State of Independence

Mark Gilbreath is CEO of LiquidSpace, a leader in hybrid and work-from-anywhere workplace transformation. MBO Partners speaks with Mark about what productive work environments look like, why distributed work can be good for both companies and workers—whether employees or independents—and what work culture has to do with it.

Joseph Fuller is Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School, where he oversees the Managing the Future of Work Project and focuses his research on the changing nature of work and the evolution of the C-suite. He was the founder and longtime CEO of The Monitor Group, the global strategy consulting firm, now Monitor Deloitte. In this episode, MBO Partners speaks with Professor Fuller about what, in this time of rapid change, the term “the future of work” actually means and how we can apply his learnings to workforce design and transformation.

Paul Estes, the author of The Gig Mindset and currently the Chief Community Officer at Mural, is a workforce influencer thinking about how to keep the human at the center of the SaaS industry. In this epsiode, MBO Partners speaks with Paul about how workers and organizations are transforming themselves using gig economy strategies, as well as how organizations can harness the power of their own communities of on-demand experts to help create customer-centric solutions.

Sharon Kan is the co-founder and CEO of Pepperlane, the organization helping mothers turn their skills and ideas into businesses that fit into their lives. She’s also a serial entrepreneur whose startups have been acquired by Oracle, Microsoft, and Barnes and Noble. In this episode, MBO Partners speaks with Sharon about how she is shaking up the patriarchal system of work and supporting a 20-million strong market of talented moms that has the power to reshape the small business economy.

Liz Elam is the founder of the Global Coworking Unconference Community—GCUC—the largest coworking conference provider in the world. She's also a consultant and a leader in the flexible work space, studying both the design and the structure of the industry. In addition, Liz is a card-carrying futurist and popular coworking podcast host. In this episode, MBO Partners speaks with Liz about the roots of the coworking trend and why coworking and community are so important for the health and well-being of the future workforce.

Diane Mulcahy, independent consultant and advisor to Fortune 500 and startup company clients on the future of work, created the first MBA course in the country on the Gig Economy and used it to inform her best-selling book of the same name. In this episode, MBO Partners speaks with Diane about how the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated The Gig Economy and how the experience of the last year has both emphasized the benefits of a strong independent work economy and highlighted the need for improved labor policy.

Joe Mullings is founder, chairman, and CEO of The Mullings Group, the world’s leading search firm in medtech, healthtech and the life sciences, as well as the founder of a number of other companies, including a production company and a start-up incubator. In this episode, MBO Partners speaks with Joe about his ideas about how the future of technology is already impacting the future of work and the future of search and how workers need to be in control of their own career and personal brand to stay competitive.

Keaton Swett is the CEO and co-founder of the open innovation platform MindSumo and vice president of product at MBO Partners. In this episode, the State of Independence podcast focuses on Keaton's last decade of experience building and growing enterprise client, Gen Z and millennnial MindSumo community, MBO’s acquisition of the platform, and what it means for expanding the reach of crowdsourcing to both enterprise organizations and independent businesses of one.

Connie Steele is the principal of Flywheel Associates and host of the Strategic Momentum podcast. In this episode, MBO Partners speaks with Connie about her insights from Connie’s own independent consulting career and her thesis about the power of having and curating a "mashup" career in her new book, Building the Business of You.

Balaji Bondili is head of Deloitte Pixel, a business within the global consulting firm that helps clients tap into the power of external crowds to deliver improved outcomes. In this episode, MBO Partners talks with Balaji about his ideas for the future of crowdsourcing, his views on the open talent economy, and his ideas for how to help companies be more open to using independent professionals and gig workers to meet business needs.