Work and the Future Podcast

Work and the Future Podcast

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  • The finance sector has been one of the economic leaders over the past few years, with companies seemingly hiring as many workers as they can. And it isn’t just the finance sector…workers with skills in financial analysis have been in hot demand in all kinds of sectors and even if the economy slows a little over the next few years it does not seem like that will change. Then again, technology is disrupting everything and there are reasons to think that both the nature of jobs in finance and maybe the number of them will shift in future. How are careers in finance changing and what skills will be needed as we move forward?To talk about all of that, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by y by Rebecca Fender, Head of Strategy and  Governance for Research, Advocacy and Standards for the CFA Research Institute....

    10 August, 2022

  • This year has been a tough one for a lot of organizations. They have needed workers, sometimes needed them desperately, and it has not been easy to find them and they have been continuously losing them as we go through this thing called the Great Resingnation.   Now there have been a lot of things that companies have tried in terms of attracting and retaining workers, like money and bonuses and time off. One thing that is also being tried, and perhaps will be one of the more successful ways to hold on to people is through supporting continuing education for workers. Because if you listen to what they are saying, it is clear that people want to continue learning, for a lot of reasons, and that when their employers support them with that they are appreciative and happy and a lot less likely to quit their jobs. Is supporting education the key to retaining workers? That was one of the findings of a survey done by Strategic Education Inc.  an education company that serves working adult students.  Terry McDonough. ]President of Education Technology and Enterprise Services at Strategic Education joins Linda Nazareth on this episode to talk about the......

    27 July, 2022

  • As we move to new models of work we have sometimes wondered whether remote workers are too isolated but are hybrid workers also isolated – and maybe even lonely? And if that is true, as some evidence suggests, what should organizations be doing to help workers with that isolation? On this episode Linda Nazareth is joined by Dr. Caroline Knight, Research Fellow at the Future of Work Institute at Curtin University in Australia, who has done research into the loneliness of hybrid workers. They talk about the issues around isolation, and why organizations should be cognizant of managing and supporting workers who are off-site but still part of the organization. Guest: Caroline received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Psychology from Durham University, UK, in 2003. After graduating, she worked full time as an Assistant Psychologist in a Medium Secure Unit in Yorkshire, UK, for adults with mental health issues, learning disabilities, challenging behaviour and a forensic background. Her love of academic work and research drove her back to university and she completed her Masters in Research Methods in Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, in 2011, followed by a PhD at the Institute of Work Psychology, Sheffield Management......

    13 July, 2022

  • What do concerns about ESG mean for the future of work? The pandemic aside though, we have a building awareness of what is going on in terms of environmental change in general, and a building awareness of ESG Investing. ESG-of course being the acronym for Environmental, Social, and (Corporate) Governance, the three broad categories, or areas, of interest for what is termed “socially responsible investors.  At the same time, we are building a new workplace, changing the rules around work and the decisions we make about it now are going to impact on our economy and our society and our environment for years to come.To discuss what the fallout of the trends will be on work and workers,, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by  Shankar Raman Senior Director, Global Leader Technology Industry Group at Willis Towers Watson. They talk about the implications of hybrid work, the growing corporate awareness of controlling their carbon footprint and the potential impact on equity and attracting talent of the new workplace, now and in the future. Guest: Shankar Raman Senior Director, Global Leader Technology Group Willis Towers Watson Shankar S Raman is a global leader with Willis Towers Watson (WTW). He is based in Boston.......

    22 June, 2022

  •   Have you ever been asked to do something at work that you thought compromised your morals? It could be something big and dramatic like in a movie, where a worker is asked hide a report on safety even though it might mean people die or might be something more mundane. Maybe you were asked to tell your team that their jobs were safe even though you did not know if that was true, or maybe you had to tell a client that their work was going to get the company’s best resources even though you suspected that that was not going to be the case. Or it was a bit different. Maybe you are a nurse and you have pledged to do the best for your patients but you do not think you are doing that because you just do not have the resource and that is stressing you out.It is not unusual for workers to be put in a position where they do not feel morally comfortable with the demands of their jobs, meaning they  end up wounded, not with a physical injury but with something called a ‘moral injury’. Moral injury is not anything new, but maybe......

    26 May, 2022

  • How we work impacts many things including the environment and equity and income distribution as welI and there are indications that  moving more work remote could help us achieve our societal goals. To discuss why remote work could have so many spin-off benefits, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by   Chase Warrington, Head of Remote at Doist.  Guest: Chase Warrington  Head of Remote, Doist Chase Warrington is the Head of Remote at Doist, a pioneer of distributed work that specializes in productivity software. Doist created the award-winning task management app Todoist, and Twist, the first team messaging app designed for async work. Collectively, Doist supports 25 million people globally to stay organized and productive. Chase is responsible for developing and executing Doist’s remote work strategy, co-located events, and advocating for the future of work on behalf of the company. His work has led him to be recognized as a leader in the 2022 Remote Influencer Report and a 2022 LinkedIn Top Voice for Remote Work. He has worked remotely for over 12 years, as one of Doist’s 100 employees in 35 countries. He is a regular contributor, instructor, and consultant to many of the leading remote work organizations and......

    11 May, 2022

  • Is there a way to turn the Great Resignation into the Great Retention? For the past year we have heard a lot about the  Great Resignation, the rush of people who are quitting jobs because they are not happy where they are, often for reasons that have nothing to do with compensation. That is leading to some good conversations within organizations about how to make people happier. To talk about some of the trends around retention, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Mark Mancuso, Country Manager, Canada at SAP SuccessFactors. They discuss what he has seen from companies across a variety of sectors and what it will take to go from starting the conversation to creating better leadership and ultimately better outcomes around retention. Guest: Mark Mancuso is the Country Manager for SAP SuccessFactors in Canada. Over the past two decades, Mark has been working with some of Canada’s best companies to improve their business operations to better support their customers and employees. With a focus on employee experience management, he is supporting his customers with the digital transformations they need to keep their employees engaged and make their business an employer of choice. Mark is focused on......

    27 April, 2022

  • Two years ago, business travel ground to a halt and we learned to communicate with each other without getting on planes or driving for miles. Now, travel in general is coming back and business travel is as well.  That means we need to budget the time for it, or decide whether it is an effective way to spend time at all. To talk about the time management aspects of business travel, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by time management coach Elizabeth Saunders, founder of Real Life E Time Coaching & Speaking, and author of  How to Invest Your Time Like Money and Divine Time Management. Guest: Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder and CEO of Real Life E® a time management coaching company that empowers individuals who feel guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished. She was named one of the World’s Top 30 Time Management Professionals. The Christian division of her company focuses on a God-centered approach to time management through Divine Time Management Group Coaching. McGraw Hill published her first book The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success with Less Stress. Harvard Business Review published her second book How to Invest Your Time......

    13 April, 2022

  •   This is a special episode of work and the future sponsored by Microsoft, and it is on a special topic as well, the subject of disabilities in the workforce. More specifically it is about the disclosure of disabilities because there are far more people dealing with them than is easily visible to the eye. Disabilities span a wide swathe from mobility issues through to having a chronic illness through to having a learning disability. Sometimes organizations know about the disabilities that their workers are dealing with and sometimes they do not, simply because the workers have not disclosed them. Arguably, both the organization and the worker would be better off if they did, but there are many views on that subject. To talk about the issues around the disclosure of disabilities, Linda Nazareth is joined by Karen Kelsey, Relationship Manager for Canada for Lime Connect, a non-profit that aims to rebrand disability though achievement. Guest: Karen Kelsey, Relationship Manager, Canada Lime Connect Karen Kelsey is Lime Connect’s Relationship Manager in Canada, where she is responsible for managing and building the corporate and post-secondary educational institution partnerships integral to the success of the Lime Connect mandate in the Canadian marketplace. Karen......

    30 March, 2022

  • Is leadership training going to the wrong people? Typically organizations give leadership training it either to very senior people or those who they have identified by conventional metrics as future senior people, but maybe that is not the best way to do things. On this episode Linda Nazareth is joined by Navio Kwok Vice President of Research and Marketing at Kilberry Leadership Advisors, and Winny Shen an Associate Professor at the Schulich School at York University. They have done research that suggests the norms around choosing who to train are not serving anyone – not individuals, but not organizations either.  They discuss the leadership development paradox and why organizations need to change how they choose leadership training candidates.a Guests:  Navio Kwok, Ph.D., is vice president of research and marketing at Kilberry Leadership Advisors, a leading firm of organizational psychologists specializing in executive assessment and C-level leadership advisory. At Kilberry, he oversees the firm’s commitment to advancing the science of executive leadership and translating it into practical, actionable advice for the firm’s preeminent clients. Winny Shen is an Associate Professor of Organization Studies at the Schulich School of Business, York University. She teaches and conducts research that supports inclusive, productive, and......

    16 March, 2022

  • As companies scramble to find hourly-paid workers, what can companies do to attract them? One thing would be to recognize that many of their workers are dealing with considerable financial stress, and that helping them to counter that would be of mutual benefit to workers and company. To talk about that, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Sabina Bhatia, Chief Customer Officer of Payactiv a platform that gives workers ‘Earned Wage Access’ or basically the right to get their earnings without a waiting period. The discussion covers how the advantages of making wages more readily available to workers, as well as the broader question of financial stress for workers, and the issues around that. Guest: Sabina Bhatia Chief Customer Officer Payactiv As the Chief Customer Officer Sabina is the ambassador for the voice of Payactiv clients and their employees. Her tenure spans from the early days of Payactiv when the company had less than a hundred clients and has been instrumental in the evolution of Payactiv as the industry leader in Holistic Financial Wellness. With great passion and focus, Sabina advocates for a positive impact on the livelihood of workers with financial wellness tools provided by Payactiv. She......

    02 March, 2022

  • Toxic workplaces are everywhere and are frequently cited as one of the main reasons why people quit their jobs. What kind of culture allows toxic workplaces to flourish? And if you are a manager, what can you do to turn things around? To talk about how to avoid creating a toxic work culture, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Charlie Sull, the Founder of Culture X and the co-author of an article on the topic in the MITSloan Management Review. Guest: Charlie Sull Co-Founder, Culture X Charlie has advised the senior executive teams of dozens of multinational organizations on cultural management, strategy development, and strategy execution. He conducts regular research at MIT, and his thought leadership has been featured in the Economist, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Bloomberg, CNBC, Fortune, Forbes, the Financial Times, Fast Company, Business Insider, Inc., and more. With Don, Charlie created the MIT Sloan Management Review // Glassdoor Culture 500, the largest systematic study of corporate culture ever conducted. Charlie graduated from Harvard College, where he was the President of the Harvard Lampoon and wrote a New York Times-bestselling novel. Links: Recent Research   https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/toxic-culture-is-driving-the-great-resignation/ — Toxic culture is driving the great resignation......

    17 February, 2022

  • How do art and the world of work go together? If you are an artist, is that a conflict with working in a conventional environment? And if you are running an organization, is it good or bad to have artistic people working for you? The knee jerk is to say of course, we need people with creative minds so we embrace all kinds of skills, but the reality tends to be a little different.  In many organizations we tend to overlook the skills that people bring to the table and that includes artistic skills – and that does not benefit anyone. Sara Woster is an artist, a Communications Strategist and the author of the upcoming book Painting Can Save Your Life. She joins Linda Nazareth on this house to talk about what artists can do for  organizations and how organizations can support artists and get the best out of them, as well as why indulging your creative side is so important and why that can make you stronger for the other parts of your life. Guest: Sarah Woster Sara Woster is a writer, artist and communications strategist. Her memoir and how to book, Painting Can Save Your Life, will be released by......

    03 February, 2022

  •   When you hear the word ‘negotiation’ you probably think of a high stakes deal being made, but the reality is that  we all have to negotiate in our work lives as well, whether that is for a raise or a promotion, or with workers that we manage. Many people however, have never really had a chance to develop those skills. Andres Lares is the Managing Partner and CEO of the Shapiro Negotiations Institute and the co-author of the book Persuade The 4-Step Process to Influence People and Decisions.  Andres has advised professional sports teams in the NBA, NFL, and theNHL on things like contract negotiations and trades, and he also advises workers in all kind of jobs on how to negotiate. He joins Linda Nazareth on this episode to talk about how anyone can up their negotiation skills and share some practical insights on how to better navigate and communicate in work settings. Guest: Andres Lares Managing Partner Shapiro Negotiations Institute    Andres is the Managing Partner at SNI, where he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the global training and consulting firm. He previously served the role of Chief Innovation Officer until 2017.  His multi-disciplinary and lingual skills broaden......

    27 January, 2022

  • Is hybrid work the best of both worlds or the worst of it? Even before the pandemic  organizations struggled to find  the right mix of having workers in the office or elsewhere and two years into it many are still trying to find the right model of work. To talk about this options, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Prof. Nicholas Bloom, economics professor at Stanford University. Prof. Bloom  thinks there is a happy medium with hybrid work and discusses his own research as well what he has been hearing from organizations making decisions on the future of work. Guest: Nick Bloom is a Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He has been researching working from home for almost 20 years. He has been heavily involved with policy, including meeting President Obama, and speaking in the 2014 Working Families Summit. He gave a 2017 TedX talk on working from home, has consulted with 100s of CEOs and managers, and has been covered extensively in national and international media Links: https://nbloom.people.stanford.edu/bio...

    20 January, 2022

  • How will work have to change to accommodate longer life spans? A child born today has a 50 per cent chance of living to one hundred, but even now we know the workforce is aging. In turn,  that means we need to change both organizational policies and our own actions. Ken Stern, host of the new podcast Century Lives joins us on this episode to talk through the issues as we focus on the likelihood of more years of life and more years of work life as well Guest:  Ken Stern is the Founder and Chair of the Longevity Project, which he founded in collaboration with the Stanford Center on Longevity. The Longevity Project fosters public conversation and research on the impact on longer lives on civil society. Stern is the host of multiple podcasts, including Century Lives and When I’m 64, from the Stanford Center on Longevity. He is also the chair of ASCEND, an organization dedicated to building a new leadership culture for American business. Stern is the author of national bestseller, Republican Like Me (HarperCollins 2017) and With Charities For All: Why Charities Are Failing and A Better Way to Give (Doubleday 2013). He is also a......

    13 January, 2022

  • How do we give graduates the skills they need to make a decent living and give organizations the tech skills they need to operate productively?  Ryan Craig is the Managing Director of Achieve Partners and he joins us to talk about ways to give students outside of tech programs the skills needed by companies, with a view to both growing the economy and putting graduates on the path to making a solid living and being able to pay back the debts incurred to get their educations. Guest: Ryan Craig Managing Director Achieve Partners Ryanis a Managing Director at Achieve and University Ventures. Ryan’s commentary on where the puck is going in higher education regularly appears in the Gap Letter, Forbes, TechCrunch, Inside Higher Education, Fortune, HR Dive, and VentureBeat, among others. He is the author of A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College(Ben Bella, 2018), which describes the critical importance of last-mile training and the emergence of bootcamps, income share programs, staffing and apprenticeship models as preferred pathways to good first digital jobs and was named in the Wall Street Journal as one the Books of the Year for 2018. He is also the author of College Disrupted:......

    05 January, 2022

  • What do space missions and remote work have in common? A lot as it turns out, which means that there is a lot that remote workers and those who manage them can learn from looking at what it takes for astronauts to operate effectively when so far away from their base stations. our guest on this episode is Dr. Louis Brennan, Professor of Business at Trinity Business School at the University of Dublin’s Trinity College. Dr. Brennan has done extensive research on the business of space and he shares some fascinating and practical recommendations on how organizations can learn from space programs and how workers can learn from the experience of astronauts. Guest: Dr Louis Brennan is a Professor within the Trinity Business School and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. He serves as Co-Director of Faculty at the Trinity Business School. An award-winning researcher, he has pioneered research in several areas of novel enquiry. Louis has published eight books including two on the Business of Space. His most recent paper “What Space Missions Can Teach Us about Remote Work”, co-authored with Tanusree Jain, was published by MIT Sloan Management Review. Louis has lived and worked in Asia, Australia, Europe......

    15 December, 2021

  • How do you not just accommodate hybrid work but actually create an effective hybrid culture? To talk about the effective strategies for doing that, we are joined on this episode by Carolyn Byer, HR Lead for Microsoft Canada who shares her experience of leading a hybrid team during the pandemic and discusses the best strategies to create and manage a hybrid culture, not just through a crisis but for the long term. Guest:  Carolyn Byer  Human Resources Lead, Microsoft Canada  As Human Resources Lead for Canada, Carolyn works closely with President Kevin Peesker and the Leadership Team to develop and execute the people strategy for Microsoft Canada. She leads a team of HR professionals focused on developing Microsoft’s talent, organization and culture to accelerate the company’s own business transformation and impact the broader Microsoft ecosystem. A strong business leader with proven experience in the c-suite and across all levels of management, Carolyn is a champion of Microsoft’s “learn it all” and growth mindset” tenets and is committed to continuing to grow Microsoft’s diverse and inclusive workforce. Prior to joining Microsoft, Carolyn served in a variety of HR disciplines globally at IBM for more than 17 years. She has a Bachelor......

    09 December, 2021

  • Virtual meetings bring people together but as they do they also shift power dynamics as compared to live meetings. Who will be the winners and losers in this virtual world? As we virtually bring people into our homes, how are we changing our work lives? And what does it all mean for diversity outcomes?  Our guest today is Laura Simpson, Chief Intelligence Officer of McCann Workgroup. She shares some interesting work done by McCann Workgroup on how virtual meetings are changing work and how we should prepare for what comes next. Guest: Laura Simpson Chief Intelligence Officer, McCann Workgroup Laura Simpson is Global Director of McCann Truth Central, the global thought leadership unit of McCann Erickson Worldwide, and dedicated to discovering “the truths that illuminate the world and help brands make their mark in it.” Laura invented McCann Truth Central, launched it in 2012, and has made it a respected source of actionable global marketing insights for clients. Laura is a big-stage innovator, blessed with insatiable global curiosity, a love of discovery, and a pure delight in captivating audiences with thought-leading insights. The Truth Central studies introduced so far have uncovered opportunities in a diverse range of industries. They include:......

    02 December, 2021

  •   We put so much into our careers, trying to do our jobs well and impress management with our performance – but is that enough? The fact is that there are career skills that go beyond the scope of our job and a lot of people are not cognizant of them. Our  guest today is  Mark Herschberg, and as well as being  a startup executive for the past 20 years has taught for a class called ‘Career Success Accelerator’ at the Massachusetts institute of Technology. He has now written a book called  The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You andto a he is here to share with us how to develoip those skills and how applhy them to your own career. Links: Here are some links for Mark and his work Social Media Links https://www.linkedin.com/in/hershey/ https://twitter.com/CareerToolkitBk https://www.facebook.com/TheCareerToolkitBook https://www.instagram.com/thecareertoolkit/ Website Links https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/app    https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1520119819 (apple)    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thecareertoolkitapp&hl=en_US (android) https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/resources (has the development guide I mentioned and other links)...

    24 November, 2021

  • All of a sudden  the term ‘The Great Resignation’ is everywhere as worker leave their jobs in droves  in the wake of the pandemic. The U.S. has seen this hit record numbers, and we have seen it in Canada and in other countries as well. There are  lots of reasons for why people are quitting, but one of the ones cited most often is that they feel unappreciated in their current positions. It is something to think about for companies, since the average cost to to replace an employee is twice their salary. So how can organizations show appreciation so that workers are not tempted to jump ship?  To discuss that we are joined on this episode by Steve Pemberton, Chief Human Resource Officer of Workhuman.  Workhuman has come out with a new report that looks at the issue that workers have right now, and how organizations can address them and avoid having the Great Resignation decimate their workforces. Guest: Steve Pemberton Passionate about building human-centered workplaces that recognize the value and potential of each and every employee, Steve Pemberton has made embracing humanity in the workplace the core of his responsibility.  As the Chief Human Resources Officer of Workhuman,......

    11 November, 2021

  • If some of your workforce is ‘visible’ in an office and some are ‘invisible’ at home,  how can you ensure that everyone is treated fairly? There are many considerations for managers, particularly since hybrid work may disproportionately affect some groups of people, whether they are parents or older workers or anyone else; To talk about all of it, we are joined on this episode by Stephanie Dismore, Managing Director of North America for HP. Stephanie talks about the ways that  HP has had to pivot, the concerns she has  about the hybrid model of work, why it might be problematic when we are talking about equity, and how companies can perhaps circumvent that happening. Guest:  Stephanie Dismore Managing Director, North America, HP Stephanie Dismore is managing director, North America, at HP Inc. In this role, Dismore is responsible for leading all aspects of HP’s market strategy and managing the multibillion-dollar P&L for the company’s largest geographic region. She also oversees direct and indirect sales engagements across HP’s portfolio of products and services, for commercial, consumer and public sector customer segments for the region. Links: Stephanie’s LinkedIn HP Inc. Site...

    27 October, 2021

  • How do you bring together workers from different organization with different corporate cultures?  Combining organizations  may make sense from a business point of view, but when you do it you are often bringing together many disparate parts. Doing it effectively means crafting a communications strategy to get everyone communicating with each other, and then putting out a coherent message to the outside world, which can both be difficult tasks for managers and for workers alike. To talk about all of that from first-hand experience our guest today is Terri Buckley,  Director of Corporate Communications at connectFirst Credit Union in Alberta, Canada. connectFirst Credit is a company that is comprised of what used to be four different companies and four different corporate cultures. Teri had the challenge of putting together a communications strategy when the companies merged  in early 2020 when there were plenty of other challenges happening as well. She shares that experience on this episode, along with  some insightful takeaways  in terms of how the company relied on technology to get things done, as well as how people reacted and learned to adapt as  different corporate cultures came together. Guest: Teri Buckley Director, Corporate Communications connectFirst Credit Union Teri......

    21 October, 2021

  • If you watch any kind of high level sports, you have to marvel at how much training it takes to get to an elite level as well as the training it takes to perform on game day. Doing things under pressure is not the same as doing them day to day in practice, and that is something to think about in the business arena as well. What are the lessons that elite athletes can give business leaders in terms of how to perform? To talk about that, we are joined on this episode by Diana Drury, Director of Team and Executive Coaching at the Smith School of Business at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. Diana is an expert on how athletes succeed, and on how leaders can learn from them on how to get through challenges and succeed themselves and she shares with us lessons from athletes that leaders can apply to their own careers. Guest: Diana Drury is the Director of Team & Executive Coaching at Smith School of Business. She is an experienced Team Performance Coach, Counsellor, College Professor and Facilitator. Diana is responsible for the overall leadership of the team and executive coaching programs which operate across 11......

    14 October, 2021

  •   At one time mental health may have been a subject that organizations wanted to avoid discussing, but those days are rapidly disappearing .  With the pandemic still ongoing, this is a very difficult time for many and as it is taking a toll on mental well-being.  In turn, organizations are starting to realize that supporting their workers means supporting their productivity.   Our guest today is Paula Allen, Global Leader and SVP, Research and Total Wellbeing at Lifeworks. Lifeworks has done considerable research into the subject of workers’ mental health, and Paula talks to us about the challenges facing workers and what organizations should be thinking about as we move through this next phase of the pandemic and its aftermath. This episode is part of a series sponsored by Microsoft looking at the issues we face in the workplace as we move into this next phase of the pandemic and eventually into post-pandemic life. Guest: Paula Allen Global Leader and SVP, Research and Total Wellbeing Lifeworks (formerly Morneau Shepell) Paula Allen is the Global Leader, Research and Total Wellbeing and a Senior Vice-President at LifeWorks. In this role she manages the research agenda for LifeWorks, which includes primary research,......

    06 October, 2021

  • It is  the fourth quarter of 2021 and we are still in a state of flux in the work world.. Companies are struggling with whether to bring everyone back to the office, there are labour shortages all over, and just what normal looks like in terms of work is not really clear. But some organizations are handling things better than others. Our guest today is Tammy Browning who is President of KellyOCG.  KellyOCG has done a comprehensive survey called the 2021 Global Workforce Agility Report that has looked at how companies have coped during the past year and a half and as well what they are planning in terms of strategy.  They separate out  those companies that have been ahead of the curve on work issues and the ones that have behind it –  they call  vanguaurds and laggards. Tammy talks about how each set of companies operate and what we can learn from that – in terms of practices to emulate, and in terms of things to avoid. Guest Intro: Tammy Browning  President, KellyOCG® Tammy is president of KellyOCG®. As president, she leads the global Managed Service Provider (MSP), Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), and The Ayers Group outplacement practices—along......

    23 September, 2021

  • Even in a post-pandemic world, it seems unlikely that we will ever go back to an old-style workplace where everyone comes into the office on a daily basis. Work from home arrangements and hybrid workplaces will be the norm, which means we will lean on technology more heavily than ever.  The digital workplace will be our reality, but what makes an effective digital workplace?  Our guest on the episode is Neil Miller, the host of the podcast The Digital Workplace. Neil talks to us about what we need to do to make the new workplace effective, from how to best use technology to how to create an inclusive culture while we do it. Guest:  Neil Miller Host, The Digital Workplace Links: 5 levels of a digital workplace https://thedigitalworkplace.com/  ...

    16 September, 2021

  • With the pandemic not behind us yet, how can organizations be agile and  willing to change up how we do things, maybe several times more before we get to the end of this? And how can workers come together to get things done effectively as we go through this phase of the pandemic? Jason Brommet,  Head of Modern Work and Security Business  with Microsoft Canada. joins us on theis episode to give us his insights on how to  keep productivity high through the next phase of the pandemic, as well as how to keep people engaged and upbeat when the things are not going exactly to plan. Guest: Jason Brommet Modern Workplace Lead Today, people are an organization’s most important asset. Empowering each of them and their organizations to be their best and bring their best is more critical than ever. The modern workplace is an inclusive, creative and culture-centric environment. As the Lead of the Microsoft 365 business in Canada, Jason (Jay) leads the team that is responsible for enabling organizations to amplify the ingenuity of their people with secure, collaborative platforms and tools that accelerate business growth and success. Within the Microsoft 365 portfolio, Jay oversees productivity platforms, such......

    08 September, 2021

  • Can you turn departing employees into loyal alumni? When a worker leaves, most companies bid them well, perhaps doing a hasty exit interview on the way out.  That, however, may be a short-sighted way to do things. Today’s guests are Dr. Alison Dachner of John Carroll University and Erin Makarius of the University of Akron, author sof a recent article n the Harvard Business Review on the subject of how to turn departing employees into loyal alumni, and what they say is well worth listening to.   Guests: Dr. Alison M. Dachner Associate Professor of Management Boler College of Business John Carroll University Dr. Alison M. Dachner (adachner@jcu.edu) is an Associate Professor of Management at the Boler College of Business, John Carroll University. She earned her M.B.A. from Cleveland State University and her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Dr. Dachner has experience working as Director of Education for an international call center as well as consulting on special projects in a variety of industries and companies, including NASA. Professor Dachner’s research interests include how changes to the modern work environment and characteristics of certain populations (e.g., emerging adults) influence the design of strategies to most effectively engage, develop, transition,......

    01 September, 2021

  • Sooner or later we will be going back to offices and work space, but we will be doing it with a different mindset. Partly that is around how safety how do we set things up so we don’t spread the next virus, but there are other considerations as well. We have gotten used to working from home, maybe from outside on our patios or in different places and we are going to bring a different sensibility to where we work when we come back. Given all of that, what should workspaces look like? Our guest on this episode is  Nasim Kurting, Head of Design at the Office Group  London, England. Even before the pandemic, Nasim was involved in creating flexible workplaces and she has a lot of what office design should look like as we move to the next phase of the pandemic and beyond. Guest: Nasim Köerting – Head of Design at The Office Group Originally from Sydney, Australia, Nasim Köerting joined The Office Group (TOG) in 2019 as Head of Design after founding and running London-based design practice Studio Köerting. Trained as an interior architect and designer, Nasim has worked for a number of leading award-winning practices, including......

    19 August, 2021

  • How do you create a corporate culture where workers have a voice, and if you are a worker how do you decide to speak up? Employees are the ones on the front lines, the ones who know what is going on in a organization and who could point out burgeoning problems before they become real trouble. That said, they often find it better to not speak up rather than raise their voices or they do raise their voices and they get ignored. There are so many examples, from alligators at Disney to planes at Boeing where workers did try to talk about issues, but did not make much headway. Our guest today is Dr. Jana Raver wbo is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Smith School of Business at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. She  jons us to talk about  her research on employee voice and why leaders need to encourage that voice to be raised. Guest: Dr. Jana Raver Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University Jana L. Raver is the E. Marie Shantz Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, and is also cross-appointed to the Department of Psychology.......

    27 July, 2021

  • Is there a way to fairly adjust salaries so that there are no disparities by race or sex or anything else?  Our guest today says there is and she has put it into practice at her company. Marie Rose Roiux is CFO and VP Business Operations at  Unito, a tech company that has developed a meticulous system to weed out disparities and ensure fairness – although that process means undoing some of what we consider normal business practices. Guest: Marie-Rose Rioux M. is Unito’s CFO and VP of business operations. With over 15 years of experience, both in start-ups and large companies, she leads multiple teams under the business operations roof. Her true calling is with the tech start-up scene, and she thrives when part of a dynamic, agile leadership team.   Links: Unito Link: https://unito.io/ The Better Workplace Toolkit: https://www.betterworkplacetoolkit.com/ https://www.betterworkplacetoolkit.com/career-growth-and-compensation/...

    14 July, 2021

  • Can you use scenario planning to prepare for the future and the future of work? As the pandemic has shown, you can never be completed prepared for what might happen, but planning and imagining scenarios can definitely give you an advantage. Our guest today is Lance Mortlock, the author of Disaster Proof; Scencario Planning for a Post-Pandemic Future and he joins us to talk about how organizations and individuals can get read for the post-pandemic future by imagining the scenarios ahead of them and getting prepared for each. Guest:  Lance is a Senior Strategy Partner with Ernst & Young (EY), based in Canada and has provided management consulting services on +150 projects to more than +60 clients in 11 countries. Lance has had the opportunity to work with the c-suite at leading national and international oil and gas, power and utility, mining, manufacturing, aerospace, infrastructure and government and public sector organizations. Bringing a broad set of strategic skills and experiences Lance helps clients solve some of their most complex strategic problems. Areas of support and experience include corporate and business unit strategy and planning, strategy execution, market opportunity assessment, merger and transaction integration and carve-outs ($60 Billion in deals completed), cost management,......

    02 July, 2021

  • Have you ever been ghosted? Not on  a dating app or by a friend, but in your work-life? It happens all the time. It may be the old we should have lunch thing- someone says it, you try to follow up and they never answer your call. Or, much worse, you are looking for a job and all seems to be going great with a company  you are interviewing with and then you get radio silence. Why do people do that? Our guest today is Kristi De Paul, founder and principal at Nuanced, a thought leadership firm focussed on the future of learning and the future of work. She has looked at ghosting in the business sense, why it happens and what you can do to control the situation if you get ghosted. Guest: Kristi DePaul At home in both the Middle East and the Pacific Northwest, Kristi DePaul is a writer, speaker and global citizen who is passionate about enabling others’ economic and social mobility. A regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, she has written over 250 articles and blog posts on personal branding, remote work, negotiation and the job search. Her work has been cited in research reports from international think tanks......

    22 June, 2021

  • Is data-driven hiring the future, and if it is should we be happy or a little bit scared? With the economy heating upm we are seeing a surge in hiring, or at least a surge in companies trying to hire.  As they look for the best hires, some are turning to ‘data-driven hiring’ basically making the best use of technology to fill roles rather than culling through resumes the old fashioned way and relying heavily on interviews.  As might be expected this is a huge and controversial way to hire and there are pluses and minuses to the approach. Professor Matthew Bidwell of the Wharton School joins us on this episode to look at the pluses and minuses of choosing workers this way and why there is probably no going back. Guest: Matthew Bidwell is an Associate Professor of Management at the Wharton School. His research examines new patterns in work and employment, focusing in particular on the causes and effects of more short-term, market oriented employment relationships. He has conducted detailed research on careers and mobility within and across organizations. He has also published a number of studies on contracting and outsourcing, among both IT professionals and managerial workers. Matthew earned a......

    16 June, 2021

  • How do we present and communicate now that we are in hybrid work world? .We have gotten used to presenting virtually to a team that is perhaps far-flung, so what happens now when we have to get back to the office and  communicate to a team that partly in person but partly somewhere else? Do the same rules apply? And what about in-person presentations and interactions – do we even remember how to do them? Our guest today is Nick Dalley, President of Intentional Communications. He works with all kinds of communicators, including broadcast professionals, to get their messages across and he has some practical tips on how to handle the new challenges of communicating as we get back to the post-pandemic world of work. Guest Nick Dalley, President of Intentional Communication, Inc. helps professional communicators get their messages across more effectively whether the recipient of the message is a television audience or an individual. Nick has been in the business of presentation skills development for the past 20 years. Beginning in the ’80s Nick worked for 10 years with a New York presentation development firm. Prior to establishing ICI, he worked for nine years with a large, Dallas- based broadcast......

    07 June, 2021

  • As we move towards the future of work, it is becoming increasingly clear that that  that might mean re-thinking education models. We tend to think of education as being a few years after high school then maybe the odd course to pick up new skills when you are working, but really we should be thinking in terms of continuous retraining and reskilling. That can be done a lot of ways, but one that is really gaining traction is by doing sel-paced online learning courses which are already a huge force and are becoming a bigger one.  As of 2019 that market was worth about $5.6 billion, a figure that is expected to hit $7.9 bllion by 2025. To talk about what is driving the demand, we are joined by  Chris Haroun who is the founder and managing partner at Haroun Educational Ventures. Chris designs and sells courses on the website Udemy, and to date he has sold about 1,000, 000 of them on the subjects of business and self improvement, so he knows a lot about this market and why it is growing and has lot to share on the subject. Guest: Udemy Teacher & Founder of Haroun Education Ventures......

    25 May, 2021

  • Australia is held up as an example to those of us in North America and elsewhere in the world. They did not completely escape the pandemic, but they came pretty close and for the most part, they are back at work in offices, if they want to be. Still, things are not exactly the same as they were before the world had heard of Covid-19.  What lessons  does Australia have for us about post-pandemic office life? Our guest today is Robbie Robertson, Managing Partner, Virtual Office for Deloitte Australia. He joins us  from Sydney to talk about what we should be thinking about in terms of our work and work spaces as we come closer to going back to the new normal Guest: Robbie RobertsonManaging Partner, Virtual Office Robbie is a global, award-winning design & customer experience strategist specialising in the fusion of  people, spatial & digital experiences. With 23 years experience in London, New York, Singapore and throughout SE Asia as well as Australia, he is also an Associate Professor of Design at Swinburn University. As the Managing partner of the Virtual Office in Australia  he leads a team of specialists who help clients with their virtual enablement journey,......

    12 May, 2021

  • We are getting good news on the economy and the labor market but are the statistics telling us the whole story? Even with a surge in hiring and a fall in the unemployment, there is a core of people who have been out of the labor market for a while and who are not being absorbed back in with the upswing in the economy. It is a problem that existed before the pandemic and which cannot be vaccinated away. To talk about what is going on and whether there are any policy fixes that might work, we are  joined today by Ofer Sharone, who is  Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst and an expert on the phenomenon of long term unemployment. Guest:  Ofer Sharone Associate Professor, University of Massachussetts, Amherst   Professor Sharone is a nationally recognized expert on long-term unemployment and the author of Flawed System/Flawed Self: Job Searching and Unemployment Experiences (University of Chicago Press), which won multiple awards from the American Sociological Association.  His work has received wide attention from national media including the New York Times and the PBS Newshour, and he has been invited to participate in policy discussions at the White House and the Department of Labor.......

    05 May, 2021

  • Is getting an MBA super important and the key to success, or is it an expensive waste of time that will not necessarily get you where you want to be? The market seems to go back and forth on it:some years it seems that there is a ton of demand for MBAs and other years they are not nearly as coveted. It is particularly compelling question right now, since coming out of the pandemic many people are thinking about what they want to do next,  To discuss the issues around getting an MBA we are joined today by Megan Hendricks who is  the Executive Director of MBA Career Services and Employer Alliance, which is an organization that  works with both employers and schools.  She talks to us about what she is seeing in terms of demand for graduates in terms of sectors, as well as the bigger trends that were in place pre-pandemic. Bio: Megan Hendricks is the Executive Director of the MBA Career Services & Employer Alliance, an 800+ member global network of MBA/Masters career services professionals and employers. In this capacity, she leads the organization’s global activities, programs and operations, which includes overseeing over 150 volunteers and staff......

    15 April, 2021

  • The pandemic may be ending, but that does mean that workers are headed back to where they were in the spring of 2020. In some cases, their positions have been eliminated and they are going to be forced to reinvent themselves. In others, their jobs may be the same but they themselves have changed in some way and now want to reinvent their career. Reinvention may be the labor market topic of the post-pandemic period, but how do you make that happen? Our guest today is Dorie Clark and she is an expert at art of  reinvention. Dorie is the author fo the book Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Reimagine your Future, a book written before the pandemic but which is more applicable than ever as we come out of it. Guest: Dorie Clark is an adjunct professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the author of Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine. A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, the New York Times described her as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.” A frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, she consults......

    23 March, 2021

  •   How important will reskilling be to our economic future and what role should business play in making it happen? And what about continuous training? Business has always been reticent about training because there is always the risk that you could lose those trained at your expense to the competition In the tech sector though, there has been a mindset shift and the focus now seems to be on training a workforce, one that is available to help the industry as a whole. To talk about the issues around training, we are joined today by Sabrina Geremia who is the VP and Country Manager for Google Canada. She talks about why Google has been front and centre in continuously training  their workers,  and what we need to think about in terms of getting the wider labor force ready for the future. Guest: Sabrina Geremia VP & Country Manager, Google Canada As VP & Country Manager for Google in Canada, Sabrina leads the strategic direction of Google’s cross functional business strategy in Canada and Google’s Advertising business. As the world moves increasingly online, Sabrina believes that the intersection of technology and digital skills is an economic and growth engine for Canada.......

    15 March, 2021

  • How do you take someone with one set of skills and gret them ready for a job market that needs a completely different set of them? It is an issue that we had started to grapple with a lot before the pandemic, but the pandemic has really put it into sharp focus as some industries have waned while others have flourished. The reality is that there are skills in demand, and there are workers available, but we do need to make some tweaks before we can match the two. To talk about one possible way to cope with this, our guest today is Corey Kossack, the Founder and CEO of Aspireship.  What Aspireship does is offer training, for free, online for those who want to get into the software industry even if they come from a completely different sector. It is proving to be a really successful endeavour and it offers some lessons on what might be next for training. Guest:  Corey Kossack is the Founder & CEO of Aspireship, a learning and talent platform for the SaaS industry. Corey has dedicated his professional life to founding SaaS companies that help people who want to help themselves. Prior to Aspireship,......

    04 March, 2021

  • Over the past year we have leaned heavily on technology, but it has kind of been a love-hate relationship. We love technology it because it is cool that we can work from home, but we also get frustrated when it does not work, and we freeze up on screen, or things that are supposed to work flawlessly don’t work at all. So as much as it takes away stress, it seems to create it – or does it? Our guest today is Mohammed Chahdi who is the Director of Global HR for Dell Technologies. Dell has done some work looking at actual brain waves from people to see when they are stressed from technology or when they are happy with it. Their results are fascinating and gives some insights as to what companies can do to create ‘good’ technology expereinces rather than ‘bad’ ones’ and how they can create huge benefits by doing so. Guest: Mohammed Chahdi Director of Global HR Dell Technologies Mohammed has been with Dell Technologies for 18 years holding different leadership roles in Human Resources, based in Toronto Ontario, he leads the Americas HR Operations team and the Global Connected Workplace program. As a founding member......

    11 February, 2021

  • Our major economic problem right now is the pandemic and its offshoots, but that does not mean the economic issues we had before the pandemic have gone away. One of those issues is technology, or rather the speed of technological change and what that means for the labor market. With the fourth industrial revolution in full swing, the future may mean a very altered reality for workers, or at least some workers. We are going to need all kinds of new skills to cope with that future, and some workers are not going to have them, leaving us in a situation where we could have workers who are underemployed or unemployed at the same time that we increasingly do not have workers to do what needs to be done to move the economy forward. So how do we bridge that gap? Well our guest today is on the frontlines of bridging that gap. His name is Arvind Gupta and he is the CEO of a company called Palette Inc. that connects companies with talent but also has a hand in re-skilling that talent, which is something that we will increasingly need to think about if we want to fill labour......

    04 February, 2021

  • Remote work used to be looked at with suspicion, but after nearly a year of trial by fire, everyone knows it is great – right? Actually, not right. Despite having tried it out for months, many managers still view remote work as very much second best and are counting the days until they can go back to (the old) normal. Is that because the old normal was better, or do we just need to do better when it comes to making remote work work? Will we ever change the mindset around it? With hybrid work probably here to stay, the question is relevant if we want to prevent creating two Classe of workers with those working remotely firmly in second position. To discuss all of that, we are joined today by Chris Norton, the Owner of Green Path Strategy Chris has been helping companies transition to remote work for over a decade, and he has some strong opinions on what needs to happen to change mindsets, and the benefits that will follow once they are changed. Guest: Chris Norton is Owner/Consultant at Green Path Strategy. Specializing in performance-based organizational systems that support successful remote working environments, he has been transitioning......

    27 January, 2021

  • Guest: Bretton (Brett) Putter is an expert in company culture development who is consulted by companies and leaders worldwide to help design, develop and build high-performing cultures. Company culture can be a fairly murky concept. Roughly defined as ‘how we do things’ it should be reflection of company values and it should be well-communicated to workers, but that is often not the case. Now, coming out of the pandemic, will we see a focus on creating a positive culture? How will that work when many companies continue to allow remote work? And what will it all mean for the future of work? To talk about it we are joined by Brett Putter, CEO of CultureGene. He is on the front lines of company culture in both Europe and North America and he has some strong views on what is happening and what needs to happen next. Guest: Brett Putter CEO, CultureGene He is the CEO of CultureGene, a culture leadership software and services platform. Prior to founding CultureGene Brett spent 16 years as the Managing Partner of a leading executive search firm based in London working with startups and high-growth companies in the UK, Europe and USA. In 2018 he......

    07 January, 2021

  • Can an organization actively build a a resilient workforce? Are there ways to create resilient workers? It would seem to be to our advantage to do that: according to a study published by PwC, programs that foster a resilient and mentally healthy workplace returned $2.30 for every dollar spent, with the returns coming in the form of lower health care costs, higher productivity, lower absenteeism and decreased turnover. To talk about ways to do that and to help workers pivot with change,we are joined on this episode by Lara Root who is the Chief People Officer at CBI Health, an organization that had to move fast and adapt with the pandemic and help their workers do so as well. Guest: Lara Root joined CBI Health, one of Canada’s largest community healthcare companies, in October 2019 as Chief People Officer and Head of Human Resources. CBI Health is focused on improving the health and enriching the lives of Canadians through 2 lines of business: Rehabilitation Services and Home Health. Lara is responsible for shaping the talent, culture and engagement strategy of 12,000 healthcare professionals across Canada. Prior to CBI Health, Lara was Vice President and Head of HR for Rogers Media......

    23 December, 2020

  • This is Episode 3 of  aspecial series on Coming back Stronger sponsored by Microsoft. In our first two episodes we talked about how companies can come back stronger, and how workers can build the resilience to cope with their new stresses. Today we look much longer term and address the reality that tomorrow’s workforce will have to continuously ramp up their education and skills over their lifetimes. Accepting that that will have to happen, what role can post-secondary educations play in that? Traditionally we have thought about four-years-and-you’re-done for a lot of people but if that’s over, will both individuals and institutions be ready to step up? Our guest today is is  Deborah MacLatchy, who is  the President of Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. She believes that if we are to keep skills updated in a world where things are changing fast then part of the solution has to come from our educational institutions and she is changing the one she leads to make good on that. Guest: Deborah MacLatchy was appointed president and vice-chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University on July 1, 2017. As president of Laurier, she has spearheaded the development of a five-year institutional strategic plan. Laurier Strategy:......

    16 December, 2020

  • This is episode 2  of a special  4-part special series of Work and the Future called Coming Back Stronger sponsored by Microsoft. In Episode 1 we talked about what organizations should do to come back ready for the post-pandemic world, but what about individuals?  Their first task is to get through this next phase of the pandemic, and that is challenging in itself. Finding the resilience to keep going at work can seem like a difficult thing to do The pandemic is lifting our stress levels in general and when it comes to work, many of us are having to learn new things and take on responsibilities while working under conditions that are a lot less than optimum. Our guest today is Executive Coach Dr. Monique Valcour and she shares her insights on what she has seen from working with leaders in the United Nations and elsewhere and how workers are learned to be resilient and come back stronger from other crises and what we can learn from their experiences. Guest: Dr. Monique Valcour, Phd PCC Executive Coach and Management Professor  Monique Valcour builds people’s capacity to learn, engage, perform, and communicate at work while thriving in all domains of......

    09 December, 2020

  • This is episode 1 of a special  4-part special series of Work and the Future called Coming Back Stronger sponsored by Microsoft. We are still fighting this pandemic but we are also seeing light at the end of the tunnel. But how are we going to come back? Can we come back stronger? Some organizations can and will, and now is the time to plan for that: to get ready for a world that is not exactly like the one we left, particularly when it comes to the workforce. To kick  off the series we are joined y by Jason Brommet who is Modern Workplace Lead at Microsoft Canada. We talk about workplace policies and what they should look like so that we can get to a place where we want to be post-pandemic, and to be stronger than we when we started. Guest:  Jason Brommet Modern Workplace  Lead, Microsoft Canada  Today, people are an organization’s most important asset. Empowering each of them and their organizations to be their best and bring their best is more critical than ever. The modern workplace is an inclusive, creative and culture-centric environment. As the Lead of the Microsoft 365 business in Canada, Jason (Jay)......

    02 December, 2020

  • The gig economy’ sometimes gets a bad rap – people hear it and they think of ride-share drivers who really want to be full time.   In fact though the gig economy is a much more nuanced place, one that encompasses different kinds of gig workers, including those who are highly skilled and who very much want to work the way that they are doing. Pre-pandemic, they perhaps made up a sliver of the workforce, but there are reasons to believe that in the post-pandemic world they are going to be increasingly important, That is, companies will be looking for the right talent and the right way to get that may not be by hiring full time workers. That is going to leave us with a complicated workforce, one that is a blend of employees and gig workers. So who how can companies build the right culture around this new culture? To talk about what is happening and how organizations can adapt we are joined by Joseph Fuller Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School and a co-leader of the school’s initiative called Managing the Future of Work. He is also the lead author of a new report out called......

    25 November, 2020

  • With the pandemic raging and organizations in flux, is this any time to think about a vacation? In North America in particular, we  have a mindset that taking vacations is a little bit lax and with the pandemic and its stresses that mindset is going into high gear. On top of that too, we can’t really travel right now, so it seems like the right thing to do to put off vacations. But is it the right thing? We don’t really need elaborate studies to tell us that working flat out is probably not the best way to get productivity higher. So what is the solution to that? That’s the subject of our discussion today, with our guest coming down firmly on the side of taking time away from work, whatever the state of the world. Guest: Rebecca Zucker Partner, Next Step Partners As an expert in executive coaching and career development, Rebecca has coached leaders across the globe, from high-potential managers to C-level executives. Rebecca’s clients include Amazon, Clorox, DocuSign, Dropbox, Expedia, First Republic Bank, Genentech, Google, The Irvine Foundation, Norwest Venture Partners, Nielsen, Morrison Foerster, The Skoll Foundation and Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute, among other organizations. She is a......

    18 November, 2020

  • Spurred by social media, intergenerational warfare seems to be on the upswing, including in the workplace. And, given the conflict and the idea that generations are working against each other we can lose sight of the fact that we could potentially gain from each other unless we make a concerted effort to do so. Our guest on today’s episode aims to do just that. Charlotte Japp, the founder of  CIRKEL a platform that aims to bring people of different ages together with the aim of letting them get to know each other and bring different vantage points to their own work. Guest: Charlotte Japp Founder, CIRKEL Charlotte Japp is the founder of CIRKEL, a company that connects older and younger professionals for mutual personal and professional growth. After graduating from Georgetown University, Charlotte started her career in creative marketing and saw the consequences of age segregation in the workplace. Older and younger professionals needed to connect and learn from each other, but had no way to meet. CIRKEL makes networking across generations seamless, inspiring, and impactful – working with both individuals and corporations to bridge the gap. Charlotte has been featured in publications like The New York Times and spoken......

    11 November, 2020

  • In a world where civility is in short supply, is there a way to keep our workplaces civil? These days, politics often divides us, with feelings running deep, and the extra stress of the pandemic can bring tensions to the fore. Still, there are ways to keep things civil and to keep relationships between co-workers productive. Our guests today are the brains behind something called ‘The Civility Project’, and they have concrete ideas on how to do all of that, even at times when it seems like it is impossible to bridge the gap between viewpoints. Guests: Nolan Finley Editorial Page Editor Detroit News  Nolan Finley began his newspaper career as a copy boy at The Detroit News while a senior in college. After a brief stint with the Jackson Citizen Patriot, he returned to The News as a reporter, covering the administration of Mayor Coleman A. Young. He’s been the newspaper’s City Editor, Business Editor, Politics Editor and Deputy Managing Editor. In 2000, he was named Editorial Page Editor and his columns have appeared in the newspaper ever since. As he wrote in his introductory column, Finley is a product of The News and the Detroit community. He graduated from both Schoolcraft College and Wayne State University and in 2012 was inducted into......

    21 October, 2020

  • The gig economy gets a lot of negative press, but is it actually a bad thing? Although some think it is synonymous with income insecurity and bad management practices, in fact for many it is the way they choose to work. For professional workers who have in-demand skills, working on a gig basis rather than accepting one job can be more lucrative and give them more control of their time. For employers, using gig workers allows them the right workers to do the work they need rather than pay workers to be on staff and then assign them tasks. Good or bad though, the gig economy is here to stay and with the pandemic changing everything about the labor market, it is time to discuss what happens to it next. Guest: Marion McGovern CEO, Entrepreneur, Author  Marion McGovern is an expert in the dynamics of the independent talent market. She was the founder and CEO of M Squared Consulting, a gig economy firm before the term was even coined, and Collabrus, an employment compliance firm.  She sold both to an international conglomerate in 2005, and remained a board member through 2014.  She is the author of Thriving in the Gig......

    14 October, 2020

  • We are getting close to a vaccine for Covid-19 and a return to something approaching normal in the workforce. But will normal look like for companies? And how should companies plan for the post-pandemic future of work? Our guest today is Cathryn Barnard a Partner at ‘Working the Future’ which is UK based consultancy firm helping businesses with organisational future-proofing.’ She has been working with companies to talk about how they should position themselves to be ready for the world post-the pandemic, and what steps they should be taking now in terms of workforce strategies. Her insights about the future of leadership  are from the front lines and provide plenty of food for thought about what companies need to think about when it comes to developing the skills to guide increasingly distributed workforces through change and complexity. Guest: Cathryn Barnard  Partner, Working the Future  Cat is a partner and co-founder at Working the Future, a management consultancy helping business leaders both make sense of the multiple trends changing how we work and build easy-to-implement future-proofing strategies. With a 25-year career in workforce planning, and experience of growing her own successful businesses, Cat recognises the criticality of human connection in accelerating team......

    07 October, 2020

  • Are you afraid of unemployment or are you sure you are forever employable? As the economic outlook becomes increasingly uncertain, many people would put themselves in the first category but would certainly like to be in the second. Our guest today is Jeff Gothelf, author of ‘Forever Employable: How to Stop Looking for Work and Let Your Next Job Find You’ and he believes you can be, by cultivating your strengths, growing your personal brand and figuring out how to monetize your expertise. For some that might mean striking out on their own, but even if  you stay in a corporate environment you can also build on your strengths and let people know what they are, in the process going at least some of the way to increasing your stature and becoming forever employable. Guest:   Jeff Gothelf Author, Forever Employable  In Jeff Gothelf’s new book, Forever Employable, he applies the principles of continuous learning, improvement, experimentation and agility to professional development and career growth. Jeff shares his experience building his own consulting practice as well as providing tools and techniques to help you think through how to ensure that no matter what changes in your world you’re always confident......

    30 September, 2020

  • We are re-imagining everything else, so maybe we need to imagine the office as well. The physical office we are familiar with has its roots in designs first imagined a hundred years ago, with a bit of a Dilbert-style reboot thrown in during the 1950s. Now, as we think about physical safety as well productivity, how should we re-design offices? Is there a way to physically work together and not spread any kinds of viruses? is booking desks any better than working in a cubicle? And does any of this make environmental sense? Join Linda and her guest,  workplace strategy expert Maciej Markowski as they talk about the possibilities for the post-pandemic office. Guest:  Maciej Markowski, Co-Founder and CRO of spaceOS, Maciej Markowski is the Co-foun danders CRO of spaceOS, a PropTech startup offering an end-to-end workspace operating system. Maciej is a veteran of the workplace strategy field, having worked for DEGW, CBRE, JLL and C&W – in his last role as a Partner, Head of Workplace Strategy CEE. spaceOS is being used in 11M sq ft of office space across 17 countries. Links:  Maciej’s Ted talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dt0Kn0Wr8E PropTech  website: https://spaceos.io/Maciej’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mmworkplace spaceOS Twitter: https://twitter.com/spaceOS_tech...

    23 September, 2020

  • Are there things that animals can tell us about how to cope wth work stress and ultimately how to work better? Our guest today is a psychotherapist with a passion for horses, and she has found a way to marry the two together. As she points out in this episode, human beings are mammals, but they are mammals who do not do a good job of being attuned to their own needs and acting on them. At  a time when many of us feel that our lives are not completely in control, it may be time to take a cue from that and see if there are ways that we can express our needs in the workplace and ultimately get to a place where we are both happier and more productive as a result. Guest: Beth Killough Owner, The Circle Up Experience Beth Killough is the owner of The Circle Up Experience, a consulting firm which provides leadership training and culture development to corporations, universities, teacher groups, first responders, and non-profit organizations. Circle up has trained thousands of leaders all over the country and has designed long-term culture programs to transform workplace relationships. A life-long cowgirl, writer, professor, and a......

    16 September, 2020

  •   Six months into the pandemic and with  more months to come, most workers are coping but not without difficulty. Whether it is stress about being home and isolated, or stress about going back to work and possibly getting sick, a lot of people are under strain, and there are indications that that strain could last for years after the pandemic is over. Is there a way to avoid the stress, or at least to  manage it? From asking for help when needed (not always an easy thing to do) to  dealing with the anxiety of physically going back into an office with the virus still lurking, workers today are facing challenges that would not have been dreamed of a year ago. Our guest today discusses all of it, along with strategies for companies and workers to cope as best they can both now and after the pandemic is done. Guest: Jo Yarker Dr Jo Yarker Director, Affinity Health at Work Birkbeck, University of London Jo is passionate about understanding what we can do to foster fulfilling, healthy and productive work, particularly under times of challenge. She is an award winning occupational psychologist, specialising work, health and well-being. Jo is......

    09 September, 2020

  • It may have been a bit of a struggle to make it work, but the pandemic has forced many companies to keep their teams intact even when they are not under the same roof.  As workers have de-camped to far-flung places, perhaps permanently, we are struggling with what the future of cities will be, and what offices will look like in future too. But there is another questions that goes with that, and it is how we should compensate people. If your team members are in different places, with different costs of living, should they be compensated differently?  Facebook says ‘yes’ but does that mean everyone else should too? Guest: Ian White Founder and CEO/CTO of ChartHop Ian is the founder and CEO/CTO of ChartHop, the world’s first organizational management platform built to help companies plan for the future. Previously, he was the founder and CTO of Sailthru, the marketing cloud delivering billions of personalized newsletter emails per month for top publishers and e-commerce brands. Before that, Ian was the first head of engineering at Business Insider and built the publishing platform that powers today’s highest-trafficked business website.Through this, Ian felt the pains of planning and building a team — and wanted......

    02 September, 2020

  • What does flexible work mean to you? It might mean leaving a few minutes early to catch your kid’s soccer game, or it might mean totally restructuring your job so you can travelfor a few months. In both cases, however, employers have traditionally been hesitant to open up the floodgates and embrace too much of it. Our work-lives have tended to be defined by barriers that set up when and where we work, and although there has been some fraying around the edges, for decades there has been reluctance to change too much. Now,with teh pandemic, all of the rules are being re-thought, and to some extent we are designing a new workplace. As that happens, is it now time for workers to set the boundaries? How do you resist having work and leisure blurred into one, and is that even a desirable outcome? With everything up for grabs, it is a good time for a discussion on what ‘flexible’ should really mean and how we can make it work best from both sides of the table.   Guest:  Cali Williams Yost CEO and Founder Flex+Strategy Group A visionary workplace futurist, strategist, author, and keynote speaker, Yost is the Founder......

    26 August, 2020

  • The school year is starting and the pandemic is not ending  and Generation Z will have to deal with that. In fact, they will probably have to deal with the impact of the pandemic for years as the effects of it shape the way that they approach their lives and careers. But never mind the future: right now their parents are trying to figure out how to configure their own work with the educational needs of their children. It is a work in progress. Our guest today is Rebecca Holmes, who is the President of the Colorado Educaiton Initiative. Even before the pandemic she led that states’ work on finding areas for innovation aimed at preparing students for learning, work, and life in the 21st century. She has an interesting background – Before had her current job, she was originally a middle school teacher, and She also has been a program officer, committee member and Trustee with several philanthropic foundations as well as being a s private sector Consultant on change management and talent strategies and she is parent. So she has a lot of perspective, and she is going to give us her views on what this reimagined education......

    19 August, 2020

  • It is something you hear about a lot  – the need to be innovative. We hear that innovation is the key to economic growth, or the companies need to encourage innovation – but what does that really mean?  Our guest on today’s episode is Anders Haugeto who is the founder of a company called Iterate which is a tech company  whose main purpose it to become more innovative. He believes there are actionable things you can do to be more innovative, and that by doing them you can improve your own company’s productivity as well as the economy as a whole. Guest: Anders Haugeto. Founder of Iterate Anders Haugeto is the Founder of Iterate,  a tech company that builds tech companies. His background is as a software engineer and he is still an active coder and technologist. As well as being passionate about helping technologists become entrepreneurs, Anders is a decent home chef who hand brews coffee and plays the violin. Links: Here is the link to Iterate, Anders’ company’s website https://www.iterate.no/ if you would like to follow him on Twitter, here is the link https://twitter.com/hauge2 And here is the link to his articles from Medium https://medium.com/@hauge2...

    12 August, 2020

  •   The Fourth Industrial Revolution is in full swing and according to the World Economic Forum,  the transformation it imposes on us will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. For business to weather this revolution and come out on the right side of it will take the right leadership, particularly as this revolution intersects with the pandemic. To talk about how that can happen, we are joined on this episode by Jeffrey Russell , who is the President of Accenture Canada. We talk about what leaders should be thinking about when it comes to the robot revolution, which industries are making the best progress in transitioning into it, how to find the right talent to power it and much more.   Guest: Jeffrey Russell is President of Accenture Canada and is responsible for all aspects of Accenture’s business in Canada. Previously, Jeffrey was the Chief Executive for Accenture’s Products business in North America. He was responsible for all facets of this multi-billion business, working closely with clients and leaders, supporting them to grow their impact and value to underpin the aspirations and growth strategies across Accenture’s Products industries in Hospitality and Travel, Retail, Consumer Packaged Goods, Life Sciences and......

    05 August, 2020

  • Climate change it was an issue before the pandemic, and it will be an issue when the pandemic is over.More than that, the issue of climate change will be a long term issue that impacts the future of work.  Between the ways that we operate our factories and organizations to the kind of careers that the next generation follows, so many of our economic decisions that we make will be linked to issues around climate change, and in turn they will impact our work-lives for decades to come. To delve into the subject of climate change and the future of work, we are joined on this episode by Keith Stewart, Senior Energy Strategist with Greenpeace Canada. He talks about how the pandemic may impact climate change, the issues he sees for industries including energy, and what the implications are for those caught in the midst of transition. Guest: Keith Stewart is a senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada and part-time instructor at the University of Toronto. He has a Ph.D. in political science from York University and has worked as a climate policy researcher and advocate for 19 years. He is the co-author of the book Hydro: The Decline and Fall......

    29 July, 2020

  • When we think about the words that go with ‘leadership’, ‘heart’ is rarely among them but perhaps it should be. The pandemic has shown us that business as usual is no longer going to get the job done, and as well we are all acutely aware that we are indeed fighting a global pandemic together, This may well be the time to think more about compassion and heart, not just because of any moral principles but because leading from the heart may well be the most effective way to get the job done. Our guest today is Mark C. Crowley, who says that his mission is to change how we lead people in the workplace. Known for his book Lead from the Heart and his podcast of the same name, Mark talks to us about the life circumstances that led him to manage the way he did during his long career and why he believes the norms in management need to be changed up as we head for the future of work.   Guest:  Mark C. Crowley is the author of “Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century,” and his mission is to fundamentally change how we......

    22 July, 2020

  • Why choose one career when you can do more than one at the same time? In these days of gig jobs and the need to pivot as the economy change, maybe we should thinking hard about ‘portfolio careers’ or doing several things at the same time. That could happen in the context of one organization where one worker can wear many different hats, or it could be that more of us will do one multiple things at once. It is what used to be called moonlighting kicked up a notch, with an assist from technology and the realization that it is probably a good thing to diversify your career as much as well as your stock portfolio. Our first guest today, Scott Snyder of Heidrick Consultng, looks at the way that the labor market is changing overall and shares his insights of how portfolio careers can be part of the new mix. Then, our second guest, Jackie Wong, talks about how he juggles two very different careers, one as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co  and the other as the man the Wall Street Journal calls ‘the most trusted voice in figure skating’. Guests:  Scott Snyder  Scott Snyder is......

    15 July, 2020

  • What does a Navy fighter pilot have in common with leading during the pandemic? A lot, at least according to our guest today.  Communicating wel, reinforcing core values, remembering to listen- these are all things that leaders in the navy are trained to do, and they are things that can serve leaders well as they navigate un-chartered territory now.  Join us as Jeff McLean, former fighter pilot turned consultant at ghSMART talks about why the lessons from his first career are serving him well in his second and why your organization can learn from them as well. Guest: Jeff McLean is a Principal at ghSMART. He advises public and private company boards, CEOs, and investors on their most crucial leadership challenges including executive team selection and development, CEO succession, M&A diligence, and organizational change initiatives. Drawing on his combined experiences as a leader and advisor to national leaders, Jeff brings thoughtful and pragmatic insight to drive business performance. Prior to joining ghSMART, Jeff was Director of Strategic Initiatives and Asset Management for a large privately-held family office with operating businesses in multiple industries. Previously, he served as a Senior Policy Advisor and White House Fellow in the White House Office......

    08 July, 2020

  • We are all used to interacting with one another in person, at the office, at meetings, just casually.  Particularly when it is a business context, we tend to think about how we should present ourselves and we know all about the firm handshake (now a thing of the past) and looking attentive at meetings. Now though we are increasingly interacting by video conference and the rules for that are very different. Being on video – whether we are talking about Zoom, or Microsoft Teams or anything else – is really like being on TV and to be on TV you need to think about specific things like how present, but also about lighting like how you look even. If that sounds superficial well maybe it is  but the reality is that is you are using technology to communicate you have to think differently. To talk about all of that, today we are  joined by Nick Dalley who is an expert in communicating and how to coach people to do it well. He talks to us about communicating in general, giving presentations and being effective, but as well he talks to us about the world of video conferencing and how we......

    02 July, 2020

  • Freelance work something of a controversial workforce trend. To some, it is the dreaded gig economy, those who are forced to work on contracts or driving ride shares because they cannot find that holy grail, the full-time job. To others though, it represents freedom, the ability to have some control over their professional lives and maybe even to earn more money while they are doing it. To be sure there is some of the first out there, but we should not lose sight of the fact that it is the second part that is growing and becoming an economic force. Certainly that was true before the pandemic started.  According to a survey from the platform Upwork.com, as of 2019 there were as many freelancers in the U.S. who saw being freelance as a long term choice as there were those who saw it as temporary.  By their count 35% of working adults in the U.S. freelanced in some way, possibly as a way to augment income, possibly full time. Of course, that was last year, when the unemployment rate in the U.S. and in Canada and in many other countries was at a generational low. People were choosing to freelance, but......

    24 June, 2020

  • The pandemic has forced a giant-scale experiment in online education, and by many accounts it is going very poorly. From first graders to college students, everyone seems to be frustrated at having to take the classroom experience to a crowded space in the kitchen, and many are clamouring to get back to the in-school experience. But will it ever happen? After all, the experiment was a poorly planned one, and perhaps should not be seen as the benchmark of what online education, something that was being rolled-out in force pre-pandemic, is likely to look like over the long term. Our guest on this episode is economist Robert Frank, who is a professor at Cornell University. He argues that when it comes to higher education,  economic forces are too powerful for virtual instruction to go away after the pandemic. After all, would it not be better to see a video of a superstar instructor give a lecture than sit in a classroom and hear a mediocre one present the same material? In-class seminars could then be presented by teaching assistants who could answer questions and facilitate discussion. That has implications for students of course, but it has implications for professors as well.......

    16 June, 2020

  •   Remote work is having a minute, or rather a series of them.  Some companies have used it for years, some have been adamantly against it, but both kinds are being forced into it at the moment. As the pandemic forces millions to figure out some kind of home office set up (the kitchen table works in a pinch), we are in the midst of a great work-at-home experiment. Maybe it will be a giant success, or maybe it will make everyone want to get back to their cubicle as soon as possible. More likely, the experiment will hasten a messy reality, one in which companies play with hybrid models of who works in a company workspace and who works in a space of their choosing. In this episode, we are joined by two experts on different parts of remote working. Adam Hickman is Content Manager for Gallup, as well as a remote worker himself. He talks to us about what Gallup is seeing in terms of employer trends to working this way, as well as his views of where remote working will go in future. Our second guest, Justin Thouin, is the Co-founder and CEO of a company called......

    29 May, 2020

  • Many sectors have been impacted by the pandemic, but none more completely than the travel sector. One week is was functioning at full capacity, and then the next the lights had completely gone out, or so it seems. When they go back on, they will shine on a completely different sector, one is which work roles have changed quite dramatically. To get some perspective on where travel and its workers are headed, in this episode we talk to two guests with slightly different vantage points. Will Seccombe is President of Connect Travel, a company that handles Event Market for B2B Businesses in the travel sector. He actually plans to do his next event in August 2020, albeit it will be one that involves N95 masks and lots of sunshine to kill germs. When he thinks of the workers in the sector, he foresees different roles for them, perhaps with staggered hours. He is bullish though, and thinks that travel will always be an important sector. Shashank Nigam is President of Simpiflying, a marketing company for the airline industry. He does not think airlines are done, but he does think they are done doing business as usual. In his view, the......

    29 May, 2020

  • As the labor market goes through an evolution that started long before the pandemic, our communities are being transformed as well. In many cases that means good things, as when successful companies hire and prosperity increases. Other times there are less-positive spin-offs, with some people being left out of the economic party.  In the best cases, business works together with educational institutions and community partners to shape the communities they operate in, and in the process hopefully develop the workers they will want in the future. An excellent example of a private- public innovation partnership comes from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, an area best known as one of Canada’s tech hotspots. As in other communities, such as Silicon Valley, companies there have the usual concerns about how to raise money and the find talent to grow. However, more so than in many other places, there has been a focus on the long view, and on creating a community that will work for all stakeholders. Simon Chan is Vice-President, Talent, Academy and the Future of Work at Communitech, which is a private-public innovation hub in Kitchener Waterloo, while Kathryn Kitchen is the Head of HR for Manulife Canada. They join us on this......

    28 May, 2020

  •   All of a sudden, front line workers are being treated as the heroes of this pandemic and that is only fair. Bus drivers, grocery workers, cleaners, meat plant employees – all of these people jobs that need doing and they put themselves at risk in the process. In acknowledgement of that, many employers are boosting their pay and bonuses in a bid to reward them for what they are doing and indeed to make sure they stay on the job. Longer term, however, the result of the pandemic may be that these same workers do not get paid at all, but rather get pink slips. After all, even before the pandemic there was a push to use automation more effectively and perhaps to replace some job functions in the process. That surely could have some huge positives, in that it could safeguard human beings from tasks that are likely to put them in danger. The downside of this, however, could be a spike in unemployment and a long-term fall in wages for the replaced workers. To talk about where we are in the automation process, on this episode of Work and the Future we are joined by two guests......

    26 May, 2020

  • As a society, we tend to both love and hate our arts sector. Love them, because we do value the contributions that music and visual arts and theater and film make to our lives particularly now. In the midst of this pandemic, how many lives have been brightened, even if for a minute, by watching Andrea Bocelli perform at the Duomo in Milan on Easter Sunday, or by seeing an impromptu concert by a fiddler on Twitter? But there is clearly some there as well, because so much of the sector operates on a shoestring, perilously close to bankruptcy, even when the economy is robust.  Not that it is not an economic contributor. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts, the arts contribute $763 to the U.S. economy, more than agriculture, transportation or warehousing. In Canada, Statistics Canada estimates that the direct economic impact of culture products was $53.1 billion in Canada in 2017, which is about 2.7 per cent of overall GDP. About 18.8 million jobs in the country, of 3.5 per cent of the total, are in arts. Now, of course the overall economy is anything but robust and the......

    26 May, 2020