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As the pandemic rages on and unemployment spikes, one online platform engages former employees.

Forward thinking brands that must furlough large numbers of people use online alumni community platforms. They help former headcount develop new skill, find jobs at other companies, or return to the company in new full-time employment roles or contracting assignments.

To that end, alumni communities engage former employees, because of tech innovators like James Sinclair. He is the co-founder of EnterpriseAlumni.

In this episode, James describes:

• The value proposition of alumni community platforms. Starts at 2:21
• Benefits associated with engaging former company workers. Starts at 3:21
• How the protests happening across the US in 2020 are driving corporate social impact. Starts at 11:01
• Two interview questions managers are now asking hired talent. Starts at 17:27
• The benefits of an agile workforce. Starts at 26:40
• How to achieve meaningful work. Starts at 36:23

What is more, by leveraging the EnterpriseAlumni online platform to engage former employees, James demonstrates the positive future of work impact of alumni engagement:

“One of the things that [companies] haven’t done that we start to see is tell you ‘Hey, take a moment and take stock of your life. Where are you? Where do you want to be? And, how do we help you get there?’”

About our guest:

James Sinclair is the Chief Executive & Co-Founder of EnterpriseAlumni, an online platform that engages former company employees. James’ background is in large enterprise innovation; previously, he worked for IBM, SAP & EDS. He lives and works in Southern California. 

EPISODE DATE: December 4, 2020

Social media:

– Website

– LinkedIn

– Twitter

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:17 — 51.3MB)

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In this episode, two headhunters discuss recruiting.

During 1998, Victoria James and Dan Smolen both entered the executive recruiting field. After 20 years, Dan moved on to future of work thought-leadership and podcasting, However, Victoria still enjoys a great run in placing executive-level candidates.

Victoria is the founder and president of Victoria James Executive Search.

Her company is a nationally recognized recruitment firm that places top marketing and sales executives across the U.S. Victoria relies on finely tuned consultative sales skill to draw top candidates into great executive roles.

In this episode, Victoria describes:

• Being a successful female executive in a male-dominated culture. Starts at 2:10
• The events that led to her surprising headhunting career-pivot. Starts at 5:28
• The critical importance of well-written candidate résumés. Starts at 16:44
• How technology, and LinkedIn, have transformed headhunting. Starts at 21:46
• The success that she enjoys in working from home. Starts at 23:34

On knowing when to leave a job, Victoria says:

“Sometimes, you just [meet up with someone and] don’t hit it off, no matter what you do or how good you are. That’s a signal for most people to start thinking about another environment.”

When these two headhunters discuss recruiting, listeners can discover valuable insight that they can use to find and do meaningful work.

About our guest:

Victoria James earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bloomfield College and an MBA from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business. She and her company are based in South Kent, Connecticut.

EPISODE DATE: November 27, 2020

Social Media:

– Facebook

– LinkedIn

– Twitter

– Victoria James Executive Search Website

– Featured Blog Post: Tackling the Work from Home Dilemma (Again)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:01 — 50.8MB)

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One thing is clear: localism shapes the future of work.

This week, we re-visit our 2018 interview with Doug Ross and Morley Winograd. They are, with Mike Hais, the co-authors of the book Healing American Democracy: Going Local.

When Joe Biden becomes President on January 20, 2021, he will engage with a deeply divided government. Meantime, real governing power is “going local” by moving to our nation’s city councils and county boards.

And besides, local lawmakers, not the president nor Congress, will scale our nation’s economy and drive the future of work.

In this episode, Doug and Morley discuss how localism shapes the future of work. They:

• Explain why so many Americans have lost faith in our current top-down form of American Democracy. Starts at 4:47
• Define their concept of “constitutional localism” and describe how it would operate and provide benefit. Starts at 7:05
• Illustrate how “turning scale upside down” to create and staff smaller numbers of new jobs—dozens versus thousands—would help local communities thrive. Starts at 20:01
• Identify how localism can become the linchpin for success in creating more meaningful work opportunities. Starts at 23:47

Furthermore, as localism shapes the future of work, Morley says:

“People aren’t trying to create the next Budweiser. [They are trying to create] the next IPA that they can sell in the local bar and to drive a nice little employment world that is self-contained and capable of hiring and keeping people at work in their community.”

About our guests:

Doug Ross and Morley Winograd are nationally known and respected political practitioners who cross solid data and wishful thinking to paint a hopeful portrait of America based on the idea of constitutional localism.

Doug was a state senator from Michigan and a U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. Morley is a Senior Fellow at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School Center on Communication and Leadership Policy. He was a Michigan state political party chair and White House Senior Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore. Along with their co-author Mike Hais, they’ve written six books between them.

EPISODE DATE: November 20, 2020

Social media:

– Healing America: Going Local Website

– Mike and Morley Website

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:48 — 10.7MB)

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Let’s ditch the monthly unemployment report.

On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden assumes the U.S. Presidency. But, right now, Mr. Biden focuses time and energy on forming task forces to mitigate the spread of COVID. He will also put in place the supply chain necessary to deliver a vaccine to some 330 million Americans.

COVID will consume the new president’s early days and months in office. But, the economic pain of American workers also factors. Already, President-elect Biden’s transition team is thinking about how to get people who want to work, and who need to work, back on the job.

For over 100 years, the U.S. government published monthly stats on unemployment. That report must update to one that factors the health and wellness of all workers, especially underemployed ones.

Important considerations:

• As of October 2020, 11 million full-time American workers remain unemployed. That’s down from the high water mark of Spring 2020 (23 million workers);
• That 11 million-member cohort does not include self-employed contract talent, gig workers, part-time employees, or under-employed people;
• Payscale.com’s survey indicates that 46 percent of American workers say that they are under-employed. That’s 71 million people!

Not all workers seek full-time employment. So, when we ditch the monthly unemployment report, we better reflect the changes in how American workers seek and do work.

Benefit Portability would help all workers.

The Biden Administration should allow American workers to take their hard earned benefits with them. Benefit Portability would enable them to port their 401k investments and other things from job to job, and over their lifetimes. Currently, when someone leaves a full-time job, their retirement assets cash-out. And it often becomes the responsibility of the worker to manage those assets parked in an IRA. Often, that doesn’t work out well.

First things first: let’s ditch the monthly unemployment report, to tell a truer story of the health and well-being of American workers.

EPISODE DATE: October 13, 2020

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Subject-matter expert Edythe Richards explains the connection between Emotional Intelligence and Hybrid Work. 

Emotional intelligence or EQ helps people to be aware of, control, and express their emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.

As the pandemic continues into a tenth month, nearly 8 out of every 10 full-time workers have shifted to remote or hybrid work settings. EQ helps them to seek a clear understanding of others who also work in separate locations.

In this episode, Edythe discusses:

• Her insights about the dramatic shift to remote and hybrid work. Starts at 2:17
• The special challenges faced by her clients experiencing workplace transitions. Starts at 6:10
• How people who use Zoom for work can benefit from EQ. Starts at 8:17
• Employing EQ while working remotely to achieve emotional presence. Starts at 16:52

Edythe explains how Emotional Intelligence and Hybrid Work relate to our current stress-packed reality:

“[There is an] EQ element called stress tolerance, which is essentially our ability, and tendency, to manage stressful situations. For many of us, our stress levels are going to be amplified during this time.”

About our guest:

Edythe Richards received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delaware and a Masters of Arts degree in Counseling from Seton Hall University. Her nationally recognized career counseling consultancy, A Top Career, is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.

EPISODE DATE: November 6, 2020

Social media:

– Website

– Myers Briggs Question Corner Podcast

– LinkedIn Page

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:05 — 55.1MB)

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Workforce expert Adrienne Shoch joins the podcast to encourage us to create hybrid workplace presence.

“[We are] constantly helping people get comfortable with certainty. It likes the same thing. It likes routines and all kinds of things. And, we don’t live like that, anymore.”

Adrienne Shoch of five to one in Washington, D.C. is a brilliant thought-leader in workforce and the future of work.

A frequent guest, she returns to The Dan Smolen Podcast to help us make the hybrid workplace model, that splits time between home and traditional office settings, more meaningful. To that end, Adrienne wants us all to create hybrid workplace presence. When we do that, we will get more out of our work experience.

Actually, we will thrive.

In this episode, Adrienne discusses:

• Key insights of clients who have migrated to hybrid workplaces. Starts at 2:20
• Steps that hiring managers and people take to make hybrid successful and enabling of presence. Starts at 6:20
• How people may be paired with others to work remotely or at the office. Starts at 13:24
• Helping people thrive where and when they want to work. Starts at 19:59

Adrienne gets to “why” we should create hybrid workforce presence:

“So the game is, the trick is, to help people get comfortable with uncertainty. It is not about being agile or resilient; it is about being adaptive. And that takes different skills and intentions.”

About our guest:

Adrienne Shoch is the founder of five to one and an expert on workforce engagement. She received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Towson University and studied at University of Paris – Sorbonne, and, the Neuroleadership Institute. She lives and works in Washington, D.C.

EPISODE DATE: October 30, 2020

Social media:

– Website

– Adrienne Shoch LinkedIn Page

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:10 — 9.9MB)

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One key outcome in how we work and where we work is fast emerging: a workforce revolution supports hybrid work.

The radical shift in our podcast’s branding inspired us to explore deeply the suddenly changing nature of work. Not surprisingly, we found that hybrid work has emerged as the way many of us will operate, splitting time each week between home and office.

“[The revolutionary forces] unleashed by the pandemic are numerous. But the-most notable paradigm shift is that people who work full-time are getting the tools they need to make work a successful part of their day.”

In this episode, we highlight fresh insight from SkillCrush which supports the workforce revolution to hybrid work. When remote work options are available:

• People become more focused on the job;
• Workers better manage their mental health, and;
• Introverts (half of the total workforce) gain solitude and control over interpersonal engagements, making them happier and more successful.

A workforce revolution that supports hybrid work is happening now.

Last week, we discovered that 80 percent of people who work full-time will opt for hybrid work.

“There is much to be worked out to make hybrid work a successful option. People who share time at home with children are still struggling to create a sense of balance.”

Still, when people who work full-time are allowed to work in a remote or hybrid fashion, they will become happier. What is more, hybrid work helps them make work part of a day, and not the day. Their relationships with co-workers and family members will become stronger and more fulfilling.

EPISODE DATE: October 23, 2020

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:53 — 12.3MB)

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Workforce thought-leader Dan Smolen believes that the future of work is in hybrid work.

This week, we dig into fresh workforce market research sponsored by Owl Labs and Global Workplace Analytics. Their study provides a snapshot of a post-COVID workforce that splits its time between home and office.

“Now, as millions of people return to the office, they recognize that the office-only workplace has become a relic of the past. With more offices resuming operation, four out of every five [of their full-time workers] will pivot to hybrid work.”

Survey findings:

• 70 percent of full-time employees worked from home during the pandemic
• workers on average saved $473 per month in out-of-pocket expenses for commuting and other needs
• 20 percent of those working from home clocked more hours than they had in the office
• 77 percent indicated that a post-pandemic work-from-home option would make them happier
• about half of respondents have increased their use of Zoom and other conferencing tools
• working from home added on average 40 minutes to the day that had been used for commuting

KEY FINDING: 80 percent of full-time workers said that they expect to work 3 times a week from home, 2 times a week at the office

Clearly, the future of work is in hybrid work. And the ramifications of the shift in how we work, and where we work, will hasten sudden and seismic shifts throughout the economy, infrastructure, and workforce.

“The future will involve constant pivots and reassessments. And we will need to real-time reimagine a future of work doing meaningful work.”

EPISODE DATE: October 16, 2020

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:22 — 11.6MB)

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Under any circumstance, a pivot for a future of work podcast is jarring. But for Dan Smolen, making a sudden pivot for his podcast, to a new identity, was absolutely necessary.

“Now, everything seemed fine until early September 2020 when we discovered that something was amiss. The Tightrope Podcast had inexplicably disappeared from the web and social media.

What happened?”

The sudden pivot for a future of work podcast is now complete. Today, we debut The Dan Smolen Podcast.

Some back-story:

One week ago today, on October 2, 2020, we discovered that well-known academic and social media pundit Dr. Cornel West launched “The Tight Rope Podcast.” Surprisingly, his podcast [with the same name as ours] redirected our listeners and prospects to his podcast hosting destinations. What is more, Dr. West aggressively promoted his podcast episodes to over 750,000 followers across social media; his podcasting campaign kicked into high gear during the first week of September 2020.

Looking back, it all makes sense as to why our listenership fell off of the tightrope.

We were astonished by our discovery. And we knew that we had to pivot our future of work podcast quickly to a new brand identity.

The re-branded Dan Smolen Podcast focuses on future of work and meaningful work topics. We will host experts in business, academia, public service, and workforce to benefit our future of work and meaningful work journeys.

Looking forward, we will “real-time reimagine” how the future of work presents in our lives. And right off the bat, we will tackle challenging issues that keep us up at night, like hybrid work arrangements and policies, so that we thrive in the face of sudden change and adversity.

The best minds in branding say that the process of re-branding a product, a service, or a podcast should take time. A re-brand should carefully consider the full array strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the podcast and its community.

But in our case, we had no time for careful and deliberate processing. Our re-brand from The Tightrope had to happen immediately. In fact, the sudden pivot for [our] future of work podcast happened in less than seven days.

Now, as The Dan Smolen Podcast, we know that our best days lie ahead. Please join us each week on this podcast for new episodes and an amazing journey to a future of work doing meaningful work.

EPISODE DATE: October 9, 2020

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:53 — 49.3MB)

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Public relations executive Aimee Stern believes that bravery and meaningful work are purposely intertwined.

“When you heard the process that they went through to get there, it was painful and it was my process, too. It’s like putting aside everything you’ve ever been taught and saying: I’m really good at this. And, it all came down really to the biggest problem people have which is self-doubt.”

By all measures, Aimee Stern was a successful executive. Her business portfolio was profitable and scaling.

Regrettably, her high quality work often benefitted people she didn’t respect.

That’s when she channeled bravery from within to do good and do well in her professional career.

In this episode, Aimee describes:

• The first act of bravery. Starts at 2:13
• Why many people are not brave. Starts at 4:23
• How Generation Z became our bravest workforce cohort. Starts at 9:38
• The impact bravery has on a meaningful work career. Starts at 17:29

About our guest:

Aimee Stern is the Chief Bravery Officer of Brave NOW PR based in Washington, D.C. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Education from the State University of New York Oswego.

EPISODE DATE: October 2, 2020

Social media:

– Brave NOW PR Website

– Brave NOW Courageous Content Website