Unsolicited Advice: Why is Amazon dragging its employees back into the office?

Orlando Ashford is the superstar Chief People Officer for Fanatics, the fast-growing digital sports platform that does everything from sell licensed merchandise to host iGaming and special events. Orlando comes to Anne and Frances to ask how to unify his complex organization’s culture. The three break down how to craft a convincing message to freedom lovers, why putting on different hats is a mission-critical leadership skill, and the kind of alignment that drives real progress.What problems are you dealing with at work right now? Call or text 234-FIXABLE or email [email protected] to be featured on the show.

The evidence is clear that hybrid work is good for both people and organizations. So why are companies as big as Amazon now asking employees to come into the office all five days of the work week? Could “magical hallway conversations” actually make teams better — or is this a leadership play based on nostalgia and wishful thinking? In this provocative Unsolicited Advice segment, Anne and Frances debate what Amazon’s new return-to-office mandate means for the company’s future.

Can you make yourself happier at work? Dr. Laurie Santos is a cognitive scientist and psychology professor at Yale University, where she teaches a wildly popular course about the science of happiness, and host of the breakout podcast The Happiness Lab. She joins Anne and Frances to discuss the concept of time famine, why you need a best friend at work, and where your employer is responsible for your wellbeing. Their conversation will show you how to turn your workplace into your happy place.

Looking for a job can be frustrating and exhausting. Unsolicited Advice is back and this time Anne and Frances are helping YOU find work you actually want to do. They share useful tips and tricks for anyone facing today's daunting job market — from navigating rejection burnout to standing out in interviews. They also give employers advice you didn’t ask for on how to find great candidates who will elevate your team.What problems are you dealing with at work right now? Call or text 234-FIXABLE or email [email protected] to be featured on the show.

This week, Anne and Frances are back in the hot seat to help a listener tackle a common workplace problem: having less influence than we think we deserve. But how can you get more people to listen to your ideas? And figure out what’s getting in the way? Their advice offers valuable insights for anyone feeling stuck in their career – and gives you tools and inspiration to ask for what you need in your own workplace. What problems are you dealing with at work right now? Call or text 234-FIXABLE or email [email protected] to be featured on the show.

Do you brush your teeth before or after you take a shower? It’s a question author and Harvard Business School professor Mike Norton has asked countless people in his research to find out how intentional, repetitive actions – also known as rituals – create outsized meaning and purpose in our lives. Mike, Anne, and Frances discuss how rituals deeply inform our relationships, work lives, and views of the world while sharing a few of their own special rituals.What problems are you dealing with at work right now? Call or text 234-FIXABLE or email [email protected] to be featured on the show.Transcripts for Fixable are available at https://go.ted.com/fixablescripts 

To be human is to fail — period. And not just to fail once, but to fail a lot. As the author Samuel Beckett said: “Fail again. Fail better.” Why are we, and so many others, so deeply concerned by failure? And if it’s something we all do so often, why are we so afraid of it — especially those of us here in win-at-all-costs America? This is an episode of Fail Better with David Duchovny, from Lemonada Media. Join host David Duchovny as he sits down with actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani as they share Kumail’s recently found new ways of approaching his life, relationship and career with more presence and joy, rather than stressing about the outcome. Listen to new episodes of Fail Better wherever you get your podcasts.

We are back! To kick off the season, Anne and Frances provide some simple but impactful insights that can help you be the best leader you can be. They describe a powerful framework for creating the conditions for other people’s success by setting high standards and devotion. Frances shares the right and wrong ways she’s been a leader for her students, and Anne contemplates the impact of a growth mindset when it comes to leadership, parenting, and love. What problems are you dealing with at work right now? Call or text 234-FIXABLE or email [email protected] to be featured on the show.Transcripts for Fixable are available at https://go.ted.com/fixablescripts 

Moving fast is essential for companies to do well, especially if they're just starting out, but so making thoughtful, informed decisions. This week, Anne and Frances talk to the head of strategy at a small food startup to help her navigate how to balance thinking things through with and making quick decisions required of her. Anne and Frances help discover how reframing this issue from one of speed to one of trust allows for max productivity in the listener's decision-making processes. Brand new episodes of Fixable will be back next week!If you want to be on Fixable, call our hotline at 234-Fixable (that's 234-349-2253) to leave Anne and Frances a voicemail with your workplace problem or email [email protected]

On Fixable, we're always trying to help listeners solve problems in the best way possible, but holding yourself to impossibly high standards is the other side of the coin that can make solving any work problem miserable. We’re sharing an episode of The Happiness Lab, hosted by Dr. Laurie Santos where she hears from researcher Thomas Curran about a worrying growth in perfectionism in society, and asks "recovering perfectionist" Jordana Confino how to tackle the nagging voice in your head telling you to always psh yourself and work harder. Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos has studied the science of happiness and found that many of us do the exact opposite of what will truly make our lives better. Each week, she will take you through the latest scientific research and share some surprising and inspiring stories that will change the way you think about happiness on The Happiness Lab.We'll be back soon with more episodes from Fixable! If you want to be on Fixable, call our hotline at 234-Fixable (that's 234-349-2253) to leave Anne and Frances a voicemail with your workplace problem or email [email protected]