DesuckifyWork®

People say we’re addicted to our phones, but I think it’s deeper than that. We’re addicted to the absence of silence. The idea of spending one quiet minute alone with our thoughts terrifies us. So we grab our distraction devices and keep the inner voices at bay for a little longer. It’s hard to know who we really are if we never listen to those voices. And how could we possibly know what we want f...

There was a 4 inch gap between the bottom of the couch and the floor in the storage closet turned office 3 of us shared at Wunderman many years ago. So naturally, that space became the “goal” when we played hockey with a crumpled up piece of paper and a couple of old sticks. I don’t remember how many games I won back then but I do remember creating a ton of work I’m really proud of to this day. We...

If you want remote work to work you have to work at it. You can’t just show up and expect it to be the same as in office. It’s not the same. You’ve only got 2 of your 5 senses working together. You can’t just strike up a casual conversation with the person next to you. You can’t walk the halls as a leader and feel what’s going on. That doesn’t mean it can’t work. It absolutely can. Plenty of compa...

Chaos is a candy store. The disorienting swirl, a chance to be useful. We’re swimming in that swirl right now. AI, layoffs, mergers, tariffs, the headlines bonking us on the head every time we try to surface. We need a lifeline. No, scratch that. We need to become a lifeline. That’s how this works. “They” are not going to save us. We are. And in the midst of the madness, opportunity is everywhere....

All organizations are dysfunctional. Those are the words of Michael Wade , consultant, advisor, author and former Equal Employment Opportunity Administrator for the City of Phoenix. And I tend to agree with him. We’re just not that good at coming together to do stuff. We get in our way. We play politics. We blame. And we forget why we’re even doing the damn thing in the first place. His solution?...

It’s 3am. You wake up to discover you’re on the couch, cuddling with your laptop. You cringe, ugh, another night wasted, working through dinner, ignoring your family. You should get to bed and grab a few good hours before the day starts up again. But then. Hey, it wouldn’t hurt to just crack that laptop open for a minute, make sure no critical emails have come through. I’ll just skim through a few...

What if the problem with our politics is also the problem with our workplaces? Our inability to truly see the people around us, keeping us from doing anything meaningful. They’re far right, far left, too hardline, too accommodating, stupid, evil, “the problem.” They’re account, creative, production, legal, stupid, clueless, “the problem.” What if “us vs. them” became “what can I learn from someone...

There’s a controversial piece making its way around the interwebs right now, called “ The Great Feminization ” by Helen Andrews. Despite its edgy title and often-incorrect conclusions (in my opinion), it’s generating some useful conversation. How can men and women work together in a way that is beneficial to all? Rachel Wallis Andreasson brings a POV to this topic informed by 30+ years as a leader...

How you feel about human nature tells you everything you need to know about leadership. If you think human nature has stayed constant over the years, you’ll find great value in the words of Socrates, Confucius, Jesus, Shakespeare and Sarah Breedlove (the first self-made black woman millionaire in the US). If you think human nature has evolved over time, you’ll see little point in the wisdom of the...

Should we get rid of HR? That’s the bold suggestion put forth by Jamie Gutfreund , this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast. Why get rid of it? Because it’s become a fear-based function that stifles creativity, prevents honest conversations and enforces a “referee” culture that treats team members like children vs. adults who are capable of sorting through hard stuff on their own. What woul...

Here’s what you’re admitting when you don’t develop your talent. 🐱 You’re admitting you don’t expect people to hang around very long. 🐱 You’re admitting you’re willing to let people just figure crap out on the job no matter how long it takes or how many mistakes get made. 🐱 You’re admitting that there’s nothing special about the work you do—any schmo off the street can jump in and deliver on da...

Imagine if we were more civil at work. Not more polite. Politeness is BS. Civil. From the Latin, Civitas. Meaning citizen. A well-functioning member of society. Societies work when we have hard conversations. When we bring a shared respect for our common humanity. When we’re willing to offend. And be offended. This is not where we are right now. As a society or at work. We avoid the hard conversat...

Radical Moderation. Sounds like an oxymoron. But it’s actually a way we can save our world and our workplaces from whatever the hell it is we’re all going through right now. We’re in a low trust, high volatility time. And it affects everything. From the most horrific news headlines to the way we relate to the person in the desk across from us. Our armor is up. Which isn’t exactly conducive to conv...

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a terrible boss. Nice, I see lots of hands. Great. Now raise your hand if you’ve ever been a terrible boss. If your hand isn’t still up, you’re lying to yourself. The moment we start leading others, we start finding ways to be bad at it. Not because we suck. Because we’re human. And this is how we learn. F*ck around a find out, right? Mita Mallick would like all...

Is therapy culture destroying us? Pushing us to analyze every moment as a potential trauma. Turning minor slights into rage and sadness. Making us feel good about feeling bad all the time. Fred Luskin has a different idea. Forgiveness. He’s been studying it for over 30 years and the biggest takeaway? We can deal with 99% of the crap that comes our way. Feel the feeling, sure. Do some self soothing...

The best work I’ve ever done started with laughter. Laughing at the boss’s indecisiveness. Laughing at our friend whooping our butts at Koosh basketball and walking away with a wad of ones that would make a stripper blush. Laughing at the dog farting in our office. Laughter is like creatine for your productivity muscles. I once laughed so hard I threw my back out and went on a months-long script w...

If you want your people to work harder, try helping them feel more welcome. You know, the exact opposite of how most companies feel when you step through the doors. So many offices are sterile, inhuman habitats, designed to crush souls while cranking up productivity. But here’s the rub: crushed souls won’t stay productive for very long. You can squeeze so much blood from a stone until that stone i...

“My work should speak for itself.” Yeah, sorry, it doesn’t. Even Jesus had a PR guy. Four of them, actually (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). So what makes you think you’re so special? None of us are. Which means all of us have to put the work in to make ourselves visible. Good thing Sue Barber already did a bunch of the work for us. Her book, The Visibility Factor , outlines the stuff we can do to...

You can’t fix collaboration issues with software. Some tools actually make things worse, stressing the nervous system and putting us in a perpetual state of fight of flight. Others are so damn confusing we pretend they don’t exist until Stu from HR sends us a stern reminder email. Someone should tell Stu (and the rest of us) to step away from Outlook and have some actual conversations with people....

Hiring sucks. It sucks for the company. It sucks for the candidates. It sucks for ai notetakers who are forced to generate useful bullet points from the inane interviews that take place in almost every corner of corporate America. “Sally and Jethro discussed the importance of the company’s Third-Thursday pizza parties and agreed that pineapple is actually an acceptable topping.” Who you bring into...

Remember when advertising was fun? It wasn’t that long ago, really. You’d spend your days goofing off, grinding on the work and playfully exploring new possibilities for your clients. It was pretty damn cool. What happened? 🐱 Creativity and fun have been squeezed out by business pressures and risk-aversion 🐱 Collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas between departments has decreased 🐱 Speed...

🐱 Hollywood has created nearly 500,000 movies. 🐱 It has developed over 10,000 TV shows. 🐱 It has entertained literally billions of people over the years. 🐱 And generated at least $5 trillion in revenue since its inception. And it did all of this using a remote and hybrid workforce. Even before we had machines on every desk and in every pocket, folks were dreaming, writing and strategizing wher...

What role does faith play at work? If you’d asked me 15 years ago I’d probably have scolded you for even asking such a crazy question. Keep your faith out of my peanut butter, dammit. Now? I’m not so sure. Mai Moore is certain that keeping faith out of the workplace is keeping the suck firmly in place. Mai is the founder of two social impact companies and previously spent 20 years in the tech spac...

What’s a person worth? If we based the answer on our own self assessments, not much. And then we bring that “not much” feeling everywhere we go, including work. Where we’re expected to influence people, lead people inspire people. And we wonder why we struggle. “Not much” has a scent. So strong it can actually travel through Zoom screens.. It’s also contagious. Infecting everyone who gets a whiff...

If you’re waiting for someone to come and save you from a sucky work life, it may be a while. This is the cold, hard and much needed truth from Elizabeth Lotardo , today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® Podcast. Elizabeth is the author of " Leading Yourself: Find More Joy, Meaning, and Opportunities in the Job You Already Have (Despite Imperfect Bosses, Weird Economies, Lethargic Coworkers, Annoying...