Aoife O'Brien [00:00:00]:

Hello and welcome to this week's solo episode of the Happier at Work Podcast. I'm so thrilled that you decided to tune in today. I'm your host, IFA O'Brien, and today I will be sharing about some of the book that I've been reading recently that I really think that you should check out. I also wanted to share a milestone update with you. So the podcast has reached 100,000 listens or downloads, whatever you want to call it. But I'm really, really thrilled and it's down to you, the listeners. I really appreciate you tuning in, taking the time and all the lovely feedback that I've been receiving as well. Really appreciate that.

Aoife O'Brien [00:00:41]:

On my last solo episode, I shared about a survey. I wanted to make some changes to the podcast. I will be making some changes to the podcast in the coming year, but thank you to those who have already taken the time to fill out the survey. I'll put the link again in the show notes below. I've already received some interesting feedback about the changes that I'm going to make, so I really appreciate it if you've already taken the time to do that as well. I wanted to give a language warning today for today's podcast episode, because there is some spicy language, let's say. So if you have kids with you, maybe block their ears or save the podcast to listen to later today. One of the suggestions that I received in relation to the podcast was answering more listener questions and I would love to be able to do that.

Aoife O'Brien [00:01:32]:

And I think if you have a burning question, if you have a specific challenge in relation to your career, in relation to the work culture that you're experiencing, please do feel free to reach out and I'd love to answer your question on the show. Back to the main point of today's podcast episode, and that is talking about some books that I've enjoyed recently. So the first book I want to talk about is called the no Asshole Rule. So you can imagine why I didn't want any young kids to be listening to what I'm talking to you about this because I'll be using the A word quite a bit as I talk about that book. For me, the biggest takeaway was that we all have a propensity to be an asshole at some point. It really depends on the environment that we're in. And the author Robert Sutton described it as we're all assholes, but some are certified assholes. So depending on the environment that you're in, we all could potentially be that asshole that we don't want to be, essentially.

Aoife O'Brien [00:02:33]:

Now, he describes being an asshole as one personal insults invading one's personal territory uninvited physical contact threats and intimidation verbal and nonverbal sarcastic jokes used as an insult delivery system withering email flames status slaps intended to humiliate public shaming or status degradation rude interruptions two faced attacks dirty looks treating people as if they were invisible. And I have to say I have definitely been on the receiving end of a few of those things. So treating people as if they were invisible, something that I have experienced when people ignore you at work, it is a form of bullying as well. Let's not forget that just because you can't see what's going on doesn't mean that it's not happening. Public shaming or status degradation, I'm sure I shared before on the podcast when I was essentially humiliated in front of my team, when one of my colleagues asked what I spend my time all day doing, as if I was doing nothing all day. So really have definitely myself been on the receiving end of a lot of that. And I know people listening today will have experienced that in the workplace. From my own research, from the clients that I work with as well, I know that people experience these things in work.

Aoife O'Brien [00:04:02]:

Another one of the big takeaways from it then is that this behavior goes unnoticed or tolerated because no one does anything, no one stands up for them, and it usually comes from the top as well. So it's really important to stamp out that type of behavior before it becomes embedded and part of the culture. So if you're noticing these kinds of things happening, whether it's people are just being unkind to each other or disrespectful, you need to stamp it out immediately if you see those kinds of things happening. The other thing I think worth mentioning is that it's never too late, that if things have gone too far, but you recognize that they've gone too far and you can do something about it, then know that you still have time to make changes that you need to make and you can actually do something about it. So it's not a case of all is lost forever and you have to leave now. There's two ways of thinking about being in that type of toxic environment. And I saw this from Zach Mirkurio, who is my next week's guest. I saw this on a post of his on LinkedIn and it really resonated.

Aoife O'Brien [00:05:11]:

So what he said was if everyone leaves those toxic work environments, they won't have anyone to fix the culture, essentially. So they'll just kind of be left to fester. So we need people to stay in those cultures and to make those changes to really stand up for what's right now. Previously, I would have always assumed that the best thing is for people to vote with their feet and to get out of those organizations and not to stay there. And therefore the business probably will lose profitability, they won't have people to work there and therefore they will essentially go out of business. But I really like that approach that Zach has. It's a real challenge to the way people typically think about work. The second book I wanted to talk about then is called it Doesn't Have to be crazy at work.

Aoife O'Brien [00:06:02]:

So I think that the title sort of tells it all. There's a clue in the title there. It's by Jason Fried, and someone has recommended this to me years ago, and it's been sitting on my digital shelf, essentially. I haven't read it until recently. And so there were so many takeaways from me from a business that's doing good in the world and that has really nice business practices. I think one of the standout things for me was when Jason talks about his clients and he says they don't have any one big client, and therefore they don't have to bend over backwards. They don't have to make changes on the demands of having one giant client. They're targeting SMEs.

Aoife O'Brien [00:06:47]:

And because they're targeting SMEs, the way they approach it is it's a fixed price for everyone, essentially. So just because you're working from a larger organization doesn't mean that you necessarily have to pay more so that they can't make the demands on the business that Jason doesn't want to meet, essentially. So I really loved that point from it. There were loads of challenges to the way we normally think about business. So he talked about not having five year goals or not doing those kind of five year plans. No quarterly targets, because quarterly targets encourage dodgy business practices. And one of the examples he shared was making it harder for customers to get refunds. Another really interesting insight was about decision making.

Aoife O'Brien [00:07:37]:

And again, I think we can all relate to this. I absolutely hate decision by committee when I have pitched for doing jobs. For example, one of the excuses that I've had a couple of times is that the committee decided that it wasn't the right thing to do. And for me, one person needs to be responsible for making that decision. And this is something that, again, Jason talks about in the book. So one person responsible for making that decision, they are trusted to make that decision. Other people may disagree, but they have to commit to that decision because the person has made that. Avoid a decision by consensus or committee where you have to convince others of your stance.

Aoife O'Brien [00:08:19]:

That is his approach to it. Absolutely love that. He also encourages us to separate what matters. So know what the difference between excellent and good enough is and the things that you need to be excellent at. Be really excellent at those things. So one of the examples, again, that he shared was client work. So it's not about putting shit work out there. But know when it's important to be excellent, it's a waste of energy trying to get great at everything.

Aoife O'Brien [00:08:49]:

Say no. Eliminate work that doesn't need to be done. Commit to what you're doing. Don't get distracted by shiny objects. And this is something I think I need to employ in my own business, in my own thinking as well. I can often get distracted by shiny object syndrome. And not focusing on the core of what my business is actually doing. A way that I love how he explained that is no is no to one thing and yes is no to a thousand things.

Aoife O'Brien [00:09:17]:

So think about what you're saying yes to. What does that mean that you're essentially saying no to? He talked also about promises at work and when we make promises, and I can absolutely relate to this having come from that corporate environment where we had a business development team and they would make all sorts of promises to the client. But the difference there was that they had to deal with that client for the first six months that they were part of the business, so they couldn't make promises that they couldn't themselves as a team deliver on. So I know it's often the case that a sales team will make all sorts of promises, then it gets moved over to client delivery and they may not be able to necessarily deliver on what has been promised. So having a think about how those teams work together and not making promises that you can't deliver on, that is it for the two books that I wanted to share with you today. I really hope you enjoyed those. What I did forget to mention at the start was I do have a part of my website called IFA's Reading List where I haven't updated in a while. But by the time this episode goes out there and here's my accountability, by the time this episode is aired, I will have updated that section with some of the more recent books that I've read.

Aoife O'Brien [00:10:41]:

If you like this format of the episode of me sharing books that I think are relevant for career and culture, for you to manage your career, for you to think about your workplace culture, I would absolutely love to know that you like this format because I love reading. I read about 52 books a year, that's one a week. I love reading and I take notes anyway from all of the books that I read and I love sharing the knowledge that I learned from the books. For me, the difference is implementing. So I'm not reading for the sake of reading. I'm reading so that I can implement what I'm learning from those book as well. And that's what I hope to do through sharing my knowledge about them through IFA's Reading List, but also by talking to people about the books that I'm reading and what are the actions that I'm taking as a result of listening or reading those books as well. Because I do listen as well on audio, which helps me to read more books every year.

Aoife O'Brien [00:11:39]:

And lastly, before I wrap things up, one of the changes to the podcast that's coming down the line is a bigger focus on, as I've mentioned already in this episode, career and Culture. So honing it down to really focus on individuals. How do you manage your career more strategically, and then for leaders or for anyone who wants to get involved in driving a better and happier workplace culture, really honing the focus into those two specific areas. This also ties in with another growing part of my business, which is the Happier at Work HQ platform. If you're interested in learning more about that and using the Happier at Work framework to either strategically manage your career or to drive a happier working environment, do feel free to reach out to me directly. All of my links are below in the Show Notes. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or email me directly IFA that's Aoife at Happier at Work ie. As always, if you want to continue the conversation, I post about the podcast episodes regularly on Instagram and LinkedIn in particular, and I'd love to know what you thought of today's episode.

Aoife O'Brien [00:12:56]:

Any thoughts that you would like to share, any actions that you're going to take, or let me know if you go out and read those books as well. Bye.