Bruce Daisley is the author of the Sunday Times best seller The Joy of Work, host of the number 1 business podcast eat sleep work repeat, a workplace culture expert and an award-winning speaker. He used to be the most senior employee at Twitter outside NA. He worked at Google where he ran YouTube in the UK.

I wanted to talk to him because I like the work he does and his takes on workplace culture and also because I was interested in his journey from media and Big Tech to what he does now. 

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Bruce where he shares insights into what makes a high-enjoyment and high-performance work culture. You will also hear about his transition, writing a book and launching a podcast while having a high-profile role in a fast-paced organisation like Twitter.

SHOW NOTES

[00:03:20] How come big tech companies still don't know how to adapt to a hybrid approach to work 

[00:04:48] You can never "nail" the culture in a company 

[00:05:14] Leaders embody what's acceptable and what's not acceptable in a business. They create the identity of the team and the critical sense of "us". 

[00:06:28] The missteps Uber took in building their culture was may have been the reason they have been so successful 

[00:09:00] The myopia of feeling like you have a good culture because it fits you

[00:09:16] How the work hard play hard cultures can be exclusionary

[00:10:56] How he tried to create an environment where people would say this was their favorite job 

[00:12:21] How understanding what makes cultures tick became his obsession

[00:12:47] How he became a popular podcast host and came to write a book on culture 

[00:13:13] What made him jump from top job in Big Tech to become a podcaster, writer, consultant

[00:15:08] What are the symptoms and causes of burnout?

[00:17:16] Our fear system operates in direct opposition to creativity

[00:19:39] How the tyranny of email and meetings prevents organisations to tap into the creative power of their people

[00:21:10] Why many companies are looking at their middle-management to create differentiation in a world where hybrid is the norm 

[00:22:27] Calling out the important part of luck in making his career a success

[00:23:23] What his experiences as a barman and working in fast fod restaurant taught him about the workplace 

[00:24:32] How he created a "student union bar" culture within the prevalent "consultant" culture at Google

[00:26:47] How fun became a way for him to make time pass by faster in his low-paid jobs

[00:27:50] How to make playfulness the driver for high-performance

[00:29:47] How laughter can be a powerful coping mechanism to deal with great difficulty

[00:30:40] How your sense of connection to your team and the strength of your support network helps you deal with trauma 

[00:32:49] How growth mindset is a charming theory but not backed up by research 

[00:34:21] How a sense of togetherness generates resilience, like in Ukraine now 

[00:36:55] How companies can promote a sense of connection by creating a diverse set of communities 

[00:39:15] What's been most rewarding on his journey? Regular moments of laughter

[00:41:08] What's been most challenging on your journey? Bad and new bosses.