Work is central to the human experience. It helps us shape our identities, care for those we love, and contribute to our communities. Work can be a source of power and a catalyst for change. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us experience work—even those who work for themselves. Our labor and creative spirit are used to enrich others and maintain the status quo. It's time for an intervention. What Works is a show about rethinking work, business, and leadership for the 21st-century economy. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's wo...
Latest episodes
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16 min
Let's Talk About Reach, Baby!
A few episodes ago, I shared that I was rethinking social media as a way to fix my "distribution problem." Well, it's been a month, and I've posted 8 videos. The results have been…
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18 min
I Gave Myself a Short Assignment
If you're like me (and frankly, you probably are), you're easily overwhelmed by the sheer scope of your ideas. Not so much because they're so grand or world-changing, but because y…
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21 min
We're Not Late (Or, Rethinking the Long-Term)
Today, I'm resharing an episode from last spring but with a fresh introduction about the feeling (too) late and some timely advice for my daughter, who graduates from high school t…
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15 min
Rethinking Social Media
"No matter how hard you post or what sites you do it in it’s never going to be 2019 again." — Amanda Mull on BlueskyI'm thinking about getting back on social media. Weird, I know.…
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23 min
Just Because You Can: The Eggbeater Effect Revisited
Eight months before ChatGPT launched to the world, I wrote about "the eggbeater effect," or the tendency for labor-saving tools to create new labor. Four years later, I'm revisitin…
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41 min
Apples, Oranges, and Iceberg Metrics
You can always rely on me to channel my righteous indignation at shoddy data analysis into a lengthy podcast episode. Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode."How Short-Fo…
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43 min
Oh Joy! On Facing Down Burnout
Another episode featuring HBO's The Pitt? You know it. This time: finding your course of action in the space between personal challenges and systemic and structural failings.Footno…
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1 h 06
The Wages of Hierarchy
On March 11, the 5-time World’s Best Restaurant, Noma, began a 3-month Los Angeles residency. The vanguard establishment of New Nordic Cuisine, was finally available to Americans w…
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26 min
Technicians, Visionaries, and the Myth of Going Solo
To the uninitiated, "being your own boss" sounds pretty nice. Of course, the moment you go into business for yourself, you realize the wide variety of skills it requires—skills tha…
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29 min
This Process is a Mess
I live for people explaining how they approach analysis and critique. I desperately want to know how other people think about things so I can learn to think in new ways. I want a c…
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24 min
How I Learn a New Skill
So a couple of weeks ago, I downloaded Final Cut Pro and committed to learning how to use it. Despite logging hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in other video editing software,…
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10 min
Wait... what?!
You’re going along, minding your own business, and then it hits you: “Wait, what?!” Your expectation or assumption bumps against the facts. Things aren’t the way you thought they w…
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54 min
Rethinking Higher Ed for the 21st-Century Economy with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
It's no secret that one of my, let's say, special interests is higher education. The reasons for this are at least threefold. First, I have a kid heading off to college next year.…
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13 min
Grieving The Future Self
A brief meditation on grief at the loss of one's future self and how often that loss passes unacknowledged.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode.“10:00 am” (Season 1, Ep…
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21 min
Circling Back
How often do you revisit old work? Do you have systems for circling back to what you've created in the past to see how you could improve upon it or take it in a new direction? In t…
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30 min
Making Intelligence Masculine Again
I've had all the various parts of this episode swirling in my head for months—from The Paperclip Maximizer to The Great Feminization to Meta's Masculine Energy to mind-body dualism…
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23 min
What Else Must Be True?
Have a big decision on your mind? Trying to choose between a bunch of good options?Today, I'm talking about decision-making… not so much how to choose, but the context of our choic…
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52 min
Getting My $#*! Together: A Messy Review of 2025
Here we are at the tail end of 2025. I just "opened" my Spotify Unwrapped... And after 3 years of burnout recovery, I’m finally ready to figure out what getting my shit together in…
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30 min
On Getting Attention, Encoding Messages, and Diving into the Deep End
How do you get people to care about what you care about?It's a marketing question. A movement-building question. A question at the heart of the attention economy. And in one form o…
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19 min
Drifting Toward the Status Quo
If you’ve ever chosen an ambitious, unconventional, or deeply meaningful aim only to see your plan devolve into something far more run-of-the-mill, this one is for you.Footnotes:Re…