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Here's something I learned from 20+ years of improv: The scenes that fall flat aren't usually missing skill. They're missing commitment.
The performers are hedging. Playing not to fail instead of playing to win. Trying to be acceptable rather than authentic.
I see the exact same pattern in teams navigating change. And the fix isn't better tactics—it's the same fix that works on stage.
There's a moment in The West Wing (one of my favorite shows) that nails this...
In Season 1, President Bartlett’s administration was stuck. Approval ratings were tanking. The staff was demoralized. Everyone was working hard, but nothing was moving forward. The team had all the talent, all the experience, all the right intentions, and yet they couldn’t seem to break through.
Sound familiar?
Bartlett’s Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry, finally confronts him about what’s really going on. The conversation gets heated, but Leo’s point is simple: Bartlett has been playing it safe. Instead of pursuing the ideas and policies he truly believes in, he’s been trying to avoid controversy, desperately hoping not to become a one-term president.
In other words, he’s been governing cautiously rather than leading boldly.
Eventually Bartlett pauses and asks Leo a straightforward question.
“Do you have a plan?”
Leo replies, “I have the beginnings of one.”
Then he tosses a legal pad onto the desk. Written on the pad are four words:
Let Bartlett be Bartlett.
That’s the plan.
Not a complex strategy. Not a list of policy initiatives.
Just this simple idea: stop trying to be a watered-down version of leadership designed to please everyone, and start showing up as the person you actually are.
As the series continues, the administration becomes more confident and more effective. Their approval ratings go up. They take bigger swings on the issues they care about.
And it all begins with those four words.
The Power of Expressing Your Core
That scene has always stuck with me. Not just as a fan of the show, but as someone who studies leadership and change.
In my upcoming book Say “Yes, And!” to Change, one of the key ideas in the YES AND Framework is the concept of Exploring and Expressing your Core.
Leo’s message to Bartlett isn’t about tactics. It’s about identity.
The administration had been operating cautiously, trying to navigate political pressure and avoid mistakes. Leo’s suggestion was that the way forward wasn’t to become even more careful. It was to become more authentic.
That’s what “Let Bartlett be Bartlett” really means.
I have a whole chapter about this in the book. Here’s an excerpt from the book where I break down the phrase, Explore and Express Your Core:
Core: The intersection of your strengths, passions, and values. This is the truest version of who you are when all the layers of expectation, fear, and habit are stripped away. It’s the place where you feel most alive and do your best work.
Explore: Digging beneath roles, routines, and responsibilities to rediscover the talents, drives, and desires that have always been there—whether you’ve been using them or not. I use “explore” rather than “define” because you need to think like an archaeologist, digging to find what’s already there, not trying to label what your logical mind thinks the answer “should” be.
Express: Living and working from that inner “you-ness,” finding as many ways and as much time as possible to apply that part of yourself. As an individual, align your choices with your inner persona. As a leader, help your teams do what they do best in the way they do it best.
This step is the foundation of everything else in the book. Remember the three outcomes we’re aiming for? Harnessing change, unlocking brilliance, and transforming apathy into excitement. Exploring and expressing your core is where each of those begins.
Why This Matters During Change
Change has a funny effect on people and organizations.
When uncertainty increases, the natural instinct is to play it safe. Leaders soften their positions. Teams focus on avoiding mistakes. Individuals second-guess their instincts.
Everyone becomes a little more cautious. On the surface, that feels responsible. After all, change can be risky.
But there’s a hidden cost.
When people focus too much on caution, they lose the very things that made them effective in the first place. Creativity drops. Energy fades. People start working defensively instead of constructively.
This is when teams fall into what I call change apathy.
Change apathy is what happens when people stop resisting change and start ignoring it. They show up. They comply. They check the boxes. But the spark is gone.
It’s not active pushback–it’s passive disconnection. And in some ways, it’s harder to address than outright resistance, because at least resistance shows people still care enough to fight.
The irony is that the moments of change that feel the most uncertain are often the moments when expressing your core matters the most.
Instead of shrinking back, the opportunity is to lean further into what makes you distinctive.
Leo understood that about Bartlett. The administration wasn’t struggling because Bartlett was too bold. It was struggling because he wasn’t being bold enough.
What Leaders Can Do Right Away
If you’re leading a team or organization through change, one of the most useful questions you can ask isn’t about tactics or timelines.
It’s about identity:
Who are we at our core?
Change tends to push teams into survival mode, where all the focus goes to immediate problems and short-term decisions. In that environment, it’s easy to lose sight of the deeper purpose behind the work.
Taking time to reconnect with that purpose can shift the entire tone of how a team approaches change.
A few practices that can help:
Revisit your core principles.
Take ten minutes in your next team meeting and ask: What do we believe is most important about the work we do here? Let people answer in their own words. You may be surprised how energizing that conversation can be.
Look for opportunities to act in alignment with those principles.
Once those values are clear, ask where they can show up in current decisions. Sometimes expressing your core doesn’t require a major strategic shift. It can start with small, visible choices that reflect what the team actually believes.
Encourage authenticity instead of caution.
During change, many employees feel pressure to hold back ideas or play it safe. Leaders who create space for honest thinking and creative solutions often unlock insights that wouldn’t have surfaced otherwise.
These actions don’t eliminate uncertainty. But they can restore energy and clarity when teams need it most.
What Individuals Can Do
You don’t have to be a president or a CEO for this lesson to apply.
Many people experience their own version of the Bartlett dilemma. They find themselves working in environments where they feel cautious, constrained, or disconnected from the parts of themselves that once brought excitement to their work.
If that resonates with you, start with a simple exercise.
Ask yourself two questions.
First: What are the parts of myself that I’m not expressing right now?
Maybe it’s creativity. Maybe it’s curiosity. Maybe it’s a willingness to challenge assumptions or explore new ideas.
Second: What’s one small way I could express that part of myself this week?
The key word there is small. You don’t need to reinvent your career overnight. Often the most meaningful shifts begin with modest experiments: proposing a new idea, volunteering for a project, sharing a perspective you might normally keep quiet.
Little by little, those choices begin to reconnect you with the work in a more meaningful way.
Let Bartlett Be Bartlett
One of my favorite lines from the episode comes shortly after Leo presents the plan to the staff.
He tells them, “We’re going to put issues front and center.”
Then he adds something important.
“We might lose some fights. And we might even lose the White House.”
That line matters because expressing your core is not a guarantee of success. You may take risks. You may encounter resistance. Some ideas will work, and others won’t.
But when people and organizations operate from a clear sense of who they are, the work becomes more meaningful. Energy returns. Creativity expands. And when success does come, it tends to feel more authentic and more satisfying.
So the next time you find yourself navigating change, whether in your organization, your career, or your own life, consider Leo McGarry’s simple plan.
Let Bartlett be Bartlett.
Let your organization be your organization.
And perhaps most importantly:
Let you be you.
I’d love to hear from you: What’s one part of yourself that you’ve been holding back at work or in life? And what would it look like to express that part of yourself more fully?