: https://sparkeffect.com/what-we-do/ex... ► Leadership Development: https://sparkeffect.com/what-we-do/le... ► Organizational Transformation: https://sparkeffect.com/what-we-do/or... ► CEO and Board Advisory: https://sparkeffect.com/what-we-do/ce... ─── ABOUT COURAGE TO ADVANCE ─── Courage to Advance brings senior HR and business leaders into honest conversation about leading people through real complexity. Hosted by Kim Bohr, CEO of SparkEffect. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every second, third, and fourth Tuesday of the month. 🎧 Listen on every platform: https://sparkeffect.com/sparkeffect-p... ─── ABOUT SPARKEFFECT ─── SparkEffect helps leaders and organizations build trust that holds under pressure through coaching, leadership development, and organizational research. 🌐 https://sparkeffect.com #LeadershipDevelopment #CHRO #OrganizationalTrust #HRLeadership #ChangeManagement #FutureOfWork