Work Signals

About the Book

Why do smart, hardworking people get overlooked at work?

Why do their ideas go unheard, their work goes unnoticed, and their names get left out of the conversations that shape what happens next?

Because careers do not take off with talent alone. They take off when you understand how value gets recognized. Most of us are taught how to work hard, but almost no one is taught how to play the game of work.

What if work came with a playbook? A way to learn the unwritten rules, read the dynamics beneath the surface, and understand how decisions are really made?

Work Signals gives you a practical guide to win at work. It shows you how to create value that matters, make your contributions visible without becoming performative or manipulative, build trust that compounds, read culture and power dynamics with clarity, create options, and stay adaptable in a world that keeps changing.

About the Authors

In Work Signals, Ruchin and Anthony bring together research depth, operating rigor, and field-tested insight for leaders building organizations where people and performance can thrive. They decode how organizations actually work, what it takes for people to thrive inside them, and how to make your value impossible to overlook.

Ruchin Kansal

Ruchin Kansal advises senior leaders on high-stakes, transformative business decisions.

He brings 25 years of senior experience in architecture, business, and leadership science, which has shaped his systems view of organizations. In corporate, academic, and advisory roles, he decodes how large, complex enterprises work and how people at all levels can act with clarity and leverage.

AHe has served as Global SVP of digital strategy at Siemens Healthineers, and head of Business Innovation and Transformation at Boehringer Ingelheim. Earlier, he held roles at Deloitte, Capgemini US, and Ernst & Young, helping biopharma and MedTech launch new products, services and expand into new geographies.

Ruchin is Professor of Practice at Seton Hall University and Visiting Professor of Leadership at Brown University. He leads the IRB-approved, five-year Future of Leadership Survey and founded In the Lead, Seton Hall's leadership magazine.

He co-authored Redefining Innovation (Routledge) and The Kansal Clunker (Koehler, 2025). He has contributed to Oxford and World Scientific volumes, published in Wharton Healthcare Quarterly, and writes Level Zero Leadership, a Substack on work dynamics.

He has presented at the White House, SIOP, and the Wharton Global C-Suite Executive Program.

Ruchin holds an MBA from NYU Stern, a Bachelor's in Architecture from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, and a Master's in Architecture from Kansas State University.

Anthony W. Caputo

Anthony W. Caputo is a systems-oriented organizational psychologist, consultant, and company-building operator who helps leaders turn human behavior into business performance.

As Chief Operating Officer and Chief People Officer at Remesh, he has built and led the systems that connect talent, leadership, and execution to company results, including its transition to a four-day workweek and recognition on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500.

His work on organizational dynamics spans consulting, research, and executive leadership across high-growth companies, academia, and global institutions. Through work with Stanford Graduate School of Business, Columbia Business School, the United Nations, Mercer, The Conference Board, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, he has developed a rare combination of advisory depth, operating judgment, and institutional range.

His scholarship and applied work on employee engagement and retention, leadership effectiveness, and the future of work have been published or presented through Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Wiley, The Conference Board, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

He holds degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University, and Seton Hall University.

Endorsements

Work Signals is a must-read for professionals who work hard yet feel stuck in their careers. Through engaging, real-world stories, it makes powerful ideas both relatable and actionable. Packed with practical insights, it is a guide you can use every day to improve how you work and grow.

- Vikesh Mahendroo, Former Global EVP, Mercer HR Consulting

Too many talented human beings are taught how to work hard, but not how to make their impact visible, trusted, and aligned with what organizations actually reward. Work Signals gives readers a concise, repeatable framework for closing that gap. A great read for ambitious people and the leaders responsible for developing them!

- Joseph Quan, Entrepreneur & Founder/CEO, CPOHQ + Knoetic AI

Work Signals hits on a hidden framework for success in navigating organizations. It highlights what I have often seen in my work: those who evaluate and "judge" you do so based on what they perceive. I just wish I had this book when I started!

- Glenn Snyder, Partner (retired), Med Tech Practice Leader, Deloitte

This is a must-have for every career stage, but particularly for those early in their careers! It is filled with lots of insights and practical guidance that can be implemented immediately. I wish it had been available when I was starting my first job! It is substantive, but I was able to complete it in one sitting.

- Dr. Z. C. Edwards, MD, MBA, Founder and Chief Medical Officer, pausitive health

This is that rare book that distills learning from academia into actionable wisdom. Its message is even more important in today's chaotic world of hybrid work that has stymied the kind of relationship building and progress that career advancement depends on.

- Sofija Jovic, PhD, MBA, ex-CEO, Prophase, & Board Member

Having worked in many large US as well as European companies in multiple countries and cultures, I can’t say strongly enough how important, and yet ignored, this topic is. Kansal and Caputo do an outstanding job of showing that working hard is not enough for success. Every young person should read and reread this practical guide at various stages of their career, no matter what type of company or entity they want to make their career in.

- Girish Nadkarni, CEO, Total Energies Ventures (Retd.), Independent Board Member, Investment Committee Member, and Senior Advisor

This book should be required reading for anyone serious about operating at a high level. Whether early in a career or leading teams at scale, it fundamentally changes how to think about work, visibility, and how to win.

- Douglas P.B. Freeman, Chief Revenue Officer & High-Growth SaaS Operator

We’ve all had moments when our hard work doesn’t seem to pay off. Often, it’s not that our work lacks value; it’s that others don’t notice its impact. Kansal and Caputo, combining years of practical experience with deep expertise in organizational behavior, show readers how to make their contributions both meaningful and visible. They offer practical, thoughtful guidance on creating value and ensuring it gets recognized. With clear examples and accessible language, this smart, immediately useful guide gives you the tools to advance. It will change the way you think about your work and your career.

- Professor Andrew F. Simon, PhD, PsyD, Executive Director, Buccino Leadership Institute, Seton Hall University; Former President, International Council of Psychologists

With a snappy pace, relatable examples, and helpful checklists and templates, Work Signals is the real talk and solid guidance you need to get unstuck and build the career you want. This is the sort of book you return to over and over, when faced with a transition, a challenge, or a roadblock – a secret decoder ring to get your work recognized and help you make the kind of impact you want.

- Alexis Fink, PhD, Former VP People Analytics & Workforce Strategy, Meta; SIOP President