Overcoming Overwhelm at Work with Bob Sutton & Rebecca Hinds

We're joined by Bob Sutton, an organizational psychologist and best-selling author, and Rebecca Hinds, the head of the work innovation lab at Asana.

Bob and Rebecca highlight the need to shift from an addition mindset to a subtraction mindset to combat workplace overwhelm. They delve into the effectiveness of combining bottom-down and top-up strategies in creating changes in the workplace. Lastly, they emphasize the importance of continuously evaluating your work practices, especially with the rapidly changing tech landscape.

02:55 Understanding Corporate Overwhelm
04:10 The Exhaustion of Leadership Positions
06:14 The Role of Technology in Overwhelm
06:24 The Impact of the Pandemic on Tech Investments
08:44 The Importance of a People-First Strategy
11:38 The Balance Between Bottom-Up and Top-Down Strategies
11:53 The Role of Meetings and Collaboration Tools
21:18 The Importance of Team Resets and Refreshes
27:00 The Mythical Man Month and the Problem of Overstaffing
27:29 Apple's Unique Approach to Team Management
27:48 The Consequences of Overhiring in Tech
28:09 The Pitfalls of Spending Money as a Substitute for Action
28:37 The Human Tendency Towards Addition and Its Impact on Organizations
30:05 The Problem of Rewarding Addition Over Subtraction
31:02 Maintaining a Successful Subtraction Mindset
40:16 The Power of Constraints in Organizational Change
42:39 The Importance of Continuously Evaluating Work Practices

Episode Resources

To learn more about our guests and their work:

The original HBR articles: