The only sure bet is uncertainty. As we start a new year, I want to take a closer look at navigating uncertainty and how we can normalize not knowing. In this episode, I introduce you to a nerdy, wire-rimmed-glasses-wearing badass of a German pastor and guide you through 4 questions you can ask whenever you're navigating uncertainty (which is all the time...). Footnotes:Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Wikipedia overview)Letters & Papers from Prison by Dietrich BonhoefferSmall Arcs of Larger Circles by Nora Bateson"Dancing With Systems" by Donella Meadows"Sustainability in Knowledge-Based Companies"  by Peter Brödner in Creating Sustainable Work SystemsOn Religion by John D. CaputoNote: I talk at length about God in this episode—but there's no evangelizing. It's about "religionless Christianity." Just trust me.

Love What Works? Support the show by telling a friend about today's episode or the What Works newsletter. Or by becoming a premium subscriber for just $7 per month. Learn more! You can also read today's piece at whatworks.fyi 



  ★ Support this podcast ★


EP 455: The Case for Uncertainty (And How to Navigate It)

"Work" is broken. We're overcommitted, underutilized, and out of whack. But it doesn't have to be this way. What Works is a podcast about rethinking work, business, and leadership as we navigate the 21st-century economy. When you're an entrepreneur, independent worker, or employee who doesn't want to lose yourself to the whims of late-stage capitalism, this show is for you. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's working (and what's not) today. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to deep-dive analysis of how we work and how work shapes us.

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

Entrepreneurship

Our podcast feeds and streaming services are full of real stories of real people. And not all of those stories feel... true. I mean, even if the facts are accurate, the way something is edited, packaged, and marketed can dramatically alter a story's impact. Artist and audio producer Jess Shane wanted to create a project that would expose some of the problematic elements of this booming (and highly profitable) industry. The result is a podcast series for Radiotopia Presents called Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative. Listening to it made me deeply uncomfortable, so I knew I needed to have her on What Works to discuss it! In this episode, you'll get the behind-the-scenes on this project. And you'll learn what happens when attention becomes a fetish. Footnotes:Listen to Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative from Radiotopia PresentsFind out more about Jess ShaneCurated Stories: The Uses and Misuses of Storytelling by Sujatha FernandesThe Crisis of Narration by Byung-Chul Han

  ★ Support this podcast ★


EP 473: Unpacking Attention Fetishism with Jess Shane

Okay, this isn't really an episode about speculative investing. Well, it is. But I'm not talking about crypto or meme stocks. I'm talking about the challenges of living and working as a speculative investment. Today's episode is a brief reflection on self-speculation, the "anticipatory, speculative self," and why the second person is so ubiquitous on social media.  Footnotes:"Verified: Self-presentation, identity management, and selfhood in the age of big data" by Alison Hearn in Self-(Re)presentation Now"The Truth About Influence" by Alison Hearn in Re-thinking Mediations of Post-Truth Politics and TrustPsychopolitics by Byung-Chul Han"What 'You' and 'We' Say About Me" by Ariana OrvellAs always, find an essay version of today's episode at whatworks.fyi

  ★ Support this podcast ★


EP 472: Speculative Investing Made Personal

What would happen if you archived all of your Instagram content, announced that you had taken a job at a fictional wellness company, and then got fired for disclosing your experience with company-mandated colonic hydrotherapy? Well, Leigh Stein did exactly that. Leigh wears many hats—novelist, poet, cultural critic, book coach, publishing expert. And when she realized that she wasn't wearing the hat she wanted to wear on Instagram, she decided to have some fun with a satirical performance art project. Listen for the whole story and a provocation to embrace your own social media use as a project of identity performance! Footnotes:Leigh Stein's books and cultural criticismLeigh Stein on Instagram, TikTok, and SubstackGender Trouble by Judith ButlerJudith Butler on Why Is This Happening with Chris HayesSarah Urist Green on performance art for The Art AssignmentPerformance by RoseLee Goldberg"From Work to Text" by Roland BarthesRuPaul explaining drag on The Preachers
Also in this series:Organizing Indie Labor with Chiarra Lohr of the Indie Sellers GuildFiguring Out the Creator Economy with Charlie Gilkey & Kate TysonBuilding Solidarity in the Creator Economy with Charlie Gilkey & Kate TysonRethinking Creativity: An Interlude
 
Find an essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyi 
*** 
I'm teaching a new workshop on May 15 & 16, 2024! It's called World-Building for Business Owners, and it's based on a process I've been honing for more than a decade. I'll help you apply creative, even playful thinking to your business strategy—and help you create an internally consistent business that causes fewer headaches, meets your needs more efficiently, plays to your strengths, and creates satisfying work.  Click here for all the details or go to explorewhatworks.com/world

  ★ Support this podcast ★


EP 471: The Many Hats of Leigh Stein

Good luck going anywhere today without running into a message about creativity. I was going to say, "anywhere online," but really, it's just about anywhere. We get creative in the kitchen. Creative in our workouts. Creative in bed. And of course, creative at work. Creativity is somewhat of a "cult object," as Samuel Franklin put it in his cultural history of creativity. Today, I want to get uncomfortably close to that cult object and ask, "What is our fascination with creativity hiding?" So join me as I venture onto the third rail of the 21st-century economy. Footnotes:The Cult of Creativity: A Surprisingly Recent History by Samuel W. Franklin"The Surprising Origins of Our Obsession with Creativity" by Samuel W. Franklin in Behavioral Scientist"The Origins of Creativity" by Louis Menard (book review) in The New YorkerCapitalist Realism by Mark FisherAlso in this series:Organizing Indie Labor with Chiarra Lohr of the Indie Sellers GuildFiguring Out the Creator Economy with Charlie Gilkey & Kate TysonBuilding Solidarity in the Creator Economy with Charlie Gilkey & Kate Tyson
 Find an essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyi *** I'm teaching a new workshop on May 15 & 16, 2024! It's called World-Building for Business Owners, and it's based on a process I've been honing for more than a decade. I'll help you apply creative, even playful thinking to your business strategy—and help you create an internally consistent business that causes fewer headaches, meets your needs more efficiently, plays to your strengths, and creates satisfying work. 
Click here for all the details or go to explorewhatworks.com/world *** 
If you enjoy What Works, please consider supporting this work by becoming a premium subscriber for just $7 per month.

  ★ Support this podcast ★


EP 470: Rethinking Creativity—A Cautionary Tale

I'm teaching a new workshop on May 15 & 16, 2024! It's called World-Building for Business Owners, and it's based on a process I've been honing for more than a decade. I'll help you apply creative, even playful thinking to your business strategy—and help you create an internally consistent business that causes fewer headaches, meets your needs more efficiently, plays to your strengths, and creates satisfying work. Click here for all the details or go to explorewhatworks.com/world

  ★ Support this podcast ★


EP 455: The Case for Uncertainty (And How to Navigate It)

Download our free app to listen on your phone