This week, Josh interviews Zarak Khan, Behavioral Innovation Director for Maritz. His primary responsibility is to ensure that Maritz' business solutions are designed to leverage a deep understanding of human behavior and market trends. Also, don't worry-Megan's not on this interview, but you'll still hear her laugh.

Would you rent out a tiny house in your backyard? What if you didn't own that tiny house and the business that puts it on your property goes under? That could be a waste of a tiny house...We also talk about useful things like how to treat your teams like small businesses. Investing resources and time into your teams like a business provides you with a return that benefits the whole company. Incentive structures are broken-and many organizations are stuck repeating the same patterns. Change it up! Josh has suggestions. To cap it all off, we share a business idea.

Additional InfoRent the backyardhttps://www.fastcompany.com/90386799/this-startup-wants-to-put-a-free-tiny-house-in-your-backyard (https://www.fastcompany.com/90386799/this-startup-wants-to-put-a-free-tiny-house-in-your-backyard)

Treat your teams like a small businesshttps://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-can-we-overcome-inequities-who-owns-small-businesses (https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-can-we-overcome-inequities-who-owns-small-businesses)

Your incentive structure is brokenhttps://coffeeandjunk.substack.com/p/campbells-law-and-goodharts-law-when AND https://coffeeandjunk.substack.com/p/why-compensation-systems-likely-fail?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy (https://coffeeandjunk.substack.com/p/campbells-law-and-goodharts-law-when AND https://coffeeandjunk.substack.com/p/why-compensation-systems-likely-fail?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy)

Sometimes unexpected results of a system turn out to be incredibly positive and create community. What would happen if we built systems to do that on purpose? We talk about how puppies and mindfulness, while well-intended, are not the answer to a meaningful workplace. We know you were waiting to hear the explanation behind that alluring episode title-Josh will talk about how church without God didn't fail because of a lack of interest, but rather because of a lack of anything sacred at all.

Additional Info:

Anti-bro Startuphttps://techcrunch.com/2019/08/06/squad-the-anti-bro-startup/ (https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/06/squad-the-anti-bro-startup/)

Enough with the puppies and mindfulnesshttps://www.wired.co.uk/article/city-design-architecture-happiness-wellbeing (https://www.wired.co.uk/article/city-design-architecture-happiness-wellbeing)

Church without Godhttps://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/secular-churches-rethink-their-sales-pitch/594109/?utm_medium=offsite&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=newsstand-ideas (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/secular-churches-rethink-their-sales-pitch/594109/?utm_medium=offsite&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=newsstand-ideas)

You do not want to miss the beginning of this episode (and the rest of it, too, let's be real...). We talk about robots. Kind of. We also discuss how hiring for culture fit can be an easy vehicle for bias and how the research about attention spans leads to some great myths. I mean, who is really watching goldfish pay attention to anything? And how do we know they're paying attention? This and many questions will be asked (and laughed at) in addition to a conversation about a very old, but highly relevant academic article about resistance to innovation.

Additional Information:

The robothttps://gizmodo.com/a-wearable-robotic-tail-turns-anyone-into-a-furry-with-1836974428Culture fit leads to biashttps://www.fastcompany.com/90282111/is-hiring-for-culture-fit-another-form-of-unconscious-bias (https://www.fastcompany.com/90282111/is-hiring-for-culture-fit-another-form-of-unconscious-bias)Attention Spans are a mythhttps://www.bbc.com/news/health-38896790

Resistance to Innovationhttps://www-jstor-org.unco.idm.oclc.org/stable/2771607?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents (https://www-jstor-org.unco.idm.oclc.org/stable/2771607?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents)

I'm not going to ruin the surprise that led to the title of this episode. In addition to smiling our way to happiness (sorry...spoilers are inevitable in life), we discuss the sociology of psychological safety and how Google figured out that the formula for the perfect team is not about the individuals. We also discuss how nudging and norming are connected, and how they can both be used to change culture and encourage engagement. As an extra added bonus, we've included the National Day Calendar to appeal to your enjoyment of random facts.

Additional Information:

National Day Calendarhttps://nationaldaycalendar.com/august-monthly-observations/ (https://nationaldaycalendar.com/august-monthly-observations/)

Smile your way to happinesshttps://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/07/01/735822187/the-science-of-smiles-real-and-fake (https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/07/01/735822187/the-science-of-smiles-real-and-fake)

Sociology of psychological safetyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.htmlandhttps://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a4eb/b43d2056534e75e64ce5c6fe221ced2115ca.pdf (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a4eb/b43d2056534e75e64ce5c6fe221ced2115ca.pdf)

Nudging and Norminghttp://www.ideas42.org/blog/social-norms-social-good-three-insights-apply/ (http://www.ideas42.org/blog/social-norms-social-good-three-insights-apply/)

Josh is on sabbatical! We spent too much time being excited about this. In many workplaces, people need permission to learn, despite loads of evidence that learning is the key to an agile organization. What's more, people need to be learning TOGETHER. Team learning environments are key to cohesive knowledge and improved team dynamics in an organization. However, teams can evolve into cliques that then become damaging to an organization's culture. Listen to our tips about managing this phenomenon. We also answer listener mail, sharing that can't control the world, but you can respond to the things directly in front of you.

Additional Information:

Grounded traffic lightshttps://qz.com/942104/people-wont-stop-staring-at-their-phones-so-this-dutch-town-put-traffic-lights-on-the-ground/ (https://qz.com/942104/people-wont-stop-staring-at-their-phones-so-this-dutch-town-put-traffic-lights-on-the-ground/)

Team learning environmentshttps://velvetchainsaw.com/2019/05/22/leveraging-team-learning-at-conferences/ (https://velvetchainsaw.com/2019/05/22/leveraging-team-learning-at-conferences/)

Work cliqueshttp://review.chicagobooth.edu/behavioral-science/2017/article/work-cliques-can-blind-you-future (http://review.chicagobooth.edu/behavioral-science/2017/article/work-cliques-can-blind-you-future)

People matter, so job positions are often built around and evolve to suit the person inhabiting them. However, the evolution of a position should not be tied to an individual for a number of reasons. We share some science behind the need for role clarity. Busy is a buzzword, and we argue that in some cases it is a bad word. There is value in stillness, and when appropriate, in doing nothing. For two people who do nothing very badly, we seem pretty convicted about this. Maybe we'll take our own advice.

Additional Information: Behavioral science ethicshttps://medium.com/behavior-design-hub/how-uber-could-trick-us-using-behavioral-science-unless-we-act-fast-d8aa43534b53 (https://medium.com/behavior-design-hub/how-uber-could-trick-us-using-behavioral-science-unless-we-act-fast-d8aa43534b53)

Roles vs. Job descriptionshttps://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business%20Functions/Organization/Our%20Insights/Matching%20talent%20to%20value/Matching-talent-to-value.ashx (https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business%20Functions/Organization/Our%20Insights/Matching%20talent%20to%20value/Matching-talent-to-value.ashx)

Stop being so busyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/smarter-living/the-case-for-doing-nothing.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/smarter-living/the-case-for-doing-nothing.html)

Season 3! In this first episode of season 3, we discuss home cubicles (WHY!??JUST WHY!?!?). Megan shares an academic article from way back that helps clarify why we can't narrow leadership into individual characteristics. Leadership is a social exchange-it is given by the relationships with others. Josh talks about hyperbolic discounting, the cognitive bias that leads people to choose smaller immediate gain. He argues that attention is more valuable, and that's why we decide quickly.

Links to the articles:

Cubicles in our homeshttps://www.fastcompany.com/90354514/working-from-home-is-now-more-prison-like-than-ever

Merton-Leadership is a social exchangehttps://www-jstor-org.unco.idm.oclc.org/stable/pdf/3421106.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Abb6cf152645b61cecb2d2cc9a546ee38 (https://www-jstor-org.unco.idm.oclc.org/stable/pdf/3421106.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Abb6cf152645b61cecb2d2cc9a546ee38)Hyperbolic discountinghttps://www.nirandfar.com/hyperbolic-discounting-why-you-make-terrible-life-choices/ (https://www.nirandfar.com/hyperbolic-discounting-why-you-make-terrible-life-choices/)

Original release date: 6/11/2018

VoiceOver Guy reaches new levels of delusion with his own structuring of time. We share how care in on-boarding saves your company resources, and talk about a movement that is disrupting institutions like retirement.

Original release date: 10/29/2018

Voiceover Guy is a proponent for physical harm that could cause healing? We don't really know... California has some controversial news legislation that could be a game changer. We talk about ways to recognize and work out of biases that permeate your whole organization, and discuss whether the gig economy is a race to the bottom or an entry point.

Additional Info:

Females required in CAhttps://www.npr.org/2018/10/01/653318005/california-becomes-1st-state-to-require-women-on-corporate-boards (https://www.npr.org/2018/10/01/653318005/california-becomes-1st-state-to-require-women-on-corporate-boards)

Debiasinghttps://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/the-business-logic-in-debiasing?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1810&hlkid=bebb455dd2eb4719b3e5fe79e017c672&hctky=11150682&hdpid=a3e88bfe-939d-4120-b4b9-20322a66d1eb (https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/the-business-logic-in-debiasing?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1810&hlkid=bebb455dd2eb4719b3e5fe79e017c672&hctky=11150682&hdpid=a3e88bfe-939d-4120-b4b9-20322a66d1eb)

Gig economy race to the bottomhttps://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/08/fiverr-online-gig-economy/569083/ (https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/08/fiverr-online-gig-economy/569083/)