As many people return to work at the beginning of a new year, questions about careers, culture and leadership tend to resurface with renewed intensity.
Behind the scenes, The Change Agenda has been working on a project that speaks directly to those questions. How People Really Get On at Work has now been published.
This book was not written to advance a grand theory of leadership, nor to suggest that work would be better if people simply tried harder. It is not a “how-to” manual, a checklist or a collection of leadership tips. There is no promise of quick fixes.
Instead, the book grew out of years of mentoring conversations – from the privilege of having excellent mentors, and the responsibility of being one. Over time, a familiar set of questions and dilemmas surfaced again and again. Different people, different organisations, different sectors – but strikingly similar concerns.
Rarely were those concerns about the big, headline decisions. Questions like Should I take the promotion? Should I relocate? Should I do another degree? often have a way of resolving themselves. What proved far more challenging were the smaller, everyday moments: interactions, behaviours, assumptions and responses that quietly accumulate — and, over time, shape working lives.
Many people still assume that careers progress primarily on merit. That intelligence, expertise and hard work will inevitably be recognised. That if you perform well enough, for long enough, the system will respond accordingly.
Sometimes that happens. Often, it does not.
Across organisations, industries and sectors, patterns emerge that feel confusing or unfair. Highly capable people stall. Others — no more talented, and sometimes less so — progress steadily. The difference is rarely technical skill or raw intelligence. More often, it comes down to behaviour: how people show up, how they are perceived, how they navigate complexity, power and relationships at work.
This book is about that difference.
It explores the subtle dynamics that influence who progresses, who struggles, and why — not to judge, but to make visible the often unspoken rules of working life. Because when behaviour is understood, it can be reflected on, shaped and changed.
And that is where meaningful change begins.
How People Really Get On at Work is available in ebook format at all leading booksellers, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books and many other etailers.
