We’re all trying to influence how people behave, according to Dr. Marcus Collins, whether it’s what people buy, how they interact with one another or how they work. Marcus calls culture the biggest cheat code ever to influence human behavior. His work as an engineer, music maker and advertising guru with cultural influencers like Beyonce and Apple have put him on a path to become a leader in understanding how to harness the power of culture within organizations. His stories from the world of pop and tech will change how you see culture in the workplace.

Marcus now works as head of strategy at Wieden+Kennedy in New York and teaches at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He’s also the author of the new book For the Culture.

After our interview with Marcus, Robin Rosebrugh will join us. Robin is a workplace researcher who works with Steelcase as an architecture and design manager. She’s also one of the most well-read people you’ll ever meet. Robin will talk to us about how the places we work can help influence behavior and, ultimately, culture.

Additional resources:

- Be part of our community at steelcase.com/subscribe. Get the latest workplace design, insights and research sent to your inbox.

- You can find transcripts at www.steelcase.com/podcasts (Read today’s transcript)

- Learn more about Marcus Collins and his book For the Culture at http://marctothec.com/

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.

Who doesn’t want to be happier at work? Jenn Lim has dedicated her life to bringing more joy into the workplace.

Jenn is founder and author of Beyond Happiness. She is also CEO of Delivering Happiness which is a company she founded with Tony Hsieh, the late CEO of Zappos. In her book, she shares her “Greenhouse Model” for the workplace – it’s an idea she says leads to growth, purpose and business success.

After our conversation with Jenn, hear from Cherie Johnson – director of global design at Steelcase about how design can help us create happier places at work.

Additional resources:

- Be part of our community at steelcase.com/subscribe. Get the latest workplace design, insights and research sent to your inbox.

- You can find transcripts at www.steelcase.com/podcasts (Read today’s transcript)

- Learn more about Jenn Lim and her book Beyond Happiness at https://jennlim.com/

- Learn more about Jenn’s company Delivering Happiness at https://www.deliveringhappiness.com/

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.

You are more likely to stay at your job if you have a best friend at work. You are also more likely to learn from a peer at work than your boss. Relationships in the workplace are really important. But as work changes, our relationships are changing too.

Robin Dunbar, one of the world’s leading experts on friendship, will help us explore how relationships are changing in the era of hybrid work and what we need to know to make work more enjoyable. Robin is an anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist who specializes in human behavior at the University of Oxford. His most recent book is called Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships. He’s famous for something called the Dunbar Number – which is how many relationships our brains can manage.

After our conversation with Robin, hear from Dr. Tracy Brower, vice president of workplace insights at Steelcase. She will help us understand how the workplace can help support some of the ideas Robin has about building and maintaining relationships.

Additional resources:

- Be part of our community at steelcase.com/subscribe. Get the latest workplace design, insights and research sent to your inbox.

- You can find transcripts at www.steelcase.com/podcasts (Read today’s transcript)

- Learn more about Robin Dunbar: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/people/robin-dunbar -

- Robin Dunbar’s book, Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships (https://www.amazon.com/Friends-Understanding-Power-Important-Relationships-ebook/dp/B08W4XPK7G)

- Robin Dubar Article, You Can Only Have So Many Close Friends (https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/05/robin-dunbar-explains-circles-friendship-dunbars-number/618931/)

- Dr. Tracy Brower’s article, Making Friends Is Hard But Work Can Help (https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2022/10/05/new-study-making-friends-is-hard-but-work-can-help/)

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.

If you’re like most of us these days, a pension is not in the cards. Today’s guest says not to worry – Heather McGowan has a different idea about how to have a great future at work.

Heather is a future-of-work strategist and author. Her new book called “The Empathy Advantage: Leading the Empowered Workforce” was just released.

Heather says there are five elements that make up what she calls the “Great Reset”. She shares those with us – along with why she says “learning is the new pension.”

After our conversation with Heather, Noga Lasser will join us. Noga is director of design at Steelcase and will help us connect Heather’s ideas to designing a better workplace.

Additional resources:

- Be part of our community at steelcase.com/subscribe. Get the latest workplace design, insights and research sent to your inbox.

- You can find transcripts at www.steelcase.com/podcasts (Read today’s transcript)

- Learn more about Heather McGowan and her new book https://heathermcgowan.com/

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.

The adoption of hybrid work has changed a lot of things – not just where and when you work, but also our relationships at work. How we build them. How we nurture them. And how we sustain them. Those relationships at work are really important to how we feel about our overall experience.

Amy Gallo is joining us to give us tips on how to rebuild our relationships at work – even the most difficult ones. She’s the author of Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People). Amy also co-hosts a podcast for the Harvard Business Review called Women at Work. And she is contributing editor at Harvard Business Review, where she writes about workplace dynamics.

After our conversation with Amy, hear from Jessie Storey – director of design at Steelcase about how design can help with the things Amy talks about – like conflict, communication and discomfort.

Additional resources:

- Be part of our community at steelcase.com/subscribe. Get the latest workplace design, insights and research sent to your inbox.

- You can find transcripts at www.steelcase.com/podcasts (Read today’s transcript)

- Learn more about Amy Gallo and her book: (http://www.amyegallo.com/)

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.

Thinking about our communities outside of our office walls can actually strengthen our communities inside the workplace. In this episode, we talk to Kenny Clewett, a leader with Ashoka based in Spain. Ashoka is a global organization with a mission to mobilize a movement where everyone is a changemaker in the world. Kenny shares how organizations can find changemakers. What makes them so special and valuable to companies? And why being a changemaker can help people and organizations have a better experience at work.

After hearing from Kenny, Kinga Pakucs, Steelcase learning consultant, joins us from Munich. She has led community projects through the Steelcase Changemakers global program and provides us with a valuable perspective on how to apply these ideas to the workplace.

Additional resources:

Find out more about Ashoka (https://www.ashoka.org/en-us)

Learn more and be a part of the Steelcase Better Futures Community (https://www.steelcase.com/press-releases/steelcase-launches-better-futures-community/)

Article: How Partners Unlock Potential and Ignite Impact (https://fellowship-europe.ashoka.org/interview-partnerships-for-impact-new)

Steelcase Impact Report 2022 (https://www.steelcase.com/discover/steelcase/esg-overview/#impact-report-2022): Read more about our commitment to people + planet

Get the latest workplace design, insights and research: www.steelcase.com/subscribe

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.

Lt. Col. Adria Horn shares a unique perspective on talent and turnover, and draws interesting parallels between returning to the office and returning from deployment. She serves in the U.S. Army Reserve and is executive vice president of workforce for Tilson Technology Management. She contributed to a McKinsey article called “A Military Veteran Knows Why Your Employees Are Leaving” after disagreeing with a widely-shared theory that employers just didn’t know what employees want. She’ll explain what she thinks is really going on and how she coaches her leaders to think about what people are experiencing at work right now.

Lt. Col. Horn has been in the military for 21 years after graduating from West Point in June 2001. After September 11, 2001, she was commissioned as a military police officer, deployed three times and then switched to psychological operations while in Afghanistan. She’s stayed on active duty for about 11 years and has had five total deployments in that time frame.

To conclude our conversation, we will be joined by Nadia Johnson, director of leadership and adaptive teams at Steelcase. Nadia will help us think through how Lt. Col. Horn’s ideas can be applied to our day-to-day work.

Additional resources:

A Military Veteran Knows Why Your Employees Are Leaving, (https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/a-military-veteran-knows-why-your-employees-are-leaving) McKinsey

Get the latest workplace design, insights and research: www.steelcase.com/subscribe

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.

Business leaders have been trying to crack the code on innovation since the beginning of time. But, Dr. Simone Ahuja has a new take on innovation. She says it’s not just about filling an unmet need in the market or solving a previously unsolvable problem. She says innovation is a recipe for engaging and retaining talent. Plus, she shares strategies for building microcultures of innovation in every organization.

Simone is CEO of global innovation strategy firm Blood Orange. She’s a best-selling author. Her latest book is Disrupt-It-Yourself. She’s also the co-developer of Jugaad Innovation, a frugal and flexible innovation strategy. She’ll share the research she conducted in India that inspired Jugaad Innovation.

After we talk to Simone, we will be joined by Amber Mathews, Steelcase director of Workspace Futures research in Asia and Europe. She’s spent a lot of time studying innovation within companies and how to support innovative teams.

Additional resources:

Connect with Simone Ahuja on her website (https://simoneahuja.com/action-plan/) and receive her worksheet

Get the latest workplace design, insights and research: www.steelcase.com/subscribe

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.

Can a robot take your job? Kevin Roose, New York Times technology writer and author of Futureproof, shares his take on how we can bring more of our humanity to work to avoid being replaced by AI. Plus, he lets us in on how a small bookstore in Oakland, California managed to thrive despite all the market forces working against it. It’s a story with a valuable lesson in why creating community at work can benefit people and business.

Kevin writes and speaks regularly on many topics including automation and AI, social media, disinformation and digital wellness. His book Futureproof shines a light on how humanity is connected to the workplace.

In addition to Kevin, Michael Held, Steelcase vice president of global design joins us. He wrote Will Creative AI Make Designers Redundant? He is the perfect person to help us connect Kevin’s ideas to a better workplace.

Additional resources:

Learn more about Kevin Roose and his book Futureproof at https://www.kevinroose.com/

Sorry, But Working From Home Is Overrated by Kevin Roose (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/technology/working-from-home.html)

Welcome to the Yolo Economy by Kevin Roose (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/technology/welcome-to-the-yolo-economy.html)

TED Talk with Kevin Roose, The Value of Humanity in an Automated Future (https://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_roose_the_value_of_your_humanity_in_an_automated_future?language=en)

Will Creative AI Make Designers Redundant? By Michael Held (https://www.steelcase.com/asia-en/research/articles/topics/creativity/will-creative-ai-make-designers-redundant/)

Get the latest workplace design, insights and research: www.steelcase.com/subscribe

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.

What’s the real impact of community? NYU professor and author Eric Klinenberg’s research about a deadly heat wave in Chicago is a powerful example of just how important community is to humanity’s resilience. Eric joins us to share what he’s identified about the importance of “social infrastructure” like libraries and parks — something he says is just as important as physical infrastructure like roads and bridges. His work is foundational to how we have been re-envisioning the workplace to be more like some of the best neighborhoods and communities where we live. Eric helps us connect what he’s learned about great communities to ideas for a better workplace.

Eric is a professor of social science and director of the institute for public knowledge at NYU. He’s the author of Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. He’s written a number of other books as well including Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone and Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. He’s been published in scholarly journals and contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and This American Life.

Following our conversation with Eric, we’re joined by Susana Cantu, architect and designer at Steelcase who focuses on reimagining spaces to support how work is changing. She helps connect Eric’s research and insights to the way workplaces need to be designed differently.

Additional resources:

Eric Klinenberg’s website and books: https://www.ericklinenberg.com/

The Atlantic: Worry Less About Crumbling Roads and More About Crumbling Libraries (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/09/worry-less-about-crumbling-roads-more-about-crumbling-libraries/570721/)

NYU Keynote Address by Eric Klinenberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzJd0HKKTsM&t=102s

Work Better Article: The New Hybrid Neighborhood https://www.steelcase.com/research/articles/topics/culture-talent/new-hybrid-neighborhood/

Get the latest workplace design, insights and research: www.steelcase.com/subscribe

Work Better podcast is hosted by Chris Congdon. Produced by Rebecca Charbauski. Creative art direction by Erin Ellison and Emily Cowdrey. Technical support by Mark Caswell and Jose Jimenez. Digital publishing by Areli Arellano and Jordan Marks. Editing and sound mixing by SoundPost Studios.