WLP347 Listening and Reading Recommendations February 2024
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
Release Date: 02/10/2024
WLP369 Strategy Leader with a Heart
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
In this episode, host Pilar Orti talks to Sagar Chandni, who describes himself as a distributed work practitioner and a strategy leader with a heart. We talk about the nuances of these terms and the evolving nature of work, particularly in India where Sagar is based. Sagar discusses his work with startups and the challenges and opportunities they face, and shares his approach to informed leadership, ethical business strategies, and workplace inclusiveness, as well as the importance of embracing a mindset shift and approaching work in a way that...
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WLP368 How do You Build a Hub of Talent?
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
Host Pilar Orti is joined by Doug Haines, the founder of and . Doug's entrepreneurial journey began with Kalium, where he successfully recruited talent from South Africa. This positive experience inspired him to launch Marketing Pros, an agency connecting South African marketing professionals with global opportunities. In this episode, Doug discusses the development of both ventures and his strategies for maintaining a robust talent pool. For the full show notes check out Find out more about Doug Haines and his companies: Marketing Pros: Kalium: If you’re looking to expand...
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WLP367 The 3 A's of Connection and other things I've been up to
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
In this episode, host Pilar Orti shares her new framework showing how we connect at work, and talks about some of her other projects. If you'd like to be alerted when the Remotely Shakespeare wall calendar comes out, head over to For more information check out
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WLP366 The Multiple Challenges of "Hybrid"
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
A special episode to celebrate the launch of the revised edition of The Long-Distance Leader, written by Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel, who returns to the show with another conversation that made host Pilar Orti laugh plenty of times. The conversation takes a critical look at the “hybrid” workplace - is it a compromise, a hostage negotiation? Or is the problem that we’re all transitioning to a new era of knowledge work, and are uncomfortable with uncertainty? Wayne also covers the role of trust, building a culture fit for hybrid and proximity bias. Summary blog post: ...
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WLP365 Career Transformation, Cultural Adaptation and Running a Pilates Studio!
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
In today’s episode, host Pilar Orti catches up with Frédérique Lloyd Bougreau, about how she transformed her career and lifestyle by setting up a Pilates studio in rural France. They talk about cultural adaptation, building a business in a new environment and the Importance of movement and exercise as we progress through life. Frédérique’s contact details are over at her website: As always, you can find Pilar over at
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WLP364 Researching Gen Z plus Reading and Listening Recommendations
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
For today’s Recommendations episode, Pilar is joined by Catherine Nicholson, co-founder and creative director of The Virtual Training Team. Before they move onto this month’s reading and listening recommendations, Catherine talks about her recent interest: the blend of generations in the workplace, and how to make the most out of them. Recorded on 7 August 2024 For the full set of show notes, head over to
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WLP363 Building Engagement and Belonging
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
In this episode Pilar talks to Justin Gignac, co-founder of Working Not Working, and Nicolina Jennings, the company's VP and Managing Director. Our guests share the origins and evolution of Working Not Working, and how what they’ve learned about engagement and belonging led to their new platform NTRNL. They make a strong case for increasing employee retention by creating an infrastructure that makes internal opportunities - and hidden talents- visible to all. You can find a summary over at Check out and
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WLP362 Bonding and Bridging - plus Reading and Listening Recommendations
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
We are joined by regular guest Theresa Hollema who has been doing some thinking with host Pilar Orti on the topic of Bonding within remote teams, versus Bridging, where team members create bonds with other parts of the organisation. Plus, Theresa has her own reading and listening recommendations to add to Pilar’s. You can connect with Theresa on LinkedIn: And check out the resources on her website: Let us know what you thought of the episode over at You can find an summary of the first part, plus all the links we refer to here:
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WLP361 Can Chatbots Affect Connection in Remote Teams?
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
A new player has entered the field in the world of work: generative AI. As remote teams increasingly rely on asynchronous communication, have AI chatbots become go-to resources for quick answers and idea validation? What does this mean for our workplace relationships and social skills? Maya Middlemiss and Pilar Orti discuss! For more detailed show notes head over to You can message Pilar through the Virtual not Distant website: and get hold of Maya over at Remote Work Europe: .
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WLP360 Remote and Beyond: A New Landscape for the World of Work
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
Host Pilar Orti talks to Henry O'Loughlin, founder of Buildremote. As he shares his journey from running a fully remote marketing agency to creating Buildremote, Henry discusses the pitfalls many companies faced during the pandemic and how his experience led him to develop a "remote operating system" playbook. The conversation evolves into a thought experiment looking into the future of work, exploring concepts like the four-day workweek, the growing trend of freelancing and the creator economy, ending in a not-too-distant future where traditional employment structures become networks of...
info_outlineToday’s post is the audio companion to the Virtual not Distant monthly newsletter, and you can subscribe to it via email here. Every month, Pilar shares with readers articles she’s come across on the web, books she’s read (or is reading) and podcast episodes she’s listened to.
The newsletter also has a digest of the Virtual not Distant content - but this podcast version has an update of Pilar’s own work.
Coffee Break Articles:
The dark side of remote work via Asynchronous Agile
Remote work stifles innovation, a massive new study finds via Gallant CEO, based on a study in Nature
Apple knew AirDrop users could be identified and tracked as early as 2019, researchers say via CNN Business
'I had £3,000 stolen via WhatsApp job scam message' via BBC UK
(This month’s articles are all a bit dark, but it’s just a coincidence!)
Book Recommendation:
This month’s book recommendation is "Four Thousand Weeks: Embrace your limits. Change your life. Make your four thousand weeks count" by Oliver Burkeman. It is NOT a book on how to manage your time. It's a philosophical read.
Listening Recommendations:
Podcast: The Tim Ferriss Podcast
Episode: Matt Mullenweg — The Art of Crafting a Sabbatical, Tips for Defending Against Hackers, Leveraging Open Source, Thriving in an AI World, and Tips for Life’s Darkest Hours (#713)
Date: 29 December 2023
Podcast: Work from Home Forever
Episode: Eileen Tanner, 27 Years of Remote Work from Fax Machines to Virtual Meetings
Date: 18 December 2023
(And if you want to find out more about Don Voltaire, host of Work from Home Forever , check out the latest episode of Adventures in Podcasting: Ep 71 Adventures in podcasting with your son, finding guests and the life-changing potential of remote work)
Podcast: Hard Fork