Let’s Be Brief

A sure sign of your understanding of a topic is the ability to explain it to others that don’t. But it can be a real challenge to take complex topics and explain them effectively in a way that others will understand. In today’s episode Paul and Matt explain some key principles you can use to get better at explaining complicated subjects, and give you some exercises you can use to practice this difficult skill. Resources mentioned in this episode 1) Paul’s newsletter - Communicating Ideas in 2025 - https://www.humanityworking.net/p/communicating-ideas-in-2025?r=ourxz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false 2) What’s happening to our attention spans - https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/attention-spansSend us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.

It’s good to talk, but how much?Paul and Matt discuss the power of brevity, look at why it’s difficult, and how to get good at saying a lot with fewer words.Send us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.

We live in a cult of business, where almost everyone in the workplace is not just stretched to the point of exhaustion, they want to tell everyone else about it.Paul and Matt discuss this phenomenon, why being so busy can make you less effective, and how to move beyond busyness to effectiveness.Send us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.

Remote work is back in the headlines again, with government mandating a return to office.But is there any merit to it, and what do we REALLY know about remote work, now it’s been mainstream for a while.Paul and Matt discuss…Send us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.

What really is the best way to separate work and life?The Apple show Severance provides a unique way to do this, but the rest of us have to figure out how to create separation ourselves.In this episode Paul and Matt discuss how the way work has changed has created the need for us as individuals to create separation between work and go through strategies to achieve it.Send us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.

We’ve been learning since humankind began, and even formal learning environments have existed for thousands of years, but does the way we learn today suit the demands of our jobs?In today’s episode, Paul and Matt discuss how the changing world of work is changing what we need to learn, and how we need to learn it.Send us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.

We are back for 2025 - smaller and better!By smaller, we really mean shorter and hopefully more perfectly formed. In today’s episode Matt and Paul what to expect in 2025, and to ask you for 10 minutes of your time once a week.Resources mentioned in this episode: The Humanity Working Website - www.humanityworking.net. This is your one stop shop for all things Humanity Working.Send us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.

In this episode, Paul sits down with Mindy Honcoop, a seasoned People Leader and HR advisor with over 20 years of experience. Mindy shares her insights into helping organizations and leaders navigate the complexities of rapid change in today’s dynamic work environment. She emphasizes the importance of creating frameworks that foster resilience and adaptability, both at the employee and leadership levels. The conversation dives into the challenges managers face in times of change, the role of HR in driving strategic initiatives, and the growing trend of fractional HR leadership. Mindy and Paul explore why humans naturally resist change and how organizations can better support their people through effective communication, thoughtful meeting structures, and continuous learning. They also discuss the importance of slowing down to go faster—encouraging organizations to be more reflective in their approach to strategy and operations. Mindy offers valuable perspectives on the evolving role of HR and how small to medium businesses can leverage fractional HR leaders to scale meaningfully. Resources mentioned in this episode: • Mindy’s company: Agile in HR - https://www.agileinhr.com/ Love Justice International nonprofit: https://www.lovejustice.ngo/ Austin Women in Agile meetup: https://www.meetup.com/austin-women-in-agile/ Disrupt HR Austin: https://disrupthr.co/city/austin/Send us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.

We’ve seen the future and it kind of works. Google’s release of Notebook LM is really fascinating, but social media is awash with one aspect of it particularly, the “mini-podcasts” it can create from a text source. In this episode, Paul puts it to the test against an article that he wrote about AI, and discusses what it get’s right and what it get’s wrong… After listening to this episode, we recommend you read the original article and judge for yourself. Link to the original article: https://humanityworking.substack.com/p/im-sorry-dave-im-afraid-i-cant-doSend us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.

Karen Valencic is the author of the book Spiral Impact: The Black Belt Edition The Power to Get It Done with Grace. In this episode, Paul and Karen discuss how to turn conflict from a negative into something that sparks innovation and leads to positive change. They also examine how looking at the same issue form different perspectives can unlock higher performance in teams. Resources mentioned in this episode: Karen’s book - https://www.bookhampton.com/book/9781946533845 Karen’s practice - https://www.karenvalencic.com/Send us a textHumanity Working is brought to you by BillionMinds - the company that makes employees ready for the Future of Work.BillionMinds helps companies be ready for the future of work by developing adaptable, resilient employees. You can learn more about them on LinkedIn or by visiting billionminds.com.