At Work with The Ready

142. What's Your Vacation OS?

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Taking a break from work can look 1,000 different ways: You could learn how to make homemade pasta; you could visit five new countries; you could spen...

141. Putting The Work Into Your Workflow

05 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Where do our systems for organization and prioritization come from? How do we build discipline around new workflows? When and how do we learn how to w...

Unsuck Your Next Work Meeting with Sam Spurlin [Rebroadcast]

29 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Rebroadcast note: This episode originally aired in July 2021.] If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: Meetings are the worst. Ins...

Brave New Work 101 [Rebroadcast]

22 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Rebroadcast note: This episode originally aired in September 2021.] Today’s episode is a foundational survey class; we’re mapping the territory o...

140. The OS of a Social Movement with Aru Shiney-Ajay and Dejah Powell

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The relationship between structure and impact is an important one for organizations to explore. The same goes for social movements. The Sunrise Moveme...

139. The Great Decision-Making Disconnect

08 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A big frustration we often encounter in our work concerns decision-making. Folks feel like their process is too slow; too fast; includes the wrong peo...

138. What Self-Management Sounds Like with James Wilson and Alexander Scheirle

01 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Our ears perk up when we hear about different systems practicing self-management. That was the case with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a Grammy-award win...

137. Are You There, Burnout? It’s Us, Everybody

25 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Hey, how ya feeling? Exhausted? Stressed? Like a rubber band that’s finally snapped? Same. These days, the burnout paradigm seems to have shifted fr...

136. The Workplace After Roe v. Wade with Emma Goldberg

18 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the American legal landscape instantly changed. So did the business landscape, since more than hal...

135. Rodney and Aaron Go To Work Therapy: Part 2

11 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’re coming at you with part two of the intimate conversation Rodney and Aaron cracked open last week. (Haven’t listened to part one yet? Go back...

134. Rodney and Aaron Go to Work Therapy: Part 1

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In part one of a very special two-part episode from Brave New Work, Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan talk about…themselves. Specifically, their partner...

133. What Makes a City Strong with Chuck Marohn

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Helping big systems learn how to evolve and sustain themselves; designing for long-term endurance rather than long-term liability; disrupting the idea...

132. We've Got More Mail!

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You keep having dope questions, so we keep offering our best answers. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans offer their two...

131. The Time of Your Life with Oliver Burkeman

13 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Why does it always feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get work done? How did we come to see time as a resource we could manipulate an...

130. Sizing Up Your Team

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

King-size is great when we’re talking about candy bars. But when it comes to designing impactful teams, we’re on team fun-size. That’s because t...

129. How the Future Works with Slack’s Brian Elliott and Sheela Subramanian

01 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Covid-19 pandemic marked a sea change in how most people think about work. The mind-numbing norms and deeply-rooted inequities that defined our da...

128. Jamming, Gaming, and Org Designing

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We can draw connections between org design at work and org design IRL all day, every day. And today's no exception, as Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans u...

127. The Case for Human-Powered Business with New Belgium Brewing’s Steve Fechheimer

16 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

New Belgium Brewing company has been making great beer for decades. It also decided right from the jump to design a company OS that places its people ...

126. What Does Self-Management Mean to You?

09 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Fact: We’re self-management nerds. (And if you’ve been hanging out with us for a while, you probably are, too.) We could talk and think about the ...

125. DAO Mini-Series: Get Rolling with Roles

06 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This is the eleventh episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAO...

124. DAO Mini-Series: "Hiring" in DAOs

06 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This is the tenth episode in a crossover mini-series between Brave New Work cohosts Rodney Evans and Aaron Dignan and Chase Chapman, builder of DAOs a...

123. Big Thinking on Big Feelings with Mollie West Duffy

02 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The past two-plus years have been defined by uncertainty and upheaval—so it’s safe to say that we’ve been having some feels. Specifically, big f...

Two thumbs up for the four-day workweek [Rebroadcast]

25 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Rebroadcast note: This episode originally aired in August 2021.] Odds are you’ve seen an article (or 20) about some company somewhere testing out ...

122. Turning Parental Leave Policy into Practice with Amy Beacom and Sue Campbell

18 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s an open secret that many organizations’ parental leave policies in the U.S. are subpar—if they exist at all. And if you ask someone why gra...

121. How to Keep The Spark Alive

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Adopting new ways of working can come with a lot of excitement and buzz. It’s thrilling to move from having nothing to having something to having so...

120. Scaling Networks with David Ehrlichman

05 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Social networks aren’t new. Humans have always gathered together and forged communities. But deliberately organizing those networks around shared pr...

119. Facilitating Breakthrough with Adam Kahane

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The world faces enormously complex and existential challenges. While specific solutions might feel elusive, it’s safe to say that in order to addres...

118. Finding Your Operating Rhythm

21 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve talked a lot about action meetings on the show. And retrospectives. And governance. And strategy sessions. Maybe you’ve wondered, “What do...

117. The Future of Sustainability with Allbirds' Hana Kajimura

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ask 10 different people to define sustainability and you could get 10 different answers. That’s because while more and more companies are discussing...

116. Changing How We Talk About Change

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 wa...

115. DAO Mini-Series: Leadership in Self-Managing Orgs

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

114. DAO Mini-Series: Showmanship

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

113. DAO Mini-Series: Centralization in Decentralized Orgs

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Who Decides Who Decides w/ Ted Rau [Rebroadcast]

28 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[This episode originally aired in June 2021.] With his organization Sociocracy for All, Ted Rau is helping organizations empower their members, and pu...

112. The Early Days of Your OS

21 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

111. DAO Mini-Series: Marketplaces in Self-Managing Orgs

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

110. DAO Mini-Series: Values-Aligned Compensation

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

109. DAO Mini-Series: KPIs in DAOs

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

108. Feeling Our Feelings at Work with Jim Dethmer

14 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ra...

107. DAO Mini-Series: Getting into Governance

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

106. DAO Mini-Series: Finding Product-Market Fit

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

105. DAO Mini-Series: Structuring Proposals

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

104. We've Got Mail

07 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

103. When Should We Agree to Agree?

31 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 c...

102. The Need for Organizational Speed with Jurriaan Kamer

24 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

101. Who's Driving the Bus?

19 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Doing the accountability dance in the world of self-management, where everyone’s balancing a different portfolio of projects and priorities, can be ...

Brave New Work 100. Why Work Won’t Love You Back with Sarah Jaffe

10 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 quai...

99. Out of Office with Anne Helen Petersen and Charlie Warzel

05 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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, yo...

98. Looking Back and Looking Forward

27 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

97. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Toxic work culture w/ Ginny Hogan

20 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

96. What Web3 Means For the Future of Work with Chase Chapman

13 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Maybe you’re already deep into crypto, NFTs (or non-fungible tokens), and DAOs (or decentralized autonomous organizations). And maybe you only know ...

95. Thinking Outside the Pyramid with Matthew Barzun

06 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 lo...

94. Kick your company retreat up a notch

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 o...

93. Getting Rid of Sludge for Good with Cass Sunstein

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What is sludge? Friction. Paperwork requirements. Waiting time. Online forms filled with confusing jargon. Reduced operating hours. The tedious, arcan...

92. Divorcing Our Self-Worth from Work with Rainesford Stauffer

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The workforce is changing. Millennials are turning into elder millennials and Zoomers are turning into employed adults, thus shifting the makeup of th...

Brave New Work 91. Overcoming Excuses: How to Stop Stalling and Start by Starting

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We dedicate this episode to our favorite…excuses. That’s right, we’re cracking open the archive of reasons people frequently cite for avoiding o...

Brave New Work 90. Do What's Essential with Greg McKeown

03 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This might sound ominous but…we’re drowning in choices. The internet and its forever-multiplying avenues of information bombards everyone around t...

Brave New Work 89. Reimagining Retail with Nikki Kaufman of CAMP

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Retailers around the country—and around the world—are facing complex challenges. One of the industry’s main reckonings: Many job openings; very ...

Future Tension with Thomas Thomison [Rebroadcast]

20 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

[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 p...

Brave New Work 88. The Future of Workers' Rights with Tanisi Pooran

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Think “union” and what comes to mind? Collective agreements and community building? Power struggles and strikes? Sepia-toned photographs of early-...

Bonus Episode: Join The Ready!

04 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you an exciting announcement. The Ready is hiring a first-rate Market Maker, someone who can...

87. How Patagonia became Patagonia with Vincent Stanley

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 outdo...

Brave New Work 86. Surfacing the Joy with Rich Sheridan

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 pr...

85. Brave New Work 101

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 ab...

Brave New Work 84. Pulling Back the Curtain On Pay with David Buckmaster

07 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 be...

Beyond Remote w/ Sid Sijbrandij [Rebroadcast]

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

[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’...

Brave New Work 83. Building Antiracist Organizations with Akilah Cadet

17 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Brave New Work 82. Becoming a Better Gatherer with Lindsey Caplan

09 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 h...

Brave New Work 81. Two Thumbs Up for the Four-Day Workweek

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Brave New Work 80. Unsuck Your Next Work Meeting with Sam Spurlin

27 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 ef...

Brave New Work 79. Can Hybrid Work...Work?

12 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 diff...

Brave New Work 78. Self-Management is Harder Than You Think with Michael Y. Lee

05 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 ju...

Brave New Work 77. Beating Burnout with Anne Helen Petersen

28 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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....

Brave New Work 76. When Purpose Meets Profit with Mara Zepeda

22 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Brave New Work 75. When the CEO Fires Themselves with Michael Bungay Stanier and Shannon Minifie

15 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Let's talk about succession. No, not the show, but the concept. How do progressive, human-centric organizations deal with succession, and role changes...

74. Who Decides Who Decides with Ted Rau

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

With his organization Sociocracy for All, Ted Rau is helping organizations empower their members, and put a spotlight on equity. In this episode of Br...

Brave New Work 73. Embracing Discomfort with Lisa Gill

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 w...

Brave New Work 72. Legalese in the Future of Work with Jason Wiener

17 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 Brav...

Brave New Work 71. Basecamp and Politics In The Workplace

10 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 wo...

Brave New Work 70. AUA No. 3 - This And That: Peer Feedback, All Hand, and Prioritization

04 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're opening up the mailbag. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans tackle the topics of some of your most fascinating ques...

Brave New Work 69. Vanishing Asia with Kevin Kelly

26 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Kelly, the founding editor of WIRED Magazine, has spent years documenting and photographing life in the furthest corners of the Asian continent—...

Brave New Work 68. Organization Transformation at Scale with Bill Anderson

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Changing the way we work is a difficult task at a company with 150 employees. But what about one with. say, 100,000? In this episode of Brave New Work...

Brave New Work 67. Changing The World of Working Agreements with Murmur

05 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Work is all about agreements—policies, processes, principles, goals, workflows, etc. So if you're starting a company from the ground up, how do you ...

Brave New Work 66. The Beauty of The Mythic and Mundane in Organizational Systems with Gayle Karen Young

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most important aspects of organizational change and complexity is embracing fluidity. Rather than be mired in rigid lines and forced struct...

Brave New Work 65. A Better Way to Onboard Employees with Alastair Steward

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What's it like to onboard at a company where you don't have a boss? In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to The Ready...

Brave New Work 64. Redesigning The Company Retreat

08 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's a time-honored tradition: the company retreat. But when that conjures the specter of Ramada Inn basements and conference rooms and three-hour pre...

Brave New Work 63. Mastery in the Age of Self-Management

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The workplace is a wealth of knowledge. Each member of an organization is a master in their own specialized field, and in the 21st-century workplace, ...

Brave New Work 62. Real Change Through Experimentation

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Leaders in the workplace often talk about experimenting within the existing structures. But in the excitement and flurry of change, we often forget th...

Brave New Work 61. The Future of the Workforce with Todd Jick

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's one thing to talk about what we'd like the future of work to look like—but what about the people who'll actually make up that workforce? Wha do...

Brave New Work 60. Solving Our System Problems

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There's a thing that often happens when we try to add complexity our systems: in an effort to implement procedure and reduce "risk," we often massivel...

Brave New Work 59. Experimenting Toward a Better Hiring Process with Kelsa Summer Roidt

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If there's one structure in the modern workplace that feels particularly resistant to change, it's the hiring process. For years, we've followed the s...

Brave New Work 58. Brave New Work and Capitalism

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You’ll often hear us talking about collectivism, balance, and sustainability on this show—to the point that you may well wonder, do these socialis...

Brave New Work 57. Working Through A Crisis

13 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's been quite a week for the United States of America. And as Americans, we tried to do what we always do: keep working. In this episode of Brave N...

Brave New Work 56. The Folly of the Annual Performance Review

22 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's the end of the year! And for many of us, that also means the return of the dreaded performance review. As we strive to make our workplaces and or...

Brave New Work 55. Gaslighting and Other Forms of Epistemic Injustice in the Workplace with Cat Swetel

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When we begin to reckon with inequality in the workplace, a useful place to start is the concept of "epistemic injustice"—what we know, how we know,...

Brave New Work 54. Rethinking Our Approach to Power and Leadership with Doug Kirkpatrick

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

While we often throw around terms like "the future of work" and "new ways of working," the reality is that much of the wisdom about how to self-organi...

Brave New Work 53. Combating The Pandemic Work Hangover

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's been almost a year of working remotely due to the pandemic. And we haven't exactly been doing it right. We've just been hanging in there with too...

Brave New Work 52. Are You Ready for Self Management? with Ali Randel

18 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you've been listening to Brave New Work for a while you might be wondering, "Is a self-managing workplace right for me?" Or, if you're already in o...

Brave New Work 51. The One Conversation Every Team Needs to Have with Alex Jamieson and Bob Gower

12 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We often wait to talk about the hard stuff until the shit has hit the fan. But what if we made space for difficult conversations before they become di...

Brave New Work 50. This is Justice Informed with Xavier Ramey

20 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Three months ago, we started a conversation about diversity here on the show. And within our own company, that work has continued in earnest. Yet, we'...