What Works

In this podcast, the hosts discuss the concept of cold pitches and their experience with receiving them. They delve into the irrelevance and dishonesty of these pitches, while also exploring the evolution of email inboxes. They emphasize the importance of warm pitches and wrap up by introducing their podcast 'Coldpitch' and sharing links to their projects.

Tania Luna, an expert on power and its role in the workplace, joins the podcast to discuss power sharing and its importance in the future of work. The hosts explore the different perceptions of power across cultures and contrast it with Western notions of coercion and control. They also delve into the concept of power over versus power with, emphasizing the inefficiency of operating in a power over paradigm. Additionally, they discuss feminist solidarity, questioning power dynamics, and advocating for power sharing, interdependence, and freedom.

This podcast explores the undervalued skill of moderation in the 21st-century economy. It discusses the role of moderation in shaping user experience and challenges faced by social network CEOs. It highlights the demand side of social media and the dehumanizing labor of content moderation. The podcast also explores the role of moderators in online communities using Reddit as a case study. It emphasizes the impact of location and online communities on access to opportunities and rights. Lastly, it calls for a better business model prioritizing human connection and inclusivity.

In this bonus episode, Sean introduces his new project: a weekly call-in prerecorded pep talk. He discusses overcoming stubbornness, rediscovering the joy of cycling, and the importance of seeking help.

This is the 6th installment of Strange New Work, a special series that uses speculative fiction to explore radically different work futures.Find the work you were born to do. Do what you were meant to do. Discover the work that makes you feel alive.We've all heard these messages. Crack open any career, self-help, or personal development book on your shelf, and you're sure to find a similar message. It seems pretty convenient that our "purpose" in life is work, doesn't it? In this episode, I unpack the "made for work" message, take it to its logical sci-fi ends, and draw on a key idea in the sociology of work to consider how we might shape the next 40 years into something more humane.Footnotes:"If you 'don't dream of labor,' should organize for socialism" by Caitlyn Clark for JacobinEmbassytown by China MiévilleTranslation State by Ann LeckieThe Terraformers by Annalee NewitzThe New Spirit of Capitalism by Eve Chiapello & Luc BoltanskiLove What Works? Become a premium subscriber for just $7 per month. Your subscription helps make my work sustainable and gets you access to twice-monthly This is Not Advice episodes, quarterly workshops, and more. Click here to learn more and preview the premium benefits! ★ Support this podcast ★

This is the 5th installment of Strange New Work, a special series that explores how speculative fiction can help us imagine radically different work futures.Think the future of housework looks like Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons? Or maybe just a fleet of Roombas keeping every inch of a house free of dust or dirt? Think again. Housework is ready for a much, much bigger disruption. Of course, housework is rarely portrayed in pop culture space cowboy science fiction. And when it is, it's all about the high-tech solutions to trivial issues like making dinner or scrubbing dishes. But many quieter (and more constructive) speculative stories do consider how housework might evolve in a completely different direction.How we restructure housework—domestic and reproductive labor—is key to rethinking how we approach the future of all kinds of work. How we live impacts how we work. And how we work impacts how we live. And this episode is going there.Footnotes:Frances Gabe's Self-Cleaning HouseAfter Work by Helen Hester and Nick SrincekA Closed and Common Orbit by Becky ChambersEmbassytown by China MiévilleToo Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer"What Communes and Other Radical Experiments in Living Together Reveal" on The Ezra Klein ShowEveryday Utopia by Kristen GhodseeThe Perennials by Mauro Guillén"The demographics of multigenerational households" via Pew ResearchRecord of a Spaceborn Few by Becky ChambersA Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk and Robot) by Becky ChambersA Spectre, Haunting by China MiévilleCan't Even by Anne Helen PetersenLove What Works? Become a premium subscriber for just $7 per month. Your subscription helps make my work sustainable and gets you access to twice-monthly This is Not Advice episodes, quarterly workshops, and more. Click here to learn more and preview the premium benefits! ★ Support this podcast ★

Charlie Gilkey, an expert in speculative fiction and its relation to social and professional norms, discusses the harms of imperialism and how supremacy culture forms the basis of professionalism. They explore indigenous futurism and challenging Western systems, as well as the importance of team habits in creating inclusive work environments. A thought-provoking episode on imagining new ways of working.

This is the third installment in Strange New Work, a series that explores how speculative fiction can help us imagine the future of work. Today's work happens in tiny slivers of time. And we try to optimize each minute or hour for all its worth. But remarkable work? Well, that takes time. And lots of it. The kinds of work that are central to our evolving economy—care work, maintenance work, creative work—require more time rather than more optimization. In this episode, I consider how viewing work through the long-term lens can help us reimagine projects and systems in a way that's more just, equitable, and beneficial for all involved.Footnotes:Find out more about Jordan Maney Follow Jordan on Substack and InstagramFind out more about Joanna L. CeaGrab a copy of Beloved EconomiesThe Terraformers by Annalee Newitz"How to Build a Planet" on Our Opinions Are Correct"The Seven Practices" from Beloved EconomiesThe Parable of the Sower & The Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler"A Few Rules for Predicting the Future" by Octavia ButlerLove What Works? Become a premium subscriber for just $7 per month. Your subscription helps make my work sustainable and gets you access to twice-monthly This is Not Advice episodes, quarterly workshops, and more. Click here to learn more and preview the premium benefits! ★ Support this podcast ★

This is the 11th edition of This is Not Advice, a "not advice" column for premium subscribers of What Works. In this episode and essay, I tackle the assumed quid pro quo that's at the heart of content marketing. It's that quid pro quo that causes us to see the ideas, information, and stories we share online as a favor that demands something in return—follows, subscriptions, and sales. When we say, "I'm tired of sharing all this stuff for free and not seeing sales in return," we're hinting at the quid pro quo beneath the surface.Enjoy this excerpt from the larger piece or, to hear the whole thing, go to whatworks.fyi and upgrade your subscription for just $7 per month!View the original post here. ★ Support this podcast ★

This is the second episode in my new series, "Strange New Work." Artist and writer Morgan Harper Nichols is a world-builder. She says, "Worldbuilding, for me, [is] a form of expansive hope—a necessary imagination for being alive." What is world-building? It's the process of creating secondary, fictional worlds. There's world-building in all sorts of fiction—but especially science fiction, speculative fiction, and fantasy.And world-building as a practice—a necessary imagination—can be a tool for mapping a better work environment, too.Footnotes:Find out more about Morgan Harper Nichols on Substack, her website, and Instagram.Read the piece that inspired this conversation.The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley RobinsonN.K. Jemisin on world-building on Wired and LitHubTo Write Love On Her Arms"What is capitalist realism?" by Tara McMullin, featuring Iggy PerilloEvery episode of What Works is also shared as an essay at whatworks.fyi—become a free subscriber to get weekly posts delivered to your inbox or upgrade to a premium subscription for access to bonus content and quarterly workshops for just $7 per month!All of the books I mention in this series are in the Strange New Work Bookshop list. ★ Support this podcast ★