#1 Sunday Studio: A Weekly Retreat
books/ideas/things to try/exploring/research insights
Welcome to the first week of the Sunday Studio.
In a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912, Franz Kafka wrote "time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers."
The Sunday Studio is designed to be a weekly retreat from thoughts of the work week ahead. Curl up with your favourite drink in your favourite spot to explore short insights, interesting research snapshots, ideas, and inspiration on reimagining work and life (or just the week ahead), as well as a collection of things to read, listen to, and try.
WHERE DO YOU WORK FROM WHEN YOU AREN’T IN THE OFFICE? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS
The trendy new term for being in the office is “work from work”. Our new landscape of distributed work offers a plethora of possibilities as to where we can work from. There are coworking groups who work from The Met in New York, the outside work movement, libraries, cafes, and of course our homes.
Some interesting new research gives us an insight into exactly where people are working from outside of the office. I was struck by the nearly 20% difference in responses between males and females when it came to choosing home over another space. I’d love to hear in the comments about the different spaces and places you work from outside of the office.
LISTEN
The right to disconnect and tips on how to switch off from work
There are growing calls in Australia for the right to disconnect, meaning that employees are not required to monitor, read, or respond to communications from their employer outside their work hours. France, Italy, Portugal, and Ireland have already written similar principles into workplace law. This week I joined ABC Gold Coast’s morning show to chat with Sally Rope about why switching off from work can be so difficult (especially working from home), the role of autonomy, and some tips to help.
Listen here:
The Floorplan - A Podcast about the Future of Work
Episode 2 on Cult Cultures is out now. Matt Webber and I Matt Webber take a look at the hit-and-miss - or hit and myth? - of cult workplaces. What does the research say about how we can create positive company cultures that don’t feel like frat week?
Also, I talk to management consultant Priyal Sodha who lifts the lid on the 'culture of overwork' and what made her throw in the big-firm consulting towel for life as a digital nomad long before the pandemic made it trendy.
Listen here.
NEW RESEARCH ON WHAT MAKES US HAPPIER (AND A BETTER LEADER)
Following on from the discussion about switching off, a new study in one of the world’s leading academic journals has offered an important insight into how it influences not just our mood the next day, but also how effective we are as leaders.
Using the lens of conservation of resources and emotional contagion theories, the newly published study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that when leaders engage in pleasurable evening recovery activities, their next day mood was significantly better resulting in increases in follower task performance and creativity.
So whether it’s taking a pleasurable evening stroll, enjoying that glass of wine (or chocolate), a Wim Hof cold plunge, hot yoga, or (add yours here), science has given us permission to stop ticking off the to-do list and scrolling emails and pursue pleasure when we finish our work day.
I’m feeling inspired to create a more interesting out-of-hours email, “Your email has reached me outside of my usual work hours. Using evidence-backed strategies to make me a better leader, I’m currently engaging in pleasurable activities and may not see your email until tomorrow.”
EXPERIENCE
I’m completely in love with The Opu.list with the tagline The Vibe Concierge. After many years working in drab grey offices and white melamine cubicles, a site where I can select spaces based on their design and vibe sounds like a dream.
The site helps you find the most aesthetic restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and hotels in your city of choice. The perfect place to find the perfect place to work from outside of the office.
Currently, I’m dreaming of being creative from this hotel in Palm Springs:
and here in LA:
READ
No skill in life is more important than learning from failure—and no one on earth knows more about it than Amy Edmondson. Drawing on her eye-opening evidence and rich practical experience, she offers a wealth of insight on how to take intelligent risks and bounce forward after setbacks.
REVISTA
Churning and burning employees in the “you are easily replaceable” mindset is not viable. In 2021 Amazon lost a quarter of its annual profits to employee turnover. Only one out of three hires stayed more than three months, costing Amazon more than eight billion dollars in attrition according to internal documents seen by Engadget. Amazon is in danger of running out of new people to hire in several major U.S. cities in documents published by Recode.
The August/September edition of my long-form quarterly magazine Revista, highlights research and case studies where the old models of business have sharply dropped away, the problem with productivity as a metric for business today, and how we can use liminal space to create opportunities for genuine change. And we cover what all this means for the office of the future and our cities.
This quarter’s Revista is 43 pages of new ideas and inspiration. Access it here.
EVENTS
I’ll be speaking at the Rework APAC Summit in Sydney on 12 September, chairing the panel Workplace Revolution: Leaders are you ready? I’ll be joined by some leading thinkers including Graeme Scanell, Head of Workplace Experience at MYOB. I’d love to see you there!
INSPIRATION AND SMALL CHANGES TO MAKE MONDAY BETTER
(AND HAVE A WEEK NOT LIKE KAFKA’S LETTER)
Thanks for reading and for being here. I hope you enjoyed the first of the Sunday Studio! Feel free to share anything you are enjoying or any changes you’d like to make to your work/life this week below.
Libby x