5: Why Work?

Monica interviews Kayla Osterhoff, a neuropsychophysiologist and women's health expert whose research is revolutionizing the field of women's health. As a woman in a male-dominant field of work, Kayla often found that she had to work in a masculine way that taxed her physical and mental health. Later she discovered that working in this way was not only taxing, but it was unnatural and harmful for her feminine biology. In this episode, we talk about the differences between men and women and how we can better design the workplace to help women (and men too!) thrive.

Jan Keck of Ask Deep Questions and JanKeck.com joins us today to talk about how to create more meaningful connections in a hybrid work environment. Jan is an Experience Designer, Facilitator, Trainer, TEDx Speaker, Video Creator, Entrepreneur and Dad of a 3-year old Jan Keck has been running public events and online experiences that build trust, empower people to share vulnerable stories and turn strangers into friends. Jan’s mission is to help people feel less alone, so by creating experiences, workshops and programs he is fueling the movement for deeper human connection. His “Connection Cards” have been used on every continent around the globe and helped turn over 70,000 shallow conversations into deep connections. In the past few years, he ran over 30 workshops and trainings with over 700 trainers, facilitators, educators, team leaders learning the skills to create engaging, purposeful, inclusive and connecting experiences on Zoom.

Peter Merry, PhD, is a co-founder of Ubiquity University, the Center for Human Emergence in the Netherlands, and other social enterprises. We talk about his book, Why Work?, why people are experiencing higher rates of burnout today, and how we can transition to more fulfilling workplaces.

I'm delighted to feature the work of Erik Korvik Ostergaard on today's episode. Erik is a co-founder of Good Morning April, a consulting firm in Denmark. He focuses on futures thinking and the future of work. Erik is often engaged in complex corporate challenges, typically in the regulated industries. He is an engineer with an acumen in business leadership. Erik is a seasoned podcast host, keynote speaker, and author of two books about the future of work. We had a lively discussion on a broad range of workplace future-related topics including how jazz music is similar to working in complex work situations, the new phenomenon of quiet quitting (or The Great Rethink in Denmark), and new ways of managing, experimentation, and leading change.

Susan Hingle, MD joins us to discuss her journey in medicine and how advice early on from her residency director prompted her to create the Rush Community Service Initiatives Program and now the Center for Human and Organizational Potential (cHOP) at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

Kami joins us today to talk about creating a more compassionate workplace. We discuss her journey as a therapist and then working in rural healthcare, and now as a leader in creating compassionate communities of care. Kami shares an especially compelling story of a mother who lost a child at birth and how her employer created a compassionate network to support her through her time of loss.

Gabe Charbonneau, MD, a primary care physician, entrepreneur, and founder of the fightburnout.org movement joins us for our first episode. We talk about “being an accomplice in a broken system” and how we can work together to create change while also making the workplace better for physicians.

The world of work is changing and old systems and ways of operating are no longer effective. More than 65% of employees are reconsidering the role of work in their lives. Employee stress levels and negative emotions are at an all-time high, and fewer than 1 in 4 employees feel their employers care about their wellbeing. It’s time for a change. Join host, future of work consultant, and award-winning author, Monica Bourgeau, as she goes behind the scenes with leaders and changemakers to learn how they are designing workplaces of the future today, how they moved from idea to execution, and how they stay motivated when the going gets tough. In this episode, Neil C. Hughes from Tech Talks Daily introduces  Monica and sets the scene for what listeners can expect from the New Future of Work Podcast.