Welcome to A World of Difference!
A World of Difference
A World of Difference
A World of Difference is a leadership podcast for senior executives who know that culture, trust, and human systems are now decisive competitive advantages,and that blind spots at the top carry real risk. Hosted by Lori Adams-Brown, Strategic Transformation Executive and global leadership advisor, this podcast goes beneath surface-level leadership trends to examine what actually drives performance, engagement, and resilience in today’s complex, high-pressure organizations. These conversations reveal the patterns many leaders sense, but rarely have time or space to fully examine. Each episode helps CEOs, CHROs, and global teams: Identify hidden cultural dynamics and leadership blind spots Understand why well-intentioned change efforts stall or fail Navigate burnout, silence, and disengagement without sacrificing performance Build psychological safety, trust, and accountability at scale Develop future-of-work leadership skills that translate across industries and cultures Drawing on decades of experience working across global systems, Lori brings a rare blend of research-based insight, cross-cultural fluency, and executive-level clarity. This is not theory for theory’s sake. It’s practical, human-centered leadership intelligence for those responsible for people, strategy, and outcomes. A World of Difference is especially relevant for leaders operating in: Global and matrixed organizations Periods of transformation, growth, or uncertainty Talent retention and workforce trust challenges Post-burnout and post-crisis environments These are the conversations many leadership teams wish they were having about power, voice, boundaries, and the real human cost of “business as usual.” Listening isn’t just informative; it sharpens decision-making and challenges assumptions that no longer serve today’s workforce. If you are responsible for leading people through complexity, and want to avoid costly cultural blind spots, this podcast is for you.
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Sept. 8, 2026

Stop Managing Performance, Start Enabling It: Dr. Edie Goldberg on the New Talent Management Paradigm

Stop Managing Performance, Start Enabling It: Dr. Edie Goldberg on the New Talent Management Paradigm
A World of Difference
Stop Managing Performance, Start Enabling It: Dr. Edie Goldberg on the New Talent Management Paradigm
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Season 12

What if everything you've been taught about managing performance was built for a workplace that no longer exists? Dr. Edie Goldberg returns to A World of Difference to unpack the research behind her new book, revealing why the system most companies use to drive performance is quietly working against them.

Topics Covered

  • Why “coercive control” — carrots, sticks, and fear-based motivation — is the hidden operating system behind most performance management, and why the research says it doesn't work

  • The shift from measuring performance to enabling it: transparency, trust, autonomy, and connecting work to purpose

  • Why only 4% of employees revisit their goals mid-year, and how to make goal-setting actually motivating

  • What a real “performance feedback culture” looks like, and the four conditions that predict it

  • How AI can genuinely support performance enablement (goal clarity, personalized development, reduced bias) — and where it can quietly go wrong

  • The bias built into hiring and performance systems, and what a well-designed AI process can do differently

Guest Bio

Dr. Edie Goldberg is founder and president of E. L. Goldberg and Associates, a globally recognized expert in talent management and the future of work, and a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She is co-author of Performance Enablement: A Model for Driving Organizational Performance and The Inside Gig: How Sharing Talent Across Boundaries Unleashes Organizational Capacity.

Timestamps

  • 00:00 – Cold open

  • 01:13 – Why Edie wrote this book now

  • 05:34 – Coercive control as a management strategy

  • 09:13 – The new paradigm: enabling control

  • 14:27 – The elephant in the room: managers spend 90% of their time doing the work

  • 21:44 – Why goal-setting fails (the 4% problem)

  • 28:11 – AI's real impact on performance management

  • 37:14 – Bias in AI hiring and performance systems

  • 44:11 – Where to find Edie and her book

  • 48:00 – Passport Stamp: New Zealand (a shout out to the Kiwis who listen from Aotearoa, the Maori word for New Zealand)

    Watch the exclusive, bonus episode on Patreon here.

Find Dr. Edie Goldberg At

elgoldberg.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/edie-goldberg-phd | Book: Performance Enablement

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Keep making a difference wherever you are!

Lori Adams-Brown, Host & Executive Producer

A World of Difference Podcast