Conversations About Collaboration

AirSlate CEO Borya Shakhnovich and I discuss the obstacles that inhibit organizations from automating manual business processes. We also talk about small businesses, change management, and the economics of automation.

Jordan Pearce is my guest today. He is the CEO of Fringe. We talk about how to personalize employee benefits, the challenges of recognizing remote employees, and his company's plans for the future of work.

Bestselling author David Burkus and I discuss remote work, the difference between presence and productivity, Van Halen, bad Instagram ideas, and Office Space.

Aaron Campbell of OhmniLabs joins me to talk about telepresence robots, AI, ethics, and Jurassic Park.

Rohit Bhargava joins me to talk about the spectrum of work, diversity and inclusion, and the role of political discussions in the workplace.

Danielle Newton of Zendesk joins me for an illuminating chat about remote work, Hygge, location designations, and how her company has handled this vastly new work environment.

Leo Bottary joins me for a multifaceted discussion on management, collaboration, and communication. He's the author of three books, most recently Peernovation: What Peer Advisory Groups Can Teach Us About Building High Performing Teams. We talk about servant leadership, golf, basketball, and organizational learning.

Nellie Hayat, head of Workplace Transformation at VergeSense, pops by. We discuss HSBC's decision to abandon offices for its top brass, performance management, trust, changes in real estate, transparency, and Stripe.

Dr. Rebecca Kehoe joins me. She is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Studies at Cornell University. We talk about her research into stars, whether the pandemic has given them more or less power, and companies such as Uber, Google, and Amazon.

Shiraz Cupala of Microsoft joins me. Cupala is the Product Leader for Microsoft Teams Meetings. We talk about AI, machine learning, the power of hubs and spokes, and roosters.

Author and UX expert Tamara Adlin joins me for a rocking chat. We talk about personas, collaboration, shiny new things, the four stages of competence, and the classic Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon.

Kevin Roose of The New York Times pops by for a chat about his new book Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation. We talk about Best Buy, Amazon, Google's scary-accurate AI tool, remote work, and ways to retain our humanity when machines rule the world.

Brian Elliott, Executive Leader of the Future Forum, joins me for a fascinating discussion on the dimensions of collaboration. We talk about flexibility, inclusivity, and connection. Oh, and his dog Yuki.

Natalie Angelillo of OfferUp joins me for a rollicking discussion on how her company has handled the WFH environment. We discuss the adoption of Slack at her company and how it evolved over time. She also gives me her insights on the future of the office. Oh, and we talk about donuts.

Firebrand Toni Cowan-Brown pops by for a lively chat about a host of different topics, including remote meetings, workplace etiquette in the WFH world, Zoom, Slack, Formula One racing, Clubhouse, Reimagining Collaboration, and more. Hell, it's probably easier if I list what we didn't discuss in this action-packed episode.

Yeah, I’m providing an extra goodie this week. The audiobook version of Reimagining Collaboration is out now. (As of this moment, it's live on Apple Books. Expect it to drop on the other sites soon.) For now, enjoy the dulcet tones of rock star Gary Bennett in this one-chapter excerpt. The dude makes me seem pretty freakin’ smart.

Bill Carr is the co-author of Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon. He joins me to talk about collaboration at the e-commerce behemoth. We discuss how the company gets so much done and succeeds where so many others fail.

Distributed-teams expert, author, and fellow member of the bald brotherhood John O'Duinn pops in for a lively discussion. We talk about his book Distributed Teams: The Art and Practice of Working Together While Physically Apart. We also cover Vermont’s Remote Worker Program. (Yeah, that's a thing.)

Author, Emmy winner, and overall smart cookie Karin Reed pops by to chat about her new book Suddenly Virtual: Making Remote Meetings Work. We talk about the research behind remote meetings, emotional labor, and surface acting. Don't know what the last two concepts are? Neither did I until she taught me a thing or six.

Brian Kropp of Gartner Research joins me to talk about his impressive body of work. We discuss employee incentives, flexibility, whether collaboration is a goal or just a means to an end, and the future of work. It's a rocking conversation and I had a blast.

Elizabeth Kinsey of Slack joins me to talk about a wide array of topics. We discuss who's ultimately responsible for collaboration in a firm, the norms of tools such as Slack, some ways to easily automate how you work, and‎the MADWomen podcast.

Emily Kennedy of Marinus Analytics and fellow Carnegie Mellon alumnus joins me for a rocking chat about collaboration in a startup environment. We talk about Slack, calendars, and the other tools she uses. She also mentions unique challenges that startups encounter and her methods for overcoming them.

President of Global Workplace Analytics Kate Lister pops by for an engaging and informative chat about her work. We talk about collaboration, the future of work, the surprising savings and benefits of remote work, and the state of contemporary collaboration tools.

Consultant, trainer, speaking coach, and Emmy winner Kerry Barrett joins me for an illuminating chat about her collaboration world. We talk about the inherent trade-offs necessary for independent folks and why she needs to use different tools—some of which are decidedly old school.

Kick-ass writer, Jersey boy, and overall mensch Pete Croatto joins me to talk about basketball and his ridiculously good new book From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA. We also discuss the often surprisingly collaborative nature of writing and research.