RE-IGNITED, The Intrinsic Labs Podcast

How have we allowed the motivation of our doctors and nurses to plummet like this? The pandemic has taught us that health matters most. And yet we undermine the professionalism of these key people, by not trusting them as we should. There is a ray of rope. In the UK Matt Hancock today announced changes to reduce the NHS bureaucratisation that has been so damaging for staff morale. And new opportunities emerge in the US. But we'll need to go faster and deeper to treat the motivational cancer that's spread across our health systems. We need to start with re-thinking how new doctors are trained, motivated and nurtured. In the Intrinsic Labs podcast, I'm talking to Dr Adina Kalet, Director of the Robert D and Patricia E Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education. She's one of the leading thinkers and practitioners in medical education today. It's a fascinating discussion that gets to the heart of what it really means to be a doctor or physician today - and what means for that fundamental relationship with the patient. 

We face so many "Wicked" problems in our world today, from inequality to racial injustice to climate change.  Can Philanthropy really provide the precious "R&D" that fuels the solutions to these problems? Kris Putnam-Walkerly - Sharath's guest on this episode - truly believes it can.  But in order to do so, she tells Sharath, Philanthropy needs to transform itself first.  Kris is a leading thinker and author on Philanthropy today. In this episode she discusses what is really motivating many Philanthropists - versus what should be really motivating them if they truly want to solve our most "Wicked" problems.  This is a wide ranging discussion that uses motivation thinking to examine one of the most important sectors in our world today. 

Leading social entrepreneur Roshan Paul has only had 2 jobs in his 20 year career, something incredibly unique given the rise in job-hopping in recent times. Roshan says the secret to this is very simple - he is completely in love with what he does.  In this episode, Roshan discusses how he found his Purpose along the course of his career, why this is important for everyone to discover and what  universities and individuals can do to both find their intrinsic motivation and nourish it to create fulfilling, impactful careers.  Our conversation spans from how universities can tailor their curriculum to make assignments more practical to why people should consciously reflect on what they've learned at work each week and key advice for new graduates starting off their careers. 

Maintaining Purpose in our careers is fundamental, even though it has been more challenging given the move to remote teams and working from home in the past year. As we undergo this transformation at work, we ask how we can set the right GPS for our career journeys to keep a sense of Purpose as our driving force. In this episode, we talk to leading social entrepreneur Roshan Paul - founder of the Amani Institute.  In this trailer, Roshan outlines why developing a desire for lifelong learning is critical to us leading fulfilling lives both within the world of work and beyond. 

Office politics is often our biggest source of demotivation at work.  It causes stress, anxiety and even derails promising careers. For a significant period of time, we have viewed office politics in a purely negative light and tried to steer clear of it.  However, office politics is something we cannot avoid. What we can do is re-think work politics to build effective, supportive human relationships that are core to our work - creating healthier organisational cultures driven by our shared purpose.  In this episode, Sharath talks to Niven Postma, a leading thinker on office politics and author of 'If you don't do politics, politics will do you: A Guide to Navigating Office Politics'. Drawing on her 20 years of experience, Niven gives an insight into how to use politics to advance your career, benefit your team and build the organisation you are part of. It's a really interesting discussion that offers a range of practical insights and reframes office politics, seeing it as a natural part of our working lives and even a source of positive motivation.

What a challenging year 2020 has already been due to Covid-19, and we aren't even through the pandemic yet! Similarly we're finding that in many professions - from entrepreneurship to the creative arts - staying resilient on the long course of a career is ever more important.  Resilience is the name of the game these days, and it links closely to the challenge of sustaining our inner-drive (or intrinsic motivation). In this episode Sharath talks to resilience expert and bestselling leadership author Jo Owen, on how we can keep going through challenging times.  The episode is packed with wide-ranging practical insights and tips on how we can keep ourselves going in these challenging times, both in our work lives and in our lives overall. 

Keeping ourselves resilient and motivated when setbacks hit us is so important - and so difficult. What's the secret to doing so? In this episode we talk to leadership writer Jo Owen, author of a recent bestselling book on resilience. In this trailer Jo outlines the critical role of remembering and explicitly articulating our ultimate Purpose in anything we do.  He finds this is a key way to maintain our resilience, and sustain our intrinsic motivation along the way.

Keeping ourselves resilient and motivated when setbacks hit us is so important - and so difficult.  What's the secret to doing so? In this episode we talk to leadership writer Jo Owen, author of a recent bestselling book on resilience.  In this trailer Jo outlines the critical role of leaders in setting the conditions for us to stay motivated and resilient. 

In this episode we talk to Jennifer Jordan, Professor of Leadership at IMD Business School, about the core tensions of leaderships and the critical tensions we all need to navigate to be successful leaders.  At its core, Jennifer argues, leadership is a fine balancing act.  Intrinsic Motivation - Purpose, Autonomy and Mastery - can help us as leaders to navigate this balance and keep us from falling off on either side.  We talk through these tensions and highlight the role motivation can play in each, for all of us but also particularly for female leaders.  Finally, we discuss the idea of "followership" and what it means to be a motivated but effective and questioning follower. This is not just in organisations and companies, but also in the challenging context of our politics in so many of our countries today. 

This episode is about how we can role model the key elements of intrinsic motivation in our roles as leaders (and followers).  We talk with Jennifer Jordan, Professor of Leadership and Organisational Behaviour at leading business school IMD.  In this trailer Jennifer candidly shares some of the constraints that working mothers face in the development of Mastery at Work. 

In this episode Sharath talks to leadership expert Selena Rezvani about what it would take for our work cultures to become more inclusive - for groups like women, minorities and millennials to start, but ultimately for everyone. In this far reaching discussion we talk about everything from Corporate America's response to the Black Lives Matter movement, to how millennials might want to think differently about 'job hopping'.  Across all of the conversation is a core theme: Selena thinks we should "settle less" and "self-advocate" more in the world of modern Work.  While this need for self-advocacy may start with particular groups like women, minorities and millennials, it has the power to boost Autonomy - and intrinsic motivation - for us all.  We also discuss how developing the "smart essentials" of Mastery in modern Work is so dependent on "stretch opportunities". And how a fairer and more transparent system for allocating these can help nurture the talents of us all - rather than just a few - in the workplace.  An inclusive work culture can improve motivation at work for us all.  In this wide-ranging episode we talk with Selena about some powerful ideas on how. 

In this episode Sharath talks to leadership and work culture expert Selena Rezvani about what it would take for our work cultures to become more inclusive - for groups like women, minorities and millennials to start, but ultimately for everyone. In this 35 second trailer, Selena calls for "settling less" at Work and self-advocating more. It's a powerful tool for unlocking our motivation and Autonomy at Work. 

In this episode Sharath talks to leadership and work culture expert Selena Rezvani about what it would take for our work cultures to become more inclusive - for groups like women, minorities and millennials to start, but ultimately for everyone.  In this 45 second trailer, Selena provides her honest assessment of how Corporate America has responded to the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Can we move Diversity from a "check-box" exercise, to a means of unlocking intrinsic motivation for us all? Can Diversity enable our organisations to be more agile, resilient and distinctive in increasingly competitive sectors and marketplaces? Can we move from purely Gender and Ethnic Diversity - important as both are - to also incorporate Cognitive and Skills Diversity? These are the key questions we discuss in this wide-ranging episode. In this episode Sharath talks to Cynthia Hansen, the Head of The Adecco Group Foundation.  Cynthia is a global thought-leader in the areas of Diversity, Inclusion and the The Future of Work.   The Adecco Group is one of the world's leading HR solutions companies, and places hundreds of thousands of people into new jobs everyday.  It's a wide-ranging discussion that encourages us to think differently about one of of our most critical issues today. 

So many employers around the world are delaying the return of their employees to physical offices, or even re-thinking whether they need physical offices at all.  Will this have a long term negative motivational impact on us all as employees - and on our work-forces and societies? That’s the billion (and in the case of companies like Apple, 2 trillion) dollar question for us all.    If if does reduce motivation and engagement, will this erode trust further between employers and employees - and accelerate the trends towards AI and Automation that are already taking place?    Or is there a silver lining:  that this will enable us to achieve a truly  "Work from Anywhere" World - which boosts all of our long-term motivation as individuals? Delighted to launch Intrinsic Labs’ first ever podcast series, focused on re-igniting intrinsic motivation in the different facets of our lives.  The first episode centres on whether and how we can maintain our inner-drive in a remote working word - and asks whether this is a first step towards a more uplifting ‘Work From Anywhere’ World.   My first guest: Professor Prithwiraj Choudhury of Harvard Business School. He’s one of the world’s leading experts on this topic.   The answer to this motivational question  matters so much to the future of work. And to all of us as employees and employers. Enjoy listening.