The Blindfold Test: Why Your Silos Are Breaking Your Customer Experience

Why do so many transformation programmes deliver short-term wins, only for the same problems to return months later In this episode, host Kiran Kachela is joined by Julia Marsh, a transformation leader with over 20 years' experience across higher education and consulting, to explore why lasting change requires more than new systems, structures and ambitious launch plans. Together, they discuss the dangers of the "theatre of transformation", the importance of defining the real problem before jumping to solutions, and why capability-building is the key to preventing old habits and inefficiencies from creeping back. Drawing on their experience leading a major course delivery transformation, they share practical lessons on overcoming silos, engaging people in change, and creating a culture of continuous improvement.In this episode:· Why organisations become addicted to the "theatre of transformation"· How silos and complexity undermine change efforts· Why resistance often means "help me understand"· The power of experimentation over perfection· How capability-building creates sustainable change· The risks of automating broken processes with AI· Why leaders need to spend more time defining the problem before actingAbout Our Guest Julia Marsh is a senior higher education leader with experience spanning London Business School, London School of Economics and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is a Non-Executive Director at the Institute of Directors and has led organisation-wide innovation and continuous improvement programmes using Lean Six Sigma and design thinking. Follow us on: Instagram @LessonsnotyetlearntTikTok @LessonsnotyetlearntYouTube @LessonsnotyetlearntWant to get involved?To ask Kiran a question, be a guest, or sponsor an episode, visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com

What if every member of your leadership team was asked to map how your business delivers value to customers? Would their answers match?In this bonus episode, Kiran Kachela explores how siloed thinking creates friction, delays and poor customer experiences, even when individual teams are performing well. She introduces the "blindfold test" as a simple way to uncover misalignment and explains why understanding the end-to-end value stream is critical for business success.Key takeaways from this episode: · Why functional silos damage customer experience · How conflicting departmental objectives create friction · The risks of optimising teams instead of end-to-end processes · How value stream mapping helps uncover hidden inefficiencies · Why customer value should be the measure everyone aligns aroundWhen departments focus only on their own goals, the customer feels the gaps. Great businesses don't operate as separate kingdoms. They work as one connected system, aligned around delivering value.Listen now and ask yourself: would your leadership team pass the blindfold test?Follow us on: Instagram @LessonsnotyetlearntTikTok @LessonsnotyetlearntYouTube @LessonsnotyetlearntWant to get involved?To ask Kiran a question, be a guest, or sponsor an episode, visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com

Personal branding is no longer a vanity exercise. It is a powerful way to build trust, create opportunities and future-proof your career.In this episode of Lessons Not Yet Learnt, Kiran Kachela is joined by LinkedIn growth creator, speaker and coach Fatima Khan to explore how professionals and businesses can turn LinkedIn into an engine for visibility, credibility and connection.Fatima shares how she built her personal brand after facing repeated job rejections, eventually using her growing network to launch her own business. Together, she and Kiran discuss why meaningful engagement matters more than vanity metrics, how storytelling builds community and why confidence only comes through taking action. You’ll discover:· Why you should build your network before you need it· How to optimise your LinkedIn profile and content· Why consistency matters more than instant results· How engagement turns visibility into relationships· How to use AI without losing your authentic voice· Why employee personal brands can strengthen company visibility Listen now to discover how to build trust, grow your community and turn LinkedIn into a long-term professional asset. This episode is proudly sponsored by Link Creators Club, an in-person community for UK LinkedIn creators and founders that brings online networks offline through curated events, meaningful connections, and real conversations.About Our GuestFatima Khan is the UK's #1 LinkedIn Growth Creator (Favikon,2026), speaker, and coach helping professionals build personal brands on LinkedIn. She is co-founder of The AI Creators Club, a B2B community for founders growing their brands through AI content marketing, and founder of LinkCreators Club, bringing LinkedIn creators together for in-person events inLondon. Follow us on:  Instagram @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  TikTok @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  YouTube @Lessonsnotyetlearnt   Want to get involved?  To ask Kiran a question, be a guest, or sponsor an episode, visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com .

What if dyslexia and neurodiversity were recognised as business strengths rather than limitations?In this episode of Lessons Not Yet Learnt, host Kiran Kachela speaks with entrepreneur and dyslexia-in-business ambassador James Martin.James Martin shares his journey from struggling within traditional education to building successful businesses and employing thousands of people. Together, they explore how leaders can look beyond labels, rethink recruitment and create environments where different thinkers can thrive. In this episode, we cover: · The impact of growing up with dyslexia· Why neurodiversity can be a competitive advantage· Building teams around complementary strengths· Creating supportive systems that reduce masking· Why listening is an essential leadership skill· Looking beyond CVs when recruiting· How technology is reducing workplace barriersThis episode is sponsored by the National Autistic Society: Learn - the National Autistic Society’s professional learning and practice improvement service. National Autistic Society: Learn supports organisations to build workplaces where autistic and other neurodivergent people can thrive, helping to unlock talent, strengthen teams and improve organisational performance.For employers looking to move beyond awareness and ready to take meaningful action, their Neuroinclusive Employer Award provides a practical framework for embedding inclusive practice across your organisation.  For more information on neurodiversity, neurodivergence and neuro-affirmative support, visit naslearn.org.uk. About Our Guest James Martin is an entrepreneur and advocate for dyslexia in business, known for his direct, practical approach to building success. After leaving school at 14 without the ability to read or write, he took a different path, creating systems and surrounding himself with the right people to play to his strengths.His business career started with a lawn-mowing round, and James went on to build a business that became the UK's leader in arboriculture, which he scaled, sold, rebuilt after reacquiring it, and exited again. He has since developed a £30M+ commercial property portfolio and launched successful ventures across property, events and hospitality, including the well-known Baddow Park House wedding venue in the UK.Today, James also uses his vast experience to provide a mastermind for entrepreneurs, sharing straight-talking insights on business growth, resilience, hiring and opportunity, all designed to help founders make better decisions and build businesses that last.Follow us on:  Instagram @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  TikTok @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  YouTube @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  Want to get involved?  To ask Kiran a question, be a guest, or sponsor an episode, visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com .

Is your organisation genuinely moving forward, or is everyone simply running faster to keep the system from breaking? In this bonus episode of Lessons Not Yet Learnt, Kiran Kachela explores the “mirage of motion”, where constant emails, meetings, notifications and overflowing to-do lists create the appearance of progress without delivering meaningful results. She challenges leaders to look beyond visible busyness, question why individual heroics are needed and stop rewarding firefighting as a substitute for fixing the system. Sustainable growth does not come from asking people to work harder or faster. It comes from creating repeatable, predictable processes that address the root cause and do not depend on burnout to succeed.In this episode, we cover:· Why activity and achievement are not the same thing · How corporate busyness can create an illusion of progress · The risk of using technology and AI to automate dysfunctional processes · Why doing the wrong thing efficiently still delivers the wrong outcome· How rewarding last-minute heroics can reinforce fragile ways of working· The impact of firefighting on employee wellbeing and business sustainability · Why genuine scalability depends on repeatable and predictable performance · How emails, meetings and notifications provide instant gratification without necessarily creating value · The questions leaders should ask when reviewing calendars, workloads and priorities · Why organisations should celebrate the people building “sprinkler systems”, not only those fighting firesFollow us on: Instagram @LessonsnotyetlearntTikTok @LessonsnotyetlearntYouTube @LessonsnotyetlearntWant to get involved?To ask Kiran a question, be a guest, or sponsor an episode, visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com

Millions are being poured into enterprise AI programmes, yet many organisations are still struggling to see the benefits they were promised. So what's going wrong? In this episode, Kiran Kachela is joined by AI specialist and software developer Scott Bowler to explore the growing gap between large-scale AI investments and real-world adoption. Together, they challenge the belief that transformation starts with technology and uncover why the biggest AI successes are often happening far away from the boardroom. From shadow AI and AI agents to changing job roles, leadership challenges, and the future of work, this conversation offers a practical and refreshingly honest perspective on what it really takes to make AI successful. The key lesson? AI isn't a technology problem. It's a people problem. And while many enterprise AI programmes are struggling, organisations can still win by empowering employees to experiment, learn, and solve everyday problems using AI. In this episode, we cover:   Why many organisations are investing heavily in AI but struggling to achieve meaningful adoption and results. The difference between top-down AI strategies and bottom-up employee-led innovation.  Why empowering people to experiment with AI often delivers greater impact than large-scale technology rollouts.  How AI agents are changing the way work gets done and making advanced capabilities more accessible. The balance between innovation, governance, and managing risk in AI adoption. Why giving employees time, space, and permission to learn is critical for AI success. The common mistakes organisations make when rolling out AI programmes.  How roles, careers, and organisational structures are being reshaped by AI.  The debate around AI's impact on jobs, productivity, and future career opportunities. Why creativity, critical thinking, and curiosity remain uniquely human advantages. What the future of AI, automation, and robotics could mean for businesses and society.Practical advice for leaders looking to build AI adoption that actually sticks.The key lesson: organisations succeed with AI when they focus on people first, technology second. Follow us on:  Instagram @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  TikTok @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  YouTube @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  Want to get involved?  To ask Kiran a question, be a guest, or sponsor an episode, visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com 

Episode Description:AI is moving faster than most organisations can govern it. In this bonus episode, Kiran Kachela explains why lengthy AI policies and steering committees are not enough to manage risk. Instead, she explores how organisations can create practical guardrails that enable innovation while protecting people, data, and the business.In this episode, we cover: · Why AI policies alone often fail to reduce risk.· The hidden challenge of employees using AI tools without oversight.· How overly restrictive controls can slow innovation.· The three layers of effective AI governance· Why organisations need guardrails, not bureaucracy.· Lessons from Cyber Essentials and ISO 27001 for responsible AI adoption.Follow us on: Instagram @Lessonsnotyetlearnt TikTok @Lessonsnotyetlearnt YouTube @Lessonsnotyetlearnt Want to get involved? To ask Kiran a question, be a guest, or sponsor an episode, visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com.

Episode Description Are organisations repeating the same mistakes they madeduring the dotcom boom?In this episode of Lessons Not Yet Learnt, host Kiran Kachela and Marcus Robbins explore why many organisations are approaching AI as if it were a traditional IT project, despite decades of lessons from digital transformation initiatives. AI may be the latest technological wave, but the challenges holding organisations back remain strikingly familiar: unclear goals, weak organisational learning, poor data foundations, and a focus on technology over value creation. Together, they unpack why AI is more than a technology programme, how old transformation habits are slowing progress, and what leaders should do differently to turn AI ambition into genuine business value.In this episode, we cover:· Why many organisations are treating AI like the dotcom era's race to get online, repeating familiar transformation mistakes· Why AI transformation should be viewed as an enterprise-wide transformation, not simply a technology implementation· The cultural change required for successful AI adoption and why technology alone is not enough· How organisations are aiming for large-scale AI outcomes before building the foundations needed for success· The importance of organisational learning and capability building in AI programmes· Why decades-old data challenges, including quality, consistency, governance and the "single customer view", continue to undermine transformation efforts· How AI amplifies existing data problems and can turn them into enterprise-wide risks· The impact of ROI anxiety, governance concerns, and a lack of suitable evaluation frameworks on AI progress· Why isolated pockets of AI excellence are not enough without broader organisational capability· A practical perspective on where AI should create value: making work better, doing work differently, and enabling entirely new forms of work.About Our Guest Marcus Robbins - Founder and CEO of Everything Adaptive.A consultant, thought leader, author, and public speakerwith three decades of experience, Marcus is renowned for his ability to communicate complex topics and drive innovation. He is committed to empowering organisations to navigate change and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.As a dynamic disruptor and innovator with deep expertise in strategy and organisational culture, Marcus excels at driving transformation, developing new perspectives, building compelling value propositions, establishing leading consulting practices, and delivering breakthrough performance.Over the course of his career, including key leadership roles at Fujitsu, Microsoft, and Capgemini, Marcus has challenged convention, nurtured new behaviours, and driven and inspired breakthrough performance.Follow us on: Instagram @Lessonsnotyetlearnt TikTok @Lessonsnotyetlearnt YouTube @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  Want to get involved? To ask Kiran a question, be a guest, or sponsor an episode, visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com.

Why do people resist change? And more importantly, are they really resisting the change itself? In this bonus episode of Lessons Not Yet Learnt, host Kiran Kachela explores one of the most misunderstood aspects of leadership and transformation: resistance. Building on a recent conversation about change management, Kiran challenges leaders to stop viewing resistance as an obstacle and start seeing it as feedback. Using the Rick Maurer framework, she breaks resistance down into three distinct levels: "I don't understand it", "I don't like it", and "I don't trust you". Each level requires a different leadership response, and understanding the difference can be the key to gaining buy-in, building trust, and creating sustainable change. This episode is a practical reflection on why change is ultimately about people, not processes, and why successful leaders learn to understand the emotions, perceptions and behaviours that sit behind resistance.In this episode, we cover:· Why resistance should be viewed as feedback rather than opposition · The three levels of resistance and what each one reveals about people's concerns · Why "I don't understand it" is often the easiest form of resistance to overcome · How emotions drive the "I don't like it" response to change · Why trust is the hardest barrier to rebuild during transformation · How resistance changes throughout the start-up, implementation and anchoring phases of change · The role communication, engagement and practical interventions play in supporting adoption · Why effective change management requires an understanding of behaviour, personality and perception.Follow us on:Instagram @LessonsnotyetlearntTikTok @LessonsnotyetlearntYouTube @LessonsnotyetlearntTo ask Kiran anything, be a guest, or sponsor an episode, visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com 

What if the people you’re labelling as “resistant” areactually trying to save your project? In this episode of Lessons Not Yet Learnt, host KiranKachela is joined by change management expert Ket Patel to unpack one of the most misunderstood dynamics in transformation: resistance.Through real-world examples and honest reflection, they challenge the idea that resistance is a problem to eliminate - revealing instead how it can act as a critical source of insight, risk visibility, and ultimately, better decision-making. From mislabelled “blockers” to overlooked feedback loops, this episode explores why leaders often resist resistance and the cost of getting it wrong.This isn’t about slowing down change. It’s about making sure it actually works. In this episode, we cover:· Why “resistance” is often mislabelled feedback and what happens when it’s ignored· How overlooking frontline insight can lead to costly failure and missed risks· The role of human behaviour in change and why it’s not “soft and fluffy” but valuable data · Why leaders mistake communication for true change management· The danger of avoiding uncomfortable conversations and how it impacts adoption · How reframing resistance as insight can improve outcomes, engagement, and decision-making· The responsibility of leaders and teams to create space for honest, open dialogue About Our GuestKet Patel - Change Management Practitioner & Coach.Ket Patel is a seasoned change practitioner with over 20years of experience leading the people side of transformation across global organisations, including EY and Morgan Stanley. Now running his own consultancy, Ket helps organisationsreframe how they approach change - shifting the focus from rigid processes and timelines to human behaviour, insight, and real-world outcomes.His work centres on making change management more practical, accessible, and outcome-driven - helping leaders move beyond labels like “resistance” and instead engage with what’s really happening beneath the surface. Follow us on: Instagram @Lessonsnotyetlearnt TikTok @LessonsnotyetlearntYouTube @Lessonsnotyetlearnt  Want to get involved? To ask Kiran a question, be a guest, or sponsor an episode,visit our website: www.lessonsnotyetlearnt.com