Eat Sleep Work Repeat

Sign up for the newsletter There was an incredible response to the episode with Chris hayward last week. I know that Chris was really touched with the response. He’s not on Twitter but I know he was responding to some people on Linkedin last week.   Today’s episode is much lighter in tone but it’s fascinating rare opportunity to get a different perspective into another world. During the summer someone at GCHQ got in touch and asked whether it would be of interest to get an insight into the modern world of spying and intelligence. I’ve been very fortunate that since I’ve been doing this podcast I’ve been invited to M15, to M16 and inside the SAS so I was delighted to go inside GCHQ. Especially as I was allowed to record it and have one of the first interviews with someone inside GCHQ.   GCHQ (government communication headquarters - as its never known) was created in 1919 after the first world war as a way to gather intelligence to assist the British Government and UK military. It’s always had a unique culture - harking back to its old site at Bletchley Park where – deliberately – everyone worked in huts so the right hand didn’t know what the left was doing to maintain secrecy. The code breakers of Bletchley park were famously principally women and were credited with helping to end the war 2 years ahead of what would otherwise have occurred.   I was fortunate to get a very rare interview with Jo Caven, a director at GCHQ, and one of the few people who are allowed to confirm they work at the organisation. It's a fun discussion - there's a few laughs in there - not least because Jo has a good sense of fun and entertains my more excitable questions. Some interesting reading: - Spying in the digital age - Drab office was GCHQ base - UK is a spying leader  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

WARNING: INCLUDES THEMES OF SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION "I walked up and down Tottenham Court Road looking for a lorry to throw myself under" An episode going deep on mental health today. I chat to someone who has been brave enough to reveal their own breakdown and how they got to the verge of suicide. In a recent piece of research Deloitte surveyed 1000 UK employees, 55% say their colleagues are just as productive but 38% say that lockdown has had a negative impact on their wellbeing. Not long ago Chris Hayward was named the number 1 media buyer in the UK by industry bible Campaign, he was responsible for buying advertising campaigns for some of the best known brands in the world. An unfortunate accident made Chris's health take a turn for the worse and before anyone could notice he was spiralling through exhaustion and isolation into a very dark place. In this incredibly candid conversation Chris explains how he felt, how he's learned to cope and what he would say to others in his position. Support if you're feeling suicidal Mental health support for young people How to help someone else who is feeling suicidal Introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy CBT on YouTube Sign up for Make Work Better  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sign up for the newsletter Today's episode is for anyone who is curious about how human's tick. Work ultimately is a practice of the brain and how our brain processes and reacts to things is a fascination to me. I have a friend who is studying neuroscience and a couple of years ago at someone's wedding I was chatting to him and said 'who should I be reading?' and he said the best voice in the field was a psychologist called Lisa Feldman Barrett. Sure enough I looked her up and her book How Emotions Are Made was dazzling and brilliant. it covers themes of understanding emotions. One of the things that Lisa believes is that we don' t arrive programmed with emotions, we learn them along the way. The more emotions we're taught to understand the more we can feel. In her book she says people who read fiction books and learn to appreciate nuance of emotion end up feeling a wider range of emotions. She has a new book out. How Emotions Are Made is several hundred pages and her new book 7.5 Lessons About the Brain is much shorter and is very accessible. So if you're looking for a simple explainer about the brain it is a brilliant summary (I have disclose I way preferred the first book). Along the way you're going to discover that no your dog isn't capable of feeling guilt, we talk about the test (that was in a previous episode) called the Reading The Mind in the Eyes test.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What a truly wonderful conversation you're about to listen to today. Mo Gawdat is an expert on happiness and today's episode is a combination of philosophy and science - and it never fails to be stimulating to listen to every step of the way. This podcast used to be about happiness and work culture. And about 4 years I saw a captivating clip by Mo which went viral everywhere on the internet. I contacted him and finally here we are. Mo Gawdat was formerly the boss of Google X, the company's innovation lab, now he is one of the most respected thought leaders on how we can find happiness in our lives. Links mentioned in the show: Joe Biden's climate plan (I love this site Bloomberg Green btw their daily Green email is brilliant). Listen to Mo's podcast. I'm on this episode. Follow Mo on Twitter/Instagram. Here's Mo's original viral clip if you want to share it - YouTube/Facebook/Twitter Mo mentions the most successful artist Romero Britto - here's his work, he wasn't kidding about his work being simplistic.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"When I moved to New York City, I realised what it meant to be truly lonely for the first time. I had no consistent community — people who would wonder where I was if I didn’t show up. I was disconnected. At the time, I thought that I was the only one who felt this way… but I was VERY wrong.Turns out, loneliness is a huge issue in the United States. The average American only has one close friend, and 75% of people are not satisfied with their friendships". Jillian Richardson found that one of the most relatable things that any of us can do is confess to others that we're lonely. Freshly arrived in Manhattan she found the paradox of big cities is that we can be alone while surrounded with others. Her response was to create the Joy List - a list that once set about connecting people across New York with other like minded individuals and now sets about connecting anyone virtually. The Joy List has become a phenomenon recommended by Esther Perel, Priya Parker and many more. She's also the author of Unlonely Planet. Jillian gives us her 5 rules of community - and cautions that while communities can exist in the workplace we should be cautious about trying to get everyone into the same community at work. She also talks about her 'Ask' and 'Offer' walls as a device to bring teams together. Peter Block: "Community requires a concept of the leader as one who creates experiences for others. Experiences that in themselves are examples of our desired future". If you're thinking I'd love Jillian's help she offers her services professionally both as a course and as personal coaching. If you want to hire her she's willing and able to take that on you can contact her here. Jillian mentions the Ritual Design Lab.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sign up for the newsletter. We're at part 3 of our series about community at work. Today's guest is one of the most respected community thinkers in the world, Casper ter Kuile, Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School and author of The Power of Ritual. His book is a practical guide to the way that communities come to life, not only is it practical it's also brilliantly written. I found myself annotating a lot of it and it's impossible not to learn from his wisdom on the topic. “Disconnection sours the sweet things in life and makes them nearly unbearable” Casper previously wrote a free book with Angie Thurston is at Harvard Divinity School called How We Gather which was a wonderful exploration of how post religious (secular) groups were creating get togethers that seemed to be inspired by the religious communities that went before them. Casper's perspective is wonderful, so respectful of religion even though he sits outside of it. This series of episodes has been about understanding how our organisations can shape a sense of belonging in us, especially when we're no longer physically together. I feel like the episodes are a journey. No one has professed to know the answers and there's plenty of cautionary notes. I'm certain anyone trying to shape community in their work will come away with plenty of thoughts after this. Not least that Casper says that it goes strongly against the spirit of community that someone in a community can fire someone else. Community is built on safety.  In the podcast I also talk about a previous episode on rituals and you can find that here.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today's episode is a further exploration of how firms will try to evolve their culture by hiring Community Managers. If you've not listened to last week's episode featuring Sarah Drinkwater pull up, back up and tuck in to that one first. Sarah said the person I should talk to is Abadesi Osunsade from Brandwatch - and so that's who we are talking to today. Abadesi's title is VP Global Community & Belonging at the 500 strong organisation. We talk about seeking to get better at Diversity & Inclusion, giving voice to teams (and applicants) and how to build community in organisations who are no longer together. Abadesi mentions Square's Rise program. This is the scheme that ensures there's always one minority candidate at the last stage of each hiring process. You'll find more details on it here. (note I couldn't find it on the UK website so maybe stay on the US site when it asks if you want to move). Here's Abadesi's book and the other organisation she's part of The Hustle Crew. If you like this please do subscribe to the newsletter. Image by @claybanks at Unsplash.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sign up for the Eat Sleep Work Repeat newsletter here. New podcast today - the first of four podcasts about what’s next with work - specifically how can we make work feel like a community again, especially when you’re hunkered down under the duvet trying to survive the November chill. Over the next few weeks I’m going to be chatting to some incredible guests. Today I kick off with Sarah Drinkwater who is a supreme community builder and now works for the Atomico fund. Some links to what we discuss! I mention that Gary runs Wonder - this is their website Follow Sarah on Twitter Sarah's Medium post She mentions Jason Fried's book Rework (my own book The Interintellect Q Anon - great piece on how one woman felt enveloped by the community (before she twigged it was all nonsense) Q Anon - outstanding Reply All when they pretty much work out which crackpot is behind it. Created by a crackpot, weaponised by the GRU. The Sunrise Movement - love these kids Image by Shane Rounce on Unsplash  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last year Anne Helen Petersen’s Buzzfeed article about burnout became a viral sensation, spawning a seemingly never-ending wave of ‘Year of Burnout’ headlines. Petersen’s writing triggered such recognition because she rooted it in the ordinary, in everyday experiences that were instantly relatable. She evoked her own life where industrious professional productivity (as a writer) was combined with a weary inability to get things done in her private life. She initially thought there was something wrong with her. Googling for other people relating their aversion to getting sh!t done domestically, bills sitting unpaid, registrations unfiled, postal votes uncast, chores uncompleted. She realised it wasn’t personal, it was systematic. The way we were living was driving us to a constant feeling of being emotionally & physically spent. Relatedly, it was sad to read of the passing of David Graeber this week. As an academic he was an unexpected icon of progressive politics but more than anything he was someone who invited us to revisit our preconceived ideas about how society functioned. Graeber had mused in his book ‘Bullshit Jobs’, wondering what had happened to the 15-hour week that in 1930 John Maynard Keynes had predicted by the end of the 20th century. He wondered whether it was indeed possible but societally we might have to reorganise the world of work to achieve it. Insurgent thinking for many, but there are echoes of this conjecture in Petersen’s book. Some of her thoughts might find resonance with frazzled younger workers wondering why they won’t be free of their student loans until 2045 and looking at house prices simmering away at 10 times their salary. AHP reminds us that despite a whole genre of self-improvement literature that tells us that our personal actions can resolve burnout - or that, come on slouch, you need to be grittier, we need to point the finger at the actions of our firms, not ourselves. Ultimately she suggests that our casual acceptance of the way we’re working is having a toll on our psyche that can’t be easily unspun by productivity hacks and meditation apps. As Taylor Lorenz notes on the jacket, the book “is a compelling exploration of… how an entire generation has been set up to fail”. Sign up for the Eat Sleep Work Repeat newsletter here.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Subscribe to the newsletter Today's interviewees: Bhushan Sethi leads PwC's workplace strategy business and Ben Waber is the CEO of workplace analytics firm, Humanyze. Read the Humanyze research about the way work has changed since lockdown. Here's the previous episode I recorded with Ben Waber.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I was fortunate to speak to Gary Hamel about his forthcoming new book, Humanocracy. He believes that the single most empowering (and profitable) thing that businesses can do is eliminate their creeping bureaucracy. He talks about how increasingly organisations are paralysed with red tape and bureaucracy. The end result is that they can’t get anything done. There are some clear examples of this from the recent past. He characterises the Microsoft era under Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer as being one where opportunity after opportunity was passed because the organisation was so heavily bureaucratic. Satya Nadella has freed the organisation from a lot of this – with evident results. Hamel proposes a series of questions that help you diagnose the extent of bureaucracy in your company - and you can read more about this here: read more Subscribe to the newsletter Buy Gary Hamel's new book, Humanocracy  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What are other firms doing about returning to work? How can any of us work out the right thing to do? I chat to 4 more firms to hear their plans. Listen to conversations with Beth Marie Norbury from Babcock International, Tom Ellis from Brand Genetics, Richard from a big pharmaceuticals firm and Laura Pleasance from Captify. This is addition to Dan Cullen Shute last episode. Here's more on my survey I put out last week (from last week's newsletter): We’ve already heard loud and clear that workers don’t want to return to the old days but we’re starting to hear more about firm ordering workers back to their seating plan. L’Oreal US saw some unwelcomed attention this month when they told workers that if they didn’t come back ASAP they needed to authorise the firm having access to their private medical records. So what are other firms saying is going to happen next? I got just under 100 qualitative replies to the survey; from pharmaceutical companies to start-ups, charities to defence contractors. The replies detailed different approaches from companies as they try to work out how to act next. The main headlines were: - Amongst all firms ‘normal’ has been postponed until 2021 - everything at the moment is being framed as interim. 2021 is when firms are expecting to be able to jump start their new culture. - Just over two-fifths of firms (42%) have told workers they won’t be expected to return to offices until 2021 if they don’t want to. (26% back from September/October onwards, 31% already phasing some return of workers back to the office from August). This finding is consistent with the straw poll that Digiday performed across publishing and media companies. Some of the most interesting quotations showing the spectrum of positions: "[an organisation that went from 4 floors to 27 seats] It’s amazing how many of the things people said couldn’t be done from home could once COVID hit. We’re looking at a total rethink on workspaces and what the future looks like - a place for social interaction and collaboration with the ethos that work is something you do not somewhere you go… there’s no going back” “We issued a survey to understand what our people feel comfortable with, and on that basis have told everyone no one will be asked to work from the office if they prefer not to for the rest of the year” [We got everyone back to the office in mid July] “we're an office based business and we need to get used to being back in the office as we can't work from home together. No plans announced on long term flexibility but lots of employees are asking (as are new hires)”. “The success of working from home, and the fact that so many staff have said they now want more flexibility, has lead [the organisation] to put one of our office buildings up for lease. So a full 5 day return to the office for everyone wouldn’t even be possible”.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Subscribe to the newsletter Here's Dan's tweets that started this conversation. Today's episode is first of two episodes about the big return to work. It covers themes that I've covered in the newsletter over the last few weeks. What are other firms doing? How will they make their decisions. Over the 2 episodes I've chatted to stacks of people to get their views. Firstly I talk to someone who went on the record describing his company's approach. Dan Cullen Shute is the boss of advertising agency, Creature he tweeted a few weeks ago that he was getting the band back together every Wednesday and Thursday. I asked him his thinking behind this and his vision of how this will create a special place to work.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"We think people want to be liked, but they need to be needed". A thoroughly stimulating discussion here - that I've allowed to run long because it's so interesting. I met a brilliant guy called Misha Byrne who worked for a company called NeuroPower. I was so taken with what he was talking about (applying neuroscience to work) that we arranged to meet up, and he brought Peter Burow, the founder of the company along. There's some wonderful stuff in this discussion: - the important of Relatedness in teams - how we build affinity between people who might not initially see a connection with each other (in this case doctors from India and Pakistan) - how good teams don't avoid conflict, they are comfortable with it - how resilience can be built in teams - "We think people want to be liked, they need to be needed" The model that they use in their work is RELISH: Relatedness, Expression, Leading the pack, Interpersonal connection, See Progress and Hope for the future We talk a lot about Matt Lieberman's book, Social. Misha invites listeners to drop him an email you can do that here. Peter's book is here or you can read it for free here.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Tuesday and Thursday, see you there. BOOM!" A lot of us are starting to long for human contact again and the office feels like a happy place to be. But what does the office of the future look like? I chatted to the brilliant Antony Slumbers (follow him on Twitter here). Antony is regarded as a visionary thinker in the real estate market and runs a course for you to learn to be the same. Antony is incredibly incisive: - "in the same way we realised we didn't need a shop to go shopping we've realised we don't need an office to do work". - "no company wants an office, they want a productive workforce" To get this and more sign up to the newsletter.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.