{"podcast":{"title":"At Work with The Ready","slug":"at-work-with-the-ready-674516","podcast_index_feed_id":674516,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/bravenewwork","website_url":"https://www.theready.com/podcast","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/dabe72f0-07f6-11ea-b228-9bd35a94a12d/image/ee8057a4d62e569b9ca1ab58ad91612c.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"The Ready","episode_count":274,"summary":"Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin have helped teams around the world adopt more modern ways of working and on At Work with The Ready they’re sharing the inside scoop with you, too. Whether you’re struggling with a carousel of ineffective meetings, annual strategy sessions that go nowhere, or decision-making churn that never ceases, they’ve seen it all and are here to help. In each episode, they'll break down common workplace challenges and show you the moves—both big and small—to start making real, lasting change. (Formerly “Brave New Work” with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans)","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/at-work-with-the-ready-674516"},"episode":{"title":"46. Embracing the Beautiful Mess: How Organizations Actually Work with John Cutler","slug":"46-embracing-the-beautiful-mess-how-organizations-actually-work-with-john-cutler","published_at":"2026-04-06T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/at-work-with-the-ready-674516/46-embracing-the-beautiful-mess-how-organizations-actually-work-with-john-cutler","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/at-work-with-the-ready-674516","url":"https://hubs.la/Q03RbTLw0","audio_url":"https://mgln.ai/e/p138286/traffic.megaphone.fm/TR9876461839.mp3","summary":"Most leaders want to believe they're building something durable: a company that matters, a culture that sticks, a system people can rely on. But what if most organizations don't have the staying power of a great city like Venice...and instead are more like a gold rush town? What if that same company is more likely to change you than you are to change it? In this episode, Sam sits down with John Cutler, writer of The Beautiful Mess and Head of Product at Dotwork, to pull on the threads John has been obsessively following for years: how organizations actually work, why seeing patterns and being able to act on them are completely different skills, how leadership is like game design, and why embracing the mess might be smarter than chasing clarity. Learn more about John and Dotwork: Read his newsletter On LinkedIn Dotwork -------------------------------- Ready to change your organization? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Let's talk.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get our newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -------------------------------- Mentioned references: Dr. Cat Hicks John's post about \"the slide\" W. Edwards Deming \"Hollow Knight and Silksong\" John's post with Tom Kerwin Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety This Beautiful Mess (the emo band) John's old Medium posts North Star Framework Team Topologies, book by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais 00:00 Intro + Check-In: What was your first job and did you learn anything from it that you still use today? 02:34 Finding your organizational trigger words 08:41 Can you really change your company? 11:12 Most companies are more like gold rush towns than lasting institutions 15:26 Finding joy at work when the company won't lo…","meta_description":"Most leaders want to believe they're building something durable: a company that matters, a culture that sticks, a system people can rely on. But what if m…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3113,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/at-work-with-the-ready-674516/episodes/46-embracing-the-beautiful-mess-how-organizations-actually-work-with-john-cutler/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/at-work-with-the-ready-674516/46-embracing-the-beautiful-mess-how-organizations-actually-work-with-john-cutler.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}