Bruce Daisley is the author of the Sunday Times best seller The Joy of Work, host of the number 1 business podcast eat sleep work repeat, a workplace culture expert and an award-winning speaker. He used to be the most senior employee at Twitter outside NA. He worked at Google where he ran YouTube in the UK.

I wanted to talk to him because I like the work he does and his takes on workplace culture and also because I was interested in his journey from media and Big Tech to what he does now. 

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Bruce where he shares insights into what makes a high-enjoyment and high-performance work culture. You will also hear about his transition, writing a book and launching a podcast while having a high-profile role in a fast-paced organisation like Twitter.

SHOW NOTES

[00:03:20 ] How come big tech companies still don't know how to adapt to a hybrid approach to work 

[00:04:48 ] You can never "nail" the culture in a company 

[00:05:14 ] Leaders embody what's acceptable and what's not acceptable in a business. They create the identity of the team and the critical sense of "us". 

[00:06:28 ] The missteps Uber took in building their culture was may have been the reason they have been so successful 

[00:09:00 ] The myopia of feeling like you have a good culture because it fits you

[00:09:16 ] How the work hard play hard cultures can be exclusionary

[00:10:56 ] How he tried to create an environment where people would say this was their favorite job 

[00:12:21 ] How understanding what makes cultures tick became his obsession

[00:12:47 ] How he became a popular podcast host and came to write a book on culture 

[00:13:13 ] What made him jump from top job in Big Tech to become a podcaster, writer, consultant

[00:15:08 ] What are the symptoms and causes of burnout?

[00:17:16 ] Our fear system operates in direct opposition to creativity

[00:19:39 ] How the tyranny of email and meetings prevents organisations to tap into the creative power of their people

[00:21:10 ] Why many companies are looking at their middle-management to create differentiation in a world where hybrid is the norm 

[00:22:27 ] Calling out the important part of luck in making his career a success

[00:23:23 ] What his experiences as a barman and working in fast fod restaurant taught him about the workplace 

[00:24:32 ] How he created a "student union bar" culture within the prevalent "consultant" culture at Google

[00:26:47 ] How fun became a way for him to make time pass by faster in his low-paid jobs

[00:27:50 ] How to make playfulness the driver for high-performance

[00:29:47 ] How laughter can be a powerful coping mechanism to deal with great difficulty

[00:30:40 ] How your sense of connection to your team and the strength of your support network helps you deal with trauma 

[00:32:49 ] How growth mindset is a charming theory but not backed up by research 

[00:34:21 ] How a sense of togetherness generates resilience, like in Ukraine now 

[00:36:55 ] How companies can promote a sense of connection by creating a diverse set of communities 

[00:39:15 ] What's been most rewarding on his journey? Regular moments of laughter

[00:41:08 ] What's been most challenging on your journey? Bad and new bosses.