Green Flags: Recent Episodes
New Belgium Brewing & ODD Media
Join Green Flags on a quest for a better business model – one that puts humanity at its core and makes companies more profitable as a result. Your brave hosts, Adam Fetcher and Maude Standish, set out to examine the red flags of corporate America today with the goal of illuminating the green flags that represent a humanized approach to business.
You’ve likely heard the expression “bring your whole self to work.” Sounds pretty good, right? As many people know – especially those who identify with marginalized groups – it’s not so simple. Not all companies do the work to foster a safe environment for our “whole selves.” And even in the most inclusive workplace, hidden biases and standards can make it feel risky to show up authentically – causing confusion, burnout, and definitely some awkward conversations. In this episode, Adam and Maude go beyond the buzzwords to seek a more honest version of “bring your whole self to work,” with green flags galore for both employers and workers.
Guests include: Mike Robbins, author of Bring Your Whole Self to Work and other highly-cited books about teamwork, leadership, and emotional intelligence; Cindy Gallop, CEO of Make Love Not Porn, corporate innovation and leadership consultant, and self-described “Michael Bay of Business”; Ashanti Ishakarah, senior client partner at Spotify; and Chase Coleman, comedy and advice creator on TikTok and Instagram about the corporate workplace (@thecorporatechase).
In the recent frenzy over “woke” corporations, some argue businesses should stop looking after the wellbeing of “stakeholders” – i.e. communities, customers, and even workers – and get back to making money for shareholders. But lost in this uproar is a delicious irony: Companies that prioritize long-term investments in the public good produce higher returns over time than companies that focus only on boosting profits for the next quarter or two. In this mini-episode, Adam and Maude unpack the centuries-old debate over the purpose of a corporation, explore the financial upside of investing in broad prosperity, and discuss efforts to shift conventional corporate thinking from a winner-take-all mentality…to a humanized approach with just as many winners, but far fewer losers.
Many companies offer perks as a way to attract talent, build company culture, and retain workers. Some perks truly do a great job of adding value for employees, like dream vacations or parental leave. But some perks from companies are truly bizarre. In this mini-episode, Adam and Maude dig into a brief history of perks, taking some detours to gawk at particularly weird ones, all before considering what a green flag future of perks might look like.
We usually think about compensation like this: workers work, and their employer pays them money. But what if businesses started working for workers – the people who power the company – instead? By expanding our definition of compensation to include high-quality benefits, flexible work options, professional development, a healthy workplace community, and more, employers can deliver far greater value to our lives than a paycheck alone. Adam and Maude unpack this philosophy – known as “Total Compensation” – and raise a bunch of green flags on the path to higher employee engagement, loyalty, and productivity, which leads to higher performing businesses.
Guests include: Samantha Conroy, expert on compensation and reward systems and Associate Professor at Colorado State University; Shauna Cobb, Chief Human Resources Officer at New Belgium Brewing Company; and Bobby Ciccaglione, technology industry veteran and entrepreneur, and co-founder and former Head of Product at Bustle.com.
Having a “work wife” can feel pretty awesome, but some say the expression has a dark side. In this mini-episode of Green Flags, Maude and Adam dig into the history of how we started calling women “work wives,” how this term of endearment potentially sneaks sexism into the office, and what we can all do about it. Along the way, Adam learns about “being the neck” – and Maude gets personal about one of her toughest work experiences to date.
When companies try to build workplace culture, the phrase “We’re a family” is often not far behind. But a growing number of young people seem to reject the idea that our coworkers should be “like family.” After all, everyone has a different experience with family – and it’s not all good. And these terms, while well-meaning, can lead us to overinvest in our workplace family at the expense of our relationships outside the business realm. Adam and Maude explore the growing backlash around workplace “families” and discover a wealth of green flags that might help companies of all sizes foster healthier, more humanized coworker communities.
Guests include: Stu Summerfield, a coworker at an innovation agency in Los Angeles; MaryLeigh Bliss, a culture and youth insights expert and Chief Content Officer at YPulse; Allison Thorson, an expert in family and interpersonal communications and Professor at the University of San Francisco; and Julianna Pillemer, a leading researcher on relationships in the workplace and Assistant Professor at NYU Stern School of Business.
You won’t find “climate action” listed in most job descriptions, at least outside of sustainability. But why not? After all, there’s a huge economic upside for companies that invest aggressively in climate solutions and advocate boldly for climate policy. For those days when climate change feels too big for one person to make an impact, Adam and Maude remind us of the tremendous influence one worker – in any job – can wield in advocating within their companies for stronger action to confront the climate crisis.
Guests include: Bill Wiehl, founder of Climate Voice and former Google Green Energy Czar and Facebook Head of Sustainability; Ken Pucker, former Timberland Chief Operating Officer and a leading advisor, investor, and educator focusing on sustainability and ESG (Tufts University, Boston University & Berkshire Partners); and Catherine Champagne, marketing manager at Rainbow Wallet.
This season of Green Flags tracks along with the psychologist Abraham Maslow’s famous (yet tragically misunderstood) Hierarchy of Needs. But how did this pyramid wind up in PowerPoint decks throughout corporate America – especially when Maslow’s ideas were rejected by his peers? And how can companies use it as a guide to investing in the people central to business success, rather than a tool for leveraging our basic needs to boost productivity?
In our first mini-episode of Green Flags, Adam and Maude dive into the history around America’s most-cited psychologist of the 20th century and his mythical pyramid, from Maslow’s dream of using psychology to help humans transcend war, to the beatnik culture and his defense of Timothy Leary in federal court, to the walls of HR offices and business schools everywhere.
Getting enough sleep is not something we typically associate with a thriving capitalist enterprise. That's a glaring red flag, because every human needs adequate rest – and good sleep – to contribute to a successful business. Adam and Maude wake up the system by uncovering green flags that might just cause your employer to make that 20-minute power nap mandatory.
Guests include: Christopher Barnes, a sleep/work expert at the University of Washington and former behavioral scientist in the U.S. Air Force Fatigue Countermeasures Branch; Rebecca Robbins, a top sleep researcher at Harvard University; Courtney Simmons, Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for New Belgium Brewing; and Kate Sweeney, a freelance journalist and author.
From New Belgium Brewing and ODD Media, Green Flags is a new podcast about the quest for a better business model – one that works for us, not the other way around – and makes companies more profitable as a result. Our brave hosts, Adam Fetcher and Maude Standish, set out to examine the red flags of corporate America today with the goal of illuminating the green flags that represent a humanized approach to business.
Of course, the world doesn’t need another business podcast for business people. Green Flags is a business podcast for everyone who thinks our system can do better – and wants to help.
After all, businesses touch our lives hundreds of times every day, whether we invite them in, or they intrude like a nosy neighbor. And so many of us feel anxious about the state of American capitalism because we know that our biggest challenges – from inequality to climate change – are closely linked to the red flags of the corporate status quo. Yet we’re part of the system, which means it’s up to all of us to change it.
By illuminating and unpacking paths forward toward a more humanized approach to business, Green Flags can help anyone – from employee to executive – become part of this movement.
In our first season of Green Flags, we’re diving into the people businesses impact most directly: Their own workers. Over the course of nine episodes, we follow Abraham Mazlow’s famous (yet tragically misunderstood) Hierarchy of Needs to learn how businesses do – or don’t – take responsibility for the basic needs of their employees.