Here's the recap...Well, we've likely arrived at the close of Leading from Afar. Over the past 4 seasons, we've spoken with outstanding leaders about what and how the future of work will look like. In today's episode, I talked to Adam Nathan, the CEO of Almanac about the history of work. From the industrial revolution up through the CoVid remote revolution and beyond. We dove into what defined each period or version of work. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The similarities and differences in the following period/version of work. And what influences we'll see in the future of work. Things like how to measure productivity, employee engagement, mission-driven work, and so much more. Unlike previous episodes where each was topic focused with takeaways, this is more a thinking-out-loud conversation.

For a full transcript and links click ⁠here

To learn more about the show click ⁠here⁠

We'd love to hear your thoughts & feedback- ⁠feedback@leadingfromafar.com⁠

If you're loving the show and it's helped you become a better remote leader would love your support in keeping more awesome content coming. You can ⁠⁠buy me a coffee⁠⁠

Here's the recap...In today's episode, I spoke with Alex Spahn one of the co-founders of one of my favorite under-the-radar tools, Gomada. Today's conversation was all about team engagement and the need for remote leaders to have intentionality in doing so. We dove into the topics focusing both on Alex as a leader of a remote company and also as someone building a product, especially for this. This still remains one of the biggest needs for remote managers. Up-skilling on how and why intentionality is so crucial.

For a full transcript and links click here

To learn more about the show click here

We'd love to hear your thoughts & feedback- ⁠feedback@leadingfromafar.com⁠

If you're loving the show and it's helped you become a better remote leader would love your support in keeping more awesome content coming. You can ⁠buy me a coffee⁠

Here's the recap...In today's episode, I chatted with my good friend Peter Benei about how to up-skill remote leadership. Peter has been helping numerous remote organizations train their managers and enable them to build a learning culture. Companies just took what they were doing in the office and did it remotely when the lockdown came. 3 years later few companies have invested in learning to do it right. In this episode, we dive into the pros and cons of remote learning, what specific skills remote managers need to focus on, how to make remote L&D more collaborative, and much more.

For a full transcript and links click here 

To learn more about the show click here.  

We'd love to hear your thoughts & feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com  

If you're loving the show and it's helped you become a better remote leader would love your support in keeping more awesome content coming. You can buy me a coffee

Here's the recap...In today's episode, I sat down with Franco Castaldini the GM of HiFive. A product incubated within Siemens (yes the global conglomerate) to solve their own issues around employee engagement and what the future of the office looks like. They built a product to help teams not only know who will be in the office and when to better organize office visits. But to automatically foster connections and coffee meetings between those who are in the office that day. We chatted about what office utilization has looked like, why people do or don't want to come into an office, what companies need to think about regarding redesigning their office space, and much more.   

For a full transcript and links click here   

To learn more about the show click here.  

We'd love to hear your thoughts & feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com  

If you're loving the show and it's helped you become a better remote leader would love your support in keeping more awesome content coming. You can buy me a coffee

Here's the recap...Today's class should turn into an online course as it's an absolute masterpiece. Liz Leary who has been planning and running IRLs for Trello & Atlassian for years drops so much knowledge it could barely be contained in 1 episode. We covered everything you need to know whether you're thinking about or currently planning on getting the team together. How often, where to get together, what to do when there, and the small details easily forgotten. Like what about those parents left behind by your employee with the kids? Paying for takeout and babysitting can make or break someone coming and having a great time.

For a full transcript and links click here

To learn more about the show click here

We'd love to hear your thoughts & feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

If you're loving the show and it's helped you become a better remote leader would love your support in keeping more awesome content coming. You can buy me a coffee

Here's the recap. This is the second episode of three about the topic of IRLs. In today's show, I sat down with my buddy Peter Fabor, CEO of Surf Office. We did a deep dive into how to create a memorable IRL. And how he's used his own company offering to create his team's experiences. We spoke about choosing a location, what are companies doing at gatherings, how often the team should get together, why small details like dietary restrictions can make or break the experience, and more. Another invaluable conversation backed by the experience of his team planning and organizing countless IRLs for other companies, as well as, their own.

For a full transcript and links click here

To learn more about the show click here

We'd love to hear your thoughts & feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

If you're loving the show and it's helped you become a better remote leader would love your support in keeping more awesome content coming. You can buy me a coffee

Here's the recap...Why does Doist have probably the best remote culture around? Because they are thoughtful and intentional about every experience. And it doesn't hurt to have Chase Warrington helping lead this experience. In this episode, I finally got to sit down with Chase to geek out about getting the team together. This has been a passion topic of mine recently and he's been quite transparent about the experiences creating and running #irl experiences for his team. This is the 1st of 3 episodes about the topic. We did a real deep dive into what IRLs are, their impact, how often, what to do with them, and so much more. If you or your team are thinking about or planning a company irl, subscribe so you don't miss any of these game-changing posts.   

For a full transcript and links click here

o learn more about the show click here 

We'd love to hear your thoughts & feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com  

If you're loving the show and it's helped you become a better remote leader would love your support in keeping more awesome content coming. You can buy me a coffee

Here's the recap...Welcome to Season 4 of Leading from Afar. Today's episode can only be thought of as a masterclass. There's a reason Darcy is one of the most sought-after remote leaders and thinkers. Every minute of conversation was priceless and filled with takeaways. Very few companies do culture well (though they all think they do). If you want to know what real world-class culture pieces are for remote teams this is your episode. We spoke about topics like when culture officially begins & ends, why documentation is so crucial to remote teams, who owns company culture, what can individual managers and company leaders do to create better employee experiences, and so much more...

For the full transcript and links to resources click here

To learn more about the show click here

We'd love to hear your thoughts & feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

If you're loving the show and it's helped you become a better remote leader would love your support in keeping more awesome content coming. You can buy me a coffee here. 

Here's the recap...Last week's episode was the 1st #irl and one where I meet a long-time remote friend in person.  This week was the other way around. Was the first convo virtually with someone met in Berlin in-person? I spoke with Robert Schütze the CEO of Verbally who is working to kill off all the crappy parts of synchronous meetings. Something we all desperately need. We dove into what the ideal sync meeting looks like, when it should be called, and who should really be invited. We spoke about best practices and how leaders can adopt them to ensure sync meetings are actually valuable. We spoke about when to use async vs sync meetings. And so much more. If you're a manager in a remote or hybrid environment who is still holding on to sync meetings, this episode is a must.

For a full transcript click here

I'd love your support. Please comment, upvote, and share with friends. You can also buy me a coffee to support LFA via our website.

We'd love to hear your feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's the recap....This was the 1st podcast about remote work done IRL. I recently visited Berlin to meet a bunch of folks I've built relationships with remotely over the past few years. I was super excited to meet my new remote BFF, Daphnée, to record a joint podcast. We dove into multiple topics critical to the future of work. Like the importance of face-to-face time for remote teams, async by default is the future of work, team building, and so much more.

For a full transcript click here

I'd love your support. Please comment, upvote, and share with friends. You can also buy me a coffee to support LFA via our website.

We'd love to hear your feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's the recap...In today's episode, I sat down with Valentina Thörner the Empress of Remote to talk about mental health and what individual remote leaders can be doing to improve the mental health of their team and create more transparent environments for sharing how everyone is feeling.  In this episode, we focus on how you as a leader within a larger team can start improving your team's mental health if the company isn't yet focused on it. And of course, what you as a leader can be doing to support your own mental health.

For a full transcript click here

I'd love your support. Please comment, upvote, and share with friends. You can also buy me a coffee to support LFA via our website.

We'd love to hear your feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's today's recap...In today's episode, I'm joined by Danielle Farage for a deep dive on the topic of quiet quitting. What is it, who does it affect, is it a short-term fad, and what can company leaders do to prevent it? Talk around quiet quitting started a number of months back and focused specifically on Gen-Z'ers. Yet, when you look at the various reasons why people are quiet quitting you see this is an everyone issue and in my belief at the heart of the future of work. Where people put their own happiness & well-being front and center. Not their work.

For a full transcript click here

I'd love your support. Please comment, upvote, and share with friends. You can also buy me a coffee to support LFA via our website.

We'd love to hear your feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's the recap..In today's episode, I spoke with Sid Pandiya, CEO of Kona. I've been a huge fan of Kona since their earliest beta days. I've been a big advocate in supporting the mental health of my team and understand I need help in gauging and gathering feedback to better understand it. Where Kona comes in. Today we did a deep dive into what leaders need to be doing today to better support their remote team's mental health and happiness. Both are linked to better engagement within the workplace. We discussed what we've done, the tools to use (including a bunch of free ones), and most importantly what to do when we get the information we're after.

For a full transcript click here

I'd love your support. Please comment, upvote, and share with friends. You can also buy me a coffee to support LFA via our website.

We'd love to hear your feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's the recap...Remote can work for some teams like Engineering and Customer Support but not Sales. Then CoVid strikes. Then Sales can't do async because they need lots of together time to feed off each other's energy, high-five, etc. But I've learned from this conversation and from recent experience that async will be a superpower and major unlock for Sales teams. Like the rest of the organization. In this episode, I spoke with a former colleague and fellow remote OG, Ryan Burke, how about how Sales teams can thrive asynchronously. Interestingly enough, how he started building in-person teams at InVision but over time pivoted to hiring anywhere and since going all in on async at Qatalog. If you're running a remote Sales team this is a must-listen.

For a full transcript click here

I'd love your support. Please comment, upvote, and share with friends. You can also buy me a coffee to support LFA via our website.

We'd love to hear your feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's the recap...I've been quite interested in hearing some stories of how some tech giants pivoted to remote work. While most were and are still desperate to go back to the office, others fully embraced it and have been super successful in moving toward the future of work. In this episode, I spoke with Meaghan Williams who months before the pandemic had already started the company on its journey. I was honestly blown away at how much thoughtfulness and effort went into building an equitable hybrid and remote experience even before the world shut down. This significantly helped them go fully remote overnight with little hiccup and continually design an optimal experience for those staying remote forever and those who came back to or eventually want to be in an office X days a week. This was probably the most enjoyable episode I've recorded to date and learned so much.  

For a full transcript click here  

I'd love your support. Please comment, upvote, and share with friends. You can also buy me a coffee to support LFA via our website.

We'd love to hear your feedback - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Hybrid Work Report Blog: The Future of Work at HubSpot: How We're Building a Hybrid Company

Medium post: How HubSpot Makes Hybrid Work, Work

Medium post: Three Takeaways from How HubSpot Employees Want to Work in 2022

Here's the recap. In today's episode of Leading from Afar I chat with my good buddy Jakob Knutzen, CEO of Butter about sync meetings. Nope, it's not a type. I didn't mean async. Since Jakob is building the most engaging sync video tool, I thought we'd discuss why we all hate sync meetings and how to redesign them to be more impactful. We started off discussing the why's of calling a sync meeting. Then going deeper into when of those why's, to have a sync meeting. Finally, we discuss the how of doing a sync meeting the right way. Spoiler: Proper sync meetings have quite a bit of async embedded.  

For a full transcript check out  https://bit.ly/3D2nluK

To learn more about async communications check out these other great episodes.  

If you're enjoying LFA, please consider donating here to cover the costs of creating, producing, and hosting the podcast.

We'd love to hear your thoughts & feedback about the show - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's the recap...In today's episode, I sat down with one of the foremost experts in async communication, Liam Martin. Liam is a fellow remote OG and writing the book about async (stay tuned)! This episode continued the series on how individual leaders working at remote companies not embracing the best practices of the future of work can do so within their individual teams. So today's focus was on how leaders can implement async leadership & communication with their direct reports. We talked a lot about writing, data, and the need for radical transparency.   If you're a team leader or company leader thinking async makes a whole of sense and want to move away from pointless Zoom calls this episode is for you.  

For a full transcript click here.  

For more awesome content about async communication check out the async playlist.  

We'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts about the show - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's the recap...In today's episode, I spoke with Tania Kefs, the CEO & Co-founder of Jurnee. Like me, she's working on building her next company. We wanted to focus the conversation on the individual leaders within the company and what they can do to build better cultures and engagement. Even just within their team. Building amazing company cultures can be done from the bottom up (though not recommended). We dive into the challenges individual leaders have within a remote organization, what are the easy changes to implement within their teams, and more.

For a full transcript click here. For more information about the show click here.

To learn more about Jurnee click here. 

We'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts on the show - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's the recap...In this episode, I chatted with my buddy, Tyler Sellhorn, the Head of Remote at Polygon. Some companies are still struggling to realize the future of work is now here. The years of work building culture and operations based in an office has to be tossed in the rubbish bin. Many companies that went remote during the pandemic are still fakin' it till they make it. Making the newly popular role 'Head of Remote' quite intriguing. Tyler and I chatted about what the role is and isn't. Who should hire one and who's just wasting time. And is the Head of Remote really the new COO?

For a full transcript click here. For more information about the show click here.

We'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts on the show - feedback@leadingfromafar.com

Here's the recap...In this episode, I chatted with my good friend, Lee Rubin, the CEO & Co-founder of Confetti. Remote work is now the standard of work (finally!) As teams will stop looking back, looking forward will need to focus on how to build deeper relationships remotely. IRL opportunities will be crucial for this. But what can teams do in between to ensure their teams are fostering trust and bonds when no longer working together. Team fun, games, and similar are a great way for a team to connect while not working. We shared ideas and tips about what types of events your team can start running today. Including taking offline/siloed events and build interaction and connecting online.

For a full transcript click here. For more information about the show click here.

We'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts on the show - feedback@leadingfromafar.com