The New Way We Work

On this episode of Secrets of the Most Produtive People, Scott Mebus, VP of video and podcasts for Fast Company and Inc., shires his longtime battle with getting enough sleep with co-host Anisa Purbasari-Horton. Some of his issues include a long commute, having a son who is an early riser, and the day-to-day stress of modern work life. He spoke to Dr. Janet Kennedy, psychologist and founder of NYC Sleep Doctor, about what we can all do to get a little bit more shut-eye.Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts

Winning a Formula 1 race is about more than pure speed. Drivers, pit crews, and team managers need to make hundreds of decisions in the blink of an eye, all while flying around a winding track at speeds up to 200 miles per hour. For decades, those decisions were driven by instinct and experience. But modern Formula 1 races are increasingly driven by technology and information, with teams analyzing massive data sets to uncover advantages that can mean the difference between standing in the winner’s circle and coming up a few milliseconds short. Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, knows more about what it takes to lead a winning Formula 1 operation than almost anyone. In this episode of Productivity Confidential, we talk to Horner about staying cool under pressure, how data has revolutionized racing, and what it takes to keep a winning team hungry.

Secrets of the Most Productive People returns in February 2020 with Season 4. In the meantime, make sure to catch up on episodes you might have missed on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week's episode is all about YOU. On this bonus episode of Secrets of the Most Productive People, Kate and Anisa answer your most pressing questions about your career, the workplace, and all those other awkward job-related topics.Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts

Doctors and nurses have to remain productive under pressure. Their decisions are quite literally life-and-death, and quick access to patient data is vital to making informed decisions about patient needs. For years, that data was managed on pen and paper, but the recent revolution in healthcare data has fueled a technology-driven revolution in how healthcare providers do their jobs. On this episode of Productivity Confidential, we talk to Dr. Anil Jain, chief health information office of IBM’s Watson Health initiative, about how data is creating a brand new frontier of care from state-of-the-art hospitals to rural medical centers around the world.

If you've ever attempted to meet an ambitious goal, you're probably familiar with just how difficult it is to change your habits. You're also probably aware of how much influence the mind has in determining whether or not you'll be successful in that endeavor. Some days, it feels like your brain corresponds with your body and your actions. Other days, it feels like they don't want to do anything to comply.In a bonus episode for Secrets Of The Most Productive People, recorded live at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, we hear from neuroscientist and Fast Company contributor Tara Swart, as well as author and behavioral designer Nir Eyal, as they talk about the relationship between our brains and our actions. We debunk misconceptions like the right brain/left brain concept and the (false) belief that you only use 10% of your brain.Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Productivity and creativity have always been talked about as if they’re two sides of the same coin. You could only be creative if you didn’t have to think about productivity and vice versa. Joe Brown, senior portfolio director at legendary design firm IDEO, thinks that conventional wisdom is faulty. Brown has spent years not only designing products but designing the systems in which those products live, and he’s learned that creating an infrastructure that separates your creative and productive work is less than the sum of its parts. In this episode of Productivity Confidential, we talked to Brown about where creativity and productivity meet—and how technology is making that convergence clearer than ever.

Once revered as a magical work-perk, unlimited vacation has become a polarizing debate among office dwellers. The concept that an individual worker can choose how much vacation they are allowed to claim has inspired passionate opinions on what’s appropriate for workers to expect, what a company hopes for in offering something so elusive, and why any of these opinions matter in the first place. On this BONUS episode of The Secrets of the Most Productive People, Host Kate Davis is joined by the VP of Video and Podcasting, Scott Mebus, to face each other head-to-head and defend their personal stance on unlimited vacation. Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

After years of fighting tooth and nail for it, the labor movement in America finally won the battle for the 40-hour work week. Workers were no longer expected to work day and night without fair compensation. It was a victory that changed the way we think about work, and the modern work week was born. That was nearly 80 years ago, and since then there hasn’t been much of a discussion about whether or not, with the rise of next-generation technology, it’s still a valuable guide rail for the majority of workers. But, business leaders are beginning to look critically at whether the traditional work week is worth maintaining with all the new technology available to keep employees engaged, and the results have been satisfying. On this episode of Productivity Confidential, we talk to Natalie Nagele, cofounder of Wildbit, about her mission to institute a 32-hour work week in her company and why sometimes the best thing you can do for a company’s success is telling employees to stop working so hard.

Of all the decisions that you'll have to make over the course of your career, one of the biggest is when it's the right time to leave a job? Like many career decisions, the answer isn't straightforward. As we discuss in this week's episode of Secrets Of The Most Productive People, some signs are more obvious than others. For starters, a toxic workplace is almost always never worth staying in. When a role or company no longer offers you the opportunities to grow, it might be time to look elsewhere. And when your job starts to impact other areas of your life in a negative way, you should, at minimum, assess the possibility of change.If you have a problem in your career or on the job hunt, tell us about it. Leave us a voicemail at ‪(201) 371-3278 or tweet with #FCMostProductive and we will find an expert to answer your question.Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts.