WorkMatters

In today's episode, Thomas talks with Dave Bookbinder, a business valuation expert, author of two books, and the host of the 'Behind the Numbers' podcast and TV show. Dave emphasizes that employees are not an expense but assets, and unpacks the implications for business leaders. Sharing how the value of human capital is traditionally determined, he discusses best practices to increase enterprise value and explains why culture, engagement, and appreciation are critical to maximize the return on individuals. And lastly, he describes how the transition to a knowledge economy requires a different approach to intangibles. To learn more about Dave and his work, visit https://www.newroi.com or @TheDaveBookbinder .

In today's episode, Thomas Bertels welcomes Dr. Frank Gallo to discuss what Western businesses can learn from China. An executive coach, consultant, and author, Dr. Gallo has lived in China for over 20 years and written several books including "Business Leadership in China," and "The Enlightened Leader." He shares how the values of collectivism, harmony, hierarchy, compliance, and customer sacrafice impact Chinese business and strategies for working with them as a westerner. With real-life examples, he compares the three types of business operating in China (multinational, state, and private), and details what's changed in recent years with the rise of companies like Alibaba and TikTok. He discusses the pitfalls Western executives face when working with the Chinese and outlines best practices to avoid them.

In today's episode, Thomas talks with Tonille Miller, a management consultant, I/O psychologist, and founder of EXT about designing the employee experience. She unpacks how viewing an organization as a product can increase employee engagement and drive business outcomes. Sharing her framework to build better workplaces, Tonille details the qualities a new kind of leader needs to help people do the best work of their lives. She discusses the impact of Return to Office mandates on employees and strategies to better measure productivity and effectiveness without sacrificing engagement. She concludes by sharing how her upcoming book will answer the question, "how do we attract and engage people in our evolving world of work?" To learn more about Tonille and her work, visit www.tonillemiller.com or www.experienceandtransformation.com.

In the first episode of season 4, Thomas Bertels talks with Tony O'Driscoll, a professor, speaker, advisor, and author on innovation and technology, about AI and the future of work. They cover the "routinization trap" with ChatGPT and other Large Language Models, simply using algorithms to automate workflows, replace humans, and reduce costs. Tony shares how we could improve work by combining machine intelligence with human imagination to integrate the best of both and help organizations to thrive in the future. He unpacks opportunities for improving how we use AI to not simply increase consumption but optimize lives with greater fulfillment based on individual human values. Tony proposes evolving the role of the middle manager to be "Center Leader" - at the intersection of strategy and results and culture and people - where they create work that delivers aspiration, alignment, autonomy, and accountability. And lastly, he talks about his book, "Everyday Superhero: How You Can Inspire Everyone And Create Real Change At Work", a graphic novel that shows how companies can create value by putting belief and behavior above structure, process, and technology.

In this episode, Thomas Bertels talks to Mike Moshier and Dave Yawman of Cresco Partners about their approach for developing high performing leadership teams. They explain how important it is in today's face-paced work world for teams to intentionally pause, build relationships and trust, and set expectations for how work gets done. Mike and Dave explain the importance of aligning on both purpose (strategic, operational, etc.) and priorities, unpack the challenges leadership teams face and how best to overcome them. And finally they discuss the pandemic and remote work's impact on team development and the spread of horizontal team structure, leading to increasing accountability and ownership for employees.

In this episode, host Thomas Bertels welcomes Dr. Solange Charas and Stela Lupushor, co-authors of "Humanizing Human Capital". They share how four major trends - demographics, digitization, datafication, and disintermediation - impact HR. Putting Human Capital in the context of the pandemic, the authors explain the tensions between employees and employers around remote work, surveillance technology, and the greater need for worker autonomy and discuss how harnessing the power of data analytics can move organizations successfully into the future of work.

By embracing data analytics, organizations can tap into their own data to improve organizational productivity and the employee experience rather than relying on industry best practices. They advocate for a shift from standardization to personalized and a move towards servant leadership to help people thrive. By looking at work through the employee lens, companies can create systems that help them do their best work and become more productive. They explain that by listening to the employees' voice and incorporating employee feedback, HR can improve retention rates, positively shape the brand, and reduce costs of recruiting and training. HR departments that embrace Human Capital and data analytics receive 3x the Return on Investment, get more money for their programs, and increased value for their organization.

In today's Work Matters, host Thomas Bertels welcomes Niels Pflaeging. Niels is a well-known speaker, consultant, and author of "OpenSpace Beta" and "Leading with Flexible Targets."

His open-source Beta Codex Network grew out of the Beyond Budgeting movement and expanded into a broader framework to drive transformation from alpha - top down, command and control - towards beta - decentralized, cell-based, agile ways of working.

He discusses the proliferation of outdated management models and how the underlying mental models hinder an organization's ability to make change.

From there, Niels unpacks what we can learn from pioneers such as Southwest, Toyota, and Handelsbanken. And lastly, he puts Beta in the context of "The Big Quit" and shares how command and control models stifle potential, human motivation, and the joy of work. He reveals how management's role is to create conditions for work to succeed and that leadership functions best when it hires great people - and gets out of the way.

In this Episode of the Work Matters podcast, Thomas talks with Laurent Choain, Chief Leadership, Education & Culture at Mazars. In this enlightening conversation, Choain traces the evolution of knowledge work, explains why Mazars made 'making friends for life' a central part of their employee value proposition, unpacks the relationship between autonomy and freedom, explains the concept of the creative class, and gives us the backstory of Baccarat's famous "un parfait" collection.

In today’s episode of Work Matters, Thomas Bertels welcomes Ali Cini, the managing director of BCAT partners. Explaining his Brand and Culture Alignment Toolkit (BCAT), Al unpacks how asking the incorporating question - "Who are we when we're doing our best work on our best day?" - starts the process of aligning an organization towards a shared positive role model and purpose. Al highlights the benefits of focusing on this collective best self and how it delivers an aligned brand and culture that positively impacts performance and sense of purpose.

One hundred years ago, James McKinsey, the founder of the well known consulting company, published "Budgetary Control" - and his framework was quickly adopted everywhere. But in today's VUCA world, the budgeting process has increasingly become an obstacle as organizations try to increase agility. In this episode of Work Matters, Thomas Bertels welcomes Bjarte Bogsnes. A pioneer of the Beyond Budgeting movement, he headed up its implementation at Equinox and Borealis. Bjarte is the founder of Bogsnes Advisory, winner of a Harvard Business Review/McKinsey Management Innovation award, and author of "Implementing Beyond Budgeting - Unlocking the Performance Potential." In our discussion, Bjarte shares the principles, advantages, best practices, and challenges to implementing Beyond Budgeting from his decades long journey.