Changing Work

We share our views on how work is changing, and how we can and should change work. These perspectives offer insights on how to lead and manage well. 

Transcript below, for those of you who prefer reading over listening! Angie This is part 2 of a conversation. In part 1, Jeff shared a template for understanding what is happening in the macro environment, and why this downturn feels different than ones that CEOs, founders, investors may have lived through in the past. He...
Transcript below, for those of you who prefer reading over listening! Angie I think this conversation is going to be helpful to a lot of the leaders out there who feel like something is different right now, who feel like they’re operating in tighter constraints, but who may not be able to describe what’s going...
I have trouble saying no. Lots of reasons. Chief among them is that I’ve gotten reward signals for a long time that are basically along the lines of “if you say yes and solve the problem quickly, the more people would like you, the more value you will add, the more money you will make.”...
Working with thousands of leaders and their organizations, Talentism is deeply familiar with the power dynamics of work. Quiet quitting is the latest in a long line of those power dynamics to spark a frenzy of attention, inspiring thousands of takes in one of three categories: here’s why it’s great!, here’s why it’s horrible!, or here’s how to...
Before you can ask yourself or others how to find a job, instead ask yourself: how can I unleash my potential? It’s a big question, and a necessary one. If your job is simply to follow procedures – no matter how sophisticated – you’re competing with robots at worst, and plenty of other people at...
Do you find yourself experiencing any of the following? Team members or vendors coming to you with deliverables that are meaningfully different from what you asked for Employees missing the “big picture,” and spending too much time on trivial things you’d mentioned in passing Employees misinterpreting your curiosities or suggestions as directives Being surprised by...
While it’s a nearly unbearable cliche to talk about how we live in an “information age,” I believe success as a leader or manager requires a deep understanding of what exactly working in an “information age” actually means. As of 2018, over 90% of the data created in the history of our species was created...
Nearly everyone has a story of a boss who was worse than useless, or small nimble teams that apparently self-organized into excellence. The changing nature of work and the failures of past modes of management has brought numerous future-of-work thinkers to question the need for managers at all. In the reflections below, Jeff shares his...
In our Sensemaker two weeks ago, we introduced the Enterprise Clarity Model (ECM), the 4 key areas for clarification within an organization: goals, leadership, culture and management. This week, we’ll dive a bit deeper into how we think about management. We find with many of our clients that delivering excellent clarity management is the key lever for creating...
THINK Creating Clarity for Remote Teams As concerns about COVID-19 mount, many companies are experimenting with having more of their employees work from home. As with any context shift, this change brings with it both opportunities and significant potential confusion. The companies that navigate it well will have a competitive advantage, and not only from...