What Works Tara McMullin

This is the second episode in my new series, "Strange New Work."
Artist and writer Morgan Harper Nichols is a world-builder. She says, "Worldbuilding, for me, [is] a form of expansive hope—a necessary imagination for being alive." What is world-building? It's the process of creating secondary, fictional worlds. There's world-building in all sorts of fiction—but especially science fiction, speculative fiction, and fantasy.
And world-building as a practice—a necessary imagination—can be a tool for mapping a better work environment, too.
Footnotes:

Find out more about Morgan Harper Nichols on Substack, her website, and Instagram.
Read the piece that inspired this conversation.

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
N.K. Jemisin on world-building on Wired and LitHub

To Write Love On Her Arms
"What is capitalist realism?" by Tara McMullin, featuring Iggy Perillo
Every episode of What Works is also shared as an essay at whatworks.fyi—become a free subscriber to get weekly posts delivered to your inbox or upgrade to a premium subscription for access to bonus content and quarterly workshops for just $7 per month!
All of the books I mention in this series are in the Strange New Work Bookshop list.


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The future of work doesn't have to be an extension of today's reality.
This is the first installment in Strange New Work, a new series from What Works about imagining radically different ways of working and doing business.
In this episode, I take a closer look at speculative fiction and its role in the collective imaginary. Is science fiction all space operas and apocalyptic battles? Not hardly. Science fiction isn't really about the future. It's a commentary on and reimagining of the present.
Footnotes:

All of the books I mention in this series can be found here.

No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara

The Jewel-Hinged Jaw by Samuel Delaney


"The Epistemic Value of Speculative Fiction" by Johan de Smedt and Helen de Cruz
"Sci-Fi Idea Bank" by Packy McCormick
Ursula K. Le Guin in conversation with The Nation on YouTube

Vauhini Vara on Amanpour and Company on YouTube

"The Measure of a Man" Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 2, Episode 9)
Each installment in Strange New Work is published in essay form at WhatWorks.FYI
Love What Works? Support the show and my work by becoming a premium subscriber for just $7 per month. Learn more!


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Join Tara McMullin for a journey into the far future of work, and consider how we can create more humane, inclusive, and supportive work environment. The first episode of Strange New Work drops September 14! 
You can find Strange New Work wherever you listen to podcasts—and each new episode will drop in the What Works feed, too!
Support the show at: whatworks.fyi Strange New Work is brought to you by What Works with Tara McMullin and YellowHouse.Media.


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Today’s episode is a sneak peek of Work In Practice, my new 12-week training program for guides of all kinds. This program offers a toolkit for identifying the beliefs and stories that make a more sustainable relationship with work possible. If you’re a coach, consultant, manager, or trainer who works with people rethinking how they work, this is for you.
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"Anyone can succeed if they work hard and apply themselves!" That's the voice of meritocracy.
Unfortunately, that sweet, encouraging voice can easily turn to "If anyone can succeed if they work hard and apply themselves, why aren't you working harder?!"
Meritocracy sounds great when you're on the side of opportunity. However, personal setbacks and systemic oppression can easily turn meritocracy into the voice of failure.
Footnotes:

Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard in Slate's Juris Prudence and on 5-4


Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom
"Leaving the Cult of Never Enough with Manisha Thakor" on What Works
"What is Capitalism Realism?" on What Works

The Meritocracy Trap by Daniel Markovits
"'The Meritocracy Trap,' Explained" by Roge Karma

Psychopolitics by Byung-Chul Han
Every episode of What Works is also published in essay form and delivered in my newsletter: whatworks.fyi
Work with me: I’m teaching a 12-week training program for coaches, managers, consultants, and guides of all kinds starting in September. The program is called Work In Practice, and it’s a deep dive into the social, political, and economic systems that impact what we believe about work.
Love What Works? Support the show and help me reach more people with assumption-busting ideas about work, business, and culture by becoming a Premium Subscriber. For just $7 per month, you get access to bonus episodes, full-length interviews, and quarterly workshops


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There are rules you know about—and rules you don't. Some rules are written down—and other rules are "just the way things are." And there are rules that make things clear to everyone—and rules that exclude through their lack of clarity.
Charlie Gilkey is on a mission to bring those unclear rules and unspoken agreements out in the open and improve the way we work in the process. His new book, Team Habits: How Small Changes Lead to Extraordinary Results, is both a treatise on better work and a detailed manual for achieving it.
In this episode, I talk with Charlie about how what seems obvious often isn't—and how that negatively impacts our work environments. We also talk about how to start changing things for the better.
This episode is one part of my longer conversation with Charlie! You'll hear more from him in my upcoming series, Strange New Work. Coming in September!
Footnotes:


Team Habits by Charlie Gilkey
Get the Better Team Habits newsletter on Substack
More about Charlie and the team at Productive Flourishing


The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
"White Supremacy Culture Characteristics" by Tema Okun
Every episode of What Works is also published in essay form and delivered in my newsletter: whatworks.fyi
Work with me: I’m teaching a 12-week training program for coaches, managers, consultants, and guides of all kinds starting in September. The program is called Work In Practice, and it’s a deep dive into the social, political, and economic systems that impact what we believe about work.

Love What Works? Support the show and help me reach more people with assumption-busting ideas about work, business, and culture by becoming a Premium Subscriber. For just $7 per month, you get access to bonus episodes, full-length interviews, and quarterly workshops—including August 24's Breaking the Self-Sabotage Cycle.


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Play, learn, work, retire—those are the four stages of what Mauro Guillén calls the sequential mode of life. In his new book, The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society, he proposes a new story for moving through life. It's a story that actually reflects the facts on the ground—rather than our grandparents' idea of what life was supposed to look like. 
In this episode, I talk with Guillén about his research and his vision for how life, learning, and work could be different. 
Footnotes:


The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society by Mauro Guillén
Find out more about Mauro Guillén
Every episode of What Works is also published in essay form and delivered in my newsletter: whatworks.fyi
Work with me: I’m teaching a 12-week training program for coaches, managers, consultants, and guides of all kinds starting in September. The program is called Work In Practice, and it’s a deep dive into the social, political, and economic systems that impact what we believe about work.

Love What Works? Support the show and help me reach more people with assumption-busting ideas about work, business, and culture by becoming a Premium Subscriber. For just $7 per month, you get access to bonus episodes, full-length interviews, and quarterly workshops—including August 24's Breaking the Self-Sabotage Cycle. Upgrade your subscription today!


★ Support this podcast ★