The Boss Rebellion™: Recent Episodes
Free Agent Source
For every "organization man," there's an adventurer who lives to performance-tune the machine, break through roadblocks, and leave a mark and a legacy. Here are two guys determined to get (sh)it done.
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black consider the future of employment and the work week in light of artificial intelligence. Differences of opinion as to the potential impact. The #bossrebellion doubles down on its side of the equation.
Discussed
- Human labor as a value
- Job losses not only offshore
- Global economic ecosystem at risk
- Prosperity requiring intelligence
Talent
- Steve Pruneau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepruneau/
- Asher Black https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherblack/
- Management Consulting Firm: https://freeagentsource.com/
- The Boss Rebellion https://bossrebellion.com/
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black consider changing attitudes about job fulfillment and the value of life in an organizational structure have changed. Differences of opinions. Shared view = a #bossrebellion will be required engage the newest workforce generation as it strives to align life goals with work context.
Discussed
- The cost of failed accountability (2008 Financial Crisis)
- The locus of value in a work relationship
- Is the vagabond response sustainable or more of the same?
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black discuss the bid for creators to get compensated by AI firms for teaching AI (voluntarily or otherwise). Reddit's bid for compensation from ChatGPT and Bard. Acknowledging the economic value of creative intelligence is a central concept in the #bossrebellion
Discussed:
- Reddit wants to get paid by AI
- The Monetary Value of Learning & Development
- The Intellectual Property vs. Teaching Argument
- Writers Are on Deck, Musicians Next, Visual Artists Take Note
- A New Business Model For Twitter and Facebook
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black discuss the impact of layoffs on the profitability of a firm, its shareholder value, the fiscal cost of lost morale, and resetting when it's time to hire again. Facebook's "Year of Efficiency". Acknowledging the human wavelength and the revenue value of a firm's emotional life are central concepts in the #bossrebellion
Discussed:
- Emotions equal profit
- Substituting business abstractions for human emotions
- Selective application of efficiency and profit
- The fallacy of severing permanent relationships
- Southwest and the Airline Space Analogy
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black discuss terrible jobs, the "do everything I don't want to do" role, and the disparity between executive privilege and the meniality of jobs in which one is expected to toil for pay but not joy or aspiration. Acknowledging the emotional realities of work is a central concept in the #bossrebellion
Discussed:
- The two tiers of work culture - aspiration and joy vs. menial grind
- Leadership privilege and self-awareness
- The problem of scope creep and attrition
- Terrible jobs vs. the job as an adventure
- Employing the whole person
- Interesting challenges vs. unreasonable ones
- The leader acknowledging his/her own emotional needs
RESEARCH LINKS
NYtimes: "High-Profile Art Couple Offers Worst Job Ever" http://rb.gy/oi7okw
TALENT
Steve Pruneau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepruneau/
Asher Black https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherblack/
Management Consulting Firm: https://freeagentsource.com/
The Boss Rebellion https://bossrebellion.com/
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black discuss Patreon founder Jack Conte's initiative to help creators make money and how eliminating friction and the middle man is key to aligning one's business model with one's purpose as well as filling an enormous cultural and economic need in the #bossrebellion
Discussed:
- Eliminating the middle man / friction in a commercial ecosystem
- Bringing one's whole self / creative intelligence / creative energy to work
- Removing the separation between one's own interests and the business does
- Being an artist and creator first - the Jack Conte example (Patreon)
- Eliminating dependency on others
- Aligning one's business model with one's purpose
- The value of direct relationships
- The competition to help creators make money as a second
- Renaissance
- Making what I want vs. what makes me happy
- The predatory character of many existing models
RESEARCH LINKS
Interview with Patreon founder Jack Conte:
https://www.theverge.com/22543655/patreon-ceo-decoder-
interview-jack-conte
TALENT
Steve Pruneau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepruneau/
Asher Black https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherblack/
Management Consulting Firm: https://freeagentsource.com/
The Boss Rebellion https://bossrebellion.com/
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black wonder that activist investors are not more interested in pay transparency, given that it directly impacts shareholder value. Is the company paying inflated salaries to less valuable members, or utilizing subjective salary offers where a more transparent market could mean a more efficient one? C-suite executives that want more revenue options take note in the #bossrebellion
Discussed:
- Workarounds firms use to avoid pay transparency and preserve subjective pay scales
- Pay inequities based on location and demographic — pay subjectivity
- How HR Departments enforce a system of non-transparency that penalizes women
- The objective value of work vs. the subjective value of people - why investors should be interested
- How pay confidentiality hampers investment transparency for shareholders
- Activist investors and the possibility of a more efficient market
- Who is worth the most in the lifeboat of salary costs - management vs. investor views
RESEARCH LINKS
- How firms are skirting the legal requirement for job listing salary range disclosures https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/01/25/pay-transparency-laws-companies-salary-disclosure/
TALENT
- Steve Pruneau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepruneau/
- Asher Black https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherblack/
- Management Consulting Firm: https://freeagentsource.com/
The Boss Rebellion https://bossrebellion.com/
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black consider how terminating people by cutting off their email is normalizing what employees do when they ghost interviewers during candidacy or quitting. The transactional nature of employment is more pronounced than ever. Possible opportunity in the #bossrebellion
Discussed:
- Google normalizes transactional employment
- Good and bad breakups
- Hedge funds driving layoffs = more transactional
- On scooping out more middle management
- Values Based Leadership
- Crying for the lost
- Alienation of firms from social elements of life
RESEARCH LINKS
- Google Engineer Layoffs https://www.businessinsider.com/google-engineer-laid-off-on-vacation-boss-sent-linkedin-message-2023-2
- TCI Fund Management Limited letter to Google: "You didn't go deep enough" https://www.tcifund.com/files/corporateengageement/alphabet/20th%20January%202023.pdf
TALENT
- Steve Pruneau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepruneau/
- Asher Black https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherblack/
- Management Consulting Firm: https://freeagentsource.com/
The Boss Rebellion https://bossrebellion.com/
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black gawk at the current valley in the cycle of hiring and layoffs that typify firms' inability to match workforce to workload, and how business journalism euphemizes that problem. Of interest in the #bossrebellion
Discussed:
- The ugly cycle of hiring and layoffs
- Jaded reactions after multiple bubbles
- The security of jobs vs. work
- The euphemisms around layoffs that conceal their cause
- The end of job loss shame and the gift of getting back one's time
RESEARCH LINKS
- Age group reactions to tech layoffs https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/20/technology/tech-layoffs-millennials-gen-x.html
- The usual suspects in journalism about layoffs https://madpipe.link/463039
TALENT
- Steve Pruneau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepruneau/
- Asher Black https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherblack/
- Management Consulting Firm: https://freeagentsource.com/
The Boss Rebellion https://bossrebellion.com/
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black kick around (in 7 minutes) Twitter CEO Elon Musk's offer to step down if employees prefer. Symptom of a brewing #bossrebellion
Discussed:
- Corporate Democracy & the Executive Function Applied to Every Role Level
- Work as Values Laden vs. Values Neutral
- Hardcore Employee Culture
- Is a Company a Culture or a Stable?
- "Would you rather love your work or be in charge?"
LINKS & REFERENCES
- Elon Musk's Twitter Poll https://madpipe.link/3313ea
- The Boss Rebellion https://bossrebellion.com/
TALENT
- Steve Pruneau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepruneau/
- Asher Black https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherblack/
- Management Consulting Firm: https://freeagentsource.com/
Steve Pruneau and Asher Black weigh (in 12 minutes) the challenge by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and a cadre of oil and gas states to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink on sustainable investment vs. shareholder profit. Fink as Jedi in the #bossrebellion
Discussed:
- Sustainable Capitalism, Sustainable Profit
- Fiduciary Responsibility
- Corporate Accountability & Tangible Commitment
- Values Based Leadership
- CEO as Leader vs. Opportunist
- Worker/Executive Utility and Pragmatism
- Employer-employee Disconnect
LINKS & REFERENCES
- Attorney General (TX) Ken Paxton Press Release https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/ag-paxton-demands-blackrock-account-its-underperforming-potentially-illegal-esg-state-pension-fund
- Larry Fink Investor Letter https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter
- The Boss Rebellion https://bossrebellion.com/
TALENT
- Steve Pruneau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepruneau/
- Asher Black https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherblack/
Management Consulting Firm: https://freeagentsource.com/