At Work with The Ready

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: slap bracelet MC Hammer pants Blossom, TV show School of Industrial Labor Relations Clerky LegalZoom "organizational debt" "business judgement rule" DAOs: BNW Ep. 96 with Chase Chapman 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

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.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'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.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

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.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comOur book is available now at bravenewwork.com

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.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

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: murmuration of starlings GitHub sociocracy holacracy participatory change async work: At Work With The Ready Ep. 7 Clippy, the Microsoft Office assistant Five whys regret minimization framework 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

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.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'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.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

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: "IDM-ing": BNW Ep. 43 Loom Tony Robbins "escape room in Charleston" Oculus Quest (now the Meta Quest) Spacial Beat Saber 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

Explore the dynamic world of self-management, where mastery and collaboration fuse in unique ways. Discover how personal craftsmanship shapes workplace success, with insights drawn from performers in Hamilton. Delve into the complexities of skill evaluation and the nuances of expertise, addressing the Dunning-Kruger effect. Learn practical strategies for navigating cross-functional teams and enhancing communication, while emphasizing the importance of outcome-oriented mastery and continuous learning.