Ollie on Work

Welcome to series four of Take My Advice (I'm Not Using). Today's guest is Will Page, the former Chief Economist of Spotify and PRS for Music where he pioneered 'Rockonomics'. At PRS he published work on Radiohead's In Rainbows and saving BBC 6Music. At Spotify, he helped redefine catalogue and articulated the global value of music copyright.In this episode, we discuss how Will's determination to work in the music business led to him becoming the industry's first Chief Economist. We also explore the concept of 'builder's and 'farmers' in tech businesses, as Will explains how Spotify founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, successfully bridges the gap between both.There's also a conversation about the danger of NPS (Net Promoter Score), the rising importance of consumption over transaction data, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and how data has impacted the creative process in music.LINKS:Will Page's new book, Tarzan EconomicsNPSistheworst.comWill's LSE articleFuture Work/Life newsletterFuture Work/Life websitePodcast episode with Christopher Lochhead on Category Design and 'niching down'Podcast episode with Ben Legg on Portfolio Careers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the last of three episodes in which I recall the most recent Future Work/Life newsletters. Today I discuss the risk of burnout and consider whether your business model could be a threat to wellbeing.LINKS:Future Work/Life #36: Burnout and why wellbeing can't be workloadFuture Work/Life #37: Could your business model be a threat to wellbeing? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the end of the series and based on the success of January's podstorm, over the next three weeks I'm sharing the most recent Future Work/Life newsletters.In today's episode I discuss how we should approach returning to the office, and the importance of pacing in work and life.LINKS:Future Work/Life #34: The future of the office looks like market day in AbergavennyFuture Work/Life #35: Time to start pacing yourself Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the end of the series and based on the success of January's podstorm, over the next three weeks I'll be sharing the most recent Future Work/Life newsletters. In today's episode I discuss innovation, creativity, and sleep.LINKS:Future Work/Life #32: When I grow up, I want to be an inventorFuture Work/Life #33: Strange dreams and creative things Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I talk to Christine Armstrong, the founder of Armstrong & Partners and a researcher, consultant and writer, about the future of work.I became aware of Christine's work through her fantastic vlogs, which she publishes every week on LinkedIn. They cover all matter subjects related to work and life, including the perils of Zoom, the pain of homeschooling, and the problem of assuming that flexible work is the answer to all our work/life challenges.She also offers a refreshing take on some of the steps organisations need to take to make work better, and I enjoy not just her videos but her writing on the subject. As well as her book, Mother of All Jobs, released in 2018, Christine also writes for the Telegraph, Grazia, and Management Today, amongst others.There are plenty of folks throwing around platitudes and empty opinions at the moment related to work and how that intersects with our personal lives. I think you'll discover in this podcast that Christine is not one of those people. We chatted about the difference between flexible and remote work, burnout, and how businesses need to think about redesigning work at an organisational, team and individual level. Plus, how business models affect our understanding of the way we expect people to work - specifically, the problems with using TIME as the primary output.LINKS:Christine's LinkedIn profileArmstrong & PartnersFuture Work/Life newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I've been looking forward to bringing you today's episode for a while now.My guest is Jennifer Moss, a happiness expert - yes, that is a job - and a thought leader on one of the biggest challenges affecting the workplace right now - burnout.I've had my own struggles with burnout over the years - for a good while before I'd even heard the expression. It's not just a historical thing for me either. I'm sure that I'm in the early stages of burnout right now, and after my conversation with Jennifer the other day, I know I need to act soon to head it off. And of course, I'm not the only one - over the past year, rates of burnout have increased at an alarming rate.Clearly, we urgently need to do something about it, and as Jennifer explains, it isn't something we should be tackling alone. There's a responsibility from organisations to support people to design a work/life that is both manageable and fulfilling.As well as the challenges of burnout, we also talk about positive psychology and happiness. Jennifer is a great writer and an incredibly insightful guest, so I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.As ever, please make sure you're subscribed to the podcast and to my newsletter, Future Work/Life, for more analysis of the future of work and how that intersects with our personal lives.LINKS:Jen's websiteBeyond Burned Out in Harvard Business ReviewPre-order Jen's bookFuture Work/Life newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's show, I'm joined by two guests to discuss coaching and leadership. The world of work has obviously changed hugely over the past year and has been marked by most knowledge workers working remotely. With that, our approach to leadership and organisations and people has had to adapt and evolve, which means that the nature of executive coaching has too.My first guest today has an excellent perspective on this as a coach, leadership expert and through her involvement in one of the world's leading business schools. Vyla Rollins is the Executive Director or London Busines School's Leadership Insitute and works personally as a consultant and coach with people at top organisations worldwide.After following her work via Twitter throughout last year, I contacted Vyla to see if she'd be interested in joining me on the podcast to talk about the future of coach and collaboration. She agreed and suggested inviting another guest, who she told me would add another unique view.So it was that Bernhard Kerres also joined the party. It's hard to describe Bernhard's career path in a short sentence, so I'll leave that to him to introduce in the show, but he would call himself a leadership coach, and he uses his background in music to revolutionise the way we collaborate in groups, in particular.In our conversation, we discuss the challenges presented by remote work on collaboration, mindset and management, and the role of coaching to facilitate change and support individuals. Enjoy!LINKS:Vyla's LinkedIn profileBernhard's LinkedIn profileFuture Work/Life newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just before Christmas last year, a friend of mine recommended a book called Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, written by today's guest, Alex Hutchinson.The book is about the limits of human performance, and it begins by focusing on the record attempt by Eliud Kipchoge, supported by Nike, to beat the two-hour barrier for the marathon. Now, for me, it was appropriately timed, nine months into a global pandemic, which has felt like an endurance race in itself. Alex has a unique take on endurance - he is a trained physicist and was an elite runner. He is now a journalist, an author and, like me, has young children, so he has been battling managing work with homeschooling over the past few months. We had a fascinating, wide-ranging discussion, covering his book and the themes of endurance and mental and physical limits. We also discussed the importance of recovery and dipped into the value and potential risk of wearable devices. LINKS:Endure on AmazonAlex's Twitter pageAlex's article on pacingMy newsletter, Future Work/Life Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, I speak to the vice-chairman of Ogilvy UK, Rory Sutherland. If you’re aware of Rory, you'll know that the next hour is going to be an entertaining listen. If you don't, he is one of the foremost thinkers in UK advertising and there are very few areas in which he doesn't have some interesting ideas and opinions. We cover a wide range of topics, including the future of work, network theory, and how returning to the office could resemble market day in Abergavenny. Plus some asides on how we improve video meetings, The Beatles, scuzzy cities, solar power and agglomeration.If you enjoy the podcast, please make sure you check out my newsletter, Future Work/Life. Every week at the moment, I'm reflecting on the previous week's podcast and sharing some ideas about how that impacts the future of work and life. You can read it via the link below. Please also subscribe to this podcast and share it with anyone you think would enjoy it too. LINKS:Rory's book, Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and LifeRory's LinkedIn profileFuture Work/Life Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Annie Auerbach, author of the book 'Flex,' discusses the holistic concept of flexibility, prioritizing flexibility and balancing responsibilities, redesigning flexible work and the concept of Moai, exploring Blue Zones and the importance of stronger friendships, navigating social connections and emotional states during the pandemic, and reflections on the positive impacts and opportunities for flexibility.