The Smith Business Insight Podcast Meredith Dault

Covid set in motion huge changes to the world of work. The dawn of artificial intelligence is adding a new dimension of uncertainty. But some things will stay the same: “People will still be crying out for high quality leadership, for autonomy, a sense of belonging, for fairness, for growth and development, for meaning and safety.” In the final episode of this podcast series, guest Julian Barling, author of Brave New Workplace, takes a stab at divining the future by looking at how workplaces have handled major disruptions in the past, and offers his wish list of research questions that he hopes will be answered in the years ahead. Dr. Barling is joined in conversation by host Alan Morantz.

From nurses to museum guards, we are all chasing work that is absorbing and purposeful. But it can be an elusive goal given the way many jobs are structured. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be such a struggle. In this podcast episode, guest Julian Barling, author of Brave New Workplace, discusses the small measures organizations and individuals can adopt to cultivate meaning, the warning signs of people who are too attached to their jobs and the lessons we can learn from those who excel at jobs most of would rather not do. Dr. Barling is joined in conversation by host Alan Morantz.

Workers can forgive a lot of management sins as long as they some control over the work they do and where they do it. Yet leaders either have a blind spot or fear giving their employees greater autonomy. In this podcast episode, guest Julian Barling, author of Brave New Workplace, discusses how to calibrate the level of autonomy depending on the worker, the importance of combining autonomy with training and support and the rising importance of “locational autonomy.” He is joined in conversation by host Alan Morantz.

Around 1,000 Canadians die each year because of safety incidents or occupation-related disease, a figure that vastly underestimates the true toll of workplace accidents. Podcast guest Julian Barling, author of Brave New Workplace, discusses how the hard-hat image of workplace safety limits our understanding of the issue, the role of unions in limiting safety incidents and the measures organizations can take to keep workers out of trouble. One the world’s top organizational and leadership researchers, Dr. Barling is a Distinguished University Professor and Borden Chair of Leadership at Smith School of Business. He is joined in conversation by host Alan Morantz.

A tsunami of studies has revealed so much about what makes for effective leadership, yet so much remains unknown. Our guest, Julian Barling, author of Brave New Workplace, brings us up to date on what the research says about transformational leadership, the power of small actions, the potential and limits of management development and the pall that abusive leaders cast over workers and their families. One the world’s top organizational and leadership researchers, Dr. Barling is a Distinguished University Professor and Borden Chair of Leadership at Smith School of Business. He is joined in conversation by host Alan Morantz.

It’s been said that innovation is a team sport. If that’s the case, you want teams optimized for innovation: people willing and able to take on multiple roles, comfortable living with creative friction and flourishing in 360-degree feedback. That’s a tall task. With these types of innovation teams growing in popularity, what can we learn about how they work cohesively?


This episode, our guest is Nusa Fain, an assistant professor at Smith School of Business, where she specializes in entrepreneurship and innovation management. She is also Director of Smith’s Master of Innovation and Entrepreneurship program.


Nusa Fain is joined in conversation by host Meredith Dault.


Also this episode, Smith Business Insight’s Alan Morantz looks at what the evidence shows about shared leadership. His segment cites the following research:


Sanfuentes et al; What lies beneath resilience: Analyzing the affective-relational basis of shared leadership in the Chilean miners’ catastrophe, Leadership, 2021, Vol. 17(3) 255–277


Robert, Lionel P. and Sangseok, You; Are You Satisfied Yet? Shared Leadership, Individual Trust, Autonomy, and Satisfaction in Virtual Teams, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Volume 69, Issue 4, April 2018, 503-513


Aube, C. et al; Flow Experience in Teams: The Role of Shared Leadership, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2018, Vol. 23, No. 2, 198–206


Sinha, R. et al; Shared leadership and relationship conflict in teams: The moderating role of team power base diversity, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Volume 42, Issue 5, June 2021, 649-667