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Overview

What if Sustainable Ambition is about designing work and careers in a way that allows us to keep doing what matters?

In this episode, I’m joined by my longtime friend and former colleague Todd Brock. I have always admired both his leadership and the way he has navigated his career with intention, curiosity, and a willingness to keep learning.

Our conversation gets into how leaders can create the conditions for people to do meaningful, ambitious work, sustainably.

Todd makes a compelling case that team sustainability is designed, never accidental. That means being clear about strategy and priorities, designing jobs and systems so the work can actually get done within a reasonable amount of time, and paying attention when people are consistently overwhelmed.

We also talk about the agency we have in shaping our careers, how ambition evolves over time, navigating complexity and change, and what it means to build something that can thrive beyond you.

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Overview

We’re often given simple models for navigating work: follow your passion, find your purpose, do what you love. But the truth is, the world of work was never that simple to begin with. 

In this episode, I take a closer look at why navigating work can feel so hard, and importantly, why feeling that way doesn’t mean we’re doing it wrong. Drawing on recent conversations and my ongoing research about the history of work and economics, I explore the complexity of the systems we work within, the many things work means in our lives, and the trade-offs we inevitably have to make.

I also look at the limits of career models and the weight of having more choices than ever before. Rather than searching for one perfect path, I invite you to think about your work in the context of your life right now and to embrace your agency and authorship in making choices that fit.

The world of work will keep changing. We may not control the systems we operate within, but we do have agency in how we engage with them.

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Overview

In the midst of rapid technological change and uncertainty about the future, how can we foster a position of agency and optimism about what comes next?

I had been looking forward to sitting down with Adam Russell for a long time. Adam is one of those rare thinkers who has an incredible ability to connect ideas across disciplines, helping us see familiar challenges in entirely new ways. As a social anthropologist working at the intersection of AI, organizations, and human behavior, he has a way of asking the questions that make you stop and reconsider your assumptions.

In this episode, we explore how our ideas about work have evolved, why productivity and value aren't the same thing, why to embrace an explorer mindset, the power of collective intelligence, and what AI is revealing about the systems we've built. Rather than focusing on fear or replacement, Adam offers a thoughtful and hopeful perspective on how AI can help us rethink work, leadership, and the future.

I left this conversation feeling more optimistic about the future. The path ahead of us may not be clear, but we have an opportunity to shape it together.

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Overview

Have you ever wondered what might happen if you stepped away from work for more than just a vacation?

I'm a believer in sabbaticals. But as glorious as they can be, they're also a lot like life: they rarely go exactly as planned. I have found that having a plan going into one can make all the difference: thinking about how you want to use the time, how you'll make choices, and how you'll move with whatever unfolds along the way.

Which is why I’m excited to be in conversation today with DJ DiDonna about his experiences with and research on sabbaticals. We talk about why sabbaticals are critical for Sustainable Ambition, the sabbatical archetypes he identified in his research, and, of course, practical steps for planning one. 

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Find the recording and check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned.