177 episodes
Brave New Work Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans
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- Business
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5.0 • 149 Ratings
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What’s stopping us from doing the best work of our lives? It’s the way we work. Whether you’re building a startup or reinventing a global enterprise, every day is a battle between chaos and bureaucracy. But, what if there’s a third way? Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans help teams all over the world discover a more adaptive and human way of working. Now it’s your turn. Each week, they’ll bring you a counterintuitive take on a common challenge at work—and you'll hear from guests who have been there and found their way to something better. This isn’t business as usual. This is Brave New Work.
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162. Live from SXSW: Busting Workplace Myths with Brian Elliott
You didn’t think we’d do our first-ever live show and let you miss the party, did you? That’s right, we’re coming in hot with a very special episode we recorded at SXSW on March 11th in partnership with our friends at Slack.
Aaron and Rodney hit the Slack Studio Live stage with Brian Elliott (co-founder of Future Forum, an SVP at Slack, and a friend-of-the-pod) to talk about the future of work and break down several myths that keep holding us back. Plus, we kept Austin weird with one our strangest check-in rounds yet!
We came prepared with our hottest takes (and not just because it was nearly 90 degrees) on these pervasive workplace myths:
The person who’s always busy is the person who’s most productive.
Compensation is the most important thing when choosing a new role.
If you aren’t at the top, there’s nothing you can do to spark change at work.
There’s no place for feelings in the workplace.
You can’t build culture if you’re not IRL at an office.
Bonus Content Alert! You might hear this episode and wonder…was this really recorded outside in front of a live audience?! It was (BNW tips its hat to Taylor Marvin weekly with good reason) and we have the goods to back it up. Head to our YouTube channel for the unedited version that features our faces and cheering crowds for the real-deal Brave New Work live experience.
Special thanks to Sparks for recording us live!
Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com
We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com
Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com -
Can Hybrid Work....Work? [Rebroadcast]
Rebroadcast Note: We’re still sleeping off a taco- and margarita-filled weekend at SXSW, so we’re resurfacing one of our most popular episodes today. While two years have passed since we first had this conversation about hybrid work (and much has changed since then), it’s an inescapable fact that many companies are still struggling (some quite publicly) with this particular new way of working. We’re planning on revisiting this topic later in 2023, so email us with your hybrid horror stories and any questions you’d like answered! [This episode originally aired on July 12, 2021.]
It’s a major question on many minds these days: When will the office reopen? Or rather: Will the office reopen? Different countries are in very different stages of heading back to physical workspaces (or not); in the United States, the prospect of on-premise work is inching closer as companies struggle to decide between three main models: fully in-office; fully remote; or…maybe some mix of both?
In this episode, we unpack why floppy hybrid models are doomed to fail, different flavors of creativity (that don’t rely on glass-walled conference rooms), and what the most adaptive path forward could look like.
Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com
We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com
Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com -
Brave New Work 101 [Rebroadcast]
Rebroadcast Note: Some things never go out of style, which is why we resurface this foundational episode year after year. Plus, our BNW community has grown by a few thousand new listeners since it last aired! If you’ve already heard this episode, check out our back catalog, leave us a review, or email the podcast to let us know what topics you’d like us to cover this year. If this is the first you’re hearing of “Brave New Work 101,” happy listening. [This episode originally aired on September 14, 2021.]
Today’s episode is a foundational survey class; we’re mapping the territory of the work we do, why we do it, what we’re all about—and why we’d love to talk to your boss. Whether you’re a systems design nerd like us or a newcomer who knows in their bones that work sucks but doesn’t have to, we’ve got answers to your big questions—about implementing self-management at your own organization; about assuaging fears of team effectiveness or brittleness; about leader’s becoming more power-literate and less ego-filled; and a whole lot more. So…how does this apply to you? We’ll put it this way: If you’re involved in a complex system with more than two human beings (spoiler alert: you are!), you’re already doing this work—and we’re here to help make it awesome.
Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com
We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com
Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com -
161. Going to the Talent Marketplace: Part 2
We’re back with part two of our conversation about talent marketplaces. Last week, Rodney and Aaron explored what talent marketplaces are and the types of organizational problems they can help address. (Pro tip: If you haven’t yet listened to that episode, hit pause and check it out now!)
This week, they’re moving past the big picture and getting into the nitty gritty of what makes talent marketplaces work…or not. It’s not just about how to move pieces around a chess board, but rather about disrupting old-school organizational power plays. Today, Rodney and Aaron take a closer look at:
What it takes to maintain a transparent marketplace that matches the right people with the right opportunities without resorting to shady, backroom dealings
How traditional performance management systems penalize (instead of promote) moving talent around
What experiments a company can try to give these principles a shot
How compensation works when people aren’t tethered to a traditional role with clear benchmarks or boundaries
Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com
We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com
Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com -
160. Going to the Talent Marketplace: Part 1
We’ve probably talked about the classic, old-school, hierarchical org chart hundreds of times on the show. Not because we love it (longtime Brave New Work-ers know it’s not really our jam), but rather because it’s one of the most recognizable organizational structures out there. Despite its everywhere-ness, the boxes-and-line org chart isn’t exactly an adaptive way to design an organization. So what’s an alternative?
Rodney and Aaron head to Hollywood (metaphorically) to explore a different structural model: the talent marketplace. Where org charts break, talent marketplaces bend—offering greater flexibility and resilience.
In Part 1 of this two-parter, Aaron and Rodney dig into the many benefits of talent marketplaces, the sticky problems they help solve, and what can trip up companies when they first move toward this model.
Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com
We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com
Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com -
159: Help Me Help You: What If Your Coworkers Came with Instructions?
We’ve all been there: trying to suss out what a colleague’s crossed arms meant during a presentation; reading between the lines on a passive-aggressive message; or struggling to interpret a perplexing emoji reaction (what do pineapples have to do with the budget?). We're all just doing our best at understanding our coworkers with little to no real information. That’s where a “User Manual to Me” can come in handy. These personalized handbooks can provide a helpful framework for others to better understand our behaviors, quirks, needs, desires, and working styles—if we commit to getting real when writing our own.
In this episode, Aaron and Rodney dive into how teams can make and use these manuals in a meaningful way, including:
Why it’s better to be “real” versus “aspirational” when filling one out
How you can dig deeper when you keep getting “polite” answers
Why user manuals are living documents that should be revisited over time
What we can learn about ourselves by making one
Additional “User Manual to Me” Inspiration:
Adam Bryant - New York Times
Brad Feld - Blog
Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com
We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com
Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com
Customer Reviews
A faciliatator must listen. Actionable listening and humanizing work.
I listen and love lots of podcasts but this is my very first podcast review. Why? This one is worth the effort. I share Brave New World episodes often. I borrow inspiration from the topics shared here to try to do better work in the world. I feel validated on my darker consulting days. And dare I say, listening to the hosts Aaron and Rodney’s hilarious transformation SME banter and dynamic makes for the most fun and familiar faciliatator debrief sessions.
[Check-in Question: what’s something that has inspired you recently? Answer - this podcast!!]
Must listen for anyone who cares about working better & smarter
Have been listening and learning for about a year now, and I’m constantly recommending to colleagues. Has helped spark a lot of interesting conversations and changes in my workplace and work. Rodney and Aaron are fun, witty, deeply knowledgeable and really, really good at creative metaphors.
Combating Imposter Syndrome with Brave New Work
TLDR; Brave New Work had a major impact on my life. These conversations between Aaron and Rodney entertain and delight me as they help to combat my imposter syndrome and salve my nervous system. Hearing them share publicly what I’m often thinking alone, gives me confidence in standing in my unorthodox thoughts and maintaining strong boundaries with my clients. I lean into not saying what I think the client wants to hear, but instead what will help them move forward. I’ve turned to this podcast in moments of pure rage, ultimate frustration, and painstaking doubt to remember the capacity for holding polarity with compassion is Brave New Work.
(Written in Durham, NC *woot woot*)