You can’t build great AI on top of bad customer behavior. And sometimes… businesses are the ones creating the behavior.

After a frustrating moment in a dentist waiting room, Alyssa unpacks how outdated systems, unnecessary friction, and “required” fields are quietly training customers to give incomplete, inaccurate, or fake information.

Because when the process feels like busy work, people stop trying to help you.

This Field Note explores the connection between customer experience, operational design, and the future of AI powered businesses.

What happens when the systems designed to collect better data are actually making your data worse?

This is not a rebrand. It is a reset.

Alyssa Nolte is changing the direction of Taking Back Monday. What started as conversations about entrepreneurship, leadership, and people strategy is becoming something more raw. Less theory. More action. This next phase pulls you into the messy middle of building a business in real time.

If you are tired of polished advice and want to see what it actually looks like to build, pivot, and figure things out as you go, this episode is for you. This is about doing the work, not just talking about it.

Alyssa shares why she stepped back, what she realized after clearing her interview backlog, and why now is the time to move from post corporate therapy to real execution.

She is still hosting interviews on The Growth Signal, but Taking Back Monday is becoming a behind the scenes look at entrepreneurship in motion.

3 Key Takeaways:

1. Clarity comes when you pause. Clearing the backlog created space to rethink the future of the podcast.
2. Talking about change is not the same as making change. This next chapter is about action, not theory.
3. The messy middle matters. Growth does not happen in highlight reels. It happens in the uncertain in between.

If you want to build something meaningful, lead better, and truly take back your Monday, follow along.

Resources and Links:

1. alyssanolte.substack.com
2. linkedin.com/in/alyssanolte
3. https://rss.com/podcasts/thegrowthsignal/

In this episode, Alyssa Nolte talks with Tim Townsend about leadership, motivation, and what actually drives people at work. They dig into why KPIs often fail, how fear shows up inside big organizations, and what gets lost when work becomes impersonal.

Why You Should Listen

This conversation cuts through corporate theory and gets real about human behavior at work. If you lead teams, work inside large organizations, or feel frustrated by politics and misaligned incentives, this episode gives language and perspective for what you are seeing every day and how to think about it differently.

3 Key Takeaways

1. KPIs can backfire when they reward the wrong behavior and disconnect people from the bigger goal.
2. As teams grow, individual accountability often shrinks unless leaders actively reinforce shared purpose.
3. Personal connection and belief in the work drive better outcomes than measurement alone.

People and Resources Mentioned

• Simon Sinek
• Kevin McLeod
• Grand Designs