Organizations & Culture
Future of work mindsets: comparing full-timers, side-giggers and alternative workers
In March, I launched a 27-question assessment that asked people various questions across three main categories: Respondents were given 27 statements (full report here) and noted how strongly they agreed on a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being completely disagree to 5 being completely agree. With almost 100 responses, the data has ... Read more
Beyond Victimhood
If you look for someone to blame for something you are unhappy with, you will find it. Life is messy and people will wrong you. People will make mistakes. The future of work is about unleashing our minds from the role of victim. I spent ten years working for large organizations. If you spend significant time ... Read more
…and then what?
Yesterday I was having a conversation with someone who was a bit lost in their career. They weren’t sure what they wanted to do next but were quite certain about what the end goal would be: $10 million of assets. I asked the next question. “…and then what?” a pause. “well then I could do ... Read more
You Are A Person, Not A Business
Yesterday I participated in a twitter chat with Catalant, which is an amazing company that helps freelancers like myself find “gigs” at real companies. A couple of the questions asked of the freelancers: How do you differentiate your firm and the scope of services you offer? or What business #metrics do you use to measure ... Read more
Meaningful Work
I have been grappling with the idea of “meaningful work.” I have two questions I am thinking about: Should work even be meaningful or does pursuit of this crowd out meaning in other aspects of our life? Does this undermine the millions of people that may have no chance of “meaningful work”? I don’t have ... Read more
Conversation With Chelsea Seid of Marlow About Passion, Purpose & Meaning At Work
I had a conversation with the amazing Chelsea Seid, co-founder of Marlow – a coaching platform for companies, about what is happening in organizations. We get pretty nerdy and talk about passion versus purpose (and why passion is overrated), how to pursue mastery (but not too much), how to find meaning at work (hint: ... Read more
The Case Against Work: Ignoring enormous human suffering and potential
Is work the most important thing in our lives? When I was little I wanted to be a professional basketball player. My backup plan was to be an accountant, mostly because I liked math and thought my Aunt, who was an accountant, was cool. It seems bizarre reflecting back on this that I had such ... Read more
The Nine Future Of Work Mindsets You Need For The Weird New World of Work
The question “what do you do?” increasingly does not make sense. Five years ago, I would have said “I’m a consultant.” People really just want to know “how do you make money?” Increasingly, that question is coming to mean “what do you work on?” For me the answer is complicated — I create a podcast, ... Read more
Paying back $24,000 to my previous employer and the absurdity of bonuses
As I sat there on my couch holding my pen in my hand, I was pissed off. I had to write a check for $24,000 to my employer. I had not completed my third year of servitude and was obligated to pay back my full sign-on bonus and moving expenses. Any pretending that my last two ... Read more
Is “management” already dead?
Will modern “management” go down in history with antibiotics and soda as something that started out benevolent but ended up harming many people? As we shift to an economy in which creativity, compassion, and dare I say, humanity, are the way in which people and companies will win the hearts and mind of people – ... Read more