At Work with The Ready

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 much Zoom and not enough coffee. As a result, we're a little toasty. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about what they're seeing and feeling, and what it's going to take to make remote work... work. With the Thank...

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 one, you're probably curious, "How can I better recruit (and screen for) those that are a 'fit' for new ways of working?" In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans are joined by their colleague Ali Randel to talk about what it t...

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 difficult? That's the insight at the heart of Radical Alignment, a new book that introduces a four part conversation technique designed to get couples, teams, and groups on the same page. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans...

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've only scratched the surface on what it means to realize true equity at work. We want to go deeper. We need to do more. And we need to make sure that the momentum of the summer continues into the fall. That's why we're back to talk about JEDI once a...

Complexity calls for a new way of working—and in particular a new way of meeting. What matters isn't the individuals in the room, but the relationships between them. Indeed, we need new interactions that change the dynamics and outcomes of our gatherings. No more limiting structures, it's time for liberating structures. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Ke...

One of the most common tensions we hear from teams is "our tools and technology are not maximizing our potential." Let me translate: our company uses crap software. We experience this for many reasons—status quo bias, frugality, security, and one-stop-shop pipe dreams. But the problem is that software is not a blank canvas. It's not neutral. It has opinions. And those opinions shape what we can do...

We talk about bureaucracy (and its downsides) on this show all the time. But what about a humanocracy? What would that look like? Luckily, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini have written a wonderful book to explore that question. And their answer is simple: we have to abandon the ways of the past and allow organizations to be as amazing as the people inside them. Easier said than done, but more necessa...

At a sufficiently large scale, any organization that has maximum "diversity" across all variables will become average. Why? Because taking a stand—any stand—is the basis for the boundary of the firm. It's what separates what's inside from what's outside. We must answer the question: "What makes us... us?" In order to succeed, we need generative difference—members of different races, backgrounds, a...

We recorded this episode in April, and to be honest, it kinda feels like April never left. All the themes that were present then are simply louder now. What has become clear in the meantime is that strategy (e.g. what is happening, what matters, and what are we doing about it) is more important than ever. But how should we think about strategy in an emergent and participatory system? Is it intuiti...

Prior to the 1940's, the word priorities (plural) was rarely used. Because the word priority means that which comes before anything else. It's one thing! But these days, it's not uncommon for leaders and boards to demand multiple, often contradictory outcomes at the same time. We want faster output AND higher quality. We want to grow market share in our core category AND open three new categories....

Making decisions at work can be perilous. It's not always clear who has the authority to make them. And even when it is, it's usually just a chosen few that benefit. So, it's no surprise that making decisions about how we govern the organization—designing the rules and roles that underpin everything, is so hard that it's often avoided altogether. That's why one of our favorite things to share is a...

The stories of self-management and decentralization from evolutionary organizations like Buurtzorg, Morning Star, FAVI, Haier, and others are often told breathlessly, as if it was "happily ever after." But, the truth has to be more... nuanced, right? Indeed it is. More adaptive and human ways of working are not without their own frustrations and tradeoffs. The question is: are they worth it? In th...

Any podcast that promotes busting bureaucracy and hobbling hierarchy is bound to stir up some questions. That's why this week we're going to let our listeners Ask Us Anything. For this episode, we took to Twitter and LinkedIn to find out what you're wondering about. And you came through big time. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans hear questions about check-in rounds,...

It's been six weeks since George Floyd was murdered, and activism around the Black Lives Matter movement has reached new heights. For many of us, it's triggered incredibly challenging conversations and reflections about who we are and who we want to be. It feels like now is the time for real change—but what kind? How can each of us play our part without blame or shame? And where do we begin? In th...

We recorded this episode almost two months ago, and while so much has changed since then (look for an upcoming episode on DEI and BLM), the challenges we face sitting down at our computers every morning have not. They've only intensified. How are we supposed to move our work forward with everything that's going on out there in the world? And what is productivity when it's not defined by economists...

With much of the working world collaborating remotely these days, one thing is abundantly clear: facilitation matters, especially when we're not in the same room. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans commiserate about the difficulty of keeping everybody focused from afar, as well as the top tips and tricks for producing a great remote meeting. Mentioned references: -Par...

Without bureaucracy and compliance, how can we ensure that we remain aligned and coherent while also leaving room for judgment? The answer: principles. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans explore how to craft a useful principle—and how to make use of them day-to-day. Read The Ready's article for more information on principles here. Mentioned references: hangboards Prin...

Not that long ago, we were living in a grow-grow-grow economy where stock options in a hot venture-backed startup were what most employees coveted. Today, a profitable bootstrapped company that shares its profit with its own employees feels like a revelation. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Nathan Barry, founder and CEO of ConvertKit, about how his boots...

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, we 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...

It's the question that's on everyone's mind these days: "What does the future hold?" In moments like these when uncertainty is especially high, having the right lenses and mental models is the difference between being ready and being overwhelmed. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick at WIRED and author of The Inevitable, about how...

With the Ready For Anything series behind us, we're jumping right in to Season Three of the podcast! For this season, we're going to play with the format—making it shorter, sweeter, and (hopefully) even more helpful. Before the pandemic, many of our technologies, markets, and institutions had what Douglas Rushkoff calls an "antihuman agenda." Today, the limitations of that agenda are showing. In t...

This is the thirteenth and final episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything. Today's episode explores the area of compensation and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty. This Brave New Work...

This is the twelfth episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything. Today's episode explores the area of mastery and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty. This Brave New Work miniseries with A...

This is the eleventh episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything. Today's episode explores the area of membership and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty. This Brave New Work miniseries wi...

This is the tenth episode in a series devoted to teams in transition due to the Novel Coronavirus. It's about more than simply adapting to remote work—it's about adopting (in the midst of this chaos) a way of working that will make you ready for anything. Today's episode explores the area of information and the role that will play in navigating this uncertainty. This Brave New Work miniseries with...