Podcast
What Works
Hosted by Tara McMullin · EN
Work is central to the human experience. It helps us shape our identities, care for those we love, and contribute to our communities. Work can be a source of power and a catalyst for change. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us experience work—even those who work for themselves. Our labor and creative spirit are used to enrich others and maintain the status quo. It's time for an intervention. What Works is a show about rethinking work, business, and leadership for the 21st-century economy. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's working (and what's not) today. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to deep-dive analysis of how we work and how work shapes us.
30episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
How I Learn a New Skill
Feb 1900:24:04Tap to summarizeSo a couple of weeks ago, I downloaded Final Cut Pro and committed to learning how to use it. Despite logging hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in other video editing software, this is a big challenge. I took some time to reflect on how I make sense of learning a new skill like this—because learning new skills is an essential component of navigating the 21st-century economy.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode here.The Adult Learner by Malcolm Knowles"Apple Creator Studio is launching to take on Adobe" on The VergeRegistration for Making Sense, an 8-week workshop series on turning "Wait, what?!" moments into compelling content, is open for registration. Program starts March 24. Learn more: whatworks.fyi/makingsense ★ Support this podcast ★
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Wait... what?!
Feb 1200:09:58Tap to summarizeYou’re going along, minding your own business, and then it hits you: “Wait, what?!” Your expectation or assumption bumps against the facts. Things aren’t the way you thought they were. It’s not always a life-altering surprise. It might be something tiny—just enough of a shock to make you rethink what you thought you knew.Today, how we resolve those “Wait, what?!” moments.I’m kicking off my 8-week workshop series, Making Sense, on March 24. This program walks you through the sensemaking process and takes you step by step through applying it to a media-making project. By the end of the 8 weeks, you’ll have made significant progress on your project and have an effective process you can use over and over again to create more compelling content.Registration for Making Sense is now open. To learn more and enroll go to: whatworks.fyi/making-sense ★ Support this podcast ★
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Rethinking Higher Ed for the 21st-Century Economy with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Feb 500:54:29Tap to summarizeIt's no secret that one of my, let's say, special interests is higher education. The reasons for this are at least threefold. First, I have a kid heading off to college next year. Second, I have past regrets and future fantasies about the academy. And third, the world of work and the realm of education overlap in myriad ways.Work and education have always had a close relationship. Access to education influences access to different types of work. New forms of work influence how we organize and deliver education.I've been talking about doing an episode or a series on the intersection of higher ed and work for... years now. Today, finally, I have an initial installment in what I hope is an ongoing, if nonsequential, look at how these two pillars of modern life influence each other.Joining me to share both her professional insight and her personal journey is Dr. Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, a historian of education and the host of the American Campus Podcast.Footnotes:Read an edited transcript of this conversation.Learn more about Lauren Lassabe Shepherd.Resistance from the Right by Lauren Lassabe ShepherdThe Old is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born by Nancy Fraser"Adjunct professors deserve professional development" by Anna Conway and Thomas Tobin at Insight Higher Ed"An Army of Temps: AFT Adjunct Faculty Quality of Work/Life Report" "The Secret Lives of Adjunct Professors" by Gila Berryman at ElleJustice Lewis Power Jr. and the Powell Memo on WikipediaMore about futurist Bryan AlexanderMore about Indigenous studies scholar Sandy GrandeCheck out the American Campus Podcast:Mentioned in the Episode:"The peak and decline of US higher ed with Bryan Alexander""How to get a job at Harvard in 1860 with prabhdeep kehal"A few personal favorites:"Christianity, manhood, and college football with Hunter M. Hampton""The college bookstore racket with Katya Schwenk""The history of federal student loans with Elizabeth Tandy Shermer" (00:00) - Rethinking Higher Ed for the 21st-Century Economy with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd (00:03) - Cold Open (00:42) - Intro (53:31) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
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Grieving The Future Self
Jan 2900:13:11Tap to summarizeA brief meditation on grief at the loss of one's future self and how often that loss passes unacknowledged.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode.“10:00 am” (Season 1, Episode 4) The Pitt on HBO“Ho’oponopono” on WikipediaUnlearning with Hannah Arendt by Marie Luise KnottThe Human Condition by Hannah ArendtMore from Tara:Blank Slate is a guide to rethinking your business for sustainability.Making Sense is an 8-workshop on creating compelling media through sensemaking. New cohort starts March 24. Registration opens on February 12. Learn more! ★ Support this podcast ★
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Circling Back
Jan 2200:21:14Tap to summarizeHow often do you revisit old work? Do you have systems for circling back to what you've created in the past to see how you could improve upon it or take it in a new direction? In this episode, I consider the practice of circling back through Mckenzie Wark's theory of "hacking." And I explain why my latest project, Blank Slate, is a hack and how it came to be.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode.Learn more about rethinking your small business status quo with Blank Slate."Broken Links" by Tara McMullin on What WorksCapital Is Dead: Is This Something Worse? by Mckenzie WarkHow to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell"Make Something Heavy." by Anu AtluruCasey Newton on The Vergecast (31:50) explaining his creative system ★ Support this podcast ★
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Making Intelligence Masculine Again
Jan 1500:29:48Tap to summarizeI've had all the various parts of this episode swirling in my head for months—from The Paperclip Maximizer to The Great Feminization to Meta's Masculine Energy to mind-body dualism to the AI industry's role in what I propose is The Great Re-Masculinization. It is absolutely about both the present and the future of work, and whether we accept the inevitability of regressing to an imagined past or forge into a more dynamic, multi-dimensional workplace that values the contribution of all sorts of intelligence.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode"The Great Feminization" by Helen Andrews in Compact Magazine"Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?" on Interesting Times with Ross Douthat (gift link)"Why does Mark Zuckerberg want more masculine energy in the corporate world? Patriarchy is still in charge" by Ashley Morgan on The ConversationArtificial Knowing by Alison AdamMark Zuckerberg's comments on free expression"GPT-5 has lost what makes GPT-4 so special... Its ability to feel emotional nuance with users" post by alan1cooldude"Did Women Ruin Everything?" on In Bed With The Right (00:00) - Rage Bait Strikes Again (02:24) - The Great Feminization (05:44) - Exploring the Great Feminization (08:49) - Mark Zuckerberg and Masculine Energy (11:36) - AI & The Great Re-Masculinization (17:02) - Mind-Body Dualism (20:37) - The Backlash (26:17) - Conclusion: Embracing a Balanced Intelligence ★ Support this podcast ★
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What Else Must Be True?
Jan 800:23:07Tap to summarizeHave a big decision on your mind? Trying to choose between a bunch of good options?Today, I'm talking about decision-making… not so much how to choose, but the context of our choices. No decision gets made in a vacuum. Choices are always framed by circumstances, relationships, emotions, fears, and desires.The good news is that deepening our self-knowledge can be a great way to illuminate the context of our choices and point us in a productive direction. So I'm sharing an exercise from my new guide, Blank Slate, to unlock some of that self-knowledge as you head into the new year.Blank Slate officially launches on January 15, but you can pre-order today at an early bird price! Learn more here.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode.Clues By Sam"Delightful Misdirection (Or, How to Rethink Your Options)" at What Works"Honeydew" at What Works (00:00) - Puzzles (02:02) - The Challenge of Making Decisions (05:23) - The Important of Self-Knowledge (07:07) - Needs & Priorities: An Excerpt from Blank Slate (09:11) - Business Strategy Is Like Algebra? (14:21) - Exercise: Needs & Priorities (20:12) - One More Thing ★ Support this podcast ★
Transcribe →Getting My $#*! Together: A Messy Review of 2025
Dec 400:51:33Tap to summarizeHere we are at the tail end of 2025. I just "opened" my Spotify Unwrapped... And after 3 years of burnout recovery, I’m finally ready to figure out what getting my shit together in the shadow of everything I’ve learned about myself and my needs in the last five years is going to look like.It’s tempting to assume that getting one’s shit together is a forward-looking pursuit. You know, “Here are all the things I’m going to do.” But, in my opinion, an important part of getting one’s shit together is taking stock of said shit. And so this episode is a step in that direction. I enlisted my husband, Sean, to do a bit of a year-end review. This review is in no way comprehensive. It’s a wee bit stilted. And if it sounds a little forced, it is—because getting your shit together takes doing some things that you’re out of practice with.This episode is simply an exercise in remembering. It’s that first awkward practice that you just have to get through at the beginning of a new season. Getting my shit together is very much a work in progress, not a grand announcement of some new project or direction for my work. Maybe that will come. Maybe it won’t. My main objective is to feel like I’m steering the ship again.Heads up: this will be my final new episode of 2025. I'll be back on January 8 with fresh ideas, stories, and ways to rethink work.This episode contains repeated uses of the word "shit," so if that's something you'd prefer not to hear. Skip this one!Footnotes:YellowHouse.Media (the podcast & video production agency that Sean and I run)Waxwing BooksRemnant Population by Elizabeth MoonI Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline HarpmanThe Wall by Marlen Haushofer"No Good Art Comes From Greed" by Kelsey McKinney on DefectorAlchemised by SenLinYu (00:00) - 2025 Review (00:35) - Introduction (06:08) - Reflecting on 2025 (08:09) - What was unexpectedly fun or easy for you this year? (14:42) - What did you create this year? (19:06) - What habits or systems supported your well-being? (34:06) - What did you read, watch, or listen to that stuck with you? (45:02) - What was your favorite word this year? (46:51) - What are you looking forward to in 2026? (50:28) - Last Thing ★ Support this podcast ★
Transcribe →On Getting Attention, Encoding Messages, and Diving into the Deep End
Nov 2000:30:18Tap to summarizeHow do you get people to care about what you care about?It's a marketing question. A movement-building question. A question at the heart of the attention economy. And in one form or another, it's the question I've probably received more than any other over the last 15+ years. After all, there is no silver-bullet social media plan, no door-knocking strategy, no magical meeting agenda that produces results if the message at its heart doesn’t resonate with those receiving it.This episode is in four chapters. In the first chapter, I assure you that getting attention is actually (relatively) easy—even if few of us are willing to do what it takes. In the second chapter, I explain why paying attention is really difficult, with the help of my favorite French philosopher. In the third chapter, I've got a story about getting my teenage daughter to watch a movie explaining esoteric financial products. And in the final chapter, I'll share a little idea I've been referring to as the Swimming Pool Theory of Communication.If you care about getting others to care about what you care about (and I know you do), this one is for you. Footnotes:Reasons my husky got mad at me this weekThings that annoyed Waffles this weekThe Subversive Simone Weil by Robert ZaretskyThe Big Short (book by Michael Lewis, film directed by Adam McKay)"Encoding/Decoding" by Stuart Hall (00:00) - Introduction (03:02) - 1. Attention is Easy (07:38) - 2. Attention is Really Hard (15:33) - 3. The Big Short (24:17) - 4. The Swimming Pool Theory of Communication ★ Support this podcast ★
Transcribe →The Spectacle of Competence
Aug 1400:20:43Tap to summarize"Competence porn" is an indistinct genre of media that showcases people doing their jobs (loosely defined) exceptionally well, often using niche skills or uncommon expertise. You've no doubt seen it in documentaries, in short-form video, and even in a courtroom procedural or medical drama. What is it that's so appealing about competence porn? And why call it "porn?" And what can it tell us about what's missing from our work? This episode gets into all of that. But first, I gotta tell you about the day I became a boulderer.There are just 6 open spots in my next cohort of Making Sense! If you'd like to communicate more clearly and help others make sense of our complex and oft-confusing world, check out this 8-week interactive workshop. Get all the details and register here: makingsense.fyiFootnotes:Read the written version of this episode."My Summer of Strategic Incompetence" by Kate ManneFree Solo (2018 film)"Competence Porn is Comforting" by Rachel Ayers in ReactorLFG (2021 film)"The Uses of the Erotic" by Audre LordeTeaching to Transgress by bell hooksThe Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord (00:00) - Desperately Seeking Embodied Competence (20:00) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★
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