At Work with The Ready

Why can it feel tough to get people hype about self-management and the Brave New Work-ness of it all? How can we build buzz and momentum around new ways of working to get folks excited about playing and committing to an entirely different game? How can we meaningfully communicate these ideas to overcome the fatigue and fear that often accompanies big change? In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about the difficulty of introducing new mental models to those still swimming in the status quo and why it’s important for orgs to align and agree on the problems that need solving before leaping to solutions. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

This is the ninth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about how DAOs are thinking about leadership and why expanding the definition of leadership means expanding the number of tools at our disposal to build better and stronger systems.

This is the eighth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about the different reputational flavors and expressions that show up in Web3 (and all ecosystems for that matter) and the possibility that personal agendas can melt away when a system’s needs are clear.

This is the seventh episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about centralization’s downsides (it can create hurdles and sludge), its upsides (it can let people at the edges move quickly), and how a system can be deliberate about its tradeoffs.

[This episode originally aired in June 2021.] With his organization Sociocracy for All, Ted Rau is helping organizations empower their members, and put a spotlight on equity. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Ted about his book, Many Voices One Song, consent-based decision-making, and the challenges of getting the ball rolling with large orgs. Check out Ted's book here: https://www.sociocracyforall.org/mvos/ Learn more about Ted's work here: https://www.sociocracyforall.org/teams/ted-rau/ Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Have a young business or about to launch something new? This episode’s got your name on it. In today's episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans unpack some of the first moves worth making (and some they wish they’d made) when you’re standing at your org’s starting line to help you get clear on what’s truly fundamental and cut down on any wandering and waste. Defining purpose, establishing principles and values, sweating role clarity, distinguishing the urgent versus the important—that’s the critical work that goes into designing and refining a healthy OS from the jump. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

This is the sixth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about instantiating marketplaces as one way to enable greater resource-allocation, decision-making, collaboration, and cross-contribution within decentralized systems.

This is the fifth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about different mental models, choices, and mechanisms to consider when designing a compensation OS and why it can be tricky to atomize value in decentralized systems.

This is the fourth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about why anchoring to KPIs can run afoul of how value is actually created in complex systems and how data can be used to steer choices rather than to set objectives.

Ready for a wake-up call? Today’s episode of Brave New Work is all about conscious leadership—a way of showing up that asks us to be responsive rather than reactive, present rather than lodged in the past or the future, feeling-full rather than feeling-empty, and radically responsible rather than carelessly unaccountable. Sound hard? Exhausting? Wildly uncomfortable? It is. That’s why Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans called in Jim Dethmer, founding partner of the Conscious Leadership Group and co-author of The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership. They talk to Jim about why doing this self-work is so important, why transformational leadership depends on it, and how entire teams and organizations can become more self-aware. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

This is the third episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about the governance structures currently used in most DAOs and why transitioning away from a voting-based model and toward a consent-based model is a move worth making. The Principle of Agreements The Principle of Consent The Principle of Autonomy The Principle of Roles The Principle of Transparency The Principle of Teaming The Principle of Circles The Principle of Teaming

This is the second episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about some of the blurriness between DAO customers and contributors, and how to design and define roles inside these nascent communities so emergence can you-know-what.

This is the first episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs and host of the On the Other Side podcast. Each episode dives into a specific topic related to organizational design for Web3. Today, they talk about different proposal types, the best ways to structure them, and the critical info that should go into each.

Dear awesome listeners: You’ve been asking us great questions, so it’s high time we take a stab at answering them. That’s why we’re going back to the mailbag to address some of the big stuff on your mind, from impostor syndrome to AI’s place in the future of work to the risk of doing something versus the risk of doing nothing. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans get into all that and more...plus they cook up some excellent t-shirt ideas. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

If you won’t say it, we will: Making working agreements is dope. Doing so can give teams an equal opportunity to contribute; provide clarity where clarity is missing and causing friction; introduce new employees to an organization’s source of truth. We could go on. And because it’s not uncommon for us to hear, “But agreements can lead to inadvertent bureaucracy,” we did. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans are clearing the air on what the job of working agreements is, when they make sense, how they help teams pin down fundamentals to unleash creativity and go fast, and what could go in your own team’s agreement-making starter pack. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

If you’re like us, you’ve binged all of Netflix’s docuseries about Formula 1 racing. And if you’re like Ready member Jurriaan Kamer, you’re not only steeped in the popular sport, but also often thinking about its overlap with self-management and org design. Turns out that when you peer under Formula 1’s hood, you find provocative organizational lessons about requiring room for reflection, distributing authority, clarifying purpose, innovating alongside intense regulation, and accelerating change at lightning-speed. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Jurriaan about why modern businesses can use Formula 1 as a blueprint for efficiency and inventiveness and how he translated the sport’s organizational insights in his own business fable, "Formula X: How to Reach Extreme Acceleration in Your Organization." If you want to learn more about Jurriaan's work his book, check him out here: https://www.jurriaankamer.com/ An F1 car in 2000: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_F1-2000 An F1 car in 2021: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_SF21 Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Doing the accountability dance in the world of self-management, where everyone’s balancing a different portfolio of projects and priorities, can be tricky. When an initiative needs nudging, when a product needs launching, or when a gap in the system needs filling, who owns that work? Who should own it? And how does an organization create space for vision and ownership to emerge? Rather than force stuff to get done or let tensions surface at a hare-like pace, maybe there’s a third way that asks, “How are we showing up to this work and what clarity do we need about the roles we play?” Tending to that question can nurture an ecology of contribution—where the right participants with the right superpowers identify the right work to help steer the system forward. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans explore how to answer "who's driving the bus?" when there are no bosses to default towards. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

You’ve probably heard this advice before: “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” But missing from that laughably quaint maxim is the promise of a job ever loving you back. The “labor of love” myth sits at the heart of some of our most core beliefs about work. But the expectation that the place cutting our paychecks should be the same place giving our lives meaning isn’t an old one; it’s a pretty new conceit that’s come into focus as the shape of work itself has changed—demanding more of our time and emotional capacity while providing us with less pay and security. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with independent journalist and labor reporter Sarah Jaffe, who traces this history in her most recent book Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone. She shares how perhaps the pandemic has imploded the “labor of love” myth for good. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Think you’ve been working from home during the pandemic? Writers Anne Helen Petersen and Charlie Warzel have news for you: You haven’t. Rather, you’ve been sending more Slacks and going to more meetings in order to beat back stress and white-knuckle your way through this mess before we get back to the way things were... right? Legit flexible work requires intentionality, mindfulness, nuance—a.k.a. real structural and emotional labor. Instead, we’ve ported bad behaviors and cultural residue from the cubicle to the couch, thus delaying the arrival of a truly adaptive work-from-home future. But it's not all bad news. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk with Anne and Charlie about their new book, Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home, which reveals the rot inside our old systems and points out new strategies for transforming not only where we work, but also how we work. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Believe it or not, a new year is just five days away. As we approach 2022, we’re taking a minute to reflect on all we experienced, experimented with, and noticed in 2021. And guess what? We learned some stuff! We learned that getting folks into their zones of genius can help an organization scale with abundance and ease; that (spoiler alert) it takes heaps of time and patience to become truly great at something new; that embracing contrarianism is paramount when you’re disrupting unbelievably borked systems; that boredom can be beneficial; and that we’re living in a time of incredible variance—and unbelievable opportunity. So…what will we learn next year? We can’t wait to find out. In the last episode of Brave New Work from 2021, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans reflect on the last year as they prepare for what lies ahead. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Don’t be alarmed by the title of Ginny Hogan’s book: Toxic Femininity in the Workplace is the comedian and writer’s satirical collection of whip-smart pieces poking fun at the flavors of male bravado and egotism that show up in the office. (A pitch-perfect example from the book: “Appropriate Thank-Yous for the Man Who Generously Informed You That You Need to Negotiate Your Salary.“) If you’ve ever had a run-in (or several dozen) with the bro-y energy that tends to dominate and shape the average workplace, then you’ve probably also wondered how we can abolish that culture altogether. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Ginny about how her former jobs in tech and data science surprisingly launched her comedy career, why sexism can be so present in start-ups, and how we forge ahead with a more inclusive, less toxic work culture. Learn more about Ginny here: https://www.ginnyhogancomedy.com/ Get in touch with Ginny here: https://twitter.com/ginnyhogan_ Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Maybe you’re already deep into crypto, NFTs (or non-fungible tokens), and DAOs (or decentralized autonomous organizations). And maybe you only know what web3 is because your cousin can’t stop talking about it. Whichever end of the spectrum you fall on, there’s much more for all of us to learn about this novel digital landscape being built before our eyes. But here’s something we do know: web3 and DAOs represent a new frontier in democratizing our digital spaces and giving people true ownership over the content they make—and that has radical implications for the future of work. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Chase Chapman, a DAO contributor and host of the “On the Other Side” podcast, about this exciting new territory’s building blocks; what DAOs actually are and how they function; and why all of this stuff meaningfully intersects with self-management and systems design. Learn more about Chase and her work here: https://twitter.com/chaserchapman & https://www.othersidepod.xyz/ Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

You know pyramid thinking; it’s the pervasive mindset that compels us to ask, “Who’s up? Who’s down? Who’s in? Who’s out? Who wins? Who loses?” But thinking about power and its flow between people in those terms means missing out on other skills. Pyramid thinking says, “If you’re not spinning around the winning-or-losing hamster wheel, then you’re doing nothing”—when in reality, blowing up that binary lets us focus on learning, playing, and building. What’s the shape of that model? Author and former U.S. ambassador Matthew Barzun sees it as a constellation, where everyone is both distinctly themselves and part of something greater. If pyramids symbolize top-down-ness and control, then constellations symbolize interdependence and co-creation. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Matthew about his new book, The Power of Giving Away Power, a key leadership thinker lost in time, and reimagining Teddy Roosevelt’s “arena.” Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Wait, haven’t we already covered retreats? Yes. But if the first one explored key dos and don’ts, this one imagines the retreat as a blank sheet of paper and invites you to ask: With unlimited options, what would you do? How would you take an off-site from good to great to transcendent? What’s the space where strategy meets luxury and how can you plan a rewarding experience that includes real work? Well, we’ve got a few ideas. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dig into the logistical, emotional, and design considerations that went into our most recent retreat to help us overhaul old habits; provoke bigger questions and bigger bets; and use fun as a guide. And regardless of organizational size or budget, you can create that time and space, too. Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

What is sludge? Friction. Paperwork requirements. Waiting time. Online forms filled with confusing jargon. Reduced operating hours. The tedious, arcane, and (in some cases) disenfranchising hurdle preventing someone from accessing a service they’re entitled to? Yep, that’s sludge. And the sludgier a process, the more likely ordinary citizens—especially those already marginalized—will give up and walk away from vital benefits or aid. But we don’t have to settle for this sludge-filled world. That’s the argument in Cass Sunstein’s new book, Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak to Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School and the Chair of the Technical Advisory Group on Behavioral Insights and Sciences at the World Health Organization, about his new book, how sludge is running amok, and why sludge-reduction is another form of harm-reduction. Buy Cass' book here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/sludge Learn more about Cass and his work here: https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10871/Sunstein Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

The workforce is changing. Millennials are turning into elder millennials and Zoomers are turning into employed adults, thus shifting the makeup of the modern working population—and its values. Long gone are any romantic or bootstrappy notions of “paying your dues,” which, in many work environments, is just shorthand for dealing with toxicity and subpar pay; there are fewer people receiving chintzy gifts for 35-year anniversaries at the same company. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with journalist Rainesford Stauffer, author of the new book "An Ordinary Age," about the exceptionalism bubble; how work crises have ballooned into identity crises; the mythology of the “dream job”; and how young adults are already shaping—and challenging—the future of work. Learn more about Rainesford's work and buy her book here: https://rainesford.medium.com/ Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

We dedicate this episode to our favorite…excuses. That’s right, we’re cracking open the archive of reasons people frequently cite for avoiding or stalling new ways of working. Odds are you also know (or have yourself played) the top hits by heart—hits like “We just need buy-in from every stakeholder first” and “Let’s wait for the new COO to start,” and the classic of all classics, “If only we hadn’t just started a reorg…” It’s not that these different forms and flavors of resistance don’t resonate; it’s just that they’re all evidence of an already-dysfunctional OS—which (spoiler alert) yet another reorg won’t fix. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans teach us how to stop making excuses because if you want to fundamentally transform the way your organization works, there’s only one way to start: By starting. Mentioned references: "turtles all the way down" continuous participatory change: BNW Ep. 43 "OS": The Ready's OS Canvas "Greg and essentialism": BNW Ep. 90 with Greg McKeown Conscious Leadership Group Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

This might sound ominous but…we’re drowning in choices. The internet and its forever-multiplying avenues of information bombards everyone around the world with an abundance (or an avalanche) of choice all of the time. So how do we boil down distractions into key essentials that give our lives meaning? That actually align with what we want? How do we get more of that? In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Greg McKeown, whose bestselling books Essentialism and Effortless have helped them think about strategy and intentionality in our own work. They talk to Greg about the global state of burnout; about tapping into what we want—and what we don’t want; and about how systems need to get smarter on essentialism. Learn more about Greg and his work: On LinkedIn On his website Reading his books Listening to his podcast Joining The Essentialism Academy Mentioned references: California Girls, song by The Beach Boy Back in the U.S.S.R., song by The Beatles Jim Collins and "the undisciplined pursuit of more" Peter Drucker, "Managing Knowledge Means Managing Oneself", Leader to Leader, Vol. 16 (Spring 2000) "Andrew Wilkinson tweet" "Jim Carey movie": Yes Man (2008) "Jeff Weiner's buffer schedule" Socrates and Daimonion Warren Buffet and lethargy Dumbing Us Down, book by John Taylor Gatto Richard Branson's walk home Essential intent Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Retailers around the country—and around the world—are facing complex challenges. One of the industry’s main reckonings: Many job openings; very few applicants. Recruitment has also been top-of-mind for CAMP, a toy and family experience store that looks to hire artists, actors, musicians, magicians, singers, and camp counselors rather than those with traditional retail experience. So…how do you reinvent the landscape to attract and keep that talent? On this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to CAMP’s cofounder and Chief People Officer, Nikki Kaufman, about recent work CAMP did with The Ready to design and launch new boundary-pushing hiring and compensation practices—like making pay 100% transparent, ditching resumes, and creating crystal-clear career paths. You can explore CAMP’s progressive principles in action—and its current open positions—at camp.com/careers. Learn more about Nikki on LinkedIn. Mentioned references: goldendoodle Ben Kaufman CAMP episode: BNW Ep. 9 with Ben Kaufman role charter Firms of Endearment, book of Raj Sisodia, Jag Sheth, and David B. Wolfe Action Meeting episode: BNW Ep. 80 with Sam Spurlin check-in Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

[Rebroadcast note: This episode originally aired in March 2020.] Our job is to keep the organization safe, right? And in order to do that we need to predict the future, see around corners, and avoid unnecessary risk. We need to be able to list all the ways the idea we're considering can go wrong. Or... do we? In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about a concept The Ready calls "future tension," which is what happens when we let our worries about the future hijack the present. Later, we’re joined by Thomas Thomison, founding partner of Encode.org, who takes us deep into the origins of the concept and teaches us how to overcome it. Learn more about Thomas Thomison and Encode.org at https://encode.org/ Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Think “union” and what comes to mind? Collective agreements and community building? Power struggles and strikes? Sepia-toned photographs of early-20th century factory floors? If you’ve never been in or around a union, they can carry a whiff of mystique—even old-fashionedness. That’s why we asked Ready member Tanisi Pooran, who’s worked in the field of labor organizing and workers’ rights, to help us demystify the process a bit. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk with Tanisi about the common people-positive practices both unions and The Ready uphold, how our two worlds could cooperate and help each other evolve, and why anti-union feelings still persist at even the most progressive and forward-thinking organizations. Learn more about Tanisi and their work here on LinkedIn and Twitter. Mentioned references: spaetzle "the five boroughs" IDM episode: BNW Ep. 43 experimentation episode: BNW Ep. 62 "Nietzsche quote" from Beyond Good and Evil by Fredrich Neitzsche, Chapter 4,146 "Gimlet and union kerfuffle" American Factory, documentary Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you an exciting announcement. The Ready is hiring a first-rate Market Maker, someone who can orchestrate explosive growth in service of our purpose and steward The Ready’s approach to sales and growth. If creating a diverse pipeline of leads, building relationships with target clients, and reinventing the traditional craft of sales (among other related responsibilities) sounds like a party you—or someone spectacular in your orbit—should join, check out the full role posting and application below. We’re excited to meet you! Now let’s grow something together. Read all about the role here: https://www.notion.so/theready/Growth-The-Ready-6a9e364d59854874a9fbae8d1e3a01af Apply here: https://theready.typeform.com/to/mvh71Zb1

Patagonia’s purpose is clear: It’s in business to save our home planet. And that clarity’s been present almost since day one of the iconic outdoor clothing and gear company. But how and why was that anchoring mission adopted from the jump? And how has the nearly 50-year-old organization evolved its practices to support its resolute pledge to sustainability? Luckily, there’s someone with answers to these questions: Vincent Stanley is Patagonia’s Director of Philosophy and co-author with Yvon Chouinard of The Responsible Company. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak to Vincent about Patagonia’s better-known successes, lesser-known failures, the experiments it’s had to flex during the pandemic, and what a responsible company of the future can and should look like. Learn more about Vincent and Patagonia: On LinkedIn At Patagonia's website By reading The Responsible Company Mentioned references: X-Acto knife B Corp Yvon Chouinard tagua nuts beginner's mind greenwashing 9/80 work week Andy Rivkin, environmental writer Unilever Danone Let My People Go Surfing, book by Yvon Chouinard Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

What exactly does joy have to do with software development? If you ask Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller of Menlo Innovations, the answer is pretty simple: Everything. According to Rich, joy is central to inspiring, sustaining, and steering the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based software company, which has been experimenting with new ways of working for more than two decades. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Rich about the personal struggles that first led him to future-of-work thinking; how some of Menlo’s vital practices—like pairing two developers together daily and having them work on a shared computer—have evolved over the years; and why “Make mistakes faster” is a longtime Menlo mantra. Learn more about Rich Sheridan and Menlo Innovations: On LinkedIn Reading his books Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer Visiting Menlo Innovation's website Mentioned references: Peter Drucker Tom Peters Peter Senge Kent Beck and "extreme programming" Nightline episode on IDEO Simon Sinek's "Start with Why" video Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Today’s episode of Brave New Work 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, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans have 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 [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Talking about compensation at a job (a.k.a. the total pay and benefits you get in exchange for your labor) can be excruciating. But why? It’s not because compensation designers are inherently evil, argues David Buckmaster, Nike’s Director of Global Retail Compensation. Rather, it’s because our system of pay is broken and neglected. When it comes to pay, Buckmaster believes the greater sin is inertia, not malevolence. That’s why he wrote a book—Fair Pay: How to Get a Raise, Close the Wage Gap, and Build Stronger Businesses—busting open compensation’s black box. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak to David about pay transparency, accessible data, exciting compensation experiments, and why the so-called labor shortage is really a wage shortage. Read David's book, Fair Pay. Learn more about David on LinkedIn, Instagram, or his website. Mentioned references: Oculus (now Meta Quest) "Wonderwall" Bracken Bower Prize Pave Carta The Ready’s OS Canvas Widgets, by Rodd Wagner Maslow’s hierarchy Fight for $15 movement The Good Jobs Strategy, by Zeynep Ton The Good Jobs Institute at MIT "Katie Porter and Jamie Dimon congressional testimony" "PayPal net disposable income" Dan Price of Gravity Payments Buffer: BNW Ep. 6 with Joel Gascoigne "Norway transparent pay" Morning Star: BNW Ep. 54 with Doug Kirkpatrick ”Wells Fargo fraud” Range, by David Epstein Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

[This episode originally aired in May 2020] Most of us are working remotely. But we’re just treading water, we haven’t really mastered it. That’s why it’s important to talk about remote work after the novelty wears off—when the home office is just... the office. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Sid Sijbrandij, Cofounder and CEO of GitLab, about how their 1,290 team members work remotely in support of a $2.75B business. For Sid’s team, remote work is a way of life. What can we learn from them? Learn more about GitLab at https://about.gitlab.com/ and find Sid on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sytses You can read GitLab's guide to remote work here: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/ Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Throughout the past year, many organizations have taken long-overdue looks in the mirror and started the hard but necessary work of examining how they perpetuate systemic injustice. (That includes us.) The Ready works in systems design, which means that in a world wracked—and in some ways defined—by inequity, it’s our job to look at how the systems we build contribute to supremacist thinking and behavior. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans learn (and unlearn) from Dr. Akilah Cadet, an executive coach and the founder and CEO of Change Cadet, about the overlap between dominant systems and white supremacy, what being an antiracist company actually means, and how to still hold space for lightness and humor. Learn more about Akilah and her organization, Change Cadet, here on her website. Mentioned references: Capri-Sun Clueless "Rolling with the homies" JEDI: BNW Ep. 40 with Sharan Bal human centered design "culture as an iceberg" Browndages I-580 truck ban Olivia Pope, from Scandal NAACP Legal Defense Fund Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

The sit-down-and-slowly-zone-out-while-Joe-describes-50-slides type of meeting isn’t at all fun…but it is extremely common. Most work gatherings happen because someone wants us to absorb, consume, or comply with information. But if you’re actually hoping to change behavior or get a team stoked about a new initiative, this push-style of gathering just won’t cut it (and no, it’s not Zoom’s fault). In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans ask Lindsey Caplan, a communication strategist and author of the forthcoming book The Gathering Effect, about why good gatherings aren’t one-size-fits-all, how to generate legitimate buy-in, and how to make your next all-hands meeting impactful and even, well, fun. Learn more about Lindsey on LinkedIn or by reading her book The Gathering Effect. Check out our other episodes about gatherings: –AWWTR Ep. 15 Mentioned references: Friends reunion on HBO feedback: BNW Ep. 13 with Kim Scott Liberating Structures: BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless Charlie Brown adults Oculus (now the Meta Quest) Hannah Gadsby Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Odds are you’ve seen an article (or 20) about some company somewhere testing out a four-day workweek. And if you’ve scrolled past the story to the comments, you’ve probably spied a few cheers…and plenty of jeers. Punching in five days a week might seem like the natural working order—but it’s less a fixed and unchallengeable fact and more a human-shaped choice we can, you know, shape differently. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan asks Rodney Evans about lessons learned from her own four-day workweek experiment, how to navigate relationships with coworkers on different schedules, and why a four-day workweek is labor’s next evolutionary leap forward. Mentioned references: Wesley, from The Princess Bride Gilmore Girls S3E11 “I Solemnly Swear” Plinko boards Icelandic study around 4 day work week Anne Helen Petersen episode: BNW Ep. 77 with Anne Helen Petersen Henry Ford and the 40 hour work week Anne Helen Petersen article “Who’s Afraid of the Four Day Work Week?” op rhythm: BNW Ep. 118 retrospectives remote work episode: AWWTR Ep. 4 Joel at Buffer episode: BNW Ep. 6 with Joel Gascoigne Fosbury flop Atlantic “Kill the Five-Day Work Week” JEDI work: BNW Ep. 40 with Sharan Bal UBI (universal basic income) New Deal Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: Meetings are the worst. Instead of being a meaningful work tool to help teams strategize efficiently, meetings more often block things—anything—from actually getting done. At The Ready, we’ve got a different method: action meetings. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans invite longtime member Sam Spurlin on the show to dispense a step-by-step guide to implementing and scaling effective action meetings. They break down the best ways to “get people what they need” and reveal how to keep the action-meeting train chugging along into the future. (Editor's note: this might be Sam's first appearance on the show, but it won't be his last! He'll return to co-host the Future of HR miniseries with Rodney in 2023, and then Aaron formally passes the co-host baton to him at the start of 2024.) Get Sam's in-depth guide to Action Meetings. Learn more about Sam on LinkedIn, or at his website. Mentioned references: CARROT weather A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole Oura Ring Hacks, TV show Joan Rivers "tactical meeting" The Ready’s OS Canvas self-management: BNW Ep. 79 with Michael Y. Lee Around (Miro meeting tool): https://www.around.co/ "Tom Thomison episode": BNW Ep. 16 with Thomas Thomison Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

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 of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans 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. Mentioned references: "Sid and GitLab": BNW Ep. 35 with Sid Sijbrandij Ted Rau: BNW Ep. 74 with Ted Rau A World Without Email, by Cal Newport "2003 SARS mask wearing in Hong Kong" Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

It’s no surprise that we’re fans of self-management, and we talk a lot about its benefits and transformative potential. But sometimes we forget just how much traditional hierarchy is baked into the operating system of our work cultures—and of our personal lives. So when self-management and hierarchy smash into each other, there can be a steep, sometimes uncomfortable learning curve. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk with Michael Y. Lee, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, about how orgs prepare and smartly scaffold for self-management, growing academic research into impactful org design, and how the pandemic presented a unique challenge for his work. Learn more about Michael on LinkedIn or at his website. Learn more about INSEAD on their website or on Youtube. Mentioned references: Oura ring Dave’s Hot Chicken in Denver, CO Voodoo Doughnut Zappos Holacracy ”mastery”: BNW Ep. 31 Valve, video game company The Ready's OS Canvas Doug Kirkpatrick and The Morning Star Company: BNW Ep. 54 with Doug Kirkpatrick Haier anti-fragility "Lisa Gill episode": BNW Ep. 73 with Lisa Gill Michael’s episode of Lisa Gill’s podcast Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Say (or sigh) it with us now: burnout. As a physic state, it can be hard to precisely diagnose but you know it when you see it—and when you feel it. As remote work becomes a larger presence in our lives, it’s more important than ever to recognize why and when we need meaningful breaks. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Anne Helen Petersen, author of Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation and the newsletter “Culture Study,” about the difference between setting boundaries versus guardrails, LARPing through your job, and what we can do to extinguish burnout. Learn more about Anne on LinkedIn, Twitter, or by subscribing to her newsletter. Read Anne's latest books: Can't Even Out of Office Mentioned references: Anne’s 2019 burnout article WHO’s classification of “burnout” as occupational phenomenon New York Times "Yolo Economy" article Cal Newport and "isolation from other minds" Ezra Klein John Herrman “LARPing your job” Anne’s 2021 "4 Day Work Week article" Charlie Warzel Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Instead of talking about Unicorn companies, we should be spending more of our energy on Zebras—companies that are black and white, that pursue both purpose and profit. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Mara Zepeda of Zebras Unite, a founder-led co-op, about how to build a community with your company, collective ownership, and what the future of capital investment should—and will—look like. Learn more about Mara on her website, on LinkedIn, and at Zebras Unite. Mentioned references: Boyz II Men "Zebras fix what unicorns break” SOCAP Shel Silverstein Margaret Wheatley Hopi Nora Bateson Reinventing Organizations: BNW Ep. 18 with Frederic Laloux sociocracy: BNW Ep. 74 with Ted Rau "terra incognita" Ari Weinzweig Depth psychology Warm Data "symmathesy" Baháʼí Faith Saint John of the Cross Saint Teresa of Ávila Charles Eisenstein Drivers Cooperative Tony Hsieh Nathan Schneider, UC Boulder Gumroad Audra Lorde Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Let's talk about succession. No, not the show, but the concept. How do progressive, human-centric organizations deal with succession, and role changes, and new management, all while maintaining a high level of success? In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Michael Bungay Stanier and Shannon Minifie of Box of Crayons—about Michael stepping down and handing the reins of the organization to Shannon, the roadblocks the transition ran into, and how to go about it all without rocking the boat. Learn more about Shannon on LinkedIn, on Youtube, or by visiting Box of Crayons. Learn more about Michael on LinkedIn, on Youtube, or from listening to his previous episode of Brave New Work about 1:1s. Mentioned references: Bruce Springsteen E Street Band ABBA "Hotel California" Coaching Habit, by Michael Bungay Stanier Fierce Conversations, by Susan Scott "participatory governance": BNW Ep. 43 Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

With his organization Sociocracy for All, Ted Rau is helping organizations empower their members, and put a spotlight on equity. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Ted about his book, Many Voices One Song, consent-based decision-making, and the challenges of getting the ball rolling with large orgs. Learn more about Ted and his work: On LinkedIn Sociocracy For All Many Voices One Song Who Decides Who Decides? Mentioned references: Notting Hill, 1999 movie Jerry Koch-Gonzalez "RACI": AWWTR Ep. 10 Teal Gerard Endenburg Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

There are elephants in the room, and then there are "Moose Heads on the Table." This book, by Lisa Gill and Karen Tenelius, describes the concept as workplace taboos that are simultaneously ingrained and incredibly toxic for getting things done. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to Lisa about how to embrace this discomfort at work, and what self-managing organizations can do to empower their employees to speak up when things aren't working. Get Lisa's book, Moose Heads On The Table. Learn more about Lisa on her website, LinkedIn, or by listening to her podcast, Leadermorphosis. Mentioned references: "Basecamp episode": BNW Ep. 71 "fuddy duddy" Reinventing Organizations: BNW Ep. 18 with Frederic Laloux "ASCATS": BNW Ep. 65 with Alastair Steward The Ready's Tension and Practice Cards Jorge Silva, from 10Pines Frederic Laloux's "Insights for the Journey" videos Liberating Structures: BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless Reinventing Work's global community Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

It's not a question, but a fact: the conventional legal doctrine governing the 21st century workplace is woefully far behind. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to attorney Jason Wiener about the incredible disconnect between current legal norms and modern business, and how he works to ensure equitable business ownership to the forefront of the conversation. Learn more about Jason on his website, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Mentioned references: slap bracelet MC Hammer pants Blossom, TV show School of Industrial Labor Relations Clerky LegalZoom "organizational debt" "business judgement rule" DAOs: BNW Ep. 96 with Chase Chapman Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

In the past two weeks, Basecamp—a software company with a general track record of outspoken, progressive values—has lost a sizable chunk of its workforce. The reason? A memo from the company's CEO that banned "societal and political discussions" in workplace channels. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans break down what this all means—the (impossible) concept of "separating politics from work," and the privilege inherent in assuming that's possible. Mentioned references: Parkburger Basecamp podcast Basecamp book Coinbase "DHH's memo" George Floyd "JEDI episode": BNW Ep. 40 with Sharan Bal "consent-based decision making/participatory governance": BNW Ep. 43 Murmur: BNW Ep. 67 "principles episode": BNW Ep. 37 "compensation episode": BNW Ep. 32 "membership episode": BNW Ep. 30 "mastery episode": BNW Ep. 63 Hedonic treadmill 11 Madison Park "Bill Anderson/Roche episode": BNW Ep. 68 with Bill Anderson Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected] Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com