At Work with The Ready

47. The Chaos Tax is Slowing Your Org Down

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Everyone talks about slaying bureaucracy and cutting organizational sludge but there's an equally pernicious force that doesn't get nearly enough airtime: the organizational debt created by too little structure. The chaos tax is real, and it's usually being paid by everyone except the person creating it.

In this episode, Rodney and Sam unpack the founder-led chaos pattern: why it happens, why it feels like speed to the person at the top while feeling like paralysis to everyone else, and what minimum viable process actually looks like in practice. They get into learned helplessness, productive friction, the hidden cost of unilateral decisions, and why the call for structure will probably have to come from outside the house.

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Mentioned references:

"Sparticus Merlin Spurlin": Check-In from AWWTR Ep. 45/2
Organizational debt
Founder mode episode: AWWTR Ep. 22
RACI: AWWTR Ep. 10
participatory meeting structure: BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless
consent vs consensus: BNW Ep. 74 with Ted Rau
The Ready's Proposal Template
Action Meeting episode: BNW Ep. 80
The Ready's OS Canvas

00:00 Intro + Check-In: If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would it be?

04:08 The Pattern: Lack of structure leads to chaos

05:56 Founders mistake their experience for everyone’s experience

11:49 Growth is unavoidable for diversity of thinking

15:53 You have to choose your slow

18:33 Example of consent

24:56 Chaotic orgs are brittle orgs

25:56 Cycle of learned helplessness and founder paranoia

28:49 Chaos glorifies unsustainable heroic behavior

33:05 Making a system where the founder doesn’t have to “be the savior”

35:50 Preserving the essential friction to good work

39:57 Idea 1: Minimum viable operating rhythm

42:38 Idea 2: Get external coaching for the founder/leader

44:49 Idea 3: Make work more visible and public

47:01 Wrap up: Leave us a review and send us your questions!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: What Keeps Us Together When AI Does The Work?

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0000

As AI handles more and more of the actual work, a genuinely hard question emerges: how do you maintain shared purpose when there's no single organization anchoring it?

In this mini AUA, Rodney and Sam argue that more automation requires more intentional human connection, not less — and that AI might actually force a long-overdue shift from obsessing over outputs to talking about outcomes and purpose.

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46. Embracing the Beautiful Mess: How Organizations Actually Work with John Cutler

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Most leaders want to believe they're building something durable: a company that matters, a culture that sticks, a system people can rely on. But what if most organizations don't have the staying power of a great city like Venice...and instead are more like a gold rush town? What if that same company is more likely to change you than you are to change it? In this episode, Sam sits down with John Cutler, writer of The Beautiful Mess and Head of Product at Dotwork, to pull on the threads John has been obsessively following for years: how organizations actually work, why seeing patterns and being able to act on them are completely different skills, how leadership is like game design, and why embracing the mess might be smarter than chasing clarity.

Learn more about John and Dotwork:

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Mentioned references:

Dr. Cat Hicks
John's post about "the slide"
W. Edwards Deming
"Hollow Knight and Silksong"
John's post with Tom Kerwin
Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety
This Beautiful Mess (the emo band)
John's old Medium posts
North Star Framework
Team Topologies, book by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What was your first job and did you learn anything from it that you still use today?

02:34 Finding your organizational trigger words

08:41 Can you really change your company?

11:12 Most companies are more like gold rush towns than lasting institutions

15:26 Finding joy at work when the company won't love you back

18:29 Every leader is a game designer

21:45 Stepping back and seeing the system

27:55 Why chasing clarity at work might be the wrong goal

33:20 Having all the data and asking the wrong questions

35:34 How Dotwork is rethinking organizational strategy tools

40:42 Building flexible operating systems that leaders will actually use

44:14 Building a generalist career in a specialist world

50:21 Leave us a review and share the show with a friend

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: Why Won't The Rest Of The Org Copy What’s Working?

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0000

You've done the hard work. Your team cracked the code on a new process/workflow/policy/design, your ways of working are genuinely better, and now...everyone else is actively uninterested. It's infuriating, and also completely predictable.

In this mini AUA, Rodney and Sam unpack why good ideas don't automatically spread in federated structures, from classic Not Invented Here syndrome to the underappreciated truth that you can't export a finished experience and skip the struggle. They make the case for becoming an internal consultant rather than an evangelist — offering scaffolding, not superiority.

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

45, Part 2. Why Pay Will Never Feel Fair At Work (And It's Not The Money)

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Compensation is where human psychology and organizational systems collide—and in Part 1, Rodney and Sam named why it so often turns into a hedonic treadmill: every lever you pull to reduce dissatisfaction tends to raise expectations and create new dissatisfaction. If you haven’t listened to Part 1 yet, start there for the “why this is so messy” foundation.

In Part 2, Rodney and Sam move from diagnosis to design: what principles should a compensation system actually be built on—and what do you do next? They walk through practical comp first principles and explore concrete moves teams can experiment with—like simplifying comp, reducing negotiation, and creating healthier feedback loops.

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Mentioned references:

⁠"previous comp episode": AWWTR Ep. 45, Part 1
"JEDI": BNW Ep. 40 with Sharan Bal
"Midnight Zone": Depthfinding Miniseries
BNW Ep. 6 with Joel Gascoigne
BNW Ep. 36 with Nathan Barry
BNW Ep. 84 with David Buckmaster
BNW Ep. 89 with Nikki Kaufman

00:00 Intro: What Would You Rename Yourself? 03:26 Comp Principle #1: Pay and Human Dignity 07:21 Comp Principle #2: Pay Equity at Work 10:06 Comp Principle #3: Salary Clarity and Transparency 15:56 Comp Principle #4: Collective Alignment on Pay 19:04 Comp Principle #5: Employee Participation in Pay Decisions 21:47 Comp Principles #6 & #7: Simplicity and Talking About Pay Less 24:12 Redesign Idea #1: Anonymous Team Rewards Ranking 25:48 Redesign Idea #2: Eliminating Salary Negotiation 28:03 Redesign Idea #3: Interview Elsewhere to Reset Pay Expectations 29:38 Redesign Idea #4: Create Transparency for Employees 32:44 Outro: Rate the Podcast + Share At Work With The Ready

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: Why Is My Small Org So Hard To Run?

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Small doesn't mean simple. In fact, smaller organizations are often more complex in the ways that are hardest to manage — personalities loom larger, every conversation carries more weight, and the line between "business problem" and interpersonal drama gets uncomfortably thin.

In this mini AUA, Rodney and Sam break down why smaller orgs typically need to install minimum viable structure to tame the chaos — while larger orgs are usually trying to remove it. Same toolkit, opposite motion. They also explore the quiet inflection point that hits somewhere under 50 people, when "everyone knows everything" suddenly stops being true and no one quite knows what to do about it.

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Mentioned references:

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

45, Part 1. Why Pay Will Never Feel Fair At Work (And It's Not The Money)

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Compensation is one of the messiest parts of any organization. Pay becomes a proxy for belonging, validation, performance, identity, and status… which means it’s almost guaranteed to feel unfair, confusing, and emotionally loaded. Layer on a capitalist “more is always better” mindset, and you get the hedonic treadmill of work: every raise increases expectations, which creates the next round of dissatisfaction.

In Part 1 of this two-part series on compensation, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into why comp is so psychologically charged, why most systems are overly complex, and why the “objective” company lens will never fully match the lived human experience of money.

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Mentioned references:

baby hyenas
hedonic treadmill
performance management episode: AWWTR Ep. 39
"authority field": The Ready's OS Canvas
FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) aka "Big Tech"
EOT (Employee-Owned Trust)

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s the best animal you’ve seen recently?

04:07 The pattern: No level of compensation ever feels like enough.

10:17 Comp becomes a proxy for self-worth

14:16 Setting individual comp levels

23:23 Importance of real pay transparency, not “bands”

27:24 Comp “up and to the right” ignores market value

31:25 Setting team-level comp and rewards

36:04 Shared rewards vs Hunger Games for sales teams

38:29 Is equity a good thing…or a trap?

46:09 Wrap Up: Continued next time in part 2

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: What Should L&D Do About AI Right Now?

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 08:00:00 -0000

AI pressure is landing squarely on Learning & Development teams. Execs want “future skills”…yesterday. The tension? How do you stop churning out more courses and start building real capabilities in the age of AI?

In this AUA mini episode, Rodney and Sam share the first moves they’d make if they were leading L&D right now. From getting hands-on with workflow automation tools to shifting from tool training toward systems thinking and experimentation, they outline how L&D can move from reactive skill provider to strategic capability builder.

Want to build skills like this to help your team succeed in 2026? Learn about our Capability Catalyst program: https://hubs.la/Q040ccYF0

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Mentioned references:

recent change skills episode: AWWTR Ep. 42
Relay
n8n
Ethan Mollick
Greg Shove: AWWTR Ep. 41
Scott Galloway
Chase Adams
EvolvingAI
Morning Brew

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

44. Forget ROI: The Ethical Case for Org Design

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Most org design conversations get forced through a narrow funnel: prove the ROI, justify the spend, make the numbers work. But if work is something most people can’t opt out of—and where we spend a huge chunk of our attention and waking lives—then “it pays off” feels like a painfully small standard.

This week, Rodney and Sam explore the ethical case for organizational design. They move beyond spreadsheets and profit metrics to ask bigger questions about leadership, power, transparency, compensation, and the human impact of broken systems. What do organizations owe the people who work inside them? Is better workplace design a moral responsibility — not just a financial strategy?

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Mentioned references:

r/antiwork
Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi and Flow
Target CEO comp package (note: New CEO’s comp package is roughly $16m, vs over $70m for the prior CEO in 2020)
triple bottom line
John Rawls and A Theory of Justice

00:00 Check-In: What’s your energy like right now? 04:04 Divorcing doing what’s “good work” from ROI

08:16 A “good” experience is the exception rather than the rule

10:06 Protecting yourself isn’t “selling out”

15:41 Spending our attention on worthy things

21:35 Leadership vs. worker power disparity is broken

27:31 Ethically designed companies never are publicly traded

31:07 Principles and values of ethical orgs

40:35 Joy at work shouldn’t be nickled and dimed

44:35 Idea 1: Don’t accept performative change initiatives

47:17 Idea 2: Audit your existing principles and values

48:35 Idea 3: Don’t let leadership gaslight you into conforming

50:33 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with a friend

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: Can You Change an Org When Leadership Doesn’t See the Problem?

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0000

When the people at the center of power feel well-served by the current system, how do you create change? This week’s listener question gets at a frustrating reality: sometimes the OS is optimized for the very people you’d need to convince. The business is growing, shareholders are happy, and the executives at the top don’t feel the friction you’re experiencing. Add geography, hierarchy, and distance from decision-makers, and it can feel impossible to generate momentum from the edges.

In this mini AUA episode, Rodney and Sam get honest about what’s actually within your control, and when it’s worth accepting that you won’t move the center—and when it’s smarter to redirect your energy toward the surface area you can influence.

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

43. Dual Transformation Is The Future...And Nobody's Prepared

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Most organizations are built to do exactly what they do…and that’s the problem. When a core business starts to decay due to disruption, automation, or shifting customer demand, the instinct is to double down on efficiency, cost cutting, and short-term fixes. But that focus often crowds out the harder, riskier work of building what comes next. Nearly a decade ago, Dual Transformation offered a clear and compelling framework for this dilemma, yet nobody seems to be actually doing it.

In this episode, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin unpack why dual transformations are so rare, why it’s even harder than it sounds, and why it matters more than ever in an AI-shaped economy. They dig into the tensions between “business A” (the core) and “business B” (the future), the funding and operating system traps that kill new growth, and practical moves leaders and internal change agents can make to actually pull of two transformations at once instead of just talking about it.

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s some type two fun you’ve had recently?

04:29 What is Dual Transformation and why now?

13:27 Sounds simple, yet deceptively hard

21:05 The 3 crisis points of a dual transformation

27:12 Recognizing when you’re in a dying business

30:57 Engineering a dual transformation from the inside out

37:24 Navigating the emotions of the dying business

39:14 Idea 1: Weekly feedback routines with customers

43:07 Idea 2: Import as little as possible from the old company

45:59 Idea 3: Write the manifesto for both businesses

47:29 Bonus Idea: Read Dual Transformation!

48:26 Wrap up

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: Can Layoffs Really Reduce Bureaucracy?

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0000

While many organizations claim they’re cutting red tape, the underlying drivers often look more like cost pressure, market correction, or AI anxiety dressed up as structural reform. In this mini episode, Rodney and Sam unpack the recent wave of layoffs framed as efforts to “reduce bureaucracy”—and why that explanation deserves some skepticism.

They explore when reducing org depth can be the right move, why boom-and-bust hiring cycles create hidden work, and what companies would actually do differently if bureaucracy reduction were the real goal.

Mentioned references:

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

42. The Top 3 Skills Change Agents Need in 2026

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Want to build skills like this to help your team succeed in 2026? ⁠Learn about our Capability Catalyst program⁠.

Enterprise change is getting harder, not easier—and in 2026, “having the right ideas” isn’t enough to move transformation. You need personal capability that lets you see what’s really happening, design with real users, and move groups through hard conversations without turning everything into theater. Good intentions and smart frameworks may have worked in the past, but what got us here won’t get us where we need to go.

In this episode, Rodney and Sam dive deep on the three most useful transformation enabling skills for the coming year, and share practical ways for how to level up your capability toolkit to thrive in our current pace of change.

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s good right now?

04:09 The Pattern

05:49 Skill 1: Metacognitive awareness

10:16 Reframing your interactions and experiences

15:57 Building your metacognition skills

21:05 Skill 2: User-Centered Design and Feedback

28:45 User feedback is not a one time activity

34:34 Skill 3: Expert facilitation

39:39 Real skilled facilitation is mostly invisible

43:03 Lots of work happens outside the room

50:08 Leveling up as a facilitator

52:30 Wrap up: Leave the show a review and share with a friend

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: How To Design a Startup OS From Scratch?

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Starting a company with a blank slate sounds like a dream—but it’s also a trap. In this mini episode, Rodney and Sam respond to a listener question about how to design an organizational operating system from scratch, without inheriting all the baggage of traditional management.

They argue for resisting the urge to over-design early, letting real tension (not theory) drive structure, and focusing on a few foundational practices that scale. From operating rhythms and Kanban boards to experimentation and “sky sensing,” this episode breaks down what’s actually worth putting in place early—and what’s better left until it hurts.

Mentioned references:

"op rhythm": BNW Ep. 118
"strategy": AWWTR Ep. 2
"experimentation": AWWTR Ep. 38
"retrospectives": BNW Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney
Kanban board
The Ready's Experiment Proposal Template
"The Sky" from Depthfinding
Mia Wise

Schedule a Sky Session with us!

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

41. Why Your AI Strategy Stalled and How To Get Moving with Greg Shove

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Enterprise AI adoption is still stuck in the teens and the gap between the hype and the reality is getting harder to ignore. People are finding pockets of productivity, but they’re often keeping the gains to themselves, worried that “using AI well” is just speed-running their way into a layoff. Meanwhile, many leaders treat it like another piece of software without touching the messier truth: AI changes how work actually happens, and it doesn’t care about your org chart, your approval chains, or your performance theater.

In this episode, Rodney sits down with Section CEO Greg Shove to name what’s really blocking adoption and what it takes to break through. They talk about AI as “co-intelligence”, why most “AI layoffs” are PR cover, and the non-negotiables for real transformation. They also get into how to build a robust AI strategy for 2026, Section’s own AI disruption, and why the next era may be dominated by super companies built around small human teams + a fleet of agents.

Learn more about Greg:

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s something happening in the AI hype cycle that drives you nuts right now?

03:21 Enterprise AI adoption stall out

08:58 AI as truth serum for lies in your company

11:49 Required ingredients for real AI transformation

19:04 Balancing risk with AI usage in startups and large enterprise

24:10 “Head of AI” roles are an uphill battle

27:48 First principles for an AI-lead organization

30:10 Disrupting your business model with AI and dual transformation

35:29 Greg and Section disrupting themselves with AI

37:44 Role of leadership in an AI future

44:40 Future of companies and careers

47:54 Role of companies in future of society

52:07 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with a coworker!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: How Do You Measure the ROI of Org Design?

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Leaders often ask for a clear, immediate ROI on org design and transformation work—but that question can derail the conversation before it even starts. When ROI is framed purely as short-term financial return, it misses how organizations actually change and improve over time.

In this mini Ask Us Anything episode, Rodney and Sam unpack how to approach ROI conversations in org design more productively. They explore why separate “transformation metrics” usually miss the point, how to anchor ROI to what leaders already care about, and why leading indicators like decision speed, cycle time, and meeting effectiveness matter more than tidy quarterly savings.

Mentioned references:

W. Edwards Deming

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

40. Our 2026 Predictions: Expect the Unexpected

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

As 2025 comes to a close, AI hype is still everywhere, workers are feeling the strain of constant change, and organizations are quietly reorganizing who (or what) does the work. We’re ending the year with some big questions: What happens to the “middle” of organizations? How do humans fit into increasingly AI-driven systems? And where does real value—human and otherwise—get created?

With only a few days left until the new year, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin look ahead to how AI, jobs, and organizational life will shift in 2026—from real white-collar displacement and the rise of internal org-design teams to employees quietly choosing AI over difficult human teammates.

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s a reflection you have on 2025?

03:44 Prediction 1: Hype cycle around AGI will break

05:03 Prediction 2: 2026 is tipping point for white collar AI job disruption

09:53 Prediction 3: Demand for internal OD teams increases

12:11 Prediction 4: People will start choosing AI over their coworkers for collab

15:04 Prediction 5: Divide between legacy orgs and AI-native micro orgs will grow

17:48 Prediction 6: New premium on human-crafted products and experience

21:57 Wrap up: Leave us a review, and see you in 2026

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: Can Internal Transformation Teams Really Drive Change?

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Many people who want to work in organizational change hit the same question: is it better to do this work from inside an organization, or from the outside as a consultant? In this AUA mini episode, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin respond to a listener who’s considering a career shift into org change and wrestling with whether internal transformation teams can really drive meaningful change—or whether outside consultants have more leverage. They unpack why internal org design teams are often constrained by design, where they can work when positioned well (hint: it’s probably not HR), and why external consulting offers faster learning through sheer volume of reps. They also explore how you can start doing work design and change work without holding a formal transformation title.

Hear the episode this question was in response to: AWWTR Ep. 28

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

39. Performance Management "Needs Improvement"

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Everyone knows performance management is broken—but we keep doing it anyway. Why?

For decades, organizations have poured time, money, and emotional energy into performance management—even though almost everyone agrees it’s broken. Annual reviews take hundreds of hours, distort real feedback, collapse development into compensation, and leave both managers and employees frustrated. Worse, they often lower performance rather than improve it. And yet most companies keep doubling down on a system that was never designed for how people actually grow, learn, or work today.

In this episode, Rodney and Sam rethink performance management from the ground up. They unpack why traditional systems fail, which psychological dynamics make feedback so fraught, and what a truly useful approach would look like if we started from scratch. From separating the four conflated “jobs” of performance management and designing for real development, to using AI as a feedback partner rather than a faster paperwork generator—they explore practical ways to build a process that actually helps people get better at their work.

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Mentioned references:

"performance management makes performance worse"
ASSCATS ("Anything to Stop, Start, Continue After This Session?"), first discussed in BNW Ep. 65 with Alastair Steward
"stress-performance curve"
"Meta performance management with AI"
"Josh Bersin episode"
Granola

00:00 Intro + Check-In: Why is Sam still on the podcast when he left The Ready?

03:01 The Pattern: Performance management SUCKS, but we keep doing it

06:10 It’s trying to do too many jobs

07:54 We’re lied to about the purpose

11:19 It’s time consuming

14:10 The charade causes psychological harm and stunts growth

17:00 Rethinking PM from the ground up

18:14 Center the user

20:30 Easier process more frequently

23:15 Vary the size and type of feedback

26:09 Actually define what good ACTUALLY looks like by outcomes

29:21 Feedback in the context of an individual’s journey

32:59 AI’s role in future of performance management

46:02 AI’s role in the performance management of teams

50:30 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with a coworker!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: How Do You Balance Autonomy With Alignment In IT Teams?

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Every organization eventually hits the same wall: central teams aren’t responsive enough, federated teams reinvent everything, and the result is a messy tug-of-war between alignment and autonomy. IT organizations feel this pain especially acutely.

In this mini Ask Us Anything episode, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin unpack why centralized vs. decentralized is a false binary, why organizations swing endlessly between the two, and what it actually takes to design a federated model that works in the real world.

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

38. Running Better Experiments at Work

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Get the Experiment Proposal Template mentioned in this episode.

Everyone says they want to “experiment” at work—especially now that AI is reshaping how teams operate—but most organizations still treat change like a project plan: analyze, design, roll out, hope for the best. The result? Fake experiments that are over-controlled and over-planned, or chaotic side projects that burn people out and quietly die. In systems this complex, you can’t think your way to the right answer, but you can test and learn your way there.

In this episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into what real experimentation looks like inside organizations. They unpack why complexity demands an iterative approach, why so many “tests” are doomed from the start, and what it takes to scaffold experiments with the right authority, resourcing, and constraints.

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Mentioned references:

Adam Grant's astrology post
Previous experimentation episode: BNW Ep. 62
Aaron Dignan
Charter
management science
operating rhythm: BNW Ep. 118
sunk cost
Even/Over
WIP (work in progress)
The Ready's Experiment Proposal Template

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s a personal experiment you’ve done recently or are thinking about doing?

03:42 The Pattern: Desire for control and lack of structure stifles real experimentation

06:37 Parallels to R&D for pharmaceuticals

09:37 What’s missing in most company experiments

11:35 Example of The Ready’s experimentation

17:01 If everything succeeds, they aren’t experiments

22:21 Learning and scaling successful experiments is really hard

28:23 Ripple effects of experiments are just as important

30:00 Unstructured experimentation is deeply costly

34:57 Navigating the discomfort during experiments

37:28 Idea #1 - Create intentional space for learning

38:51 Idea #2 - The Ready’s Experiment Template

44:35 Idea #3 - No experiments for other people

46:10 Idea #4 - Prepare yourself for disappointment

48:48 Wrap up: leave us a review and share the show with your coworkers!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: Your Team Isn't Ready For Your Future

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0000

How do you bring people along when you’re already living in the future?

In this mini episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin tackle a listener question about how to lead from the future without alienating your coworkers in the present. They explore what happens when you see change coming before others do—and how to turn that foresight into small, credible experiments that earn trust and build momentum.

They discuss: — Why being “a few years ahead” can feel lonely and frustrating — How to communicate big ideas without overwhelming your team — Turning visionary thinking into real, testable action — What to do when your organization isn’t ready for what you see coming — How to build community with other forward thinkers

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

37. Leadership Across Generations with Raven Solomon

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0000

It’s easy to blame “kids these days” when generational tension flares up at work. But beneath the eye rolls and stereotypes are deeper forces (economic shifts, social movements, and broken workplace systems) that shape how each generation sees loyalty, ambition, and success. From Boomers to Gen Z, we’ve all inherited stories about what work should look like and they don’t always fit the world we’re in now.

In this episode, Rodney Evans sits down with Raven Solomon—author, keynote speaker, and CEO of the Future-Ready Institute—to explore what it really takes to lead across generations. They unpack what leaders need to unlearn in this moment, how Gen Z’s relationship to work is reshaping culture, and why inclusion and empathy—not authority—are the future of leadership.

Learn more about Raven and her work:

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s something about your profession you can’t say on stage but wish people knew?

04:07 What power holders have to unlearn about younger generations

10:29 Gen Z’s changing relationship to work and capitalism

15:33 Opting out of taking leadership roles for better quality of life

20:25 The business and financial stakes behind real inclusion

29:15 Authenticity should be the cornerstone to all your strategies and messaging

32:38 The difficulties and business trade offs behind inclusion

39:54 Importance of human centered skills in this decade

44:50 Raven’s top skills to develop for the future of work

48:17 AI’s impact on the upcoming generations in the workplace

54:26 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your colleagues!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: Surviving the Culture Shock of an International Merger

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0000

What happens when your small European company gets acquired by a massive American one?

In this mini Ask Us Anything episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into what really happens when mergers cross not just company lines—but cultures. They unpack the hidden dynamics behind clashing values, communication styles, and leadership expectations that make cross-border integrations so difficult.

They discuss:

— Why culture work is always the hardest (and most ignored) part of a merger

— What to do when your smaller team has limited influence

— How to bring your company’s best practices into a much bigger system

— The difference between American and European work norms

— How to protect your culture—and your energy—during integration

Looking for more advice about mergers and acquisitions? Check out this episode: AWWTR Ep. 32

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

36. What AI Is Teaching Us About Ourselves

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Get the AI Coffee Club toolkit to start one at your own organization: Download here!

AI isn’t coming—it’s here. Every organization is already feeling its impact, whether through new tools, shifting expectations, or the quiet panic of not knowing where to start. But most companies are doing what they always do: treating transformation like a plan instead of an experiment. And as AI reshapes how work gets done, the biggest risk isn’t falling behind—it’s automating the dysfunctions you already have.

In this episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin take their first deep dive into AI since 2023. They unpack why AI acts as a mirror for your organization’s operating system, how hesitation and hype are both clouding judgment, and what it looks like to design meaningful ways to learn and experiment instead of performative roadmaps.

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Mentioned references:

Little Caesar's and Detroit Redwings connection
The Ready's AI Coffee Club
Dot-com bubble
polarities in tension
"traditional consulting episode": AWWTR Ep. 8
conference Rodney refers to: Charter Workplace Summit
"AI as translation layer podcast" (actually an article)

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s good?

03:13 The Pattern: AI is a mirror for everything in your org, and probably making it worse

09:48 Importance of doing your own research, even if you’re a skeptic

12:35 Treating AI as a paint job on your broken org won’t fix anything

16:30 The role of humans at work right now

21:03 Importance of real scaffolding to do this work

24:14 Recasting IT as the enabler rather than the traffic cop

28:03 Nobody is an expert yet and there is no roadmap

33:43 The easiest idea with AI usually isn’t the best one

39:28 What Rodney and Sam are hopeful about with AI

44:23 Counter ideas for engaging with AI

47:10 Wrap up: leave us a review and share the show with your coworkers

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: How to Change When People Are Loyal To The Past

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0000

How do you change the way work happens when everyone agrees on what to do—but no one wants to change how it’s done?

In this mini episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin tackle a listener question about navigating change inside legacy systems where authority, tradition, and “the way we’ve always done it” still rule. They explore why emotional loyalty to old processes can stall transformation, and how small experiments and “pair coding for organizational change” can help teams actually evolve their ways of working.

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

35. Fighting Burnout At Work

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Burnout has become the quiet epidemic of modern work. We tell people to “set better boundaries” or “take more time off,” but the real problem isn’t a lack of self-care—it’s that most organizations are designed to exhaust their people. Fear-based cultures, unclear priorities, and performative busyness have turned overwork into a badge of honor, leaving even the most capable teams running on fumes.

In this episode, Rodney and Sam unpack the systemic roots of burnout and why it thrives inside traditional hierarchies. They explore how teams accidentally reinforce it, how leaders unknowingly reward it, and share real steps to change the system instead of blaming individuals.

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’a silly or inconsequential project to you’ve done just for fun?

03:23 The Pattern: Systemic burnout keeps being met with individual solves, which leads to more burnout

08:21 Team burnout red flag 1: Overhelptfulness

11:10 Team burnout red flag 2: Defeatism

14:04 Team burnout red flag 3: Procrastination

16:44 Team burnout red flag 4: Overwork on busywork

20:41 Team burnout red flag 5: Impatience

23:35 Burnout is tied to short-termism and fear

27:30 Bureaucracy and gaslighting

29:10 Idea 1: Combat busyness with an outcome audit

32:49 Idea 2: Clarify ways of working to cut through bureaucracy

34:29 Idea 3: Design defaults and rules that reduce systemic burnout

36:14 Idea 4: Learn your own burnout symptoms to steer the ship before you reach critical mass

42:00 Idea 5: Enforce work-in-product limits for your team

45:55 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your colleagues

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: Promotion Problems - Managing Former Bosses

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0000

What happens when your promotion puts you in charge of your former boss?

In this mini Ask Us Anything episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin answer a listener’s question about one of the trickiest transitions a leader can face—managing the people who used to manage you.

They explore how to navigate power shifts, handle ego and shame dynamics, and reset team expectations without alienating anyone. Along the way, they share practical advice for rebuilding trust, holding clear boundaries, and making tough calls when improvement just isn’t happening.

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

34. Even More Bad Bosses and How to Defeat Them, P2

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Every worker has a bad boss story—but why are they so common? In this two-part series, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into the archetypes of dysfunctional leaders and the systems that keep them in power. Because bad bosses aren’t accidents—they’re often a predictable response to organizational pressures.

In Part 2, they take on the Ghost—the slippery, conflict-avoiding boss who’s always hard to find when decisions need to be made—and the Self-Promoter, the credit-stealing leader who thrives on claiming other people’s work as their own. From the frustration of canceled one-on-ones to the demoralization of stolen ideas, Rodney and Sam unpack why these archetypes persist, what drives their behavior, and how you can protect yourself (and your team) without burning out.

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Mentioned references:

Part 1 of Bad Boss conversation
"Sam and Wilbur": DF Miniseries Ep. 6 check in round
"antiwork subreddit"

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is the phrase going on your tombstone?

03:37 Recap of part 1

04:46 Bad Boss 4: The Ghost

08:24 Dealing with The Ghost

10:52 Bad Boss 5: The Self-Promoter

11:49 Source of the credit-stealing behaviors

15:24 Dealing with The Self-Promoter

21:08 What all bad bosses have in common

23:26 Self-preservation is always a valid strategy

25:56 Wrap up: leave us a review and send us your bad boss stories!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

AUA: Why 360 Feedback Breaks Down in Leadership Teams

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0000

We’re trying something new: mini Ask Us Anything episodes! Instead of waiting for our quarterly Q&A roundups, we’ll drop shorter conversations into your feed every other week where Rodney and Sam tackle one great listener question at a time.

This week’s question: How should OD and change consultants handle unfavorable peer feedback in 360 reviews—especially when it’s happening among the leaders just under the CEO?

They explore why peer feedback so often turns into power struggles, how incentive structures fuel a “Hunger Games” mentality, and why leaders must shift from interpersonal drama to organizational design.

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at podcast@theready.com

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Mentioned references:

Patrick Lencioni and "First Team"
The Ready's OS Canvas

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

34. Bad Bosses and How to Defeat Them, Part 1

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Every worker has a bad boss story—but why are they so common? In this two-parter, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into the archetypes of dysfunctional leaders and the systems that keep them in power. Because bad bosses aren’t accidents—they’re often a predictable response to organizational pressures.

In Part 1, they take on the Micromanager, the Rager, and the Martyr. From obsessive control and volcanic tempers to bosses who never log off, these archetypes reveal the deeper fears and systemic incentives driving destructive behavior. Along the way, Rodney and Sam share strategies for surviving each type, plus insights for executives who may be unknowingly creating the conditions for bad bosses to thrive.

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: Who’s your favorite bad boss from TV or movies?

02:38 The Pattern: Bad bosses are the product of the system that promoted them

04:30 Bad Boss 1: The Micromanager

06:52 Micromanagers stamp out innovation and emergent ideas

10:11 The source of micromanagement behavior

11:25 Dealing with The Micromanager

14:17 Bad Boss 2: The Rager

15:50 Rage is used to mask vulnerability

19:04 Dealing with The Rager

22:13 The source of ragers and the orgs that enable them

25:27 Bad Boss 3: The Martyr

30:24 Dealing with The Martyr

32:33 Being the boss to The Martyr

34:19 Time of The Martyr is ending

36:05 Wrap up: More bad bosses next time!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

From Our Friends | The Rewards of Healthy Conflict with Master Fixer Amanda Ripley - Fixable

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Producer Note: Hey there! We’re on vacation this week, but we didn’t want to leave your feed empty. Some of our most popular conversations this past year have been about the Midnight Zone and that’s why we’re sharing this fantastic episode from our friends over at Fixable. We hope it gives you some fresh strategies for navigating (and even embracing!) conflict in your organization, and we’ll see you next time.

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Most of us try to avoid conflict, particularly at work. But when done right, conflict can be a tool to strengthen interpersonal bonds and generate better results. In this episode, Anne and Frances team up with Amanda Ripley, global conflict journalist and author of the bestselling book High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out. They tackle the missteps teams often make when it comes to handling conflict and provide actionable alternatives to foster healthy conflict habits in any organization.

Follow Hosts: Anne Morriss (@annemorriss | LinkedIn: @anne-morriss), Frances Frei (@francesxfrei | LinkedIn: @francesfrei)

Guest: Amanda Ripley (Instagram: @ripleywriter | Website: amandaripley.com/)

Links https://anneandfrances.com/High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out

This episode originally aired on June 15, 2025.

33. What’s Your Type? The Enneagram at Work with Liz Orr

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Most of us think we know ourselves (and the people we work with) pretty well. But when tensions rise, deadlines loom, or feedback lands wrong, the truth comes out: we’re all running on a set of deep, often invisible patterns. What if we could see those patterns clearly, and choose something better? Enter the Enneagram: a framework that maps nine core motivations, survival strategies, and ways of seeing the world.

This week, Rodney sits down with Liz Orr, author of The Unfiltered Enneagram and the voice behind Rude Ass Enneagram, to explore how this tool can help us understand ourselves, our teammates, and the hidden drivers behind workplace friction. From recognizing your own “midnight zone” work to navigating type-to-type dynamics, Liz shares practical insights for breaking unhelpful patterns, building trust, and working more compassionately with others.

Learn more about Liz:

On Instagram: @rudeassenneagram
Read her book: The Unfiltered Enneagram

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Let's work together: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What would you be doing if it wasn’t this?

03:30 What is the Enneagram?

06:26 101 course on the Nine Types of the Enneagram

14:04 When your Type solidifies

15:15 Exploring Rodney’s Type as an example

20:44 How Types interact

23:19 Using the Enneagram to recognize and break your own patterns

26:54 Eights as leaders (CEOs, CFOs) tend to fight every battle

29:54 Debunking cultural gender stereotypes around the Enneagram

34:21 Understanding what we’re “getting” in return for our behavior

37:22 Navigating the cringe of self-compassion and forgiveness

44:59 Dealing with “therapy language performance” from friends and coworkers

48:03 The Enneagram’s role in the workplace

50:21 Overcoming the dismissal of “soft skills” and “soft power

52:50 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your coworkers!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

32. Why Mergers and Acquisitions Fail (Almost Every Time)

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 07:00:00 -0000

In most companies, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is treated like a finish line. But the truth is, signing the deal is just the start—and if you haven’t thought deeply about how two operating systems, cultures, and teams will actually work together, you’re already behind. The vast majority of M&A efforts fail to deliver long-term value, not because the deal was bad, but because the integration never really happened.

This week, Rodney and Sam unpack why M&A is so alluring, so broken, and so often misunderstood. From boardroom incentives and CEO ego to missing strategy and magical thinking, they dig into what really drives the endless appetite for acquisition—and why the actual design work of merging two organizations is almost always underfunded, under-led, or completely ignored.

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Let's work together: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get our newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Mentioned references:

"reorg ep": AWWTR Ep. 31
"70-75% of M&A fails"
Ben Thompson and Stratechery
AOL/Time Warner merger
Microsoft/Nokia merger
"LARPing"
"OS work": The Ready's OS Canvas
"Midnight Zone and Twilight Zone": The Ready's Depthfinding
ecotones
"Microsoft innovation"
Rob Cross and Organizational Network Analysis (ONA)
McChrystal Group
mission-based team (MBT): FoHR Miniseries, Episode 1

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is something you’ve done recently that seemed like a good idea but has since proven otherwise?

04:01 The Pattern: Companies acquire others for growth, merge goes bad, so have to acquire another

09:54 Big visible activities with very unclear ROI

14:09 Buying innovation because you can’t innovate internally

19:15 Destroying all the qualities that made the target company valuable

24:34 Mergers and acquisitions buy CEOs longer tenures

28:19 Our culture celebrates the big swings, not the steady transformation

30:35 Executive attention vanishes once the deal is signed, but that’s when the real work starts

38:43 Idea #1 - Let acquired company operate independently for as long as possible

41:35 Idea #2 - Use organizational network analysis to find and utilize your leverage points

44:14 Idea #3 - Spin up a real mission-based team around integration, or due diligence

46:18 Idea #4 - During due diligence, look at more than just the financial spreadsheets

47:08 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with a friend!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

31. Why Reorgs Don't Work

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 07:00:00 -0000

It’s reorg season…again. And for many companies, it always is. Every 12 to 18 months, another wave of layoffs, leadership swaps, and org chart redraws rolls through the system. And yet, little changes. Strategy stalls. Trust erodes. Work doesn’t get better, just messier. So why do so many organizations keep reaching for the reorg lever first?

This week, Rodney and Sam unpack the seductive logic (and systemic failure) of reorgs as a change strategy. They dig into why structure work always feels like the fastest, most visible move a leader can make and why it so rarely delivers. Along the way, they explore the very real fallout of these moves on culture, trust, and performance, and offer smarter starting points for those considering a shake-up.

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Mentioned references:

The Ready's OS Canvas
"16% of reorgs deliver the expected value"
Sunshine, Twilight, and Midnight Zones: The Ready's Depthfinding
"layoffs episode": Brave New Work Ep. 152
Team Topologies, 2019 book by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais
holacracy
sociocracy
"retention increase if you have a best friend at work"
"new job is one of the most stressful life events": Holmes and Rahe stress scale, see combined score of “dismissal from work”, “change to different line of work”, and “Change in responsibilities at work”
DAO Miniseries
"Jeff Williams departure"
"value flow mapping"
Haier and micro-enterprises

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What feature is really important in your living space?

03:27 The Pattern: Orgs trapped in a cycle of endless reorgs

05:15 The fastest, most visible sign of change a CEO can show to a board or investors

09:55 Structure work should always come last, but most people do it first

12:22 Reorgs to hit a number come at the expense of workflow, culture, and strategy

19:07 Stop changing the structure without touching the ways of working

22:19 Fundamental components of structure work

25:14 How The Ready approached it’s own reorg

26:34 Fallout of bad reorgs on your team and culture

31:17 Companies underestimate the stress of reorgs on individuals

34:40 Hot takes: org structure in the age of AI; legal OS around restructuring

38:15 Idea 1: Use reorgs to recalibrate roles back to defaults

39:42 Idea 2: Value flow map your company before considering a standard reorg

42:53 Idea 3: Test new structure in parts of phases, not everything all at once

44:30 Idea 4: Accept that some centralization is required

47:50 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your coworkers!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

30. Extended Leadership Teams: Set Up to Fail Yet Expected to Lead

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 07:00:00 -0000

The extended leadership team (those just below the C-suite) often finds itself stuck between translating strategy and triaging dysfunction. They’re tasked with cross-functional execution, but are rarely equipped, empowered, or aligned to pull it off. And in most organizations, this group is caught in a cycle of managing up, managing down, and managing chaos all around—with very little time or clarity left to lead.

This week, Rodney and Sam take a closer look at what’s really going on with extended leadership teams, why they matter so much, and what gets in their way. From power dynamics and peer competition to vertical incentives and missing cross-functional glue, they pull apart the system that makes this group so hard to organize—and so critical to transformation. They also share field-tested tactics that can turn this underutilized layer into an OS-upgrading powerhouse.

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Let's work together: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠

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Mentioned references:

Fruit Roll-Ups
leadership teams org design ep: AWWTR Ep. 13
Sunshine Zone: Depthfinding Ep. 3
Basecamp (aka 37signals) and managers
Haier and managers
Twilight Zone: Depthfinding Ep. 4
mission-based teams (MBTs): FoHR Ep. 1
Jason Fried & "company as the product"

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is one of your favorite low tech work hacks?

02:53 The Pattern: The extended leadership team is trapped between strategy and execution

05:17 The C-suite’s peace comes at the expense of chaos in the extended leadership team

09:04 Silos and competition between departments

12:52 Functions don’t truly understand what other functions contribute

15:40 The true work of the extended leadership team

21:40 External pressure on GenX and Millenial leaders reinforces the status quo

27:56 Idea 1: Identify shared purpose of your extended leadership team

30:45 Idea 2: Top missions for cross-functional leadership teams

35:21 Idea 3: Chartering a leadership team “role” for shared participation and ownership

37:52 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your colleagues

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

29. Working from Anywhere with Raj Choudhury

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0000

For years, the conversation around remote work has been stuck in binary debates. Home vs. office? Productivity vs. flexibility? Control vs. chaos? But what if we zoomed out and asked a better question: What kind of future is possible if people could actually work from anywhere?

This week, Rodney and Sam sit down with Raj Choudhury (Harvard Business School professor and author of The World Is Your Office) to explore what happens when companies stop fixating on location and start designing for freedom, trust, and real human needs. From engineering serendipity to reimagining hybrid models, they unpack how truly distributed work changes everything: how we meet, how we lead, how we grow talent, and how we build a more equitable future.

Learn more about Raj and his work by following him on LinkedIn and reading his new book: The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity and Innovation.

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Let's work together: ⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠

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Mentioned References:

US Patent Office study
TEAPP (Telework Enhancement Act Pilot Program)
Sid Sijbrandij and GitHub episode: BNW Ep. 35
Darren Murph
The Allen curve
homophily
Tulsa Remote
Zapier and "Wade Bot"
algorithm aversion

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s your favorite aspect of being able to work from anywhere?

03:49 Central focus: How do organizations access distant talent?

08:20 How work from anywhere is different from work from home

11:08 Rethinking in-person days

19:23 The data doesn’t support RTO mandates

24:13 Dispelling productivity concerns

27:15 Unlocking digital twins in the workplace

34:05 Small towns being competitive for talent

38:04 AI’s role in work from anywhere

45:09 Where to look ahead for the next 5 years

47:10 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share this show with a coworker!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

28. DIY or DOA? Why Org Change Needs Outside Help

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0000

In a year marked by tighter budgets, leaner teams, and growing uncertainty, more organizations than ever are choosing to go it alone. DIY transformation feels safer, cheaper, more in control. But that instinct to do more with less is often the very thing that stalls progress. Because without the right structure, support, and space, most internal change efforts don’t just slow down… they spin out.

This week, Rodney and Sam pull apart the decision to “DIY” major organizational change. They explore why so many teams default to doing it themselves, what makes internal transformation efforts so hard to sustain, and the subtle power dynamics that turn strategic remits into order-taking. Along the way, they dig into what it really takes to get change moving—from alone on the inside or with a partner.

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Mentioned references:

Ayurvedic eating
RACI episode: AWWTR Ep. 10
Bill Anderson episode: Brave New Work 68
The Ready's Tension and Practice Cards
The Ready's OS Canvas
Future of HR model
Rodney's problem solution fit article

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is a DIY victory or failure you’ve had recently?

03:51 The Pattern: DIY Transformation tends to be “try, fail, repeat”

05:27 Why people decide to DIY change work

11:40 Orgs are designed to fight change

15:32 The deck is stacked against internal OD/OE/transformation teams

19:43 You don’t know what you don’t know

23:43 Challenges of trying to change your coworkers

27:00 Lack of authority and power kneecap real progress

32:10 Hidden financial and org costs of DIY change

37:44 Idea 1: Contract for a CLEAR remit, REAL customer discovery, and actual solution design

42:35 Idea 2: Don’t start with the whole project, start with a smaller leverage point

44:59 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your coworkers!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠.

27. Everything Can't Be Priority One

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0000

We talk a lot about doing less to get more—but in practice, most organizations end up doing the opposite. When priorities pile up, and nothing gets removed or finished, the result is a familiar kind of chaos: too many projects, too little focus, and an endless loop of adding more in hopes of getting unstuck.

This week, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin unpack one of the most common organizational dynamics they see: the “more-is-more” trap of priority overload. They dig into why deprioritizing anything at work feels so psychologically and politically fraught, how identity and sunk costs keep teams clinging to low-impact efforts, and ways for leadership teams to prioritize at a org wide level, not just assemble a laundry list of everyone’s pet projects.

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Ready to start changing your organization? Let's talk! https://www.theready.com/working-together

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s a molehill you’re willing to defend until the end?

03:52 The Pattern: We prioritize everything and nothing gets done

06:01 John Cutler’s 4 Jobs of Prioritization

10:08 Why it’s so hard to stop doing lower value things

18:35 Difference altitudes of priorities

22:23 Where leaders mess up prioritization

25:11 Continuous steering version of priorities

33:05 Idea 1: Use a variant of WSJF for your own variables

37:21 Idea 2: Shift from saying “no” to “not right now”

39:27 Idea 3: Visualize your work to “see” deprioritization

41:26 Idea 4: Openly talk about conflicting priorities

44:00 Wrap up: Share the show with your coworkers!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠.

26. Unweirding Change with Michael Bungay Stanier

Mon, 19 May 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Despite an explosion of frameworks, toolkits, and “best practices,” the success rate of organizational change hasn’t improved in over a decade. For all the decks, comms plans, and transformation initiatives being sold, most companies still find themselves stuck, repeating the same plays and hoping for different results.

This week, Rodney Evans welcomes back Michael Bungay Stanier—best-selling author, host of the new podcast Change Signal, and longtime friend of the show—who’s on a mission to cut through the noise and find what actually works. They explore why change still feels so weird, the real leverage points for shifting individual and organizational behavior, and whether it’s finally time to retire “change management” as we know it.

Get a copy of Michael's change quadrants he talks about in this episode here: Michael's quadrants.

Learn more about Michael:

Follow him on LinkedIn
Listen to his podcast, Change Signal.
Subscribe to his newsletter, The Change Signal.
Check out his website, MBS.works
See his two prior appearances on our show, BNW Ep. 19 and BNW Ep. 75.

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Ready to start changing your organization? Let's talk! ⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠

Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? ⁠Sign up here⁠.

Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery:

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Mentioned references:

Jason Fox's episode: AWWTR Ep. 17
John Kotter and the 8 Steps
Depthfinding and the "Zones"
Ron Heifetz
Immunity to Change, book by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey
Peter Block
Winston Churchill "We Shape Our Buildings"
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Larissa Conte: BNW Ep. 151
Katie Milkman: Change Signal Ep. 2
Caroline Webb: Change Signal Ep. 5

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: Do you have a non-work related goal that you’re working towards right now?

9:59 Michael’s journey to un-weird change

14:49 Michael’s individual and organizational unlocks for change

21:24 Importance of strong foundational habits to succeed in change work

25:37 Understanding of power dynamics in change work

33:27 Outdated change mindsets to let go of

38:38 Rodney and Michael’s takeaways

40:28 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your coworkers!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠.

Depthfinding: Putting It All Into Practice

Mon, 05 May 2025 07:00:00 -0000

In this miniseries, we’re exploring Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges.

This week, Rodney and Sam reflect on what they’ve learned over the course of this eight-part miniseries—about the framework, their own Midnight Zones, and what it means to navigate complexity amidst uncertainty. They share how their thinking has evolved since launching the series, when Depthfinding is most useful (and when it’s not), and why every organization eventually has to ask: Who are we designing for?

The end of the miniseries isn’t the end of Depthfinding. Now it’s time for you to dive in.

Download the Depthfinding guide⁠ to get the template and examples of how to use it.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: ⁠theready.com/depthfinding⁠

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is the warning label on the back of your box?

04:26 Depthfinding’s impact on our work

08:19 New discoveries from the miniseries

13:50 Limitations of Depthfinding

16:34 Troubleshooting consultants stuck in one zone

22:14 What’s next for Depthfinding

25:14 What’s next for the podcast

27:11 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your colleagues

This episode's theme music is ⁠Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio⁠.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠Coupe Studios⁠.

Depthfinding: From Leadership to Stewardship

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000

In this miniseries, we’re exploring Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges.

This week, Rodney and Sam dive into one of the most pivotal (and misunderstood) aspects of the framework: stewardship. Depthfinding is built on the idea that organizations are like oceans, not aquariums. That means leaders have to show up in an entirely new way—not as a boss, a hero, or a disciplinarian, but as someone responsible for the ongoing health of a complex system.

Embracing stewardship can be an uphill battle thanks to the ghosts of leadership past and the inner work required to show up well in complexity. But when facing down uncertainty, building the conditions for resilience and learning to steward across each Depthfinding zone offers a new way forward.

Get the PDF Rodney and Sam talk about in this episode

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and examples of how to use it.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is an underrated condiment?

03:46 Stewardship is how to put Depthfinding into action

08:32 Leadership ghosts of the industrial age: Henry Ford and the org chart

15:10 Leadership ghosts of the information age: Jack Welch and cult of personality

20:11 De-centering leaders and re-centering the organization for the future

23:50 Stewardship in the Midnight Zone playbook

28:13 Leaders modeling Midnight Zone moves is critical

30:29 Stewardship in the Twilight Zone playbook

35:46 Stewardship in the Sunshine Zone playbook

38:13 Stewardship in the Sky playbook

43:40 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share this episode with your colleagues!

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

Depthfinding: Making Sense of This Moment

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000

In this miniseries, we’re exploring Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges.

This week, Rodney and Sam zoom out. Because here’s the truth: the experience the last few months in the U.S.? It’s not an exception. It’s the environment we’re working in now.

From top-down compliance crackdowns to the resurrection of five-layer approval chains, we’re watching organizations double down on control just as the world demands more adaptability. Many teams feel stuck waiting for the storm to pass—without realizing that this is the weather now.

In this episode, we unpack what’s going on, what it means to lead when volatility is the default, and how to stop standing still and get moving.

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and examples of how to use it.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s a notable wildlife encounter you’ve had?

05:03 Understanding the moment we’re in

07:01 Efficiency in principle vs execution

11:31 Broad cuts that don’t acknowledge complexity

14:57 Midnight Zone churn

19:29 Big sky mandates that are a distraction from real work

28:18 Navigating the changing sky within your organization

34:11 Compounding crises are likely, plan for uncertainty

38:34 Parting thoughts

39:33 Wrap up: leave us a review and send us your questions!

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

Brave New Work: Making Layoffs More Human [Rebroadcast]

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Rebroadcast note: With everything happening in the world right now, we're taking a quick break from our miniseries to reshare this episode about layoffs. Because sometimes large layoffs are necessary, but they shouldn't be the norm and those being let go should still be treated like humans, rather than a line on a spreadsheet. If you listened the first time around, share this episode with someone in your network who might need it (especially if they're a government employee 😬). We'll be back in two weeks with a brand new episode.

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We won’t mince words: Layoffs suck. They heap very real stress and chaos onto very real people’s lives. And as we’ve seen reported lately, big waves of layoffs are hitting several companies—and thousands of people—hard right now. This pile of not-good news sparked some questions for us, like: Why are layoffs a go-to cost-cutting lever? What pre-layoff org design decisions put employers and employees in this gnarly position? And why does every CEO letter announcing mass layoffs sound like it was written by the same robot?

In today’s episode, Aaron and Rodney, who’ve been on both sides of the layoff aisle, spend time with these queries and dig into:

The all-around messiness of the traditional layoff process
Why companies default to short-term thinking when the boom times boom
Dehumanizing layoff practices we should shelve for good
Creating clear containers and agreements for handling layoffs
How we could design a layoff moment that’s truly people-positive

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Mentioned references:

"RIFs"
ConvertKit episode: BNW Ep. 36 with Nathan Barry
"life stress inventories": Holmes and Rahe stress scale
Office Space, 1999 movie
Up in the Air, 2009 movie

Depthfinding: The Midnight Zone - Experience, Emotions, and Reactions at Work

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 07:00:00 -0000

In this miniseries, we’re exploring Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges.

This week, Rodney and Sam dive into the Midnight Zone—the deepest layer of organizational life, where the lived experiences, emotions, and unspoken reactions of individuals shape everything that happens above. While many organizations focus on surface-level solutions, ignoring the human realities of work leads to burnout, disengagement, and resistance to change.

Leaders who acknowledge and engage with the Midnight Zone create organizations where people feel seen, supported, and empowered to contribute fully. Understanding the emotional undercurrents of work isn’t just about empathy—it’s about unlocking real, lasting transformation.

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and examples of how to use it.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

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Mentioned references:

First depthfinding episode
Conscious Leadership Group
ACT Matrix
Iceberg model
"workers deriving identify from their job"
"knowledge work is at peak inefficiency" - Jared Spataro from Microsoft at Charter's "Leading with AI" summit in Jan 2025. See his statements about 60% of a knowledge worker's time being spent on overhead
Gareth's episode: BNW Ep. 5 with Dr. Gareth Holman

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

Depthfinding: Twilight Zone - Where Work Happens

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0000

In this miniseries, we’re exploring Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges.

This week, Rodney and Sam step into the Twilight Zone—the often-overlooked but deeply influential space where teams navigate the “how” of work—the “how” of collaborating, meeting, deciding, and experimenting. Many organizations put all or most of their focus on visible outputs and assets, but the rubber meets the road in the Twilight Zone. It’s the organizational depth where strategy actually gets executed—which means it’s worthy of more than a passing glance.

When an important initiative stalls out, when teams side-eye change, when a leadership team’s decisions never translate into clear and meaningful action, it’s time to investigate the Twilight Zone. Leaders who want real progress—not just compliance—must foster cross-functional collaboration and create space for meaningful iteration. Because strategy isn’t about what’s declared. It’s about what actually happens.

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and examples of how to use it.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

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Mentioned references:

Twilight Zone, tv show
layers of the ocean
sea anemone
The Mom Test, book by Rob Fitzpatrick
Liberating Structures: BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless
"IDM" (Integrated Decision Making): BNW Ep. 43

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

Depthfinding: Sunshine Zone - Artifacts, Org Charts, and Metrics

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0000

In this miniseries, we’re exploring Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges.

This week, Rodney and Sam dive into the Sunshine Zone—the highly visible work of organizations, from strategy decks and OKRs to mission statements and financial targets. While these elements are easy to track and refine, spending too much time in the Sunshine Zone often leads to performative goal setting, misaligned priorities, and a disconnect from the deeper work that actually drives change.

Leaders who want real progress—not just a well-polished plan—need to balance the visible with the essential. Cultivating adaptability, feedback loops, and space for creative, cross-functional work is the key to moving beyond surface-level success.

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and examples of how to use it.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

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Mentioned references:

EBITDA
ACT Matrix
"womperjawed"
"90% of executives failing to reach strategic goals"
operating rhythm: BNW Ep. 118
Deming quote
"Bach suite"
SMART goals

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

Depthfinding: Sky - Threats and Opportunities

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 08:00:00 -0000

In this miniseries, we’re exploring Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges.

This week, Rodney and Sam look at the Sky—the external forces like market shifts, technological disruptions, and political changes that shape your organization. While most companies are comfortable staying heads-down in the day-to-day, failing to look outward creates costly blind spots that lead to org debt, misaligned strategy, and even existential risk.

Cultivating a regular practice of looking up and outward is the key to successfully meeting this moment—and all the ones to come.

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and examples of how to use it.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

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Mentioned references:

lido deck
Deep River potato chips
the giant Snickers
"building the bridge to the next thing" - dual transformation
Kodak's digital revolution moment
the Information age
"op rhythm": BNW Ep. 118
"Liberating Structures": BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless
Critical Uncertainties
red team
"essential intent": BNW Ep. 90 with Greg McKeown

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

Depthfinding: Solve Your Cross-Functional Problems…Finally!

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Over the last decade at The Ready, we’ve seen firsthand that the most significant organizational challenges are nearly all cross-functional. But most company structures? Very much not cross-functional. Adding more project managers, looking to external partners for one-and-done silver bullets, or assembling yet another task force just isn’t cutting it as the world changes faster than most organizations can keep up.

Enter Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges. In our new Depthfinding miniseries, Rodney and Sam will help you see your organization in a new way whether you’re individual contributor or a C-Suite executive. Ready? Let’s dive in.

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and example Rodney mentioned in this episode.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

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Mentioned references:

The Ready's OS Canvas
strategy pancakes: AWWTR Ep. 2
even/overs: BNW Ep. 44
essential intent: BNW Ep. 90 with Greg McKeown
check-in round

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

25. 1M Downloads and Counting: Looking Back on 2024

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:00:00 -0000

2024 felt like a bit of a rollercoaster—and while we’re ready to close the book on this year, we wouldn’t be first-class org designers if we passed up the chance to hold a retrospective. Add in the fact that this is Rodney’s 200th episode and BNW + AWWTR have crossed the one million download milestone, and a little celebration feels like the right thing.

In today’s episode, Rodney and Sam reflect on the show’s 2024 season—including the episodes they loved, the episodes they want a do-over on, and what they hope for the show in 2025.

We want to know what you think! Take our 2024 Listener Survey.

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Mentioned references:

The Future of HR Miniseries
The Ready's OS Canvas
RACI episode: AWWTR Ep. 10
Leaders as org designers episode: AWWTR Ep. 13
"McGillicuddy"
All the small things episode: AWWTR Ep. 19
"video about the woman who doesn't use a calendar"
Jason Fox episode: AWWTR Ep. 17 with Jason Fox
Dual Transformation, book from 2017

The Future of HR: Giving HRBPs the Future-of-Work Makeover They Deserve [Rebroadcast]

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Rebroadcast note: We're hard at work recording a brand new miniseries for January, so this week we're resharing one this episode from our Future of HR miniseries. As we've worked with companies over the last year to reimagine their HR departments, we've seen this episode's ideas and lessons about evolving the HRBP even more important in practice. So take a listen with some fresh ears, and we'll see in two weeks with a brand new episode.

The role of HR Business Partner is often a tale of two experiences. On the one hand, HRBPs are some of the most empathetic and passionate people you’ll ever meet. On the other hand, they’re stuck on the hamster wheel of busywork, bouncing from crisis to crisis without the authority to prioritize their energy—and without the respect from leadership to make a real difference. Look up “burnout” in the dictionary and odds are you’ll find a picture of an HRBP.

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

Today on episode 5, they explore how this critical role took a hard left turn from it’s intended purpose, what its future-of-work glow-up (hello, HR Business Coach) could look like, and how HR Business Coaches + Mission-Based Teaming = unlimited potential.

References mentioned:

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Episode 1481 "Talks about Compet ition" (1981). "How People Make Crayons" begins at 05:20.
American Gladiators
Dave Ulrich, of the Ulrich HR model

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

24. Ask Us Anything No. 3

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0000

It’s mailbag time! And while we know we said this last time, we really mean it that this was probably the hardest group of questions we’ve dealt with on the show yet! Rodney and Sam get out their thinking caps and answer some questions from listeners like you about non-traditional organizational leadership, workplace dynamics around project capacity planning, and more.

Questions tackled:

Are great teams and strategies impossible without traditional leadership?
Can project capacity planning be done in a people-positive, complexity conscious way?
Why do traditional orgs bias towards convergent thinking, especially around annual planning?
How do you prioritize cross-functional initiatives between leadership and teams that avoids zombie projects and mutual disappointment?

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Interested in learning more about Depthfinding and the ocean framework? Head here.

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Mentioned references:

the LinkedIn post asked about
Rube Goldberg machine
"MBT" (mission-based team): FoHR Miniseries Ep. 1
"DAO": BNW Ep. 96 with Chase Chapman
"product mindset episode": AWWTR Ep. 23

23. Adopting a Product Mindset in Organizations

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0000

There are plenty of organizations that say they want to be “customer-focused”—but in practice? It’s easy to fall back on leader-driven opinions and assumptions about what customers really want. That’s especially true in big companies with entrenched processes and hierarchies that prioritize internal agendas. In those environments, staying aligned with customer needs can be an uphill battle—and organizations instead get stuck building solutions based on what leaders think customers should want, rather than what they need, leaving exciting opportunities on the cutting room floor.

In this episode, Rodney and Sam dig into what it actually takes to adopt a product mindset. From navigating a “hammer looking for nails” ethos to designing flexible solutions that adapt to actual user behavior, they unpack how to bring customer-centricity into daily practice—and what to do when you start to veer off course.

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Mentioned references:

Depthfinding
psych safety ep: AWWTR Ep. 20
experimentation ep: BNW Ep. 62
founder mode ep: AWWTR Ep. 22
Josh Bersin ep: The Future of HR Ep. 12 with Josh Bersin
revealed preference

22. Founder Mode vs. Manager Mode is the Wrong Question

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0000

If you’ve been on LinkedIn this past month, you’ve likely seen at least one post (or more than you’d care to) about “founder mode.”

Presented as a counter to “manager mode” (meant to represent highly bureaucratic leadership rife with micromanaging and delegation), “founder mode” is all about championing the pioneering, hands-on behaviors of startup founders scaled to organizations of any size. And sure, when these are the only choices, anything that’s not “manager mode” sounds like a good option.

But show us a binary, and we’ll respond by asking tough questions. This week Rodney and Sam dig into how “founder mode” actually shows up in practice, whether it causes more organizational harm than good, and what it means when real leadership seems to be left out of the discussion entirely.

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Mentioned references:

Diane from Cheers
Founder Mode, article by Paul Graham
either/or thinking
Kim Scott's op-ed about founder mode
"people positivity episode": AWWTR Ep. 21
"strategy episode": AWWTR Ep. 2
"futures thinking" BNW Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly
Depthfinding
John Cutler
Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety
Andon cord

21. From Control to Trust: The People Positivity Journey

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Over the last nine years, The Ready has seen firsthand how organizations designed to be people positive (a.k.a. a foundational belief that people are eager to contribute and capable of change) outperform those that aren’t. Turns out when you treat people like adults, it boosts your team’s motivation, adaptability, and contribution.

The only catch? Unlearning nearly everything traditional leadership and management science has taught us for decades. Once beliefs like “People are lazy,” “People can’t be trusted,” and “People will actively abuse any flexibility they get” get baked into an organization’s culture, it’s tremendously hard to change. But not impossible.

In this episode, Rodney and Sam get candid about the fears that come with letting go of control, offer real-world examples to help skeptical leaders flip the script on trust, and explore how people positive principles can lead to long-term benefits.

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Mentioned references:

"the tower"
Theory Y vs Theory X
"Dan Pink stuff"
mastery: BNW Ep. 63
"psychological safety episode": AWWTR Ep. 20
"nature vs nurture"
"complexity conscious"
"discretionary spending discussion": AWWTR Ep. 16, question 3
negativity bias

20. Psychological Safety Starts With Your Leadership Team

Mon, 30 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Psychological safety is a buzzy topic every company claims to want—but only a handful actually achieve. Sometimes, it’s misunderstood as being about “niceness” or “politeness”, but real psychological safety is deeper and more complex than that. It’s an ecosystem of behaviors that add up over time to impact how your team shows up day after day.

Unfortunately, this misconception has a stranglehold on most leadership teams as well, who spend more time talking the talk than walking the walk. We’ve seen and worked with many executive teams over the years where people didn’t feel comfortable speaking up, challenging ideas, admitting mistakes, or sharing concerns without fearing retribution or embarrassment. When that’s happening inside the team responsible for some of a business’s biggest decisions, there are big consequences.

In today’s episode, Rodney and Sam break down why leadership teams often feel the most psychologically unsafe, how to move the needle on developing trust, and why a ropes course can’t solve a team or organization’s culture problems.

(Producer’s note: Ok, so we're zero for two this week with Sam's mic going rogue after Rodney's mishap last episode. Taylor's been working some major magic lately. Hopefully third time's the charm with episode 21 🤞)

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Mentioned references:

What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team (NYT, 2016)
”emperor has no clothes”
”leaders as org designers episode”: AWWTR Ep. 13
”hard vs soft power”
team charter
working agreements
”mundane episode”: AWWTR Ep. 19

19. All The Small Things: The Power of Good Habits

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0000

While exploring bad meetings a few episodes ago, Rodney and Sam hit on something that doesn’t often get a lot of air time: the power of good habits and the discipline to care about the small things. Because when we’re trying to change companies on an atomic level, it can feel like small potatoes to focus on check-in rounds, or writing Slack messages, or how we compose to-do lists.

But you can’t run toward the future of work at full speed when your shoes aren’t properly tied. Here’s what we know: High-performing teams—from ice hockey to symphony orchestras—all prioritize the fundamentals. So why don’t we do that in the workplace?

In this episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into why building strong work habits are more important than you might think and the mundane but fundamental practices they start with.

(Producer’s note: We had a tech mishap during recording, so this week’s episode might sound a little different. We blame Rodney’s lake house ghost (more on that in the SXSW episode). We’ll be back to our usual sound next episode.)

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Interested in learning more about Depthfinding and the ocean framework? Head here.

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Mentioned references:

"op rhythm": BNW EP. 118
"all work is now meetings": White-Collar Work Is Just Meetings Now, from The Atlantic, 2024
John Madden (the hockey one)
John Madden (the football one)
John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach
Atomic Habits, book by James Clear
Sunsama
80/20 rule
"5:1 praise to criticism": The Ideal Praise-to-Criticism Ratio, HBR, 2013
action meeting: BNW Ep. 80 with Sam Spurlin
retrospective meeting: BNW Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney
check-in rounds
"don't say hey website": https://nohello.net/en/ inspired by https://www.nohello.com/
"Amazon memo meeting"
"silent meeting"

18. If You Won’t Make Changes, That Employee Engagement Survey Is a Waste of Time

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0000

No burying the lede this week: Employee engagement surveys are broken.

We expect them to tell us everything about a workplace’s culture—but they often miss the mark, capturing just a sliver of what's going on and usually only symptoms instead of underlying causes.

As leaders try to make sense of the data, there’s frequently a lot of smoke chasing, but nobody can tell where the fire is, or if there’s one at all. Add to that employee distrust around anonymity, spun-up initiatives to make changes that never go anywhere, and the fact that most surveys don’t even ask the right questions, and it’s no wonder everyone, from the C-suite to the frontline worker, suspects these surveys do more harm than good.

In this episode, Rodney and Sam explore what “engagement” actually means, what organizations should be measuring instead and why, and how to truly understand the health of your organization.

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Mentioned references:

RACI episode: AWWTR Ep. 10
performance management episode: BNW Ep. 56
The Ready's OS Canvas
"complication" vs "complexity"
"state" vs "trait"
Marcus Buckingham

17. Making Meaningful Progress with Dr. Jason Fox

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0000

We talk a lot about the importance of emergence—of being more comfortable with being uncomfortable. However, it’s hard to practice what you preach… especially for a podcast with a tight schedule. Normally, when one of two hosts is out of commission, you don’t record. But when this recently happened to us, we asked “How might we?” and took a big ol’ step into the unknown.

We’re glad we did, because this week’s guest is Dr. Jason Fox, a self-proclaimed wizard-philosopher, best-selling author, and senior leadership advisor to Fortune 500 companies around the world. In classic wizard-philosopher fashion, he and Sam throw out the script for a far-reaching conversation about the importance of rituals, the roles we play when we’re at work, and how embracing uncertainty is where the magic truly happens.

Learn more about Jason:

On his website
On LinkedIn
Read How to Lead A Quest or The Game Changer

Got an idea for future episodes or a thorny workplace question you need answered? Shoot us a message to podcast@theready.com.

Mentioned references:

Game Frame, book by Aaron Dignan
Brave New Work, book by Aaron Dignan
James Carse, author of Finite and Infinite Games
Rodney's "I am CEO vs I hold the role of CEO": AWWTR Ep. 14
Lands of Lorecraft, series of articles by Venkatesh Rao
Jevons Paradox
"rivalrous dynamics"
"multipolar traps"
"operating rhythm": BNW Ep. 118
Creativity, Inc., book by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
basilisk
"GTD": BNW Ep. 39 with David Allen
John Keats and "negative capability"
Antifragile, book by Nassim Taleb
"Metacrisis"
The Ministry for the Future, book by Kim Stanley Robinson
Children of Time, series by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Expanse, series by James S.A. Corey
The Culture, series by Iain M. Banks

16. Ask Us Anything No. 2: You Asked, We Answered

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0000

It’s mailbag time! We’ve been diving into specific problem areas every episode—and turns out if you go deep, your audience will go even deeper. Listeners, the questions you send us are getting hard! The ones that feel extra complex and extra tangly? We take those to the airwaves to unravel them live and share our knowledge back with you.

On today’s episode, Rodney and Sam tackle another batch of our audience’s thorniest questions.

Questions tackled:

How to combat business speak in the workplace?
How do we use new ways of working and psych safety in an arena that relies on older practices as part of its identity?
What are your thoughts on how to divide up total compensation for employees? How much is salary vs health care vs perks?
Is there a size threshold to organizations? What do companies do that have gotten too large and it’s hurting their operations?
What are the trends around new ways of working, and what motivates organizations to engage with The Ready?
How can orgs unlock real collaboration, not just sharing information?

Got an idea for future episodes or a thorny workplace question you need answered? Shoot us a message to podcast@theready.com.

Mentioned references:

15. This Workshop Could Have Been A Meeting

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Planning a corporate workshop or off-site often feels like making a burrito. So many options—and so many opinions on what should go in it. A presentation rodeo on the next quarter’s objectives? Absolutely. Time for a key initiative to get the spotlight in front of the C-suite? Yes, please. Extra scoops of mandatory team-building to strengthen your culture? Why not. Everyone likes fun, right?

But when it’s time to actually chow down, it quickly becomes clear you’re dealing with an overstuffed, leaky, $20,000 mess. And everything the workshop was supposed to accomplish? Yeah, that didn’t happen—so you’re back at square one come Monday.

In this episode, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore why our workshop eyes are often bigger than our workshop stomachs; standard off-site practices we need to offload; and how to design new experiences that are actually meaningful and productive.

Interested in hearing more about the sunshine, twilight, and midnight zones? We’ve got stuff coming soon! Sign up here to get first access.

Got an idea for future episodes or a thorny workplace question you need answered? Shoot us a message to podcast@theready.com.

Mentioned references:

spinning top game "Skittles"
"meetings episode": AWWTR Ep. 12
"strategy stack": AWWTR Ep. 2
"even/overs": BNW Ep. 44
"essential intent": BNW Ep. 90 with Greg McKeown
working agreements: BNW Ep. 103
Topgolf
Liberating Structures
Ball Point game
Brainflakes

14. Surviving the Summertime Slump

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0000

It’s an unspoken truth in most knowledge work that summer is a wasted season. From late May to early September, many teams face reduced numbers and it’s nearly impossible to spin up anything new. The director you need approval from? On a cruise. The graphic designer you need for that new marketing campaign? Camping with the kids. When people just aren’t around, it can sometimes be easier to keep the lights on during the vacation relay race and run out the clock until fall.

The two most common sense solutions: take vacation yourself or focus on different things when people are away. But actually doing either of those things? Way harder than you’d expect, especially when modern work is tuned to overwhelm mode 24/7/365.

In this episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin talk about why summer is where organizational progress goes to die, and how we can stop spending those months doing business as usual and instead live a hot employee summer.

Interested in learning more about Depthfinding and the ocean framework? Head here.

Got an idea for future episodes or a thorny workplace question you need answered? Shoot us a message to podcast@theready.com.

Mentioned references:

"Vacation OS episode": BNW Ep. 142
"async episode": AWWTR Ep. 7
"medieval peasant vacation time": all articles point back to Juliet B. Schor's 1993 "The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure"
"workshop episode": will be released Monday, July 22nd!
"work as a paycheck discussion": AWWTR Ep. 11

13. Leadership Teams of the Future Act Like Org Designers

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0000

The world is changing faster than ever. But leadership teams seem a little… stagnant. Sure, there’s plenty of changeover as one CEO is replaced by another, or as new C-suite roles pop up, but the way leadership teams operate is largely unchanged from the 1950s. That model? It’s antithetical to the change that’s needed for the rest of an organization to become more adaptable and resilient.

In this episode, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore the ways in which leadership teams are holding their organizations back from the future. They’ll dig into how leaders can shift from defense to offense, set the right expectations for their teams, and recognize what their “real work” actually is.

Interested in learning more about Depthfinding and the ocean framework? Head here.

Got an idea for future episodes or a thorny workplace question you need answered? Shoot us a message to podcast@theready.com.

Mentioned references:

"totchos"
management science
servant leadership
The Ready's OS Canvas
Functional Analytic Psychotherapy Made Simple, by Gareth Holman
Gareth's podcast episode: BNW Ep. 5 with Gareth Holman
"Closing Time" by Semisonic
Mural

12. Breaking the Cycle of Meeting-ocrity

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0000

It seems everybody’s up in arms about meetings these days. “There’s too many! They ones we have suck! We have meetings to prepare for other meetings! They keep me from doing my actual job!” We get it, and we hear you. In fact, between BNW and our current show, we’ve devoted 9 episodes to meetings! What more could there be to say in a tenth?

Turns out, a ton. There’s so much intertwined with modern meeting culture that we’re often doomed to failure before we even get in the room. From the trap of the status meeting to leaders hogging all the stage time, Rodney and Sam dissect where most meetings go wrong and give you the tools to rewrite the script for how to start holding meetings that matter.

If you’re looking to make your next meeting better, make it a huddle! Learn more about how huddles can bring side-by-side collaboration and creativity to your remote teams at Slack.com.

Interested in learning more about Depthfinding and the ocean framework? Head here.

Prefer to watch rather than listen? Check out the extended live cut over on Youtube.

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We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

Mentioned references

1:1 meetings: BNW Ep. 19 with Michael Bungay Stanier; AWWTR Ep. 4
retrospective meetings: BNW Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney
OS Coffee meetings: BNW Ep. 144
an operating rhythm of meetings: BNW Ep. 118
action meetings: BNW Ep. 80 with Sam Spurlin
"RACI episode": AWWTR Ep. 10

11. The Ones Who Care The Most Will Leave You First

Mon, 27 May 2024 07:00:00 -0000

In the nearly five years since launching this podcast, our inbox has received one type of question more than any other: “If I’m trying to change a system that just doesn’t want to change, how do I keep going? When should I admit defeat and leave?” As people who function as “professional resistance” in organizations all over the world, this questions always hits us hard—because change itself is hard and often can lead to burnout.

So we’re finally having this conversation out in the open to tackle why the people who care the most are the ones who leave. Rodney and Sam dig into why burnout is so common among change agents, how to identify signs of meaningful progress, and when individuals and leaders should see the writing on the wall and throw in the towel.

Oh, and we're on Instagram now! Check us out there for fun behind the scenes stuff and extra things you won't find anywhere else.

To see the video version of this episode, head on over to Youtube.

Mentioned references:

"orthogonal"
"wasta"
"emotional labor of change": AWWTR Ep. 6
"Sisyphean"
"the maze and the mouse"
"see through The Matrix"
Mission-Based Team: FoHR Ep. 1
"the yips"
Rick Rubin
EMDR Therapy
Basecamp scandal: BNW Ep. 71

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We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air.

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

10. RACI is The Wrong Answer To The Right Question

Mon, 13 May 2024 07:00:00 -0000

The RACI matrix (as well its cousins DACI, DARCI, etc.) aims to neatly categorize stakeholders into roles—who’s responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for every decision your team makes. We spend a lot of time filling out those RACI boxes, because it’s supposed to give us order and predictability—a single source of truth for all future choices.

We’re all about achieving real clarity, but we often see RACIs treated as a one-and-done exercise, rather than something that evolves with a team. People end up in the “R” or “A” space without having the actual authority to execute a role, and then we make those roles the fall guy for a system never set up for them to succeed.

In this episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore the good intentions that lead us to make RACIs in the first place, where they fall flat, and why decision making is always more complicated than what can be captured on a chart.

Interested in learning more about Depthfinding and the ocean framework? Head here.

Mentioned references:

Responsibility assignment matrixes (such as RACI, DACI, and DARCI)
DARE model
MacGuffin
DRI (Directly Responsible Individual)
SPOA (Single Point of Accountability)
"traditional consulting ep": AWWTR Ep. 8
"future tension": BNW Ep. 16 with Thomas Thomison
"scenario planning": BNW Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly

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We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air.

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

9. Ask Us Anything No. 1: You Asked, We Answered

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0000

“Ask Us Anything” episodes were a Brave New Work tradition, and we knew they were going to live on in this next new chapter of the show. What we didn’t know was how much harder the questions would be this time around! Turns out, after nearly 200 shows our audience is pretty sharp and asking some very specific questions.

On today’s episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin look at what arrived in our inbox and tackle our listeners thorniest questions…and even tease a little something coming on the horizon.

Check out the extended live video version of this episode on our Youtube channel or shoot us a message if you'd like a transcript.

Questions answered in this episode:

How do you give critical feedback without being seen as a threat?
Any thoughts on orgs moving to eliminate excessive layers of management?
What's a workplace project you thought would be easy but turned out to be hard, and vice versa?
What's a starting point for orgs that want to work with someone like The Ready?
Can you have an episode about the disconnect between senior leadership and where the work happens?

Mentioned references:

"high and low umbrella"
"org debt"
"how might we?"
Chesterton's Fence
Bayer's elimination of managers
Humanocracy: BNW Ep. 47 with Michele Zanini
Haier's elimination of managers
The Ready's OS Canvas
Liberating Structures: BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless
"anti-pattern"

We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

8. Traditional Consulting Sold You a Great Idea. Now What?

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0000

For decades, traditional consulting (think “management” or “strategy” varieties now synonymous with the Big Three) has been a go-to move for organizations looking for a shake up. Need a bulletproof vision for the future or a new org restructuring that’ll win over the C-suite and shareholders? You can’t beat their analytical prowess, strategy design, and slick presentation.

But too often clients wind up stuck with expensive change plans they can’t execute on their own. Without real coaching, structure, and experienced guidance, these efforts stand a high chance of fizzling out and collecting dust on a shelf. Facing that reality time and time again lead The Ready to study and understand how organizations actually work and evolve. Yes, we’re also consultants—but the processes, outcomes, and experiences we create differ greatly. And that can lead to a whole bunch of confusion.

In this episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin delve into the stark differences between traditional consulting and how future-of-work firms like The Ready operate. Because not all consulting is created equal.

Prefer to watch instead of listen? Check out the extended video cut of this episode, with even more Rodney and Sam moments, on our Youtube channel.

Mentioned references:

VUCA
"participatory change": BNW Ep. 43
"cross-functional teaming": Future of HR Ep. 1
"strategy pancakes episode": AWWTR Ep. 2

We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter.

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

7. Sync or Swim: Riding the Waves of Async Work

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0000

For decades, face-to-face working has been the default way of working. Launching a new project; untangling an OS problem; updating a team on progress made in the last week—our classic go-to for all those different kinds of work is blocking off time on a calendar. When in doubt, just corral everybody into a room, real or virtual.

But this “one-size-fits-all” approach is coming up short as work evolves. And while almost everyone dreads having a meeting-stuffed calendar, ideas for what to try instead can be in short supply. Plus, when 85% of leaders find it hard to trust that their employees are being productive, async work can look like a risky free-for-all.

In this episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore how our attachment to synchronous work is hampering performance and why asynchronous work is a mindset, not a tool stack.

Looking for other ways to asynchronously enjoy this episode? Check out our Youtube channel for the live video version, or email podcast@theready.com to get a transcript for reading.

Mentioned references:

Loom
Rodney's article on org debt: How to Tackle the Biggest Threat to Your Team's Growth
Red, amber, green (RAG status)
Tanisi's podcast episode: BNW Ep. 88 with Tanisi Pooran
Miro
Pitch
Pomodoro method

We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter.

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

6. If You're Faking It, You Won't Make It

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Every time something changes at work, someone’s bound to be upset. Digital transformations take resources from analog teams; restructuring a department can take authority from one group and give it to another; removing a step from a workflow can eliminate a role altogether. Any change, including those meant to make things better, will create winners and losers and that’s bound to kick up a hornet’s nest of feelings.

Here’s the puzzling part: Despite years of research showing us that surfacing and processing these feelings is key to unlocking a company’s ability to be adapt, many workplaces often treat emotions as taboo. They’re messy, unpredictable, and nobody wants to touch them—even when ignoring them does more harm that good. Playing pretend isn't getting us anywhere.

In this episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore why we have negative feelings about big feelings and how it’s holding our organizations back from evolving into the places they could be.

We're on Youtube! An extended video version of this episode (with extra Rodney and Sam moments) is available to watch there.

Mentioned references:

Tabea's Meet The Ready post
"unconsciously protecting the status quo": Immunity to Change, 2009 book by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey
"protection state": On Point of Relationship podcast episode with Frederic Laloux
"complicated vs complex": Brave New Work keynote
The unpaid emotional labor expected of women at work, 2024 BBC article
What Rodney said at SXSW last year: BNW 162: Live from SXSW with Brian Elliott

Love the show? Leave us a review and share this episode with your coworkers!

We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter.

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

5. Silos Are For Corn, Not For People

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Ask anyone about organizational silos and they’re bound to tell you they’re bad. When we run Tension and Practice exercises with clients, “We work in silos” often shows up as Tension No. 1 holding a team back. Yet like a moth to a flame, we keep gravitating toward them, building walls that are higher and more insurmountable than ever before. What gives?

In this episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dive into the bottomless ball pit that is organizational silos, exploring why we think they’ll solve all our problems, how they’re actually sabotaging organizations from being effective, and why trying to build bridges between them (rather than designing something new from the ground up) is one of the worst things we can do.

Mentioned references:

"Ready for Anything structure episode": BNW Ep. 23
"Hollywood Model episode": FoHR Miniseries, Ep. 1
The Ready's Tension & Practice Cards
"the previous episode": AWWTR Ep. 4
value stream mapping
Spotify chapters and guilds video Sam promised
"IDM consent-based governance": BNW Ep. 43
"movies and studios"
"retro": BNW Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney

We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter.

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

4. Return to Office: Real Issue or Handy Distraction?

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

You can’t throw a stone on LinkedIn without hitting at least one post about return-to-office policies. From CEOs to employees, from thought leaders to maybe even your mayor, everyone is taking a side, doubling down, and yelling into the void as loud as they can. Where people work is being treated as the most important issue—the existential sea change that will either make or break a company.

In reality, the RTO debate is the superficial fight we have instead of addressing the deeper, tougher, and way more complex issues that really matter (think questions around purpose, trust, "productivity", and communication). And here’s a fun fact: You can’t work well anywhere (in person or remotely) if confusion and misalignment is swirling around your company.

In this week’s episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin unpack why we’re still debating where people work, what that obsession costs our organizations, and how to start breaking free of the cycle.

Mentioned references:

BNW’s first RTO/hybrid work episode: Ep. 79
Erin Grau’s Fortune article “Flexible work is feminist”
"Theory Y"
Brian Elliott's previous appearances on our show: BNW Ep. 129, BNW Ep. 162, and FoHR Miniseries Ep. 9
"Return-to-Office Mandates" from Mark Ma and Yuye Ding of the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business
"Lessons Learned: 1,000 Days of Distributed at Atlassian"
"Basecamp": BNW Ep. 4 with Dan Kim
Mural
Miro
Children of Time
Previous episodes about retreats and in-person gatherings: BNW Ep. 64, BNW Ep. 82 with Lindsay Caplan, and BNW Ep. 94

We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter.

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

3. How 1:1 Meetings Are Messing Up Your Culture

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

1:1s (or one-on-ones) are a ubiquitous part of our daily working lives. These two-person meetings (a manager + a direct report = a classic 1:1) are meant to be a space for diving into individual challenges, fostering trust, building stronger relationships, and providing a forum for feedback and recognition. When designed with intention, they can be great.

But at some point, 1:1s jumped the shark. Today, we see more and more companies with an overwhelming “1:1 culture,” where calendars are packed with a million two-person meetings (on top of lots of other meetings), leaving precious little time to get work done. Worse still, most 1:1s include our worst meeting habits: over-indexing on status updates, information hoarding, and bureaucratic theater. What gives?

In this episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin meet one-on-one (see what we did there?) to explore why 1:1 cultures take hold in organizations, the cost that comes with doing them poorly, how to rely on them less, and how to start making the ones you do keep count.

Mentioned references:

We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter.

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

2. Your PowerPoint Deck Is Not a Strategy

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

It's January! New beginnings? Ambitious plans? Giant commitments to change? They’re on everyone’s mind. Companies included—since now’s the time when glossy PowerPoint decks are so eagerly rolled out. And those PowerPoints? They’re always brimming with promise for the year ahead.

But there's a glaring disconnect between those slides (all 73 of them) and eventual success we often don’t address. Because how frequently do those meticulously crafted plans pan out? Does the new agenda account for the day-to-day running of the company? Is the plan flexible enough to handle economic curveballs? (We remember 2020, right?)

The reality is that “traditional strategy” often resembles New Year's resolutions; they’re imbued with good intentions but ultimately destined for disappointment.

In this episode of "At Work with The Ready," (new year, new podcast name!) co-hosts Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore our deep-rooted conditioning toward conventional planning methods (despite their shortcomings), share what a more complexity conscious approach to strategy looks like, and give you moves to start busting up the annual cycles of frustration, stagnancy, and finger-pointing.

Mentioned references:

"Getting Things Done and David Allen": Brave New Work Ep. 39 with David Allen
"90% of leaders admit strategies fail based on implementation": Closing The Gap: Designing and Delivering a Strategy That Works - The Economist's Intelligence Unit
Essential Intent
Japanese pancakes, straight from Sam's Instagram algorithm
Even/overs: Brave New Work Ep. 44
Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
Looping
Red Teaming
"Scenario planning": Brave New Work Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly
Adjacent possible
Op rhythm
"mango sorbet": Brave New Work Ep. 163 Check-In Round

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter.

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

163/1. A Brave New Chapter

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Whether it’s in front of clients or in front of a mic, we talk about change all day long. Having fewer, better meetings; learning to productively disagree; overhauling and evolving the HR function; exploring four-day work weeks—the podcast has covered miles and miles of transformational ground in 4 years.

However we don’t often talk about how we’ve changed. And after six seasons and 162 episodes, how could we not be different? We used the show’s hiatus to reflect on where we’ve been and where we want to go—and we reached some bittersweet conclusions. But if we resisted change and all the learning and joy that can come with it, we wouldn’t be The Ready.

In this very special episode, Aaron Dignan, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin talk about Brave New Work’s origin story, what they’ve learned making all these episodes (it was 162, right?), and what the show’s future may hold. Trust us, you won’t want to miss it.

This episode was recorded with video, so you can see our smiling faces on The Ready’s Youtube channel.

Mentioned references:

Imoyoshi, home of the purple sweet potato soft serve
Ira Glass
The Ready's Spotify Wrapped LinkedIn post
"Pop up and do less" scene from Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Supermanage, from Murmur Labs
The File Drawer
Fields of Work
The Future of HR miniseries
"the Panera days": The Ready's first "office" was in a Panera near Bryant Park in NYC! Hear more about The Ready's early days in BNW Ep. 158.

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Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

The Future of HR: The End Is Just the Beginning

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

In July, we began exploring what HR’s current reality looked like and how People teams could evolve into a better, brighter, more adaptive future. Thirteen episodes, three guest interviews, a record breaking AUA, and lots of unexpected hot dog talk later, we’ve reached the end. And while endings can be bittersweet, this miniseries, proudly co-hosted by two org design nerds, is transforming that feeling into a sweet retrospective.

In today’s final Future of HR episode, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin look back on the three months they spent in the deep end of the HR pool and talk about they’ve learned, what’s surprised them, and where their opinions have shifted. Plus, we pull out all the stops with one of the funniest check-in rounds of the series and a little something extra at the end as a thank you for tuning in. Buckle up, brave listeners. Because this isn't really an ending; it's a launchpad for all the exciting adventures HR is truly ready for.

Mentioned references:

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971 film version)
Kids Incorporated
Kids Incorporated theme song (we listened to it, even though Sam wouldn't)
The Boxcar Children
School of Rock

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: When you were a child, what TV show or movie do you wish you could have been a part of in real life?

05:04 Goals of the FoHR miniseries

12:44 Reception of the miniseries from HR folks

16:51 How Rodney and Sam’s views have changed (or not) since episode 1

25:48 Convictions that are stronger now than when we started

29:52 Final takeaways: If you remember nothing else, remember this one thing

32:38 What’s next on your FoHR journey

34:42 Thank-you

35:31 Blooper + humor reel

The Future of HR: Creating Irresistible Workplaces with Josh Bersin

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

HR departments struggle to be all things to all stakeholders while delivering on the most strategic priorities of the business. But when we dig into the OS of HR, we find a resource-constrained function that contains multitudes. Long range people priorities are deemed negotiable, HR’s domain expertise isn’t respected, and the function acts as a service-provider when it should be guiding the organization's evolution.

This week, Rodney Evans sits down with HR industry giant Josh Bersin to discuss his book Irresistible: The Seven Secrets of the World’s Most Enduring, Employee-Focused Organizations and dig into how HR must transform itself to enable a shift to more profitable, resilient, human organizations. They explore what makes a company “irresistible,” the tidal wave that is AI, and the critical role HR plays in shifting a workplace’s culture.

(Editor’s note: This episode was recorded in July, so many things Josh talks about as “upcoming” are already out in the world! Look below for a full list of current references.)

Learn more about Josh Bersin on his website, LinkedIn, and Twitter (X).

Learn more about Josh’s book here.

Learn more about the Josh Bersin Company at their website and explore the courses offered in Josh Bersin Academy.

Mentioned references:

Josh Bersin’s Systemic HR model
Microsoft research about employees thinking they are productive vs what their leaders think
Study about managers feeling more stress than employees
W. Edwards Deming
The AI episode of Josh’s podcast Rodney refers to: AI Deep Dive: Three Generations of HR Tech AI Solutions in the Market (May 15 2023)

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s something that you’re trying to learn right now?

03:33 Story behind the origins of Josh’s book

09:58 The shift behind “Coach, Not Boss”

16:17 Concept of “success” in Irresistible companies vs traditional companies

21:20 How irresistible companies are transforming their HR departments

30:11 HR leader Interview tips to identify an irresistible company

33:49 HR and AI and how to think about it

40:23 Where HR should start engaging with AI

43:04 Wrap up: Share this episode with your HR friends!

The Future of HR: AUA Confidential Edition

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

“Ask Us Anything” episodes are some of the most fun to make, so we knew we had to include one in our Future of HR miniseries. In the spirit of a well-meaning (but often toothless) HR feedback box, all the questions are anonymous.

On today’s episode, Rodney and Sam look at what arrived in our mailbag and try to solve listener questions. But did they beat the Brave New Work record of answering more than four questions in a single episode? You’ll have to tune in to find out.

Some of today’s questions include:

Will Mission-Based Teams make Platform Teams feel “less than”?
How do I make HR my career without any formal training?
How can we change our HR department’s perception within our own company?
How do I identify a toxic boss or workplace during interviews?
Will Agile HR ever be a thing?!?

Mentioned references:

Liberty Belle, from Glow
Tobias Fünke, from Arrested Development
Ron Swanson, from Parks and Rec
"Jets and the Sharks": Westside Story
"Contracting episode" : FoHR Miniseries, Episode 3
Jason Beck, PhD, Partner at The Ready

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is a favorite Halloween costume of yours from the past?

03:21 Question 1 - How do you get Finance and Strategy teams to collaborate in Level 4?

07:17 Question 2 - How does HR engage with higher FoHR levels without making Platform Teams feel “less than”? How do you plan budgets for this?

13:53 Question 3 - How can we change the current perception of HR within an organization?

16:22 Question 4 - How can I sell the value of creating more transparency and inviting more non-management team members to participate in this?

21:45 Question 5 - How do you get a leadership team to truly work together if their remits are very different?

26:43 Question 6 - We’re having trouble identifying our shared work, often popping in and out of silos. Can you help us get unstuck?

30:53 Question 7 - How do you enable collaboration and drive accountability in a fast-paced matrix company?

33:47 Question 8 - We have a traditional HR team with defensive processes. How can we start to shift that into a service mindset? Will Agile HR ever be a thing?

37:55 Question 9 - I have lots of experience in operational leadership and company culture roles, but no formal training. What should I do if I want to make this my career?

41:39 Question 10 - I’m working in a toxic work environment with a bad manager and I didn’t see this during my interview. What questions should I ask in future interviews to uncover this?

46:27 Wrap Up: Share this episode with your HR friends!

The Future of HR: Slaying Your Company’s Org Debt Monster

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Spooky season is here, so it seems fitting to share a horror story. Because there’s a monster draining time and energy from most of our organizations. This sneaky shapeshifter can take any form, show up at any time, and is one of the more destructive, chaotic forces we’re forced to deal with at work.

We’re talking about the monster that is org debt—and HR has been trapped in a maze with it for decades. Worse still, the maze’s towering walls and serpentine corridors come from outdated policies and processes HR largely built themselves. And it’s historically been impossible for many leaders to find the time to clean up org debt—or even know where to look for it.

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

Today on episode 10, they help you learn how to identify org debt, shine a light on its hiding places, measure what it’s really costing us, and start eliminating it from your organization for good.

Mentioned references:

The Ready's video about Org Debt
Marie Kondo
Murmur
Meg's episode about centralization/decentralization: FoHR Miniseries Ep. 3
Zapier
"MBT" (Mission-based Team)
"MVP" (Minimum Viable Product)
Ali Randel, partner at The Ready
Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini, authors of Humanocracy, where the org debt annual cost is attributed

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: Do you remember the first CD you ever bought, and if so, what was it?

03:20 Intro to org debt

06:41 Why companies struggle getting rid of it

13:36 Clear examples of org debt in HR

20:10 Why org debt is such an issue now

25:51 Stopping the cycle of org debt and creating capacity

33:05 Nipping new org debt in the bud

35:14 Psychological behaviors behind types of org debt

41:43 Financial costs of org debt

42:45 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share this episode with your HR friends!

The Future of HR: HR’s Data Dilemma and Breaking Free of the Status Quo with Brian Elliott

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

We’re living in a data-rich time. Searching for a study or report on, say, the benefits of a three-day return-to-office policy? You’re mere clicks away from convincing arguments with shiny graphics and spicy pull-quotes to post on LinkedIn.

But there’s also never been a worse time for data, with a glut of conflicting information being confidently shared from unreliable sources.

Most frustrating, even if you find all the trustworthy data needed to craft a watertight argument for burning your performance management program to the ground, all the numbers in the world don’t seem to be enough to change a single executive’s rigid opinion, let alone an entire C-suite.

HR has never had more data at their fingertips—so why does that data often feel useless?

To explore this data dilemma, we brought back friend-of-the-pod Brian Elliott to unpack what’s stopping HR departments (and let’s be real, most organizations writ large) from turning this mountain of information into meaningful action. In this episode, Rodney and Brian talk about:

The top headaches facing HR leaders around the globe
Why change efforts for problems with clear supporting data often fail to get moving
How to source and interpret external information, as well as gather it from within your company
How to meaningfully engage with entrenched opinions and make change

Learn more about Brian and what he’s up to on LinkedIn.

Mentioned references:

Future Forum
Muriel Bowser, mayor of DC inaugural address (actually said in her third, not her second)
Helena Gottschling, Former CHRO of Royal Bank Canada
Tsedal Neely, Harvard Business School professor and author
Future of HR AI episodes: Part 1 & Part 2
Brainwriting
eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score)
Erin Figueroa, former VP, Operations at Slack
Dawn Sharifan, former SVP, People at Slack
Nadia Rawlinson, former CPO at Slack
Boston Consulting Group
Future of HR Hebba Youssef episode: Episode 6

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: Who is your more interesting relative?

03:35 What Brian’s been up to since SXSW

04:58 Top of mind concerns Brian hears from CPOs/CHROs: #1 - Burnout, #2 - Return to Office

11:09 #3 - Generative AI

16:09 HR leaders feeling “not ready” and “too busy” to change

18:52 You can’t be a strategic partner if you don’t want to/can’t change

20:31 What keeps people from acting on data and research that contradicts the status quo

28:16 Timeline and subtlety of change and the temptation to snap back

31:06 Organizational metrics Brian keeps an eye on

33:35 Cross-functional solutions to data driven problems

39:08 C-suite not supporting HR when they do bring a data backed case for change

41:59 Sourcing and interpreting external and internal data

45:13 How HR can combat entrenched opinions with data

48:17 Wrap up: Leave us a review!

The Future of HR: Finding a Third Way with AI Through The Noise, Part 2

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Was it ever possible for our first AI episode to not be a two-parter? Probably not. So we’re back today with more thoughts on AI and the Future of HR.

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

Last week, they dove into the AI pool to begin filtering out the noise about how this coming wave will impact all of us. Today on episode 9, Rodney and Sam keep swimming around the deep end. Which reminds us: If you haven’t yet listened to last week’s episode, do that first for some important context (and jokes)!

On Part 2, they discuss:

How AI tools could help HR finally make progress on historically un-winnable battles
What automation really means for most jobs and how we perceive our value and identity in the workplace
Experiments you can run on your own if your company isn’t already playing around with AI

Mentioned references:

"Meg's episode" (discussion actually takes place in Hebba's episode, starting at around 44:27)
HR's new future of work skill episodes: Part 1, and Part 2
ChatGPT
Midjourney

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: You’re going for a walk through the forest and see a big rock and flip it over. What are you hoping to find?

02:37 HR’s historically unwinnable battles AI will help with

08:53 Facing fears over your job being automated

14:14 Being “busy” and “productive” as avoidance to doing real work

17:40 Experiments to run on your own, independent of your company

21:15 Wrap Up: Share this episode with your HR friends!

The Future of HR: Finding a Third Way with AI Through The Noise, Part 1

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0000

One midnight scroll through LinkedIn is all it takes to be overwhelmed with AI stories and hot takes. There’s a massive amount of confusion, apprehension, excitement, and just general noisiness to make sense of, some which is created by AI tools themselves. But as more and more AI-powered solutions promising to revolutionize HR flood the market—and as more and more employees spiral with worry that the’ll be automated out of their jobs—how are we supposed to get caught up on some AI basics? Let alone actually use these tools at work?

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

Today on episode 8, they explore how AI will help the most advanced HR teams move from Level 4 to Level 5 of our maturity model—and how it can be a positive force for change if we’re asking the right questions and trying to solve the right problems. In fact, Rodney and Sam had so much to digest, this episode became a two-parter.

Today on Part 1, they dig into:

How cultural takes on AI are already falling into old patterns
Rodney and Sam’s own personal AI journeys
How to start small and begin your AI exploration in a Mission-Based Team
The AI-powered upgrades that take HR from Level 4 to Level 5 of our maturity model

Mentioned references:

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Introduction & Check-In: What is your favorite evidence that you have had a successful time off?

04:05 Level setting for the AI conversation

08:57 Rodney and Sam’s personal AI adventures

14:16 Exploring AI in Mission-Based Teams

20:01 Knowledge barrier to begin experimenting is low

22:12 AI and counterintuitive moves

25:41 AI’s role in the move from Level 4 to Level 5

30:59: Impact on human beings from atomized marketplace roles

32:40 AI in industrial-era org vs AI in evolutionary org

35:59 Wrap up: leave us a review and share with your HR friends

The Future of HR: Putting the “Change” Back in Change Agents and Building Your HR Talent Marketplace

Mon, 11 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A company hires a change agent (think anyone with “org effectiveness,” “change management,” or “strategy and efficiency” in their title) with promises of how they’ll be the one to revolutionize the company’s future. Several months later, the change agent realizes the company is fighting them at every turn. Despite all the talk, these roles often have minimal authority and autonomy, so those lofty dreams of change? They end up unfulfilled.

But for HR departments heading toward Level 4, The Marketplace, of our maturity model, these roles need to step off the sidelines and into the game as Market Designers. In this reimagined role, they facilitate a dynamic network of talent and Mission-Based Teams that enables HR to get after its thorniest and most valuable business objectives. And this transformation isn’t one-and-done: Newly empowered Market Designers continually change and evolve the company to meet new moments and challenges 🚀

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

Today on episode 7, they explore why Market Designers are ready to make the change their predecessors couldn’t realize, what their relationship with HR Business Coaches looks like, and how they’re instrumental for building the HR marketplace of the future.

Mentioned references:

Valve, the video game developer
Haier, the appliance manufacturer
“Chapter of market designers”
“Volun-told”
DAOs
Brave New Work’s episodes on Talent Marketplaces: BNW Ep. 160 & Ep. 161

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s an award you received as a child you were prouder of than you probably should have been?

04:26 Why change agents have trouble changing the organization

07:43 Changing the org chart first usually isn’t the right move

12:25 Day-to-day of a Market Designer

15:11 Transferring skills from consultants to Market Designers

18:15 Difference between HR Business Coach and Market Designer

20:29 How many Market Designers does a company have?

24:17 Future of CPO/CHRO in Level 4 and beyond

27:56 What a healthy HR talent marketplace looks like

33:26 Sam’s adventures into DAOs and unregulated marketplaces

38:32 Why HR is ideal for a talent marketplace

40:54 Wrap Up: Send us your burning HR questions!

The Future of HR: Why Being CPO Is Just the Hardest with Hebba Youssef

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Since last fall, we’ve spoken/joked/laughed/cried with hundreds of HR leaders and change makers about the Future of HR and the industry’s evolutionary tipping point. And despite spending time with many inspiring CPOs and CHROs, there’s none quite like Hebba Youssef. Along with being Workweek’s Chief People Officer, she’s also the author of “I Hate It Here”, a no holds barred newsletter unpacking HR’s thorniest problems and putting into words what everyone’s thinking but too afraid to say. Plus, her GIF game? Unparalleled.

This week, on episode 6 of our miniseries, Rodney Evans sits down with Hebba to talk about how “I Hate It Here” came to be, how a role often tasked with putting out one fire after another can stay focused on strategy, and why being CPO is the hardest and loneliest job in any organization.

Learn more about Hebba Youssef:

On LinkedIn
Subscribe to the “I Hate It Here” newsletter and listen to her podcast.
Join the Safe Space community.

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s something that you love that is kind of embarrassing?

04:20 Origins of “I Hate It Here”

09:36 What resonates the most in the “I Hate It Here” community?

10:32 Sources of burnout in HR

15:58 Balancing strategy with the day-to-day as CPO

21:23 HR’s martyrdom complex

23:48 Isolation and loneliness in HR

30:25 The CEO-CPO relationship

34:52 HR as the organization’s doctor

40:09 Hebba’s top HR mission to solve

46:03 Wrap up: Leave us a review!

The Future of HR: Giving HRBPs the Future-of-Work Makeover They Deserve

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0000

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

References mentioned:

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Episode 1481 "Talks about Compet ition" (1981). "How People Make Crayons" begins at 05:20.
American Gladiators
Dave Ulrich, of the Ulrich HR model

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: What was your favorite show to watch as a small child?

04:05 Why the HRBP role isn’t working

10:41 Why Future of HR requires rethinking the HRBP

12:53 Skill overlap between HRBP and HR Business Coach

21:03 Shifting from “service mindset” to “product mindset”

25:07 HR Business Coach’s point of view

27:20 Recap of Level 3 and what’s changed

29:26 Who does the HR Business Coach report to?

34:55 Wrap up: Send us your burning HR questions!

The Future of HR: Building Your Capabilities Pt. 2 - From Levels 3 to 5...And Beyond!

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0000

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

Last week, Rodney and Sam teamed up with Future of HR team member Meg Saxby to explore our new maturity model, assessment, and the six key capabilities every HR department needs to learn, strengthen, and evolve to succeed in the future of work. Today, on episode 4, Rodney, Sam, and Meg finish that two-parter. Which reminds us: If you haven’t yet listened to last week’s episode, do that first for a 101 overview of our maturity model.

This episode focuses on the capabilities needed to succeed in Levels 3-5 (and our secret bonus level):

Facilitation and Future of Work Coaching
Solution Design and Market Management
Data Literacy and Automation

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro and Check-In: What is a language you would like to speak (or speak better than your currently do) and why?

03:03 Why these are Varsity 2.0 level skills

04:31 Key Capability 4: Facilitation and Future of Work Coaching

08:04 What Future of Work coaching looks like in practice

11:34 Key Capability 5: Solution Design and Market Management

15:31 Why solution design is such a big shift for HR

18:18 Key Capability 6: Data Literacy and Automation

19:56 Big potential wins for automation in HR right now

23:32 Impact of AI on capacity planning

24:58 Holding our predictions lightly

26:51 Wrap up: Send us your burning hot HR questions!

The Future of HR: Building Your Capabilities, Pt. 1 - Getting to Level 3

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

After decades of dealing with stagnant practices, burnout, and competing agendas, HR might be tempted to trade in the old family minivan for a flashy new race car and just put the pedal to the metal. A car’s a car…right? While we’re big proponents of “start by starting”, without the skill, confidence, and ability to take tight turns or use the paddle shifters (you’re still with us, right?), you’ll run into problems. Building fluency and comfort with the fundamentals is how your HR team can level and go full speed ahead.

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

Today, on episode 3, Rodney and Sam are joined by Future of HR team member Meg Saxby for part one of a two-part conversation. They dig into our new maturity model, our assessment, and the six key capabilities every HR department needs to learn, strengthen, and evolve to succeed in the future of work. Welcome to the Future of HR.

This episode focuses on the three capabilities necessary for reaching Level 3:

Adaptability and Experimentation
Contracting and Communications
User Design and Decentralization

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro and Check-In: Your 20-year old self comes to work. How would we know?

04:27 Purpose of the Future of HR Assessment

07:21 Importance of the Key Capabilities

10:14 Key Capability 1: Adaptability and Experimentation

11:23 Key Capability 2: Contracting and Communications

13:42 What makes contracting hard to learn

17:40 Using contracting to combat burnout

24:27 What good structured communications look like

26:22 Key Capability 3: User Experience and Decentralization

28:37 Taking UX seriously in HR

32:00 Using MVPs to fuel decentralization

34:08 Balancing decentralization and risk mitigation

38:42 Wrap up: Send us your burning hot HR questions!

The Future of HR: Convincing Your Coworkers and the C-Suite

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

One of the toughest work tasks? Convince someone else to back your idea. And if you’re in HR, it’s exceptionally tough to get buy-in from other functions. Maybe your coworkers think they know better because you just handle “people” stuff—and how hard is that? Maybe the CFO will only open the company chest for something with ROI they can track. Or maybe the CEO is hyper-concerned with legacy or the company’s stock price and doesn’t see the value in engaging with your employee engagement survey results. If you’re wondering why so many HR change efforts fail before they even start, look no further than missing buy-in.

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

Today, on episode 2, they discuss why it’s so difficult for HR leaders to get widespread buy-in, how to make the case for change, and how to manage complex relationships with the CEO and CFO from the jump. Welcome to the Future of HR.

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Intro and Check-In: What is your most embarrassing injury?

03:36 Why buy-in is so difficult in HR

08:13 Building your case with business outcomes

12:46 Convincing your HR team

21:11 Getting the CFO and finance to the table

27:50 Dealing with the CEO

34:27 Hot take: Is Buy-in an excuse?

36:41 Wrap up: Send us your burning hot HR questions!

The Future of HR: Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

It’s no secret things haven’t been working in HR for… a while. When you include the last few years of navigating a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, dysfunctional hybrid work policies, rounds of layoffs, and unprecedented economic churn, it’s easy to see HR has been pushed to a breaking point. Human Resources? They feel anything but human.

Trapped between competing mandates to mitigate risk while also transforming office culture and the employee experience, it’s no wonder HR can’t steward the change it so desperately wants to. But what if there was a way out?

In this new miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can actually become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.

Today, on episode 1, Rodney and Sam talk about why HR’s time to shine is right now, what HR leaders around the world are telling us, and preview the goodies to come on in future episodes. Welcome to the Future of HR.

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Learn more about The Future of HR at our website

Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!

Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.

Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.

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00:00 Aaron and Rodney intro

02:47 Welcome to the show & Check-In: What’s your favorite physical activity or exercise?

06:19 Why HR and why right now?

12:20 The Future of HR in a nutshell

18:35 How to find and identify your first missions

26:03 The pill in the hotdog - Mission Based Teams (MBTs) and new ways of working

29:24 The right people, on the right team, in the right environment

32:44 Developing the FoHR

35:25 Rodney’s learnings from the development process

38:27 What’s coming up in future episodes

38:53 Wrap Up: Send us your HR questions!

We’re Taking a Brave New Break [Bonus]

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Has it really been almost three and a half years since this wild ride of a podcast began? We’ve been experimenting as we go (remember Rodney’s NPR-host impersonations in the early shows?)—and after releasing roughly one episode a week throughout the entirety of pandemic, we figured it was finally time we learned how to take a proper break and give BNW some TLC.

So, we’re going on hiatus and won’t be making new episodes for a while. But that just means it’s a great time to revisit our back catalog. All those hot topics swirling around the news right now (burnout, dysfunctional hybrid work models, toxic hiring practices, you name it) are things we’ve been all over since 2019—and you’ve been right there with us. Some of these conversations might be a few years old, but they’re just as relevant as ever.

Plus, now you can check out our Youtube channel, where we’re uploading older episodes weekly. They’re complete with updated show notes, links, transcripts, and video chapters so you can jump to your favorite episode moments.

Until we’re back, please stay in touch by following The Ready on Twitter or Linkedin, and by emailing us at podcast@theready.com. We can’t wait to hear what you get up to while we’re gone. Now go change something.

Our Hosts in the Wild - The Anxious Achiever: Why Giving Up Control at Work can Improve Your Emotional Health

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Sometimes, Rodney and Aaron stop by other people’s podcasts to nerd out on the hits we know and love: new ways of working, self-management, breaking down the binary between chaos and bureaucracy, the future of work—the list goes on and on. So today, we’re actually bringing one of those awesome conversations right to your ears.

Aaron recently joined Morra Aarons-Mele on her show, The Anxious Achiever, for an epic chat about mental health, the workplace, and disrupting the systems that can reward and reinforce unhealthy behavior. We hope you enjoy the exchange and we’ll return with a fresh episode of Brave New Work soon.

To tune in for more episodes of Morra’s show, head to her website or search for "The Anxious Achiever" wherever you get your podcasts.

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This episode originally aired on October 26th, 2022 on The Anxious Achiever with Morra Aarons-Mele, presented by LinkedIn.

Aaron Dignan is founder of The Ready - an organizational transformation and coaching practice. He focuses on how to prioritize adaptivity and autonomy over efficiency and control - which you can pretty quickly extrapolate into upsides for mental health of workers and leaders. He’s also the author of the book Brave New Work - and cohost of the podcast of the same name.

Host Morra Aarons-Mele speaks with him about he helps organizations and individuals realize they need to change, and how he guides them through that transformation.

About The Anxious Achiever:

Host Morra Aarons-Mele is on a mission to reframe how we think about anxiety and mental health in the workplace. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. We desperately need better models for leadership and a more holistic view of mental health. Our culture tells those of us who suffer from anxiety and depression that we can’t succeed, but we tell a different story — without sugarcoating the tough stuff. We feature stories from people who’ve been there and experts who can help you thrive.

162. Live from SXSW: Busting Workplace Myths with Brian Elliott

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0000

You didn’t think we’d do our first-ever Brave New Work live show and let you miss the party, did you? That’s right, we’re coming in hot with a very special episode we recorded at SXSW on March 11th in partnership with our friends at Slack.

Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans hit the Slack Studio Live stage with Brian Elliott (co-founder of Future Forum, an SVP at Slack, and a friend-of-the-pod) to talk about the future of work and break down several myths that keep holding us back. Plus, we kept Austin weird with one our strangest check-in rounds yet!

We came prepared with our hottest takes (and not just because it was nearly 90 degrees) on these pervasive workplace myths:

The person who’s always busy is the person who’s most productive.
Compensation is the most important thing when choosing a new role.
If you aren’t at the top, there’s nothing you can do to spark change at work.
There’s no place for feelings in the workplace.
You can’t build culture if you’re not IRL at an office.

Bonus Content Alert! You might hear this episode and wonder…was this really recorded outside in front of a live audience?! It was (BNW tips its hat to Taylor Marvin weekly with good reason) and we have the goods to back it up. Head to our YouTube channel for the unedited version that features our faces and cheering crowds for the real-deal Brave New Work live experience.

Special thanks to Sparks for recording us live!

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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00:00 Walk On Stage

01:05 Intro & Check-In: Do you believe in ghosts, aliens, or both?

05:02 Myth 1: The busy person is the most productive.

09:23 Myth 2: Money is the most important thing when choosing a job.

14:38 Myth 3: Non-leaders have no power to change their work environment

26:00 Myth 4: Feelings don't belong in the workplace

42:55 Myth 5: It's not possible to build culture if your company isn't in person in an office.

50:04 Wrap Up: Subscribe and leave us a review!

Can Hybrid Work....Work? [Rebroadcast]

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Rebroadcast Note: We’re still sleeping off a taco- and margarita-filled weekend at SXSW, so we’re resurfacing one of our most popular episodes today. While two years have passed since we first had this conversation about hybrid work (and much has changed since then), it’s an inescapable fact that many companies are still struggling (some quite publicly) with this particular new way of working. We’re planning on revisiting this topic later in 2023, so email us with your hybrid horror stories and any questions you’d like answered! [This episode originally aired on July 12, 2021.]

It’s a major question on many minds these days: When will the office reopen? Or rather: Will the office reopen? Different countries are in very different stages of heading back to physical workspaces (or not); in the United States, the prospect of on-premise work is inching closer as companies struggle to decide between three main models: fully in-office; fully remote; or…maybe some mix of both?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans unpack why floppy hybrid models are doomed to fail, different flavors of creativity (that don’t rely on glass-walled conference rooms), and what the most adaptive path forward could look like.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 101 [Rebroadcast]

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Rebroadcast Note: Some things never go out of style, which is why we resurface this foundational episode year after year. Plus, our BNW community has grown by a few thousand new listeners since it last aired! If you’ve already heard this episode, check out our back catalog, leave us a review, or email the podcast to let us know what topics you’d like us to cover this year. If this is the first you’re hearing of “Brave New Work 101,” happy listening. [This episode originally aired on September 14, 2021.]

Today’s episode is a foundational survey class; we’re mapping the territory of the work we do, why we do it, what we’re all about—and why we’d love to talk to your boss. Whether you’re a systems design nerd like us or a newcomer who knows in their bones that work sucks but doesn’t have to, we’ve got answers to your big questions—about implementing self-management at your own organization; about assuaging fears of team effectiveness or brittleness; about leader’s becoming more power-literate and less ego-filled; and a whole lot more. So…how does this apply to you? We’ll put it this way: If you’re involved in a complex system with more than two human beings (spoiler alert: you are!), you’re already doing this work—and we’re here to help make it awesome.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

161. Going to the Talent Marketplace: Part 2

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

We’re back with part two of our conversation about talent marketplaces. Last week, Rodney and Aaron explored what talent marketplaces are and the types of organizational problems they can help address. (Pro tip: If you haven’t yet listened to that episode, hit pause and check it out now!)

This week, they’re moving past the big picture and getting into the nitty gritty of what makes talent marketplaces work…or not. It’s not just about how to move pieces around a chess board, but rather about disrupting old-school organizational power plays. Today, Rodney and Aaron take a closer look at:

What it takes to maintain a transparent marketplace that matches the right people with the right opportunities without resorting to shady, backroom dealings
How traditional performance management systems penalize (instead of promote) moving talent around
What experiments a company can try to give these principles a shot
How compensation works when people aren’t tethered to a traditional role with clear benchmarks or boundaries

----------------

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

----------------

00:00 Check-In: What are you looking forward to this weekend?

01:42 How do talent marketplaces work for people participating in them?

05:50 How traditional organizations prevent and penalize mobility

10:16 What you learn when you let people leave teams and move around

16:02 Experiments with talent marketplaces for companies to run

21:38 Compensation structures for talent marketplaces

25:08 Who pays for cross-functional teams?

27:45 Fine tuning and maintaining the system

28:54 Why these teams are the best places to learn new ways of working

160. Going to the Talent Marketplace: Part 1

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

We’ve probably talked about the classic, old-school, hierarchical org chart hundreds of times on the show. Not because we love it (longtime Brave New Work-ers know it’s not really our jam), but rather because it’s one of the most recognizable organizational structures out there. Despite its everywhere-ness, the boxes-and-line org chart isn’t exactly an adaptive way to design an organization. So what’s an alternative?

We head to Hollywood (metaphorically) to explore a different structural model: the talent marketplace. Where org charts break, talent marketplaces bend—offering greater flexibility and resilience.

In Part 1 of this two-parter, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dig into the many benefits of talent marketplaces, the sticky problems they help solve, and what can trip up companies when they first move toward this model.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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00:00 Check-In: What is your ideal amount of novelty and rotation when it comes to your roles at work?

03:40 What is a talent marketplace?

10:27 What is the problem talent marketplaces solve?

13:39 One big winner can actually limit a talent marketplace

20:23 Managing success the rest of the system isn't ready for

24:58 The tipping point of scarcity

159: Help Me Help You: What If Your Coworkers Came with Instructions?

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

We’ve all been there: trying to suss out what a colleague’s crossed arms meant during a presentation; reading between the lines on a passive-aggressive message; or struggling to interpret a perplexing emoji reaction (what do pineapples have to do with the budget?). We're all just doing our best at understanding our coworkers with little to no real information. That’s where a “User Manual to Me” can come in handy. These personalized handbooks can provide a helpful framework for others to better understand our behaviors, quirks, needs, desires, and working styles—if we commit to getting real when writing our own.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dive into how teams can make and use these manuals in a meaningful way, including:

Why it’s better to be “real” versus “aspirational” when filling one out
How you can dig deeper when you keep getting “polite” answers
Why user manuals are living documents that should be revisited over time
What we can learn about ourselves by making one

Additional “User Manual to Me” Inspiration:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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00:00 Check-in: What's the warning sign on the back of your box?

03:55 What is a user manual to me?

08:54 Benefits of making a user manual

11:07 Why people don't answer some questions honestly

13:13 Aspirational vs real agreements

20:12 Aaron & Rodney's manuals

22:03 Q1 - What do people misunderstand about you?

23:33 Q2 - How can people earn an extra gold star with you?

27:01 Varsity Q1 - What pulls you below the line?

29:34 Varsity Q2 - What are you worried about?

34:00 Facilitating user manuals with your own team

158. Creating Your Digital Workplace Culture with Kelsey Stevenson

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Whether your company is fully remote, fully in-person, or somewhere in-between, work in 2023 (and beyond) will require healthy and robust digital ecosystems—because that’s where so much work takes place day in and day out. Still, wanting a first-rate digital-first workplace and having one are two different things—and there’s no one-size-fits-all roadmap to follow. Every team has different needs, so we can expect different journeys. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from each other.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans reflect on The Ready’s early years (hat tip to Panera for providing O.G. office space), sharing advice and learnings from the growing pains of yesteryear. Then, as part of our partnership with Slack, they sit down with Kelsey Stevenson, Chief Product Officer at Bitly, to talk about how the growing company is evolving its own digital-first workplace and the experiments they’re running to build trust, culture, collaboration—and a very active pets channel in Slack.

Learn more about Bitly: bit.ly

Connect with Kelsey on LinkedIn: bit.ly/3WX2waV

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

157. AUA No. 7: Workplace Rituals, Obstructive Leaders, and Tooling Transitions

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 03:00:00 -0000

Why are “Ask Us Anything” episodes our favorite ones to make? Because our listener questions are never not inspiring, provocative, moving, sharp…just insert your favorite emoji here. What can we say? Y’all are the best.

In today's episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans head back to the mailbag (and try to break their record of answering only two questions per episode). They offer their hot takes (naturally) and dig into:

Why workplace rituals matter and how to develop ones that are legit meaningful
What to do when leaders at the top say they’re hungry for change…and then block it left, right, and center
How to help teams transition to new tools, especially when that adoption requires brand new skills and brand new levels of (currently non-existent) trust

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

156. 🙌 ❤️ 🚀 🐙: Putting Emojis to Work at Work

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Emojis might seem like all fun and games—but they can also speak a thousand words about a company’s culture. If they’re used, how they’re used, who uses them, whose posts always gets peppered with dozens of fire or rocket ship reactions—that’s all pretty juicy (and potentially spicy) information about an organization’s sense of camaraderie, connection, trust, agreements…you name it.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans unpack the power of those little icons at work and ask questions like:

What role do emojis play in remote work?
How can emojis help asynchronous teams increase efficiency and decrease friction?
What can our emoji habits reveal about unspoken workplace agreements and behaviors?
How do teams build bespoke emoji libraries and languages?
Why can sending your boss an emoji feel like a risky move?
How can emojis contribute to more equitable workplaces?
Is there a secret emoji council and where’s our invite?

Slack x Duolingo’s research on emoji use at work: https://slack.com/blog/collaboration/emoji-use-at-work

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

155. Why Are Job Interviews Such a Hot Mess?

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 08:00:00 -0000

There’s a lot of “Looking for a job” energy in the world right now—but interviewing can be a nerve-racking experience. Folks on both sides of the equation want something—reliable gig, reliable colleague—and that can give way to performativity, misrepresentation, and hidden agendas. Because when an interview process doesn’t incentivize authenticity, negative patterns can pop off real quick.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans offer guidance on building better interviews, including:

The importance for interviewees to self-assess skills already mastered and skills yet learned
How both sides of the interviewing equation can create space for more curiosity and nuance
The lies we tell ourselves about resumes and cover letters
Why designing interviews that simulate real-life work are so critical
The top four questions Aaron asks himself as an interviewer

Do you have any cringeworthy interview stories? We want to hear all about ’em. Send us your goofs, your guffaws, and your facepalms at podcast@theready.com.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

154. Yes to Trust, No to Bureaucratic Theater: 2023 Work Trends with Sheela Subramanian

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Work in 2022 felt…a little messy. Or a lot messy: Back-to-office ultimatums; wages not keeping up with inflation; waves of layoffs in the tech industry; handwringing over quiet quitting. So… will this year be better, worse, or same old same old?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans look into a crystal ball with Sheela Subramanian, friend-of-the-pod and co-founder of Slack’s Future Forum, to explore what this new year might have in store for us and the future of work. We explore many juicy questions—”Is 2023 the year we finally retire the 9-to-5? Why do executives continue to live in a separate world from their employees about building work culture? What will AI actually do to dozens of different gigs and industries?”—and offer our own hopes, predictions, and intentions for shaking up the status quo this year.

Follow Sheela Subramanian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheelasubramanian/

Slack's Future Forum: https://futureforum.com/

Previous Sheela episode:

Ep. 129 - How the Future Works with Slack’s Brian Elliott and Sheela Subramanian

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

New Look. New Course. Same Hot Takes [Bonus]

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Fancy clothes. Beef Wellington. Movies until midnight. We really are having lovely holiday breaks—which we’re still on! But we’d be lying if we said we didn’t miss you, so Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans are back again with another Brave New Work bonus mini-sode, the “Happy New Year!” edition.

This one packs a punch because we have an exciting announcement to share: The Ready is releasing its first-ever mobile course next week! Tune in for the good stuff—like what the course is called, who it’s for, why we made it, and what participants will learn—and sign up for up-to-date launch details right here: https://thereadyacademy.ck.page/

We’re back in action next Monday with a fresh, full-length episode. See you then!

Mentioned in this episode:

Rodney's favorite end-of-year "carol": https://bit.ly/3v73ZzE
Aaron's go-to beef Wellington recipe: https://bit.ly/3Wig29h

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

See Ya Later, 2022 [Bonus]

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 08:00:00 -0000

The podcast crew is taking a two-week holiday break for some R&R—but if you thought we’d say goodbye to 2022 without saying goodbye to y’all, you’d be wrong. That’s why we made this bonus mini-episode (a.k.a. a mini-sode—and yes, it’s a real thing).

In our first-ever Brave New Work mini-sode, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans check out of the year with an extra-special, two-part check-in round. So slip on your fuzziest socks, grab a wintery beverage of choice, and tune into some of our 2022 reflections, highlights, and musings. We’ll be back next week—next year!—with another mini-sode. Happy holidays, everyone.

Bonus check-in questions:

As the next year rolls around, what are you letting go of?
What’s the biggest surprise this year brought your way?
What’s a lesson from this year you want to carry into the next?
Fill in the blank: “In 2023, I’m looking forward to more _______________ and less _______________.”
What’s the nicest gift you gave yourself this year?
What's your Brave New Work highlight from 2022?
What’s something you got really good at this year?

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

153. Becoming a Good Influence with Zoe Chance

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:00:00 -0000

Being influential sounds great, even desirable. But doing influence? That’s when alarm bells go off in our brains—because we tend to imagine the act of influencing as manipulative, coercive, and 100% transactional. And sure, we’ve all had icky experiences with influence. But when we flatten its inherent complexity, we risk missing out on influence’s ability to instigate positive impact.

Yale School of Management professor and author Zoe Chance believes influence is an untapped superpower; that’s why she recently published the book, Influence Is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen. And it’s why we asked her onto the show to help us break down some common misconceptions about influence, better harness its power to catalyze systemic change, and learn how to ask what she calls the “Magic Question.”

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 152. Making Layoffs More Human

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:14:00 -0000

In today’s episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans, who’ve been on both sides of the layoff aisle, spend time with these queries and dig into:

The all-around messiness of the traditional layoff process
Why companies default to short-term thinking when the boom times boom
Dehumanizing layoff practices we should shelve for good
Creating clear containers and agreements for handling layoffs
How we could design a layoff moment that’s truly people-positive

Mentioned references:

"RIFs"
ConvertKit episode: BNW Ep. 36 with Nathan Barry
"life stress inventories": Holmes and Rahe stress scale
Office Space, 1999 movie
Up in the Air, 2009 movie

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

151. Understanding Our Power at Work with Larissa Conte

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 14:00:00 -0000

“Power.” It’s a loaded word that can conjure up feelings of negativity, fear, and general ickiness. And with good reason. If our default definition of power is all about authority and control, then the less of it, the better—right? But if we tilt our head a little and instead see power as the ability to move energy through a system, then it becomes a powerful (sorry, had to) ingredient in making big change.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans invited former Ready member Larissa Conte—a coach, rites-of-passage guide, and founder of the consulting organization, Wayfinding—onto the show to help us navigate this collective head-tilt, unpack power’s many different flavors, any explore why power literacy is a critical skill in the future of work.

And as a special bonus to the Brave New Work community, Larissa is offering our listeners a discount for her “Power at Work” program. Simply head to wayfinding.io/power-at-work to learn more and apply code BNWFRIENDS at checkout to receive 20 percent off. Now, go get your power on.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our Hosts in the Wild: Human Capital Innovations: Adaptive Organization Design and the Future of Work, with Rodney Evans

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 15:36:00 -0000

Rodney recently joined Jonathan Westover on his show, Human Capital Innovations, for an epic chat about adaptive organizational design and a whole lot more. We hope you enjoy the exchange and we’ll return with a fresh episode of Brave New Work next Monday.

To tune into more episodes of Jonathan’s show, head to his website or search "Human Capital Innovations" wherever you get your podcasts.

----------

This episode originally aired on September 26th, 2022 on the Human Capital Innovations (HCI) Podcast with Dr. Jonathan H. Westover.

In this HCI Podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Rodney Evans about adaptive organization design and the future of work.

Rodney Evans is a pioneer in adaptive organization design and the future of work. With 20 years of experience in all things transformation, she has researched, developed, and taught new ways of working in dozens of complex environments including Airbnb, Cooper Hewitt Museum, Macy’s, Intuit, and Johnson & Johnson. The Ready is a self-managed change agency that helps you discover a better way of working. Rodney works with companies around the world to modernize traditional practices and bust bureaucracy.

About the Human Capital Innovations (HCI) Podcast:

Maximize your personal and #OrganizationalPotential with the Human Capital Innovations (HCI) Podcast! We're your source for personal, professional, and #OrganizationalGrowth and development. We share our own original #Research, explore #IndustryTrends, and interview executives and thought leaders from across the globe. Join us for practitioner-oriented content around all things #Leadership, #HR, #TalentManagement, #OrganizationalDevelopment, and #ChangeManagement.

150. Giving Our Feedback Some Feedback

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 15:36:00 -0000

We’ve covered feedback before on the show, because learning how to give and receive it is a key part of team growth and success. But establishing an entire system that lets different flavors of feedback flourish? That’s a different can of worms. So, how do we cultivate feedback-related agreements and norms in a self-managing culture?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans have some solid ideas—and some spicy questions:

Why creating a feedback-rich culture is hard—and why not having one is harder
Why experiences in and around feedback can feel so perilous and panicky
How to build containers in which intense, even critical feedback can happen safely
The three different types of feedback we most often run into at work
How power dynamics and personal preference play a part in this game

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

149. How To Build a Brand New Team

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 14:00:00 -0000

Picture it: Your company’s landed on an important and shiny new project and it needs a team to bring it to life. Cue the barrage of big questions—questions like: “So…who’s on this team? What support will they receive? When will they meet? Wait, is this extra work or something different?”Welcome to the wonderful world of cross-functional teaming. Standing up a cross-functional team is a place where plenty of organizations stumble—because it’s asking most systems to play a game they aren’t designed to play well.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans team up (see what we did there?) to answer questions like:

How should cross-functional teams—as well as the projects they work on—be chartered?
Should the size and scope of an idea impact how a team is designed?
What level and kind of authority should cross-functional teams be given?
What are the first moves cross-functional teams always need to make?
How can we bake experimentation into this cake?

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

148. Building a Digital HQ with Slack's Ali Rayl

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 14:00:00 -0000

Spoiler alert: Your organization already has a Digital HQ. Because whether you’re back in an office Monday through Friday or working remotely in your fluffiest slippers, every team now operates with a mesh of digital tools and systems that constitute where real work gets done day in and day out. But how can you help your already-existent Digital HQ unlock greater team flexibility, collaboration, and productivity?

Cue insights from Ali Rayl, Slack’s SVP of product management. As part of Slack’s sponsorship of Brave New Work, Ali tells Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans all about the Digital HQ: what it is, how it can incentivize more human ways of working, and how you can start intentionally building a digital-first workplace today.

Visit slack.com/dhq to learn more.And if this week’s convo sparks a big question of your own, we’re all ears! Please send it to podcast@theready.com with the subject line “Q about Digital HQs” for a chance to have your query answered in a future episode.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

147. Another Trip to the Mailbag

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Show us a podcast that gets better questions than ours, we dare you. Listeners, you’re crushing the question game these days—so we’re heading back to the mailbag (there’s just so much mail there!) to address three juicy ones. And please keep the queries and head-scratchers coming! Because we’ve got more AUA sessions lined up for the future.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans crack into:

How does resourcing work in a world of consent and participatory governance?
How do we bring two opposing cultures together (think large bureaucratic behemoth buys small, innovative business to bolster their portfolio) without getting stuck in a standoff?
How can an operating rhythm help support and model more org-wide inclusion?

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

146. Thinking Outside the Ballot Box with Emily Amick

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 14:49:00 -0000

We often talk about complexity and work, but complexity is everywhere: at our schools, sports teams, churches, families… you get the idea. Today, we’re looking at a different kind of complex system that’s as big—and maybe as broken—as it gets: U.S. politics.

With the midterm elections around the corner, we wanted to take a closer look at the OS of U.S. politics, asking how its structure is designed, what it incentivizes (and disincentivizes), which levers voters can pull to start tackling some of our toughest problems, and how organizations should participate in the political process.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans are joined by Emily Amick, a political consultant behind the popular Instagram account Emily In Your Phone, to help them ponder what we can do to implement fundamental change—and to provide some hope.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

145. Shhh....We're Talking About Quiet Quitting

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Odds are you’ve discussed quiet quitting with your colleagues, your friends, your barista, your aunt Barbara… you get the idea. Super-hyped-up conversations about quiet quitting are everywhere these days—but what’s the noise really about? What’s the alleged trend mean or point toward? And if we double-click on quiet quitting, what can we learn about the OS of our workplaces?

In this episode on Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans turn up the volume on this phenomenon and talk about:

What these conversations tell us about our ways of working and what needs to change
How to start caring more about outputs and commitments and less about timesheets
Why the common belief that “good performance = beating expectations” is trash
How a lack of clarity stokes both the quiet quitting and quit firing fires
Why we need better workflows around asking workers what they really need

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Kick Your Company Retreat Up a Notch [Rebroadcast]

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 17:58:00 -0000

[Rebroadcast note: The Ready gathers for its next retreat next week, so there’s no better time to re-air this episode from December 2021.]

Wait, haven’t we already covered retreats? Yes. But if the first one explored key dos and don’ts, this one imagines the retreat as a blank sheet of paper and invites you to ask: With unlimited options, what would you do? How would you take an off-site from good to great to transcendent? What’s the space where strategy meets luxury and how can you plan a rewarding experience that includes real work? Well, we’ve got a few ideas.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dig into the logistical, emotional, and design considerations that went into our most recent retreat to help them overhaul old habits; provoke bigger questions and bigger bets; and use fun as a guide. And regardless of organizational size or budget, you can create that time and space, too.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

144. Wake Up and Smell the OS Coffee

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 13:00:00 -0000

What exactly is OS coffee? It’s a specific meeting structure we use to explore topics related to our operating system (a.k.a. our OS). But OS coffee isn’t meant to be a formal, note-taking, let’s-finally-get-to-agreement-on-X kind of deal; rather, it’s about making space for different subjects to emerge and to do some shared sensemaking. In fact, it’s so casual that it’s less like a meeting and more like a gathering.

In this caffeinated episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans break down how to OS coffee, including:

How to keep OS coffee conversations informal yet impactful
How to ground the gathering in a “Yes, and…” headspace
How to stand one up inside your own system without it feeling like mandatory fun
How to use default agreements to create new group norms

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

143. How To Think Well at Work with David Rock

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 13:00:00 -0000

What’s going on in our brains when we have breakthroughs? Why do some of our most basic work habits and norms exhaust our minds rather than light them up? If feedback is essential for cognitive development, why can it freak us out and set our teeth on edge?

These are some of the big questions David Rock, CEO and co-founder of the Neuroleadership Institute, ponders all of the time. David believes that if we can increase our ability to think well at work (since, spoiler alert, most work is thinking work) and bake more neuroscience into the workplace, we can be more effective, build better habits, and have better interactions within our teams and organizations.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans ask David all about how brains behave at work.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

How Patagonia Became Patagonia with Vincent Stanley [Rebroadcast]

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 14:20:00 -0000

[Rebreoadcast note: This episode originally aired in September 2021.]

Luckily, there’s someone with answers to these questions: Vincent Stanley is Patagonia’s Director of Philosophy and co-author with Yvon Chouinard of The Responsible Company.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak to Vincent about Patagonia’s better-known successes, lesser-known failures, the experiments it’s had to flex during the pandemic, and what a responsible company of the future can and should look like.

Learn more about The Responsible Company here: https://www.patagonia.com/product/the-responsible-company-what-weve-learned-from-patagonias-first-forty-years-paperback-book/BK233.html

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

142. What's Your Vacation OS?

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 12:59:00 -0000

Taking a break from work can look 1,000 different ways: You could learn how to make homemade pasta; you could visit five new countries; you could spend sunup to sundown swinging in a hammock. What constitutes a break should fit your specific context and needs. And in this way, taking a true, you-shaped vacation—for a week, a month, or even longer—dips into org design knowledge and territory.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans reflect on their recent breaks and what they learned, including:

The signs and signals that tell us when it’s time to take a break
Why breaks are important and how they contribute to system-wide resilience
How taking time off in a self-managing system can look and feel different than in a more traditional one
Parsing the key differences between a break, a trip, and a vacation
How to think about and reimagine the OS of your next vacation

Mentioned references:

"therapy episodes": BNW Ep. 134 + 135
Muskegon Lake
"gaming and music episode: BNW Ep. 128
"Gareth": BNW Ep. 5 with Dr. Gareth Holman
Kuala Lumpur
Arc de Triomphe
Catacombs
Guiding Light

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

141. Putting The Work Into Your Workflow

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Where do our systems for organization and prioritization come from? How do we build discipline around new workflows? When and how do we learn how to work? And what happens when our systems have to gel with others’?

Answers to these questions vary from person to person—and they should. Because when it comes to managing our time and tasks, it’s worth challenging “best” practices.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans unpack their own relationships to productivity and productivity culture, exploring:

What people-positive and complexity-conscious workflows can look like
The difference between work that’s important and work that’s urgent
Why tools should fit the shape of your work and not the other way around
The connection between the techniques you use and the tensions you feel
The big costs that come with having too much work in progress
Why thinking about what you do and how you do it is a critical use of your time

Unsuck Your Next Work Meeting with Sam Spurlin [Rebroadcast]

Mon, 29 Aug 2022 13:00:00 -0000

[Rebroadcast note: This episode originally aired in July 2021.]

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: Meetings are the worst. Instead of being a meaningful work tool to help teams strategize efficiently, meetings more often block things—anything—from actually getting done. At The Ready, we’ve got a different method: action meetings.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans are joined by longtime member Sam Spurlin, who dispenses a step-by-step guide to implementing and scaling effective action meetings, breaks down the best ways to “get people what they need,” and reveals how to keep the action-meeting train chugging along into the future.

You can find Sam here: https://www.samspurlin.com/

Brave New Work 101 [Rebroadcast]

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 14:21:00 -0000

[Rebroadcast note: This episode originally aired in September 2021.]

So…how does this apply to you? We’ll put it this way: If you’re involved in a complex system with more than two human beings (spoiler alert: you are!), you’re already doing this work—and we’re here to help make it awesome.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans give an overview of the new ways of working behind Brave New Work.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

140. The OS of a Social Movement with Aru Shiney-Ajay and Dejah Powell

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 13:00:00 -0000

The relationship between structure and impact is an important one for organizations to explore. The same goes for social movements. The Sunrise Movement is a youth-led coalition on a mission to stop climate change—and recently, they placed their own OS under a microscope: How should the org make decisions? How should its principles evolve? How could it balance centralization and decentralization? Sunrise asked itself these questions to help design a structure capable of meeting our current climate moment.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans chat with Aru Shiney-Ajay and Dejah Powell from Sunrise Movement about the connection between internal and external change and how org design can help contribute to tackling the climate crisis.

Learn more about Sunrise Movement's principles: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/principles/?ms=Sunrise%27sPrinciples

Learn more about Sunrise Movement's DNA: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/campaign/sunrise-re-launch/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

139. The Great Decision-Making Disconnect

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 13:00:00 -0000

A big frustration we often encounter in our work concerns decision-making. Folks feel like their process is too slow; too fast; includes the wrong people; excludes the right people; is too big; is too small. No matter the specific organizational headaches, the headline basically stays the same: “We know this isn’t working but we can’t fix the problem.”

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans take a deep dive into decision-making indecision, exploring:

The impediments that tend to block good decision-making
The “problems” traditional, top-down decision-making processes are designed to deal with
The myths we tell ourselves about who can decide what and when
The difference between being non-directive and being indecisive
The simplest moves teams can make to up their decision-making game

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

138. What Self-Management Sounds Like with James Wilson and Alexander Scheirle

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Our ears perk up when we hear about different systems practicing self-management. That was the case with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a Grammy-award winning group that rehearses and performs without a formal conductor. Instead, the orchestra decentralizes power and leadership among its members, who rotate in between positions and treat each other as equals. Collaborative decision-making; multi-filled roles; shared ownership; clear feedback agreements—Orpheus embodies the very practices we love to talk about.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans ask James Wilson, a cellist with Orpheus and one of the ensemble’s three artistic directors, and Alexander Scheirle, Orpheus’s executive director, about the group’s democratic underpinnings and how it’s experimented with emergence for more than 50 years.

Learn more about Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at orpheusnyc.org.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

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137. Are You There, Burnout? It’s Us, Everybody

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Hey, how ya feeling? Exhausted? Stressed? Like a rubber band that’s finally snapped? Same. These days, the burnout paradigm seems to have shifted from the micro to the macro: Individual burnout has ballooned into collective burnout—into an overwhelming sense of being out of control and out of moves to help make things right. So, what can we do with those feelings?

In today’s episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about:

What the underlying drivers of collective burnout are
How it’s showing up inside workplaces and teams (including at The Ready)
How we can start to tackle burnout as a society-wide challenge
What org design can do to address the root of the problem
How we’re taking care of ourselves and each other during a time of non-stop tumult

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

136. The Workplace After Roe v. Wade with Emma Goldberg

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 13:00:00 -0000

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the American legal landscape instantly changed. So did the business landscape, since more than half of Americans rely on their employers for healthcare—and that includes reproductive healthcare. Abortion as a critical workplace issue is now top-of-mind for organizations coming to grips with how they can and should respond to a post-Roe world.

Emma Goldberg covers the future of work for The New York Times and has been asking big questions about abortion since the Supreme Court’s decision came down: “How will this decision reshape workplace policies? What influence will it have on the job market? How do employees want their employers to respond? How do consumers want businesses to respond? Why does this issue in particular feel so fraught?”

This week on Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans ask Emma about the answers she’s been hearing.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

135. Rodney and Aaron Go To Work Therapy: Part 2

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 13:00:00 -0000

We’re coming at you with part two of the intimate conversation Rodney and Aaron cracked open last week. (Haven’t listened to part one yet? Go back and check out that episode now!)

Today on Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans continue exploring the ups and downs of their professional partnership; why they chose to start working with a coach; the big lessons and lingering worries they both sit with; and why seeking out help isn’t necessarily a sign that something’s broken, but rather that you’re actually ready to dig deeper.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

134. Rodney and Aaron Go to Work Therapy: Part 1

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 13:00:00 -0000

In part one of a very special two-part episode from Brave New Work, Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan talk about…themselves. Specifically, their partnership and why they decided to start working with a coach. Together, they dig into:

The tensions, dynamics, and patterns that prompted them to seek outside help
How they picked a coach and the skills and capabilities they wanted to level up on
Why org designing their way through conflict wasn’t working
Why self-work is a critical part of self-management
What’s scared them, surprised them, and pushed them after a few months of coaching

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

133. What Makes a City Strong with Chuck Marohn

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Helping big systems learn how to evolve and sustain themselves; designing for long-term endurance rather than long-term liability; disrupting the idea that unchecked growth is always a good thing; asking “What are we designing for?” to clarify tradeoffs from the jump. Those activities not only describe the organizational design work we do at The Ready, it also describes the work of Chuck Marohn at Strong Towns, a nonprofit advocating for cities of all sizes to be safe, livable, and inviting.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans chat with Chuck, author of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town, about the similarities between our work, how we can make our cities more resilient and complexity-conscious, and how expecting more from work can translate into expecting more from our neighborhoods.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

132. We've Got More Mail!

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 13:00:00 -0000

You keep having dope questions, so we keep offering our best answers.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans offer their two cents on some of our most recent—and most excellent—listener queries, including:

What distinguishes our work from Agile and digital transformation
The organizational symptoms that prompt leaders to give new ways of working a try
How to stick with experimentation and avoid snapping back to old patterns when the going gets tough
And how to approach at-work complexity when at-home complexity (like becoming a parent or caring for a sick loved one)—dramatically changes

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

131. The Time of Your Life with Oliver Burkeman

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Why does it always feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get work done? How did we come to see time as a resource we could manipulate and exploit? Why does achieving “inbox zero” come with bragging rights? And how has the belief that we can command and control time totally warped not only our personal lives, but also our working lives?

In today's episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans start to tease apart a few of the brain-expanding questions with guest Oliver Burkeman, the best-selling author of Four Thousand Weeks. Together, they explore what we don’t talk about when we talk about modern time management.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

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130. Sizing Up Your Team

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 13:02:00 -0000

King-size is great when we’re talking about candy bars. But when it comes to designing impactful teams, we’re on team fun-size. That’s because the best teams share a clear purpose, have high trust, and are interdependent—which can be hard to pull off when you’re rolling 40 people deep.

In today’s episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans size up how we think about team size and dig into:

The new questions and contexts to weigh when trying to find an ideal team size
What real team interdependence feels like—e.g., “I have an interest and a stake in what every member of this group does and works on”
Designing teams that get stuff done without falling prey to groupthink or social loafing
How to bust up big groups into smaller teams that organize around different flavors of work
The dynamism and flexibility needed to team effectively in a hybrid-work world
What sports and tarot can teach us about dream team size

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

129. How the Future Works with Slack’s Brian Elliott and Sheela Subramanian

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 13:00:00 -0000

The Covid-19 pandemic marked a sea change in how most people think about work. The mind-numbing norms and deeply-rooted inequities that defined our day-to-day working lives were upended, exposed, and called out for being (let’s face it) what they’ve been all along: rigid, harmful, unacceptable, and unproductive. The good news: Many companies are acknowledging that how we work needs major upgrades—ones that enable real autonomy and flexibility.

Of course, wanting a flexible work strategy and designing one that works for your organization are two different things. That’s why Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans teamed up with Brian Elliott and Sheela Subramanian—the Executive Leader and Vice President, respectively, of Slack’s Future Forum think tank—for this very special episode of Brave New Work. Together with Helen Kupp, Brian and Sheela co-wrote the new book How the Future Works, a step-by-step guide on building a flexible, inclusive, and digital-first workplace. We jam with them on the fundamental bedrock elements teams need to transform and weave future-of-work practices into their present-day lives.

Link to Sheela, Brian, and Helen Kupp's book, "How The Future Works": https://futureforum.com/how-the-future-works/

Slack's Future Forum: https://futureforum.com/

Sheela Subramanian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheelasubramanian/

Brian Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/belliott/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

128. Jamming, Gaming, and Org Designing

Mon, 23 May 2022 13:00:00 -0000

We can draw connections between org design at work and org design IRL all day, every day. And today's no exception, as Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans unpack what playing music and playing video games has taught them about working in complexity.

In this episode of Brave New Work, they dig into:

The reflex for planning and prediction that kicks in when we try something new
The instincts that may run counter to working in complexity, and how to develop new heuristics that serve us better
The disorientation that comes with simultaneously thinking about, learning, and trying something new
The difference between noticing muscles and planning muscles
Why it’s worth wading into the complexity pool with playfulness and an openness to experimentation

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

127. The Case for Human-Powered Business with New Belgium Brewing’s Steve Fechheimer

Mon, 16 May 2022 13:00:00 -0000

New Belgium Brewing company has been making great beer for decades. It also decided right from the jump to design a company OS that places its people smack-dab at the center of things. That core, human-powered philosophy has driven the wildly popular craft brewer’s business practices for more than 30 years.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak to New Belgium Brewing’s CEO, Steve Fechheimer, about what those practices look like on the ground; how the company adapted, pivoted, and became even more nimble during the pandemic; and why New Belgium Brewing is still on a mission to show that a human-powered business can be a better and more successful one. Hey, we’ll drink to that.

Learn more about Steve and his work here: https://www.newbelgium.com/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

126. What Does Self-Management Mean to You?

Mon, 09 May 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Fact: We’re self-management nerds. (And if you’ve been hanging out with us for a while, you probably are, too.) We could talk and think about the how of work all day, every day. But it turns out that for some, getting into the nitty-gritty of roles, working agreements, and governance isn’t their definition of a good time.

Which begs some bigger questions:

Does working in self-management demand being jazzed about org design?
Is there enough support for those showing up to the self-management party with curiosity about the what of work but not about the how?
And can we imagine new and adaptive ways for more people to thrive in self-management?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dig into these important questions and more.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

125. DAO Mini-Series: Get Rolling with Roles

Fri, 06 May 2022 15:35:00 -0000

This is the eleventh episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about the strategic benefits of operating with greater role clarity, when codifying roles makes the most sense, and the teachable set of skills that help anyone with any role thrive in self-management.

124. DAO Mini-Series: "Hiring" in DAOs

Fri, 06 May 2022 15:30:00 -0000

This is the tenth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about hiring strategies that aren’t reliant on hoarding power, striking a balance between org-wide participation and circle-run process, and filtering for skills rather than experience to bake more equity into hiring.

123. Big Thinking on Big Feelings with Mollie West Duffy

Mon, 02 May 2022 16:00:00 -0000

The past two-plus years have been defined by uncertainty and upheaval—so it’s safe to say that we’ve been having some feels. Specifically, big feelings—feelings like anger, despair, and burnout, all of which are often pegged as “negative” or “bad.” We tell ourselves lots of stories about these emotions: that we should be strong enough to override them; that our feelings are more intense than others’; and that they have individual (versus structural) solutions. But in the new book Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay, co-authors Mollie West Duffy and Liz Fosslien rewrite that narrative. According to them, the more we can name and understand our toughest emotions, the more we can use them to fuel larger-scale transformation.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans chat with Mollie about why becoming more feelings fluent in the workplace is critical for realizing a more human future of work.

Order Mollie and Liz's book here: https://bookshop.org/books/big-feelings-how-to-be-okay-when-things-are-not-okay/9780593418239

Learn more about Mollie's work here: https://molliewestduffy.com/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Two thumbs up for the four-day workweek [Rebroadcast]

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 13:00:00 -0000

[Rebroadcast note: This episode originally aired in August 2021.]

Odds are you’ve seen an article (or 20) about some company somewhere testing out a four-day workweek. And if you’ve scrolled past the story to the comments, you’ve probably spied a few cheers…and plenty of jeers. Punching in five days a week might seem like the natural working order—but it’s less a fixed and unchallengeable fact and more a human-shaped choice we can, you know, shape differently.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan asks Rodney Evans about lessons learned from her own four-day workweek experiment, how to navigate relationships with coworkers on different schedules, and why a four-day workweek is labor’s next evolutionary leap forward.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

122. Turning Parental Leave Policy into Practice with Amy Beacom and Sue Campbell

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 14:21:00 -0000

It’s an open secret that many organizations’ parental leave policies in the U.S. are subpar—if they exist at all. And if you ask someone why grappling with parental leave is so fraught, you’re bound to get a firehose of frustrating answers. That’s because most organizations approach parental leave as a benefit that costs the company itself rather than as a strategic opportunity for greater learning and development.

Enter Dr. Amy Beacom and Sue Campbell from the Center for Parental Leave Leadership and co-authors of the book The Parental Leave Playbook. They believe the parental leave transition is the most overlooked opportunity for professional growth—and they teach organizations how to tap into its potential.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans learn from Amy and Sue about the future of parental leave policies, including:

What does good parental leave practice look like?
How can those transitions improve team communication and trust?
How can healthier parental leave practices make way for more inclusive definitions of leave?

Learn more about Amy and Sue's work here: https://cplleadership.com/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

121. How to Keep The Spark Alive

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 13:03:00 -0000

Adopting new ways of working can come with a lot of excitement and buzz. It’s thrilling to move from having nothing to having something to having something that really sings. Then different questions pop up: How do you sustain the new-ways-of-working spark over time? What ingredients does a system need to avoid slouching toward staleness and mediocrity? What practices might you be propping up past their prime?

It’s easy to default to complacency—to accept that what’s working is good enough. But if you want an organization that’s always leveling up, always evolving its work to feel more joyful and energized, and always sensing into the next thing, it starts with asking these questions.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about how to stay in pursuit of what’s possible, and stay excited along the way.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

120. Scaling Networks with David Ehrlichman

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Social networks aren’t new. Humans have always gathered together and forged communities. But deliberately organizing those networks around shared principles, shared context, and a shared purpose is a powerful way we can help address some of the world’s most complex problems. A system that brings individuals and organizations together for learning and collaborative action is what David Ehrlichman calls an “impact network,” a scaled-out (rather than scaled-up) approach to creating greater change. In fact, David wrote the book on the subject—Impact Networks: Create Connection, Spark Collaboration, and Catalyze Systemic Change—which is why we invited him onto the podcast to talk about planning for emergence, unlearning command-and-control models, and the five activities all impact networks leverage to successfully co-create at scale.

Learn more about David's work and Converge here: https://www.converge.net/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

119. Facilitating Breakthrough with Adam Kahane

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 13:15:00 -0000

The world faces enormously complex and existential challenges. While specific solutions might feel elusive, it’s safe to say that in order to address the most polarizing issues of our time, we’ll need more and better collaboration—more and better tools to help us work together across deep differences and make progress.

According to Adam Kahane, a director at Reos Partners, that means the world requires more and better facilitators. In his most recent book, Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together, Adam proposes a theory and practice of what he calls “transformative facilitation,” which focuses less on getting (or forcing) people to do things and more on removing obstacles to greater contribution, connection, and equity.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Adam shares with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans how he’s reimagining this work and who we think of as “facilitators” in the first place.

Find out more about Reos Partners and Adam's work here: https://reospartners.com/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

118. Finding Your Operating Rhythm

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 13:12:00 -0000

We’ve talked a lot about action meetings on the show. And retrospectives. And governance. And strategy sessions. Maybe you’ve wondered, “What do these meetings have to do with one another? How do they actually interact? Do they?”

We’re glad you asked. Because when woven together, they constitute an organization’s operating rhythm—or heartbeat. And sweating the design of that pulse—intentionally building the structural relationship from beat to beat—is what allows teams to unlock their most important work and make progress.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans break down an OG operating rhythm’s fundamental parts, explore how it enables a system to move work forward, and dish about the fruits (greater clarity, efficiency, and accountability to name a few) of this labor.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

117. The Future of Sustainability with Allbirds' Hana Kajimura

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 13:48:00 -0000

Ask 10 different people to define sustainability and you could get 10 different answers. That’s because while more and more companies are discussing their environmental impact and efforts, there’s still a lot of work to be done to meaningfully address the global climate crisis.

But ask Hana Kajimura how she and Allbirds see sustainability and you get the talk and the walk: Allbirds believes climate change is the biggest issue facing humanity and aims to reverse climate change through better business. As the company’s head of sustainability, that lofty goal doesn’t rest only at Hana’s feet; it’s woven throughout the entire org as a first principle. So how does that influence Allbirds’ approach to making tradeoffs over time? How is the company innovating not only its products but its actual ways of working to hit sustainability targets more sustainably? Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans get into all of it with Hana in this episode of Brave New Work.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

116. Changing How We Talk About Change

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 14:01:00 -0000

Why can it feel tough to get people hype about self-management and the Brave New Work-ness of it all? How can we build buzz and momentum around new ways of working to get folks excited about playing and committing to an entirely different game? How can we meaningfully communicate these ideas to overcome the fatigue and fear that often accompanies big change?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about the difficulty of introducing new mental models to those still swimming in the status quo and why it’s important for orgs to align and agree on the problems that need solving before leaping to solutions.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

115. DAO Mini-Series: Leadership in Self-Managing Orgs

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 15:34:00 -0000

This is the ninth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about how DAOs are thinking about leadership and why expanding the definition of leadership means expanding the number of tools at our disposal to build better and stronger systems.

114. DAO Mini-Series: Showmanship

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 15:33:00 -0000

This is the eighth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about the different reputational flavors and expressions that show up in Web3 (and all ecosystems for that matter) and the possibility that personal agendas can melt away when a system’s needs are clear.

113. DAO Mini-Series: Centralization in Decentralized Orgs

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 15:32:00 -0000

This is the seventh episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about centralization’s downsides (it can create hurdles and sludge), its upsides (it can let people at the edges move quickly), and how a system can be deliberate about its tradeoffs.

Who Decides Who Decides w/ Ted Rau [Rebroadcast]

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 14:00:00 -0000

[This episode originally aired in June 2021.] With his organization Sociocracy for All, Ted Rau is helping organizations empower their members, and put a spotlight on equity.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Ted about his book, Many Voices One Song, consent-based decision-making, and the challenges of getting the ball rolling with large orgs.

Check out Ted's book here: https://www.sociocracyforall.org/mvos/

Learn more about Ted's work here: https://www.sociocracyforall.org/teams/ted-rau/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

112. The Early Days of Your OS

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 14:00:00 -0000

Have a young business or about to launch something new? This episode’s got your name on it.

In today's episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans unpack some of the first moves worth making (and some they wish they’d made) when you’re standing at your org’s starting line to help you get clear on what’s truly fundamental and cut down on any wandering and waste. Defining purpose, establishing principles and values, sweating role clarity, distinguishing the urgent versus the important—that’s the critical work that goes into designing and refining a healthy OS from the jump.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

111. DAO Mini-Series: Marketplaces in Self-Managing Orgs

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 15:10:00 -0000

This is the sixth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about instantiating marketplaces as one way to enable greater resource-allocation, decision-making, collaboration, and cross-contribution within decentralized systems.

110. DAO Mini-Series: Values-Aligned Compensation

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 15:05:00 -0000

This is the fifth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about different mental models, choices, and mechanisms to consider when designing a compensation OS and why it can be tricky to atomize value in decentralized systems.

109. DAO Mini-Series: KPIs in DAOs

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 15:02:00 -0000

This is the fourth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about why anchoring to KPIs can run afoul of how value is actually created in complex systems and how data can be used to steer choices rather than to set objectives.

108. Feeling Our Feelings at Work with Jim Dethmer

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 14:00:00 -0000

Ready for a wake-up call? Today’s episode of Brave New Work is all about conscious leadership—a way of showing up that asks us to be responsive rather than reactive, present rather than lodged in the past or the future, feeling-full rather than feeling-empty, and radically responsible rather than carelessly unaccountable. Sound hard? Exhausting? Wildly uncomfortable? It is.

That’s why Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans called in Jim Dethmer, founding partner of the Conscious Leadership Group and co-author of The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership. They talk to Jim about why doing this self-work is so important, why transformational leadership depends on it, and how entire teams and organizations can become more self-aware.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

107. DAO Mini-Series: Getting into Governance

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 15:10:00 -0000

This is the third episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about the governance structures currently used in most DAOs and why transitioning away from a voting-based model and toward a consent-based model is a move worth making.

106. DAO Mini-Series: Finding Product-Market Fit

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 15:05:00 -0000

This is the second episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about some of the blurriness between DAO customers and contributors, and how to design and define roles inside these nascent communities so emergence can you-know-what.

105. DAO Mini-Series: Structuring Proposals

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 15:00:00 -0000

This is the first episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3.

Today, they talk about different proposal types, the best ways to structure them, and the critical info that should go into each.

104. We've Got Mail

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 14:37:00 -0000

Dear awesome listeners: You’ve been asking us great questions, so it’s high time we take a stab at answering them. That’s why we’re going back to the mailbag to address some of the big stuff on your mind, from impostor syndrome to AI’s place in the future of work to the risk of doing something versus the risk of doing nothing.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans get into all that and more...plus they cook up some excellent t-shirt ideas.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

103. When Should We Agree to Agree?

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 14:00:00 -0000

If you won’t say it, we will: Making working agreements is dope. Doing so can give teams an equal opportunity to contribute; provide clarity where clarity is missing and causing friction; introduce new employees to an organization’s source of truth. We could go on. And because it’s not uncommon for us to hear, “But agreements can lead to inadvertent bureaucracy,” we did.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans are clearing the air on what the job of working agreements is, when they make sense, how they help teams pin down fundamentals to unleash creativity and go fast, and what could go in your own team’s agreement-making starter pack.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

102. The Need for Organizational Speed with Jurriaan Kamer

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 14:00:00 -0000

If you’re like us, you’ve binged all of Netflix’s docuseries about Formula 1 racing. And if you’re like Ready member Jurriaan Kamer, you’re not only steeped in the popular sport, but also often thinking about its overlap with self-management and org design. Turns out that when you peer under Formula 1’s hood, you find provocative organizational lessons about requiring room for reflection, distributing authority, clarifying purpose, innovating alongside intense regulation, and accelerating change at lightning-speed.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Jurriaan about why modern businesses can use Formula 1 as a blueprint for efficiency and inventiveness and how he translated the sport’s organizational insights in his own business fable, "Formula X: How to Reach Extreme Acceleration in Your Organization."

If you want to learn more about Jurriaan's work his book, check him out here: https://www.jurriaankamer.com/

An F1 car in 2000: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_F1-2000

An F1 car in 2021: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_SF21

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

101. Who's Driving the Bus?

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 14:00:00 -0000

Doing the accountability dance in the world of self-management, where everyone’s balancing a different portfolio of projects and priorities, can be tricky. When an initiative needs nudging, when a product needs launching, or when a gap in the system needs filling, who owns that work? Who should own it? And how does an organization create space for vision and ownership to emerge?

Rather than force stuff to get done or let tensions surface at a hare-like pace, maybe there’s a third way that asks, “How are we showing up to this work and what clarity do we need about the roles we play?” Tending to that question can nurture an ecology of contribution—where the right participants with the right superpowers identify the right work to help steer the system forward.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans explore how to answer "who's driving the bus?" when there are no bosses to default towards.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 100. Why Work Won’t Love You Back with Sarah Jaffe

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 14:00:00 -0000

You’ve probably heard this advice before: “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” But missing from that laughably quaint maxim is the promise of a job ever loving you back. The “labor of love” myth sits at the heart of some of our most core beliefs about work. But the expectation that the place cutting our paychecks should be the same place giving our lives meaning isn’t an old one; it’s a pretty new conceit that’s come into focus as the shape of work itself has changed—demanding more of our time and emotional capacity while providing us with less pay and security.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with independent journalist and labor reporter Sarah Jaffe, who traces this history in her most recent book Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone. She shares how perhaps the pandemic has imploded the “labor of love” myth for good.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

99. Out of Office with Anne Helen Petersen and Charlie Warzel

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 14:00:00 -0000

Think you’ve been working from home during the pandemic? Writers Anne Helen Petersen and Charlie Warzel have news for you: You haven’t. Rather, you’ve been sending more Slacks and going to more meetings in order to beat back stress and white-knuckle your way through this mess before we get back to the way things were... right?

Legit flexible work requires intentionality, mindfulness, nuance—a.k.a. real structural and emotional labor. Instead, we’ve ported bad behaviors and cultural residue from the cubicle to the couch, thus delaying the arrival of a truly adaptive work-from-home future. But it's not all bad news.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk with Anne and Charlie about their new book, Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home, which reveals the rot inside our old systems and points out new strategies for transforming not only where we work, but also how we work.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

98. Looking Back and Looking Forward

Mon, 27 Dec 2021 14:00:00 -0000

Believe it or not, a new year is just five days away. As we approach 2022, we’re taking a minute to reflect on all we experienced, experimented with, and noticed in 2021. And guess what? We learned some stuff!

We learned that getting folks into their zones of genius can help an organization scale with abundance and ease; that (spoiler alert) it takes heaps of time and patience to become truly great at something new; that embracing contrarianism is paramount when you’re disrupting unbelievably borked systems; that boredom can be beneficial; and that we’re living in a time of incredible variance—and unbelievable opportunity. So…what will we learn next year? We can’t wait to find out.

In the last episode of Brave New Work from 2021, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans reflect on the last year as they prepare for what lies ahead.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

97. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Toxic work culture w/ Ginny Hogan

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 14:11:00 -0000

Don’t be alarmed by the title of Ginny Hogan’s book: Toxic Femininity in the Workplace is the comedian and writer’s satirical collection of whip-smart pieces poking fun at the flavors of male bravado and egotism that show up in the office. (A pitch-perfect example from the book: “Appropriate Thank-Yous for the Man Who Generously Informed You That You Need to Negotiate Your Salary.“) If you’ve ever had a run-in (or several dozen) with the bro-y energy that tends to dominate and shape the average workplace, then you’ve probably also wondered how we can abolish that culture altogether.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Ginny about how her former jobs in tech and data science surprisingly launched her comedy career, why sexism can be so present in start-ups, and how we forge ahead with a more inclusive, less toxic work culture.

Learn more about Ginny here: https://www.ginnyhogancomedy.com/

Get in touch with Ginny here: https://twitter.com/ginnyhogan_

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

96. What Web3 Means For the Future of Work with Chase Chapman

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 15:34:00 -0000

Maybe you’re already deep into crypto, NFTs (or non-fungible tokens), and DAOs (or decentralized autonomous organizations). And maybe you only know what web3 is because your cousin can’t stop talking about it. Whichever end of the spectrum you fall on, there’s much more for all of us to learn about this novel digital landscape being built before our eyes. But here’s something we do know: web3 and DAOs represent a new frontier in democratizing our digital spaces and giving people true ownership over the content they make—and that has radical implications for the future of work.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Chase Chapman, a DAO contributor and host of the “On the Other Side” podcast, about this exciting new territory’s building blocks; what DAOs actually are and how they function; and why all of this stuff meaningfully intersects with self-management and systems design.

Learn more about Chase and her work here: https://twitter.com/chaserchapman & https://www.othersidepod.xyz/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

95. Thinking Outside the Pyramid with Matthew Barzun

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 14:00:00 -0000

You know pyramid thinking; it’s the pervasive mindset that compels us to ask, “Who’s up? Who’s down? Who’s in? Who’s out? Who wins? Who loses?” But thinking about power and its flow between people in those terms means missing out on other skills. Pyramid thinking says, “If you’re not spinning around the winning-or-losing hamster wheel, then you’re doing nothing”—when in reality, blowing up that binary lets us focus on learning, playing, and building. What’s the shape of that model?

Author and former U.S. ambassador Matthew Barzun sees it as a constellation, where everyone is both distinctly themselves and part of something greater. If pyramids symbolize top-down-ness and control, then constellations symbolize interdependence and co-creation.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Matthew about his new book, The Power of Giving Away Power, a key leadership thinker lost in time, and reimagining Teddy Roosevelt’s “arena.”

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

94. Kick your company retreat up a notch

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 14:00:00 -0000

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dig into the logistical, emotional, and design considerations that went into our most recent retreat to help us overhaul old habits; provoke bigger questions and bigger bets; and use fun as a guide. And regardless of organizational size or budget, you can create that time and space, too.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

93. Getting Rid of Sludge for Good with Cass Sunstein

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 14:00:00 -0000

What is sludge? Friction. Paperwork requirements. Waiting time. Online forms filled with confusing jargon. Reduced operating hours. The tedious, arcane, and (in some cases) disenfranchising hurdle preventing someone from accessing a service they’re entitled to?

Yep, that’s sludge. And the sludgier a process, the more likely ordinary citizens—especially those already marginalized—will give up and walk away from vital benefits or aid. But we don’t have to settle for this sludge-filled world. That’s the argument in Cass Sunstein’s new book, Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak to Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School and the Chair of the Technical Advisory Group on Behavioral Insights and Sciences at the World Health Organization, about his new book, how sludge is running amok, and why sludge-reduction is another form of harm-reduction.

Buy Cass' book here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/sludge

Learn more about Cass and his work here: https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10871/Sunstein

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

92. Divorcing Our Self-Worth from Work with Rainesford Stauffer

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 14:00:00 -0000

The workforce is changing. Millennials are turning into elder millennials and Zoomers are turning into employed adults, thus shifting the makeup of the modern working population—and its values. Long gone are any romantic or bootstrappy notions of “paying your dues,” which, in many work environments, is just shorthand for dealing with toxicity and subpar pay; there are fewer people receiving chintzy gifts for 35-year anniversaries at the same company.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with journalist Rainesford Stauffer, author of the new book "An Ordinary Age," about the exceptionalism bubble; how work crises have ballooned into identity crises; the mythology of the “dream job”; and how young adults are already shaping—and challenging—the future of work.

Learn more about Rainesford's work and buy her book here: https://rainesford.medium.com/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 91. Overcoming Excuses: How to Stop Stalling and Start by Starting

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 14:00:00 -0000

We dedicate this episode to our favorite…excuses. That’s right, we’re cracking open the archive of reasons people frequently cite for avoiding or stalling new ways of working. Odds are you also know (or have yourself played) the top hits by heart—hits like “We just need buy-in from every stakeholder first” and “Let’s wait for the new COO to start,” and the classic of all classics, “If only we hadn’t just started a reorg…” It’s not that these different forms and flavors of resistance don’t resonate; it’s just that they’re all evidence of an already-dysfunctional OS—which (spoiler alert) yet another reorg won’t fix.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans teach us how to stop making excuses because if you want to fundamentally transform the way your organization works, there’s only one way to start: By starting.

Mentioned references:

"turtles all the way down"
continuous participatory change: BNW Ep. 43
"OS": The Ready's OS Canvas
"Greg and essentialism": BNW Ep. 90 with Greg McKeown
Conscious Leadership Group

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 90. Do What's Essential with Greg McKeown

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 13:00:00 -0000

This might sound ominous but…we’re drowning in choices. The internet and its forever-multiplying avenues of information bombards everyone around the world with an abundance (or an avalanche) of choice all of the time. So how do we boil down distractions into key essentials that give our lives meaning? That actually align with what we want? How do we get more of that?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Greg McKeown, whose bestselling books Essentialism and Effortless have helped them think about strategy and intentionality in our own work. They talk to Greg about the global state of burnout; about tapping into what we want—and what we don’t want; and about how systems need to get smarter on essentialism.

Learn more about Greg and his work:

On LinkedIn
On his website
Reading his books
Listening to his podcast
Joining The Essentialism Academy

Mentioned references:

California Girls, song by The Beach Boy
Back in the U.S.S.R., song by The Beatles
Jim Collins and "the undisciplined pursuit of more"
Peter Drucker, "Managing Knowledge Means Managing Oneself", Leader to Leader, Vol. 16 (Spring 2000)
"Andrew Wilkinson tweet"
"Jim Carey movie": Yes Man (2008)
"Jeff Weiner's buffer schedule"
Socrates and Daimonion
Warren Buffet and lethargy
Dumbing Us Down, book by John Taylor Gatto
Richard Branson's walk home
Essential intent

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 89. Reimagining Retail with Nikki Kaufman of CAMP

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 13:00:00 -0000

Retailers around the country—and around the world—are facing complex challenges. One of the industry’s main reckonings: Many job openings; very few applicants. Recruitment has also been top-of-mind for CAMP, a toy and family experience store that looks to hire artists, actors, musicians, magicians, singers, and camp counselors rather than those with traditional retail experience. So…how do you reinvent the landscape to attract and keep that talent?

On this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to CAMP’s cofounder and Chief People Officer, Nikki Kaufman, about recent work CAMP did with The Ready to design and launch new boundary-pushing hiring and compensation practices—like making pay 100% transparent, ditching resumes, and creating crystal-clear career paths.

You can explore CAMP’s progressive principles in action—and its current open positions—at camp.com/careers.

Learn more about Nikki on LinkedIn.

Mentioned references:

goldendoodle
Ben Kaufman CAMP episode: BNW Ep. 9 with Ben Kaufman
role charter
Firms of Endearment, book of Raj Sisodia, Jag Sheth, and David B. Wolfe
Action Meeting episode: BNW Ep. 80 with Sam Spurlin
check-in

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Future Tension with Thomas Thomison [Rebroadcast]

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 13:00:00 -0000

[Rebroadcast note: This episode originally aired in March 2020.]

Our job is to keep the organization safe, right? And in order to do that we need to predict the future, see around corners, and avoid unnecessary risk. We need to be able to list all the ways the idea we're considering can go wrong. Or... do we?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about a concept The Ready calls "future tension," which is what happens when we let our worries about the future hijack the present. Later, we’re joined by Thomas Thomison, founding partner of Encode.org, who takes us deep into the origins of the concept and teaches us how to overcome it.

Learn more about Thomas Thomison and Encode.org at https://encode.org/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 88. The Future of Workers' Rights with Tanisi Pooran

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 17:13:00 -0000

Think “union” and what comes to mind? Collective agreements and community building? Power struggles and strikes? Sepia-toned photographs of early-20th century factory floors? If you’ve never been in or around a union, they can carry a whiff of mystique—even old-fashionedness. That’s why we asked Ready member Tanisi Pooran, who’s worked in the field of labor organizing and workers’ rights, to help us demystify the process a bit.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk with Tanisi about the common people-positive practices both unions and The Ready uphold, how our two worlds could cooperate and help each other evolve, and why anti-union feelings still persist at even the most progressive and forward-thinking organizations.

Learn more about Tanisi and their work here on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Mentioned references:

spaetzle
"the five boroughs"
IDM episode: BNW Ep. 43
experimentation episode: BNW Ep. 62
"Nietzsche quote" from Beyond Good and Evil by Fredrich Neitzsche, Chapter 4,146
"Gimlet and union kerfuffle"
American Factory, documentary

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Bonus Episode: Join The Ready!

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 13:00:00 -0000

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you an exciting announcement. The Ready is hiring a first-rate Market Maker, someone who can orchestrate explosive growth in service of our purpose and steward The Ready’s approach to sales and growth. If creating a diverse pipeline of leads, building relationships with target clients, and reinventing the traditional craft of sales (among other related responsibilities) sounds like a party you—or someone spectacular in your orbit—should join, check out the full role posting and application below. We’re excited to meet you! Now let’s grow something together.

Read all about the role here: https://www.notion.so/theready/Growth-The-Ready-6a9e364d59854874a9fbae8d1e3a01af

Apply here: https://theready.typeform.com/to/mvh71Zb1

87. How Patagonia became Patagonia with Vincent Stanley

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 13:00:00 -0000

Patagonia’s purpose is clear: It’s in business to save our home planet. And that clarity’s been present almost since day one of the iconic outdoor clothing and gear company. But how and why was that anchoring mission adopted from the jump? And how has the nearly 50-year-old organization evolved its practices to support its resolute pledge to sustainability? Luckily, there’s someone with answers to these questions: Vincent Stanley is Patagonia’s Director of Philosophy and co-author with Yvon Chouinard of The Responsible Company.

Learn more about Vincent and Patagonia:

Mentioned references:

X-Acto knife
B Corp
Yvon Chouinard
tagua nuts
beginner's mind
greenwashing
9/80 work week
Andy Rivkin, environmental writer
Unilever
Danone
Let My People Go Surfing, book by Yvon Chouinard

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 86. Surfacing the Joy with Rich Sheridan

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 13:00:00 -0000

What exactly does joy have to do with software development? If you ask Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller of Menlo Innovations, the answer is pretty simple: Everything. According to Rich, joy is central to inspiring, sustaining, and steering the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based software company, which has been experimenting with new ways of working for more than two decades.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Rich about the personal struggles that first led him to future-of-work thinking; how some of Menlo’s vital practices—like pairing two developers together daily and having them work on a shared computer—have evolved over the years; and why “Make mistakes faster” is a longtime Menlo mantra.

Learn more about Rich Sheridan and Menlo Innovations:

On LinkedIn
Reading his books Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer
Visiting Menlo Innovation's website

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

85. Brave New Work 101

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 13:00:00 -0000

Today’s episode of Brave New Work is a foundational survey class; we’re mapping the territory of the work we do, why we do it, what we’re all about—and why we’d love to talk to your boss. Whether you’re a systems design nerd like us or a newcomer who knows in their bones that work sucks but doesn’t have to, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans have got answers to your big questions—about implementing self-management at your own organization; about assuaging fears of team effectiveness or brittleness; about leader’s becoming more power-literate and less ego-filled; and a whole lot more. So…how does this apply to you? We’ll put it this way: If you’re involved in a complex system with more than two human beings (spoiler alert: you are!), you’re already doing this work—and we’re here to help make it awesome.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 84. Pulling Back the Curtain On Pay with David Buckmaster

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 13:00:00 -0000

Talking about compensation at a job (a.k.a. the total pay and benefits you get in exchange for your labor) can be excruciating. But why? It’s not because compensation designers are inherently evil, argues David Buckmaster, Nike’s Director of Global Retail Compensation. Rather, it’s because our system of pay is broken and neglected. When it comes to pay, Buckmaster believes the greater sin is inertia, not malevolence. That’s why he wrote a book—Fair Pay: How to Get a Raise, Close the Wage Gap, and Build Stronger Businesses—busting open compensation’s black box.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak to David about pay transparency, accessible data, exciting compensation experiments, and why the so-called labor shortage is really a wage shortage.

Read David's book, Fair Pay.

Learn more about David on LinkedIn, Instagram, or his website.

Mentioned references:

Oculus (now Meta Quest)
"Wonderwall"
Bracken Bower Prize
Pave
Carta
The Ready’s OS Canvas
Widgets, by Rodd Wagner
Maslow’s hierarchy
Fight for $15 movement
The Good Jobs Strategy, by Zeynep Ton
The Good Jobs Institute at MIT
"Katie Porter and Jamie Dimon congressional testimony"
"PayPal net disposable income"
Dan Price of Gravity Payments
Buffer: BNW Ep. 6 with Joel Gascoigne
"Norway transparent pay"
Morning Star: BNW Ep. 54 with Doug Kirkpatrick
”Wells Fargo fraud”
Range, by David Epstein

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Beyond Remote w/ Sid Sijbrandij [Rebroadcast]

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 13:00:00 -0000

[This episode originally aired in May 2020] Most of us are working remotely. But we’re just treading water, we haven’t really mastered it. That’s why it’s important to talk about remote work after the novelty wears off—when the home office is just... the office.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Sid Sijbrandij, Cofounder and CEO of GitLab, about how their 1,290 team members work remotely in support of a $2.75B business. For Sid’s team, remote work is a way of life. What can we learn from them?

Learn more about GitLab at https://about.gitlab.com/ and find Sid on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sytses

You can read GitLab's guide to remote work here: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 83. Building Antiracist Organizations with Akilah Cadet

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 13:00:00 -0000

Throughout the past year, many organizations have taken long-overdue looks in the mirror and started the hard but necessary work of examining how they perpetuate systemic injustice. (That includes us.) The Ready works in systems design, which means that in a world wracked—and in some ways defined—by inequity, it’s our job to look at how the systems we build contribute to supremacist thinking and behavior.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans learn (and unlearn) from Dr. Akilah Cadet, an executive coach and the founder and CEO of Change Cadet, about the overlap between dominant systems and white supremacy, what being an antiracist company actually means, and how to still hold space for lightness and humor.

Learn more about Akilah and her organization, Change Cadet, here on her website.

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 82. Becoming a Better Gatherer with Lindsey Caplan

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 13:00:00 -0000

The sit-down-and-slowly-zone-out-while-Joe-describes-50-slides type of meeting isn’t at all fun…but it is extremely common. Most work gatherings happen because someone wants us to absorb, consume, or comply with information. But if you’re actually hoping to change behavior or get a team stoked about a new initiative, this push-style of gathering just won’t cut it (and no, it’s not Zoom’s fault).

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans ask Lindsey Caplan, a communication strategist and author of the forthcoming book The Gathering Effect, about why good gatherings aren’t one-size-fits-all, how to generate legitimate buy-in, and how to make your next all-hands meeting impactful and even, well, fun.

Learn more about Lindsey on LinkedIn or by reading her book The Gathering Effect.

Check out our other episodes about gatherings:

–AWWTR Ep. 15

Mentioned references:

Friends reunion on HBO
feedback: BNW Ep. 13 with Kim Scott
Liberating Structures: BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless
Charlie Brown adults
Oculus (now the Meta Quest)
Hannah Gadsby

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 81. Two Thumbs Up for the Four-Day Workweek

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 13:30:00 -0000

Mentioned references:

Wesley, from The Princess Bride
Gilmore Girls S3E11 “I Solemnly Swear”
Plinko boards
Icelandic study around 4 day work week
Anne Helen Petersen episode: BNW Ep. 77 with Anne Helen Petersen
Henry Ford and the 40 hour work week
Anne Helen Petersen article “Who’s Afraid of the Four Day Work Week?”
op rhythm: BNW Ep. 118
retrospectives
remote work episode: AWWTR Ep. 4
Joel at Buffer episode: BNW Ep. 6 with Joel Gascoigne
Fosbury flop
Atlantic “Kill the Five-Day Work Week”
JEDI work: BNW Ep. 40 with Sharan Bal
UBI (universal basic income)
New Deal

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 80. Unsuck Your Next Work Meeting with Sam Spurlin

Tue, 27 Jul 2021 13:00:00 -0000

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans invite longtime member Sam Spurlin on the show to dispense a step-by-step guide to implementing and scaling effective action meetings. They break down the best ways to “get people what they need” and reveal how to keep the action-meeting train chugging along into the future.

(Editor's note: this might be Sam's first appearance on the show, but it won't be his last! He'll return to co-host the Future of HR miniseries with Rodney in 2023, and then Aaron formally passes the co-host baton to him at the start of 2024.)

Get Sam's in-depth guide to Action Meetings.

Learn more about Sam on LinkedIn, or at his website.

Mentioned references:

CARROT weather
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
Oura Ring
Hacks, TV show
Joan Rivers
"tactical meeting"
The Ready’s OS Canvas
self-management: BNW Ep. 79 with Michael Y. Lee
Around (Miro meeting tool): https://www.around.co/
"Tom Thomison episode": BNW Ep. 16 with Thomas Thomison

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 79. Can Hybrid Work...Work?

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 13:00:00 -0000

Mentioned references:

"Sid and GitLab": BNW Ep. 35 with Sid Sijbrandij
Ted Rau: BNW Ep. 74 with Ted Rau
A World Without Email, by Cal Newport
"2003 SARS mask wearing in Hong Kong"

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 78. Self-Management is Harder Than You Think with Michael Y. Lee

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 13:00:00 -0000

It’s no surprise that we’re fans of self-management, and we talk a lot about its benefits and transformative potential. But sometimes we forget just how much traditional hierarchy is baked into the operating system of our work cultures—and of our personal lives. So when self-management and hierarchy smash into each other, there can be a steep, sometimes uncomfortable learning curve.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk with Michael Y. Lee, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, about how orgs prepare and smartly scaffold for self-management, growing academic research into impactful org design, and how the pandemic presented a unique challenge for his work.

Learn more about Michael on LinkedIn or at his website.

Learn more about INSEAD on their website or on Youtube.

Mentioned references:

Oura ring
Dave’s Hot Chicken in Denver, CO
Voodoo Doughnut
Zappos
Holacracy
”mastery”: BNW Ep. 31
Valve, video game company
The Ready's OS Canvas
Doug Kirkpatrick and The Morning Star Company: BNW Ep. 54 with Doug Kirkpatrick
Haier
anti-fragility
"Lisa Gill episode": BNW Ep. 73 with Lisa Gill
Michael’s episode of Lisa Gill’s podcast

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 77. Beating Burnout with Anne Helen Petersen

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 13:00:00 -0000

Say (or sigh) it with us now: burnout. As a physic state, it can be hard to precisely diagnose but you know it when you see it—and when you feel it. As remote work becomes a larger presence in our lives, it’s more important than ever to recognize why and when we need meaningful breaks.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Anne Helen Petersen, author of Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation and the newsletter “Culture Study,” about the difference between setting boundaries versus guardrails, LARPing through your job, and what we can do to extinguish burnout.

Learn more about Anne on LinkedIn, Twitter, or by subscribing to her newsletter.

Read Anne's latest books:

Mentioned references:

Anne’s 2019 burnout article
WHO’s classification of “burnout” as occupational phenomenon
New York Times "Yolo Economy" article
Cal Newport and "isolation from other minds"
Ezra Klein
John Herrman “LARPing your job”
Anne’s 2021 "4 Day Work Week article"
Charlie Warzel

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

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Brave New Work 76. When Purpose Meets Profit with Mara Zepeda

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 13:00:00 -0000

Instead of talking about Unicorn companies, we should be spending more of our energy on Zebras—companies that are black and white, that pursue both purpose and profit. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Mara Zepeda of Zebras Unite, a founder-led co-op, about how to build a community with your company, collective ownership, and what the future of capital investment should—and will—look like.

Learn more about Mara on her website, on LinkedIn, and at Zebras Unite.

Mentioned references:

Boyz II Men
"Zebras fix what unicorns break”
SOCAP
Shel Silverstein
Margaret Wheatley
Hopi
Nora Bateson
Reinventing Organizations: BNW Ep. 18 with Frederic Laloux
sociocracy: BNW Ep. 74 with Ted Rau
"terra incognita"
Ari Weinzweig
Depth psychology
Warm Data
"symmathesy"
Baháʼí Faith
Saint John of the Cross
Saint Teresa of Ávila
Charles Eisenstein
Drivers Cooperative
Tony Hsieh
Nathan Schneider, UC Boulder
Gumroad
Audra Lorde

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 75. When the CEO Fires Themselves with Michael Bungay Stanier and Shannon Minifie

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 15:30:00 -0000

Let's talk about succession. No, not the show, but the concept. How do progressive, human-centric organizations deal with succession, and role changes, and new management, all while maintaining a high level of success?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Michael Bungay Stanier and Shannon Minifie of Box of Crayons—about Michael stepping down and handing the reins of the organization to Shannon, the roadblocks the transition ran into, and how to go about it all without rocking the boat.

Learn more about Shannon on LinkedIn, on Youtube, or by visiting Box of Crayons.

Learn more about Michael on LinkedIn, on Youtube, or from listening to his previous episode of Brave New Work about 1:1s.

Mentioned references:

Bruce Springsteen
E Street Band
ABBA
"Hotel California"
Coaching Habit, by Michael Bungay Stanier
Fierce Conversations, by Susan Scott
"participatory governance": BNW Ep. 43

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

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74. Who Decides Who Decides with Ted Rau

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 14:00:00 -0000

With his organization Sociocracy for All, Ted Rau is helping organizations empower their members, and put a spotlight on equity. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Ted about his book, Many Voices One Song, consent-based decision-making, and the challenges of getting the ball rolling with large orgs.

Learn more about Ted and his work:

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 73. Embracing Discomfort with Lisa Gill

Tue, 25 May 2021 13:00:00 -0000

There are elephants in the room, and then there are "Moose Heads on the Table." This book, by Lisa Gill and Karen Tenelius, describes the concept as workplace taboos that are simultaneously ingrained and incredibly toxic for getting things done.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Lisa about how to embrace this discomfort at work, and what self-managing organizations can do to empower their employees to speak up when things aren't working.

Get Lisa's book, Moose Heads On The Table.

Learn more about Lisa on her website, LinkedIn, or by listening to her podcast, Leadermorphosis.

Mentioned references:

"Basecamp episode": BNW Ep. 71
"fuddy duddy"
Reinventing Organizations: BNW Ep. 18 with Frederic Laloux
"ASCATS": BNW Ep. 65 with Alastair Steward
The Ready's Tension and Practice Cards
Jorge Silva, from 10Pines
Frederic Laloux's "Insights for the Journey" videos
Liberating Structures: BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless
Reinventing Work's global community

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 72. Legalese in the Future of Work with Jason Wiener

Mon, 17 May 2021 13:00:00 -0000

It's not a question, but a fact: the conventional legal doctrine governing the 21st century workplace is woefully far behind.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to attorney Jason Wiener about the incredible disconnect between current legal norms and modern business, and how he works to ensure equitable business ownership to the forefront of the conversation.

Learn more about Jason on his website, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 71. Basecamp and Politics In The Workplace

Mon, 10 May 2021 13:00:00 -0000

In the past two weeks, Basecamp—a software company with a general track record of outspoken, progressive values—has lost a sizable chunk of its workforce. The reason? A memo from the company's CEO that banned "societal and political discussions" in workplace channels.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans break down what this all means—the (impossible) concept of "separating politics from work," and the privilege inherent in assuming that's possible.

Mentioned references:

Parkburger
Basecamp podcast
Basecamp book
Coinbase
"DHH's memo"
George Floyd
"JEDI episode": BNW Ep. 40 with Sharan Bal
"consent-based decision making/participatory governance": BNW Ep. 43
Murmur: BNW Ep. 67
"principles episode": BNW Ep. 37
"compensation episode": BNW Ep. 32
"membership episode": BNW Ep. 30
"mastery episode": BNW Ep. 63
Hedonic treadmill
11 Madison Park
"Bill Anderson/Roche episode": BNW Ep. 68 with Bill Anderson

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 70. AUA No. 3 - This And That: Peer Feedback, All Hand, and Prioritization

Tue, 04 May 2021 13:00:00 -0000

We're opening up the mailbag. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans tackle the topics of some of your most fascinating questions, from gossip to peer feedback to all-hands meetings.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dive into our mailbag and answer some of the top questions we're hearing from our listeners.

Questions featured in this episode:

Is back channeling good or bad in the workplace?
How to get colleagues comfortable giving each other peer-to-peer feedback?
What's a more participatory way to prioritize and commit to work?
What's an all hands meeting actually good for?
Talk more about self-set pay and what The Ready is experimenting with around money

Mentioned references:

"gossip and group dynamics"
Alastair's episode: BNW Ep. 65 with Alastair Steward
performance management episode: BNW Ep. 56
Kim Scott's episode: BNW Ep. 13 with Kim Scott
"Shape up method" from Basecamp
Theory Y
Loom
retreats episode: BNW Ep. 64
"essential intent"

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 69. Vanishing Asia with Kevin Kelly

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 15:00:00 -0000

Kevin Kelly, the founding editor of WIRED Magazine, has spent years documenting and photographing life in the furthest corners of the Asian continent—and in the process, he's recorded a way of living that is quickly disappearing in the face of the continent's bracing visions for the future.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Kevin about what we, in our work, can learn from the varied and disparate cultures he's spent much of his life experiencing.

Learn more about "Vanishing Asia" on Kickstarter.

Learn more about Kevin:

On his website
On his Instagram
By reading The Technium Blog
By subscribing to the Recomendo newsletter.

Mentioned references:

Kevin's previous appearance: BNW Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly
H-Mart
David Hockney
Asia Grace, Kevin's earlier photography book
Kodak Brownie
Shenzhen
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Haier
"org debt"
Single's Day

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

Brave New Work 68. Organization Transformation at Scale with Bill Anderson

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 13:00:00 -0000

Changing the way we work is a difficult task at a company with 150 employees. But what about one with. say, 100,000? In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Bill Anderson, CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, about his recent work in reshaping the company's structure and processes, change at such a large scale, and the surprising challenges that come along with such a massive undertaking.

Learn more about Bill and his work on LinkedIn.

Mentioned references:

Roche Pharmaceuticals
Foundation Medicine
Flatiron Health
Genentech
"org debt"
Beyond Budgeting
"reinventing organizations and Frederic Laloux": BNW Ep. 18 with Frederick Laloux
SAFe
VITAL Framework (see slide 8)
Haier

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 67. Changing The World of Working Agreements with Murmur

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 13:24:00 -0000

Work is all about agreements—policies, processes, principles, goals, workflows, etc. So if you're starting a company from the ground up, how do you give teams the power to align on all of these things in a clear and inclusive way? What if there's already a company out there that's documented the exact policy you're looking for? And when, inevitably, that agreement needs some tweaking, how do you iterate and grow?

In today's episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about the new software startup, Murmur, which aims to do for working practices what GitHub did for code. They talk about why Aaron started the company, what the initial product will deliver, and how every new startup can agree to work better together.

Learn more about Murmur at https://www.murmur.com/

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 66. The Beauty of The Mythic and Mundane in Organizational Systems with Gayle Karen Young

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 16:00:00 -0000

One of the most important aspects of organizational change and complexity is embracing fluidity. Rather than be mired in rigid lines and forced structure, we want to be dynamic, adaptive and—in a certain sense—poetic.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Gayle Karen Young, an organizational development consultant and former Chief Cultural and Talent Officer at Wikimedia, about how she brings poetry into the workplace, the role of spirituality in her work, and what she calls the mythic and the mundane.

Learn more about Gayle on LinkedIn and on her website.

Mentioned references:

Guanyin
kōan
The Wikimedia Foundation
sangha
David Whyte, poet
Cynefin
Susanne Cook-Greuter
Viktor Frankl and Man’s Searching for Meeting
Balcony perspective
“tyranny of the quantifiable”
Barry Johnson “polarity management”
”Let American Be America Again”, poem by Langston Hughes:
”Pushing Through”, poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
”Kindness”, poem by Naomi Shihab Nye
"Working Together”, poem by David Whyte
Ranier Maria Rilke
Mary Oliver
[Traveler, your footprints], poem by Antonio Machado

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 65. A Better Way to Onboard Employees with Alastair Steward

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 13:00:00 -0000

What's it like to onboard at a company where you don't have a boss? In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to The Ready member Alastair Steward about his experience onboarding at the company, the concept of a "prologue," and how to situate yourself effectively in a self-managed organization.

You can find Alastair here on LinkedIn.

Mentioned references:

"Oculus boxing game"
imposter syndrome
"adjacent possibles"
"safe to try"
"participatory governance": BNW Ep. 43
"authority": BNW Ep. 22
Shu Ha Ri
"mastery": BNW Ep. 31
"OS Coffee": BNW Ep. 144

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 64. Redesigning The Company Retreat

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 14:00:00 -0000

It's a time-honored tradition: the company retreat. But when that conjures the specter of Ramada Inn basements and conference rooms and three-hour presentation blocks, it's clear that an update is in order. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans strategize the most efficient and effective ways to reconnect and recharge with your organizations, as well as ways we might go about planning company retreats in the new age of remote work.

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 63. Mastery in the Age of Self-Management

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 14:00:00 -0000

The workplace is a wealth of knowledge. Each member of an organization is a master in their own specialized field, and in the 21st-century workplace, we're often exchanging knowledge, teaching and learning by equal measure. But in a future where self-management is key, how do we ensure this is done in a healthy way?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss how to cultivate mastery in a world of knowledge workers.

Mentioned references:

Second Empire/Mansard roof
Baroque revival
"Yehudi's episode": BNW Ep. 42 with Yehudi Meshchaninov
"Mastery episode of Ready for Anything": BNW Ep. 31
Dr. Akilah Cadet
Chapter or community of practice / The Spotify model
The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 62. Real Change Through Experimentation

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 17:00:00 -0000

Leaders in the workplace often talk about experimenting within the existing structures. But in the excitement and flurry of change, we often forget the goal of experimentation: to make it a real learning practice.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss how to plan, structure, and assess change experiments with the right intentions, and for the best outcomes.

Read the article based on this episode here.

Mentioned references:

Supernatural
Foreshadowing Rodney's 4-day work week episode: BNW Ep. 81
Doug Kirkpatrick and Morning Star: BNW Ep. 54 with Doug Kirkpatrick
Action Meeting episode: BNW Ep. 80 with Sam Spurlin
Retrospectives episode: BNW Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney
IDM (integrated decision making) episode: BNW Ep. 43
Fitness landscape from evolutionary biology
"emotional experience of change": AWWTR Ep. 6

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 61. The Future of the Workforce with Todd Jick

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:00:00 -0000

It's one thing to talk about what we'd like the future of work to look like—but what about the people who'll actually make up that workforce? Wha do they want out of their work, and how do they want to shape their organizations?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to lecturer Todd Jick at the Columbia Business School about his class on Advanced Organizational Change, and what his students want to see for the future of work.

Learn more about Todd on LinkedIn and his Columbia staff profile.

Learn more about the Columbia Business School on their website.

Mentioned references:

"Mr. Rodgers documentary"
Selma Montgomery march
Novartis
Nucor Steel
Morning Star: BNW Ep. 54 with Doug Kirkpatrick
Frederick Winslow Taylor
No Rules Rules by Erin Meyer and Reed Hastings
"Humanocracy": BNW Ep. 47 with Michele Zanini
Haier
David Marquet: BNW Ep. 8 with David Marquet
"systemic justice": BNW Ep. 50 with Xavier Ramey
Jennifer Hirsch, Sparkworks at Janssen

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

Brave New Work 60. Solving Our System Problems

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 17:00:00 -0000

There's a thing that often happens when we try to add complexity our systems: in an effort to implement procedure and reduce "risk," we often massively overcomplicate the system at its core. It seems the more we try to distance ourselves from the humans working in our systems, the more we ruin what made the systems work well in the first place.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss how to solve our systems problems at the root, and how reducing inefficiency can't be entirely divorced from people.

Mentioned references:

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

Brave New Work 59. Experimenting Toward a Better Hiring Process with Kelsa Summer Roidt

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 17:00:00 -0000

If there's one structure in the modern workplace that feels particularly resistant to change, it's the hiring process. For years, we've followed the same basic structure: whittle down vast pools of potential, qualified candidates down to one lucky winner. But as we consider adapting our workplaces for the future, we might consider tools to reinvent the way we hire, and thus, the way we fill out our organizations for the future.

In this episode, we talk to Kelsa Summer Roidt, Chief Operating and Impact Officer at Habitus, Inc., about her particularly inspiring hiring practices.

Learn more about Kelsa on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Habitus and what they're up to at their website.

Mentioned references:

Other BNW episodes about hiring practices:

BNW Ep. 14 with Kate Glazebrook

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

Brave New Work 58. Brave New Work and Capitalism

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 14:00:00 -0000

You’ll often hear us talking about collectivism, balance, and sustainability on this show—to the point that you may well wonder, do these socialists even care about growth and profit?

We do. But not in the unchecked way that has become normal in the last half century. In this episode, we let our entrepreneurial ambition out to discuss the moral case for sustainable, humane growth, and explore why the discussion around this topic gets so politically charged.

Mentioned references:

"the Webflow guy" - McGuire Brannon, one of the instructors from the Webflow 101 series
"Patagonia" - BNW Ep. 87 with Vincent Stanley

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

Brave New Work 57. Working Through A Crisis

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:00:00 -0000

It's been quite a week for the United States of America. And as Americans, we tried to do what we always do: keep working.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss the volatile, unprecedented political situation we now find ourselves in, as well as ways to take a step back and recognize that some things might just be more important than business as usual.

Mentioned References:

Mouse Trap the 1963 Hasbro game
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist
“working agreements” - BNW Ep. 103

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

Brave New Work 56. The Folly of the Annual Performance Review

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 13:00:00 -0000

It's the end of the year! And for many of us, that also means the return of the dreaded performance review. As we strive to make our workplaces and organizations more human, how can we reinvent this outdated tradition into something... actually useful?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss how the standard performance management cycle fails both managers and employees, and how we can work toward a better future for feedback.

Mentioned references:

"radical candor" and "feedback" episode: BNW Ep. 13 with Kim Scott
"profit sharing episode": BNW Ep. 36 with Nathan Barry
Aikido
"Little grain of truth in feedback, and discard everything else": from 15 Commitments of Conscious Leaders by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman and Kaley Warner Klemp
Luchador

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Interesting in working at The Ready? View open positions here.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

Brave New Work 55. Gaslighting and Other Forms of Epistemic Injustice in the Workplace with Cat Swetel

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 11:00:00 -0000

When we begin to reckon with inequality in the workplace, a useful place to start is the concept of "epistemic injustice"—what we know, how we know, and who gets to decide and influence our reality. This concept goes deeper than simply who is in the room. This is about the stories we bring with us, the ones we build together, and how bias and representation shape the possibility of what can be.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Cat Swetel, a consultant specializing in data-informed coaching and increasing equity in organizations, about epistemic injustice—in the workplace and beyond.

Learn more about Cat on her website, on LinkedIn, and on Twitter.

Mentioned references:

gaslighting
Angel Street / Gas Light, 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton
Judith N. Shklar, Latvian philosopher and political theorist
"fishing stories"
"sock puppet accounts"
Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech
Douglas Rushkoff episode: BNW Ep. 33
Bridgewater
#oscarssowhite
Research Your Own Practice, by John Mason

Our book is available at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 54. Rethinking Our Approach to Power and Leadership with Doug Kirkpatrick

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 07:00:00 -0000

While we often throw around terms like "the future of work" and "new ways of working," the reality is that much of the wisdom about how to self-organize and self-manage has been around for a long, long time. What we can learn from this is that there's really nothing new about this moment—except for the fact that more and more people are waking up to the fact that the status quo just isn't good enough.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Doug Kirkpatrick, author of The No-Limits Enterprise (and many others), about his origin story at The Morning Star Company and what he's learned about self-management in the decades since.

Learn more about Doug on LinkedIn, Twitter, and from reading his book: The No-Limit's Enterprise.

Learn more about The Morning Star Company on their website.

Mentioned references:

"Everything there is a season. Turn, turn": Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds
Chris Rufer, founder of The Morning Star Company
Gary Hamel's famous "First, Let's Fire All the Managers" article from the Harvard Business Review
The Winner Effect, by Ian Robertson
Dr. Dacher Keltner, psychology processor at UC Berkeley
Dr. Fernando Flores, author of "Conversations For Action and Collected Essays"
Peter Koestenbaum, German-American philosopher

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

Brave New Work 53. Combating The Pandemic Work Hangover

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 23:47:00 -0000

It's been almost a year of working remotely due to the pandemic. And we haven't exactly been doing it right. We've just been hanging in there with too much Zoom and not enough coffee. As a result, we're a little toasty.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about what they're seeing and feeling, and what it's going to take to make remote work... work. With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up this week in the USA, it seems like the perfect time to talk about how to recuperate, refresh, and return to work with more intention.

Interesting in working at The Ready? Check current openings and apply here.

Mentioned references:

Seinfeld episode "The Opposite"
"participatory governance episode": BNW Ep. 43
Marcus Buckingham on resiliency
Steve Wozniak
Google Glass

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 52. Are You Ready for Self Management? with Ali Randel

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 07:00:00 -0000

If you've been listening to Brave New Work for a while you might be wondering, "Is a self-managing workplace right for me?" Or, if you're already in one, you're probably curious, "How can I better recruit (and screen for) those that are a 'fit' for new ways of working?"

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans are joined by their colleague Ali Randel to talk about what it takes to survive and thrive in self-managing and self-organizing environments, and what we can do to test for those traits and skills before we jump in.

Learn more about Ali on LinkedIn and by reading articles she's written on Medium.

Apply to work at The Ready: https://www.theready.com/apply

Mentioned references:

Jerry Seinfeld's "What's the deal with...?"
A "Goldilocks problem"
Connect Four

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 51. The One Conversation Every Team Needs to Have with Alex Jamieson and Bob Gower

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 02:11:00 -0000

We often wait to talk about the hard stuff until the shit has hit the fan. But what if we made space for difficult conversations before they become difficult? That's the insight at the heart of Radical Alignment, a new book that introduces a four part conversation technique designed to get couples, teams, and groups on the same page.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Alex Jamieson and Bob Gower about how game-changing conversations—spanning our intentions, concerns, boundaries, and dreams—can transform our lives at work and at home.

Learn more about Radical Alignment and get a copy from your local bookseller.

Learn more about Alex on LinkedIn and Bob on LinkedIn.

Mentioned references:

"I Love Lucy" theme song
ICBD instructions
EasyRetro (formerly FunRetro)
Mural
Miro
"blue Hondas everywhere" - frequency illusion

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 50. This is Justice Informed with Xavier Ramey

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 06:00:00 -0000

Three months ago, we started a conversation about diversity here on the show. And within our own company, that work has continued in earnest. Yet, we've only scratched the surface on what it means to realize true equity at work. We want to go deeper. We need to do more. And we need to make sure that the momentum of the summer continues into the fall. That's why we're back to talk about JEDI once again.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Xavier Ramey, CEO of Justice Informed, about where we stand in the fight for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, both at work and in society at large. This is an expansive conversation that touches on the past, present, and future—and invites each of us to continue taking action.

Learn more about Xavier on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and his website.

Learn more about Justice Informed and their work on LinkedIn, Instagram, and their website.

Mentioned references:

George Floyd
Breonna Taylor
MeToo movement
Slave patrols
Michael Brown and the Ferguson uprisings
13th, a film by Ava DuVernay (Michelle Alexander makes an appearance in an interview)
The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
White Fragility, by Dr. Robin DiAngelo
"Central park incident"
Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Dashiki
Berné Brown
Ben & Jerry's equity statement
Patagonia's equity stance

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 49. The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures with Keith McCandless

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 06:00:00 -0000

Complexity calls for a new way of working—and in particular a new way of meeting. What matters isn't the individuals in the room, but the relationships between them. Indeed, we need new interactions that change the dynamics and outcomes of our gatherings. No more limiting structures, it's time for liberating structures.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Keith McCandless, co-author and co-developer of Liberating Structures, about the power of microstructures in meetings and moments of collaboration. The structures Keith and the LS community have developed have shaped The Ready's work since inception. Don't miss the lessons within.

Learn more about Keith on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Medium.

Learn more about Liberating Structures at http://www.liberatingstructures.com.

Mentioned references:

"The Zen center"
Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith's co-author
Complexity science
"1-2-4-All"
"Critical Uncertainties"
"Impromptu Networking"
Tingsha
Kaospilot
New liberating structures in development: "Grief Walking" and "Talking with Pixies"
"Troika Consulting"

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 48. How Your Software Tool Stack Shapes The Way You Work

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 18:22:00 -0000

One of the most common tensions we hear from teams is "our tools and technology are not maximizing our potential." Let me translate: our company uses crap software. We experience this for many reasons—status quo bias, frugality, security, and one-stop-shop pipe dreams. But the problem is that software is not a blank canvas. It's not neutral. It has opinions. And those opinions shape what we can do (and how we do it) at work.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans share how they think about software, and why you should advocate hard for the right tools on the job.

Mentioned references:

Basecamp and Hey.com
Slack
Notion
Roam Research
BlueJeans
Mural
"Canvas": The Ready's OS Canvas
"episode about information": BNW Ep. 29
Zencastr

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 47. Moving from Bureaucracy to Humanocracy with Michele Zanini

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 06:00:00 -0000

We talk about bureaucracy (and its downsides) on this show all the time. But what about a humanocracy? What would that look like? Luckily, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini have written a wonderful book to explore that question. And their answer is simple: we have to abandon the ways of the past and allow organizations to be as amazing as the people inside them. Easier said than done, but more necessary than ever.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Michele Zanini, co-founder of the Management Lab and co-author of Humanocracy, about the overlap between Brave New Work and Humanocracy, how urgent and vital the work of change is, and how he's learned to approach it. There are few in our space that have written as poignantly and knowingly about the perils and promise of work in the 21st century, so listen and learn along with us.

Learn more about Michele on his website, on LinkedIn, or on Twitter.

Learn more about Humanocracy and get the book or take the Bureaucracy Mass Index (BMI) to see where your company sits.

Mentioned references:

Enneagram
RAND Corporation
McChrystal Group
JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command)
Abraham Maslow
Douglas McGregor
Rensis Likert
Edgar Schein
"Topeka Plant and General Foods"
W.L. Gore
Nucor
Handelsbanken
Mikhail Gorbachev's role in Perestroika and nomenklatura
Zhang Ruimin, Founder and Chairman of Haier
"like Taylor would"
Morning Star
Sun Hydraulics
Martin Heidegger
Immanuel Kant
Oliver Hart and "incomplete contracts theory"
Michelin

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 46. Clarity and Coherence In Your Organization's Identity

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 06:00:00 -0000

At a sufficiently large scale, any organization that has maximum "diversity" across all variables will become average. Why? Because taking a stand—any stand—is the basis for the boundary of the firm. It's what separates what's inside from what's outside. We must answer the question: "What makes us... us?"

In order to succeed, we need generative difference—members of different races, backgrounds, and experiences. But, we also need clarity and coherence. We need to be explicit about the lines that matter to us, and have enough alignment and connection that a whole emerges from the parts.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about what it takes to achieve that level of coherence, and how easy it is to tip the scales too far in either direction.

Mentioned references:

"Brave New Work bookshelf": See references mentioned throughout the series, but the show notes for Ep. 12 are a great place to start.
"the canvas": The Ready's OS Canvas

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 45. The Importance of Strategy with Lorin Thomas-Tavel

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 06:00:00 -0000

We recorded this episode in April, and to be honest, it kinda feels like April never left. All the themes that were present then are simply louder now. What has become clear in the meantime is that strategy (e.g. what is happening, what matters, and what are we doing about it) is more important than ever. But how should we think about strategy in an emergent and participatory system? Is it intuitive and built in to the very structure of the org? Is it something we have to do? How should we weigh reflection against action?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Lorin Thomas-Tavel, an executive at Kaplan, about the intersection between strategy and digital transformation, and how their strategy is changing and accelerating on the ground in the midst of the pandemic.

Learn more about Lorin on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Learn more about Kaplan at their website.

Mentioned references:

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 44. Prioritizing Your Priorities With Even/Overs

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 06:00:00 -0000

Prior to the 1940's, the word priorities (plural) was rarely used. Because the word priority means that which comes before anything else. It's one thing! But these days, it's not uncommon for leaders and boards to demand multiple, often contradictory outcomes at the same time. We want faster output AND higher quality. We want to grow market share in our core category AND open three new categories. We want to hit the impossible target AND have work life balance. But as the saying goes, if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. What we need is a way to make tradeoffs explicit and strategic. And that's exactly what "over" statements and "even/over" statements do. They ask us to put one good thing even over another good thing.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss how to create and leverage even over statements, and how they can help any team at any level focus on what truly matters now.

As promised, we've also included three of our even/over statements for the Brave New Work podcast here in the show notes:

Authenticity e/o Polish (We keep it real, including the occasional curse word)
Depth e/o Breadth (We'll do a whole episode—or five—on prioritization)
Brevity e/o Freedom to Roam (We try to keep it snappy and we ask guests to do the same)

Read our article on even/overs on Medium.

Mentioned references:

----------

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

----------

00:00 Intro + Check-in: What’s a difficult trade off that you’ve made and did it pan out for you?

04:49 What are even/overs and where did they come from?

09:33 More is not always better

11:14 Examples of good even/over statements

19:25 Even/overs don’t necessarily mean you won’t get the second thing

21:13 Using even/overs around Brave New Work principles

29:30 Facilitating a team to get good even/overs

35:00 Using even/overs when all decisions look like the right one

39:20 Good even/overs can be counter-intuitive

42:45 Wrap up: Leave us a review and send us your favorite even/overs!

Brave New Work 43. Steering Together: The Power of Participatory Governance

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 06:00:00 -0000

Making decisions at work can be perilous. It's not always clear who has the authority to make them. And even when it is, it's usually just a chosen few that benefit. So, it's no surprise that making decisions about how we govern the organization—designing the rules and roles that underpin everything, is so hard that it's often avoided altogether.

That's why one of our favorite things to share is a form of governance that has its roots in the Quakerism, Sociocracy, and more recently, Holacracy. But the best part is you don't have to completely reinvent your way of working to get started. If you believe in iterative progress AND the notion that everyone should have a voice in steering the organization, you're ready to play.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans introduce the concept of participatory governance, and talk about its many benefits (and occasional challenges).

Check out our article about participatory governance.

Mentioned references:

"JEDI episode" - BNW Ep. 40 with Sharan Bal
Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun
Dr. Akilah Cadet
Quaker decision making
Consent decision making
Gerard Endenburg
"Future Tension" - BNW Ep. 16 Thomas Thomison
"Leading through transformation" - BNW Ep. 8 with David Marquet
"Liberating structures" - BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless
McChrystal Group
The Ready's Decision Proposal Template (no need to email us!)
"Action meetings"
"Retrospectives" - BNW Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

--------------

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What have you done lately to contribute to a more just society or confront your own privilege?

05:12 History of governance

09:24 How tensions lead to proposals

12:55 Understanding “safe to try”

18:25 Judgement without experiencing is not the move

21:03 Participatory governance process step by step

29:13 How it’s a game changer to objections and getting things done

33:31 How rounds disrupts power structures and dynamics in organizations

40:56 When to start with participatory governance in your team

48:53 Wrap up: Leave us a review!

Brave New Work 42. The Shadow Side of Self-Management with Yehudi Meshchaninov

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 06:00:00 -0000

The stories of self-management and decentralization from evolutionary organizations like Buurtzorg, Morning Star, FAVI, Haier, and others are often told breathlessly, as if it was "happily ever after." But, the truth has to be more... nuanced, right? Indeed it is. More adaptive and human ways of working are not without their own frustrations and tradeoffs. The question is: are they worth it?

In this episode of Brave New Work, (technically the first "colleague-as-guest" episode though BNW is releasing it late), Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans are joined by Yehudi Meshchaninov to talk about what it's really like to work in a system like The Ready.

Learn more about Yehudi on LinkedIn.

Mentioned references:

self-management
holacracy
sociocracy
"the circles" [see "circle structure" in the holacracy link above]
Roundabouts from the Brave New Work talk
Dungeons & Dragons
meritocracy
Ali Randel, partner at The Ready

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is one way your work self is different than the way you are at home with your family and friends?

03:11 What inspired this discussion?

06:44 The hard parts of a self-managing system

16:02 Ways to replenish yourself and maintain discipline about how you show up

21:07 Patterns and persistent dynamics in self-managing systems

29:29 Role of fear in self-managing systems

36:58 Where the broader culture sits on the future of work and its shadow sides

41:54 Wrap up: Leave us a review!

Brave New Work 41. Ask Us Anything (AUA) No. 2: Check-Ins, Leadership Dynamics, and "Return to Office"

Mon, 13 Jul 2020 17:50:00 -0000

Any podcast that promotes busting bureaucracy and hobbling hierarchy is bound to stir up some questions. That's why this week we're going to let our listeners Ask Us Anything. For this episode, we took to Twitter and LinkedIn to find out what you're wondering about. And you came through big time.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans hear questions about check-in rounds, leadership, and the post-pandemic move back to work. If you ever feel a question percolating as you're listening, just drop us a line at podcast@theready.com and we'll include you in a future episode.

Mentioned references:

Arnold Palmer
Maker's Mark
Miranda Priestly, from The Devil Wears Prada
Gordon Gekko saying "Greed is good" from Wall Street (1987) with Michael Douglas
A Hitchhiker's Guide to a Permanently Flipped Workplace by Allison Baum Gates
Starbucks store design

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: If you were a beverage of any kind, what would you be?

03:00 Question 1 - Do check in rounds always need to be fun? Should I be making them more serious?

06:26 Question 2 - Why is the type of leader who only takes and is mostly interested in themselves typically over-represented in a company’s leadership, vs those who give and focus on collaboration?

14:07 Question 3 - What should leaders and teams be thinking about as they transition towards “return to office” discussions?

21:58 Wrap Up: Send us your questions!

Brave New Work 40. JEDI: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion with Sharan Bal

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 06:00:00 -0000

It's been six weeks since George Floyd was murdered, and activism around the Black Lives Matter movement has reached new heights. For many of us, it's triggered incredibly challenging conversations and reflections about who we are and who we want to be. It feels like now is the time for real change—but what kind? How can each of us play our part without blame or shame? And where do we begin?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans are joined by their colleague and resident JEDI knight, Sharan Bal to talk about the peril and promise of this moment, and what change agents like us ought to do about it. We don't have all the answers, but we're starting anyway.

Learn more about Sharan on LinkedIn.

Mentioned references:

US Climate Action Network
Cornel West
Tiye Sherrod-Robinson
Black Lives Matter
The Ready's OS Canvas
"implicit bias"
Frederick Winslow Taylor ("Taylorism")
scientific management
The Ready's hiring process: BNW Ep. 14
"the Boston Review article": How Slavery Inspired Modern Business Management (2018)
Henry Gantt, creator of the Gantt chart
Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, authors of the Dismantling Racism Workbook

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

-----------

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What should our listeners know about us and our social identities?

04:02 What is JEDI

10:04 The Ready’s position in this moment

12:16 Thinking about change using the OS Canvas

20:51 Is it the people or the system or both?

25:29 The real learning doesn’t happen in the training. It happens in the work

31:35 All “modern” work practices predate the civil Rights movement

36:24 What might “different” actually look like

49:29 What’s next for The Ready’s JEDI journey

55:41 Wrap Up: Leave us a review!

Brave New Work 39. Getting Things Done with David Allen

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 16:27:00 -0000

We recorded this episode almost two months ago, and while so much has changed since then (look for an upcoming episode on DEI and BLM), the challenges we face sitting down at our computers every morning have not. They've only intensified. How are we supposed to move our work forward with everything that's going on out there in the world? And what is productivity when it's not defined by economists but by us?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, about how to define and achieve progress in a period of chaos and distraction.

Learn more about David Allen on LinkedIn and Twitter, or by reading his book Getting Things Done (2015 rev.).

Learn more about the Getting Things Done at the website.

Mentioned references:

Brian Robertson, co-founder of HolacracyOne
The law of requisite variety
holacracy
Ready for Anything (2004) by David Allen
Marie Kondo
The Organized Mind (2014) by Daniel Levitin
Successful Aging (2020) by Daniel Levitin
Getting Things Done Workbook

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 38. The Challenges of Remote Facilitation

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 02:53:00 -0000

With much of the working world collaborating remotely these days, one thing is abundantly clear: facilitation matters, especially when we're not in the same room.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans commiserate about the difficulty of keeping everybody focused from afar, as well as the top tips and tricks for producing a great remote meeting.

Mentioned references:

-Parabol

-Basecamp

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

---------------------

00:00 Intro + Check-in: What is your current setup for a marathon video meeting?

03:43 Purpose of a facilitator and types of meetings

06:37 Remote facilitation quirks we’re seeing out in the wild early in the pandemic

13:50 Pace of meetings

15:39 Role of meeting chat/discussion spaces

22:30 Video vs no video - a time for both

24:00 Remote facilitator’s responsibility for vibes

28:26 Wrap-up: Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Brave New Work 37. How to Pick Your Principles

Mon, 25 May 2020 06:00:00 -0000

Without bureaucracy and compliance, how can we ensure that we remain aligned and coherent while also leaving room for judgment? The answer: principles.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans explore how to craft a useful principle—and how to make use of them day-to-day.

Read The Ready's article for more information on principles here.

Mentioned references:

hangboards
Principles (2017) by Ray Dalio
'Beyond Budgeting"
"Even Overs" - BNW Ep. 44
"canvas areas" - The Ready's OS Canvas
"safe to try"

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

------------------

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What are you doing for fitness these days?

03:46 Defining principles

12:42 Considering first principles for a team

16:40 Using principles to guide away from shenanigans

23:18 Nervous system response to strong principles

26:34 Picking your principles

35:51 Aaron and Rodney’s principles hit list

41:03 Wrap up. Leave us a review!

Brave New Work 36. The Case for Profit Sharing with Nathan Barry

Tue, 19 May 2020 05:24:00 -0000

Not that long ago, we were living in a grow-grow-grow economy where stock options in a hot venture-backed startup were what most employees coveted. Today, a profitable bootstrapped company that shares its profit with its own employees feels like a revelation.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Nathan Barry, founder and CEO of ConvertKit, about how his bootstrapped software company shares profit with its employees, and while we're at it, how they think about compensation more generally. Hopefully, some of our listeners will follow in their footsteps.

Learn more about Nathan on LinkedIn and Twitter.

You can read the thread that sparked this episode here: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry/status/1231227172238422016

Learn more about ConvertKit at their website.

Mentioned references:

ConvertKit's publicly available financial metrics
Coinbase's decision making framework (PPS and RAPIDs)
Radford Global Compensation Database
"Joel and the transparency episode": BNW Ep. 6
nathanbarry.com/uncertainty

-----------

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

-----------

00:00 Intro + Check-In: Share one way in which you are difficult to work with, and one way in which you are easy to work with.

04:21 Nathan’s ConvertKit story

05:56 ConvertKit’s profit sharing approach

13:16 Walking away from tying performance intro profit sharing

17:03 Calculating what profit is available to share

20:20 Shadow of profit sharing

24:09 ConvertKit’s transparency principles

27:07 The other components of compensation

33:06 Trade-offs to reach philosophical outcomes

36:37 Nathan’s advice for leaders navigating this moment

39:44 Wrap Up: Leave us a review!

Brave New Work 35. Beyond Remote Work with Sid Sijbrandij

Mon, 11 May 2020 06:00:00 -0000

Most of us are working remotely. But we're just treading water, we haven't really mastered it. That's why it's important to talk about remote work after the novelty wears off—when the home office is just... the office. In this episode, we speak with Sid Sijbrandij, Cofounder and CEO of GitLab, about how their 1,290 team members work remotely in support of a $2.75B business. For Sid's team, remote work is a way of life. What can we learn from them?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans explore what happens when a company isn't forced to be remote, but actually wants to be.

Learn more about Sid on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Learn More about GitLab at their website or on Twitter.

Learn more about GitLab’s remote work policies.

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 34. How To Think About What’s Next with Kevin Kelly

Mon, 04 May 2020 06:00:00 -0000

It's the question that's on everyone's mind these days: "What does the future hold?" In moments like these when uncertainty is especially high, having the right lenses and mental models is the difference between being ready and being overwhelmed.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick at WIRED and author of The Inevitable, about how he thinks (about how he thinks) about predicting the future. And we make some guesses of our own.

Learn more about Kevin at his website and find him on Twitter.

Mentioned references:

------------------------------------------

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 33. Joining Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 06:00:00 -0000

With the Ready For Anything series behind us, we're jumping right in to Season Three of the podcast! For this season, we're going to play with the format—making it shorter, sweeter, and (hopefully) even more helpful.

Before the pandemic, many of our technologies, markets, and institutions had what Douglas Rushkoff calls an "antihuman agenda." Today, the limitations of that agenda are showing.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Douglas about how our economic and social operating systems need to change (and are changing) to meet this moment.

Learn more about Douglas at his website and on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Team Human at the website or by listening to the Team Human podcast.

Mentioned references:

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 32. Ready For Anything: Compensation

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the thirteenth and final episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of compensation and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

Mentioned references:

George Michael - Freedom!
-Ready For Anything - Strategy: BNW Ep. 24

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 31. Ready For Anything: Mastery

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the twelfth episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of mastery and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

References mentioned

The OS Canvas
“Never memorize something that you can look up.” Albert Einstein (spurious)
Shuhari (shu-ha-ri)
Even-over statements: BNW Ep. 44
Retrospectives: BNW Ep. 10
Shane Parrish at Farnam Street
Tim Ferriss
Kim Scott’s feedback episode: BNW Ep. 13

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 30. Ready For Anything: Membership

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the eleventh episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of membership and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

Resources mentioned:

The OS Canvas
Seth Godin "people like us do things like this: longform article or Youtube video
User Manual to Me: BNW Ep. 159
Working Agreements: BNW Ep. 2
Team Chartering: BNW Ep. 149
Retros: BNW Ep. 10
Elinor Ostrom's "rules": design principles for Common Pool Resource management

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 29. Ready For Anything: Information

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the tenth episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of information and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

Resources mentioned:

The OS Canvas
"Parabol and Jordan": Brave New Work, Episode 10
"Emojis with Mike from Slack": Brave New Work, Episode 2

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The book that started this podcast is available now!

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit our website to get started!

Brave New Work 28. Ready For Anything: Meetings

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the ninth episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of meetings and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

Resources mentioned:

The Ready's OS Canvas
Cynefin framework
Dan Kim's episode: Ep. 4 with Dan Kim
The retros episode: Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney
Spotify daily health check

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 27. Ready For Anything: Workflow

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:55:00 -0000

This is the eighth episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of workflow and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

Resources mentioned:

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 26. Ready For Anything: Innovation

Thu, 09 Apr 2020 16:34:00 -0000

This is the seventh episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of innovation and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

Resources mentioned:

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 25. Ready For Anything: Resources

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 16:15:00 -0000

This is the sixth episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of resources and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

References Mentioned:

The Ready's The OS Canvas
James O. McKinsey, founder of McKinsey & Company
“extrapolating trends with Douglas” - Ep. 33 with Douglass Rushkoff
Beyond Budgeting
Handelsbanken

Our book is available now at https://www.bravenewwork.com/

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit https://theready.com/

Brave New Work 24. Ready For Anything: Strategy

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the fifth episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of strategy and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

References mentioned:

The Ready's OS Canvas
Beyond Budgeting book
Even/Over statements: Brave New Work Ep. 44
Future tensions: Brave New Work Ep. 16
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Barbell strategy
Three Horizons
Red teaming
Howard Hughes, American business magnate
Ben Kaufman and CAMP: Brave New Work Ep. 9

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 23. Ready For Anything: Structure

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the fourth episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode explores the area of structure and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

References mentioned:

The Ready's OS Canvas

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 22. Ready For Anything: Authority

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the third episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode digs deep into the area of authority and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

References mentioned:

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 21. Ready For Anything: Purpose

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the second episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

Today's episode digs deep into the area of purpose and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

References mentioned:

The Ready's OS Canvas
Mira Shani, Rodney's yoga teacher

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 20. Ready For Anything: Introduction

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 06:00:00 -0000

This is the first in a series of short episodes devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything.

This Brave New Work miniseries with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans is based on The Ready's OS Canvas which is featured in Brave New Work.

References mentioned:

The OS Canvas

Send the questions you'd like to see answered in this series to podcast@theready.com

Does your team need help navigating this moment? Email us at hello@theready.com

Brave New Work 19. The Secrets for Better One-On-Ones with Michael Bungay Stanier

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 06:00:00 -0000

The one-on-one meeting, often between a manager and their "direct report" is among the most common and popular meetings in existence. But it may also be the most harmful.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans debate and discuss the best and worst ways to hold this meeting. Later, they're joined by the author of The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier, to figure out how to show up to one-on-ones as a coach rather than a boss.

Learn more about Michael and his work on LinkedIn and his website.

Learn more about Box of Crayons on their website and on Youtube.

Resources mentioned:

The Ready's Tension and Practice Deck
"Radical candor": Episode 13 with Kim Scott
"Dunbar's number"
"First 90 days of self-management": Episode 11 with Doug Seacrist
"Rockefeller Habits": Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership by Ronald Heifetz
Immunity to Change by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 18. The Impact of Reinventing Organizations with Frederic Laloux

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 06:00:00 -0000

It's been many years since the release of Frederic Laloux's groundbreaking book Reinventing Organizations. In some ways the world is different—more ready, more radical—and in other ways, not much has changed. More adaptive and soulful ways of working are still fringe. The way forward isn't clear.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Frederic about where we stand, where we're heading, and why this moment feels like the last gasp of authoritarianism, extractive capitalism, and all the other -isms.

Learn more about Frederic and Reinventing Organizations at his website and his Youtube video series.

Mentioned resources:

Ken Wilber, specifically stages of development, orange and teal organizations, and Spiral Dynamics
The work of Parker Palmer
Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan (if you haven't read it yet, now's your chance!)
Brian Robertson's theory of "evolutionary purpose"
Ricardo Semler, CEO of Semco and author/speaker
Taylorism
Douglas McGregor, management professor and author of The Human Side of Enterprise

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 17. What We Can Learn About Org Design from the Coronavirus

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 06:00:00 -0000

Facing a pandemic, many of the world's institutions are finally giving remote work, agility, responsiveness, and basic human decency some deep consideration. Meanwhile, it's becoming clear that organizations who have already been prioritizing adaptivity and humanity at work are surprisingly well prepared to face this challenge.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans explore what we can learn from a moment like this, and why creating a culture built on autonomy, transparency, and decentralization makes sense with or without a crisis. In this moment of disruption and anxiety, it felt good to sit down and focus on what we can do, rather than second guessing the past, or predicting the future. Stay safe out there people.

Mentioned resources:

"Enabling and governing constraints" from Dave Snowden's Cynefin framework
"Learn by Doing episode" - Ep. 9 with Ben Kaufman
"Tom's episode" - Ep. 16 with Thomas Thomison

Get more information about COVID-19 from the CDC and the WHO.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 16. Embracing Uncertainty: Navigating Future Tension with Thomas Thomison

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 06:00:00 -0000

In this episode, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about a concept The Ready calls "future tension," which is what happens when we let our worries about the future hijack the present.

Later, they’re joined by Thomas Thomison, founding partner of Encode.org, who takes us deep into the origins of the concept and teaches us how to overcome it.

Learn more about Thomas on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Thomas' work at Encode.org, HolacracyOne, and PowerShift Capital.

Resources mentioned:

David Allen and "Getting Things Done"

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 15. Unauthorized Change: How to Break the Rules with Sarah Devereaux

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 07:00:00 -0000

The most common question we hear is, "What can I do if I'm not the one in charge?" So many of us—including leaders and managers—want to eradicate bureaucracy. But, we're not the head honcho.

In this episode on Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about the simple moves anyone can make to start moving toward a better way of working. Because we have a lot more authority than we think we do. And the power we don't have can be enlisted.

Later, they're joined by Sarah Devereaux from Google, who shares what she's learned about sparking change after more than fourteen years inside Google.

Learn more about Sarah on LinkedIn.

Mentioned Resources:

Episode 8 of Brave New Work feat. David Marquet

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your guest ideas and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 14. Inside The Ready's Hiring Process with Kate Glazebrook

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 07:00:00 -0000

The Ready has a habit of disrupting the established way of doing things, but we've never really looked at our hiring process... until now. In the last few months, we've radically overhauled the way we making hiring decisions by asking questions like, "Can we design a process that reduces bias and homogeny? Can we design a process that focuses on what we want rather than what we don't?"

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about the inner workings of The Ready's new system, the rationale behind it, and what early results are telling us about the work ahead to make it better. Later, they're joined by Kate Glazebrook, cofounder of Applied, who deepens our understanding of the biases and cognitive gymnastics inherent in hiring, while making us feel a little better about our struggles thus far. If you make hiring decisions, this one is a must.

Learn more about Kate on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Learn more about Be Applied and their approach at their website.

Mentioned Resources:

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Iris Bohnet, author of What Works: Gender Equality by Design

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your guest ideas and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 13. The Future of Feedback with Kim Scott

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 07:00:00 -0000

Are you open to some feedback? Gulp. That one word is enough to send most of us packing. Why? Because we've endured far too many "conversations" that were infrequent, impersonal, critical, and one-sided. But, is it possible to do feedback right?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about three different waves of feedback at work, and why it's so critical to question our assumptions and reinvent this pervasive practice. Later, they’re joined by Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor, who teaches us how to balance caring personally and challenging directly.

Learn more about Kim on her website, LinkedIn or Twitter.

Learn More about Kim's book, Radical Candor, on the web and on Youtube.

Resources mentioned:

"Ego and identity" - Episode 5 of our podcast!
15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman and Kaley Warner Klemp
Lie 5: People Need Feedback by Marcus Buckingham
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 12. Ask Us Anything No. 1: Talent Calibration Minefields and Building Your Future of Work Bookshelf

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 07:00:00 -0000

Any podcast that promotes busting bureaucracy and hobbling hierarchy is bound to stir up some questions. That's why this week we're going to let our listeners Ask Us Anything.

For this episode, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans took to Twitter and the Brave New Work Wednesdays newsletter to find out what you're wondering about. And you came through big time. We plan on doing this every twelve weeks or so from here on out, so if you ever feel a question percolating as you're listening, just drop us a line at podcast@theready.com

Resources mentioned:

The Peter principle
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Organize for Complexity by Niels Pflaeging
The Little Book of Beyond Budgeting by Steve Morlidge
Drive by Dan Pink
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B Rosenberg
Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
We the People by John Buck and Sharon Villines
Many Voices One Song by Ted J Rau and Jerry Koch-Gonzalez
Unboss by Lars Kolind and Jacob Bøtter
9 Lies About Work by Marcus Buckingham
John Cutler's Twitter account

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 11. The Journey To Self-Managing Teams with Doug Seacrist

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 07:00:00 -0000

When we decide to start working differently, it often begins with just one or two teams taking the leap. For everyone involved, the first weeks and months are a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Not everyone has the courage to see things through.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about SLAM teams (self-managing, lean, audacious, multidisciplinary), the early days of a transformation, and why leaders should stay the course even when the going gets tough. Later, they’re joined by Doug Seacrist, from Bloomin’ Brands, who shares his story of reinventing the technology support function inside a huge system of restaurants.

Learn more about Doug and his work on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Bloomin' Brands at their website.

Mentioned resources:

"Philosophy problem replacing wood on a boat": The Ship of Theseus
User manuals to me: Brave New Work, Episode 159
Scrum teams and Agile
"Perspectives in a retro": Brave New Work, Episode 10

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 10. Retros: The Most Important Meetings You're Not Having with Jordan Husney

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 07:00:00 -0000

We all know that faster learning loops are critical to success in complexity. Yet, we rarely (if ever) take the time to practice one of the most powerful learning moves in the game: the retrospective.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about the power of reflection—for the individual, team, and organization—and why we can't keep charging ahead without looking back. Later, they're joined by Parabol founder and CEO Jordan Husney, who shares what he’s learned hosting tens of thousands of retrospectives on their platform, including this gem: ”The only wrong way to have a retrospective is to not have one at all.”

Learn more about Jordan on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Medium.

Learn more about Parabol on their website.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your guest ideas and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 9. Skip the Plan and Learn by Doing with Ben Kaufman

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 07:00:00 -0000

When starting something new, most of us tend to research, analyze, plan, and procrastinate. Because we don't want to fail. We don't want to be exposed as imposters. And we don't want to take big risks. But in novel and complex spaces, that strategy doesn't help, it only slows us down without increasing our odds. Instead, we need to start by starting and learn by doing so that our ideas can make contact with reality as soon as possible.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans explore how to get on with it—by starting small and working iteratively—so that more good things make it out into the world. And speaking of good things, later they're are joined by Ben Kaufman, founder and CEO of the revolutionary toy store CAMP, who shares why he feels compelled to start impossible projects, and how he rushes in before all the reasons he shouldn't overwhelm him.

Learn more about Ben on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Learn more about CAMP at their website.

Resources mentioned:

-"The Marshmallow Test" from Tom Wujec's 2010 TedTalk "Build a tower, build a team":

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your guest ideas and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 8. Leading Through Transformation with David Marquet

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 07:00:00 -0000

Leading a team through change is hard, but leading a team to a place without traditional leadership is far harder. If you ask people to step up... will they do it? And can you really mandate self-management?

In this episode of Brave New Work, we talk about what it takes to realize a new way of working within a team or organization, and why that's so hard for—and so dependent on—those of us in charge. Later, they're're joined by former submarine commander David Marquet, author of Turn The Ship Around! and Leadership Is Language, who talks to us about the power of stepping back, the way language shapes the workplace, and how to create a "can think" (and do) culture.

Learn more about David and his books on his website, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Resources mentioned:

Setting The Table by Danny Meyer ("the salt shaker")
Getting Past No by William Ury ("the balcony")

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your guest ideas and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 7. How to Have Productive Disagreements with Buster Benson

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 07:00:00 -0000

A diverse team doing important work is bound to disagree. But they’re also likely to avoid talking about it—because conflict makes many of us deeply uncomfortable. But, what if we simply lack the skills to do it well?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about why disagreement is so hard, what healthy disagreement looks and feels like, and why it’s so critical to success in complexity. Later, they’re joined by Buster Benson, author of Why Are We Yelling, who teaches us how to have disagreements so productive we might actually seek them out and enjoy them.

Learn more about Buster on his website, on Linkedin, or on Mastadon.

Learn more about Buster's book Why Are We Yelling? The Art of Productive Disagreement

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 6. Defaulting to Transparency with Joel Gascoigne

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 07:00:00 -0000

In a complex and dynamic world, sharing information on a "need to know" basis is misguided, because it perpetuates ignorance and bias. No one needs to know everything all the time, but we need the right (and the ability) to find what we need when we need it. And while many teams and organizations are coming around to the principle of transparency, when it comes to sharing more sensitive data—like compensation—many people freak out and start to backpedal.

In this episode Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about why traditional organizations and teams (and even the two of us) covet and hoard information, and what it looks and feels like to let information flow. Later, they’re joined by the cofounder and CEO of Buffer, Joel Gascoigne, who shares how Buffer made "defaulting to transparency" a core value and never looked back.

Learn more about Buffer and their commitment to transparency at https://buffer.com/ and https://buffer.com/about#transparency

Learn more about Joel at his website or via LinkedIn or Twitter.

Resources mentioned:

Dave Snowden's Principles for Managing Knowledge

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Brave New Work 5. Egos and Identities in the Workplace with Dr. Gareth Holman

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 07:00:00 -0000

Self-awareness in the workplace is hard to come by—because our egos are so good at “protecting” us from reality. For many of us, our identity is so tied up in who we are at work that deep down we worry, “If not for my title... who am I?”

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about how our egos get the better of us, and why reinventing organizations often means reinventing ourselves. Later, they’re joined by psychologist Dr. Gareth Holman (Rodney’s own coach) who shares how we can bring the inside out, to become better colleagues and better people.

Learn more about Dr. Holman at his website or on Linkedin.

References Mentioned:

The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Warner Klemp
Principles: Your Guided Journal by Ray Dalio
The Trusted Advisor by David H. Maister, Robert Galford, and Charles Green

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com.

We want to hear from you. Send your feedback to podcast@theready.com.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com.

Brave New Work 4. Let's Have Fewer, Better Meetings with Dan Kim

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 07:00:00 -0000

In almost every organization we visit, teams aren't just having bad meetings—they're having meetings to prepare for those meetings. The virus is spreading. And so we have to ask: when should we have a meeting? And how can we make them more effective when we do?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about why meetings are a symptom of other problems in the operating system and the path to a healthier meeting culture. Later, we’re joined by Dan Kim from Basecamp, who shares how the iconoclastic "calm company" delights in avoiding meetings unless they're absolutely necessary.

Learn more about Dan by visiting his website or connecting with him on Linkedin.

Resources mentioned:

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Our book is available now at https://www.bravenewwork.com/

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit https://theready.com/

Brave New Work 3. The Right (and Wrong) Ways to Message Change with Deirdre Latour

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 07:00:00 -0000

Communication around organizational change is a prime example of a complicated approach (write an email that nineteen people edit!) to a complex situation (human beings and their feelings!). Most of us have been on the receiving end of messages that feel like they were designed to obscure any actual information.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dive into the double talk that gets the better of so many of us, and what to do instead. Later, they're joined by Deirdre Latour, who has led communications at both GE and Pearson, to learn what it's like to fight for candor in the midst of crisis.

Learn more about Deirdre on Linkedin.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com.

Have an idea for an episode, or the perfect guest? Reach out to podcast@theready.com.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com.

Brave New Work 2. Rethinking Our Working Agreements with Mike Brevoort

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 07:01:00 -0000

The best teams in the world don’t just agree on what they’re going to do, they agree on how they’re going to do it.

In this debut episode, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about working agreements—what they are and why we need them—and explore which working agreements might be critical to success.

Later in the episode, they’re joined by Mike Brevoort from Slack who takes us inside the norms and agreements that enable the company's “work hard and go home” ethos.

Learn more about Mike at his website or connect with him on Linkedin.

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com.

Have an idea for an episode, or the perfect guest? Reach out to podcast@theready.com.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com.

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00:00 Intro & Check-In: If you could choose, what would your last meal be?

02:51 What are working agreements?

05:59 Foundational agreements for any team

14:02 What broken agreements actually mean

22:09 Mike's interview begins

23:08 What is Slack and what do you do there?

24:48 Slack's working agreements

29:39 Agreements around emojis and reactions

34:48 Working agreements are a moving target

38:02 Agreements outside of the digital space and IRL

42:23 Wrap up: Leave us a review!

Brave New Work 1. Introducing Brave New Work with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 05:00:00 -0000

Brave New Work is a podcast about reinventing our organizations and the search for a more adaptive and human way of working. But what does that really mean? In this brief introductory episode, we set the stage for what’s to come—covering everything from our theory of change to our reasons and plans for the show. Our first full episode is also available now.

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com.

Have an idea for an episode, or the perfect guest? Reach out to podcast@theready.com.

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com.

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00:00 Introduction and why we're making BNW

01:19 Getting to know Rodney

05:21 What is The Ready and what do they do?

09:55 Connection between Brave New Work and The Ready

16:00 How we're organizing the show

It's Time for Brave New Work

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 21:46:00 -0000

What’s stopping us from doing the best work of our lives? It’s the way we work. Whether you’re building a startup or reinventing a global enterprise, every day is a battle between chaos and bureaucracy. But, what if there’s a third way? Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans help teams all over the world discover a more adaptive and human way of working. Now it’s your turn. Each week, they’ll bring you a counterintuitive take on a common challenge at work—and you'll hear from guests who have been there and found their way to something better. This isn’t business as usual. This is Brave New Work.