the subordinate is IN

Most of us have experienced it at some point in our careers: the "honeymoon." That first 6 months or so of relative bliss at any new job. So how might it contribute to our eventual disillusionment with our own managers, and/or the workplace more generally..?

In this episode, my co-host and I again express sympathy for managers—especially frontline managers. We also discuss  why managers are often threatened by employees who excel, how management by loerarchy resolves the “advisor-evaluator” paradox (the topic of the previous episode), and why in a hierarchy, you only need to fool one person some of the time...

Subtitled “Sympathy for the manager,” in this episode my co-host and I discuss the absolute impossibility of being both an advisor to, and evaluator of, your employees. And yet all managers are tasked with, and expected to execute on these inherently paradoxical responsibilities...

In this episode, my co-host and I engage in another candid discussion about all things work-related. We offer a few additional thoughts on the concept of “team”, agree that you get what you reward, and imagine what it might mean to tie employee compensation to organizational performance...

Have you always thought that teamwork and a sense of team are critical to the success of any for-profit business? In this episode, my co-host and I argue that neither of these concepts are as important as you might think... 

In this episode, my co-host and I discuss all things work-related in another free-flowing jam session. Topics include the differences between the for-profit enterprise and other types of organizations , why management by loerarchy is an “11”, and Adam Smith and the division of labor...

In this episode, my co-host and I again discuss a variety of work-related subjects (and “loerarchy”) in another free-flowing and candid "jam session." This includes the difficulties involved overturning deeply entrenched ideas about capitalism, the nature of self-interest, and the mentality that the “customer is always right” vs. “let the buyer beware”...

In a previous episode, my co-host and I argued that managers are more effective—and their organizations are more profitable­—when they behave as if their employees are in charge of them, not the other way around. In this episode week, we explain why that works: Your employees actually are in charge...

In this episode, my co-host and I engage in another free-flowing discussion about “loerarchy” and all things work-related: Why good managers don’t always thrive—and are sometimes punished—for doing their job well, and why doing what you need to do to get ahead may involve ignoring your own humanity...

As a manager, you probably think you’re “the boss,” right? Well, in this week’s episode, my co-host and I explain why good management is actually the other way around. It involves thinking, functioning, and behaving as if your employees are in charge of you...

In this episode, my co-host and I engage in another free-flowing discussion about “loerarchy” and all things work-related – including the difference between a  descriptive versus a prescriptive theory, and whether or not sun revolves around the earth...

In this episode, my co-host and I talk why people aren’t “cogs” - and why if you're a manager, and you decide to treat your employees like they are, that’s precisely what you'll get...

In this episode—the first of our more free-flowing “Jam Sessions”—my co-host and I talk about last week’s episode, good management, and what I refer to as “management by loerarchy”...

In this first episode of season one of "the subordinate is IN", my co-host and I take a critical look at the so-called "advice" offered by mainstream management advice books, and why they may not be worth the time spent reading one...

As an introduction to this first season, a little about what the show is, and what I and my cohost are not...