If there’s one thing every leader out there can agree on, it’s that the way we work has drastically changed over the past few decades, and in today’s interconnected, global environment, that change is now happening at a much more accelerated pace than ever before.
In light of these fundamental shifts to the way we work, which 20th century management principles should we stop using, and what do we replace them with in order to ensure we’re bringing out the best in those we lead? This question about the changing nature of today’s workplace environment and the impact it has on the way we lead is the focus of my conversation with management expert David Burkus.
David is a best-selling author, an award-winning podcaster, and an associate management professor at Oral Roberts University. In addition to his first book, “The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas”, David’s writings have been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Listeners of my leadership podcast may also recognize David as the guest host who interviewed me about my book “Leadership Vertigo” as part of the month long celebration here on my website around the release of my first leadership book.
His latest book is “Under New Management: How Leading Organizations Are Upending Business As Usual”, which will be the focus of our conversation in this episode.
Over the course of this episode, David and I discuss some of the ideas and findings he shares in his book (some which can seem a bit controversial) including:
- Why we need to rethink the way we use email and how one company’s approach actually helps employees to enjoy their vacation and return to work not dreading a backlog.
- How organizations can move beyond the much maligned annual performance review towards measures that will inspire and motivate their employees to bring their full selves to the work they do.
- How making salaries transparent – from senior management to the front-line employees – can actually reap unexpected benefits to an organization’s growth and ability to improve employee retention.
- How to drastically shift the role of management in today’s organizations by “firing the managers” (trust me when I say it’s not what you think it is).
- Why we need to rethink our current obsession with the open-office workplace design, and what organizations should really be doing in order to promote collaboration and innovation, while at the same time allowing employees to do their best work.
As I mentioned at the end of this episode, I’d love to hear what you think about this episode, as well as what other topics you’d be interested in hearing more about in upcoming episodes of my show. Please share your thoughts and ideas by leaving a comment below or by filling out the contact form on my website.
I’d appreciate it if you could help support future episodes of this leadership podcast by taking a moment to rate my show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your preferred streaming platform.
Noteworthy links:
- Buy David Burkus’ book “Under New Management” on Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca for Canadian readers).
- Learn more about David’s work and his writings at davidburkus.com.