Episodes

The Power of Appreciation In this episode, I share my personal stories to illustrate the importance of appreciation and recognition in the workplace and how easy it is to get it wrong even with the best of intentions. I also talk about why some of the common practices of employee appreciation are ineffective and how we can do better. Key Takeaways Appreciation goes deeper than just saying thank you or giving a gift. It's about making people feel seen, valued, and respected for who they are an...

The Four Day Work Week In this episode, Nola Simon shares her personal stories about the benefits of working a four day work week. She talks about how her husband's experience with a flexible and creative job at a pattern making shop in Toronto inspired her to challenge the conventional narratives about work and productivity. She also reflects on how having an extra day off every week improved their quality of life and relationship. Key Takeaways A four day work week can be a viable option fo...

Episode Summary: In this episode, I share my personal experience and insights on how to manage up effectively in a hybrid remote work setting. I explain what managing up means, why it is important, and how it can benefit both you and your manager. I also give some practical examples of how I managed up with my manager who had never worked from home before, and how I advocated for the needs and challenges of remote workers in team and divisional meetings. If you want to learn how to collaborate ...

Coffee Badging: A Trend in Hybrid Workplaces In the world of hybrid work, a curious phenomenon has emerged: coffee badging. It's not about java aficionados collecting stamps on their loyalty cards; rather, it's a sly workaround for employees who are less than thrilled about returning to the office. Here's the scoop: Coffee badging involves employees showing up at the workplace just long enough to swipe their building ID, grab a cup of coffee, exchange pleasantries, and then promptly head home—...

I first connected with Gavin because I noticed he was born in Keswick, UK. I live in Keswick, Ontario, Canada. They are spelled the same but pronounced differently. This is known as affinity bias - I notice something about you that is similar to my own experience. It's a tiny story that connects. Gavin and I both love the power of storytelling. It's essential for the future of work and key to distributed work (hybrid/remote). I'd go as far as to say it's the future of leadership. Join us to u...

I first connected with Gavin because I noticed he was born in Keswick, UK. I live in Keswick, Ontario, Canada. They are spelled the same but pronounced differently. This is known as affinity bias - I notice something about you that is similar to my own experience. It's a tiny story that connects. Gavin and I both love the power of storytelling. It's essential for the future of work and key to distributed work (hybrid/remote). I'd go as far as to say it's the future of leadership. Join us to u...

Just the facts.....as one of my prior guests told me "Get to the point". Thanks John Espiran. Here's the full newsletter that inspired this commentary: Details of The Flexible Path Community Here's the link to join: The Flexible Path (mn.co) Purpose: We bring together individuals embracing distributed work and advocates for hybrid/remote work to support one another in navigating the challenges and harnessing the benefits, so that we can inspire a new way of working that promotes flexibility, ...

I've never had a guest write their own episode post so I decided to use it as shownotes. Richard Bukowski is a foresight facilitator and one of my futurist buddies. Check out his Linkedin and website: (1) Richard Bukowski | LinkedIn Richard Bukowski.com https://open.substack.com/pub/richardbukowski/p/help-ill-be-so-old-in-10-years-please?r=ehqlp&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post I'm excited to announce I'll be appearing as a guest on the Hybrid/Remote Centre of Excellence podcast this Thursday...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode The week of American Thanksgiving is often a peak time for layoffs. It happened to me too - 3 years ago I was told my role was being restructured. Effectively it was a constructive dismissal. Best thing I did in the month before I was told about the restructuring? My performance review. This week, I'll tell you how to use a performance review strategically. It's a legal document with a lot of negotiating power that...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode This week, I happened to notice an article published by someone who does similar work as me. He recommended tying hybrid/remote or work from home (whatever version of distributed work the company offers) to performance metrics. I have several issues with this approach as I've had to live with this type of policy. I broke my foot and ended up on leave, had a massive car accident which also required a medical leave, 2 de...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode Sweta Regmi and I met on Twitter and have been trading media referrals and recommendations. One day she posted a series of tweets and tagged 2 banks and several high profile journalists and media outlets: "Verbal communication ratings how you evaluate for accent, ESL, immigrants, international students, speech, language barrier, neurodiverse folks etc who is a auditing AI tool?" "Media needs to cover AI one way video i...

If you listen to many episodes of my podcast, you'll note that I keep the intro really short. I'd rather focus on the guest and the ideas as well as any takeaways we can highlight. Same with the outros. I might ask you to rate and review the podcast on your favourite player. I might mention my website www.nolasimon.com or ask you to check me out on LinkedIn but I've never really done a full blown ad for my consulting business Nola Simon Advisory. I don't have a sponsor - I fully fund the podcas...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode When I read Bragging Rights by Lisa Bragg, I knew I wanted to bring her on the podcast because her work validates the approach I've taken to self-promotion for years. She has the research to back it up - check out how she brags about having the largest research study. It's a masterclass in owning your story. Bragging is a good thing. It's a form of self-advocacy and no one knows your stories and your successes like you...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode Ever wonder if book blurbs are worthwhile? A blurb is how I found David Burkus. My coach is Kerri Twigg and she has also been a guest on the show. When she published her book, she asked David Burkus to write a blurb. 2 years later, he's a guest on the podcast. I also volunteered to be a beta reader for his new book Best Team Ever! I didn't manage to give him much useful feedback due to my schedule so the least I can do...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode Ever wonder if book blurbs are worthwhile? A blurb is how I found David Burkus. My coach is Kerri Twigg and she has also been a guest on the show. When she published her book, she asked David Burkus to write a blurb. 2 years later, he's a guest on the podcast. I also volunteered to be a beta reader for his new book Best Team Ever! I didn't manage to give him much useful feedback due to my schedule so the least I can do...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode Today's podcasting experiment is repurposing a LinkedIn Live I did with Gillian Whitney and publishing the audio on my podcast. Kudos to Gillian for her generosity - she's been a guest on the podcast before. She tells me I have a standing invite to be on her show any time and the feeling is mutual. Join Nola Simon & Gillian Whitney for an engaging chat about: Ghosts, Hallucinations & Other Scary Trust Leaps in Using AI...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode Karen Eber and I share an odd thing in common. We both have different coloured eyes. It's called heterochromia. Mine is caused by Waardenburg Syndrome - Karen's may or may not be related to eating green crayons. (Check out the cover of her book and the first story she tells - you'll understand). On Twitter one day, we exchanged stories about people's reactions to our eyes. "Did you know your eyes are different colours...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode When Anna Burgess Yang wrote about starting a new series called Perspectives, encouraging people to share their experiences of work so we can learn from them and create better and healthier workplaces in the future, I volunteered to be interviewed. Anna is a writer as well as an automation expert and I adore her work. We came up with the idea that she would write the article but I would interview her for the podcast an...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode Mitch Weisburgh is the founder of Academic Business Advisors, a company that helps organizations create educational products that prepare kids for the future. Most of the time when I speak to Mitch it's as part of my futurist buddy group. We rarely spend time on titles - we are too busy talking ideas. Our conversations are far reaching, imaginative and often surprising. Mitch actually made my jaw drop during this episo...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode If you've got a concern about errors and inaccuracies in AI output, how do you address it? To my knowledge, there is not yet a solution for AI hallucinations. I recently wrote a newsletter on LinkedIn and Substack about my concerns about inaccuracies and pure fantasy I discovered using Bing powered by ChatGPT-4. This is a verbal analysis of my thought process of why I wanted to pursue this question. I'm including the...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode "Better branded people get better jobs." - Cher Jones I first discovered the power of personal branding when I tried to move internally at the company I worked for 17.5 years. I worked in the US division for 16 years and I wanted to move to the Canadian division to make sure that my work experience was relevant in Canada. It was like I had moved to Boston for 16 years - the Canadian division kept declining me because th...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode "Better branded people get better jobs." - Cher Jones I first discovered the power of personal branding when I tried to move internally at the company I worked for 17.5 years. I worked in the US division for 16 years and I wanted to move to the Canadian division to make sure that my work experience was relevant in Canada. It was like I had moved to Boston for 16 years - the Canadian division kept declining me because t...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode Linkedin recently announced it will remove the location field from the individual profiles and I found the reaction fascinating. I have lived in a location most of my life that has been more of a barrier to my career than it's been a boon so I liked this announcement. People discriminate and exclude you when they find out how far away from the city you live. I've lived this all my life Today's question:. What if we re...

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to listen to the emotions. RTO is happening right now but it won't always feel the same or be the same. It's failed at least 5 times already. What would you love to see happen in the future? Sure it feels like two steps back right now but what can you achieve by strategically negotiating and adapting now in exchange for a future that looks closer to your ideal? What will t...