Eat Sleep Work Repeat

This is the second episode this month about AI and the implications for our jobs.Two weeks ago I went along to a huge event run by Workday down in North Greenwich. Workday, their partners and their customers took to the stage to talk about applications of AI that are coming to their platform. As part of the event I was able to run a discussion with a couple of voices from the company who are helping businesses navigate the challenges that AI presents to us. Sign up for the newsletterMore about Workday ElevateI was joined by Jerry Ting. Jerry is the founder of Evisort and now teaches at Harvard Law School and is a senior leader at Workday. And the other contributor was Angelique de Vries Schipperijn, she's the EMEA president for Workday. The conversation was fascinating for me in a few ways, firstly we can be so daunted about what AI represents in our jobs and this seemed simple and easy to understand, but secondly because as I mentioned last week the conversations I got from the audience suggested that t

Sign up to the newsletterFirst of two episodes going deep on how AI is going to impact work - and therefore workplace culture and dynamics.This week is with Alexia Cambon from Microsoft. Alexia is Head of Research on Copilot & Future of Work. Last month her team released the Work Trend Index Annual Report. It’s one of the most important pieces of insight into how our jobs will change. Their previous reports have been interesting going deep into how people are experimenting with AI but this year’s is different. It articulates a version of work that most of us aren’t yet ready for.P&G research: Having an AI assistant doubles a worker’s output, proving as effective as having a real teammateAlexia mentioned that the research was performed by Karim R. Lakhani. The paper itself.Conor GrennanJaime TeevanMore about marathoner Katherine Switzer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"There's this concept called inbox zero, where everyone tries to get to their inbox down to zero. But I would suggest that a more noble pursuit is that of calendar zero".I chatted to Howard Lerman this week. I was blown away by this discussion - it captured exactly what is wrong about current work, and why back-to-back meetings are going to lead to many organisations missing the opportunity of this vital moment.This is an essential listen - about where work is imminently going and how Howard's philosophy is building his fascinating new product Roam to serve the company of the future.Explore Roam, follow Howard.Read all about the way that work is about to change in the newsletterThe AI 2027 predictions are the wake up call we didn't know we neededMicrosoft explains why we need to ready ourselves for the reinvention of workKonstantine Buhler on 'always on' Full transcript on the website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zach Mercurio talks about mattering Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The next two podcasts I see as a piece with each other, today is about meaning the next one is about mattering. Collectively I feel they present serious substance about the foundations of good culture.Read Meaningful Work Read the latest newsletterThere’s some overlap - the authors today,Tamara Myles and Wes Adams, have done research with next week’s guest Zach Mercurio. One of today’s guests Tamara Myles said one of the most powerful questions you can ask to measure engagement at work is to ask ‘does your manager care about what is going on in your life?’Today is about meaning, and I feel it gets to grips with questions of purpose. Why sometimes purpose doesn’t seem to create an impact in an organisation - and other times really makes it hum.The authors describe meaningful work as work that provides community, helps us contribute to something that matters, and challenges us to learn and grow.For full show notes go to the website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the newsletterSomeone posted on LinkedIn that the podcast had died. Or I had died. But he is risen! I'm back with a great discussion, powerful in its simplicity.Psychologists Dr. Patricia Grabarek and Dr. Katina Sawyer have created a guidebook for anyone who wants to make things better for their teams. In it they suggest that managers need to set the tone for our colleagues. Yes, of course I hear you say but it's so often something that the hectic buzz of work distracts us from.As workplace wellness is in decline they suggest that it's time for managers to step up and be the creators of great culture, even if that might be pushing against the tide.Leading for Wellness is out now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join 100,000 other workplace culture enthusiasts by signing up for the Make Work Better newsletterInterested in how skills could enhance your business? Check out the short film I made with the Department for Education.Get in touch with BruceWhat do your typos say about you?What's the right medium to build connection with your colleagues?How did Shopify and Netflix reinvent their communication?How can any of us navigate a bulging calendar and overloaded inbox?Professor Andrew Brodsky gives us a field guide to communications and tells how we should be rethinking how we message.Andrew's new book Ping is out in February. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Interested in how skills could enhance your business? Check out the short film I made with the Department for Education.Sign up for the newsletterToday's episode is an Avengers Assembled of podcasts about work. I join host Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis from the Squiggly Careers podcast, as well as Isabel Berwick from the FT's Working It and Jimmy McCloughlin from Jimmy's Jobs.We talk AI, asking payrises, RTO and much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Morris's book Tribal covers the codes that bond humans together. It has been shortlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year award 2024. It came runner-up to 'Supremacy' by Parmy Olson.He explains that humans are inspired by peer codes, human codes and ancestor codes when it comes to their behaviour - and he gives plenty of insight of how we could build more tightly bonded groups in our own teams.Make Work Better: Resisting the Enshittification of Work in 2024 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everywhere we look we see someone who is outraged - and plenty of that anger makes its way to the workplace. The last time President Trump was in power it led to employees becoming more active - who knows if the same will happen in 2025.Karthik Ramanna talks us through the way to deal with outrage - and the actions that any leader can take to make the workplace a better place. His new book is out now.More about the Edelman Trust index Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the newsletterTiffany Gaskell outlines coaching as a route to transformational leadershipTiffany Gaskell is the co-author of Coaching for Performance, the top-selling guide to coaching first published by Sir John Whitmore the inventor of the discipline.It's curious to consider that there was a founder of coaching, and Tiffany takes me through the history of the practice, how it took hold and where it is today.There's a key consideration about the modern manager given to us by the Gallup Global Workplace Report, 80% of those who are engaged with their jobs say they've received direct feedback from their manager in the last week.This is a powerful insight but also poses a huge challenge - how can any of us find the time to observe and then feedback to every worker in our team. Tiffany explains that this is where a culture of coaching comes in, transferring the burden of observation from the manager to facilitating a socratic questioning approach. You can follow Tiffany on LinkedIn and the book is ou

Subscribe to the free Make Work Better newsletterBrigid Schulte is a journalist and writer who brings a reporter's ear for stories to her exploration of modern work.Over the course of a decade Schulte has talked to people about the impact their jobs has on their lives - and has explored any hope that we might be able to make this better.Her new book, Over Work and paints a hopeful image of how we might fix the toxic elements of our jobs.One of the examples is about Intel, who in 2013 experimented with a new initiative styled Freelance Nation to bring some of the upsides of gig work to a professional knowledge work environment. It proved hugely successful and yet they decided to scrap it.Buy Over Work Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colin Ellis is a consultant and author who spends his time working with organisations to improve their culture. He's turned his attention to why some companies go bad in a new book Detox Your Culture. He talked me through what has gone wrong at the likes of ITV's This Morning, the CBI, The Ellen Show and Boeing.Sign up for the newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the newsletterHow can any of us build a more effective team?Owen Eastwood is one of the world’s most in demand performance coaches, with a focus on team culture & leading. Owen has worked with some of the most successful sporting sides in the world. He also works with corporate teams wrestling with similar themes.Last year I talked to Owen about his work on belonging and identity but I wanted to pick his brains on the biggest challenge for modern leaders - how to build a stronger team.Buy BelongingFollow Owen on LinkedInOwen talks me through his step-by-step approach to building better teams - starting with the toughest starter question that most teams never tackle.takeawaysDetermine whether a team is necessary for the desired outcomeClearly define roles and expectations within the teamRecruit talented individuals who can contribute to the team's successEstablish effective communication channels within the teamConsider the challenges of being part of multiple teams in the corporate world

Sign up for the Make Work Better newsletterHow important is a happy workforce? According to Mark Price, the former boss of Waitrose, it's the main thing that leaders should be thinking about. Make your workforce happy and the profits will follow. Mark's new book is Happy Economics.To prove it Mark cites his experience running the supermarket chain, when with a goal of workers happiness he made it the fastest-growing, most profitable supermarket in the UK.The original purpose of the John Lewis Partnership, as laid out by the very same John Lewis , was to uphold the happiness of the people who worked inside the organisation.Mark's new book is Happiness Economics. Mark's book makes the assertion that the quickest way to business success is to focus on creating happy employees.This is genuinely a brilliant listen - and one that you might benefit from reading the transcript of - you can get the transcript here.While I got real value from the book, I actually found the conversation even more enlightening. It challe

This episode is part of the Presence project: Presence: Fixing culture starts with your calendar, not your officeYou might think an episode about improv comedy might be a stretch for a podcast about making work better. But in fact as Kelly Leonard explains today the skills of improv comedy are the most important ones that will determine our success at work. Kelly helps to run Second City, the world's famous famous improv comedy club - he believes that improv skills can teach us about what we need in work going forwards. ** TRIGGER WARNING ** includes one brief mention of poetryCheck our Kelly's book Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is part of the Presence project: Presence: Fixing culture starts with your calendar, not your officeIn the 2000s a book called Fish! A remarkable way to boost morale and improve results became a bestseller. A small book, it was often used by companies accompanying a video of the same name. Together the two told a story of the culture of the fish market in Seattle, a noisy, bombastic place, but a place that was filled with joy. I first encountered Fish when a firm came to pitch to me when I was working in publishing. They told me that their culture was Fish. There are a few things that stood out from it. The idea of intentionally designing culture isn’t new but this seemed to be explicitly linking culture, emotion and mood. There were 4 principles of FishPlaybe theremake their daychoose your attitude Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is part of the Presence project: Presence: Fixing culture starts with your calendar, not your officeThis is the second episode about rituals - the first one is next to it in the podcast feed, it's an interview with Kursat Ozenc about how rituals can be used to create culture. This episode goes into real life examples.Claudia Wallace talks about Crisp Thursday (Connection)Andy Puleston talks about Pizza Meetings (Connection) and Leaving Speeches (Change)Dan Pink talks about Friday Night Experiments (Creativity)Biz Stone talks about Hack Week at Twitter (Creativity)Dr Heidi Edmondson talks about Ten at Ten (Performance)Heidi has a wonderful new book out - Darkness in the City of Light You can also hear the original episodes that each of these extracts came from by click the links above. I have to say that those whole episodes are worth revising. For example, Andy Puleston talks about how effective the culture was at Radio 1 when it was a series of affiliated tribes and he articulates the role that

This episode is part of the Presence project: Presence: Fixing culture starts with your calendar, not your officeKursat Ozenc is a product designer who he teaches at Stanford university, He teaches on the subject that we can all learn from which is the idea that culture can be designed. The specific tool he uses to design culture is the creation of workplace rituals. Kursat's Substack newsletterKursat's first book is here and the second, on virtual meetings is here.The reading list for Kursat's course is hereKursat’s book includes the suggestions that: ‘The rituals in our life show what we care about’. Critically then creating rituals demonstrate what our culture values.Kursat gives five use cases for rituals: For changeCreativityPerformanceConflictCommunityIf you like this episode you'll also like the episode that accompanies it - which goes into depth about specific rituals that companies have used. Listen to that episode here.A full transcript of the episode is at the website. Hosted on Acast. Se

Flow is the state of being in which people become so immersed in the joy of their work or activity “that nothing else seems to matter.”Presence is to be in a flow state of connection with others.Here’s the last discussion about the Happiness TrackSign up for the newsletterEmma’s new book SovereignHBR: The Best Leaders Have a Contagious Positive EnergyHBR: Proof That Positive Work Cultures Are More ProductiveToday is the first of series of podcasts about an idea that needs more consideration in our workplaces. The idea of presence.Emma Seppala is a psychologist and lecturer at the Yale School of Management – she also runs the Women’s Leadership program there. I first spoke to Emma about 6 years ago when I came across her book the Happiness Track. The hypothesis of that book was in many ways the sweet spot of this podcast: the notion that if you make workers happy then they do their better work. Emma had a new book out this week called Sovereign and it felt like a great reason to have a new conversati