Transforming Work with Sophie Wade

Eric Ng, Senior VP of Marketing at Two Chairs, has an agile mindset which has enabled him to keep adapting to the significant changes brought about by technology developments in the marketing discipline—including many new channels, formats, and granular measurement tools. Eric shares insights about screening for a flexible mindset when building teams, and how trust, empowerment, and co-creation are key for nurturing growth. Eric explains how his flexible attitude has allowed him to adapt to new hybrid/remote working arrangements.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [02:58] Seeing the Apple 1984 commercial in grade school, Eric knew he wanted to do marketing.   [03:30] At college, Eric co-founds Student.com with friends which goes well, he learns a lot when his second start-up fails completely.   [05:01] Eric joins Apple’s advertising agency Chiat/Day which was a dream job for him.   [06:27] Marketing is about resource allocation or figuring out how to make (increasingly informed) bets.   [07:24] Flexibility is essential in an ever-changing industry—mixing testing and iterating with renewed use of broad-based ideas to drive fame.   [10:02] Eric reflects on his experience building teams, and how screening for mindset is paramount.   [11:27] Eric’s methodology to consolidate his team’s learning is that they must teach others in turn.   [13:02] Working for a mission-oriented organization makes motivation, branding and recruiting easier.   [15:30] Two Chairs offers a diverse group of therapists to serve market requirements as people’s needs and relationship with therapy evolve.   [16:37] If connection with your therapist—the therapeutic alliance—is the best predictor of success, having a diverse therapist offering increases potential matches and outcomes.   [19:02] The pandemic reduced mental health-related stigma along with willingness to be vulnerable.   [20:12] Eric never worked remotely prior to the pandemic, but his perspective has shifted significantly.   [21:05] Rethinking many aspects of work in hybrid situations, including how to recognize people’s successes.   [22:18] The dial tone, a remote version of the high-five!   [24:24] Meetings are important, they just need to be well thought out.   [26:09] Shifting your mindset to manage distributed teams starting with trust and empowerment.   [27:20] Empathy is essential to understand who each person is, what they are doing, what their needs are.   [29:00] Cultivating trust requires a safe space, time to adjust, and guardrails to avoid the worst.   [30:24] People do best when they can discover on their own and co-create.   [32:30] Eric sees potential of simplification in the future, especially in healthcare which can be overcomplicated and confusing.   [35:00] Eric asks Sophie what excites her—understanding better how we each work, how we can come together effectively as a team, and what we learned by about what we are capable of under pressure.   [36:55] Technological and societal changes are bringing additional layers of diversity we can address in different ways.   [40:16] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: If adapting with an agile mindset becomes overwhelming, take one small step that you haven’t taken before and explore the new experience.     RESOURCES   Eric Ng on LinkedIn Two Chairs website     QUOTES (edited)   “I think that's one of the things when you're growing where everything seems to be going well if you don't hit a roadblock, you don't grow.”   “I'm hoping that the team members who are learning are also going to teach others. It gives them that opportunity to solidify the things that they're thinking about and really learn. There's nothing like teaching something in order to learn it!”   “That connection with your therapist — this idea of a therapeutic alliance — is perhaps the best predictor of having successful outcomes for mental health. So if you match really well, you end up having a great outcome. I'm obviously interested in user experience as a marketer, but in this case, the actual outcomes for a patient or a client really, really matter.”

Winston Peters is the Program Director of the Entrepreneurs@MC program and the new Entrepreneur Center at Manhattan College in New York. He is a co-founder of WÜLF University and a Principal at MyÜberLife Consulting Group. Winston explains how he purposefully connects and builds trust with his Gen Z students starting with the first homework assignment. He teaches students the skills they want and need for entering the labor market including those not on the syllabus. Winston shares what drives and concerns Gen Z’s leaving college. He suggests how we can build bridges across generations and help each other find fulfillment at work.   KEY TAKEAWAYS   [03:15] Winston quickly bores of building high-rises using his civil engineering degree and delves into the New York cultural scene.   [03:54] Winston applies his skills differently to analyze and solve problems, wanting to make an impact.   [05:00] Winston found many creatives don’t fully understand the mechanics of their business.   [07:00] An engineer’s approach separates the fluff and breaks things down.   [08:08] WULF university was launched to provide critical learning that students don’t typically get in the classroom to help them in their careers.   [08:58] Empathy skills are needed to complement students’ competitive academic orientation so they can collaborate well in the workplace.   [10:45] How does Winston shift students’ mindsets?   [11:22] Looking through different lenses to develop understanding and build trust.   [12:51] How Winston shows up to develop trust, engage on a personal level, and make education collaborative.   [15:24] The importance of checking in and understanding how each student is (really) doing.   [17:02] Setting the tone at the beginning by understanding where people’s energy is.   [17:54] Human beings are judging machines based on pattern matching, and authenticity can be modeled to build a safe space.   [19:15] Winston leads by example.   [20:13] Winston’s compelling first homework assignment.   [20:56] Asking people how they learn develops understanding and context.   [23:12] The four +1 types of entrepreneurship students Winston teaches at Manhattan College.   [25:08] The importance of being anti-fragile and having multiple revenue streams.   [26:44] Some want corporate jobs to learn about corporate structure (for their own future venture).   [27:27] Two areas Gen Z’s believe are going to be key to their future success: understanding financials and creating contacts.   [29:25] Leaving college in debt, many students only explore the highest-paying jobs, not what will be fulfilling or give them security.   [31:05] Many Gen Z’s are entering the workforce taking jobs to survive.   [32:00] Why Winston doesn’t give extra credits in his class.   [33:54] The fundamental teaching orientation for Winston is human-centric—how to solve humans’ problems and sell to them.   [35:37] Winston is excited to work with students on a competition for a Blue Economy project—to convert water into reusable electricity.   [36:44] How Winston effectively enforces his “no phones in class” policy!   [38:24] Winston asks what students want to learn beyond the syllabus for their preferred career.   [40:02] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: If you are older, have more empathy for Gen Z: the world they are growing up in is very different; they are under a lot of pressure. Ask Gen Zers deeper questions about fulfillment. There’s no job security, so how can you help each other find fulfillment and what does that look like?     RESOURCES   Winston Peters on LinkedIn Twitter @WinceP_ofMUL Instagram @Professor.p_ofMUL Entrepreneurs@MC at Manhattan College News about the Entrepreneur Center at Manhattan College MyÜberLife Consulting Group’s website     QUOTES (edited)   “The basic premise of being an engineer is being a problem solver and able to break things down into empirical forms.”   “There’s no difference between hard and soft skills. Soft skills are just more human skills that aren’t taught in the classroom that everyone needs.”   “In your professional career, you will most likely be collaborating with people. And so the sooner you learn the skills of collaboration the better off you'll be, “How can we win together? Instead of how can I beat you?’’”   “Trust is the most important thing. I don’t care how smart you are, but if you don’t have the trust of a young person, good luck trying to convince them that what you’re saying is true.”   “Gen Zers want to be more entrepreneurial. They’re looking for financial freedom and financial stability, as well as fulfillment.”   “I have a three-strike no-phone policy in my classroom. If by the third strike, I see someone with their phone, I don’t take away that person's phone, I take away everyone else’s phone….Now everyone’s working as a team. Everyone is accountable.”  

David Stillman is a generational expert, researcher, consultant, and author of three best-selling books on generations. David explains how the major events and prevailing technologies of our early lives shape us and our thinking, producing generational characteristics. He describes the effect of parenting trends on generations’ offspring and how these translate into workplace behaviors. David shares insights on issues causing friction and concern between and among generations including “entitlement”, quiet quitting, side hustles, and mental health.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [02:29] Starting as a journalist, David is asked to study Generation Xers.   [03:40] How generations’ size in the labor market matters as well as inflow and outflow.   [04:40] The ghost of the Traditionalists’ culture still lingers in many workplaces.   [05:20] David believes companies will be haunted by lack of knowledge transfer as Boomers retire.   [06:57] How Boomers disseminate knowledge could be improved and be better received.   [07:19] David sees good healthcare plans as a competitive advantage.   [08:55] Boomers raised Millennials and are more familiar with them—so why the complaints?!   [09:33] 80 million strong, Baby Boomers faced much competition as well as structure, rules, and policies to manage them.   [10:38] Boomers parented their Millennial children to be collaborative—even rule-breakers at home.   [13:20] How technology enhanced Millennials’ group orientation.   [14:50] As a smaller generation, Gen Xers didn’t have to follow policies and procedures, were enabled by technology, and raised independent Gen Z kids.   [16:05] Gen Zs are more competitive and results-focused than Millennials.   [18:42] Employee behavior that many people call “entitled”, David sees as “engaged”.   [22:10] “Quiet quitting” began with Gen Xers and relates to (a lack of) job security.   [23:42] Why would someone go “above and beyond” without any guarantee—just the possibility of burning out?   [24:57] David observes older generations measuring loyalty in tenure rather than engagement and performance which are harder to measure.   [26:59] David discusses the relationship between engagement, performance, and side hustles.   [28:51] How side hustles can support mental health, work-life balance, and skills acquisition.   [31:37] Millennials were smart, changing the tenure paradigm, saying “If I’ve mastered these skills promote me.”   [32:07] Gen Zs are showing interest in pursuing more than one career at one company at the same time.   [33:37] All generations have had work stress, but it could be left at the workplace in the past.   [34:34] New approaches and ideas support mental health at work.   [36:11] Encouraging judgment-free dialogue about mental health.   [38:15] It’s not about who is right or wrong, better or worse—the generations are different.   [38:08] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: First, sit down with people from different generations and ask them about a major event that has shaped who they are today. The next step is to ensure there is generational diversity at work especially when targeting any particular generation.   RESOURCES   David Stillman on LinkedIn David’s website www.genguru.com     QUOTES (edited)   “Everyone's talking about Gen Z right now, and I'd say you need to look at the top of your chart because you're going to have a mass exodus of Baby Boomers and close to half the labor pool to fill those leadership positions.”   “One of the biggest things I think that’s going to haunt organizations is this lack of knowledge transfer.”   “You will not find a generation more collaborative than Millennials.”   “A lot of Baby Boomers did really struggle with the notion of going from competitive rules and procedures to ‘let’s reinvent them’.”   “For every time someone is trying to use the word ‘entitled’, I ask them instead to exchange it with the word ‘engaged’.”   “The side hustle is not only here to stay, but I would say everyone should be embracing it.”   “The first quiet quitters were actually Gen Xers. And anyone sitting in a Gen Z’s or Millennial’s chair would do the exact same thing.”   “Work is no longer a place and time. I do not believe in Monday to Friday, nine to five. We will never have a four-day work week. It's going to be a seven-day work week and a seven-day live week.”

Will Ridgway is a Cloud Solutions Architect at Microsoft, an extreme athlete, and a Guinness World Record holder. Graduating from his Masters in Aerospace Engineering just as the pandemic hit, Will launched his work career remotely. Supported by his employer, Will found that extreme sports goals forced him to develop effective training and working patterns. He discovered ways to hold himself accountable and micro steer his activities to optimize all outcomes as well as achieve life/life balance.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [03:24] Right out of university, Will starts trying to optimize his working life.   [04:29] Will and his friends wonder if their pre-pandemic job offers are secure.   [05:21] Feeling disconnected from his university, Will is skeptical about virtual on-boarding.   [07:00]  When the second lockdown happens in the UK in November 2020, Will and his friends gather a large group to go work remotely in the Canary Islands.   [08:07] Will finds it hard to balance on-boarding with learning how to work effectively entirely virtually.   [09:48] Before serious work starts, Will wants to benefit from a less intense schedule and surf more.   [11:51] Will decides to set himself a sports related challenge to force him to improve his work pattern.   [13:24] Preparing for an Iron Man race requires 2 to 3 hours of training a day.   [14:12] To improve productivity, Will starts alternating periods of high intensity work and training.   [15:21] The culture of Will’s employer supports open conversation about mental well-being and how to achieve high outputs.   [16:04] His company backs the fundraising that Will connects with each race.   [17:15] Will gets more responsibilities and starts to focus on how to maximize outcomes.   [18:25] Sports training models help Will figure out optimization patterns for his work.   [19:30] WIll develops two ways to stay accountable and on track—a mentor and fundraising goals.   [20:30] A big hairy audacious goal is always the starting point!   [21:22] Will applies the same approach to commitment to his work goals.   [21:49] Setting a Guinness World Record as a new goal!   [23:35] Will and his friend tell everyone about the new goal so they can’t back out.   [24:10] They break the Guinness World Record and raise over £20,000 pounds for charity!   [25:27] Guilt about his non-traditional work routine was key for Will to manage.   [26:37] Work has a daily flow which Will “micro steers”, recalibrating often.   [27:25] The fine-tuning model was developed together with his boss—through experimentation and ongoing conversations.   [29:00] Will and friends are contemplating a new audacious goal!   [31:03] The difference between “willpower” and “way power”   [31:30] Removing layers helps maintain a baseline as well as motivation.   [32:42] Will wants to inspire people by what he has discovered through experimentation in sports as well as committing to something and finding external accountability.   [34:38] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Discover what drives your energy patterns. Work out how to hold yourself accountable. Then map the way to remove steps or hinderances to achieving your goals.     RESOURCES   Will Ridgway on LinkedIn Instagram @will_ridgway Built to Last by Jim Collins (source of “big hairy audacious goals”)     QUOTES (edited)   “As long as I would give the output that was required, I could free myself to experience more surfing.”   “I would work intensively for 90 minutes, focus only, everything off, phone away and be very productive. And then I would allow myself to completely disconnect and have a 90-minute recovery from brain activity by doing exercise and physical activity. And then, switch back.”   “Aim big and you will figure a way to do it. You're not too busy. Aim to do a big fundraising, this will hold you accountable to your race because you've raised that much money.”   “Every time I complete one of those crazy extreme challenges, when I cross the line, I tell myself: never again, this was really suffering from A to Z.”    

Zoë Routh is a leadership futurist and multiple award-winning Author. Zoë discovered and developed her own leadership skills in the wildernesses of Canada and Australia, learning from and then running Outward Bound training. She shares insights from her ongoing work with leaders and teams exploring what’s ahead and what that means for leadership of the future. Zoë discusses aspects of her fourth leadership book, “People Stuff - Beyond Personality Problems: An Advanced Handbook for Leadership”, how to move through difficult transitions, and the meta-skills required for the world of tomorrow.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [02:33] Zoë’s leadership initially manifests with her volunteering to carry a moose “rack”!   [04:33] The different ways leaders show up.   [6:09] Why it made sense for Zoë to be carrying the canoe, but not others.   [06:57] Zoë rethinks what is fair and equitable.   [08:14] Zoë leaves Canada and starts nine years with Outward Bound in Australia.   [08:50] HR for wilderness expeditions is far more complex and nuanced than for “office” jobs.   [10:06] How staff have to manage the emotional duress of being part of a group.   [12:04] People joining Outward Bound as staff have a human-centered value set which guides them.   [13:06] Staff go through a challenge course to learn from and be able to relate to lived experiences.   [14:00] Zoë learns the commonalities of Outward Bound and corporate experiences.   [15:03] The sources of most dysfunction and conflict at work.   [15:58] Zoë learns more about leadership theory at the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation.   [17:59] How archetypes are practical—rather than theoretical—to embody and act upon.   [19:34] Leaders need to understand the context of any situation before deciding how to act.   [20:18] Flexibility and adaptability are essential for good leadership.   [21:25] An exercise in self-awareness—especially understanding shadow sides of archetypes.   [23:15] Technology is driving many shifts and challenges us to do things differently—which Zoë finds exciting.   [25:03] Leaders need to be authentic, genuine, and ethical—transparency is key.   [25:50] ESG principles are not “nice to have” but need to be integrated aspects of operations.   [28:27] First new theme for leaders: Negotiation as employees bargain more.   [29:27] Second theme: Increased responsibility for managing employees’ well-being, using empathy.   [31:16] Zoë sees three major shifts for leaders: maximizing energy, reducing friction, and amplifying ability.   [32:51] Why people are struggling with the shift to delegating, coaching, and training.   [33:46] Leaders need to think about their system-wide “sphere of impact” which is a massive maturity shift.   [36:01] Transition generates grief, growing pains, and a sense of failure, getting comfortable with discomfort is a new necessary meta skill for leaders.   [38:50] How younger employees are reacting to being stuck in the conventional system—radical change is (mostly) not evident to Zoë.   [41:02] Zoë believes the rising tide of ESG will wash through everything and start to change the entire ecosystem.   [41:22] Zoê’s views on the Future of Leadership and the three meta skills to embrace: exploring, mapping, and adapting.   [43:09] Adaptation goes beyond resilience.   [43:48] Major trends: transparency, collaboration, and co-creation, as well as collective decision-making through DAOs.   [45:08] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Consume—being selective and intentional about what you’re reading and listening to. Question—sit back and ask “what does this mean?”. And then Connect—give your brain rest time that allows your subconscious to make the connections between the threads.     RESOURCES   Zoë Routh on LinkedIn Zoë on Twitter @zoerouth Zoë on Instagram @zoerouth Zoë on Facebook @Zoe.Routh Zoë on Youtube Zoë’s website ZoeRouth.com Outward Bound Australian Rural Leadership Foundation GenTech by Dr. Rick Chromey Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson     QUOTES (edited)   “Everybody contributes to the group to the best of their individual ability. It's not a question of sharing all the jobs equally. That's not equitable and that's not fair.”   “The risk management for the wilderness is easier than managing the emotional duress of being part of a group in difficult circumstances. That's probably the more nuanced and challenging aspect of the role.”   “The idea that leaders need to have mental health first aid as part of their role and be caretakers is absolutely a big shift.”   “It’s more about my sphere of impact. It’s not just about my little pool of work. It’s the whole ecosystem.”   “There are leaders who are individually resourced and emotionally intelligent enough to want to poke the bear, prod the edges, and start to make some systemic change.”   “Caring for each other and realizing that people's mental health and personal well-being is on the table as part of being able to deliver the work.”   “The rising tide of ESG, I think, is going to be the thing that will wash through everything and start to changes things across the entire ecosystem.”   “From an individual point of view, to explore, map, and adapt are the three key areas that leaders will need to cement and embed into their leadership habits and rituals as they go forward.”

John Riordan, the so-called “Godfather of Remote” and Chairman of Grow Remote, an Irish-based social enterprise organization, has led fully remote teams and divisions for over 20 years including for multiple airlines, Apple, and Shopify in the US and internationally. John’s remote working division’s expertise enabled the office-based 60% of Shopify employees to transition quickly to fully remote in March 2020. John shares transferrable insights from his experiences leading remote, hybrid, and on-site empathetic customer services teams—emphasizing community.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [03:07] John Riordan starts in investment banking but quickly pivots to sales and marketing.   [03:49] John moves to the US loving the accent of positivity of personal marketing.   [04:55] The sheer size of American companies and amplification of scale quickly teaches John to be more structured and rigorous in his thinking and execution.   [07:14] John steps up to join Virgin Atlantic as VP of Sales and Marketing leading a much larger than at US Airways, spread across nine US cities.   [09:17] John is challenged to deliver on Marketing’s promises and transition to be VP Customer Service.   [10:40] John spends valuable time in the call centers and airports learning to empathize with customers.   [12:40] Humility as a leader comes with recognizing reliance on the team and the importance of choosing team members well.   [13:57] John learns from the staff what real empathy is.   [14:25] A seismic shift in outsourcing customer service happens post 9/11.   [15:53] In 2006, Apple calls researching how to create a remote-based customer service operations for the first iPhone launch.   [17:48] Why a remote-only call center was Apple’s sustainable option.   [18:55] The challenges of the very beginnings of remote work: teleworking or telecommuting. Remote working was a small percentage of workdays in 2006.   [20:35] John starts selling remote services and finds a general lack of acceptance.   [21:33] The fully-remote services company originally started to serve underemployed and under-resourced workers.   [22:46] Fully-remote-served customer service was an important niche market.   [23:36] Key points of resistance to fully-remote services—especially “I don’t think I could do it myself”.   [24:30] Mavericks made the leap, but John sees the inflection point as happening in March 2020.   [25:09] The next move, with Apple, is fully on-site—a tough transition for John.   [22:55] The points of resistance from companies are easily managed, except for one.   [25:08] From consulting for remote work with Apple to working for Apple back home in Ireland, but in a traditional brick-and-mortar call center.   [26:22] Without knowing John’s a remote pioneer, Shopify calls about a fully remote leadership role.   [27:38] Ecommerce requires 24/7 support, but local coverage leads to constant churn out of the night shift.   [28:48] Shopify becomes 40% remote (customer service) and 60% office-based pre-pandemic.   [30:44] Learnings from a major office move helped prepare Shopify to go remote in 2020.   [32:40] John has to readjust to remote working—eg self-discipline. He tunes into team members who excel at remote working.   [34:12] Painful personal experiences teach John what does NOT work in hybrid meetings.   [35:30] Pre-pandemic, office-based leaders start staying at home to participate equitably in meetings.   [37:44] 24/7 coverage teaches asynchronous, well-documented hand-offs and timing adjustments to wait for local contributions.   [39:55] John leads the company-wide initiative to remote in March 2020, as decentralized communication is humanized and normalized.   [42:50] The three most important areas to focus on that ensured emergency remote working success.   [44:55] The HR department had already compiled a “how to” book of the customer service department’s remote work experiences which became very useful for the whole company.   [45:31] The biggest challenge Shopify faced was for people to embrace their own vulnerability.   [47:10] John’s seemingly ageist concern about the irrelevance of using a 2015 approach to solve a 2023 problem.   [49:09] The future is about communities, not companies, especially to reduce the isolation that often accompanies remote working.   [51:12] How remote workers need to proactively design their work weeks, including nurturing non-work activities and setting boundaries.   [51:35] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: To reduce feelings of isolation, encourage remote working employees to connect with people regularly—virtually and in person in their local area—supporting humans’ need for community.   [53:25] How John identifies people who have good work-life balance—he uncovers their passion!     RESOURCES   John Riordan on LinkedIn Grow Remote Boundless Otonomee Habitus Health     QUOTES    “The last -- and toughest -- objection to telework from companies: I don’t think I could do it therefore I don’t think somebody else could do it.”   “The number one thing -- absolutely paramount -- was to embrace your vulnerability.”   “You may well go back to an office, but you're not going back just because you had one, there has to be a reason.”   “What are you doing to make your business stronger in ‘25, ‘27, ‘29? You can’t go back 5, 7, 8, 10 years and tell me what it used to be like because those conditions don't exist anymore.”

Allison Allen, worked at Twitter as Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition, through December 2022. She starts a new job at an as-yet-unnamed company in February. Allison’s expertise spans HR roles including Organizational Development, Diversity & Inclusion, and Talent Acquisition, mostly involving change management. Her experiences equip her well to recognize and adapt for ongoing workplace transformations—for leadership, HR, and managers at all levels. Allison discusses performance management, how leaders can foster employee engagement, who is responsible for retention, how Talent Acquisition can hire people internally, ways Human Resources can benefit from integrating silos, and much more. KEY TAKEAWAYS   [02:22] Allison starts her career in risk management but decides she prefers a more “human” focus.   [02:55] Allison joins McKinsey during a period of change and is fascinated by people’s reactions.   [05:35] Next, she overhauls Cushman & Wakefield’s performance management process.   [06:05] After Deutsche Bank, Allison moves to Bloomberg focusing on organizational development during a strong growth phase at the company.   [07:03] Allison considers her interest in helping companies in the midst of change.   [07:28] What people need to deal with change: communication, strategy, understanding, and time.   [09:28] Drawing on her range of experiences, Allison thinks holistically how to help each person succeed.   [11:24] What are the learnings from each role to take away and grow as a leader?   [12:44] Performance management started to protect organizations, but it should be about employees and supervisors being on the same page.   [14:12] It is a leader’s role to connect with their team members individually.   [15:00] Feedback is not a gift—what is it?   [17:16] Allison sees a huge opportunity in Talent Acquisition stepping back and reframing perspectives and approaches.   [18:20] Instead of hiring new people, a first consideration can be reassigning existing employees.   [18:49] Talent Acquisition can also be responsible for retaining people and helping their career development.   [21:56] What drives people and what do they need? Organizational Development exists to provide the answers.   [22:31}Talent Acquisition can be responsible for helping ensure an organization can attract and satisfy people.   [24:01] The multifaceted nature of Gen Zs.   [26:15] What Allison would say to a leader who is concerned about younger employees’ side hustles and how to achieve their discretionary effort.   [28:10] McKinsey was a formative experience for Allison when she was assessed on her ability to deliver results.   [29:13] We should get over ourselves and move on from traditional ideas of tenure (and more). [31:30] “This is going to end badly” was Allison’s reaction when observing earlier mass hiring in tech.   [33:39] Firing new employees before they started work was a negative new trend Allison witnessed.   [34:02] Leaders—especially in the people team—need to be bolder about asking (strategic and operational) questions about the business.   [37:00] Allison is excited about her new job—wherever that may be!   [38:02] Aspects that attracted Allison to her new employer: leadership, operational agility, accountability, responsibility, and integration (rather than silos).   [39:59] Allison believes the world needs more leaders who have and lead with empathy.   [42:50] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Within your people team, look for ways to break down the silos and integrate everything so objectives are not isolated by function. For example, it should be important to the Talent Acquisition leader to retain—as well as hire—people. RESOURCES   Allison Allen on LinkedIn Allison on Twitter Allison on Instagram QUOTES   “How do we get people more comfortable with the notion that things will change, that they are not going to stay the same?”   “My role is actually to figure out how all these pieces come together so that we can impact people in the best way and we can actually impact the business in the best way.”   “I'm excited about it now because I think there's a huge opportunity at this moment for TA [Talent Acquisition] organizations to step back and reframe.”   “I actually don’t think we should worry about side hustles as managers: if you let your employees do what they want to do, you’ll get discretionary effort.”   “Just because my job is to hire people it doesn’t mean that my job isn’t also to challenge numbers.”   “I think we have to help people recognize that empathy doesn’t correlate to “soft” and weakness.“

Liam Martin, who co-founded and runs Timedoctor and Staff.com, is an avid proponent of remote work and co-organizer of the Running Remote conference. Liam draws on much personal experience learning the asynchronous mindset and optimizing designing processes to enable “deep work” by distributed teams. For the new book he co-authored, Running Remote, Liam researched how remote pioneers built their businesses. He shares high level and granular advice, including useful tools and practices for organizations interested in improving their hybrid models or going fully remote.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [03:30] Liam left home at fifteen to compete internationally for Canada in ice dance.   [04:39] Liam suffers a career-ending shattered kneecap which forced him to refocus his life at 19.   [07:28] Growing up in international training centers left Liam with no High-School diploma.   [08:45] The discipline required to compete at the highest level of sports can be useful in other fields, such as business.   [09:40] Liam starts teaching as a lecturer at McGill but discovers entrepreneurship is a better fit.   [12:10] 6 For those interested in entrepreneurship but thinking about college after high school, Liam shares his opinion based on his own experience.   [13:29] Liam discusses what he worked out about the mechanics of business.   [14:23] Key learnings as Liam was forced into a remote business early on.   [16:07] The tutoring business hit an issue tracking work which Liam and his new business partner, Rob Rawson, created a new venture to solve.   [17:20] They launch the Running Remote conference in 2018 to support people wanting to build and scale fully remote companies.   [18:16] In 2018, there were only seven companies with over 1000 people that were fully-remote.   [19:07] In his book, Running Remote, Liam explains how remote pioneers have a different methodology to running their businesses.   [20:17] The Future of Work is trending to be mostly hybrid, but distance bias must be overcome.   [21:20] Leaders are choosing to work remotely certain days to mitigate distance bias.   [22:34] Asynchronous management is the key methodology remote pioneers implemented - the ability to be able to communicate without directly interacting with someone synchronously.   [23:47] To deploy a hybrid work model successfully, Tenet 1: Deliberate over-communication.   [25:06] Liam starts interacting with “on-premise” organizations and is very surprised at the lack of documentation for everything.   [27:03] Tenet 2 - Democratized workflows – the ability to have information available to everyone.   [27:37] Relinquishing control of information is difficult, but it enables better decision-making.   [28:54] Tenet 3 – Really detailed metrics – the most difficult part.   [29:23] If process documentation feels overwhelming, Liam advises starting with an asynchronous week.   [30:41] More than 95% of process documents are never accessed. Is this an opportunity for ChatGPT?   [32:23] The number one reason companies failed to become fully (90%) asynchronous.   [33:40] The system needs to become the manager then managers can focus on people.   [34:34] Weekly iterations are ideal, biweekly at the most.   [36:08] Liam’s book “Running Remote” is “Deep Work” (by Cal Newport) for organizations—emphasizing people working independently.   [38:17] Most asynchronous—remote first—organizations Liam spoke with for the book target ~10% of synchronous communication per day.   [39:12] Synchronous communication for fully-remote and hybrid organizations is currently probably around 40-50%, which is too high to be effective.   [40:32] Liam believes that synchronous may allow better communication and development of ideas in the startup phase, but asynchronous management is much more effective to scale a company.   [42:19] 13% of all remote workers are customer support reps. From onboarding to training asynchronous can do it better and faster.   [44:06] Liam’s goal is to reduce meetings and give people back hours of work time.   [45:29] Their rule about being able to walk out if a meeting isn’t valuable—Liam finds it effective.   [46:50] Liam is unclear where we are going post-COVID since 14% of the US economy involves corporate real estate.   [51:28] Liam shares the tools he uses to manage projects, record, document, and collect information.   [55:28] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Optimize for work rather than meetings. Use effective asynchronous enabling tools including a project management system to be able to document information, and others to establish new processes that reduce live interactions.     RESOURCES   Liam Martin on LinkedIn  Instagram @liamremote Twitter @liamremote Liam’s book Running Remote TimeDoctor.com The Running Remote conference on Youtube Future Forum by Slack Deep Work by Cal Newport.   Tools mentioned: Loom Asana Trainual Fellow     QUOTES   “Education wasn’t the goal for me, it was entrepreneurship.”   “The mechanics of running a business is just bureaucracy, unfortunately. The reality is that you can actually cheat your way up until the Dunbar number, which is about 150 people.”   “Distance bias posits that as you get closer to a manager or a decision maker, you then have better access to decision making.”   “The CEO of the company has all of this information in their head, and that's usually the person that ends up making these very serious decisions. Inside an autonomous meritocracy, you empower everyone to make their best decisions and be as autonomous as humanly possible, they need as much information as they can consume. Well, when you give everyone else that same amount of information, magically the CEO isn’t a genius anymore.”   “I would define synchronous as a lazy form of communication, which lacks documentation and produces an environment where 10 years down the road, you've got all of these people that are doing things but have no idea what they're doing or what goal they're serving.”   “Inside remote organizations, there is a digital paper trail for everything, because you're forced to actually produce that.”  

Steven Miller is a Senior Growth Manager on Uber’s product team, co-Founder of startup ChatSight, and an angel investor in early stage technology ventures. Steven wants his work efforts to have impact as so many young employees do—he is a “Zillennial” on the cusp of Millennial and Gen Z generations. Steven offers his and his friends’ views and learnings from experiences at multiple startups and large corporations about emerging realities and preferences—the new what, why, where, when, and how of work—sought by younger cohorts of workers.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [03:10] Steven’s own early approach to learning.   [03:44] Studying finance, software engineering, and social entrepreneurship, Steven was also interested in having impact.   [04:14] Steven focused on outcomes and productivity not work for the sake of it.   [05:12] Consulting and banking sounded like “busy work” without impact, so Steven started his own company based on artificial intelligence.   [05:42] Steven found it very rewarding to work on a high impact venture even if a moonshot idea.   [06:50] Friends on the entrepreneurship path tended to be happier and more fulfilled than those on the corporate path who were generally burned out.   [07:27] Impressions that corporate work is how you look like you are working rather than the impact you are achieving.   [08:33] Young employees in large corporations often feel disconnected from the impact they want to have.   [10:11] Steven has seen promotions given to leaders with larger teams resulting in unnecessary team expansion.   [11:25] Larger tech companies ballooned leading to lower profit margins and current layoffs.   [12:09] Startup dynamics contrast with few people, more ownership, and investment in efforts to collaborate and create impact.   [13:15] Side hustles are Millennials and Gen Zs safety net after growing up seeing their parents’ laid off, to improve their financial stability.   [14:08] Hardship catalyzed side hustle growth which also fulfills people’s desire to invest in themself.   [15:26] During the pandemic, the experiment of all remote work allowed interesting development of side hustles.   [16:30] The 40-hour work week is so old!   [17:08] Why outcomes are more important than hours in an output and knowledge driven world.   [18:39] It doesn’t make sense to timebox creativity.   [20:27] Reason 1 Young workers move jobs: I don’t want constraints when I can be productive WFH.   [20:49] Reason 2 Young workers move jobs: “Lifers” were shaken up with the recent boom to bust.   [21:54] The growth of the creator economy, gig work, and new classifications of employment.   [23:03] Steven’s views on the new type of struggle between labor and owners.   [23:43] Individuals have more voice and empowered to be more creative and not be forced into traditional occupations.   [25:35] Steven started at Instacart during the pandemic—fully remote (messy) onboarding!   [26:49] Learning to deal with ambiguity and chaos!   [27:22} How to be productive when working fully-remote - #1 Communicating well, especially in writing.   [27:39] How to be productive when working fully-remote - #2 Being organized.   [28:54] Remote/hybrid is a new game and you need to learn the rules to reduce friction.   [30:33] Steven shares experiences in startups and big tech companies, including rebuilding the Uber rides business.   [31:58] Mixed reviews for the back to the office moves, Steven recognizes that people do enjoy seeing their colleagues occasionally.   [33:05] Steven gives Uber empathy credits as they transition in 50 countries, hiccups are inevitable. [34:32] Governments should rethink the idea of “an employee”.   [35:52] What DO workers want (looking at balanced and nuanced viewpoints)?   [38:10] AI GPTChat essays are not very creative yet – perhaps C minus graded papers!   [39:50] Focusing on skills for the future—starting in early education—to develop specializations across many critical needs such as climate change, food insecurity, and energy insecurity.   [44:14] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Feed your curiosity engine and understand how the world works. Consider how your 9 to 5 job can give you a level of security and income while you explore other opportunities—a bifurcated approach can be valuable preparing yourself for an uncertain world.     RESOURCES   You can follow Steven on LinkedIn Twitter @realstevenmiler Chatsight Uber     QUOTES    “I do think that a lot of fundamental components of the education system are not well suited for this new world.”   “I'm not interested in doing work for the sake of doing work. I'm interested in outcomes and impact for the inputs and effort that I put in.”   “For a lot of corporations it tends to be more about how you look like you're doing work versus the actual impact that you have.”   “All humans want to know that their time is worthwhile in whatever situation or context that they're in.”   “The actual value that you bring to the world is your creativity and by nature creativity is a process you can’t really timebox.”

Sophie Wade, work futurist, Workforce Innovation Specialist, and host of this podcast, reflects on the past year and all that we have experienced and been adjusting to as we emerged from pandemic conditions. Sophie considers the wide-reaching effects of increased digitalization, changing customer behaviors, and evolving talent management dynamics and needs. She invites you to review your successes, sharing context and a framework for understanding what worked and why. She also encourages analyzing areas for improvement, identifying reasons and what aspects to focus on so as to have the necessary data and priorities to move forward with clarity and confidence in 2023.   KEY TAKEAWAYS   [00:44] Sophie prompts listeners to learn from your actions, reactions, and results in 2022.   [01:29] A recent history recap gives important context for reviewing the year and orientation for 2023.   [01:48] Extensive recent digitalization has changed the trajectory of our businesses for the long-term.   [02:55] Conditions have “normalized”, but our personal lives are more digitally facilitated.   [03:55] Pandemic-related technology integration forced beneficial and overdue modernizations in the business realm too.   [04:43] More adjustments or further redesign may be needed or worthwhile to take full advantage of digitally-based advances.   [05:36] To assess 2022, it is essential to recognize our current context and what is necessary to stay competitive.   [06:09] Who are your target customers now--how have their behaviors been changing over the past year?   [07:13] Sales – understanding achievements, issues, and overall alignment during 2022.   [08:19] Checking business fundamentals during a period of flux to confirm or make adjustments to operating practices.   [08:53] Most countries are now managing COVID19, but restrictions or issues continue elsewhere.   [09:50] What epiphanies did you have during the year eg relating to technology or supply chain management?   [10:56] Have employees been able to engage and perform well despite uncertain conditions?   [11:18] How has the Great Resignation affected your company, division, or team?   [12:36] Why Gen Zs’ and Millennials’ departures are useful to understand.   [14:03] Many people are questioning the role and meaning of work, and it’s not a bad thing.   [14:40] How many days a week different age groups want on average each week.   [15:36] The benefit of talking to team members considering or on the point of leaving.   [16:04] How any layoffs were handled in 2022 will likely affect workforce dynamics in 2023.   [16:36] Who on your team is engaged and how did you foster and support that?   [17:24] Whatever your results, how were they achieved and what learnings are relevant for 2023?   [18:12] Getting personal about business—respecting people’s experiences and reactions.   [20:02] Sharing our vulnerabilities can help us support each other beyond the pandemic.   [20:49] The importance of recognizing our new circumstances to prepare for the year ahead.   [21:57] Listening to other episodes during the break to gain wide-ranging useful insights.     QUOTES (edited)   “The Digital Genie is not going back in his lamp.”   “If your business is to stay competitive—with your customers and employees—it means recognizing the attributes of the current operational landscape and seeing your company on the new growth trajectory.”   “Do you feel that working conditions were healthy and encouraging employees to go above and beyond?”   “Business got personal in March 2020 and that human connection isn’t going away.”   “We have discovered what is possible and how we can and, yes, must work differently.”