DesuckifyWork®

You know when you order something from IKEA, you get a list of all the pieces, plus instructions on how to put them all together?Why don’t we do that with people at work?A user guide, complete with a person’s preferred ways of working. What’s their relationship with time? What environments give them energy and which ones suck the life out of them? What communication methods work best? What are their superpowers? What is their kryptonite?You know who does this? Jeff Gibbard. Jeff is a speaker and coach with a mission to help leaders change the world. But we can’t do that if we don’t understand the folks we’re leading. Good thing one of Jeff’s superpowers is really seeing people. Jeff is neurodivergent, which has helped him recognize the value of each person’s unique way of showing up in the world.When you create a user guide for everyone on the team, all of that comes into focus. Instead of saying, “why can’t they just…” we say, “oh, she’s different than me, cool.” Then we find ways to actually work better together.Jeff wrote a book called “The Loveable Leader” where he goes into all of this and a lot more. Love at work? What are you crazy? Maybe.I think we’re all holding back some of our best craziness at work and it’s keeping us from doing great things.So, what would your user guide say?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Jeff on LinkedIn. And check out his site at jeffgibbard.com to learn more about the awesome work he’s doing.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!—Bonus question from Jeff:What’s stopping you from being more heroic at work? From saying the thing that needs to be said, standing up when somebody is being treated unfairly, making sure that everyone has their seat at the table… what’s stopping you from being that person? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Most agencies are in survival mode right now.Hell, the entire world is in survival mode right now.It’s a crappy place to be.We’re defensive. On edge. Reactionary.Nervous systems fully engaged all day long.Good luck being creative when you’re crouched under your desk all day.And yet, creativity is exactly what we need right now.To build a new reality instead of being cowed by the current one.To see something beyond mere survival.It’s a leap of faith.Faith in the one thing—creativity—that we’ve hung our hat on since folks actually wore hats to work. Sam Littlefield took that leap in 2021, when he told his agency, “it’s time to gather again.”Mid-covid.Barely a year into his role as agency president.His peers thought he was nuts.He didn’t care.He saw what was on the other side,locked arms with his team and said LFG.They freakin’ went, and they’ve spent the last 5 years doing what many in our industry can barely remember doing. Growing. Building. Dreaming. They turned LFG into an agency rallying cry:🐱 Littlefield Team First🐱 Freaking Go to the Edge🐱 Got to Adapt or DieFor Sam and the team, being back in the office was the necessary catalyst to make all of this happen. For your team, it may be something else. But whatever that thing is that you know in your gut is needed more than anything right now, do it.The world needs more leaps of faith. Let’s freakin’ go.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Sam on LinkedIn. And check out littlefieldagency.com to learn more about their work, their culture and their POV on this nutty business.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Sam:Are you getting full fulfillment in what you’re doing every day? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Want the secret to running a successful agency? Stalk your clients.Not in the creepy, quite possibly illegal way. But in the over-the-top, can’t stop being curious about who they are way.This is what the teams at Inspira Marketing and Enthuse Marketing do—two agencies run by today’s guest, Kim Lawton.Who has time to dig into that kind of detail on every client? The folks who work in a culture where relationships—with clients and fellow team members—are the most critical KPI.Of course Kim cares about profit and all the other financial stuff that keeps agencies afloat. But she doesn’t aim there. She focuses upstream on the stuff that consistently leads to great numbers. And more fulfilling work.When you know your clients in ways you may not even know your own friends, you come up with better, more relevant ideas. You sell those ideas more often. And you enjoy the crap out of those successes together.When you know your teammates deeply, you collaborate better, because making things work with folks you know, like and trust just matters more.So, who should you be stalking more?Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Kim on LinkedIn. And check out her agencies at enthuse-marketing.com and inspiramarketing.com.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Kim:Is there is something you track in your business or agency that has nothing to do with the work? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

We’ve all dreamed about it. Ditching the 9-to-5, moving to an exotic location and traveling the world.Derek Baron actually did it. And is still doing it, 27 years after he called his parents from Southeast Asia and told them he’s never coming home.Now, before you send out an FU email to your boss and start scanning flights to Bali, you’re gonna want to listen to Derek’s take on his nomadic life.He has no regrets. But he also warns… this life is not for everyone. Living out of a suitcase ain’t easy. And maintaining close relationships when you’re never in one place for more than a few weeks is a full-time job in itself.But man, what a ride he’s had. Derek lives in a way that seems deeply connected to who he wants to be. He’s curious, loves human connection and has built two tourism businesses under the name Wandering Earl that not only support his lifestyle, but share his passion for unconventional adventures with the world.Sign up for one of his tours and you won’t be seeing the typical sites. You may catch a glimpse of a levitating car or spend an afternoon snooping through Saddam Hussein’s old palace though.The takeaway I got from all of this? Do the thing your soul calls you to do. Even if your brain (and the brains of your friends and family) are screaming at you to do something else. You never know where things may lead.And if you’re wondering where the name Wandering Earl comes from? You’ll just have to listen to find out.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Derek on LinkedIn. And check out his site at wanderingearl.com to learn more about his life and the adventures he has in store for you.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Derek:If you’re facing an obstacle or something that’s challenging and preventing you from doing what you really want, what would actually happen if you just stopped thinking about that challenge altogether and moved on (and did the thing)? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

The posters on the wall. The words on the website. The sizzle real that you share with every prospect.Are they b******t?You know who knows? Your team. Take a look next time you reference your mission or your values. How far back into their heads do their eyes roll?Slick messaging may help land a client or two, but I can guarantee you it’s turning more folks off if it doesn’t ring true. And if your team ain’t feeling it? Good luck delivering work that actually lives up to those lofty promises.If you’re ready to lead like a grown up and live up to your words, it’s time to heed the words of Sandy Sullivan and ask better questions. Sandy is an executive coach and co-founder of The Alchemy Group with a low tolerance for BS and a high bar for leaders.The quality of your questions will directly impact the way your teams perform. And the harsh truth? Most of our questions just kind of suck right now.The best questions are what Sandy calls “Level 8 Questions.” And there are 4 simple ways to know if yours are hitting the mark:* Use “what” or “how” questions. Never “why.” Why not? Because “why” is loaded with judgment. “Why aren’t we winning more business?” Because you suck, presumably.* Add calibration & timeframe: Include qualifiers like most, least, highest and a specific timeframe (e.g., last quarter, next 30 days).* Ask with Pure Curiosity: Listen without judgment or a pre-determined answer.* Generate New Thinking: The answer should create white space for reflection, not just recycle old thoughts.Great questions show you care. And showing you care invites everyone else to do the same. That’s all most of us want, really—a reason to give a damn.Less sizzle. More stake.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Sandy on LinkedIn. And check out her site at thealchemyleaders.com to learn more about great questions and leadership transformation.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus questions from Sandy:What is the most persistent and pervasive complaint you have about others? (And are you ready for what this will tell you about yourself?) Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

You can tell a lot about a culture by who it celebrates. But you may learn even more by who it vilifies.Who are the bad guys right now when it comes to making work suck? How much time do we have?😾 Meta laying off 15,000 people via mass email after telling everyone to work from home that day.😾 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman casually speaking about AI gutting white-collar employment.😾 Elon Musk tweeting (X-ing?) about everyone living on a universal basic income as if this would be a joyful existence. Have any of these leaders met people before? This undercurrent of disdain for humanity from these bullies needs to stop.Listen, it’s not easy to run a business. And hard decisions need to be made every day. But how we make them is everything. And it’s time to start calling out the ones who don’t get this.Jeff Harry is bringing this message to the forefront every day with his work. He is as pro human as it gets, helping companies tap into our collective humanity through play.He’s also done with giving anti-human leaders a pass. We need to be louder in our condemnation of the worst offenders. And we need to be relentless in our praise of those who lead the desuckifying charge—like Patagonia, Costco and others.(FYI: I’m working on a “Desuckified Places to Work” award thing for the agency world… stay tuned).How does play bring all of this together? Because it is a massive humanity amplifier. It connects us, energizes us, reminds us of how we can be someone our 8-year-old self would be proud of.And it makes us way more productive, btw. So all you bean counters can rest easy.More fun. More humanity. More profit.That doesn’t sound bad to me.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Jeff on LinkedIn. And check out his site at rediscoveryourplay.com. Find him just about anywhere @jeffharryplays.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus questions from Jeff:Who is that toxic person in your workplace, and what are you going to do about themWhen was the last time you played? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

You know who’s a good example for us at work? Jesus. Yes, that Jesus.It doesn’t matter if you’re Christian or a believer of any kind. Jesus wore his heart on his sleeve—and that’s something we need to do more of at work.But wait, aren’t we supposed to check out emotions at the office door? Isn’t being emotional a liability as a leader?Well, the guy who inspired the world’s largest religion may beg to differ. He lived in his emotions. He felt angry. Sad. Joyful. Disappointed. Compassionate. Betrayed. And he shared those feelings with his disciples, his Father, even his enemies.Jesus lived fully. And if we want to make a difference in the world with the work we do, we should do the same.This “all in” approach to living is something Jonas Bergvall has been studying for a while. Jonas is a creative soul, with experience in branding, gaming and as an entrepreneur.He wrote a book called “How the World Feels” that explores the idea that life is emotionally constructed. Every room, situation, experience has its own emotional world. And we connect to that world through our own emotions. Even when we think we’re being 100% logical.So what emotional worlds are we creating in our workplaces? Ones that invite people in to live and contribute fully or ones that shut folks down?If you’re not sure, just ask a simple question—what would Jesus do?Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Jonas on LinkedIn. And check out his site at bergvalls.com to learn more about his work and his book. You need to read his Substack too—it’s awesome.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Jonas:What’s the best way for you to be seen and valued? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

“More balls than most.”Those are the big, bold, embossed words on the black box Tom Hicks received from his grandmother.This was several years ago, when he was having some challenges in his life. Inside the box was a 3 ball juggling kit, which included a pamphlet titled, “A Short Course in Life Enhancement.”Okay. You had me at balls. Now I’m really curious. How in the world does juggling enhance one’s life?Quite substantially, it turns out. Because this kit helped Tom completely reframe failure in his life. Instead of feeling like the end of something, jugging helped him see how failure is usually just the beginning.You can drop those balls a million times and it’s okay. Low stakes failures like this are exactly how we train our brain to get used to it, welcome it even.Next thing you know, you’re (well, Tom is) delivering workshops around the country helping folks create a better relationship with messing up. You’re saying “how fascinating” with arms raised high when you blow a big deal. Inviting curiosity about where you might do things differently next time.Most of our work cultures don’t work like this. Most talk a big game about “failing is how learn” but their actions scream “you suck and better get your act together fast.”Those folks need more balls. Perhaps Tom has a few he can spare.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Tom on LinkedIn. And check out his site at tom-hicks.com to learn more about his work.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Tom:How will you integrate or allow yourself to have some low stakes failure and play in your work today? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

“Jobs are just a silly phase work is going through.”This is a quote from Rishad Tobaccowala, this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast. I love the quote—because it reframes what we’re all experiencing right now in a provocative way. Work and jobs are uncoupling—the stable nine to five is becoming a hodgepodge of freelance, gig work and side hustles. It’s how we work now and the trend is accelerating.Historically, jobs are a blip on the work timeline. An Industrial Revolution creation to make sure widgets got made reliably and at scale. Before then, we had farmers and craftspeople. So what’s next?Rishad believes we’re shifting back towards decentralized tasks. And he sees a fractional model as the best way for workers and companies to manage this. Pay folks for 50, 60 or 70% of their time, throw in some benefits and get consistent access to the skills you need. On the flip side, individuals get a stable foundation and room to explore whatever lights them up.I’m a huge fan of this idea. And I’m genuinely shocked it’s not more prevalent, especially in the ad agency world. Look around on LinkedIn and you’ll see some of the most talented folks the business has ever seen with “open to work” banners on their profile pics. Imagine how much better our work could be if we tapped into that talent.Rishad is a very smart man. He’s an author, podcast host and advisor to some top agencies. We touched on a bunch of topics related to the future of work. My biggest takeaway? We need strong leadership more than ever. And we need to remember that the best leadership is creative, curious and optimistic.We can do great things. And we’ve never been in a better position to do so than right now.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Rishad on LinkedIn and check out rishadtobaccowala.com to learn more about his work. Add /100 to that URL to see a curated view of his substack writing. And take a look at rishad.substack.com to see more.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!—Bonus question from Rishad:Why should you not think that the future is going to be far better versus far worse? Build the case for optimism. Would you be more better off living today than 20 years ago? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Jamie Gutfreund came on the show a few months back and said she would like to get rid of HR entirely.I get it. Everyone has had experiences with HR that’ve been less than stellar.Today, I speak with someone who brings a different POV. Philip Suba has worked in HR for years and believes in it, deeply. But it has to be done right.What does right look like?You need to really understand the business you work on. It’s not enough to know the HR stuff… how does your work support the larger goals of the organization?You need to be ready for the hard conversations. Because you’ll have a ton of them. How you manage yourself and how well you listen to the folks you’re speaking with means everything.You need to be human. Recognize that people’s livelihoods are at stake when you step into the room… be mindful of that and show empathy. But also, hold it together. You’re not helping anyone if you mirror their tears, anger, frustration or whatever else shows up. Give people space to feel and also, keep the conversation on point.It’s not an easy balance to strike. But I like how Philip approaches it. He shares some of the “myth-conceptions” around HR as well, which are fun and eye opening.Bottom line? There’s no easy answer on any of this stuff. I think it’s great some folks are willing to try an HR-less approach—let’s see what they learn. And I like that HR pros like Philip are committed to doing it better each day.What’s your take? Is HR needed? If so, what does a great HR team look like to you?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Philip on LinkedIn and check him out on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube as well.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!—Bonus question from Philip:If you’ve had an experience with any kind of HR professional that didn’t sit well with you, what would you wish that particular person did differently? If they did do it differently, would that change the way that you interact, not just with HR now, but with other employees? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

What song reminds you of 6th grade?Which one makes you feel invincible? What song got you through a hard breakup? Which one do you play after a miserable day at work?These are the questions Shaka Mitchell asks in his Come Together Music Project. It’s helped people with opposing political views have a civil conversation about hard topics like immigration, abortion and racism. Surely it can help a creative and an account person get along during a weekly status.This project is gold. We all have answers to these questions. And each answer helps reveal the depth of our humanity.A depth that gets lost way too easily under the pressures of timelines and time sheets.No timeline is worth losing our connection to our humanity. No matter what Silicon Valley or Wall Street tries to tell us.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. This episode is part of our ongoing Prohuman Series, in partnership with the Prohuman Foundation.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Shaka on LinkedIn and check out cometogethermusic.org to learn more about his project. And be sure to visit Shaka’s Substack as well.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to explore what a more human work culture could look like, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus questions from Shaka:Are there creative ways that you’ve seen people use music to bring people together at work?And in case you’re wondering:What song reminds you of 6th grade?Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran DuranWhich one makes you feel invincible?Unchained - Van HalenWhat song got you through a hard breakup?Scar Tissue - RHCPWhich one do you play after a miserable day at work?Livin’ on a Prayer - Bon JoviWhat are your answers? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Today is my birthday. The big 5-6. Not a particularly interesting age but I’m grateful for every turn around the sun.To celebrate the day, I’m sharing a clip from a recent guest appearance on Regina Larko‘s amazing Lead With Your Voice podcast. Regina is a wonderfully empathetic and encouraging podcast coach who helped me find my voice when I started my show a few years back. And she is a generous and thoughtful host... I loved where she took our conversation.This clip is all about staying in touch with our humanity, no matter what technology brings into the world. I think that’s a pretty relevant birthday message, as I reflect on my 56 years of humanness.I invite everyone to celebrate being human with me today. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

If you run a company, work culture isn’t a part of your job. It is your job.Everything else, performance, profit, innovation, execution, is downstream from the culture you intentionally create every day.It’s a hard job. But it’s the one you signed up for. What grade would you give yourself? What do you think your team would say?I spoke with Kyle Johnston, Jacky Northgrave and Kianna Miller from Gigasavvy—an ad agency based in Orange County, CA—to see what this dynamic looks like in reality.They are a remote-first agency. Kyle runs things from Idaho. Jacky is a Sr. Art Director in Memphis. And Kianna is a Sr. Account Supervisor in SoCal. They get along well. Even finish each other’s sentences at times. Not easy to do across time zones.The culture has clearly evolved over the years. From scrappy beginnings in 2008 to a big office in Irvine with a built-in bowling lane to a work your butt off but work from anywhere vibe.But the most interesting thing I noticed was how they navigate the inherent cultural tensions in any agency.🐱 Most agency folks have a workaholic bent. We do this work because we’re obsessed with it. And, we don’t want that obsession taken advantage of.🐱 Most agency folks are relentlessly curious. Leaders need to feed that with transparency and over-communication. And, not burden the team with the weight of every last detail.🐱 Most agency folks are very opinionated. You’ve gotta let people speak their mind and make their points. And, you better create a baseline of humility and respect or things can turn toxic fast.Gigasavvy seems to manage all of this pretty well. Kyle prioritizes culture. Jacky and Kianna clearly see their role in bringing that culture to life.They smile a lot. Genuine full-faced smiles.That says something. What would the faces say if I interviewed your company?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Kyle, Jacky Kianna and Gigasavvy on LinkedIn. And check out gigasavvy.com to learn more about what they’re putting out into the world.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!—Bonus questions from Kianna:Was anything that we said here surprising or very different from your current working environment or the way you work with your team? Or the flip side, was there anything that you were like, oh my God, me too? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Humans are a messy species.And that’s awesome. Every drop of joy, meaning, purpose, love, hope and creativity comes from that messiness.AI creates slop. We’re sloppy, which leads to works of genius.So what kind of work do we want to be doing? That’s the question Steve Chavez and I dig into during this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast.Steve is the Chief Creative Officer at Buntin, an ad agency in Nashville. He’s been doing this kind of work for years. And he’s also my former boss.Here’s what he thinks about the way we should be working. 🐱 More human imperfectness🐱 More real conversations in person🐱 More magical collaborationI have a hard time arguing with any of these, even as someone who advocates for remote work. Humans need to bump up against each other sometimes. See what spills out.So, who wants to make a mess together?Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Steve on LinkedIn. And check out BUNTIN’s site at buntingroup.com. You can also reach out to him directly at [email protected] you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus questions from Steve:Do you believe that we (the advertising industry) are still in the persuasion business at the end of the day. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Can we talk? I feel like we can’t, actually. At least not at work. We can make word noises out of our faces but most of it is overly polite, passive aggressive, aggressive/aggressive, or corporate gobbledegook.It’s ridiculous, really. Yet another way our workplaces are distinctly not human.That’s why I brought Michael Lee onto this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast. He’s all about making work more pro-human. By helping people have useful conversations, especially ones where we embrace conflict.Conflict helps us learn, solve problems, make ideas better.But we spend so much energy avoiding it because our caveman brains fear we’ll get thrown to the Woolly Mammoths if we don’t keep the peace.Also, most of us suck at conflict. Michael has spent years researching how we can get better at it. And he shares a bunch of those ideas during this episode. My favorite? Arguing for someone else’s POV, especially one we don’t agree with.That practice alone would probably take about 80% of the suck out of workplace communication. It might have an even great effect on weighty conversations outside of work like politics, religion or your favorite Beyonce song.My favorite is the one that’s playing out of earshot. But I’d be happy to argue in favor of whatever you like.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. This episode is part of our ongoing Prohuman Series, in partnership with the Prohuman Foundation.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Michael on LinkedIn. And check out The Civility Initiative at The University of Charleston to learn more about his work and his podcast “When We Disagree.”If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!—Bonus questions from Michael:Why do you like spending time listening to this podcast? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Work sucks less when trust is more than just a word on a company website.Trust is at an all time low—from corporations to government to media—our faith in our foundational institutions is flimsier than ever. Add AI to the mix and it’s a wonder we believe anything, ever.We expect people to just show up at work and functional normally in the face of all this? It’s crazy. And if you look around and most workplaces today, “normal” is clearly not happening.Courage is the way out, according to this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast. Maryam Mehrtash is a marketing exec and author who has demonstrated courage since she was barely able to speak, as a refugee from Iran, along with her family.Today, she writes about courage every week on her Substack—This is Not a Memo. She views courage as a skill. Something we can build over time with “reps.” Start small with something as simple as saying what you actually want for dinner instead of “whatever is fine.” Tell your friend, “I’d love a second glass of wine” instead of politely declining.Before you know it, you’ll be the weirdo at work who never flinches when the hard thing needs to be said. You may even inspire other weirdos to join you.That’s how we build trust at work, by saying and doing hard things. By living out the values we too casually post on corporate websites. By being reliable even in the face of external madness. Especially then.So, who’s ready to get weird?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. This episode is part of our ongoing Prohuman Series, in partnership with the Prohuman Foundation.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Maryam on LinkedIn and Instagram. And be sure to subscribe to her Substack—“This is Not a Memo,” where she shares stories of courage every week.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!—Bonus questions from Maryam:If you stripped away your work title, what is the one thing that feels incredibly easy to you but looks like magic to everyone else? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Work sucks less when talking about mental health becomes as boring as talking about going to the dentist.When it’s just another thing. Like that show everyone’s watching. The game last night. Or that new laundry detergent that really does make your whites 20 percent whiter.When it’s fully normalized and casualized.That’s what Paul MacFarlane wants. A return guest on the DesuckifyWork® Podcast, Paul is a creative soul who believes our work should bring out the best in humanity.And our humanity is crying out for some help right now. AI, layoffs, wars, polarization. It’s the soup we swim in every day. Why the hell can’t we talk about how we’re coping with all of it without making it weird?We all have emotions. And we’re all bringing ‘em to work despite 100 plus years of effort to keep them out.Let’s talk about them. Let’s help each other deal with them. Let’s realize that our capacity to feel things is the greatest gift in the universe and is the thing that will guide us through every possible uncertainly that comes our way.Let’s be boringly, beautifully, unabashedly, human.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying beginYou can follow Paul on LinkedIn. And check out his site at thepaulmacfarlane.com to learn more about his work and his delightfully human take on the world.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus questions from Paul:Do you think the normalization and casualization of mental health would be a good thing? If so, how could you help make it happen?DesuckifyWork® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Work sucks less when we realize unity does not require uniformity.A cohesive culture means everything at work. But it doesn’t mean everyone needs to show up in the same way.In fact, it’s way better when we don’t.A shared mission? Yes. And the only way to achieve it is if you invite everyone to bring the stuff that makes them interesting to the table.Neil Ghosh has made it his mission to help make this approach a reality. He’s written a book called “Do More Good” and he’s speaking to folks around the world about it.One idea I really love—in addition to rewarding performance at work, let’s reward “decency.” The people who do the right thing, are a delight to work with, make things easier, own their mistakes, support folks who are struggling.The core value under all of this? Inclusion. Giving more people more pathways to be seen and valued. And helping teams bring out the best in everyone.We do all that, we get more done and those big hairy missions that usually just sit gathering dust on company websites become living, breathing invitations to make an actual difference in the world.Sounds pretty good to me.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. This episode is part of the ongoing Prohuman Series in partnership with Prohuman Foundation.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Neil on LinkedIn. And check out his site at neilghosh.org to learn more about his work and his book. You can also check out his recent Fast Company and CEO World articles.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus questions from Neil:What is one thing in the current work environment that is worrying you, not just for yourself, but for the next generation? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

How often do you feel like an actual human being at work?LIke someone who is valued, seen, appreciated and respected. Like a full 3-D person with emotions, quirks, brilliance, cofusion, crankiness and all the other stuff that makes us, us. My guess is not often enough. Workplaces are often the most inhuman places we experience in our lives. Because somehow we got the idea that this is the way to get the results we want. Beat people down, keep it “all business” all the time and watch all the arrows move up and to the right. Except that’s not how it works. Study after study confirms that companies do better when they treat people fairly and humanely. When they invite people to show up fully. When they stop using dumb corporate lingo like “circle back” and simply say, “let’s talk later.”The robots may be coming for our jobs but many of us became just like those robots long, long ago. We can do better. You can check out the full podcast episode here or here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Quick, picture an org chart. Blocks filled with names and lines drawn from the top execs all the way down to the most junior team members.Now imagine flipping that chart on its head. CEO at the bottom, supporting everyone above them.Feels a lot better, right?This is the world Joe Palm and Mike Moss would like to create. And they’ve written a book to help make it happen—Practical Servant Leadership: People-First Strategies to Create Value in a Profit-Obsessed World.This is not a feel good book. It’s a do good book, with tips and strategies to help leaders become servant leaders.It’s a direct challenge to the ethos of shareholder primacy, made popular by former GE CEO Jack Welch and normalized by pretty much every damn CEO since.The reason Wall Street goes gaga when companies announce layoffs and why so many of us feel helpless in the face of insane corporate work policies.It doesn’t have to be this way.Servant leadership has been proven to improve profits, productivity and performance. And Joe and Mike have come up with ways to make it work no matter where you sit within an organization.But let’s be clear—big and lasting change will only happen when top leaders commits to it.Who will lead the way? I’ve had a number of guests on this podcast who are already doing it. Mark DiMassimo, Mike Wofsohn, Andrew Goodwin, Everett Reiss, Veronique James, Jēnna Reese, Michelle Edelman, Jason Fried, Ryan Berman.Some of the best desuckifiers I know. If you’re ready to join them, let’s talk. I’d love to have you on the show.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Joe and Mike on LinkedIn. And check out practicalsl.com to learn more about their book and how to be people-first leader.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus questions from Joe and Mike:From Joe: If you have someone that’s been on your team, have their own team, you know, 20 years from now, what part of you do you want them to extend to their team?From Mike: For those middle to high level leaders in the kinds of environments we’re talking about, what’s it going to take to make you do something different and buck the system? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Is being a TSA agent your dream job?Probably not, especially right now.But imagine being that agent and doing everything in your power to make every moment fun and joyful. You’re energetic, playful, cracking jokes and generally making a normally agonizing experience more pleasant and fun.Now imagine your boss comes over and rips you a new one for daring to have fun on the job. Suddenly your whole energy shifts. You’re crabby, on edge, defensive. Making everyone around you miserable.Which version of that agent would you want to be?This is the choice we face every day at work. How we show up for ourselves and others. Will we choose joy? Or something else.Amy Dickens is a walking, talking, smiling, dancing joy expert who helps adults reconnect to the joy we all have inside of us. The joy that life is so good at scraping away until it becomes nostalgia.Amy witnessed that TSA agent on a recent trip. It inspired her. And it made her sad to see that man’s boss stuck in the story that work must be miserable.Our conversation was an absolute joyride, her infectious energy creating a delightful back and forth around ways we can make work (and life in general) more fun. Adult summer camp. Joy parades. Using the word “shaboozy.” And a book filled with 101 Ways to Spread Joy. One of my favorite bits was when she mentioned the idea of a “Joy Gym” in passing. Suddenly it was like, why don’t we have Joy Gyms? That sounds awesome. We should have one in every office.We also talked about how a more enjoyable workplace is a more profitable and productive one. It’s one of the easiest cheat codes out there and yet most businesses are stuck in the old model of grinding people until they break down like my old Camaro did weekly back in the late 80s.We don’t have to wait for those corporate execs to get it. We can bring joy into our work every day, just like that TSA guy. And if you’re a leader thinking about scolding someone for daring to have fun at work, consider joining them instead. You might like it.I know your team will.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Amy on Instagram and TikTok @theamydickens. And check out livejoyfullyyou.com to learn more about her book, her podcast and to simply feel better about the world.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Amy:Imagine you’re 80 years old, looking back on your life. What are you thinking? What version do you wish you had optimized for more success? What does success mean to you at that age? When were you fully alive? What does that version of yourself wish you had done differently?DesuckifyWork® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

The problem:The attention (addiction) economy is killing us.The way to solve it:Moving to a trust-based economyThe world we could be creating:One where it doesn’t feel like we’re slaves to a system nobody actually wantsHow we can create it:🐱 Step away from the algorithm once in a while🐱 Notice things, wonder, be curious🐱 Give attention instead of demanding it🐱 Shift from coercive funnels to actual human connection🐱 Bring inefficiency back into the system🐱 Embrace creativityWhy inefficiency is glorious:Because it’s load-bearing. Trust is built in the slow, the cumbersome, the figuring it out together moments. Trust takes time, it can’t be automated. In fact, the more we streamline our operations, the more we strip trust out of the system.How AI fits in:AI is a symptom of the problems we’ve been creating for years now. And it can also help us dig out of them, if we use it smartly.Why creativity matters more than ever:Creativity is the best tool for navigating complexity. Integrative thinkers who can connect disparate ideas and build trust are exactly what we need right now.Question Nick wants you to ponder:What’s one thing that you think would be difficult to give up in the algorithmic system? What could you actually give up?Remember pondering? Let’s do more of that.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Nick on LinkedIn. And check out damnsgiven.com to learn ore about his work and upcoming book, The Damn Rules. You can also visit trustmadegrowth.com to join his online community.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone! Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

The world is on fire. AI is coming to replace all of us. Trust is at an all time low.Good news?That’s the premise of a new book co-written by James Patterson (yes, that James Patterson) and Patrick Leddin, today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast.The book is called Disrupt Everything and Win. And it’s basically a how to manual for the wacky world we’re living in right now.It starts with the story of Patterson, who rose up to CEO of J. Walter Thompson in NYC before deciding to throw all of that away and try his hand at a business where about 1% of folks actually earn a living at it. After blowing that goal out of the water, he decided to rewrite what it means to be a best-selling author, essentially creating a fiction-writing empire and deciding it’s completely normal to co-write books with folks like Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton.Then Patrick comes in, whose career includes jumping out of planes for the US Army, creating a successful consulting business and working as a professor at Vanderbilt University, along with his current role as a co-author with one of the most famous writers on the planet.So how do they do it?By viewing disruption as fertile ground for growth, not a threat. That sounds counterintuitive, when our nervous systems are screaming for some sense of normalcy. But our nervous systems have it backwards. We don’t need “normalcy,” we need to recognize that a chaotic, disrupted world is normal.Patrick and James make this clear through four fundamental principles in their book:* The status quo is a seductive little devil: we need to accept that change is inevitable.* We’re wired to disrupt: we have big brains that dream up amazing things. Creativity IS disruption.* Relationships require disruption: lean into the ones that support you and step back from the ones that make things suck.* Time is Finite: nothing lasts, what are you going to create in this moment?The book outlines 16 “Disruptor Behaviors” that we can all tap into. The good news is that you don’t need all of them. Just the ones that work for you.My favorites:🐱 Believe better is possible.🐱 Think deeply to gain insights🐱 Stand firm in the face of doubtersMy takeaway from all of this? The world isn’t getting any less nuts, let’s find a way to live a great life that acknowledges and even appreciates that reality.I’m up for trying. You?Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Patrick on LinkedIn. And check out his site at disrupteverything.com to learn more about the book and the power of positive disruption.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Patrick to our audience:What is one practice or habit or situation or relationship that you need to disrupt in the next six to 12 months? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

If you were designing a workplace, would it look like the one you’re in now?Stop laughing.Okay, now that we’ve calmed down, what’s your answer? How would you set up your teams? How would the work flow, ideally? What kinds of training (remember training?) and learning opportunities would be provided?Put simply, what would the user experience look like?This is the question David Greene is answering every day. With a background in UX and a passion for making work not suck, he’s perfectly suited for the job.He’s led some great efforts while in the agency world. Creating a time off program for employees who need to care for elderly parents or grandparents. And a part-time pilot that gave people and the agency flexibility to do great work and live a great life.That’s the goal. As David says, we should be thinking about how we integrate work with our lives, not how to build our lives around work.I couldn’t agree more. And I think you will too, after listening to our conversation.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow David on LinkedIn. And check out his site at greeneonline.com or reach out to him at [email protected]. New site at that same URL coming soon.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!—Bonus question from David to our audience:If your organization today, where is the experience being underutilized? Where do you look at it and say they’re not being used to their best ability? And if your five most experienced people leave tomorrow, what would actually break?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

The conversation was so nice we had to have it twice.It took two recording sessions for Sheri Zevenbergen and I to nail down this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast episode. Thanks to some technical difficulties.But it was so worth it. Sheri is coach, podcast host and delightful bundle of energy and insight. With a clear vision for how we can live a life that matters.It’s all about the dash. You know, the one between when we’re born and when we die. Sheri calls this the “DASH Mindset.” What are we gonna do with that time?For many folks in the business world, the answer is usually achievement. Do all the things as well as we can do them and get all the rewards that come with all the doing.Then we wake up one day and go, what was the point of all that again?If we want to take more ownership of our dash, we need to:🐱 Reprogram our inner voice🐱 Learn and live by our values🐱 Build new habitsThe best part of all this? If we do those things, it not only makes our lives better, it makes the lives of the people around us better too. Our family, our friends, our teams at work, the dude we see every morning at the coffee shop and do the mutual grunt/nod thing with.This is how desuckification happens. One person at a time, one habit at a time, one choice at a time.We only get one dash. What are you gonna do with yours?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Sheri on LinkedIn. And check out her site at thedashmindset.com where you can learn more about her coaching work and check out her awesome podcast.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!—Bonus question from Sheri to our audience:What are you just naturally good at that you don’t even recognize? What are you most complimented on?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here.DesuckifyWork® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

People suck sometimes.All of us.Especially at work.Our humanity narrows.We turn into strange creatures who speak in acronyms, buzzwords and status updates.And we wonder why it’s all so hard.We made it that way.And we can unmake it.By becoming more relatable.Rachel DeAlto —author, speaker and former relationship expert on “Married at First Sight”—wrote a whole book about it. Two, actually. Her latest, “The Relatable Leader” lays it out plainly:We need to connect, communicate and inspire.🐱 Ditch the corporate speak and just say the thing. Get to know people as people, not means to an end.🐱 Stop making assumptions and start asking people what they actually need.🐱 Have a point of view and show some some genuine energy around the work you do.That’s what makes us more relatable. That’s what makes us better leaders. And that’s what makes work suck a whole lot less.If you’re into that sort of thing.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Rachel on LinkedIn. And check out her site at racheldealto.com where you can learn more about her books and her speaking work.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Rachel to our audience:What are you excited about?People suck sometimes.If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

A company that makes, installs and maintains piping systems in some of the hottest and most challenging environments in the world has created a work culture that should inspire any of us who work in less hazardous spaces.I spoke with Andrew Goodwin, president of Professional Piping Systems on this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast. People love working for this company. Retention is high, career growth is open to all and the team seems to genuinely enjoy each other.They’ve cracked the code on Desuckifying Work and the good news is, it’s not all that complicated.It starts by knowing who you are. They have a BAMF mentality (Bad Ass Mother-Effer) and invite anyone who wants a piece of that to join them. Word gets around.They give a crap about their team. They invest in them, with real training dollars and consistent engagement from the top of the organization.They create an actual process to help people learn and grow. They bring junior folks in through an apprentice program that pays people to learn on the job. Imagine that? And they have a train two, promote one policy that encourages folks to pass their knowledge along so they can enable their own advancement.Lastly, they have fun. Dirt bike and side-by-side groups meet up on the weekends. They share inside jokes. They don’t take themselves so seriously.I half-joked that PPS should create a separate arm that trains other companies on how to build a winning culture.But seriously, they should.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Andrew on LinkedIn. And check out his company’s site at ppsphx.com.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!—Bonus question from Andrew to our audience:For people who have been working with a company for five plus years, what’s the reason you stayed? Is it pay? Is it culture? Is it something beyond that? Is it that you’re afraid to change?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Who are you on your best day? What about your worst?Be honest.Brad Farris, engineer turned leadership coach, took me through this exercise on this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast. And it’s pretty wild. Here are my results:Best Day:CuriousLovingEnergeticCompassionateWorst Day:Closed MindedStubbornCrankyShut DownWhat’s fascinating is how much the two sides relate to each other. curious vs. closed minded, energetic vs. shut down, etc.We all have these continuums that we live across. And the key is not to dismiss the “bad” side. We’re human. It’s to find ways to show up on the good side more consistently.The way we get there is so simple And yet the steps can seem damn near impossible sometimes.🐱 Get a good night’s sleep🐱 Exercise regularly🐱 Unpack your calendarHow’d you do on those over the past week?If we can crack this code on this stuff, we’ll show up better at work, at home and whenever else we spend our time. And maybe solve some of the challenges that feel so overwhelming when we’re not at our best.Unless you’re good with how things are right now. In which case, can I have some of whatever it is you’re smoking?Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin. You can follow Brad on LinkedIn. And check out anchoradvisors.com to learn more about his executive coaching work and take his self-leadership assessment.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Brad to our audience:How are you creating your best day or allowing your worst day?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

The idea that corporate jobs aren’t physically taxing is a myth.In many cases they are literally killing us. In almost all, they are taking an often invisible toll on our bodies, creating illness and injury through repeated assaults on our nervous systems.Ridiculous timelines, insane expectations, ever-changing market pressures, unstable economic forces. It’s a lot.“Hey, at least I’m not out there shoveling crap every day.” Sure. But your body (and mind, and soul) are still taking a beating.Sarah Dawkins experienced this firsthand during her career as a nurse. It nearly broke her. Until a colleague helped her see a way through her chronic pain and depression.Today, she works as a holistic health coach and wrote a book called “Heal Yourself” that shows how she and many others have found a way to fully heal.My favorite insight? The idea that “little t” traumas can have just as much impact as major ones. The body doesn’t lie. If something has caused us pain, it’s going to affect us, often for decades.The only way out is through. Acknowledge the pain and heal the root cause. A great way to start is by simply sitting quietly and noticing what you’re feeling in your body. Ask what those feelings are trying to tell you. Your inner wisdom is often smarter than the noise in your head.If all of this sounds a bit woo, I get it. I’m about the least woo guy you’ll ever meet. But this stuff just makes sense to me. I’ve done some of the work and it actually works. It’s not magic. It’s giving yourself access to a power that many of us have shut down for decades.If you’re feeling that weight of the world right now, isn’t it worth a try?Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Sarah on LinkedIn. And check out her site at sarahdawkins.com where you can learn more about her book and the amazing work she’s doing.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Sarah to our audience:Take a moment and be with your body and just check in and find a space that maybe feels heavier or darker or lighter or give it a shape or a color, but somewhere that feels different. And then ask that place, what is it that you need or what are you trying to tell me?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Don’t get status reports from your team. Get soul reports.That’s the takeaway from this week’s DesuckifyWork podcast with Carin Knoop. Carin is a wonderful writer and the Executive Director of the Case Research & Writing Group at Harvard Business School.We talked about the importance of mental health at work and how managers and leaders need a whole new set of skills to deal with the issues so many workers are facing.Carin offers a bunch of great ideas for how to engage with employees who are struggling. Most of which boil down to the simple (but hard) act of listening. Check in with your teams beyond the to do list to see how they’re really doing. And support them accordingly.You don’t have to be a therapist but you do need to be a human being.Remember humans?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.Podcast Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Mental Health at Work01:15 Carin’s Background and Work02:57 The Importance of Compassion in Management04:20 Current Mental Health Landscape in the Workplace06:09 Hyperbole and Reality in Mental Health Discussions08:24 Managing External Stressors10:56 The Role of Boundaries in Work-Life Balance12:10 Finding Joy in Work and Community14:39 The Shift from Self-Care to Community Care18:17 Realistic Expectations of Work22:05 The Role of Managers in Employee Well-Being25:19 Understanding What We Bring to Work27:20 The Future of Education and Work30:00 The Impact of AI on Work and Mental Health35:54 Finding Calm in Chaos39:08 The Role of Managers in Employee Well-Being43:21 Compassion vs. Empathy in Leadership46:44 Defining Well-Being in the Workplace51:44 Creating a Supportive Work EnvironmentYou can follow Carin on LinkedIn. And check out her Medium newsletter at carinisabelknoop.medium.com.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!——Bonus question from Carin to our audience:Can you share some of those little moments that you have seen at work or do at work, little tricks that help you make things better? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Be careful what you wish for.You may aspire to an executive job, maybe even the C-suite. And there’s certainly a lot of good that can come with that kind of role.But it ain’t all sunshine and roses.That’s certainly been the experience for Erica Rooney, this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® Podcast. Erica is an author, speaker, coach and fractional CPO who spent years climbing the corporate ladder, only to find herself asking, “why exactly did I want this craziness?”The work was intense and nearly never-ending. The system felt rigged against her (and other women leaders). And her ability to balance all of that with her role as a mom was simply a pipe dream.It was her then 2-year-old daughter who ultimately inspired Erica to choose a better path. She realized she did not want her child to go through what she was dealing with. So, Erica created something new so she could change the world for the better.Now, it’s her mission to help more woman get into power and stay there. This is how things will change. And if you spend more than 2 minutes with Erica, you will 1000 percent believe she can make this happen. She’s smart, strong and full of an infectious energy for her work.She’s written a book, “Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors” that speaks to much of her experience. Some of here key points include:🐱 Language matters and shapes culture. “People leader” says something very different from manager. “Works with” is not the same as “works for.” So choose your words appropriately.🐱 Ditch the highlight reel style of communication and be willing to share some of the tough stuff. You’re only setting others up for failure if you tell them the bar is Insta-level perfection.🐱 Let people work where, when and how they work most effectively. And judge folks based on outcomes. Erica would love to see the 40-hour workweek become obsolete. Me too.🐱 Lastly, she is a big proponent of full pay transparency. It’s hard to level up a system if the system hides everyone’s level.Nothing to hide here. Erica has a ton of ideas for how to make work better, whether you’re in the c-suite or just getting started.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Erica on LinkedIn. And check out ericaandersonrooney.com to learn more about her work and her book. You can also explore her community for women leaders at joinhercollective.com.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!——Bonus question from Erica to our audience:Do you disagree with anything I said? Am I wrong? Or what do you think about my perspective? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

People say we’re addicted to our phones, but I think it’s deeper than that. We’re addicted to the absence of silence.The idea of spending one quiet minute alone with our thoughts terrifies us. So we grab our distraction devices and keep the inner voices at bay for a little longer.It’s hard to know who we really are if we never listen to those voices. And how could we possibly know what we want from life if we don’t know who we are?So, we end up chasing someone else’s dream. Our family’s, our friend’s, that person on TikTok who just seems like they have it all together, you know?We’re always hungry, never satisfied.If we want to get clear on what we actually want, we need to sit in silence and spend some time in the muck, according to Bonnie Wan, former ad agency strategy executive and author of The Life Brief.The muck is where truth lives. Where our intuition lives. Where clarity emerges.This is the heart of the Life Brief process. First we get messy. Then we get clear. Then we get active. Just like agency folks have done with clients for years.The tools we’ve used to serve our clients are the same tools that will allow us to live the life we truly want. And do the work we were meant to do. Work that AI can never do—deep, intuitive work that solves real problems.Do we really want to spend our time cranking out more mindless “content?” We are meant for so much more.If you want to explore what that could look like, you should reach out to Bonnie about her January virtual retreat. And you should absolutely read her book—it’s amazing.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Bonnie on LinkedIn. And check out thelifebrief.com to learn more about her book and the awesome work she’s doing.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Bonnie to our audience:What matters most to you? You cannot do it all, but you can do all that matters. Are you clear about what matters most to you?To watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

There was a 4 inch gap between the bottom of the couch and the floor in the storage closet turned office 3 of us shared at Wunderman many years ago.So naturally, that space became the “goal” when we played hockey with a crumpled up piece of paper and a couple of old sticks.I don’t remember how many games I won back then but I do remember creating a ton of work I’m really proud of to this day. We all did.Because we (and our bosses) knew that those impromptu games were part of our jobs. Play time equals “let the junk in your head jostle around for a bit so it can turn into an interesting nugget or two” time.And we knew we wouldn’t be judged for taking that time. In today’s language, this would be called psychological safety. Back then, it was just a basic understanding of how creative brains work.This is the kind of behavior Jaime Raul Zepeda recognizes in his role as EVP at Best Companies Group. The best places to work are the ones who provide psychological safety, where leaders are vulnerable and understand what their teams need. Because they ask.We need work to be more like this again. We’ve turned it into a hyper-optimized s**t-show of efficiency but we don’t even know why we do half of what we do.We need to be less busy and more thoughtful.Maybe I should stop coaching folks and just show up at companies with a few hockey sticks and some crumpled up paper.Hmm…Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Jaime on LinkedIn. And check out his company’s site at bestcompaniesgroup.com to learn more about their best places to work programs.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Jaime to our audience:When’s the last time you asked your team what it was like to work at your organization, and took some actionable steps on that data to make it better? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

If you want remote work to work you have to work at it.You can’t just show up and expect it to be the same as in office. It’s not the same. You’ve only got 2 of your 5 senses working together. You can’t just strike up a casual conversation with the person next to you. You can’t walk the halls as a leader and feel what’s going on.That doesn’t mean it can’t work. It absolutely can. Plenty of companies are doing it right, right now.But they’ve put in the work. And Tim Currie has put in the work to figure out what work needs to be put in. Tim is currently Chief Strategy Officer at In Balance IT in the Chicago area.His book, Swift Trust, is all about how to build connections that go beyond the surface level BS that keeps us stuck in tactical mode.Want to do real, meaningful work? Here’s what leaders can do that actually helps:🐱 Create “in-between” moments online to build rapport. Use non-work channels on Slack, Teams, etc to connect over sports, movies, music, cats. Hit someone up to talk about how they’re doing, not what they’re doing.🐱 Shift your one-on-ones from task-focused check-ins (that’s what email is for) to relational coaching sessions.🐱 Become an internal influencer, using short videos and social media to keep teams in the loop and remind them you’re a real human who actually exists.🐱 Give your big events (like all-hands) some production value. Invest some time and money in making those meetings engaging and worthwhile.Remote work works. But not the way most of us are doing it. The good news is, none of the stuff Tim mentions is all that hard.What do you think? What’s helped make remote work more workable for you?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.——You can follow Tim on LinkedIn. And check out swifttrustbook.com to learn more about how to make remote work, work.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!——Bonus question from Tim to our audience:What are the authentic moments, the memories, the anecdotes that live in your consciousness about past work experience with colleagues that you don’t think you could have today? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Chaos is a candy store.The disorienting swirl, a chance to be useful.We’re swimming in that swirl right now. AI, layoffs, mergers, tariffs, the headlines bonking us on the head every time we try to surface.We need a lifeline. No, scratch that. We need to become a lifeline.That’s how this works. “They” are not going to save us. We are. And in the midst of the madness, opportunity is everywhere.CB Bowman Ottomanelli has been gobbling up the chaos candy for much of her life. Finding ways to serve others when we need it most. How does she see the candy when most of us are getting clobbered?Strategic courage. She’s written books about it and has more on the way. It starts with framing change as an experiment, where learning is the primary goal. Life is a university. As we learn, we’re able to make small calculated leaps, which she calls Microcourage™.Don’t leap without a net though. Make sure you have a personal board of directors to keep you honest and keep you from falling back into the swirl.Who would be on your board?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.——You can follow CB on LinkedIn. And check out her site at courage-consulting.com. You should also visit acec-association.org to learn more about the executive coaching organization she created.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!——Bonus question from CB to our audience:When is the last time you gave yourself permission to have strategic coverage? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

All organizations are dysfunctional.Those are the words of Michael Wade, consultant, advisor, author and former Equal Employment Opportunity Administrator for the City of Phoenix. And I tend to agree with him.We’re just not that good at coming together to do stuff. We get in our way. We play politics. We blame. And we forget why we’re even doing the damn thing in the first place.His solution? Three words: “wait a minute.”Remember waiting? Pressing pause for a second to look inward, to see if we’re on the right track, to think. Remember thinking?🐱 Imagine waiting a minute before deciding to redo the entire deck when all it needs is a few word changes. 🐱 Imagine waiting a minute before laying people off and realizing you can cut costs in a different way. 🐱 Imaging waiting a minute before scheduling a meeting that could easily be an email.A few “wait a minutes” a day could save us hours of chasing down bad decisions. And help us do everything better than we’re doing it right now.Here’s a good decision. Listen to Michael. He really knows his stuff.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. Today’s episode is a part of the ProHuman Series, in partnership with the ProHuman Foundation, where Michael is an advisor.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.——You can follow Michael on LinkedIn. And check out his site at execupunditconsulting.com. And be sure to read his Substack newsletter as well. It’s awesome.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!——Bonus question from Michael to our audience:How can you better connect with other people? What can you do to help the community? What can you do to help other people? Because there are people out there who are hurting. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

It’s 3am. You wake up to discover you’re on the couch, cuddling with your laptop. You cringe, ugh, another night wasted, working through dinner, ignoring your family. You should get to bed and grab a few good hours before the day starts up again.But then. Hey, it wouldn’t hurt to just crack that laptop open for a minute, make sure no critical emails have come through. I’ll just skim through a few to make sure…“Good morning, honey!”What? Who? Where? You glance at your phone—it’s 7am. You’re still on the couch. Spooning the laptop again. Your spouse doesn’t bat an eyelash. Just another Tuesday.F%ck.This is work addiction. It’s insanely common. And it’s where MaryBeth Hyland was not so long ago. Now, she helps folks fuel their ambition in a healthier way. By connecting to what matters most—our core values. Finding the stuff that truly energizes us and doing more of it.When we do that, we don’t feel the need to chase some invisible, unattainable marker of success into the wee hours each night. We feel full at the end of the day. We feel excited to share ourselves with family, friends, our pets, our other interests (wait, we can have those?!)MaryBeth has traveled this road and come out the other side thriving. Just check out the view behind her on the video version of this episode to see how well things are going.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Mary Beth on LinkedIn. And check out her site at sparkvisionnow.com to learn more about the awesome work she’s doing and get a free values assessment.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Mary Beth to our audience:What is the core value that’s serving you most in this season of your life?To watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

What if the problem with our politics is also the problem with our workplaces?Our inability to truly see the people around us, keeping us from doing anything meaningful.They’re far right, far left, too hardline, too accommodating, stupid, evil, “the problem.”They’re account, creative, production, legal, stupid, clueless, “the problem.”What if “us vs. them” became “what can I learn from someone I disagree with?”Wilk Wilkinson is trying to make this “what if” real, with his podcast “Derate the Hate,” as an advisor to the ProHuman Foundation and in his role as Director of Media Operations at Braver Angels.The key is focusing on shared purpose. Something I find a lot of common ground on when I talk with folks I disagree with politically.And something that workplaces need to do a much better job of creating. What was the purpose at most of ad agencies I’ve worked at? No idea. And that’s a problem.I invite each listener to start by getting clear on your own purpose. In life and at work. Why do you show up each day? What would the best day look like? What would the worst?Once you answer those questions, start talking to the folks around you. And more importantly, start listening.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. Today’s episode is a part of the ProHuman Series, in partnership with the ProHuman Foundation, where Wilk is an advisor.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.—You can follow Wilk on LinkedIn. And check out deratethehate.com to learn more about his work and check out his podcast.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!——Bonus question from Wilk to our audience:When you think about the 2,080 hours a year you’re putting into your current job, is that the place where you’re going to fulfill the purpose that you have in life? And if not, is there a way for you in your mind to make that the most meaningful place that you can be to spend your working life?If you would like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

There’s a controversial piece making its way around the interwebs right now, called “The Great Feminization” by Helen Andrews.Despite its edgy title and often-incorrect conclusions (in my opinion), it’s generating some useful conversation.How can men and women work together in a way that is beneficial to all?Rachel Wallis Andreasson brings a POV to this topic informed by 30+ years as a leader. And she collaborated with 3 other authors to create The Sixth Level, a book about leadership that infuses a distinctly female perspective into this conversation.The Sixth Level model is derived from the narratives of 16 women leaders as seen through the lens of Self-in-Relation theory, which defines the psychology of women as oriented to connection and care.🐱 It creates a framework for creating cultures where no one wants to leave🐱 Reframes “soft skills” as leadership strengths🐱 Introduces four core differentiators: intrinsic motivation, mutuality, justness, and ingenuityWe also touched on the frustrating truth that a lot of “feminine” work is not valued very highly. Caretaking, teaching, social work, etc.I think we’d do well to bring the full spectrum of approaches to the table. From the “feminine” to the “masculine” and anything in between. Let’s see what we learn.Personally, I’m grateful that work cultures have evolved to a place where I can be more vulnerable, more caring and more connected in my approach. If you prefer the boiler room world, have at it.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Rachel on LinkedIn. And check out thesixthlevel.com to learn more about her book and the philosophy behind it.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Rachel to our audience:Who could you reach out to today that you have a difference of opinion with, and you just want to have a conversation and start reconnecting?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

How you feel about human nature tells you everything you need to know about leadership.If you think human nature has stayed constant over the years, you’ll find great value in the words of Socrates, Confucius, Jesus, Shakespeare and Sarah Breedlove (the first self-made black woman millionaire in the US).If you think human nature has evolved over time, you’ll see little point in the wisdom of the past and constantly seek out new thinking to guide your approach.Richard Battle falls firmly into the first camp. And he’s written several books—including his latest, AmeriCANS Who Made America!, spotlighting past wisdom for our present and future benefit. And we talked about a bunch of it on this week’s podcast.🐱 How his great-great grandmother’s 100+ year old table showed him that our actions today can influence folks in the next century.🐱 How a four-minute radio interview in the back office of a car dealership helped a man grieving the loss of his daughter.🐱 How an early “dead end job” can teach our future self more about leadership than most modern day “gurus.”In fact, I can’t help but wonder if most gurus take advantage of those who believe in an ever-changing human nature, shellacking ancient wisdom with buzzwords and bullet points for easy consumption.No buzzwords here. Just a fresh look at some old-school truths that can help us lead better right now.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.——You can follow Richard on LinkedIn. And check out his site at RichardBattle.com where you can learn more about each of his 12 books.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!——Bonus question from Richard to our audience:Where do you want to be at the end of your work life? And are you taking steps to get there?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Should we get rid of HR?That’s the bold suggestion put forth by Jamie Gutfreund, this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast.Why get rid of it? Because it’s become a fear-based function that stifles creativity, prevents honest conversations and enforces a “referee” culture that treats team members like children vs. adults who are capable of sorting through hard stuff on their own.What would be build in its place? Great question. Jamie and I explore that and more during our conversation. We touch on:🐱 Generational differences at work🐱 What real psychological safety looks like🐱 How to balance different levels of ambition within a team, including how those folks are compensated🐱 The influence of the creator economy on how we work and get our messages out to the world🐱 The role of executive leadership in driving culture and how no HR initiative can overcome the tone set by the C-suiteThe main takeaway? Let’s be adults and let’s get out of own way already.Sounds pretty freakin’ awesome to me. Who’s in?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.——You can follow Jamie on LinkedIn. And check out her column in Forbes about the creator economy.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!——Bonus question from Jamie to our audience:Why do we judge people in the workplace solely on their state of ambition? Are we saying that everyone has to be equally ambitious? What if I just want to go to work till five o’clock and I’m okay being compensated and rewarded based on those expectations?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Here’s what you’re admitting when you don’t develop your talent.🐱 You’re admitting you don’t expect people to hang around very long.🐱 You’re admitting you’re willing to let people just figure crap out on the job no matter how long it takes or how many mistakes get made.🐱 You’re admitting that there’s nothing special about the work you do—any schmo off the street can jump in and deliver on day one.🐱 You’re admitting you’re unaware of the cost of people figuring crap out on the job. Or the cost of high turnover. Or the cost of having an undifferentiated, commoditized work product.🐱 You’re admitting that any messaging you have on your site or internally around building a strong culture is performative BS.Karen Crane knows a thing or fifty about talent development. She is a coach and talent consultant who spent years helping ad agencies build award-winning teams.And she and I share a frustration that so many agencies fall short in this area. F*ck around a find out seems to be the most popular training methodology.And it’s a damn shame because the industry is filled with smart, clever problem solvers who are capable of designing a thousand ways to help people grow in their careers.But… we’re too busy, it’s too expensive, clients are so demanding…. blah, blah, blah.Sure. Yes. Understood.Those are the exact reasons you need to do it. So you’re less busy on nonsense work and focused more on work that matters. So you get paid more, because you work on higher value projects. So your clients are happier, because your teams are delivering work at a level they never even thought was possible.That’s what happens when you develop your talent.Admit it: sounds totally worth it, right?Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Karen on LinkedIn. And check out her site at coachkarencrane.com and her Substack newsletter at karencrane.substack.com. They’re both filled with awesome stuff.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Karen to our audience:What does a desuckified workplace look like? What do you need to be unsuckified at work?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Imagine if we were more civil at work.Not more polite. Politeness is BS. Civil. From the Latin, Civitas. Meaning citizen. A well-functioning member of society.Societies work when we have hard conversations. When we bring a shared respect for our common humanity. When we’re willing to offend. And be offended.This is not where we are right now. As a society or at work.We avoid the hard conversations. We substitute through-our-teeth agreement for respect. We turn offense into passive aggression.Layer that in with a culture that rewards a near-constant state of navel gazing and the results aren’t pretty.Lexi Hudson knows we can do better. And she wrote a book, “The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves” that tells us how.It’s not about following a rigid set of rules. It’s about leaning into time-tested wisdom that has been at the center of great societal advances, from Ancient Greece to the modern civil rights movement.Lexi’s translation for today’s world?Be less like Larry David, angling for every scrap of ego-fuel we can find no matter the cost to others.Be more like her grandmother, Margaret. A magnanimous soul, self-composed, generous, other-oriented and real.—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. Today’s episode is a part of the ProHuman Series, in partnership with the ProHuman Foundation, where Lexi is an advisor.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Lexi on LinkedIn. And check out her Substack newsletter at civic-renaissance.com, an ongoing conversation on the power of civility to help us create the good life.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Lexi to our audience:What are the kinds of incivility that people are experiencing in the workplace right now and to what extent has that to do with being online and not in person in recent years?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Radical Moderation.Sounds like an oxymoron. But it’s actually a way we can save our world and our workplaces from whatever the hell it is we’re all going through right now.We’re in a low trust, high volatility time. And it affects everything. From the most horrific news headlines to the way we relate to the person in the desk across from us. Our armor is up. Which isn’t exactly conducive to conversation or collaboration.Lauren Hall is an author, speaker, professor, university administrator and coiner of the “radical moderation” term. We talked on this week’s podcast about how embracing this mindset can help us connect more deeply with everyone in our lives.It starts with avoiding binary thinking. Life is lived in the gray, no matter what your social media algorithms try to tell you.From there, we need to understand issues in their full complexity.To do that, we need to be curious and humble, especially when we’re confronted with ideas we don’t like.Lauren gives one of the most incredible examples of someone who chose to embrace those ideals—Darryl Davis. A black man who has spoken with dozens of KKK members and influenced many to renounce their white supremacist views. His story is remarkable.I don’t expect most of us to live up to the model of someone like Daryl. But man, wouldn’t the world be a better place if we tried?Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. Today’s episode is a part of the ProHuman Series, in partnership with the Prohuman Foundation where Lauren is an advisor.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Lauren on LinkedIn. And check out her Substack, The Radical Moderate’s Guide to Life (Lauren Hall). It’s the perfect antidote to our click-bait riddled feeds.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Lauren to our audience:Are you happy with the politics that we have now? Do you feel as though what's happening is serving our communities?If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a terrible boss.Nice, I see lots of hands. Great.Now raise your hand if you’ve ever been a terrible boss.If your hand isn’t still up, you’re lying to yourself.The moment we start leading others, we start finding ways to be bad at it. Not because we suck. Because we’re human. And this is how we learn.F*ck around a find out, right?Mita Mallick would like all of us to find out more quickly. Yes, we’re going to be crappy at times. But she’s done a lot of work to define our most craptastic tendencies so we can recognize them and stop doing them sooner.I could’ve used Mita’s wisdom many times in my own career. Like that time I told a person on my team I didn’t really care for their design style. Ugh.Her new book, “The Devil Emails at Midnight: What Good Leaders Can Learn from Bad Bosses,” outlines the (lucky) 13 types of bad bosses. So we can stop being most of them and start being who our teams need us to be.Here are a few. Do you recognize any of these in yourself?🙀 "Medusa": Screaming, public humiliation, throwing objects🙀 "The Napper": Disengaged, falling asleep in meetings🙀 "Tony Soprano": Career-threatening, talent-hoarding🙀 "The Cheerleader": Toxic positivity, unrealistic expectationsMita even talks about her own experience as a “terrible” boss and what she’s learned since then. My impression? I think she’d make a great boss. I know she was an amazing guest.Let the desuckifying begin. Here’s Mita.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Mita on LinkedIn. And check out her site, where you can learn about all the cool work she’s doing and find a link to pre-order her book, “The Devil Emails at Midnight”, which launches in September 30th.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Mita to our audience:Are you willing to admit when you've been a bad boss, if you're honest?If you’d like to watch the episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

Is therapy culture destroying us?Pushing us to analyze every moment as a potential trauma. Turning minor slights into rage and sadness. Making us feel good about feeling bad all the time.Fred Luskin has a different idea. Forgiveness. He’s been studying it for over 30 years and the biggest takeaway? We can deal with 99% of the crap that comes our way. Feel the feeling, sure. Do some self soothing… vent to a friend, go for a run, eat a cookie. But then forgive and move on.Resentment is an addiction. Fred should know. He held onto resentment from a painful experience for years until his wife told him “it ain’t that pleasant living with you.” Fred found a way to forgive what happened and turned that energy into the Stanford Forgiveness Project, doing research on methods to help others forgive.Forgiveness is a gift to yourself. A decision to take ownership of how you feel and refuse to let the behavior of others drag you down.Imagine if we took this advice at work. Letting the petty BS slide and allowing ourselves to truly connect with people. We’re all dicks sometimes. Let’s own that and do cool s**t together.This is what emotional intelligence looks like. And it’s the thing that will keep us human as AI does whatever the hell it’s gonna do.You wanna get mad about it? Feel free. But don’t hold onto that feeling for too long. It’ll ruin you.As Fred says, “take the blinders off and realize what a gift life is.”I couldn’t agree more.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. Today’s episode is a part of the ProHuman Series, in partnership with the ProHuman Foundation, where Fred is an advisor.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Fred on LinkedIn. And check out his site at fredluskin.com where you can learn more about his books, including “The Forgive for Good Recovery Workbook.”If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Fred to our audience:How can you take the blinders off your life so that you stop taking so much of the good in your life for granted?If you’d like to watch the episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

The best work I’ve ever done started with laughter.Laughing at the boss’s indecisiveness.Laughing at our friend whooping our butts at Koosh basketball and walking away with a wad of ones that would make a stripper blush.Laughing at the dog farting in our office.Laughter is like creatine for your productivity muscles. I once laughed so hard I threw my back out and went on a months-long script writing binge high on Icy Hot fumes.Laughter is the greatest thing ever. And yet most of our workplaces are sterile, saccharine and stupefying.Or, as my guest Rob Feld says on this week’s podcast episode, “they’re not human environments.” Rob is a filmmaker whose latest project Jesters and Fools brings humor to the often-touchy topic of political polarization. It’s freakin’ fantastic.And Rob’s right about our workplaces—too many are simply not human. How can we possibly laugh in a such an environment? How can we create or connect to the truths that lead to interesting new things? How can we see our co-workers as fellow juicy meat bags filled with interesting (and different!) points of view?The truth is, too often, we don’t. We don’t see each other as people, but as obstacles to getting what we want. We try to steamroll our thoughts through the system instead of coming back to the one human thing that has brought us together since the first caveman drew a stick figure rabbi and priest walking into a bar.Laughter. It’s not just medicine. It’s crack for collaboration. And corporate profits. Yet for some reason, we’ve decided we don’t want that.I do. Rob does. What about you?—Welcome to the DesuckifyWork podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. Today’s episode is a part of the ProHuman Series, in partnership with the ProHuman Foundation, where Rob is an advisor.(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.——You can learn more about Rob’s movie at jestersandfools.com. And check out his site at gothamarts.com.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!——Bonus question from Rob to our audience:Do you think you could find more humor in life's annoyances than you currently do?To watch the episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

If you want your people to work harder, try helping them feel more welcome.You know, the exact opposite of how most companies feel when you step through the doors. So many offices are sterile, inhuman habitats, designed to crush souls while cranking up productivity.But here’s the rub: crushed souls won’t stay productive for very long. You can squeeze so much blood from a stone until that stone is so tired and pissed off it decides to roll itself right out the door and write a zero star Glassdoor review.What if people at your company felt like someone walking into a Disney Resort? Or The Cosmopolitan in Vegas? Or the Rupp Arena at the University of Kentucky for a game against Louisville?These are the places where Taylor Scott honed his hospitality craft. Working at Disney and Cosmopolitan and growing up in Kentucky as a rabid basketball fan and athlete. Now, he helps others bring that same level of welcome into their own businesses.What changes when you lead with hospitality and people actually feel welcome? Everything.🐱 People will go all in to support your mission🐱 People feel comfortable sharing more of their strengths and passions🐱 People feel inspired to push beyond their self-imposed limits🐱 People start bringing that hospitality to their own teams and to your customersThat’s how you get to real, lasting productivity. And that’s how you create workplaces the light people up like the Magic Kingdom or the chandeliers at Cosmo.You’ll feel lit up after listening to Taylor, I guarantee it.——Welcome to the DesuckifyWork podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this episode, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.——You can follow Taylor on LinkedIn. And check out his site at leadwithhospitality.com where you can learn more about his awesome work and his eye opening books.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Taylor to our audience:(Actually three questions that help you create your purpose statement)* What are your strengths?* What breaks your heart?* Who do you want to help?Purpose Statement: My personal purpose is to give my (fill-in-the-blank strengths), to help (fill-in-the-blank people) achieve (fill-in-the-blank thing).If you’d like to listen to the episode on YouTube, please click here: Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

“My work should speak for itself.”Yeah, sorry, it doesn’t. Even Jesus had a PR guy. Four of them, actually (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).So what makes you think you’re so special?None of us are. Which means all of us have to put the work in to make ourselves visible. Good thing Sue Barber already did a bunch of the work for us. Her book, The Visibility Factor, outlines the stuff we can do to get others to take notice of our awesomeness.She had to learn the hard way, when a mentor called her out for being “invisible” as an executive with Kraft Heinz.Being invisible may sound like a fun superpower but it sucks at work. You get overlooked for the good assignments and promotions and you get stuck playing short field on the company softball team.Sue and I talked about how you can step up your visibility game without bragging or sucking up to the boss.🐱 Observe others who do it well🐱 Offer to help team members more often🐱 Share ideas in meetings and ask for input🐱 Invite key team members to important meetings to see you in action🐱 Talk about your cats (okay, that one’s from me)We talk about a lot more than cats during our conversation. Sue really knows her stuff.Welcome to the DesuckifyWork podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.(If you enjoy this episode, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Sue on LinkedIn. And check out her site at susanmbarber.com—where you can learn more about her book, her podcast and all the awesome work she’s doing, including this free guide to help introverts be more visible at work.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Sue to our audience:What are you doing to be visible? Do people know you? Do they know what you’re doing?If you’d like to watch the episode on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe

You can’t fix collaboration issues with software.Some tools actually make things worse, stressing the nervous system and putting us in a perpetual state of fight of flight. Others are so damn confusing we pretend they don’t exist until Stu from HR sends us a stern reminder email.Someone should tell Stu (and the rest of us) to step away from Outlook and have some actual conversations with people.That’s the advice Mark Kenny would give. Mark is a speaker, author and teamwork strategist—and today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast.Mark believes collaboration gets better when we have the conversations we’ve been avoiding. When we create relationships with folks across the organization, with no agenda. When we treat people like human beings, not obstacles or a means to an end.When we do all that, work sucks a whole lot less.🐱 We get more useful stuff done.🐱 We gain an edge on competitors who are still praying that Slack and Teams will save the day.🐱 And we unlock group intelligence to solve seemingly unsolvable challenges, like the group of eight observatories around the world who came together to create a massive, collective “telescope” to take the first picture ever of a black hole. An image no single telescope could ever capture.You don’t need a telescope to observe Mark’s wisdom during this conversation.(If you enjoy this episode, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)Let the desuckifying begin.You can follow Mark on LinkedIn. And check out his site at markskenny.com.If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!Bye, everyone!Bonus question from Mark to our audience:When was the last time your team had a conversation you've never had before, but really needed to? Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe