Why the Old Work Rules Don’t Apply Anymore

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Why the Old Work Rules Don’t Apply Anymore"

Podcast: Work with Erika Ayers Badan
Host: Erika Ayers Badan
Episode Title: Why the Old Work Rules Don’t Apply Anymore
Release Date: July 21, 2025

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Erika Ayers Badan dives into how traditional workplace expectations and management styles differ from the new realities of work, culture, and leadership. Through candid discussions with her team, Erika explores generational differences, the challenges of leading during organizational transitions, the state of delegation, and why workplace motivation needs a revamp. The episode is layered with humor, firsthand anecdotes, and real talk on what makes work both challenging and fulfilling in today’s world.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Wild Week Ahead & Event Planning (00:34–07:27)

• Team Check-in: Erika and team review their packed upcoming week—meetings with Designport, the "At Home at Work" event, Substack collaborations, product check-ins, and board meetings.
• Event Excitement & Concept:
  Erika shares a new initiative: hosting intimate women-focused conversations in people's living rooms, starting with "At Home at Work" (02:04).
• Collaborations With Influencers:
  The team debates best practices on influencer events—should you pre-arrange social media collaborations or keep things more organic?
  • Erika sides with authenticity:
    "I'm like, don't ask. It makes you look desperate [...] Let's not be inauthentic. [...] If you don't want to collab, you think our office sucks, like, alright, see you later." (06:30)

---

2. Startup Realities & Merging Cultures (11:37–15:10)

• Managing in July:
  Erika recounts her return from Portland, celebrating the design team's success and sharing her fondness for their creativity.
• The "Finance Sprint":
  She sheds light on the complex reality of integrating two companies post-Covid, dealing with outdated systems, and the anxiety/focus required to "dig out" during tough phases:
  • "We are in a difficult sprint. But I also think this is the best phase of a startup in a lot of ways...you have no choice. It's like the back against the wall moment." (14:04)
• Workplace Mood:
  A nod to the seasonal shift in workplace energy during the summer months and how mid-year reviews offer a chance to reflect and reset.

---

3. Delegation and Management Styles (15:10–22:00)

• Delegation Dilemma:
  Erika reflects on her impulse to get deep into business details, often initiating more than needed and struggling with when/how to let others take the lead.
• Cracking the Delegation Code:
  The solution, as discussed with team member Suhan, is to shift from asking "what and when" to "how and why"—empowering direct reports and trusting others to deliver.
  • Erika: "It's changing your thinking from what and when...that frees your mind up to ask how and why and to use that to evolve the business." (18:15)
• Parallels to Parenting:
  Erika draws comparisons between learning to delegate at home with teenagers and the workplace:
  • "Work is just the same [...] you have to lay out your expectations and then give people the chance to rise or fail." (19:50)

---

4. What Winning Actually Means (22:00–22:21)

• Inspired by Golf Pro Scottie Scheffler:
  Erika highlights Scheffler's comments on winning not being the true reward—it’s about the journey, the process, and personal fulfillment:
  • "It's really the journey. It's really the endeavor, the quest to get to a new place, which is ultimately what's so fulfilling." (21:58)

---

5. Generational Knowledge: Shifting Rules & Work Culture (22:21–26:55)

• Viral Video on Generational Shifts:
  The podcast features a clip about how Millennials and Gen Zs feel misled by the "old rules" of career and life—a poignant metaphor using Monopoly to illustrate generational expectations versus reality.
  • "The point of this video is to say if you're in your late 20s to early 30s and you look at that list of all the things that we got told...the game has changed. The rules are very different now." (24:20)
• Erika's Take:
  Erika validates that the rules of work and life have shifted, critiquing the lack of intergenerational empathy:
  • "The cost of living has changed, upward mobility has changed, the rules have changed, and people have changed...I don't blame Gen Z for being apathetic [...] the dream’s kind of bullshit." (25:32, 26:14)

---

6. Generational Panel: Management as a Young Leader (26:55–35:28)

Interview with Chelsea (age 26, Social Content Lead)

• First-Time Managing:
  Chelsea describes her management style—drawing lessons from past managers, focusing on open, frequent communication, and balancing support with autonomy.
• Delegation & Feedback:
  Chelsea tracks tasks and deadlines via spreadsheets, admits she hasn't had to give tough feedback yet, and attributes healthy team relations to mutual respect.
• Blurred Social Boundaries:
  Discussion shifts to the balance of friendship and professionalism at work—team members are young, camaraderie and off-hours socializing are common:
  • Chelsea: "Everyone here is my friend, whether they want to be or not." (32:37)

Erika’s Reflections on Early Management:

• Started managing people at 24–25.

• Early missteps included being too friendly with direct reports, hosting in-office wine parties—professional boundaries were sometimes overlooked.

  • Erika: "I would say most everything was a mess up. [...] my whole identity, all my friendships are wrapped up in this job." (34:00)

• Creative Cultures:
  Erika and Chelsea agree that strong intra-team bonds enable creative work but recognize the need for boundaries and shared language.

---

7. Old Phrases, New Realities: Is "Giving 110%" Outdated? (35:28–End)

• Strategery Segment:
  Erika dissects the classic workplace call for "giving 110%." She jokes that it evokes images of middle-aged men in vests and challenges whether this metric resonates with Gen Z and Millennials.
  • "I'm a big believer in the 110%. I think the best people give 190%, 3,000%. Like, insert the number here. But I think it's one of those old school corporate sayings which really doesn't probably have the resonance to a new audience at work." (35:29)
• Employees today, she argues, want internal motivation, not arbitrary effort metrics.
  • "They’re gonna decide what gets 110%. And I think the question for managers and leaders is how do you get inside of somebody and inspire them to want to go all out because they feel passionate about it?" (36:20)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Influencer Partnerships
  Erika: "Don't ask. It makes you look desperate...Let's not be inauthentic. [...] If you don't want to collab, you think our office sucks, like, all right, see you later." (06:30)

• On Startup Hardships & Urgency
  "You have no choice. It's like the back against the wall moment where you have to make a choice on how are you going to dig out of this." (14:04)

• On Delegation
  "It's changing your thinking from 'what and when'...that frees your mind up to ask 'how and why' and to use that to evolve the business." (18:15)

• On Generational Frustration
  Clip: "Boomers and older millennials got to play Monopoly for real...We were old enough that we got to see it being played...Only to do all that and then learn...They were never going to let us play anyways." (23:30–24:30)

• On Boundary Setting in Creative Teams
  Chelsea: "Everyone here is my friend, whether they want to be or not." (32:37)

• On Workplace Motivation
  Erika: "People don't want to have a boss anymore. Like, they want work, they don't want a job. And so giving 110%, I actually...I think the more people I observe in their 20s and 30s, they want that to come from within." (35:49)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:34 – 07:27 | Weekly team planning, "At Home at Work" concept, influencer debates
• 11:37 – 15:10 | Integrating teams, the finance sprint, summer mood in the office
• 15:10 – 22:00 | Reflections on delegation, management, and accountability
• 22:00 – 22:21 | The meaning of winning (inspired by Scottie Scheffler)
• 22:21 – 26:55 | Generational knowledge: workplace rules and shifting dreams
• 26:55 – 35:28 | Young manager panel: challenges, feedback, navigating social-professional boundaries
• 35:28 – End | "110%" and why old motivational phrases don’t resonate with new generations

---

Final Thoughts

Erika Ayers Badan and team paint a clear picture: the old rules—how we measure effort, connect as colleagues, and even define success—are rapidly evolving. To thrive, leaders need to foster trust, embrace generational differences, and create space for intrinsic motivation. As the episode closes, Erika invites listeners to challenge old tropes and help build a new playbook fit for today’s work reality.

Transcript

[A]

Lemonade. Hi, Jessica Rose.

[B]

Good morning, Erica.

[A]

Good morning. How you doing?

[B]

I'm good. What's been going on?

[A]

I know. Did you miss me?

[B]

I did, actually. I did miss you. Miss. Yeah.

[A]

Oh, how Jessica Rose missed me.

[B]

I get told so often how much people, like, love this segment.

[A]

Well, that's so fun.

[B]

Like strangers, like, no, people that come here. People are like, oh, my gosh. We listen to the podcast all the time and we love your and Erica's segment.

[A]

That's so cute.

[B]

I know, it's nice.

[A]

Well, what are we doing?

[B]

So you have a wild week this week. It's really wild. So Monday. I know, Monday you have the people from designport coming to you guys.

[A]

Yes, I'm seeing the design port ladies. Okay. That's gonna be exciting. I gotta get ready for that.

[B]

So they're gonna, like, come and we're gonna film it, do the whole, like, through tour.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

You have a product check in? We have the weekly.

[A]

Can you check if we need that? Product check in?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Just in light of the, like, roadmap stuff.

[B]

Oh, sure.

[A]

If we need it, great. If we don't, I'll buy the time back.

[B]

Okay. I was gonna say, yeah, we have a bunch happening that day too, so that we can have the time back. So we're gonna do a meeting about At Home at Work, which is happening on August 5th. Big event.

[A]

August 5th.

[B]

So that's coming. I think we're like, sold out. We are. There was two tickets yesterday.

[A]

What? Yeah. Can we add more people?

[B]

I think so. I have to talk to them. Cause I think it only holds like 180 people. Maybe.

[A]

We cannot be sold out.

[B]

We are, I swear. No, I swear.

[A]

We had like 76 people.

[B]

I don't know. Like, there was two tickets left on the thing. Parrish told me.

[A]

Really? Well, let's add more.

[B]

I'll talk to them. We'll see. We can talk about that on Monday too.

[A]

Okay. I'm very excited for At Home at Work. Meg. Meg had a genius idea. So can I just interrupt our second? Okay. So I have this very bad habit when I'm on a new airplane. I really like to work. So the flight from Portland to New York City is five and a half hours.

[B]

I was tweaking out the whole time.

[A]

Everybody else is, like, playing poker, watching movies. I don't know. On TikTok, I'm like, I'm gonna jam out some work. But I'm self aware enough to know that it creates anxiety for people and it can be too much and it's A lot. So I sent, like, five emails that were too much and a lot and created anxiety. And then I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna get creative and write substacks. So I wrote, like, seven substacks on the art yesterday, like, totally in the zone. But then I was texting Meg and Suhan. Cause I was like, oh, Megan, Suhan could come up with ideas. And Meg Ryan had an awesome idea, which is that we're going to try to create a movement where At Home at work, where we have people open up their living rooms.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And you could bring, like, 20 or so women over, and you have a, like, moderated conversation, and you connect with one another. So I think we can build that with Work Like a Girl. So I'm very excited. So Work, like At Home At Work will be our first experiment for that. But then I think we could just have people bring each other into each other's homes. Now that I say that. Somebody's gonna steal this idea.

[B]

No, that's actually a current event that we're going over today.

[A]

Oh, we are?

[B]

That's, like, one of our topics.

[A]

Well, that's exciting.

[B]

Something similar to that.

[A]

Okay, great. So I have that as an idea.

[B]

So that's Monday. You're also talking to substack people on Monday.

[A]

Oh, I'm excited. Christina at Substack. I love that. Five o'. Clock. I'm already so excited for it.

[B]

Super excited.

[A]

Can you add Suhanta?

[B]

I did.

[A]

Okay. You're so good. Oh, we have our Work Like a Girl meeting. That's great.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

At a finance meeting.

[B]

And that's Monday.

[A]

Weekly something, something. I can't see this one.

[B]

The weekly performance review and pitch meeting.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, I have a board meeting on Tuesday. This week. Next week is actually gonna suck.

[B]

Literally.

[A]

Okay. Sorry. I'm having a realization.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I knew. I was like, you know, I don't think you realize how crazy.

[A]

Okay, so Tuesday, we're going to talk about media inventory. We're going to talk about initiative planning, workflows. I have a board meeting.

[B]

Three and a half hours. Yeah. And then a board meeting.

[A]

Oh, do I need to go to this?

[B]

No, you don't. But there is an event here for publessis that is happening.

[A]

Okay, so we're having a publicis event. I love that.

[B]

Yeah, I don't think you need to go to that.

[A]

But then it only gets worse on Wednesday. So then. Or better, I guess. So we are going to.

[B]

You're talking at Buck Wild.

[A]

Oh, okay. Yeah.

[B]

Buckwald. Buckwald you're talking trade customer experiences.

[A]

We have the Tiara launch. That's going to be so great.

[B]

Yep. That's later in the day.

[A]

Let's do a hot topic just while it's the three of us. So we're having this event. We're launching the pastry box with Tiara Bennett. Congratulations, Sarthik.

[D]

Thank you.

[A]

That's really exciting. I'm very excited for you. I'm excited for. I wrote. I started my sub stack about tri the other night and I was like, Tiara was wearing her Whitney Houston hair. And then I was like, can I say that?

[B]

I don't know if you should say that.

[A]

Why can't you? Is that a bad thing to say? I love it.

[B]

I don't know. I don't know if it's bad.

[A]

I wanted to look like Whitney Houston. So, anyway, so we're having this debate because we're having a bunch of influencers come to Food52. And it's not that they're influencers, it's that they're fans of T ara. And our social team wants to be like, have a pre meet and be like, hey, can we collab? And what are we agreeing to that you're gonna. That we're going to post. And I'm of the school. That. That's not cool.

[D]

Same.

[A]

I'm like, don't ask. It makes you look desperate. And. But our social team is like, well, we want to get organized and do it. And we're having this debate.

[D]

I think internally organizing is a good thing. And then just having it.

[A]

Yeah. I don't think you can. I don't think, like, if you're having people over that would be like having friends over that are cooler than you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And being like, hey, can you bring something?

[D]

You know, it also puts them on the back foot of.

[A]

And I think it makes them feel like you're them. Where I'm actually like, hey, how cool that this woman opened this bakery and she's making a run for it and we're going to tell her story. Why? Like, let's just celebrate. T ara.

[B]

Like, I get the, like, point of view of like, they want to be prepared and they want to be.

[A]

I think that's where it comes from. I think they, like, are like, I get that. They don't want to get yelled at at the end. Being like, why didn't we get a collab post?

[B]

Or like, get like nine collab posts at the same time. And then it's like, you have to pick and choose. Like, you're picking like, oh, who has the most followers? And then it's like, then it looks.

[A]

Bad, but I don't think you can. We never did it at barstool. We would never say that. We were like, hey, just come and do it and do your thing. So that's a debate, I think, right.

[D]

Now, just how social media moves. It's just like, the people who want to collab, they will collab.

[A]

That's what I think. I'm like, you can't make people. Let's not be inauthentic. Like, that's my whole thing. I'm like, let's not. If you don't want to collab. You think our office sucks. Like, all right, see you later. I don't think it sucks, and I think people will want to collab if you make it cool and fun.

[D]

Exactly.

[A]

All right, so then I got a board meeting. Then we get to Thursday. I got Sheridan City.

[B]

So you're gonna be at the mainland.

[A]

Oh, so sorry. That's Wednesday is the pastry box.

[B]

Wednesday's pastry box launch Thursday.

[A]

I've got our own board.

[B]

Yeah. And the Creator 360.

[A]

Oh, the Creator's 360. Which I'm very excited about.

[B]

Which. Yeah. I think the only people that can join are estrogen, but they're gonna come the day before, so I'm gonna try to see if you can.

[A]

They're coming here?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Were they coming to the tiara thing?

[B]

No, but I can ask them.

[A]

Definitely invite them to that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's the flywheel we're talking about. They're coming to the office.

[B]

Yeah, well, that's right. They're coming to the office on. But their producer.

[A]

They don't have to. I don't care if Estro comes on Thursday, but their producer has to speak to what is the world. You have a big content meeting today. I heard me. Yeah. Or everybody does.

[D]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

I'm actually so curious how that's gonna go. I have a lot of opinions on this, but What.

[D]

What's Creator 360? If you want to speak on that a little bit.

[A]

Oh, do you know what it is? I fucking hope you know what it is. Okay, so creator360. I'm getting irritated, and I'm trying to be a good citizen, leader, partner, mentor, friend, champion. And I think we. We have all these creators now that are kind of coming into our mix, and then we have the creators who are currently with us, and we want to launch this idea of the found or the resident, whatever we call it. Right. We have this group of faces and these group of personalities who are gonna build these worlds. My concern is we're not thinking in a 360 degree about stuff. Kind of to your point a little bit, Jessica Rose. So, for example, if it's Noah and Noah's awesome, and he's a mixologist and he's a test kitchen cook, or test kitchen chef, I guess you would say. Is cook a bad word?

[B]

No. No. Okay.

[A]

You never fucking know these things if.

[B]

You'Re not used to Whitney Houston vet is.

[A]

I don't know, but I think Sognik said it well the other day, which is we want to combine experts and have them be entertainers. And we're trying to entertain, educate, and inform our audience. And we need to build a world. And so what I'm not. I hate when people say I'm worried about. What I'm eager to see is, who is Noah? What's Noah's world? Who is, you know, before we got on here, Jessica's like, your work, like a girl. People are crazy. Noah should have crazies. Who are Noah's crazies and how does he speak to them? How does he connect with them? What does that look like in writing? What does that look like in social? What does that look like in mid form? So what I would like. One thing I'm eager to see, I would have said worried about, is that our producers are thinking about the edit, but they're not thinking about who is Noah, who is Estro, who is Isabel, who is Terrence, what's the IP that we're creating? Where does it live? What's the community we want to build? How do we listen to our community to inform what we create and do? And then we create this virtuous cycle. Does that make sense?

[D]

No, it makes total sense.

[A]

So, Theor, I think you're gonna hear about this today. So then I'm looking for a presentation on all the creators. So you'll have one for T ara.

[D]

Got it, Got it.

[A]

And you would have one for me, like, if we were doing it. But we don't need to do that.

[B]

Then they're all joining too. Tiara's joining too.

[A]

Okay, great. And it's gonna be super interesting. Okay, then we get to Friday and I'm just gonna pass out.

[B]

Yeah, well, before we get to Friday, you do have the partnership council kickoff.

[A]

Oh, we have a partnership council? Please.

[B]

You can't skip over that.

[A]

Wear nice outfits and wash my hair next week on Thursday.

[B]

You had to be done up Thursday.

[A]

But Wednesday we're having people over, like, what am I going to wear? Anyway, so we are introducing a brand partner council, which I'm excited about. So Alexis, our CRO and I are going to do that. So we have awesome brands on our council and we're going to look to them for advice and perspective and to give them an early look on what we're doing. So it's a good idea. Before that meeting, we need to have a meeting about that Monday so that we are understanding what we're sharing with people. Okay, then I get to Friday.

[B]

Then you get to Friday, which is.

[A]

Exactly how I'm gonna feel next week. I'm like, when is it Friday? When is it Friday?

[B]

And then it kind of. It tapers off and you can kind of collapse on Friday.

[A]

Okay, well, that sounds great. Thank you, Jessica Rose.

[B]

Thanks, Eric.

[A]

Welcome back to work. It's Monday. We're here. Everybody's wearing florals. It's July. My friend Jodi Carrington had a post this week about the challenges with managing in July, which I thought was so interesting of it's summer, Everybody's sweaty, it's 90 degrees everywhere, or raining, it's humid. Everything feels oppressive. I think the mood at work right now is feeling. I don't know. Are people feeling oppressed at work? I don't know. I think there's a mood happening at work. What's going on here at Food52 and Schoolhouse? I just got back from Portland. We had an awesome, awesome trip to Portland. Our schoolhouse team, and in particular our design team, is making incredible, incredible, beautiful, lovely, special quality things. I touched a bunch of bedding and we looked at throw pillows and we looked at furniture and I sat on couches. And so many lights actually was so tacky. There was like a free giveaway, bright green factory light. And I was like, I'll be taking this home on the plane. So I'm just really feeling very fond and smitten with our designs. I'm really excited about that. I'm in a deep hellhole of what we're calling the finance Sprint, which is really a deep look at our forecasting and our budgeting and our processes and the data we have and the data we don't have. And I've been thinking a lot about it. It's a super frustrating process because when you have a company that was really two different companies, they were merged together. Covid happened. There was so much money spent. Some of it in great places, some of it in terrible places. There's systems that haven't been updated in Decades. It's just. It's really hard to understand. I don't know how to describe it in a good way, but it's hard to understand where we are at any given moment in time. And it creates a lot of insecurity for me. It creates a lot of anxiety and it creates a lot of friction in the business. So I'm really trying to use this summer. I've been like having a lot of self talk in the managing in July question of how am I going to use this summer to solve the foundational problems as best I can until we can create new systems and new structures and new ways of running the business. And it's a super hard challenge. It's in a world that I don't come from. It's with people who are doing their best to solve a hundred different problems and answer a million different questions every day. And then it's on a company that is half the size that it was a year ago. So it's like it's really. We are in a difficult sprint. But I also think this is the best phase of a startup in a lot of ways of you don't have enough resources, there isn't enough hours in the day is urgent and you have no choice. It's like the back against the wall moment where you have to make a choice on how are you going to dig out of this and what are you going to do first, second and third and how do you hold people accountable to do it. So that's kind of the world that I'm living in. It's also July, which is mid year review time. We had our all hands this week. I thought we actually had a pretty good all hands. I thought it was great. Maybe I am the only one who thinks that the energy in Portland was awesome. I think the energy in New York was a little bit quiet.

[B]

It was hard to hear you on the screen.

[A]

Oh, it wasn't leaving blows.

[B]

It was hard to hear you here.

[A]

Hard to hear everybody. So was everybody just like tuned out on their phone?

[B]

No, I think everyone was like more. I think it was more somber here because everyone was trying to stay quiet.

[C]

So they could hear the screen.

[A]

Okay, we have to fix it. I say this every quarter and then I'm like we got 7,000 other problems. And I'm like, Ah, I hate the IV. So anyway, so we had our all samples. I liked it. We give out awards every quarter. Just what we do in our all hands. We give out awards every quarter. We give a business update every quarter. I think we Try to shove too much into an hour's worth of time. That is a perpetual problem in my life, which is I'm just trying to shove too much stuff in too little time. My eyes are bigger than my stomach, so I want to get better at that for our next all hands. But my biggest takeaway from being in Portland is we just have an awesome group of people and we have a really committed team, and we, you know, need to keep it fun and we need to keep it focused. But if we can build on all the advantages we have in the brand and the business and the people and just do right for our customers and kind of pivot the focus to our customers, I think that's an awesome place to go. Other things I've been thinking about in terms of tips and tricks, I have Work Like a Girl is a hive. I think we're about to pass 1,000 women on work Like a Girl, which is amazing. It's been really fun. It's very alive. And so I asked Work Like a Girl for what tips and tricks they wanted this week. And one question that came up is also something that I'm struggling with is how do you delegate when you know it will be easier and faster to do things yourself? And I think this is a really big problem for anybody at work of, like, how do you know what to give up and how do you. My issue is a little bit different, which is I tend to initiate a lot of stuff. I want to get deep into the business to answer a question. I think I end up sometimes creating more heartache or headache than good. But I also know if I don't do that, it won't get done. And so I'm trying to figure out, how do I fly at the right level, how do I create the right metrics of accountability? And then how do I let people go run and do things and come back with solutions versus me managing the solutions. Like Suhan, who we'll have on the podcast, was talking to me the other day. He's like, here's your problem. Your problem.

[E]

He is amazing.

[A]

He's amazing.

[B]

He's the best.

[D]

So I. I sat down with him, and he broke me down. The whole workflow that he's working, I'm like, dude, he's the best. I'm so happy you're here.

[A]

He's the best. He's the best. I love Suhan. I can't wait for people to meet Suhan. Suhan also has a funny, interesting story, which Suan's on my How Suan and I Met is funny. Suhan is like, Kismet. He was sent to me. But long story short, not Kismet. Sue. I used to have a woman who Kismet.

[C]

She worked here.

[A]

Yeah. What a great name.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Anyways, long story short, Suhan is like, you have, like, 400 meetings a week, and in every meeting, you ask two questions. You ask what and when? And he's like, and as a result, I'm in the middle of all the business instead of saying how and why. And so that's a lot of what we're working on. And so I think to the question of how do you delegate? It's changing your thinking from what and when. It's setting up a system to be able to give you visibility and certainty and accountability from other people on the what and the when. That frees your mind up to ask how and why and to use that to evolve the business. So I don't know if that's very helpful. It's kind of esoteric, but I'm trying to work on that. And then I think the hard thing about delegating is you have to trust other people. And that's the crux of it, which is it's hard to trust. We have one of the most amazing people who works here, who. She just struggles to delegate. You can see it. She's a control freak. She's just like, I'm a control freak. I struggle to delegate. And I'm like, yeah, but if you actually delegated, you could open your head up and open your scope up to take on all new things. And I think July is a good moment, just bringing this full circle. July is a really great moment to kind of take stock of the year to date. What went well, what went wrong, what do you want to burn up in your campfire, as Dr. Carrington would say, and what do you want to take with you? And then how do you create systems where if you're struggling to delegate and you really are reducing that into why, it's because you want results, and you want them in a time or at a quality or at a standard that you have in your head. So you got to lay that out. My expectation is that this is going to be done by this time at this quality, and then you give people the chance to rise or rise or fail or rise or sink on that. And I actually think that's a really important thing. Like, I'm struggling with this, with parenting. It's like, I've got two teenagers, and I'm like, God, I want to do everything I'M used to doing everything for you. I'm used to, like, worrying about you and making sure you don't get run. Run over by a bus and you're safe and you're cared for and you're fed. And I'm like, teenagers should be able to do that. So I need to set what the expectations are and give them a little space to do it. Work is just the same. So that's my two cents. We're doing current events. First topic came from work like a girl. This got shared around yesterday. It's from Scottie Scheffler. It's an interview that he did last week that talks about winning. And I thought, what was really inspiring about it and we'll share it up here. What was really inspiring about it is what he really talks about is that it's not winning. Winning lasts for a moment, it feels good for a second, but it's really the journey. It's really the. It's the endeavor. It's the quest to get to a new place, which is ultimately what's so fulfilling and what's so satisfying. And I keep thinking about this at work, which is everybody wants the win. You know, everybody wants to get to the top of the mountain. But I think what's true of most people and certainly true of athletes and definitely true of businesses, is when you get to that mountain, then you're bored and you want to get to the next one. Finding a way to take pride and value in the journey and to take satisfaction and be fulfilled by it is really, really important. And I loved that he said that. I think a lot of times when you see people at the pinnacle of their career, at the pinnacle of their sport, it's all about the win. It's about the trophy, it's about the photo, it's about the moment. And in reality, it's who you are along the way and what you take that way of what you take with you from that. And I really loved that reminder. All right, so our next video is a generational. Is a generational knowledge question. So we'll play it here.

[E]

Just fuck up. You've got absolutely nothing to worry about. So I'm born in 95. Damn, makes me 30 this year. Holy fuck. The point of this video is that I know a lot of people in their early 30s, late 20s are really struggling right now. The reason being was because when you grew up in the 90s, early 2000s, you grew up in an era where old way of life living was still realistic. It's funny, we grew up in a completely different time to, I guess, like Gen Z is. Like, I was talking to my brother the other day, he's 20. And I told him about back in the day when petrol used to be less than A$50. And the look on this guy's face, you would have thought. I just told him, like, I used to ride a horse and carriage to school then. That achievable part of life to Gen Z, it's a fictional identity. We're old enough that it not only was realistic, it was expected. But that's why a lot of us feel completely useless now, because we were brought up in that world with that world's expectations. But in today's reality, I'll give you an example. Boomers and older millennials got to play Monopoly for real. So say they're playing a game, Monopoly. They're eating, you know, cheese and crackers and laughing, laughing it up. Buying our properties, chucking houses, all that. We're old enough that we were young enough to see that, but not old enough that we got to play, but we got to watch and it looked fun. As Gen Z were too young, they missed it. So to them, this, like, fictional game, Monopoly they hear about, we may as well be talking about Bigfoot. To them, it never existed. We were old enough that we got to see it being played. And they told us while they were playing it, hey, here's the list of all the things that you do. And if you do them, you get to play as well. Only to do all that and then learn. Actually, the list was just to keep us busy. They were never going to let us play anyways. When you're playing PlayStation with your little cousin and just give them a fake controller and let them think that they're playing as well, when you know that they're not. That's what fucking boomers did to us. Point of this video is to say if you're in your late 20s to early 30s and you look at that list of all the things that we got told that were supposed to get us to a certain point in our life, just remember, the game has changed. The rules are very different now. So if you're not where you thought you were supposed to be because you filled out that list or you tried to approach your life in that way, and it didn't end up where you're at. It's not because of anything you've done. The world is just different. We've just got to make our own game.

[A]

That's kind of interesting. So this is my first time Seeing it, I. I think there's a couple things about it, which is. One is it's so funny where, like, the people who were born in the 90s, like, I was born in the 70s, so I'm like, you know what I mean? Like, the 70s people think the 90s people are, you know, soft and they don't know what they're doing or they're lazy or they're. They're too emotional. The people in the 90s think. The people in the 2000 and tens are the same way. I do think the game has changed. I think the game has changed in terms of how people are raised, what the expectations are of you. I think the phone and the Internet has just, like, melded everybody's face and it's just kind of made these walking zombies. And I think it's really hard to pull your. It's an addiction. I think it's really hard to pull yourself out of that. I also think if you look at. I was saying this to someone yesterday on the airplane, like, I can remember in college flying to London for $99.

[D]

That's wild.

[A]

$99, like, it's amazing. Or you can remember. I remember in college and gas was in Maine, 99 cents. So it's like the cost of living has changed, upward mobility has changed, the rules have changed, and people have changed. And I think that's what's so hard. And I agree. I think one of the things that's so difficult for people is the expectations of the last group are put forth to the new group. But there's lack of empathy and understanding of what the new group comes to the game with. And also, I think this is where I do. I don't blame Gen Z for being apathetic or not bought into the dream because to this guy's point, the dream's kind of bullshit.

[D]

You know, it's a different dream or dream.

[A]

So I don't know. I'm curious. I think one thing we should talk about is what is that next dream? But I don't know what that is.

[D]

That's a good question.

[B]

What's that should ask your kids?

[A]

Oh, I. Sorry. I think the dream is to be an influencer. That's actually the dream network. So we're here with Chelsea. We're doing generational knowledge. Do you want to describe what you do?

[C]

Oh. How much time do you have?

[A]

Oh, darling. How much do you have to say?

[C]

I help oversee our social content production and publishing. Inception. Yeah.

[A]

And how long have you worked here?

[C]

Just about a year.

[A]

Just about A year.

[C]

My one year anniversary is in like a couple weeks.

[A]

Okay, that's awesome. And how old are you?

[C]

I'm 26.

[A]

Am I allowed to ask that? I'm asking. Okay, you're 26?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so what's our generational knowledge question? So what is the question?

[D]

Young man being a young manager.

[A]

Oh, sorry. Okay, you told me that. All right, so the question for you, Chels, is you are a manager of one person.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

One and two halves.

[A]

One and two interns. Okay, let's say three people. Okay, so let's say. So this is your first time managing people.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And what are you, what are you learning?

[C]

What am I learning? Or how do you delegate?

[A]

Okay, how are you approaching managing people?

[C]

I guess to be. To start, I thought about like the past managers I've had, what I found to be effective and successful, like, where I needed support and didn't get it or where, like, I was over, I guess, managed.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I tried to take that into everything I'm doing with Emma, who is my director. Emma's awesome. She makes it easy, which is great. She's very self sufficient in a lot of ways, which has made my life a lot easier.

[A]

Do you do regular one on Regular one on ones with your people?

[C]

Every, like two weeks, I'd say. But we also sit next to each other, so it's kind of like a.

[A]

You talk all the time.

[C]

We talk all the time. And it was like that with my previous manager. Like, we'd have had one on one schedule that we canceled every week because we were like, we just are caught up. Yeah. We don't know what's going on. But I do try to check in with her at least once a week. Just like, how are you? Is everything okay? Like, we're gonna help you.

[A]

And how do you set goals for your people?

[C]

With a lot of spreadsheets, I'd say. So I feel like we have, like, internal deadlines between the two of us are like, all right, we want to get this done by this day. Like, where are we with. I mean, you know, with the talent search we were doing. Like, we. We would check in with each other every couple days. Like, all right, where are we on this, this, this? Like, have we heard anything? What can we do? Like, what? Like, what do we still need?

[A]

How do you think you could be a better manager? Where do you want to grow as a manager?

[C]

Oh, that's a great question. Lots of ways I'm learning, obviously, it's my first time. I'm definitely not doing it perfectly. Yeah. Okay, you think about that.

[A]

Put that in the back of your head and then I'll ask you a different question or do you want to answer?

[C]

Yes, a little bit.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I think because my daily tasks, assignments, et cetera, have kind of taken me a little bit out of touch sometimes with the day to day of what Emma's doing. Getting a little bit more close with her on what that looks like. I think I'm in meetings a lot more than I used to be. Which like sometimes makes it hard to know. Like, like SOG just walked in. He's like, have you seen like on Twitter? I'm like, wait, I haven't been on Twitter in two hours. So no, I haven't. So, like getting a little bit tighter on like that kind of stuff because that is so important to what we're doing and making sure like I know that I'm very chronically online, like on Twitter and stuff where that breaks.

[A]

Really? Twitter is like your go to.

[C]

It's my drug of choice. Absolutely. I've been on Twitter more than half my life. I threw a party for my 10 year anniversary of my Twitter account where I made everyone dress up as memes over the last 10 years.

[A]

Oh my gosh, that's so great. You're just having a conversation. That's rare.

[C]

I've been on it. It's because of a sports fan maybe, but also pop culture. Like everything just happens there. Everything happens still, like Instagram probably is not yet talking about this CEO HR affair at the astronaut.

[A]

What is the deal?

[C]

I just saw that they were like exposed at the Coldplay conclusion.

[A]

What is astronaut?

[C]

I have no idea, but I'm invested now. I'm going to find out when I go back to my desk.

[A]

That's so funny. I just thought too and I just.

[C]

Was having a little with their stock prices today probably. But like being tight on that like zeitgeisty stuff is so important because a big element of what we're doing on social now is super reactive. To be real viral and like making sure like we're on the same pages about what those conversations look like and how we want to present this to our audience, I think is very, very important. And because we kind of have a gap there in terms of what we each consume and what our perspectives kind of overlap. Yeah, that's perfect.

[A]

Okay, so how do you give tough feedback to Emma or do you not?

[C]

I don't know that any of my feedback has been particularly tough. Do you think that's a good thing.

[A]

Or a bad thing?

[C]

It's not because I'm being soft with her. It's because I don't think she takes anything personally, which is great. And I think we both really respect each other's opinions and work well together in that way. If she's like, how do you feel about posting this? I don't feel any type of way. By being. No. If she presents something to me that I've not thought about, I'm like, oh, yeah, show me what that would look like. And there's a really healthy communication lane between the two of us.

[A]

Do you hang out outside of work?

[C]

We actually unintentionally biked together to Brooklyn over the weekend because we were both biking to Brooklyn and wound up with the same red light. And we.

[A]

Oh, that's so funny.

[C]

Biked over the bridge together. But we haven't really. We've gone to group dinners as a team, but we haven't, like, planned anything.

[A]

Do you think about the boundaries you want with? How do you think about that? Cause it's funny. I'm in the middle of writing a sub stack right now, and I'm calling it. I've reentered the Sisterhood because in Portland, it's mostly women. It's a lot of women and it's very nurturing. It's like Shauna's dating life and Halle's baby. And then I was like, gosh, it's been at barstool. It was like everyone was a terrorist. You just didn't ask about what people did outside of work, mostly because you didn't want to know. But how do you think about that? Because your age, me managing you. You and I are doing the same thing. So I don't. We're not gonna hang out. Although I'd love to hang out with you sometime. Not at a Yankees game, but. But how do you think about that?

[C]

It hasn't come up. But, like, I am open to it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Because we are friends. Everyone here, it helps. This company is so young. Everyone here is my friend, whether they want to be or not.

[A]

They are coming to the 20 year Twitter.

[C]

Like, everyone will get the invite. And when I host a talent show in two months, everyone can come. But, like, with my past managers, we've had that same rapport because I've actually almost only worked with young people. I've only worked environments like this one. But it's something I've thought about more. Like now that I have a direct report. Like, I was super open with my manager and, like, we were his friends and we would hang all the Time. We still do, but. And there is like a second guessing of like, is it. Is this an HR violation? I don't know. And like, the questions I will ask her, like, maybe I will hold back. Like, if she wants to tell me other things, that's great, but I will not. Like, you're not going to overstep? I'm not going to overstep in that way.

[A]

That's great. All right. That was one of my questions. Do you have questions for me?

[C]

I guess. When did you start managing people?

[A]

Probably when I was like 25, 24. So about your age, what was like your biggest misstep? It's so funny. I was just thinking about this. So. So my one is I was very friendly with the people I managed. I worked at an ad agency and I created this thing called Wine Lockdown where every Wednesday people would send so much wine to us, they would just send booze and I would just. Like Wednesdays at 4 o', clock, we would just drink in my office, which in hindsight is probably not appropriate. So I would say most everything was a mess up. But I do think there's something when you're young and figuring things out and you're at this high energy, high curiosity, high potential place in your life and work that it's great to have camaraderie with other people because there is so much stimulation, there's so much you want to do and it's fun. Like, you should have fun at work. Like, I really. I wrote a substack today on it. I'm like, you should have fun at work. Like, work should be fun. So I think the mistakes I made were, it was really inappropriate and it was really friend. It was really social, if it makes sense. And I at points felt like, oh, my whole identity, all my friendships are wrapped up in this job. Everything I do all weekend is wrapped up in this job. And that can create a lot of confusing feelings, I think, and kind of like, where does stuff begin and where does stuff end?

[C]

Totally. I do think there's definitely a value here in having friendships with the people we're collaborating with because much of what we're doing is. Is creative. And so I think, like, toeing that line is a tricky place. But it, like, there is a.

[A]

There's a really big value. It's having a shared language. You know, having a shared language with people you work with makes things much, much, much easier. I agree with that.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

All right.

[C]

Amazing.

[A]

Thanks, Chels. See, So now we're on to strategery. Our strategery phrase today is 110%. So when I think about somebody saying giving 110%, I think of like a white man in his late 40s, early 50s who probably wears a vest and they're like, come on, son, give like 110%. So obviously, 110% is. Gives more is means give more than your best. Give as much as you possibly can. Go the extra mile, do the extra thing. I don't know if giving a zillennial, a percentage target for effort actually resonates. Like, I'm a big believer in the 110%. I think the best people give 190%, 3,000%. Like, insert the number here. But I think it's one of those old school corporate sayings which really doesn't probably have the resonance to a new audience at work. I also, the reason I say that is just coming off the Rashad Tobacco Wallace stuff is like, people don't want to have a boss anymore. Like, they want work, they don't want a job. And so giving 110%, I actually, the more people I observe in their 20s and 30s, they want that to come from within. Like they're gonna decide what gets 110%. And I think the question for managers and motivators and leaders is how do you get inside of somebody and inspire them to want to go all out because they feel passionate about it? And I think a lot of people could probably say that's bullshit about work or that's frustrating about work or that's shitty about work. I think that's just the reality of where we are at work. And I think that's it. So thank you for listening to today's episode. We're very grateful. We will be back here next week. Big thanks to Chelsea and Jessica Rose and the floral brigade, and thank you for listening. Give us a subscribe, give us a rating, Give us a review. Join work like a girl if you can, and we'll go from there.