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Sign up for the free newsletterDoes political discourse have a place in the workplace? What is going on Basecamp? A truly dazzling discussion with Megan Reitz, Professor of Leadership and Dialogue at Ashridge Executive Education – part of Hult International Business School. I got in touch with Megan when I saw her articles about Basecamp, Coinbase and political activism at work. Along the way we discuss Jonathan Haidt and whether Gen Z’s are softer than previous generations. I reference a discussion between Jonathan Haidt and the very first guest of the podcast Richard Reeves. Haidt’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is an intoxicating spell. It tells you really clearly why young people are softer now than previous generations (and that argument would be all the better if it were true).Firstly, in depth coverage of the specifics of the Basecamp issue.Then, Megan’s articles: what is your response to employee activism? Part twoWhy employee activism needs to feature in your HR strategyThe Douglas Adams quo

Amazon announced its earnings last week - and saw its share price hit a record high. Announcing that they’d surpassed 200 million Prime members was just one of the milestones that the company was able to celebrate in a blowout performance. The company’s sales - no doubt helped by a captive audience trapped at home in a pandemic - rose by 44%, a growth clip that would seem impossibly high for a 17 year old firm if we hadn’t seen Apple’s revenue grow by 54% two days previously.The interesting difference between Amazon and many of the tech brands that we’re surrounded with is that much of their innovation comes from within. For sure we all use multiple products by Google, but the search company bought YouTube, bought Android, bought what became Google Maps, bought Waze, bought Nest, bought their self-driving cars business, bought DoubleClick ads, and also bought lots of things that are now sitting in the where are they now? file like Fitbit and Motorola. Sure we know that Facebook own Instagram (bought in 2012),

This week I chat to Elizabeth Uviebinené, Financial Times columnist and the iconic author of Slay in Your Lane about her new book The Reset. With Slay (‘The Black Girl Bible’) she proved that she could sell huge amount of books to audiences who weren’t represented by mainstream books, but The Reset takes aim at work, society and a whole lot more… and it aimed at anyone! We have a fun and sparky discussion (including talking about the LinkedIn heart attack guy).Sign up for Make Work Better newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the newsletterRutger Bregman’s Humankind was my favourite book of 2020 and it comes out in paperback next month. A brilliant read (that also works wonderfully as an audiobook) it will appeal to fans of Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens or anyone who wants a provocative, thoughtful summer read.To mark the paperback release I spoke to him about universal basic income, the way that we've worked in lockdown, and why we turn our backs to lots of evidence that humans are innately kind, decent beings.Rutger's brilliant book Humankind is out in paperback in May 2021. For a full transcript of this interview go to the website.Rutger mentions he's written recently about the end of neoliberalism - you can read that here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the newsletterTwo discussions today about big stories in the news. Firstly I chat to senior features writer at The Economist about his brilliant special report on work. Callum wrote the special report on work in this week's Economist - you can find it here.Then I have a discussion with CEO and podcaster Dan Murray-Serter. Dan runs his own start-up, Heights.We talk about three articles:What Gen Z workers want from their bossesI've learned to never treat my work like a familyLockdown mental fatigue is revived by social contactThese and of the articles I find relevant to how work is changing are included in the weekly Make Work Better newsletter - sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the newsletterKim Scott is the straight talking author of the phenomenal hit Radical Candour. Now she's back with a huge new book that's set to be equally as impactful.She joined me with business partner Trier Bryant to discuss themes of diversity, workplace bias, bullying and harassment - and what any of us can do to stamp it out. Along the way we go into plenty of specific examples that will help you think about issues like this in your own workplace. We also get real talking about why standing up - even to good people - is an important thing we all need to do. There are some good stories in this episode!Kim's new book is Just Work - available now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the newsletter What a guest today. I've tried to speak to Professor Robin Dunbar for 4 or 5 years.Robin has a new book out called Friends which is the sort of book you can lose yourself in on a holiday (if anyone lets you have one). I enjoyed it for surprising me and going beyond what I already knew.So reliant are human beings on our social collaboration that it has been suggested that our bodies have evolved the feeling of loneliness, an alarm system that aggressively resists isolation. Many other animals don’t have anything close to this — some mammals and birds actively seek isolation, spending weeks and months alone aside from rituals of mating and raising their offspring - something that Robin Dunbar and others have demonstrated is a reflection of brain size. Robin Dunbar ‘spent the better part of twenty-five years studying the behaviour of wild animals’ - mainly monkeys, goats and antelopes. He wanted to understand social evolution - why species had the social systems that they have develope

A recording of a Twitter Spaces discussion with Scott Galloway. We talk remote working, why cities will never die, why working hard is Scott's top career advice. Along the way we talk about the power of touch, Goldman Sachs, missing humans and what will come next for work.The Twitter Spaces app also blings a lot too, sorry about that. I've edited about 200 of them out.Scott's book Post Corona is a bestseller.Sign up for the newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Buy A World Without EmailI’ve talked a lot about Cal Newport’s provocations about abolishing email (and Zoom calls) [find them here and here]. And in fact, I had someone last week astonished when I suggested we should try to limit video calls to eight hours a week. They thought I’d lost my mind. How would we get things done unless we were on video calls all day?This default to video and emails is what Cal Newport calls the Hyperactive Hive Mind. He’s convinced that we’ll look back at the way we’re working right now and be embarrassed we optimised for what was easy rather than what was productive. Cal outlines how we should be setting about to fix work - by changing our relationship with technology.It is a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant provocation that is unique to him and I think will give all us reason to reflect. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pre-order Conflicted now - available from 18th FebYou can also read Ian's post on Paul McCartney that I mentioned on the show and follow him on Twitter here.What's the route to better decision making at work? What can any of us do to ensure we resolve our disputes in a more productive way. A brilliant discussion with Ian Leslie about his forthcoming new book, Conflicted. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Subscribe to the newsletter of the podcastA couple of things for you. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned here but I’ve done a new Audible Original podcast/audiobook called No Office Required. It is free. In December I spent a long time contacting a wide range of people from the likes of the author of Solo, Rebecca Seal through to futurists, psychologists, architects to find out the most effective way to do remote working. Like I say it’s free if you’re an Audible subscriber. I love audiobooks, whether just to break up the cycle of podcasts or because the escape into a novel can be really satisfying. If youre interested in getting going in the shownotes I’ve listed some of my favourite recent listens as inspiration.A free download of my new Audible Original here - No Office RequiredFor those who aren't audiobook fans some inspiration on audiobooksIf you want to write a book here's my guide.Secondly I was on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast. I’ve listened to a lot of his podcasts - he was the founder of the So

Sign for the newsletterWhat's going to happen with our workplaces.Today the theme is how, if we're not careful the way that we're using our workplaces is going redefine our work culture.At the start there is discussion about some of the themes in the most recent newsletter and then go on to chat to Nick LiVigne from Convene. Convene are a coworking/events business that allows you to adapt your needs to the minute-to-minute demands of your business - they have been very successful in the US and are coming to the UK in 2021.Nick explains how they see coworking evolving - and what to look for next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the Make Work Better newsletterThere is no better guest to kick off 2021 than Amy Gallo.Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review writing about workplace dynamics and emotional intelligence. She is co-host of the wonderful Women at Work podcastShe's is the author of the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict and gave a hit TEDx talk on that subject in 2019.On the Women at Work podcast, Harvard Business Review staffers Amy Bernstein, Amy Gallo, and Emily Caulfield untangle some of the trickiest problems that women face at work. They talk to some of the sagest advisors on gender, they tell stories about their own experiences, and give practical advice to help women succeed at work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the Make Work Better newsletter.How the heck did we end up thinking that humour and serious work are in opposition to each other?Today's guests, Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas, run a tremendously successful course at Stanford Business School on how we can all use humour to be better (and happier) at our jobs.One of the people they have coming along to guest speaker at their course is Dick Costolo, Dick was my former boss as CEO of Twitter (and hired me to work there). He had an unorthodox background spending his post college years initially trying to make it as an improv comedian at the legendary comedy club Second City in Chicago (alongside people like Steve Carrell from The Office). I mention it because it comes up in conversation. In my first three months at Twitter I had an excruciating embarrassing episode with Dick, he was coming to London and was doing an event for us. I'd lined him up to be in conversation with Rory Sutherland. His assistant told me that I should get to his hotel for br

Sign up for the newsletterSeth Godin has cracked the secret of how to make you more creative. And the good news is that everyone can do it. He was so dogged by his need to share this that he has turned it into a book, The Practice. We talk about the simple way to unlock creativity and ask why schools don't teach this. At the end Seth gives his recommendations of the best things you should be reading (linked below)Seth's blogMy previous interview with Seth - How you can reinvent your company cultureSeth's recommendations:The War of Art by Steven PressfieldThe Art of Possibility by Rosamund Zander and Benjamin ZanderJust Kids (audiobook) by Patti SmithCaste by Isabel WilkersonAkimbo courses Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the newsletterThere was an incredible response to the episode with Chris hayward last week. I know that Chris was really touched with the response. He’s not on Twitter but I know he was responding to some people on Linkedin last week. Today’s episode is much lighter in tone but it’s fascinating rare opportunity to get a different perspective into another world. During the summer someone at GCHQ got in touch and asked whether it would be of interest to get an insight into the modern world of spying and intelligence. I’ve been very fortunate that since I’ve been doing this podcast I’ve been invited to M15, to M16 and inside the SAS so I was delighted to go inside GCHQ. Especially as I was allowed to record it and have one of the first interviews with someone inside GCHQ. GCHQ (government communication headquarters - as its never known) was created in 1919 after the first world war as a way to gather intelligence to assist the British Government and UK military.It’s always had a unique

WARNING: INCLUDES THEMES OF SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION"I walked up and down Tottenham Court Road looking for a lorry to throw myself under"An episode going deep on mental health today. I chat to someone who has been brave enough to reveal their own breakdown and how they got to the verge of suicide. In a recent piece of research Deloitte surveyed 1000 UK employees, 55% say their colleagues are just as productive but 38% say that lockdown has had a negative impact on their wellbeing. Not long ago Chris Hayward was named the number 1 media buyer in the UK by industry bible Campaign, he was responsible for buying advertising campaigns for some of the best known brands in the world. An unfortunate accident made Chris's health take a turn for the worse and before anyone could notice he was spiralling through exhaustion and isolation into a very dark place. In this incredibly candid conversation Chris explains how he felt, how he's learned to cope and what he would say to others in his position.Support if you're feelin

Sign up for the newsletterToday's episode is for anyone who is curious about how human's tick. Work ultimately is a practice of the brain and how our brain processes and reacts to things is a fascination to me.I have a friend who is studying neuroscience and a couple of years ago at someone's wedding I was chatting to him and said 'who should I be reading?' and he said the best voice in the field was a psychologist called Lisa Feldman Barrett. Sure enough I looked her up and her book How Emotions Are Made was dazzling and brilliant. it covers themes of understanding emotions.One of the things that Lisa believes is that we don' t arrive programmed with emotions, we learn them along the way. The more emotions we're taught to understand the more we can feel. In her book she says people who read fiction books and learn to appreciate nuance of emotion end up feeling a wider range of emotions. She has a new book out. How Emotions Are Made is several hundred pages and her new book 7.5 Lessons About the Bra

What a truly wonderful conversation you're about to listen to today. Mo Gawdat is an expert on happiness and today's episode is a combination of philosophy and science - and it never fails to be stimulating to listen to every step of the way. This podcast used to be about happiness and work culture. And about 4 years I saw a captivating clip by Mo which went viral everywhere on the internet. I contacted him and finally here we are. Mo Gawdat was formerly the boss of Google X, the company's innovation lab, now he is one of the most respected thought leaders on how we can find happiness in our lives.Links mentioned in the show: Joe Biden's climate plan (I love this site Bloomberg Green btw their daily Green email is brilliant).Listen to Mo's podcast. I'm on this episode.Follow Mo on Twitter/Instagram.Here's Mo's original viral clip if you want to share it - YouTube/Facebook/TwitterMo mentions the most successful artist Romero Britto - here's his work, he wasn't kidding about his work being simplistic. Hosted on

"When I moved to New York City, I realised what it meant to be truly lonely for the first time. I had no consistent community — people who would wonder where I was if I didn’t show up. I was disconnected. At the time, I thought that I was the only one who felt this way… but I was VERY wrong.Turns out, loneliness is a huge issue in the United States. The average American only has one close friend, and 75% of people are not satisfied with their friendships".Jillian Richardson found that one of the most relatable things that any of us can do is confess to others that we're lonely. Freshly arrived in Manhattan she found the paradox of big cities is that we can be alone while surrounded with others. Her response was to create the Joy List - a list that once set about connecting people across New York with other like minded individuals and now sets about connecting anyone virtually.The Joy List has become a phenomenon recommended by Esther Perel, Priya Parker and many more. She's also the author of Unlonely Planet.