Punk Rock HR

Ben Brooks was THE guy in HR. He had it all, but then he left it all to became an entrepreneur. Today Ben and Laurie talk about how coaching, whether it’s with a coach or on your own, can help you fix yourself AND your work. Not sure what life coaching is or why it matters? They’ll answer these questions and more in today’s episode. Ben talks about this ‘arranged marriage’ to corporate America, and how it really didn’t fit with his ideas of innovation and making things better. In fact, one of his peers told him point blank: he had outgrown a 50,000-person company. Ben shares what a gift that message was. Ben took a little time before beginning his journey into entrepreneurship, and what finally changed his mind about it was a name tag. Would he choose unemployed, entrepreneur, or employee? After a week among entrepreneurs, Ben realized he’d found his tribe. Ben did what a lot of new entrepreneurs do: he started without a real business plan. He reveals what he learned about business plans, what his first little while was like, and when things finally took a positive turn for him. He shares his thought about generalist advisers, and what he says will surprise you: you don’t absolutely NEED to be in a niche, not in today’s world. Ben talks about what he calls ‘democratizing coaching.’ In a nutshell, it means getting coaching to more people, when they need it, and at prices they can afford. He explains why he was driven to do this rather than set up a $500/hr coaching practice. Ben’s revelation about group coaching surprises Laurie, and it will probably surprise you, too. One of the problems Ben ran into with Pilot, his coaching company, was that people loved it but they believed their company should pay for employment coaching. So he turned to companies, and while many of them won’t invest in it, there is a distinct group of forward-thinking leaders who have, like those at MetLife. Do you need a business coach? Before you answer, listen to what Ben has to say about it. He likens it to marriage counseling. If you’ve ever been fired or left a job, are you able to see past your emotions and understand what really went wrong? Are you able to fix it for yourself? The answer may not be to start your OWN business, because if you aren’t able to fix yourself, entrepreneurship won’t do it for you. According to people smarter than us, one of the biggest factors of happiness at work is self-advocacy. Ben and Laurie discuss what that means and why it seems to be more difficult for women. They also reveal what to do to be a better advocate for yourself. Ben leaves his final message that everyone needs to hear: Take command of your career. It’s the tagline of his business, Pilot. He shares the inspiration behind it, and why it will change your life. Want to know more about Ben? Find him here:Pilot websiteFacebookTwitterInstagramLinkedInPinterestYouTubeThe DIY HR HandbookWouldn't you love to get your hands on Laurie's no-holds-barred, honest DIY HR Handbook for employees and pros alike? Download it for free!

Have you ever effed something up so badly you’re not sure if anything will get better ever again? Laurie has. In this candid, bonus episode, she shares her biggest failure – a product called GlitchPlan that was supposed to help you do pre-mortem on a situation. What’s that? Laurie explains the concept and talks about how she’d been doing it herself for a lifetime. It was a sure thing, or so she thought. Laurie explains what the concept of pre-mortem is and shares some very painful moments in her past where she was forced to use it to make life-changing decisions. It’s one of her core mantras: if you can see it, you can beat it. Laurie and her partner pulled together a team of 5, all of whom were experts, but all of whom were also employed elsewhere. Except Laurie. That was the first indicator of failure. Laurie talks about what her life was like being a CEO of a company whose employees weren’t engaged. But the employees weren’t the only ones to blame. Laurie talks about how she failed them. One of the next indicators of failure Laurie shares was that, in hindsight, if your tech team won’t even use what they’re building, there’s something wrong. Laurie was using it, though, and her pre-mortem problem lists weren’t being avoided. They were happening right before her eyes. In other words, she used her own product to watch its development fail. Oh, the irony. Laurie ended up firing part of her team, but she wasn’t finished with GlitchPath just yet. After some reflection, she brought together another set of people – and she has great experience as a recruiter. But she said something in her job ad that had people coming out of the woodwork to gripe at her. It was just two little words and it was the best thing she did during the entire GlitchPath experience. Version two of Laurie’s team was amazing. Except for two things. The team wouldn’t use it. Again. Laurie tells the story of development of a product no one wanted to use. The second problem? No one else wanted to use it. Laurie reveals the interesting reason why; it has to do with fear at work. Laurie’s third goal was to integrate GlitchPath into other apps and tools on the market: Slack, Asana, Basecamp, etc. Her two lessons there were 1) most companies use weird project management, and 2) none of those tool companies would every buy her out, which she had hoped for from the beginning. Laurie still loves the pre-mortem concept, but GlitchPath was a dead end. She brought her team together and killed it for the second, and final, time. She shares the big lessons she learned from GlitchPath, personally and professionally. Enjoy this bonus episode? Do you want more like it? We’re thinking about putting together a community where you’ll get all normal content PLUS juicy tidbits, stories, access to Laurie, and an inside look at how she’s fixing work. Let us know! Email us at hello@letsfixwork.com.

Maybe you despise work. Maybe you’re apathetic about it. Or maybe work would be bearable if it weren’t for that one co-worker who always… You get the picture. Most people aren’t passionate about their cubicles. We’ve had some interesting guests over the past few weeks, and today, Laurie shares her takeaways from those conversations and some of her own theories on how to fix work, starting with one very important thing: to fix work, you need to fix yourself. Stop living in your head and comparing yourself to others. You ARE going to face things like institutionalized racism, sexism, ageism and more, and that’s terrible. But you can’t let that force you into your own mental prison. If you’re going to fix yourself, you need to live in the present and live mindfully. You need to be an active participant in your own life. Scott Stratton, the author of UnMarketing, was Laurie’s first guest, and he was fearless in burning down his corporate career. The lesson to take from him is that when your job is killing your soul, you should burn down your professional life and build it back up again. You don’t have to do it like Scott did; Laurie argues for a slow, well-planned burn. We had another Scott next, Scott Santens. He’s known as the foremost thinker and speaker on basic income. It’s not welfare; instead, it’s a dividend. Companies hide profits overseas. They lobby the government for their own benefit, not yours. And the money they save isn’t invested in employees, not at all. Laurie explains how the basic income is needed, and why it needed now more than ever. People need to get fairly paid for their work, and that will only happen with wage transparency, both with employees and employers. Laurie challenges you to ask YOUR potential employers a series of questions that, while they might make them uncomfortable, you need to, and have a RIGHT to know. Jason Lauritsen was up next as a guest, and he and Laurie delved into what you can do to get clear on your goal for your work life. Sure, he hates work. But he doesn’t hate working. They talked about his evolution from cubicle to entrepreneurship and doing it the safer way. It all began with learning. Guest #4 was Amanda Hite, another of Laurie’s friends. Amanda has had an interesting life, and at one point, she had a boss who encouraged her to stay in the closet to advance her career. Really. Now that Amanda is a successful CEO, she wants people to be their whole selves at work, and she campaigns for employees to be heard and honored, even if it makes management a little more challenging. Tim Sackett was the next guest, and he is an expert on recruiters. Yes – the Jerry McGuire type of recruiter who fights to put the best talent in the best jobs. Except they aren’t usually like that. Some – or most – are shady paper-pushers who are only in it for the money. It doesn’t have to be that way, but since you can’t change the recruiters, you can be your OWN talent agent. Laurie explains how. Laurie had a careers reporter from Business Insider as her most recent guest. Áine Cain is the type of woman who breaks the barriers and smashes stereotypes for the next generation of workers in offices. From #MeToo to robot workers, Áine has an exciting breadth of knowledge from her role in Business Insider. She also thinks you should smash your own pseudo-science around generational thinking. Laurie shares what you SHOULD be thinking about instead. Are you interested in a ‘Let’s Fix Work’ community, where you can get freebies, early access to the podcast, interact with Laurie and guests? Are you interested in sponsoring the podcast? Let’s talk! Email us at hello@letsfixwork.com.As always, if you like the show, subscribe and leave us a review!

Wanna know why work sucks? Ask Áine Cain. She’s a careers and employment reporter for Business Insider, and her experience covering multiple workplaces gives her a unique insight into what makes a great – or terrible – place to work. From the #MeToo movement to the gig economy, and lotus-eaters to a robot invasion, Laurie and Áine talk about the current state of work and its future. Are there still great places to work? Yes, but don’t be lured by ‘perks’ companies. Áine explains what they are and why they create a culture of complacency and wasting away. According to a Gallup poll, nearly 70% of employees aren’t engaged at work, and naturally, these employees blame their managers. There’s an argument there to be made, but Áine points at two of the major themes she sees frequently, and it’s not managers. What makes a place great to work at? Áine has a lovely acronym to explain what companies are doing right. CCE – co-workers, compensation, engagement. She explains what each of them means. The #MeToo movement has been instrumental in raising awareness of issues at work, but you have to wonder: will awareness lead to long-lasting change? Laurie and Áine tackle that tough question with some anecdotes and insights that will change the way you think about the future of work. Yes, men need to behave better at work. But there’s a second change that needs to take place, and that’s in the systems at work. Laurie and Áine talk about how businesses can replace their antiquated systems. So at whose feet do we lay the burden of fixing work? Management, HR, employees? Laurie and Áine talk about where change needs to happen to make a great workplace, both the ideal and the realistic ways. No one wants to work in the ‘bro culture.’ Áine digs into why that mentality fails and what employees really want to become more engaged and invested in their job. From generational gaps to the advent of the internet, so many different things have contributed to the current job climate. You’ve heard the term ‘gig economy.’ But have you ever stopped to think about what it really is? Find out who is a real part of the gig economy, who it benefits, and whether or not it’s a good thing. We promised robots. Áine says they’re taking over. We’re probably not going to tell you something you don’t know, but you definitely want to hear what Áine says about how the robot takeover will probably mirror the industrial revolution in terms of unemployment. Laurie and Áine discuss some of the ways that can be prevented. Áine on Business InsiderTwitterLinkedInWe hope you enjoyed this episode! If so, please subscribe and leave a review! Let’s fix work, together.

Most recruiters are lazy. Things are broken, great talent is slipping through companies’ fingers, and no one is doing anything about it. Is it because they don’t want to, or because they don’t know how to? Today Laurie talks to ‘America’s Best Recruiter,’ Tim Sackett. Tim answers the most common questions he gets from talent recruitment managers including how he would fix recruitment for them. Laurie asks a very pointed question: can recruitment be fixed or does it need to be changed from the ground up? According to Tim, there’s no single answer. Maybe it’s just a tech or metrics measurement problem. Perhaps it’s the company’s brand or even their performance management. Tim dispels some major myths about why recruitment and retention are broken and it’s NOT candidate experience. That’s a made-up concept. So is employee experience. If you disagree, you need to hear Tim’s example from the movie Jerry McGuire. Are you the kind of boss you need to be? If so, the candidate and employee experience fall into line naturally. Do you have to be a great manager to be a great leader and vice versa? Tim’s answer to this question is very revealing, and if you don’t know the subtle difference between the two, there’s a very good chance you’ll find your talent problem there. Some leaders/managers do all the right things when it comes to ticking off boxes. But the big thing they’re missing is compassion, empathy. Tim is quick to advise against firing them or moving them to non-management positions. His pragmatic view might surprise you. Tim and Laurie diverge just a bit from the topic to talk about putting content out there into the world, how to do it when you don’t know how, and how to deal with the haters even if you’re from Gen X or before. This is advice you don’t want to miss because it applies to more than just putting your content online. Tim is releasing a book, The Talent Fix. In it, he addresses the major problems he sees when he works with companies. First among those is the belief that tech is the problem, not people. He gives his advice on how to deal with that issue right off the bat. Before you even ASK him for help. You’ve heard of the ‘days to fill’ directive for recruitment teams. Tim explains the breakdown of why that measurement fails and offers an alternative: the recruitment funnel. It works kind of like a sales funnel and at the end of it, if you have 10 candidates and you only want to interview 1 of them, you know your funnel is broken. Tim blows the lid off the truth about recruiters. They want that big paycheck but they don’t want to recruit. Instead, they want to be recruiting administrators, and Tim explains what that means, the ‘post and pray.’ In the same vein, Tim and Laurie talk about being mediocre or being exceptional at work. Where do you fall on the scale, and where do you want to be? Find Tim:LinkedInWebsite We hope you enjoyed this episode! If so, please subscribe and leave a review! Let’s fix work, together.

With all the wisdom out there about creating a great culture at work, you might think companies would have it well in hand by now. Unless you actually work in one of those companies. Creating a great culture at work isn’t as easy as it sounds. Sometimes it’s up to you to be the change you want to see. This week's guest Amanda Hite explains how to be the change at work. One of the best things companies can do is to treat their employees like humans who have lives, families, responsibilities, and interests. At the same time, knowing this can also open people up to other difficulties. Amanda shares the story of being offered a promotion as long as she promised NOT to talk about her LGBT lifestyle. When you look at different companies across the globe in terms of culture problems, you see themes emerge. Amanda shares some of these themes, the most prevalent being the generational gaps and how quickly the world is changing. The old regimes are threatened by the highly intelligent younger generation stepping in. Like it or not, we’re all embroiled in politics. It affects the experience we have at work, so Amanda shares a view you might not expect: what’s going RIGHT for work in regards to politics in America. In a world where information can go worldwide in a matter of minutes, issues in the workplace are brought to light and must be addressed by companies. Changes are made to culture because of it. Have you heard the term ‘weaponization of social media?’ As troubling as the reality of it is, it’s a fascinating concept. Laurie and Amanda talk about how the promise behind platforms like Twitter has changed into damage control, and how the younger generations will need to lead the charge to turn it around. In its current state, poverty is down. Life expectancy is up. Seems great, and it is. But trust is at an all-time low. From trust within organizations to trust between organizations and the public, Laurie and Amanda talk about where trust is emerging and how to foster it. So what happens when your workplace isn’t an actual workplace? If you’re in the freelance, gig economy, you don’t have an HR department. So what change can you actually be? Amanda believes that there are already innovations happening that are making it better. She shares some of her favorites. If you want to fix work, you need to start by fixing yourself. It’s a bold declaration that Laurie makes, and Amanda shares her own thoughts on how to fix work. She also shares how SHE’S fixing her own company and the experience her employees have. Find Amanda online:BTC RevolutionsTwitterLinkedInWe hope you enjoyed this episode! If so, please subscribe and leave a review! Let’s fix work, together.

Living wages are a topic of high controversy. Why should someone get paid just for being alive? How can society and business thrive in such an environment? It’s not as hard as you might think and some of the benefits are surprising. Today, Laurie talks with Scott Santens, a proponent of the living wage, and he’ll make you think twice about it. If you’re not familiar with the term ‘basic income,’ Scott lays it bare. It’s where you create an income floor for everyone, universally, that will cover their basic needs. This would remove the need for many welfare programs, but it would do so in a way that supports work. How is this possible? Scott explains the difference between welfare and basic income. He also talks about why welfare punishes you for working and how the people who truly need it are often overlooked. Basic income isn’t just a pipe dream. It’s already happening in one of the United States in the form of a yearly dividend. It’s one of the closest examples of Scott’s idea of basic income and he explains how it works. The most striking bit of data is how it’s increased employment. So who’s going to pay the basic income? Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates? Not entirely; basic income would remove the need for welfare programs, tax credits, and loopholes. He also talks about why figuring the cost of basic income isn’t as simple as multiplying the dollar per person by the number of people in the program. When you talk about redistributing wealth, you’ll hear arguments that the wealthy are being punished for being successful and similar. Scott defends basic income against many of the common objections, including how innovation and investment in America could be stifled by it. Laurie and Scott get to the heart of the matter: if you give people money to live, why would the bother going to work? Scott’s fresh take on the subject might change your mind if you’re against the basic income. The important part to remember is that while there’s a floor to cover your needs, there’s also no ceiling to what you can make. In addition to that, the ability to say no as a potential employee puts power in the employee's hands. It’s no longer an issue of being forced to take a poverty-level income. Scott talks about his experience living with a basic income, which he crowdsourced. What was the single biggest thing he gained, other than the money? Peace of mind and emotional stability. Imagine what $1,000 per month, per person in your household would free you up to do. Would you pursue your passions and do what you were meant to do? The last question is a doozy. What do you do with people who won’t contribute and only ever take from the system? Scott’s answer is priceless. It’s also backed up with science. It’s called the Einstein Effect. Find Scott Santens on his site, and on Twitter @ScottSantens. If you want more info on basic income, visit BasicIncome.org. We hope your enjoyed this episode! If so, please subscribe and leave a review! Let’s fix work, together.

Scott Stratten hated work. It was broken. So he decided to burn it all down and build it back up. How did he do it? By becoming unemployable. Join Laurie and Scott as they talk through his experience before and after burning down his career (multiple times) and what he did to make life and work better for himself. What can YOU do to burn down your career? Scott knew he wanted to be a speaker at age 12. For his 16th birthday, he asked for a textbook on HR standards because he realized that he could stand up for people through human resources. Pretty nerdy, right? Scott shares the story of when he was in HR for Goodwill and the ridiculous situation that made him realize he couldn’t do the job any more. It started with an employee stealing from Goodwill. That’s bad enough. But then she was given $5,000 to drop her grievance. Would you have done with Scott did? He went on to find another job training employees to sell bubble wrap, constant travel and ridiculous hours, which he quit with only 64 cents in the bank and a son on the way. His next job as an independent trainer didn’t go much better, but something happened that turned it all around for him. He created some viral content in the HR circle. Laurie makes a surprising observation about the American economy; the rug’s going to get pulled out from under us at any time. She asks Scott how he’s future-proofing himself and his business. Normally, business owners want to grow their businesses, but Scott’s answer will shock you. He’s willing to take a 50% cut in revenue. Not everyone wants to be a keynote speaker or online leviathan. Some people want to open frozen yogurt shops. Scott shares some sage advice on how to burn it down, or how NOT, to burn it down. The first piece of advice? Start building your other thing before you burn your current thing down. He even throws some ‘dad’ advice in there. You can find Scott just about everywhere; just search the term ‘unmarketing.’ You’ll also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.We hope your enjoyed this episode! If so, please subscribe and leave a review! Let’s fix work, together.

Jason Lauritsen hates work. It’s ironic that he is the one who tells companies how to fix work for their employees, and he’s pretty darn good at it. Some of the big topics Jason and Laurie tackle are the relationships, where change needs to start, and how to fix the situation you’re in right now. Why does Jason hate work? It’s simple. He can’t stand following leaders who have no idea where they’re going. Jason shares the personal problems he’s faced in dealing with employers versus in consulting. He also shares why many of his employers have offered him money to leave work. Work sucks for the rest of us, too. Jason has some very pointed reasons why this is so, and he puts words to what you’ve been feeling for a long time now. He provides some insights on why it’s happening, including the dissonance in how an employee sees work versus how an employer sees it: relationship versus contract. How many jobs have you had where your managers call the team a family but treat it like contract labor? While Laurie and Jason might have differing opinions on whether or not work CAN be a family-type situation, Jason has some interesting ideas defending the idea of family in the workplace. Laurie and Jason discuss a list of authors who are masters of psychology at work and similar fields; you’ll want to grab a pen and write these down: Dan Crosby, Dan Ariely, the Heath brothers, and more. Also, check out ‘What Color is Your Parachute.’ If you’re stuck at a dream and you aren’t sure how to make the jump into entrepreneurism, then you need to hear what Jason has to say about it. It starts with a pen and a piece of paper, but are you willing to take the step right after that? Remember, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, and Jason and Laurie explain how their hobbies became side hustles, which became careers. What does it take to do Jason’s job? He gives some tips on speaking, on being an entrepreneur, the precarious balance between content and art, and more. Resources mentioned: Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely What Color is Your Parachute Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath The Laws of Wealth by Dan CrosbyFind Jason:WebsiteTwitterFacebookYouTubeLinkedIn We hope you enjoyed this episode! If so, please subscribe and leave a review! Let’s fix work, together.