<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbridbord/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Dr Karen Bridbord&lt;/a&gt; is the author of a new book, The Relationship-Driven Leader that invites us to bring a psychologist's lens to our job and the relationships with those around us.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Her perspective is to use psychology to understand the person in front of you to interpret the world through their eyes. If you’ve got a controlling boss or someone who behaves in a way that impacts your life she helps you unpick what’s going in their head.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://amzn.to/3M45KcR" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Relationship-Driven Leader: Strengthening Connections to Enhance Productivity and Wellness at Work&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter&lt;/a&gt; or check out &lt;a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;the best ever episodes at the website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by &lt;a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Bruce Daisley&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'&gt; Hosted on Acast. See &lt;a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'&gt;acast.com/privacy&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Dr Karen Bridbord and the relationship-driven manager

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbridbord/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dr Karen Bridbord</a> is the author of a new book, The Relationship-Driven Leader that invites us to bring a psychologist's lens to our job and the relationships with those around us.Her perspective is to use psychology to understand the person in front of you to interpret the world through their eyes. If you’ve got a controlling boss or someone who behaves in a way that impacts your life she helps you unpick what’s going in their head.&nbsp; <a href="https://amzn.to/3M45KcR" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Relationship-Driven Leader: Strengthening Connections to Enhance Productivity and Wellness at Work&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter</a> or check out <a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the best ever episodes at the website</a>.Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by <a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bruce Daisley</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

People-watching in the workplace

<description>&lt;p&gt;Gen Z have been shaped by &lt;strong&gt;recessions, the pandemic, geopolitical instability, &lt;/strong&gt;not to mention &lt;strong&gt;financial insecurity and world changing technology.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;That's the finding of the Edelman Gen Z Lab as told to me by the leader of the project Jackie Cooper. Most powerfully she explains that Gen Z's have a '&lt;strong&gt;visceral need for safety' - &lt;/strong&gt;that's financial, social, cultural and even physical.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;They respond to fear by &lt;strong&gt;asking questions and wanting to be heard&lt;/strong&gt;, which older generations often misread as entitlement or disrespect for hierarchy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Politically, Gen Z is &lt;strong&gt;fragmented&lt;/strong&gt;. Younger Gen Zs, especially &lt;strong&gt;boys/young men&lt;/strong&gt;, are leaning more conservative and drawn to strong-man archetypes; older Gen Zs, shaped by Obama / BLM, are more idealistic about progressive politics. Algorithms and “TikTok-isation” amplify those splits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;I was blown away to see Jackie Cooper from Edelman talk about the research that the company has done to understand the new generation of workers entering the workplace - I think you'll love this discussion. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.reasonwhy.es/media/library/edelman-gen-z-lab-the-great-gen-z-divide-2025.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;You can read the report here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;Full transcript on the website.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter&lt;/a&gt; or check out &lt;a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;the best ever episodes at the website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by &lt;a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Bruce Daisley&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'&gt; Hosted on Acast. See &lt;a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'&gt;acast.com/privacy&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Jackie Cooper from Edelman's Gen Z Lab breaks down the data

Gen Z have been shaped by recessions, the pandemic, geopolitical instability, not to mention financial insecurity and world changing technology. That's the finding of the Edelman Gen Z Lab as told to me by the leader of the project Jackie Cooper. Most powerfully she explains that Gen Z's have a 'visceral need for safety' - that's financial, social, cultural and even physical. They respond to fear by asking questions and wanting to be heard, which older generations often misread as entitlement or disrespect for hierarchy.Politically, Gen Z is fragmented. Younger Gen Zs, especially boys/young men, are leaning more conservative and drawn to strong-man archetypes; older Gen Zs, shaped by Obama / BLM, are more idealistic about progressive politics. Algorithms and “TikTok-isation” amplify those splits. I was blown away to see Jackie Cooper from Edelman talk about the research that the company has done to understand the new generation of workers entering the workplace - I think you'll love this discussion. <a href="https://www.reasonwhy.es/media/library/edelman-gen-z-lab-the-great-gen-z-divide-2025.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">You can read the report here</a> Full transcript on the website. <a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter</a> or check out <a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the best ever episodes at the website</a>.Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by <a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bruce Daisley</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

What Gen Z need from work

<description>&lt;p&gt;Most company training is a waste of time that turns firms into bureaucratic sludge holes. That’s roughly the conclusion of today’s episode which is a conversation with &lt;a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-spicer-1551491/?originalSubdomain=uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Andre Spicer&lt;/a&gt; and Mats Alvesson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;They have a new book out &lt;a href="https://amzn.to/4nRJReS" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;The Art of Less&lt;/a&gt;. Andre has been a guest a few times before - way back in 2018. This podcast is old. In 2018 this podcast was ahead of Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO at the top of the podcast charts. (&lt;a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/why-your-open-plan-office-is-a-mistake/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Andre talking about open plan offices&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;The idea that much of what companies do is related to their self identity, what the company aspires to be in the world - with the end result that it doesn’t achieve these things.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Things we discuss:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://thestillwandering.substack.com/p/the-death-of-the-corporate-job" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;'The Death of the Corporate Job'&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;how 'initiative-itis' is dragging down organisations&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;how training is corporate sludge that doesn't achieve its goals&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;corporate culture as an act of 'grandiosity'&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter&lt;/a&gt; or check out &lt;a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;the best ever episodes at the website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by &lt;a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Bruce Daisley&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'&gt; Hosted on Acast. See &lt;a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'&gt;acast.com/privacy&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Andre Spicer and Mats Alvesson blast bureaucracy

Most company training is a waste of time that turns firms into bureaucratic sludge holes. That’s roughly the conclusion of today’s episode which is a conversation with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-spicer-1551491/?originalSubdomain=uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Andre Spicer</a> and Mats Alvesson They have a new book out <a href="https://amzn.to/4nRJReS" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Art of Less</a>. Andre has been a guest a few times before - way back in 2018. This podcast is old. In 2018 this podcast was ahead of Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO at the top of the podcast charts. (<a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/why-your-open-plan-office-is-a-mistake/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Andre talking about open plan offices</a>) The idea that much of what companies do is related to their self identity, what the company aspires to be in the world - with the end result that it doesn’t achieve these things. Things we discuss:<ul><li><a href="https://thestillwandering.substack.com/p/the-death-of-the-corporate-job" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">'The Death of the Corporate Job'</a></li><li>how 'initiative-itis' is dragging down organisations</li><li>how training is corporate sludge that doesn't achieve its goals</li><li>corporate culture as an act of 'grandiosity'</li></ul><a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter</a> or check out <a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the best ever episodes at the website</a>.Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by <a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bruce Daisley</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Is training really corporate sludge? 

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyjholt/?originalSubdomain=uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Jeremy Holt&lt;/a&gt; is a psychologist and leadership coach who has spent more than 20 years helping teams get better. &lt;a href="https://www.greatleadershipteams.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/The-New-Science-of-Great-Teams-White-Paper-FINAL.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Read his research about better team results.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;This episode is the third part of a series about the power of identity in teams. &lt;a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27CUQ6DBpq2cESPiUfipm4?si=k8wyOO5oSDW7zs8vs3avkg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Listen to the other Eat Sleep Work Repeat episodes about identity.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="his post on sport and identity https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-team-identity-why-does-matter-england-any-wants-win-jeremy-holt/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Jeremy posting about identity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.74ba2120-1ac6-c53b-9351-06d23161534b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Watch the Lebron documentary More Than a Game&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://amzn.to/3WAadpE" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Jeremy's book For the Love of the Game&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter&lt;/a&gt; or check out &lt;a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;the best ever episodes at the website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by &lt;a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Bruce Daisley&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'&gt; Hosted on Acast. See &lt;a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'&gt;acast.com/privacy&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Jeremy Holt unpacks identity

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyjholt/?originalSubdomain=uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jeremy Holt</a> is a psychologist and leadership coach who has spent more than 20 years helping teams get better. <a href="https://www.greatleadershipteams.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/The-New-Science-of-Great-Teams-White-Paper-FINAL.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Read his research about better team results.</a> This episode is the third part of a series about the power of identity in teams. <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27CUQ6DBpq2cESPiUfipm4?si=k8wyOO5oSDW7zs8vs3avkg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Listen to the other Eat Sleep Work Repeat episodes about identity.</a> <a href="his post on sport and identity https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-team-identity-why-does-matter-england-any-wants-win-jeremy-holt/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jeremy posting about identity</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.74ba2120-1ac6-c53b-9351-06d23161534b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Watch the Lebron documentary More Than a Game</a> <a href="https://amzn.to/3WAadpE" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jeremy's book For the Love of the Game</a> <a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter</a> or check out <a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the best ever episodes at the website</a>.Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by <a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bruce Daisley</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Strong team identity delivers success

<description>&lt;p&gt;This is the second part of an interview with Professor Alex Haslam, the world's leading voice on the study of social identity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/everything-is-identity/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;You can hear the first part of this interview on the website.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this discussion we talk how social identity can help us understand leadership.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;Alex talks about the CARE model of leadership.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;C - Create the group&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A - Advance the group (sometimes over themselves)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;R - Represent the group&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E - Embed the group identity in everyday life for the group&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you're interested in exploring Alex's recent contributions to discussions on leadership and culture these papers are a great place to start:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984323000966/pdfft?md5=5d086526cf586a7c9a24357b9b855abe&amp;amp;pid=1-s2.0-S1048984323000966-main.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Zombie Leadership&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/af4e80b4-fbd8-450f-ba79-fe7575d5bc0a-MECA.pdf?abstractid=5189335&amp;amp;mirid=1&amp;amp;type=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Human Me-sources or Human We-sources - exploring leader narcissism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alex Haslam&lt;/strong&gt; is Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology at the University of Queensland. He is one of the world’s leading researchers on group dynamics, leadership, and identity. Over the past three decades, Alex has helped reshape our understanding of how people think, feel, and behave as members of groups, and why social identity is central to motivation, resilience, and effective teamwork.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter&lt;/a&gt; or check out &lt;a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;the best ever episodes at the website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by &lt;a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Bruce Daisley&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'&gt; Hosted on Acast. See &lt;a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'&gt;acast.com/privacy&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Second part of a discussion with Professor Alex Haslam

This is the second part of an interview with Professor Alex Haslam, the world's leading voice on the study of social identity.<a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/everything-is-identity/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">You can hear the first part of this interview on the website.</a> In this discussion we talk how social identity can help us understand leadership. Alex talks about the CARE model of leadership.C - Create the groupA - Advance the group (sometimes over themselves)R - Represent the groupE - Embed the group identity in everyday life for the group If you're interested in exploring Alex's recent contributions to discussions on leadership and culture these papers are a great place to start:<ul><li><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984323000966/pdfft?md5=5d086526cf586a7c9a24357b9b855abe&amp;pid=1-s2.0-S1048984323000966-main.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Zombie Leadership</a></li><li><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/af4e80b4-fbd8-450f-ba79-fe7575d5bc0a-MECA.pdf?abstractid=5189335&amp;mirid=1&amp;type=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Human Me-sources or Human We-sources - exploring leader narcissism</a></li></ul> Alex Haslam is Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology at the University of Queensland. He is one of the world’s leading researchers on group dynamics, leadership, and identity. Over the past three decades, Alex has helped reshape our understanding of how people think, feel, and behave as members of groups, and why social identity is central to motivation, resilience, and effective teamwork. <a href="https://www.makeworkbetter.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up to the Make Work Better newsletter</a> or check out <a href="https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/best/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the best ever episodes at the website</a>.Eat Sleep Work Repeat is made and hosted by <a href="https://www.brucedaisley.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bruce Daisley</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

To understand leadership, you need to understand identity

MAKE WORK BETTER. Eat Sleep Work Repeat is the best podcast about workplace culture - it's been listened to millions of times. Bruce Daisley brings a curious mind to discussions about our jobs and the role they play in our lives. <a href="https://makeworkbetter.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up for the newsletter</a><hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Eat Sleep Work Repeat - better workplace culture

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