Meaningful Work Podcast
By Innerworks
Meaningful Work PodcastAug 09, 2023
End of season 1: Connection, belonging, self organisation and play
This is not the end but it is an end. Amit and Nils speak of what we learned from this first season of the Meaningful Work Podcast and go for a summer break. This was a really rich conversation and some of the main themes were connection at the centre, self organisation as a fact of life and why play might be really important in whatever comes next. If you want further links and tips for deeper reading check out the meaningful work podcast substack: meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com. Enjoy summer in the meantime!
Johan Thiel: Business building and strategy as navigation.
Johan Thiel is the ex CEO of MIPS, and Trifilon now investor and colleague to Amit. Amit and Johan address the topics of business building, the challenges of pushing the edges of what can be done. We get to tap into Johans long experience of getting what should be impossible done. Also what sailing and horizons has to do with business building and how he feels about the word impossible (spoiler: it's not a word he uses often). Enjoy!
Sensemaking: Connection
It’s time for another sense making episode. This one on the second 21 day story we did in social media. The story was on Connection. Amit and Nils dive into the topic. After having modeled a check-in we touch upon some of the core aspects of this story. Like
- How central connection is to everything?
- How it yields opportunities for moving radically faster and more efficiently in business contexts if we put our connection before the results.
- Why we should be in business to make friends rather than the opposite
- Why connection is such a good antidote to burnout and stress.
And lots more.
We refer to some our wonderful guests in this podcasts. Here are those episodes: Andrew Horn, Victoria Vallström, Ricky Godall, Giles Hutchins
Enjoy the episode!
Niklas Huss: The intrapreneur, large scale systems transformation and leveraging the 3rd space in transformation
Niklas Huss is an intrapreneur in the true sense of the word. He started his professional career running a major transformation of the Swedish Internal Revenue Service (Skatteverket), after that he went on to Länsförsäkringar (one of the largest cooperative insurance companies in Sweden) and then moved on to create a space for interagency cooperation.
We speak of the resistance to change, the challenges and cost of transformation both to the individual as well as the organisations. Why it is so important to allow people to get a taste of the change that is planned to bring them along and make it less threatening. We also speak of the 3rd space and the importance of cross agency and functional collaborations in organisations in general but in these current times in particular. And how, regardless of what we would like to think sometimes, that pain is a much stronger driver for change than most other things we know about.
Curious to find out more and find show notes to the episodes etc? Subscribe at meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Sensemaking: Languishing
It’s time from a sense making episode. This one on the first 21 day story we did in our social media. The story was on Languishing. Amit and Nils dive into the topic. We end up addressing a number of important questions, like:
- What it is?
- Who it makes us? Is it purely negative or is there also some positive aspects we draw from the languishing identity?
- What does languishing have to do with quiet quitting?
- What are some of the antidotes to languishing?
- How can we understand the prevalance of it in our current society?
- Why is it important to care about that blah feeling and why do Amit and Nils seem to think that it is important even for the course of our society?
We refer to some our wonderful guests in this podcasts. Here are those episodes: Anna Katharina Schaffner, Imran Rehman, Johan Reunanen, Helena Önneby
Enjoy the episode!
Amit Paul: Excerpts from the book Deep Change by Robert Quinn
Amit Paul (co-founder of Innerworks) takes us into the weeds of the book Deep change by Robert Quinn. There are excerpts from the book from 1996 with some deep provcations that are probably useful for anyone involved in or preparing to undertake a change process.
4 of many provocations from the episode are:
- There is no such thing as a sustainable organisation, organisations are constantly dynamically rebalancing.
- Either you are in a process of deep change or you are in slow death.
- There is no such thing as changing others, if you are not changing too there will only be talk about change, no action.
- Are you willing to feel incompetent for a while? How do you continuously reinvent yourself?
Intrigued? Take a listen.
If you want to follow all our episodes, take part in the conversation, get more resources and links from episodes and take part in events subscribe at meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Fabian Bolin - Cancer, SCULP, the excitement and fear of the times we live in,
Fabian Bolin is a co-founder of SCULP, a training platform that helps men enhance themselves through coaching, education, and community support. He has a passion for consciousness exploration and men's personal development. After being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing 900 days of chemotherapy, he realized he had not been living authentically but conforming to societal expectations. He embarked on a path of self-acceptance, which led to a journey of personal growth. Fabian also founded War On Cancer, a healthtech company that developed an app for improving mental health for individuals affected by cancer. The app has over 50,000 members across 20 countries and several significant partnerships with national and international healthcare systems. Fabian has delivered over 100 public speaking engagements, appeared on 60 podcasts as a guest, and generated over 200 media articles, bringing mental health to the forefront of clinical attention for cancer patients worldwide. Recently, SCULP launched its inaugural program, the 100-Hour Men's Training, which involves a 60-day online training program for a group of 25 men. Fabian is a trained breathwork guide associated with hale Breathing Center.
Kristin Grímsdóttir: Belonging, values and why it’s good for business
Kristin Grimsdóttir is the Icelander that emigrated to Sweden and did her masters thesis on belonging and values. She developed a model for values mapping which she can use to predict the level of belonging in an organisation or a team.
We speak about belonging, psychological safety, why it’s important to focus on. What can happen when we work values based in other contexts like public procurement and how is it really that we can afford the level of disconnection we are currently experiencing? Where does authenticity come in and what is the relationship between it and belonging?
This is a hands on podcast that will give you insight into connection, belonging, performance and values and how they relate. Want more, as well as reading and links? Subscribe at meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Ricky Goodall - Authentic relating, nervous systems and how we can use it to create more effective workplaces
Ricky Goodall is a coach, Authentic Relating facilitator, initiated shaman and former professional Muay Thai fighter. Nils and Ricky meet up in Tulum, Mexico, to explore how signals from our body can guide us into meaningful work, how Authentic Relating can be used to create stronger connections in the workplace, and how perhaps absolutely everything we do in life is constant meaningful work.
Eugenio Moliní: Self-organisation, redundancy, self-management and dispelling myths of leadership
Eugenio Moliní is an experienced change management consultant who has worked in 100s of organisations across Europe for the past several decades. This conversation criss-cross the boarder of self organisation and self management and is a use ful guide into task based management from a person who has dedicated his life to liberating people to do the best work possible in the work context.
We explore many different aspects of less violent work. Like why the image of the organisation as an entity driving towards a peak is misleading and perhaps its more like pushing towards a horizon. We explore when we became addicted to goals and strategy as ends vs markers for that we are on the path. When did redundant become an excuse for getting rid of people? Why is it really that self-organisation is inevitable? What should we think of when thinking about self management? And a lot more.
Subscribe and get full show notes at meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Victoria Vallström: A useful dive into the cutting edge of research on leadership, engagement and meaningful work
Join Nils and guest Victoria Vallström on the Meaningful Work Podcast as they explore the research behind meaningful work and workplaces, employee engagement, and avoiding burnout. With over 20 years of experience in software development, Victoria brings a wealth of knowledge from her various leadership roles and experiences working in diverse environments. As a lifelong learner, she shares her insights and findings on human interaction through her podcast, Bitcurious. Tune in to discover how connection may be the secret to unlocking meaningful work. To tag along and to get access to more extensive show notes as well as links and other things related to meaningful work, subscribe at: meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Loïc Le Meur: Meaningful work, inner work, entrepreneurship and indigenous traditions
In this episode of the Meaningful Work Podcast, Nils and Loïc Le Meur discuss the connection between meaningful work, inner work, and entrepreneurship. Le Meur is the founder of PAUA, an organization that brings together entrepreneurs, consciousness explorers, and conscious business leaders. Le Meur shares his journey from successful serial entrepreneur in the tech industry to exploring the intersection of consciousness, entrepreneurship, and technology through PAUA. The organization's mission is to rediscover ancient wisdom and unveil new technologies that offer a broader and richer perception of reality, while fostering a community of like-minded individuals who share a passion for personal growth, consciousness expansion, and positive change. Visit meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com for more content, links or to get involved.
Gestur Palmason - the future of the organisations, connectivity and the predictive power of network analysis
Gestur Palmason is a coach working at Complete Coherence. Amit speaks to Gestur both around meaningful work and his journey into the craft of coaching and then turn their attention to the tool Complete Coherence has developed called Organisational Network Analysis. We speak of connection, the gurutre of the organisation, how agility and decision making is closely related, the relationship between heart rate variability and performance and how one can, through asking 9 simple questions and running them through some pretty sophisticated analytics can predict which employees are at the risk of quitting and who’s thriving. This is a really interesting conversation.
To find out more and to get more resources and links visit meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Ted Rau: A deep dive into Sociocracy
Ted Rau is the operational leader of Sociocracy4All. He is an educator and consultant on the topic of implementing the system Sociocracy in organisations. What is Sociocracy? Why is it useful? Why now? What does it mean to consent? What is this thing with decentralised organisations and how can it work? How does it relate to meaningful work? What does it mean to be in a structure that invites diversity, empowerment and pushes for every voice to be heard?
This conversation is a deep and useful primer to sociocracy. If you are looking ti implement it in an organisation check out Sociocracy4All. To get a feeling for if it is something you would enjoy working in - listen to this! We talk about decision making, responsibility, what it is, how it operates in normal and more urgent conditions. As well as how sociocracy is neither fully decentralised nor hierarchical and how sociocracy has sovled for the challenge of building agile and responsive organisations. If you want to follow all our content. Get access to shownotes with links, newsletters and events subscribe to meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Johan M. Reunanen - How do we create functional relationships in the workplace?
Johan M. Reunanen is a true sustainability expert - not just in how corporations can become more climate friendly, but also how corporate climates can become more friendly. In this episode, Johan and Nils explore the importance of creating functional relationships in a workplace and how to make it happen. We circle through how the combination of honesty, respect, trust and acceptance can foster a culture of loving leadership and how that improves an organization. We explore how the workplace can move from being a zero-sum game of competition and transactions, to win-win relational cultures fostering value for all participants and their surrounding ecosystems. If you haven’t read or listened to Johan’s perspectives before, this is an opportunity not to be missed.
Did you enjoy the episode? And want more like them including links and resources visit meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Giles Hutchins: What is regenerative leadership really?
Giles Hutchins is an author of several books, an executive coach and a business professional that has dedicated his career to transforming the leadership paradigm into the regenerative. Amit speaks with Giles about what regenerative leadership actually is? What it means to change your mind and to step into the new paradigm? What does it mean that the world is interconnected and why is it important to understand and act from as a leader?
We speak of Giles latest book Learning by Nature as well as the previous book Regenerative leadership. The barriers to love. Why forgiveness, trust and flow are crucial parameters in the new leadership paradigm and what the heroes journey can mean in this context. If you want to stay updated with all episodes, extended shownotes, events and continue the dialogue subscribe to meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Helena Önneby: Being love in the room and why that is efficient.
Helena Önneby is a coach, author and HR professional. She is has written three books on topics like intuition, flow, love in the workplace. What is meaning at work? Why is it important? Does love and humanness belong at work? What is the relationship between love and curiosity? Why should we even bother with this stuff?
Helena is pointing to her experience that as we bring love and the perspective to be love in the room to the table as our foremost role then efficiency increases, trust goes up and we tap into more of the potential of our organisations. Instead of doing what Peter Senge calls the second job, managing politics, we can focus on doing what we were hired to do. To follow all our episodes, get more resources and links as well as take part in events subscribe at meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Imran Rehman: Belonging, Psychological safety and Flow - is that the recipe for meaningful work?
Imran the founder of Kokoro. He is an employee-experience specialist with an expertise in strengthening and building belonging and psychological safe environments in groups and teams. What is the fundamental tension between meaning and work in the western world? What does it mean to have belonging to an organisation? What is the importance of structure, space and stories? What can we do with retro’s? Why should teams be left to figuring out their own goals and instead leadership’s responsibility is to cascade meaning?
This conversation is a hands on view into Imrans toolbox in organisational change. He speaks very little about culture because in his mind culture emerges form the actions of the people in the organisation. They need belonging, psychological safety and from that foundation we can start creating flow experiences. For more detailed shownotes including links to resources, all of our content including newsletters and events subscribe at meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Andrew Horn: Creating deeper connection, meaningful work, individual purpose and keys to coming back into presence
Andrew Horn is a serial entrepreneur, speaker and writer based in Austin, Texas. Co-founder and CEO of Tribute.co He has been featured on TED.com, founded an INC500 company, keynotes for the Fortune 500 and serves as a personal coach to “second mountain” entrepreneurs. He is the man behind the four-question framework known as “Social Flow” - a simple method for becoming more self aware, creating deeper connections and fostering more meaningful work. In this episode, Andrew and Nils explore how we can find our individual purpose, ask better questions, create deeper connections, change ourselves using our social identity and help others feel comfortable being themselves. To come along for the full journey visit meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com.
Anna Katharina Schaffner: The Exhaustion Coach on the past, present and future of exhaustion.
Anna Katharina Schaffner (The Exhaustion Coach) did her PhD studying exhaustion and burnout. What is burnout? What is exhaustion? Why is it so pervasive in our society and what can we do about it? Are there positive aspects to burnout or exhaustion? What’s next? Are we more exhausted than we’ve been before or is this more of a human condition?
The conversation is far ranging and goes deep. It seems the challenge with burnout is not just complicated it is truly complex and systemic and touches deeply into the relationship about how we relate to our work.
If you want to follow all our content, get access to more detailed show notes, events and take part in the conversation subscribe at meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com
Who are the hosts really? Meet Faviana Vangelius, Nils von Heijne and Amit Paul
What is meaningful work and why is it important? Well we think it’s important because work is the way that we interact and recreate our world at this time.
Amit, Nils and Faviana gets into why they’re doing this. What is is that this podcast is going to be about and why it’s so incredibly important to lean into at this time.
What is the Meaningful Work podcast about?
We introduce what the Meaningful Work podcast is, what Innerworks is and why we believe this exploration is important. The meaningful work podcast explores meaningful work and self aware organisations. Why? Because we spend most of our time and energy on our work. It is also the most obvious way that we recreate the world we live in. If we are to build a new, regenerative world for ourselves then our relationship to work has to change. To take part of events, more extensive show notes, newsletters subscribe at meaningfulworkpodcast.substack.com