PODCAST · business
Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work
by Mel Plett & Francesca Ranieri
We break down the now and next of work. You stay ahead. Its not just you - work is bonkers. Burnout is high, trust is low, and everything is changing at breakneck speed. Friend-to-friend? We get it. We're in it. And we're here to guide you through it. We’re two leadership insiders—and real-life friends—who’ve led teams, sat in the tough seats, and know first hand how fast, complex, and personal work has become. Every week, we break down what’s happening at work and to work, taking you behind the scenes of what's happening now, and preparing you for what you'll see in 6 months. We're bringing you breaking news, workplace trends, and interviews with top experts shaping the future of work. We cover what’s changing so you don’t get left behind. Join us for smart, unfiltered (with the occasional f*bomb or two) conversations about how work is evolving and what you can do about it. Great for: • Employees rethinking their careers and try
Episodes
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The $1 Trillion Workforce Problem Hiding in Plain Sight w/ Toshiba CHRO Jason Desentz
Send us Fan Mail The skilled trades shortage is being called a $1 trillion workforce problem. But what if it’s a problem we helped create? For decades, we moved work, closed factories, laid people off, and told a generation that the path to a good career ran through college—not the trades. Now...
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August Work News Recap: AI Layoffs, Shrinking Pay & the Disappearing Career Ladder
Send us Fan Mail AI layoffs that may not actually be about AI. Entry-level jobs disappearing before anyone gets laid off. White-collar workers taking new jobs for less money. Women leaving the workforce in alarming numbers. And healthcare costs heading toward another massive increase. Yeah.…
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The Truth About Hiring in 2026 (What Every Leader Needs to Know) w/LHH's Alex Ridder, Chicago Recruiting's Ravi Subramanian and Bamboo HR's Brandon Welch
Send us Fan Mail The hiring market isn't frozen. It isn't booming. It's something in between. Every week brings another contradictory headline. Companies are investing billions in AI while slowing hiring. Job postings are up, applications are flooding in, and yet organizations across industries...
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The Monthly Work Recap July 2026: AI LAWSUITS • HIRING FREEZES • PAY TRANSPARENCY • RTO REALITY CHECK
Send us Fan Mail The Monthly Work Recap: July 2026 What actually happened in the world of work this month—and what does it mean for employees and leaders? In our first Monthly Work Recap, we break down the biggest stories shaping work in July, separating the headlines from the signals that…
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The Next Rules of Work w/ Gary Bolles
Send us Fan Mail AI isn't just changing jobs. It's changing the rules of work. Every week brings another headline about layoffs, automation, and the future of work—but what's actually happening beneath the hype? This week, we sit down with Gary Bolles, global fellow at Singularity University,...
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The Work Friendship Advantage w/ KPMG's Sandy Torchia
Send us Fan Mail Work friends can feel like a bonus, something nice if it happens and irrelevant if it doesn’t. We don’t buy that, and the research doesn’t either. Today we dig into what workplace friendships actually do to performance and culture, using three years of data from KPMG that points…
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Modern Work: Monitored, Misled, and Laid Off
Send us Fan Mail California's Warning Sign on AI Layoffs, Long-Term Unemployment & The Rise of Emotional Surveillance The headlines say the labor market is healthy. So why are so many people spending months—or even years—trying to find work? This week, we unpack the growing disconnect between…
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What the Hell is Going on with Work Right Now? w/ HR Brew's Adam DeRose and People Managing People's David Rice
Send us Fan Mail What the hell is happening at work right now? After a spring packed with HR, AI, leadership, and future-of-work conferences, we sat down with Adam DeRose (HR Brew) and David Rice (People Managing People) for an honest conversation about what they’re actually seeing inside...
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From Cigarettes to Smoke-Free: What Real Transformation Actually Takes w/ Philip Morris International's Dr. Kaleen Love
Send us Fan Mail From cigarettes… to smoke-free. What does real organizational transformation actually take? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Kaleen Love, U.S. Chief People and Culture Officer at Philip Morris International, to explore what it looks like to lead change inside one of the most...
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AI: Magic or Miss? Potential. Cheap Labor. Productivity Mirage. Brain Fry.
Send us Fan Mail AI: Magic or Miss AI has officially become the corporate answer to everything. Need more productivity? AI. Need fewer people? AI. Need to sound innovative on an earnings call? Definitely AI. But underneath all the hype, a real question is starting to creep in: Is this actually...
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More Than What You Do: How to Rebuild Identify, Purpose and Direction After Leaving a Role That Defined You w/Former NFL'er and Leadership Coach Alex Molden
Send us Fan Mail What happens when the thing that defined you ends? In this episode, we sit down with former NFL first-round draft pick Alex Molden to talk about reinvention, identity, and what it actually takes to build the next version of yourself. After spending eight years in the NFL, Alex…
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The Tech is Here. People are the Decision. Our Download from the UNLEASH America Conference.
Send us Fan Mail We just got back from UNLEASH America with one big conclusion: The tech decision is over. The people decision is still up for grabs. In this episode, we break down what we heard from some of the biggest voices in AI, HR, leadership, and the future of work and where the…
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Productive. Profitable. People Not Included? AI Displacement. Org Redesign. Universal Basic Income.
Send us Fan Mail Productive. Profitable. People Not Included? Companies are getting more productive and profitable — while quietly employing fewer people. This week we unpack the growing gap between AI productivity, disappearing jobs, and the uncomfortable question: if the work changes, what...
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HR's Biggest Moment is Right Now: The Only Question is Who is Going to Take It ft/ Hacking HR's Enrique Rubio
Send us Fan Mail HR’s Biggest Moment Is Right Now. Who’s Going to Take It? AI isn’t just another HR tech tool. It’s becoming infrastructure. In this episode of Your Work Friends, Mel Plett and Francesca Ranieri sit down with Enrique Rubio, Founder & CEO of Hacking HR (a 2M+ global HR community)…
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The Rise of the Multi-Hyphenate Leader: How Women Are Leading the Way ft/ Chief's Trey Boynton
Send us Fan Mail Women aren’t dialing back ambition. They’re redesigning it. New research with the Harris Poll shows 86% of women say they’re more ambitious now than they were five years ago. The difference? They’re building careers that don’t look like the traditional ladder. This week, Trey...
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Build Your Personal Brand Now ft/ Goodstory's Gina Clementi
Send us Fan Mail Personal branding isn’t about LinkedIn clout—it’s about career clarity, visibility, and opportunity. In this episode of Your Work Friends, we’re joined by Gina Clementi, founder of Goodstory, to break down what a personal brand actually is—and why it’s becoming one of the most...
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People Are Not OK: And Business Can’t Pretend Anymore
Send us Fan Mail People are not okay. And if people aren’t okay—neither is your business. This week on Your Work Friends, we slow down and say the quiet part out loud. In just the last two weeks, we’ve watched: AI leaders at Davos predict massive workforce disruption—without clarity on what comes...
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Culture Under Pressure: The 5 Behaviors That Decide If You Scale—or Stall
Send us Fan Mail Most strategies don’t fail because leaders don’t know what to do—they fail because organizations can’t behave their way into it. Pressure doesn’t break culture. It exposes it. Most organizations don’t fail because leaders lack strategy or intelligence. They fail because, under...
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New Week, New Headlines: The 2026 Job Market - Hot Jobs, Labor Shortages, and the End of Happy Hour
Send us Fan Mail From AI-reshaping careers to widening talent gaps, 2026 is shaping up to be a year of labor “stuckness.” We analyze the fastest-growing jobs, high-pay trade shortages, teen gap-year programs, and the quiet end of happy hour. Here’s the deal—2026 isn’t a boom year. It’s not a…
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Collective Intelligence: Why Team Performance is Set Before the Work Even Begins w/Carnegie Mellon Professor Anita Woolley PhD
Send us Fan Mail Smart people don’t automatically make a smart team. In this episode of Your Work Friends, we talk with Dr. Anita Woolley, professor at Carnegie Mellon University and one of the world’s leading researchers on collective intelligence, about what actually drives team performance—and...
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Ownership Works: When All Employees Own a Piece of The Upside w/ Anna-Lisa Miller
Send us Fan Mail Why are we still treating wealth-building at work like a VIP perk? Senior executives have long enjoyed equity as part of their compensation. But what happens when everyone gets a piece of the upside? This week, we sit down with Anna-Lisa Miller, Executive Director of Ownership...
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Code Red: Zapier's Approach to Move from AI Fear to AI Integration w/ Zapier's Brandon Sammut
Send us Fan Mail “With AI you can delegate a bunch of the work, but you cannot delegate the accountability.” This week on Your Work Friends, we sit down with Zapier’s Chief People & AI Transformation Officer Brandon Sammut to break down how Zapier hit 97% AI adoption without traditional L&D, why...
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AI Ambition: Balancing Innovation with Trust, Connection and Human Relationships w/McKinsey NA CHRO Wendy Miller
Send us Fan Mail Here’s the deal—AI promises a lot. Efficiency, productivity, transformation. Every week, something new. But work also runs on things like trust, connection, and human relationships. So the real question isn’t just how fast we adopt AI—it’s how we balance ambition with reality,...
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Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage w/ Ranjay Gulati
Send us Fan Mail Here’s the deal—fear isn’t the villain. Left alone, it just drives. In this episode, we sit down with Harvard Business School professor and Thinkers50 honoree Ranjay Gulati, author of How to Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage to talk about acting through fear—at...
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New Week, New Headlines: AI Joins Your Performance Review, and Sam Altman Says Your Job Wasn’t Real
Send us Fan Mail First: AI is now sliding into your performance reviews. Forbes says it’s here to “remove bias” and “automate feedback.” We say… careful what you outsource. Because when algorithms start coaching humans, you risk losing the part that actually makes feedback work — connection…
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Creating Meaningful Community in the Workplace w/ DeMario Bell
Send us Fan Mail Ever felt like you’re on your own at work—even in a “great culture”? That’s because culture isn’t the same as community. One happens whether you shape it or not. The other takes intention, safety, and a shared purpose. In this episode of Your Work Friends, we sit down with…
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New Week, New Headlines: Open Enrollment Alert: 2026 Health Costs Surge, 4-in-5 Workers ‘Career Catfished,’ and AI Actress Tilly Norwood Sparks a New Labor Fight
Send us Fan Mail This week on Your Work Friends, we break down three headlines every professional should know: Career Catfishing: Monster’s 2025 report found 4 in 5 U.S. employees say they were misled about their job. We unpack what’s driving the trust crisis between workers and employers—and…
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The Doors You Can Open: Unlocking Opportunity Through Sponsorship at Work w/ Rosalind Chow
Send us Fan Mail Ever felt like your hard work wasn’t enough? That’s because the biggest career breaks don’t always come from effort alone—they come from the people who open doors for you. In this episode of Your Work Friends, we sit down with, Carnegie Mellon Professor, organizational…
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New Week, New Headlines: 42,000 Manufacturing Jobs Lost. 72-Hour Work Weeks Exploding. Immigration Raids Threatening America’s Skill Base
Send us Fan Mail New Week, New Headlines: your fast-track through the now + next of work. This week we’re covering three stories shaping how you work, earn, and lead: 42,000 US manufacturing jobs lost. Since April, durable goods have shed tens of thousands of jobs—what tariffs, automation, and...
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New Week, New Headlines: Dying at Work, The Job Market Flatlines, Hugging Your Job & Google’s 20,000 Apprenticeships
Send us Fan Mail New Week, New Headlines: Burnout turns deadly at Microsoft, the U.S. job market flatlines, “job huggers” cling to stability, and Salesforce cuts while Google opens 20,000 apprenticeships. What it all means for how you work, earn, and lead. This week we’re covering four stories...
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New Week, New Headlines: Your Rights at Work Just Changed, Women Shut Out of IPOs, Canva’s Millionaires & OpenAI’s Miss
Send us Fan Mail New Week, New Headlines: your fast-track through the now + next of work. This week we’re covering four stories shaping how you work, earn, and lead: Your rights at work just changed. From overtime pay to union protections, the federal floor is gone—and what that means depends on...
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The Future of HR: Developing the Next Generation of HR Leaders w/ JP Elliott
Send us Fan Mail The future of HR isn’t just about people, it’s about how business, technology, and strategy come together. In this episode of Your Work Friends, we sit down with JP Elliott, host of The Future of HR Podcast and creator of the Next Gen HR Accelerator, to talk about how HR is...
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Leading Through the Age of Outrage w/ Karthik Ramanna
Send us Fan Mail Oxford professor Karthik Ramanna joins us to unpack how to lead with humility and temperance in the age of outrage—so you can build trust, lower the temperature, and keep your team thriving in polarized times. Outrage is everywhere—at work, online, even in our group chats. So how...
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New Week, New Headlines: The Job Market Is Shrinking, Will the Modern Worker Act Kill Full-Time Work, and Is Religion at Work Getting a Green Light?
Send us Fan Mail This week, we’re breaking down three headlines that could reshape the American workplace: 📉 The job market cool-down continues, with new JOLTS data showing longer unemployment durations and more people dropping out of the job hunt altogether. ⚖️ The Modern Worker Employment Act...
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Never Not Working: The Hidden Cost of Always Being On w/ Malissa Clark
Send us Fan Mail Is your brain still working even when you're not? You're not alone—and it's probably costing you more than you think. In this episode of Your Work Friends, we sit down with Dr. Malissa Clark—organizational psychologist and author of Never Not Working—to unpack how hustle culture,...
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Why Work Should Be a Product—Not a Job w/ Dart Lindsley
Send us Fan Mail What if we stopped designing jobs like checklists—and started designing them like products employees want to buy? In this episode of Your Work Friends, we talk with Dart Lindsley, CEO and co-founder of 11 Fold, the creator of Multi-Sided Management and he's the host of the Work…
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New Week, New Headlines: 20+ AI Jobs You Didn’t See Coming & Why Companies Are Ditching HR
Send us Fan Mail This week on Your Work Friends, we’re diving into two hot topics shaking up the future of work. 1️⃣ The surprising new jobs AI is creating and why your taste and creativity might be the most valuable skills you bring to the table. First, we explore 22 new jobs AI is expected to...
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More Human: How the Power of AI Can Transform the Way You Lead with Jacqueline Carter
Send us Fan Mail AI isn't replacing leaders. But it is revealing what kind of leader you really are. In this powerful conversation, we sit down with Jacqueline Carter—author, of "More Human" researcher, and senior partner at Potential Project—to unpack what it actually means to be a more human...
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The Work of Your Life: The Culture Strategy that Transformed DocuSign w/Joan Burke
Send us Fan Mail The truth about creating workplace culture that actually drives results (not just good vibes) We sat down with Joan Burke, legendary CHRO and board member and founder of the CPO Forum, who built the iconic "work of your life" culture at DocuSign, Marketo, and Responsys. This...
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Employment is Dead w/Deborah Perry Piscione and Josh Drean
Send us Fan Mail The uncomfortable truth about your job security that no one's talking about : Employment is dead. We sat down with Deborah Perry Piscione, Josh Drean, authors of "Employment is Dead:How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing the Way We Work," and founders of the Work 3...
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The Power of Mattering: What Happens When People Feel Truly Seen w/ Zach Mercurio
Send us Fan Mail Well friends, we're getting deep today - and we mean DEEP. Ever feel like you're just going through the motions at work? Like you could disappear tomorrow and nobody would really notice? Yeah, we've all been there. This episode might just change how you show up everywhere. We sat...
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Breaking In: Strategic Moves for Women to Overcome Career Barriers at All Stages w/ McKinsey's Lareina Yee
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we hang out with Lareina Yee, senior partner at McKinsey and absolute powerhouse who's helping crack the code on women's career advancement. As co-founder of the Women in the Workplace Study and co-author of "The Broken Rung," Lareina breaks down the shocking…
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New Week, New Headlines: 110-Hour Work Week Growing & 99.9% at Risk. Tariffs Killing Small Business Jobs
Send us Fan Mail We're breaking down two massive workplace crises the US can't ignore. We dive deep into the Wall Street Journal's shocking exposé on 110-hour workweeks pushing bankers to hospitalization and burnout, while examining the devastating impact of tariffs that threaten the very…
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Managerial Sabotage: Why 82% of Leaders Are Set Up to Fail w/David Rice
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we hang out with David Rice, Executive Editor at People Managing People, and we're getting real about what it feels like to be a manager. Now. We got REAL about why managers are in total crisis mode these days. David doesn't hold back on why management has become...
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Open Talent: Why Your Career Should Be a Portfolio, Not a Ladder with John Winsor
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we sit down with John Winsor, Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School’s Digital, Design, and Data (D³) Institute, Open Assembly Founder and Author of many books including Open Talent: Leveraging a Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges, We dug into...
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The Ego Equation: How CEO Dan Springer Balances Leadership Success
Send us Fan Mail What makes great leaders different—and how do you measure it? In this episode, we sit down with former DocuSign CEO Dan Springer to unpack the Ego Equation: (Skills ÷ Ego) ^ Work = Success. Dan shares leadership lessons from decades in tech, including how ego almost derailed his...
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New Week, New Headlines: $766B Incivility Crisis, Women CEOs Outperform During Turmoil, as 1 in 4 Job Applicants Could Soon Be Fake
Send us Fan Mail Well, the work news just doesn't stop friends. Here's what's brewing. Incivility is costing companies billions, tariffs are threatening half a million jobs, and that perfect candidate you just interviewed? They might be an AI deep fake! In this episode, workplace experts (us,...
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The Courage Gap: How Women Can Stop Proving and Start Owning Their Value w/ Dr. Margie Warrell
Send us Fan Mail In this episode we're talking with Dr. Margie Warrell who shares game-changing strategies for women navigating corporate America's evolving landscape. As DEI initiatives face unprecedented scrutiny, Warrell reveals how women can cultivate unshakable confidence without constantly...
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New Week, New Headlines: AI Agents Rising, Employee Engagement Plummeting, and Harvard's 200K Promise
Send us Fan Mail Well, AI isn't just making waves—it's creating tsunamis! AI agents are here, and they're nothing like the ChatGPT you've been using. Meanwhile, employee engagement has hit rock bottom, and Harvard is making a $200K promise that could change higher education forever. In this...
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New Week, New Headlines: The Great CEO Exodus: Why Young Workers Feel Unprepared & What's Next for the Job Market
Send us Fan Mail Well, daylight savings time isn't the only thing that doesn't have us sleeping. Kidding! Record-breaking CEO departures are sending shockwaves through the business world. Meanwhile, half of young professionals feel unprepared for their careers. What's really happening in today's...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
We break down the now and next of work. You stay ahead.
Its not just you - work is bonkers. Burnout is high, trust is low, and everything is changing at breakneck speed.
Friend-to-friend? We get it. We're in it. And we're here to guide you through it.
We’re two leadership insiders—and real-life friends—who’ve led teams, sat in the tough seats, and know first hand how fast, complex, and personal work has become.
Every week, we break down what’s happening at work and to work, taking you behind the scenes of what's happening now, and preparing you for what you'll see in 6 months. We're bringing you breaking news, workplace trends, and interviews with top experts shaping the future of work. We cover what’s changing so you don’t get left behind.
Join us for smart, unfiltered (with the occasional f*bomb or two) conversations about how work is evolving and what you can do about it.
Great for:
• Employees rethinking their careers and try
HOSTED BY
Mel Plett & Francesca Ranieri
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work have?
Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work currently has 112 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work about?
We break down the now and next of work. You stay ahead. Its not just you - work is bonkers. Burnout is high, trust is low, and everything is changing at breakneck speed. Friend-to-friend? We get it. We're in it. And we're here to guide you through it. We’re two leadership insiders—and real-life...
How often does Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work release new episodes?
Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work publishes regularly with 112 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work?
You can listen to Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work?
Your Work Friends | Fresh Insights on the Now and Next of Work is created and hosted by Mel Plett & Francesca Ranieri.
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