Introduction

Thanks for listening to the Make Work Not Suck podcast. This is our first episode, where we delve into why work sucks for so many people and what we can do to change that. I'm Daniel Steere, joined by my friend Ryan Hodges.

Exploring the Root Causes

We're just exploring why is it that works, sucks so much for so many people. We're gonna look at a couple of the root causes of that. See if there's anything we can do to fix it. Hope you enjoy, make Work, not suck.

Podcast Overview

Our podcast, it talks about exactly that, our process, vision, journey, culture and results. We present real world business solutions that make the difference. Our goal is to make work not suck. Hosted by Ryan Hodges, co-host Daniel Steere. Join us each episode and make work not suck.

Debating the Podcast Title

All right, Ryan. So I'm just gonna come out and say what everybody's thinking, make work, not Suck is a dumb name for a podcast. Uh, work just sucks. That's just how it's always been. It's how it's always gonna be. And I am not entirely sure why we are making a podcast called Make Work Not Suck.

Exploring the Possibility of Change

Can I, can I ask you a really profound question? Sure. Go ahead. Why does work have to suck? If that's, I dunno if it, I dunno if, if it has to. I think it, it often does.

Challenging the Status Quo

But you said it always has been and always will be. Why does it always have to be, can we, can we change, challenge the paradigm, challenge the status quo. Okay. And make it not suck.

Examining Examples

Yeah. But you said it always has been and always will be. Why does it always have to be, can we, can we change, challenge the paradigm, challenge the status quo. Okay. And make it not suck. I would counter your counter with, uh, examples. I like, I would love to see an example of where work has not sucked, because I would say for most people, most of the time, work sucks.

Realizing the Norm

Most of my co we'll, we'll leave my personal opinion out of this for a second. I would say most of my coworkers felt like their work sucked more days than not. Like we've all had the good day every now and then, but I would say work sucks is kind of the, the norm.

Identifying Exceptions

Well then why did we start a podcast called Upwork? Not Sucks. No, that's like, that's literally what I, what I asked you. This was your idea. Because we believe there's a way to make work, not Okay. There is, there is a, a method, there's a belief that we can apply to all aspects of our life.

Sharing Experiences

No. Can you tell me a little bit about that? No. No. Okay. You just Have to believe. You just gotta believe. If You build it, he will Come. If you build it, they will come. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's what I've spent the past, uh, uh, Is, is there's a, a lot of, you know, personal stories can share and, and, uh, journeys along the way. But the reality of it is, is you don't work doesn't have to suck.

Investing in People

If an organization really wants to achieve something great, they can invest in their, you know, it is also stereotypical if you invest in the people, the people invest in, uh, you know, take care of the customers, the customers pay their bills and returns.

Identifying Challenges

But the problem is we don't know how to get it. And we all want it, but we don't, we don't know how to get it. And because we don't know how to get it, we go with what we can see, touch, feel, you know, we get books and we read the books and we, we empathize with the book, but we don't know how to apply the book.

Navigating Job Changes

It's like a lyric in songs work sucks.Yeah. But you said it always has been and always will be. Why does it always have to be, can we, can we change, challenge the paradigm, challenge the status quo. Okay. And make it not suck. I would counter your counter with, uh, examples. I like, I would love to see an example of where work has not sucked, because I would say for most people, most of the time, work sucks.Okay. Well, there's some good and bad examples and we can go with the high level ones. Why don't we go with a couple books? Okay. You know, there's like delivering happiness. Everybody in, you know, at, at uh, uh, Zappos. Mm-Hmm. Love their job. They built a raving culture. Do you think those people hate their job? Do you think they think work sucks? No, I, okay. All right.

Understanding the Reality

I would say it's the exception, not the rule. Yeah. Well, and, and don't pay attention to the founder and the history after the fact, you know, years after the book was written.Well, yeah. Alright. We won't talk about that either. But, uh, you know, in Good to Great. Yeah, good to great. Talks about some companies, Jim Collins book talks about good companies. I, I don't remember the personal component of that, but I'm gonna assume that the people who worked for those companies didn't hate their jobs.

Navigating Different Business Environments

Most of my co we'll, we'll leave my personal opinion out of this for a second. I would say most of my coworkers felt like their work sucked more days than not. Like we've all had the good day every now and then, but I would say work sucks is kind of the, the norm.

Identifying Common Challenges

Well then why did we start a podcast called Upwork? Not Sucks. No, that's like, that's literally what I, what I asked you. This was your idea. Because we believe there's a way to make work, not soc Okay. There is, there is a, a method, there's a belief that we can apply to all aspects of our life.And if we are applying that method, not only personally, but professionally and as an organization, we can actually make work. Not soc That sounds really nice in theory. Have you ever seen it actually happen? Yes. Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about that? No. No. Okay. You just Have to believe. You just gotta believe. If You build it, he will Come. If you build it, they will come. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's what I've spent the past, uh, uh, Is, is there's a, a lot of, you know, personal stories can share and, and, uh, journeys along the way. But the reality of it is, is you don't work doesn't have to suck. Well, I think that's a great point. But I think what I'm also hearing you say is that, uh, work can suck if we don't apply the things we've learned. But I think most people just don't know what to do. Well, I would agree. And I would argue that, that statement is, is true. If an organization really wants to achieve something great, they can invest in their, you know, it is also stereotypical if you invest in the people, the people invest in, uh, you know, take care of the customers, the customers pay their bills and returns. But the problem is we don't know how to get it. And we all want it, but we don't, we don't know how to get it. And because we don't know how to get it, we go with what we can see, touch, feel, you know, we get books and we read the books and we, we empathize with the book, but we don't know how to apply the book.

Addressing the Struggle

Yeah. And I think a lot of us are looking for a new job right now, especially with the company's struggle with retention. Right. Yeah. Well, I, I'm no, no exceptions here. I think a lot of, a lot of people are looking at new jobs. I mean, you know, like for my specific job, you know, I have my reasons, but you know, it's like, I don't know. I just feel like, like I have so many other options, you know, as you, as you know, my interests are so broad and I feel like I can do anything and be anything. And this job is just, it's kind of a waste of my time.

Identifying the Bigger Picture

I, I really don't, I really don't like working here. Yeah. I feel like that's the bigger problem. Like I think for, for us, I mean, I can only speak for myself, but I think for us, I feel like that's the bigger problem is I don't like where I'm at. And so I'm looking for a way out, but I don't know if that's just our current environment or if that's indicative of the greater problem that we're going to talk about on this podcast.

Reflecting on Personal Experiences

I think that's, uh, I think that's fair. And, uh, you know, I, I think, uh, my history and I'm sure we'll get into that at some point. I, I spent a lot of time trying to fix problems and processes and procedures that weren't, weren't going to be fixed. And so I think I left with that, that taste in my mouth.

Summarizing the Discussion

Alright. So what I think I'm hearing you say is that work sucks because we're all looking for something better, but we don't know how to get there. And we don't really know if what we're looking for exists. Is that a fair assessment? I would say that's, uh, that's, uh, that's, that's a fair assessment.

Closing Thoughts

Alright. So if you have any ideas on how we can make work, not suck, let us know. We'll, uh, we'll talk about it in our next episode. Thanks for listening.