More Humane Work With Joe O'Connor - TWMJ #1018
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1018 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a moment when burnout is normalized and productivity is still measured by hours rather than impact, the five-day workweek is starting to look less like a foundation of modern life and more like an outdated design choice. is the CEO of and one of the world’s leading architects of the four-day workweek, having designed and led large-scale pilots across multiple countries, industries and organizational types. His work sits at the intersection of labor economics, organizational culture and performance...
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Why We're All Digitally Exhausted With Paul Leonardi - TWMJ #1017
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1017 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a time when technology promises limitless capability yet leaves so many people mentally depleted, the question is no longer whether digital tools are powerful, but whether we know how to live with them. is a leading expert on digital transformation, the future of work, and organizational networks, with more than two decades of research and advisory work focused on how technology reshapes collaboration, innovation, and human behavior. A professor at the , where he holds the Duca Family Endowed Chair...
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AI And The Future Of Marketing With Mark Schaefer - TWMJ #1016
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1016 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a moment when artificial intelligence is reshaping not just how markets operate but how people think, feel, decide and connect, understanding the human consequences of that shift has become essential. is a keynote speaker, educator, strategist, and a voice in modern marketing, with more than three decades of experience spanning global sales, public relations and brand strategy. He is a faculty member at . Mark’s latest book, , extends his body of work by examining how AI is quietly rewiring consumer...
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Navigate Hidden Markets With Judd Kessler - TWMJ #1015
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1015 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a moment when scarcity shapes everything from opportunity to attention, understanding who gets what (and why) has become one of the most consequential questions in modern life. is the inaugural Howard Marks Endowed Professor at the , an award-winning economist, and one of the leading thinkers in market design, public policy and behavioral economics. His research examines how rules, incentives, and institutional structures shape outcomes in environments where price alone cannot (or should not) decide...
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Creators And Entrepreneurs With Joe Pulizzi - TWMJ #1014
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1014 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a moment when careers feel increasingly precarious and algorithms quietly dictate how value is created and captured, it’s worth learning from someone who has spent more than two decades helping creators and entrepreneurs reclaim ownership of their work and their futures. is the founder of multiple influential startups, including , the and is widely recognized as the person who first coined the term “content marketing” in 2001, long before it became an industry unto itself. A bestselling...
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Emotionally Intelligent Teams With Vanessa Urch Druskat - TWMJ #1013
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1013 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). At a time when organizations are wrestling with fractured cultures, hybrid work, and teams struggling to stay connected, it helps to learn from someone who has spent three decades proving that collaboration is not a personality trait but a designed environment, which is why this episode turns to the work of , an award-winning researcher, educator at the , and one of the world’s leading experts on team emotional intelligence. Vanessa has devoted her career to understanding how teams actually function in...
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Facing Fear And Finding Purpose With Ranjay Gulati - TWMJ #1012
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1012 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). Amid a moment when uncertainty defines every industry and leaders everywhere are confronting fear disguised as strategy, it is worth turning to someone who has spent his career decoding how individuals and organizations find the courage to act, which is why this week’s guest, , offers such rare authority. Ranjay is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor at , a globally recognized organizational sociologist, bestselling author, and one of the world’s most cited scholars on leadership,...
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Why Great Teams Beat Star Talent With Jon Levy - TWMJ #1011
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1011 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). We tend to romanticize leadership as an act of personal brilliance, but the deeper story is often about the people who understand what truly moves human beings toward one another. has built a career around that question. A renowned human behavioral scientist, consultant and creator of the long-running - a global, invitation-only experiment where guests cook together anonymously to dissolve status cues and foster authentic connection - Jon has spent over fifteen years studying why people bond,...
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Why Authenticity Is Overrated With Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic - TWMJ #1010
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1010 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). What if the search for our “true selves” has been leading us away from who we actually need to become? That’s the tension at the heart of ’s work, a globally respected authority on people analytics, talent, leadership, and the Human–AI interface whose career spans , , , , , and decades of research that have shaped how organizations understand human behavior. His latest book, challenges one of the most cherished modern beliefs - that success comes from projecting our raw, unfiltered selves - and...
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Beyond Flying Cars And Futurist Myths With Nick Foster - TWMJ #1009
Thinking With Mitch Joel
Welcome to episode #1009 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation). The future isn’t something to predict... it’s something to practice. Few people embody that idea more completely than , a designer, futurist and author whose work has quietly influenced some of the most innovative companies on the planet - from , , and to , where he served as head of design. In his new book, , Nick challenges the way we imagine what comes next. Rather than offering forecasts, he explores four mindsets - could, should, might, and don’t - that shape how individuals and organizations...
info_outlineWelcome to episode #1018 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation).
At a moment when burnout is normalized and productivity is still measured by hours rather than impact, the five-day workweek is starting to look less like a foundation of modern life and more like an outdated design choice. Joe O’Connoris the CEO of Work Time Revolution and one of the world’s leading architects of the four-day workweek, having designed and led large-scale pilots across multiple countries, industries and organizational types. His work sits at the intersection of labor economics, organizational culture and performance design, helping companies rethink how work actually gets done in a knowledge-based, AI-accelerated economy. Joe has advised governments, nonprofits and private-sector leaders on how to redesign work in ways that improve employee well-being while maintaining (or increasing) organizational performance, challenging deeply held assumptions about time, output and commitment. His new book, Do More In Four - Why It’s Time For A Shorter Workweek (with co-author Jared Lindzon), brings together research, real-world case studies and global experimentation to argue that the five-day workweek is neither inevitable nor optimal. Joe shows how reducing work time can sharpen focus, improve equity and force organizations to confront outdated productivity metrics built for an industrial era. He also examines how AI is accelerating the need for new work models, exposing the inefficiencies of activity-based measurement and pushing leaders to define productivity in terms of outcomes, not presence. Grounded in data yet pragmatic about cultural resistance, Joe’s perspective positions the four-day workweek not as an employee concession, but as a competitive advantage for organizations willing to rethink the rules of work before the market forces them to. Enjoy the conversation…
- Running time: 55:55.
- Hello from beautiful Montreal.
- Listen and subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.
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- Please visit and leave comments on the blog - Thinking With Mitch Joel.
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- Here is my conversation with Joe O’Connor.
- Do More In Four - Why It’s Time For A Shorter Workweek.
- Work Time Revolution.
- Jared Lindzon.
- Follow Joe on LinkedIn.
Chapters:
(00:00) - The Evolution of the Work Week.
(02:57) - Rethinking Productivity in the Age of AI.
(05:50) - Work-Life Balance: A Modern Dilemma.
(09:09) - The Four-Day Work Week: A Societal Aspiration.
(12:08) - AI’s Impact on Work Structures.
(15:03) - Cultural Dynamics in Work Environments.
(17:58) - Challenges in Implementing Change.
(21:09) - Market Forces and the Future of Work.
(29:56) - The Evolution of the Four-Day Work Week.
(35:30) - Measuring Productivity in a New Work Model.
(42:15) - Cultural Dynamics and Leadership in the Four-Day Work Week.
(48:55) - AI’s Role in Shaping Future Work Models.
(53:22) - Gender Equality and Flexibility in the Workplace.