At Work with The Ready

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.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Matthew Barzun, Author and former U.S. ambassador, discusses his new book and the concept of shifting from pyramid thinking to a constellation mindset. They explore the symbolism of pyramids and constellations, challenge the idea of hierarchy in leadership, and emphasize the importance of meeting structures and needs. The conversation concludes with a discussion on power and freedom in organizations and where to find more information about the guest's work.

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 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.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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/sludgeLearn more about Cass and his work here: https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10871/SunsteinOur book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com