Hope + Possibilities: A Love Letter to the Future of Work

My Midlife Career Switch: Lessons Learned I'm Nola Simon and I recently shared my story of making a midlife career switch in Maclean's magazine.   Why I Made a Midlife Career Switch - Macleans.ca   While the article provides context about my personal career journey, I wanted to offer more specific actions and advice based on my experience. Here's what I've learned: Start Earlier Than You Think I b...

Episode Summary In this episode of the Hybrid Remote Center of Excellence podcast, host NolaSimon explores the new podcast studio at the Georgina Public Library, discussing its impact on remote work and community resources. **Key Points:** - The Multi-Use Recreational Center (MURC) in Georgina now offers a fully-equipped podcast studio and AV room[1]. - The facility provides high-quality sound equ...

  Host:  Nola Simon Guest:  Meagan Williamson, Pinterest Marketing Expert Overview: In this episode, Nola Simon interviews Meagan Williamson, a seasoned Pinterest marketing expert. They discuss Meagan's background, her transition from educational psychology to Pinterest marketing, and her insights on using Pinterest effectively for business growth. Key Topics: Megan's Background: Originally traine...

    Host:  Nola Simon Guest: Meagan Williamson, Pinterest Marketing Expert Overview: In this episode, Nola Simon interviews Meagan Williamson, a seasoned Pinterest marketing expert. They discuss Meagan's background, her transition from educational psychology to Pinterest marketing, and her insights on using Pinterest effectively for business growth. Key Topics: Megan's Background: Originally train...

Mental models can help simplify complex ideas.  Hybrid or remote work is more than just policy, strategy or design.  It's all of it working in concert.  Metaphors like garden design, an ecosystem or an orchestra can help us think about work in different ways. It's helpful to zoom out and use your imagination to understand how roles, departments and divisions intertwine and how does this lead to su...

Karen Ferris asked me to blurb her new book Be Remarkable.   This is the first time I've been asked to do this for anyone so this podcast episode logically followed.  Karen has the honour of being the only guest I've invited to the podcast twice. She's very vocal in talking about the leadership crisis that exists now and this book provides useful resources to help immediately. This is the blurb I...

" Exclusion does not need a reason. Just an excuse." The Canary Code is a leadership book, a lesson in how to design workplace culture. The lesson starts with the design of the book itself.  During this discussion, Ludmila mentioned that many of the challenges people with ADHD encounter mirror the symptoms of overwork. So the inclusive design of the book means that it's easy to digest for anyone....

" Exclusion does not need a reason. Just an excuse." The Canary Code is a leadership book, a lesson in how to design workplace culture. The lesson starts with the design of the book itself.  During this discussion, Ludmila mentioned that many of the challenges people with ADHD encounter mirror the symptoms of overwork. So the inclusive design of the book means that it's easy to digest for anyone....

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory:  Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode The right to disconnect is legilslation designed to protect employees from work creeping into after hours work.  It's popping up all around the world including Ontario, Canada, where I live.  The thing about legislation is that it's a guardrail to protect us from the worst abuses.  As an employer, you never want your emp...

For years, I've recognized that the way change happens in organizations is disconnected from the way that executives and senior leaders perceive change to happen.  Top down initiatives often fail and employees resist the change, often because the change is done to them, not with them.  They can't see themselves reprsented in the story of change.   I've been following Jeppe Hansgaard on Linkedin be...

This post was inspired by a conversation I had with Tom Goodwin that started on Twitter and which he expanded on LinkedIn. He gave me permission to base this podcast episode on these posts . I often think a lot about how lucky I am to have started my career with 25 ish years of in-office/store work, passive training, oversight, exposure via proximity, and camaraderie . This is by no means an anti-...

Let me tell you a story 50 years in the making. I moved to the Town of Georgina when I was 18 months old.  I've lived here 50 years. We've never had much tech infrastructure so I can't tell you how excited I was to learn that our new community centre has an audio and video recording studio I can use for podcasting. I thought it would be a simple matter to get someone from the town on my podcast to...

The Power of Appreciation In this episode, I share my personal stories to illustrate the importance of appreciation and recognition in the workplace and how easy it is to get it wrong even with the best of intentions. I also talk about why some of the common practices of employee appreciation are ineffective and how we can do better. Key Takeaways Appreciation goes deeper than just saying thank yo...

The Four Day Work Week In this episode, Nola Simon shares her personal stories about the benefits of working a four day work week. She talks about how her husband's experience with a flexible and creative job at a pattern making shop in Toronto inspired her to challenge the conventional narratives about work and productivity. She also reflects on how having an extra day off every week improved the...

  Episode Summary: In this episode, I share my personal experience and insights on how to manage up effectively in a hybrid remote work setting. I explain what managing up means, why it is important, and how it can benefit both you and your manager. I also give some practical examples of how I managed up with my manager who had never worked from home before, and how I advocated for the needs and c...

Coffee Badging : A Trend in Hybrid Workplaces In the world of hybrid work, a curious phenomenon has emerged:  coffee badging . It's not about java aficionados collecting stamps on their loyalty cards; rather, it's a sly workaround for employees who are less than thrilled about returning to the office. Here's the scoop: Coffee badging involves employees showing up at the workplace just long enough...

I first connected with Gavin because I noticed he was born in Keswick, UK.  I live in Keswick, Ontario, Canada.  They are spelled the same but pronounced differently.  This is known as affinity bias - I notice something about you that is similar to my own experience.  It's a tiny story that connects. Gavin and I both love the power of storytelling.  It's essential for the future of work and key to...

I first connected with Gavin because I noticed he was born in Keswick, UK.  I live in Keswick, Ontario, Canada.  They are spelled the same but pronounced differently.  This is known as affinity bias - I notice something about you that is similar to my own experience.  It's a tiny story that connects. Gavin and I both love the power of storytelling.  It's essential for the future of work and key to...

Just the facts.....as one of my prior guests told me "Get to the point". Thanks John Espiran. Here's the full newsletter that inspired this commentary: Details of The Flexible Path Community Here's the link to join: The Flexible Path (mn.co) Purpose: We bring together individuals embracing distributed work and advocates for hybrid/remote work to support one another in navigating the challenges and...

I've never had a guest write their own episode post so I decided to use it as shownotes.   Richard Bukowski is a foresight facilitator and one of my futurist buddies.  Check out his Linkedin and website:   (1) Richard Bukowski | LinkedIn Richard Bukowski.com https://open.substack.com/pub/richardbukowski/p/help-ill-be-so-old-in-10-years-please?r=ehqlp&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post   I'm excited...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory:  Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode   The week of American Thanksgiving is often a peak time for layoffs. It happened to me too - 3 years ago I was told my role was being restructured. Effectively it was a constructive dismissal. Best thing I did in the month before I was told about the restructuring? My performance review. This week, I'll tell you how to...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory:  Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode This week, I happened to notice an article published by someone who does similar work as me.  He recommended tying hybrid/remote or work from home (whatever version of distributed work the company offers) to performance metrics. I have several issues with this approach as I've had to live with this type of policy.  I bro...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory:  Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode Sweta Regmi and I met on Twitter and have been trading media referrals and recommendations.  One day she posted a series of tweets and tagged 2 banks and several high profile journalists and media outlets: "Verbal communication ratings how you evaluate for accent, ESL, immigrants, international students, speech, language...

If you listen to many episodes of my podcast, you'll note that I keep the intro really short.  I'd rather focus on the guest and the ideas as well as any takeaways we can highlight.  Same with the outros.  I might ask you to rate and review the podcast on your favourite player.  I might mention my website www.nolasimon.com or ask you to check me out on LinkedIn but I've never really done a full bl...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode When I read Bragging Rights by Lisa Bragg, I knew I wanted to bring her on the podcast because her work validates the approach I've taken to self-promotion for years.  She has the research to back it up - check out how she brags about having the largest research study.  It's a masterclass in owning your story. Bragging is...