Synopsis
A lively weekly podcast about happiness and work culture. Hosted by @brucedaisley. Logo by @emmahopkins
Episodes
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Could laughter be the root of good culture?
17/02/2019 Duration: 32minIf you’ve not already subscribed there’s a weekly email that goes out with the podcast. This week's includes a brilliant article on how small teams seem to be more radical, there’s a couple of discussions about Professor Adam Grant’s work and there’s a really good article on laughter in teams.The laughter in teams article is from some research that NASA is looking at when it comes to casting their first expeditions to Mars. NASA looked at the success of different teams in isolation in Antartica. And it seemed that when there is a joker in the team, someone gifted in the art of lightening the mood it helps the overall morale of the team. I found this one fascinating, in The Joy of Work i talk about the successful Cambridge Boat race team in 2008 whose performance was transformed from a losing practice tie to winning boat race performance when they promoted a funny colleague to the boat. They felt that even though this wasn’t the best performing athlete they all felt themselves to be in a better mental state wh
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Free extract of The Joy of Work
05/02/2019 Duration: 26minThanks to Penguin Random House here's a free extract of a couple of different parts of The Joy of Work.You can buy the full audiobook here.: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Cal Newport preaches Digital Minimalism
28/01/2019 Duration: 53minThis episode today is magnificent – you’re really going to be stimulated and challenged by it.Today’s episode is with someone I contacted 2 years ago to discuss his previous book. Cal Newport’s Deep Work was a simple avocation of the process of using uninterrupted concentration to get things done. He’s now back with a new book about taking the same principles beyond work into life. It's a guide for achieving happiness by being more intentional in how you use technology. Some might call it a manual. What follows here is a sensational discussion with Cal - Digital Minimalism is out next week. I heard someone say recently that if you hear a new idea and its not shocking, its not really new. On that criteria this is really new. You’re going to find it mind expanding. Maybe you’ll disagree with it but it will leave you thinking for hours afterwards. Cal believes we should eliminate email. He thinks we should stop being connected to 100s of people on social media. He thinks we should distinguish between s
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Long hours and loneliness - fixing workplace misery
21/01/2019 Duration: 29minThis is a podcast about making work better. You can find all of the previous episodes on the website.Here we go, two little things today to make you feel more brainy. It’s Blue Monday in the UK today - the day when we’re told it’s the most miserable day of the year - when we hate our job. By listening to these experts you’ll have some guidelines how you can make work better. They give solutions but I think once you listen to the data you’ll work out what to do yourselves.Firstly something that might not seem directly connected to people in work initially but it’s about loneliness. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Brigham Young University. We start talking about the problem of loneliness in society and we go on to consider how loneliness is growing in work.Next I wanted to talk to two researchers who have set about investigating if working long hours - or working harder leads to greater workplace success. The authors of the paper are the brilliant Argyro Avgoustaki from ESC
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Apps, algorithms and your next job
14/01/2019 Duration: 46minIf you're looking to get a job sometime in the next decade - and that includes almost all of us - there's a very high probability that you're going to be exposed to a psychometric test. As they become enhanced by AI and made more scaleable via apps these tests are going to go everywhere. So what are the implications for what work is going to look at.This episode I'm looking into the evolving nature of recruiting and how its changing to accommodate the latest science and also innovations in technology. Firstly I'm going to get my hands dirty testing one of the new evolving candidate testing apps that are starting to emerge. Then I'm chatting to Rich Littledale and he is a chartered psychologist who previously worked at a leadership consulting firm and now helps start ups with their strategic people challenges.Buy The Joy of WorkFollow Rich LittledaleRead more about PeopleUp - Rich's firmSign up for Eat Sleep UpdatesJust a reminder that all of the episodes are live on the website Eat Sleep Work Repeat.Rich Litt
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Evidence Based Management - Rob Briner
07/01/2019 Duration: 01h09minBuy The Joy of WorkFollow Rob BrinerSign up for Eat Sleep UpdatesRob Briner is an professor of organisational behaviour at London Queen Mary’s University - he's rated the top HR thinker in the UK. This is a brilliant chat. Very much essential listening for anyone interested in HR but also worth listening for those of us who sit thinking ‘what do HR actually do?’ or what should we do to improve things round here.We talk about ‘evidence based management’ - which you can find out more about here: The Centre for Evidence Based Management. I’d researched it but he explained it way better. He ends up giving me his take on work culture and lots lots more. Rob outlines some of the pitfalls that any of us make when we set about fixing work. He also explains the challenges of psychology - discussing something called 'the replication crisis' about large scale studies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ideas, innovation & work (the police episode 2)
13/12/2018 Duration: 01h03minPre-order The Joy of WorkFollow Stevyn ColganSign up for Eat Sleep UpdatesFollowing up the discussion with Andy Rhodes this week it's a second episode about the police. My original plan was to edit both of them to get one episode about the profession but both were too good to chop up. So I want to flag that It's kind of about work culture but also kind of just a brilliant chat with a fascinating person. Consider it as a box set with the other police episode. When it gets into its flow it covers dog shows, walking buses and all manner of brilliance.Stevyn Colgan joined the police after a bet from his dad - which he explains. I was put on him by our last guest Andy Rhodes who told me about ways they used dog shows to reduce the tension on council estates. Rather than chop it down to just cover the way that Stevyn led innovation in the workplace I've just left it intact. He's too interesting for me to butcher the chat.Stevyn is the perfect example of a multi level life via his illustrations he became friends wit
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The police: decision making under pressure - life in a high stress job
11/12/2018 Duration: 45minPre-order The Joy of WorkFollow Andy RhodesSign up for Eat Sleep UpdatesThis is the first of two episodes on the police this week. One on dealing with stress in 'blue light' professions, one on how to be creative in stressful environments.Andy Rhodes is the Chief Constable of Lancashire - and has responsibility for the wellbeing initiative in the UK police force. He talks through the challenges of policing under pressure. What do you do to stop police profiling people they encounter? The answer starts with how you treat them at work. I think you'll be inspired with the lead that Andy is taking.To hear more about the evidence based approach to wellbeing in the police go to the Oscar Kilo website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Adam Kay - This is Going To Hurt
03/12/2018 Duration: 30minPre-order The Joy of WorkFollow AdamSign up for Eat Sleep UpdatesWe’re talking work culture in different ways for the next few episodes. The next two episodes after this are in the police force. But today’s guest is the best selling author of the year - Adam Kay. This is Going to Hurt : Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor has sold over a million copies. It’s also won the readers’ choice book of the year this year. So there’s a chance you’ve read it and if so you will love the discussion with Adam Kay because he takes us into the working environment in hospitals. If you’ve not read it I could not recommend this beautiful, funny, principled book more. Adam explains in the book that the title Junior Doctor is a touch misleading - everyone who isn’t a consultant is titled a junior doctor. He is successful comedy writer who wrote the book 7 years after leaving the health service after a terrible terrible day at work. He wrote it because he found underpaid overworked health workers being politicised by the vampires w
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How painting the walls pink changed a culture
26/11/2018 Duration: 56minHow can painting the walls of a company change their culture? We explore with Jez Groom today's guest.An episode this week on behavioural science. It was prompted a little by discussions with Seth Godin and others. It was thinking can you change the culture in organisations by the way you engineer choices available to people - and I’m speaking to a behavioural scientist about these things.First a bit of background - we discuss a reading list in the show and I’ve included it in the show notes but it’s worth giving you an intro. One of the best books I love on behavioural science is YES by Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin and Robert Cialdini.In that book they spend chapter after chapter going through how the language that we use to invite people to do things has a big impact on what they subsequently do. TV shopping channels used to say ‘operators are waiting to take your call’ but they realised that that language made customers envisage rows of idle call handlers waiting for any sucker to buy something. So they ch
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Seth Godin - reinvent your culture
13/11/2018 Duration: 53min(sound fixed) Seth Godin has been one of the world's freshest thinkers since before the internet was on solid food.After a first career packaging books, he then rose to his own fame creating permission marketing.His blog is many people's favourite stop on the web bus route picking up a million passengers every day.We use his latest book This is Marketing as the model to bring to reinventing your workplace culture. What's the way to use his influence strategies to improve your job?The chat is brilliant and goes everywhere. Clearly Eat Sleep Work Repeat isn’t a marketing podcast but everyone can learn something from Seth.Contact the show podcast@eatsleepworkrepeat.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Unlocking workplace creativity - Teresa Amabile
05/11/2018 Duration: 46minContact the show podcast@eatsleepworkrepeat.fmThis week's episode features the iconic Teresa Amabile - she's a professor at Harvard Business School. Originally educated and employed as a chemist, Teresa received her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University.If you're interested in her work this YouTube clip is a great start point.Before the chat with Professor Amabile we talk through the news in work culture this week. Here's the explosive article on Netflix:WSJ on NetflixWSJ on Google's walkoutsYou can pre-order The Joy of Work at Amazon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Alive at work - Dan Cable
22/10/2018 Duration: 37minDan Cable is the author of the life affirming and brilliant Alive at Work - one of the most inspiring visions of what work could look like. The discussion covers big themes of purpose and motivation but brings simple practical tips. What are the simple things that any of us could do to our induction processes at work? How could we encourage our teams to bring their selves to work.I mention two articles. One by Sarah O'Connor in the FT and this one by Josh Hall about compulsory wellness.You can get in touch with Bruce here on Twitter. All of the previous episodes are available on the website EatSleepWorkRepeat.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jeffrey Pfeffer: Dying for a Paycheck
15/10/2018 Duration: 38minToday’s guest is regarded as one of the most influential management thinkers in the world largely because he considers themes and human behaviours that others avoid discussing. Jeffrey Pfeffer is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He’s author of books like Management BS, Power and most recently Dying for a Paycheck and it’s the last two books that we mainly discuss in today’s chat.Read Dying for a Paycheck and PowerJeffrey mentions this New York Times article about the stress of someone in the legal profession.His book Power has become a global best seller largely because it is a manual for the Machiavellian. It’s a modern day version of Niccolò Machiavelli’s 16th century book The Prince. It’s not that Pfeffer believes this is what we should behave like to be our best selves but rather if we don’t behave like this we’re going to be exploited.In the course notes for Jeffrey's stanford class on power he says that "insufficient sensitivity to and skill co
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The Good Jobs Strategy
08/10/2018 Duration: 53minRead more on the Good Jobs StrategyPre-order the Joy of WorkIf you like this the easiest way to get it is to subscribe on Apple podcasts - give us a rating while you’re there.Zeynep Ton is a Professor of Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.She studies the retail sector and the way that some firms have invested in paying more and doing more for their workers. She studied firms like QuikTrip, Trader Joes, Mercador in Spain - she found that firms that treat their workers better achieve better results. Quik Trips profit is double the retail average - all of her firms are more profitable and show consistent growth. And this is work that needs doing in 2012 The Independent reported that only 1 in 7 British supermarket workers earned a living wage. We’ll talk about how they make their jobs happier but the key parts are they make some key decisions upfront (1) offer less (2) standardise and empower their teams (3) they train their workers to do all of the jobs and (4) they operate with sl
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Adam Grant - Optimism about work culture
30/09/2018 Duration: 48minProfessor Adam Grant is the most important business writer in the world - a man who says his study is focussing on how to make work suck less.Adam is author of books like Give and Take, Option B, Originals, he's also the host of a chart topping podcast on work culture called Work Life with TED.Adam Grant has been Wharton’s top-rated professor for seven straight years - his books have told over a million copies .Give and Take examines why helping others drives our success. Originals explores how individuals champion new ideas and leaders fight groupthink; Option B, with Sheryl Sandberg, is a #1 bestseller on facing adversity and building resilience.For more about Bridgwater read here http://uk.businessinsider.com/bridgewater-ranked-employees-by-performance-2018-3The full episode is live on the website: eatsleepworkrepeat.fmPre order The Joy of Work Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Testing the New Work Manifesto
02/07/2018 Duration: 35minAround 12 months ago myself and Sue Todd created the new work manifesto. It was an attempt to start the debate about simple things that we can change. You can find it on the podcast website eatsleepworkrepeat.fm.It's had a briliant response, research companies have asked to help validate it, different professions like doctors and police have been in touch asking if they can adapt it for their working. Lots of companies have told me they've been trying it out with their teams.One person contacted me and offered to share the experience and learnings of the New Work Manifesto in their team. And that was Tom Kegode. I went down one lunch time a few weeks ago to meet Tom and his team at Lloyds Bank Group. Tom is an innovations programme manager who has helped share the new work manifesto across LBG.You're going to hear discussion of various parts of the manifesto and the way that people at Lloyds are trying to make work more positive and enjoyable. Round the table were Lloyds employees Sam, Kate, Miranda, Ver
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Bringing purpose and autonomy to work
19/06/2018 Duration: 34minTwo practical case studies this week. Businesses who have pulled back the curtain to show how they brought Purpose and Autonomy to life. Brilliant examples of companies trying new things and having success from them.Rachel Bremer is the Communications Director at ASOS. She talks about how they re-energised 4000 young, ambitious employees to keep the business on an incredible growth path.Laurie Young is the Development Director of Thoughtbot. He explains that they made one change that allowed them to get 5 days work done in 4 days - and what happened next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Mental Health & Work - Emily Reynolds
04/06/2018 Duration: 44minI've wanted to do an episode on mental health for months. But to be honest I've felt really conscious of messing it up. I ended up chatting to the best journalist who writes about it and she suggested that we talk about it.Emily Reynolds is one of the sharpest writers in the UK, writing for publications like Vice, Wired, The Guardian, Stylist. Incidentally she also writes about mental health. Her book 'A Beginner's Guide to Losing Your Mind' is a very readable take on the realities of all sorts of mental health conditions.We talk about how MH impacts those who experience it, how people around them should take account and far more.Also along the way we discuss Emily's blog post 'An Incomplete List of All of the Men In The Media Who Have Wronged Me' which got consumed in the #MeToo movement.Follow her on the internet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Making work more stimulating with side hustles - Emma Gannon
31/05/2018 Duration: 42minLots of listeners have been hitting up my LinkedIn saying how can we make work better if we don't have a full-time permanent job. Emma Gannon might have the answer to their needs.Emma is a podcaster, writer, broadcaster, blogger... in fact she's the perfect example of the freelance, multi-hyphenate lives that more of us are living in 2018.A She describes how we can build careers out of freelance living and side hustles. How sometimes we can inspire ourselves and our own creativity with the things we do when we're not doing our main jobs.Emma's podcast, Ctrl Alt Del is a phenom and her new book The Multi-Hyphen Method is out now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.