What's Your Work Fit?

Guest: Nina Froriep | Founder, Clockwise Productions and LinkedIn Engagement Expert

LinkedIn has changed dramatically. Its algorithms are increasingly driven by AI, organic reach isn’t what it used to be, and many of the strategies professionals once relied on may no longer deliver results.

So, how do you make LinkedIn work for you?

On this episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, host Dan Smolen welcomes back media producer and LinkedIn engagement expert Nina Froriep for a candid, provocative conversation about mastering LinkedIn without becoming a full-time influencer.

Nina challenges conventional wisdom and shares practical strategies for building visibility, credibility, meaningful professional relationships, and ultimately, better Work Fit.

In this episode, we explore:

Nina also introduces her LinkedIn Immersive Studio and explains why professionals need to understand their specific goals before developing a LinkedIn strategy.

Mastering LinkedIn isn’t about becoming famous. It’s about becoming relevant to the people who matter to your professional future.

Whether you’re seeking your next opportunity, building a business, reinventing your career, or simply hoping to connect with people who share your professional interests, this conversation offers fresh thinking about making LinkedIn serve your goals—not the other way around.

Listen now, and ask yourself: Is my LinkedIn presence helping me achieve Work Fit?

For more conversations about making work a wonderful part of your day doing other wonderful things, subscribe to What’s Your Work Fit? and visit Dan Smolen’s Substack.

Our best days lie ahead.

Engage with Nina Froriep:

LinkedIn

For generations, the message was simple: Go to college, earn your degree, get a good job, and build a successful life.

But that bargain is changing. College costs have soared, employers are questioning traditional credentials, and AI is transforming the skills people need to succeed.

On this episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, host Dan Smolen welcomes Kathleen deLaski, education futurist, social entrepreneur, and author of Who Needs College Anymore? Imagining a Future Where Degrees Don’t Matter.

Together, they challenge some deeply held assumptions about education, hiring, and career success.

“Watch what employers do, not what they say.”

And when Dan asks Kathleen his signature question—What’s Your Work Fit?—her answer reveals why the freedom to create meaningful things matters more than any professional title.

This isn’t a conversation about abandoning college. It’s about expanding opportunity, recognizing talent wherever it develops, and helping people find pathways to work that fits their abilities, aspirations, and lives.

Because the future of work shouldn’t be defined by the degree you hold, but by what you’re capable of doing—and who you want to become.

Listen now, and consider: If you were starting your career today, would you still choose the same educational path?

What’s Your Work Fit? explores the forces reshaping work, workplaces, careers, and personal agency—helping you make work a wonderful part of your day, not the all-consuming time-suck of it.

Subscribe to the audio podcast, follow What’s Your Work Fit? on LinkedIn, and watch our conversations on YouTube.

For more insights and commentary, visit our Substack.

Kathleen deLaski on LinkedIn

Book Page

On this milestone 300th episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, Executive Producer and Host Dan Smolen welcomes three innovators challenging conventional thinking about AI and the workplace:

Their answer goes far beyond productivity.

Doug challenges organizations to stop bolting new technologies onto outdated workplace models and start reinventing work from the ground up.

Carl raises a fascinating question about employee agency: If you build an AI agent at work, should you be able to take its capabilities with you when you change jobs?

Emelie explains why effective AI needs more than information. It needs context, managed memory, and the ability to recognize when yesterday’s assumptions no longer apply.

The central takeaway? AI shouldn’t simply make broken work faster. It should help us make work better.

Listen in to this conversation with Dan, Emelie, Carl, and Doug for a lively, thought-provoking exploration of Agentic AI, employee agency, and the future of meaningful work.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us for more conversations about work, careers, leadership, AI, and the future of work.

Our best days lie ahead.

On this episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, Boston Consulting Group’s Deborah Lovich, author of Make Work Work: The 5 Daily Practices of the Employee-Centric Leader, challenges some of the most deeply entrenched assumptions about modern work.

And she doesn’t pull punches.

From rigid RTO policies and employee surveillance to the rush toward Agentic AI, Deborah argues that too many organizations are managing people as costs rather than valuing them as essential stakeholders.

The consequences? Disengagement, distrust, and missed opportunities for innovation.

Joining the discussion are What’s Your Work Fit? executive producer and host Dan Smolen and co-hosts Mark Gilbreath, CEO of LiquidSpace, and Fran Saele, Managing Principal of MorteVita.

The big takeaway: Making work work isn’t about getting more out of people. It’s about creating the conditions that allow people to do their best work.

Listen now and consider: Is your organization truly employee-centric—or does it just claim to be?

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us for more conversations about work, careers, leadership, AI, and the future of work.

Our best days lie ahead.

LinkedIn

Book Page

But what happens when the title changes—or disappears altogether?

On this episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, returning guest Sarabeth Berk Bickerton, Ph.D., joins host Dan Smolen for a provocative conversation about professional identity, career belonging, and why the traditional career ladder may no longer make sense.

The conversation explores:

Instead of defining ourselves by the next title or rung on the ladder, perhaps the better question is:

What am I being seen, known, and valued for?

And if your title disappeared tomorrow, who would you be?

Listen to this episode of What’s Your Work Fit? and discover why your professional identity may be far more durable—and valuable—than any title an employer gives you.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us for more conversations about work, careers, leadership, AI, and the future of work.

Our best days lie ahead.

Website

Substack

Book Page

Charles Glassman, MD returns to What’s Your Work Fit? for a conversation about perfectionism, fear, psychological safety, vulnerability, and discernment that can influence how we respond to pressure at work.

His distinction is simple and powerful: being the best is largely outside our control. Doing our best is always possible.

Joining Executive Producer and Host Dan Smolen in the conversation is co-host Marian Anderson; she brings a workplace and HR perspective to the discussion. Together, they explore how our past experiences follow us into the workplace, why psychological safety shouldn’t mean eliminating all discomfort, and why our brains can confuse what is possible with what is probable.

We also turn to the future of work. As AI takes on more tasks, discernment—the human ability to reflect, question, and determine what is true—may become increasingly important.

And Charlie makes the case for something we don’t always associate with workplace success: humility and vulnerability.

In this episode:

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us for more conversations about work, careers, leadership, AI, and the future of work.

Our best days lie ahead.

Charles Glassman MD Website

Charles Glassman MD Substack

Book Page

MillerKnoll’s Ryan Anderson returns to What’s Your Work Fit? to answer our lead question: What should the modern workplace be designed for?

His answer is one word: interaction.

We explore what that means for workplace leaders, including why badge swipes reveal little about what actually happens inside an office, how workplaces can foster stronger team connections, and why organizations should think about “reattachment to office” rather than simply Return to Office.

The conversation also turns to AI. Ryan explains why agentic AI could make human connection even more important as people increasingly work alongside intelligent agents—and why organizations should be wary of creating workforces where people feel like isolated freelancers interacting with AI all day.

And Fran Saele brings the discussion to employee health and well-being: could thoughtfully designed workplaces help people feel better during their workday? Ryan describes opportunities ranging from respite and inclusive spaces to childcare and other practical resources—and argues that organizations must communicate the intent behind these investments.

Joining Ryan are What’s Your Work Fit? Executive Producer and Host Dan Smolen and co-hosts Mark Gilbreath, CEO of LiquidSpace, and Fran Saele, Managing Principal of MorteVita.

In this episode:

The bigger question: If we no longer need an office simply to get our work done, what should make the workplace worth going to?

Subscribe to What’s Your Work Fit? wherever you listen to podcasts.

MillerKnoll Insight Page

MillerKnoll About Place Podcast

Future-of-work strategist Nirit Cohen returns to What’s Your Work Fit? to explore a provocative question: Who owns my workplace AI? We discuss whether employers can own how AI learns the way we think, who benefits from AI-created productive capacity, who owns the time AI gives us back, and what greater human agency could mean for the future of work.

In this episode of What’s Your Work Fit?, host Dan Smolen is joined by returning guest Chris Moeller, Founder of PathwayCommunities, alongside show Co-Hosts Mark Gilbreath (CEO of LiquidSpace) and Fran Saele (Managing Principal, MorteVita).

Together, they explore a bold idea: livable communities as infrastructure for stability—not just housing.

1. Work, Life, and Place Are Converging
The traditional separation between where we live and where we work is collapsing.
Livable communities are emerging as integrated ecosystems where people can live, work, and connect—all within proximity.

2. Housing as Infrastructure (Not Just Shelter)
Chris reframes housing as a stabilizing force—critical to economic mobility, community resilience, and workforce sustainability.

3. The “Missing Middle” Housing Opportunity
Hudson Commons introduces a range of smaller, attainable housing options (500–1,200 sq ft) designed for:

This “missing middle” fills a major gap between single-family homes and large apartment complexes.

4. Factory-Built, High-Performance Homes

5. The Commons: Designed for Human Connection
Instead of isolating residents, the community includes shared spaces such as:

These spaces are designed for daily use—not just amenities.

6. From Sustainability → Resilience
The conversation shifts from “green living” to resilient living, inspired by disaster recovery lessons:

Resilience isn’t theoretical—it’s operational.

7. Affordability Anchored to Real Incomes
The model is built around a critical principle:
Housing costs should not exceed ~25% of income

This ensures long-term financial stability for residents.

8. Rebuilding Community for Essential Workers
Today, many nurses, firefighters, and police officers commute long distances.
This model brings them back into the communities they serve—strengthening both quality of life and civic resilience.

9. A New Housing Lifecycle Model
Pathway Communities envisions housing as:

“We don’t look at this as an amenity… we look at it as infrastructure.”

As housing affordability, remote work, and community fragmentation collide, this episode offers a practical and scalable vision for rebuilding connection, stability, and opportuniy.

This isn’t about amenities.
It’s about designing communities that actually work—for the people who keep them running.

Follow What’s Your Work Fit? on:

On What’s Your Work Fit?, Dan Smolen, Mark Gilbreath, and Fran Saele are joined by workplace strategists and authors Sara Escobar and Corinne Murray to unpack their influential book, WORK Then PLACE: Navigating Modern Work & Where It Happens.

At a time when organizations are wrestling with return-to-office mandates, AI disruption, and shifting employee expectations, this conversation challenges a deeply ingrained assumption: Should we design the workplace first—or the work itself?

Sara and Corinne argue convincingly that work must come first—and that everything else, including place, should follow.

We’ve never truly designed work—only where it happens.
This episode challenges leaders to rethink everything:

Work is not a place
Work is a system
And it must be designed intentionally

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with five colleagues or friends who are rethinking their own work fit.