Work is Weird Now

Dan and Alice took an AI agent called Dinah to a conference at Meta's Kings Cross HQ — and let her challenge a room of 100 senior leaders live on stage. In this episode they unpack what happened, what surprised them, and what it actually feels like to work alongside AI. Then they hand the mic to Dinah herself.

What’s today’s best career advice? In this solo episode of Work is Weird Now, Alice Phillips and Dan Emery unpack the career advice that no longer fits the reality of modern work — from climbing the corporate ladder and staying loyal to one company, to following your passion at all costs. Instead, they explore what actually matters now: building T-shaped skills, learning continuously, creating opt...

In this episode of Work Is Weird Now , Dan and Alice sit down with Suze Cook to unpack what happens when the traditional career ladder no longer works for early career talent. From hidden internships and broken graduate pathways to project-based work, AI-native skills and social mobility, Suze shares why the future of early careers may look very different — and why businesses need to rethink how t...

Here’s a tighter podcast bio option that keeps her credibility and personality, while tying directly into the episode themes: Alex Issakova is an AI strategist, educator and founder helping businesses navigate the messy reality of generative AI. After 15 years working across tech, systems thinking and machine learning for Silicon Valley companies, she left corporate life to build her own business...

This week on Work Is Weird Now, we’re joined by Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst, co-founders of Hoxby and The Workstyle Revolution, to unpack how work needs to evolve beyond industrial-age thinking. From the legacy of the 9–5 to the rise of digital, distributed work, we explore why organisations are struggling to balance autonomy with structure and what happens when people are given freedom without th...

She Shapes AI: Who gets to build the future? Alice and Dan recap their experience at the She Shapes AI Global Awards and Conference at the London School of Economics an event that didn’t just celebrate innovation, but challenged who gets to shape it. The day opened with a bold Oxford-style debate asking whether AI will lead to an era of abundance and human flourishing. Arguing the opposition, Alic...

Can AI education help level the playing field? This week on Work Is Weird Now , we’re joined by Anna Cejudo, co-CEO and co-founder of Founderz, to explore one of the most important questions in the age of AI: who actually gets to benefit? Anna unpacks why traditional education models are struggling to keep up — caught between exclusivity at one end and passive, disconnected online learning at the...

Can AI open doors to hidden candidates? This week on Work Is Weird Now , we’re joined by Hannah Töpler , CEO of Intrare and finalist in the She Shapes AI Awards (Future of Work category). While companies struggle to fill frontline roles, millions of capable people remain locked out of formal employment — including refugees, migrants, single parents, LGBTQ+ candidates and older workers. Hannah is b...

Can AI make pay fairer? Most companies know they have a gender pay gap. Very few measure it properly. In this episode of Work Is Weird Now , Alice Phillips and Dan Emery speak with Barbara Stolorz , co-founder of Levelly AI and a finalist in the She Shapes AI Awards . Barbara shares how her own experience returning from maternity leave and discovering her salary increases had simply been skipped l...

In this episode of Work Is Weird Now Podcast, Alice and Dan sit down with Paul Vezelis, CEO of Traxlo, to explore how pay is evolving as work becomes more fragmented, flexible and outcome-driven. Paul challenges one of the most embedded assumptions in modern employment: that time is the right unit of value. Instead of paying for hours, Traxlo breaks retail work into measurable tasks and pays peopl...

Mid-Season Review: Portfolio Careers, AI Anxiety & What’s Next In this mid-season review of the Work Is Weird Now podcast, hosts Alice & Dan reflect on season five, one year of WIWN, and the ideas that keep resurfacing in the future of work conversation. From Dan’s early “accidental” portfolio career (four-star McDonald’s badge included) to interviewing at Sainsbury’s after leaving corpora...

In this episode of Work Is Weird Now , we’re joined by Deborah Cohen , journalist, doctor and author of the new book Bad Influence: How the Internet Hijacked Our Health . We explore why trust in institutions is eroding and why people are increasingly turning to influencers, algorithms and online narratives over qualified experts. Drawing on examples from healthcare, leadership and workplace cultur...

Do work clothes still matter? In this episode of the Work is Weird Now Podcast , we’re joined by Julietta Dexter , Founder of The Communication Store and Chair of Smart Works , the charity supporting unemployed women with coaching, clothing, and confidence to secure work. The question sounds simple, but it opens up something much bigger: Do work clothes still matter? Julietta’s answer is a clear y...

What if the safest career move right now is… refusing to be one thing? In this episode, Alice Phillips and Dan Emery are joined by Charlie Rogers , founder of Undefinable Life Design and author of a new book launching this March. Charlie introduces the idea of the “undefinable” — people whose working lives don’t fit neatly into a single job title, industry, or identity. Not because they’re unfocus...

Are memes the new language of work? Memes. GIFs. Reels. The things we send without thinking and yet somehow they’ve become one of the clearest ways we communicate how work actually feels. In this episode of Work Is Weird Now , we’re joined by Martin Kevill , Creative Director at Tangerine Communications , to explore a deceptively big question: Are memes the new language of work? We unpack how meme...

How will work be weird in 2026? | Live episode We’re back — and for the first time ever, Work Is Weird Now went live on LinkedIn. In this episode, we’re joined by award-winning journalist and future-of-work commentator Oliver Pickup to unpack the seven big shifts shaping how work will feel in 2026. From AI readiness gaps and the collapse of the graduate pipeline, to workplace loneliness, resenteei...

Season 4 is a wrap and this episode is our 2025 Work Mixtape. Across nine episodes, this year quietly and sometimes loudly rewired how we think about work, careers, identity and contribution. From portfolio lives over single job titles, to contribution over credentials, this wrap-up pulls together the ideas, moments and shifts that stayed with us most. We revisit guests who changed how we show up,...

This episode features Ben Legg — former Google Europe COO and co-founder of The Portfolio Collective — as we dive into why portfolio careers are becoming the new normal. Ben explains the shift from single-employer dependence to earning through a mix of consulting, fractional roles, creative projects and more. We unpack the four types of portfolio professionals, the mindset shift toward life design...

In this episode of Work is Weird Now , we sit down with Nicoletta Idili former humanitarian worker turned podcast host and transformative coach to explore what really happens when you press pause on your career. After eight years at Oxfam, Nicoletta realised the role no longer fit the life she wanted. Instead of jumping straight into the next job, she took a year-and-a-half career break : time to...

This episode welcomes Abigail Wilmore , HR leader, consultant, and founder of People Flow , a global community supporting HR professionals navigating today’s most complex people challenges. With more than 25 years of experience across luxury, fashion, and beauty, Abigail has helped shape human-centred cultures at brands including Gucci, Stella McCartney, and Tom Ford Fashion . We explore why HR is...

In this conversation, Paul Lambert discusses the concept of 'living organisations' and how they can liberate individuals rather than constrain them. He emphasises the importance of purpose, culture, and structure in fostering a thriving workplace. Paul argues that organisations should prioritize human-centric solutions and balance profitability with a strong sense of purpose. He also highlights th...

Leadership doesn’t always begin in a boardroom. For Antoinette Daniel , founder of Just Helpers , it began with a belief that everyone, no matter their job title, deserves dignity, fair pay, and justice. A former PE teacher turned anti-trafficking campaigner, Antoinette never planned to start a cleaning company. But when she picked up cleaning to make ends meet, she saw an industry rife with explo...

How do you build a personal brand that opens doors without feeling like you’re performing for likes? In this episode, we speak with Claudia Cardinali , Head of Strategy at Great Influence , the agency behind the personal brands of some of the UK’s most influential entrepreneurs. Claudia shares how to treat LinkedIn as a career asset instead of a content chore, why sustainable consistency beats vir...

We’ve been circling around AI for months — how to use it, how to feel about it, and how not to lose ourselves in the process. This week, we sat down with Jaroslav Dokoupil , Managing Director of RQ Genesis and Chief Learning Officer at OpenExO, who helps organisations navigate disruption with purpose. His take: treat AI like a relationship, not a tool. AI, in three metaphors: 🧞‍♂️ The Genie — AI...

Guest: Chris Budd — founder of Ovation Finance, author of The Eternal Business and The Financial Wellbeing Book , and founder of the Institute for Financial Wellbeing. If you’ve ever been told to “fix your money before you fix your life,” this episode flips that script. Chris Budd argues that true financial wellbeing isn’t about spreadsheets or savings goals—it’s about aligning your money with mea...