At Work with The Ready
Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin
Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin have helped teams around the world adopt more modern ways of working and on At Work with The Ready they’re sharing the inside scoop with you, too. Whether you’re struggling with a carousel of ineffective meetings, annual strategy sessions that go nowhere, or decision-making churn that never ceases, they’ve seen it all and are here to help. In each episode, they'll break down common workplace challenges and show you the moves—both big and small—to start making real, lasting change. (Formerly “Brave New Work” with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans)
Episodes
Mentioned books
6 snips
May 11, 2026 • 10min
AUA: How To Lead When You Don’t Have The Answers?
Leaders wrestling with the expectation to always know answers talk about leaning into curiosity over certainty. They explore focusing on how to learn and adapt rather than pretending to predict outcomes. The conversation covers spotting when certainty is performative and using intuition, silence, and investigation to make better choices.
19 snips
May 4, 2026 • 50min
48. Office Politics: The Fun and Frustration of Palace Intrigue
They dig into how lack of documented ways of working lets powerful people’s preferences become default norms. They explore why relationship-based politicking can feel more rewarding than building durable processes. They discuss tactics to replace implicit rules with written artifacts, multi-threaded sponsorship, and outside arbiters to reduce attention wasted on palace intrigue.
10 snips
Apr 27, 2026 • 8min
AUA: How Does HR Rewrite Job Descriptions for AI?
They debate whether updating job descriptions for AI is the right move or a futile task. They explore mapping AI capabilities to real problems before defining human roles. They highlight clarifying human authority, accountability, and outcome-focused role definitions. They suggest using living role documents and talent marketplaces to keep role clarity current.
111 snips
Apr 20, 2026 • 49min
47. The Chaos Tax is Slowing Your Org Down
They unpack the “chaos tax” that slowdowns organizations when too little structure exists. They explore why founders feel fast while teams feel frozen and how heroics create brittle systems. Practical fixes include minimal rhythms, visible work, and bringing the right people into decisions. They discuss consent-based decision habits and when outside pressure is needed to create healthy process.
12 snips
Apr 13, 2026 • 6min
AUA: What Keeps Us Together When AI Does The Work?
They tackle how AI taking over tasks raises a hard question about keeping shared purpose alive. They argue automation calls for more intentional human connection, not less. They explain why teams still need regular in-person touchpoints like offsites and meetups. They urge shifting focus from outputs to outcomes and repeating simple purpose messages frequently.
65 snips
Apr 6, 2026 • 52min
46. Embracing the Beautiful Mess: How Organizations Actually Work with John Cutler
John Cutler, Head of Product at Dotwork and author of The Beautiful Mess, studies how organizations actually work. He talks about why many companies are more like gold rush towns than lasting institutions. He explains why leaders are like game designers, how sensing patterns differs from changing systems, and why embracing productive messiness can beat chasing premature clarity.
5 snips
Mar 30, 2026 • 9min
AUA: Why Won't The Rest Of The Org Copy What’s Working?
They explore why winning practices in one team fail to spread across federated organizations. They dig into Not Invented Here, the limits of radical transparency, and how finished solutions can be rejected. They argue for acting as an internal consultant, offering scaffolding and empathetic help to enable adoption.
34 snips
Mar 23, 2026 • 34min
45, Part 2. Why Pay Will Never Feel Fair At Work (And It's Not The Money)
They unpack principles for designing fairer pay systems, from dignity and equity to clarity and simplicity. They propose concrete redesigns like eliminating salary negotiation and anonymous team reward allocation. They explore ways to align pay with collective goals and give employees clearer participation and feedback.
19 snips
Mar 16, 2026 • 6min
AUA: Why Is My Small Org So Hard To Run?
Small organizations can be messier than they seem, with personalities and conversations carrying outsized weight. The conversation highlights why tiny teams often need a minimum viable structure and which operating practices are commonly missing. They explore the quiet inflection point under about 50 people when “everyone knows everything” stops being true and ways to tame that transition.
29 snips
Mar 9, 2026 • 48min
45, Part 1. Why Pay Will Never Feel Fair At Work (And It's Not The Money)
A deep dive into why pay so often feels unfair and emotionally loaded. They explore how compensation becomes a stand‑in for belonging, status, and identity. The conversation tackles pay transparency, team versus individual incentives, and whether equity or profit‑sharing actually align incentives. They also unpack the hedonic treadmill that keeps raises from satisfying.
