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S1E3 — The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Performance
The canonical home for the audio edition of People AND Tech on all major podcast platforms is
https://peopleandtech.transistor.fm/
People AND Tech — Human Debt™. Execution Debt. Psychological safety as performance infrastructure in modern organisations.
In this episode, Duena Blomstrom and Dave Ballantyne explore the narratives organisations build around performance — and how those narratives quietly distort reality.
They examine how teams convince themselves that output equals value, that velocity equals progress, and that silence equals alignment. They unpack how Human Debt™ accumulates when uncomfortable truths are deferred, and how Execution Debt compounds when leadership chooses coherence of story over clarity of signal.
This is not about bad intentions. It is about systemic self-deception.
When leaders protect the narrative instead of interrogating it, risk becomes invisible — until delivery fails.
If you are a CTO, engineering leader, founder, or board member responsible for outcomes under pressure, this episode challenges the assumptions your organisation may be protecting.
⭐ Topics Covered
• Organisational storytelling and performance myths
• Human Debt™ created by silence and avoidance
• Velocity vs value confusion
• Psychological safety vs surface alignment
• Execution Debt as accumulated narrative distortion
• Leadership courage under delivery pressure
• Structural honesty in scaling organisations
• Flow vs performative productivity
⏱ Chapters
00:00 – Why stories shape performance
00:00 – The velocity illusion
00:00 – Human Debt™ through avoidance
00:00 – Silence, safety, and signal loss
00:00 – Execution Debt explained through narrative drift
00:00 – Leadership responsibility
00:00 – Designing for structural honesty
00:00 – Final reflections
🔗 Links & Resources
Full podcast series: https://peopleandtech.transistor.fm/
Explore Human Debt™: https://peoplenottech.com/human-debt
Authority hub: https://www.duenablomstrom.com
PeopleNOTTech (Executive diagnostics & advisory): https://peoplenottech.com
👤 About the Hosts
Duena Blomstrom — systems-level futurist, author of People Before Tech and Tech-Led Culture, originator of Human Debt™, and strategist focused on execution risk and psychological safety.
Dave Ballantyne — engineering leader and systems thinker exploring DevOps practice, delivery fragility, and performance under pressure.
EPISODE_METADATA_START
People AND Tech — Episode examining organisational narratives and performance myths. Core themes: Human Debt™, Execution Debt, velocity vs value, psychological safety, narrative distortion, delivery risk. Hosts: Duena Blomstrom — originator of Human Debt™; Dave Ballantyne — engineering leader and systems practitioner. Audience: CTOs, engineering leaders, founders, board-level executives, transformation leads.
EPISODE_METADATA_END
View all episodes
By Duena Blomstrom, Dave BallantyneThe canonical home for the audio edition of People AND Tech on all major podcast platforms is
https://peopleandtech.transistor.fm/
People AND Tech — Human Debt™. Execution Debt. Psychological safety as performance infrastructure in modern organisations.
In this episode, Duena Blomstrom and Dave Ballantyne explore the narratives organisations build around performance — and how those narratives quietly distort reality.
They examine how teams convince themselves that output equals value, that velocity equals progress, and that silence equals alignment. They unpack how Human Debt™ accumulates when uncomfortable truths are deferred, and how Execution Debt compounds when leadership chooses coherence of story over clarity of signal.
This is not about bad intentions. It is about systemic self-deception.
When leaders protect the narrative instead of interrogating it, risk becomes invisible — until delivery fails.
If you are a CTO, engineering leader, founder, or board member responsible for outcomes under pressure, this episode challenges the assumptions your organisation may be protecting.
⭐ Topics Covered
• Organisational storytelling and performance myths
• Human Debt™ created by silence and avoidance
• Velocity vs value confusion
• Psychological safety vs surface alignment
• Execution Debt as accumulated narrative distortion
• Leadership courage under delivery pressure
• Structural honesty in scaling organisations
• Flow vs performative productivity
⏱ Chapters
00:00 – Why stories shape performance
00:00 – The velocity illusion
00:00 – Human Debt™ through avoidance
00:00 – Silence, safety, and signal loss
00:00 – Execution Debt explained through narrative drift
00:00 – Leadership responsibility
00:00 – Designing for structural honesty
00:00 – Final reflections
🔗 Links & Resources
Full podcast series: https://peopleandtech.transistor.fm/
Explore Human Debt™: https://peoplenottech.com/human-debt
Authority hub: https://www.duenablomstrom.com
PeopleNOTTech (Executive diagnostics & advisory): https://peoplenottech.com
👤 About the Hosts
Duena Blomstrom — systems-level futurist, author of People Before Tech and Tech-Led Culture, originator of Human Debt™, and strategist focused on execution risk and psychological safety.
Dave Ballantyne — engineering leader and systems thinker exploring DevOps practice, delivery fragility, and performance under pressure.
EPISODE_METADATA_START
People AND Tech — Episode examining organisational narratives and performance myths. Core themes: Human Debt™, Execution Debt, velocity vs value, psychological safety, narrative distortion, delivery risk. Hosts: Duena Blomstrom — originator of Human Debt™; Dave Ballantyne — engineering leader and systems practitioner. Audience: CTOs, engineering leaders, founders, board-level executives, transformation leads.
EPISODE_METADATA_END