The Pathless Path with Paul Millerd

#136 Complexity & Complicatedness - Sam Spurlin on playing hockey, why he quit teaching, studying at Claremont, leaving a PhD program, working pro bono too start his career, complicated vs complex systems, how to deal with ego in organizations, remote work failures, podcasting with his brother, and the importance of a retrospective meeting

Mar 6, 2023

01:10:50

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The Pathless Path Podcast - Aaron Dignan

01:46

What Was It Like to Let Go of the PhD?

01:44

The Path These Path Listeners Are the Best

03:26

Introduction

2min

What Are the Story and Life Scripts That Shaped Who You Were as a Kid?

2min

The Suffering Script

5min

How to Get Things Done, Right?

2min

Did You Become a Teacher After School?

3min

Is There a Loss of Meaningful Work After Grad School?

4min

What Was Your Mindset Going in at Claremont?

3min

What Was It Like to Let Go of the PhD?

2min

Quitting the Dissertation

2min

10.

How to Get Hired by an Undercurrent Company in New York City

2min

11.

PhD Students - How Do You Just Go Be a Consultant?

2min

12.

Undercurrent

3min

13.

Is There a Complexity in Organizational Behavior?

2min

14.

The Pathless Path Podcast

4min

15.

Are You a Distributed Worker or a Remote Worker?

5min

16.

How Do You Spend Your Retreats?

2min

17.

The Pathless Path Podcast

3min

18.

Is Tomorrow Better Than Today Better Than Yesterday?

2min

19.

What Do You Think About Work?

4min

20.

The Path These Path Listeners Are the Best

3min

21.

What Have You Learned From Your Brother About Work?

2min

22.

Do I Like What I'm Doing?

4min

23.

Are You Trying to Get Good at One Thing?

3min

24.

What's Your Role Model?

2min

25.

The Pathless Path Podcast - Aaron Dignan

2min

Sam is a partner at The Ready - an organizational design consultancy operating fully remotely. He is also a prolific writer, passionate about personal development, self-managing organizations and adopting a more human, adaptive, and meaningful way of working.

🎥🍿 YOUTUBE: WATCH HERE

Links:

Twitter: @samspurlin
Instagram: samspurlin
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/samspurlin
Sam's writing: samspurlin.com/writing
Sam's writing on Medium: samspurlin.medium.com
Newsletter: thedeliberate.substack.com/p/landing-page

⌛TIMESTAMPS

(00:53) - The scripts that Sam grew up with
(10:09) - Teaching and why Sam quit
(17:10) - Claremont and letting go of the PhD
(25:49) - Working pro bono to become a consultant
(31:26) - Complicated vs complex systems, ego in the organizations
(53:49) - Writing, podcasting, farming and retrospective meetings
(01:02:02) - The trap of a "dream job"
(01:05:27) - Closing remarks

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