Podcast · Business

What Works

by Tara McMullin · English · Business

Work is central to the human experience. It helps us shape our identities, care for those we love, and contribute to our communities. Work can be a source of power and a catalyst for change. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us experience work—even those who work for themselves. Our labor and cr

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 23 min
Latest: 25 Jun 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

25 Jun 2026 · 16 min

Let's Talk About Reach, Baby!

A few episodes ago, I shared that I was rethinking social media as a way to fix my "distribution problem." Well, it's been a month, and I've posted 8 videos. The results have been not at all what I expected. In this quickie, I share my results so far, what's changed, and—because I can't help myself—a bigger question I have about interest-based distribution algorithms. Summer Seminar is back! Join me for this pop-up reading and discussion group that combines speculative fiction with critical thinking and personal reflection. We start July 7. Flexible pricing. Learn more and register!…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

18 Jun 2026 · 18 min
I Gave Myself a Short Assignment
If you're like me (and frankly, you probably are), you're easily overwhelmed by the sheer scope of your ideas. Not so much because they're so grand or world-changing, but because you see all the connections that could be included in your projects. Background information, theory, history, caveats... if you're curious and value context, any project can take on epic proportions. And that's when you need a short assignment. Footnotes: Read the essay version of this episode. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott " Rethinking Social Media " by Tara McMullin on What Works Tara McMullin on Instagram…
4 Jun 2026 · 21 min
We're Not Late (Or, Rethinking the Long-Term)
Today, I'm resharing an episode from last spring but with a fresh introduction about the feeling (too) late and some timely advice for my daughter, who graduates from high school tomorrow. It might be a good one to share with the graduate in your life! *** This episode is about the long term —the commitments, projects, and relationships we can work on when our "temporal bandwidth" widens. How we perceive time and our ability to do what's meaningful to us in time does have to be constrained by the urgency of now . There are ways to feel more grounded and create more possibilities at the same…
28 May 2026 · 15 min
Rethinking Social Media
"No matter how hard you post or what sites you do it in it’s never going to be 2019 again." — Amanda Mull on Bluesky I'm thinking about getting back on social media. Weird, I know. But (1) I have a distribution problem, and (2) it's not what it used to be... which is bad, but maybe also good for me? Today, I'm putting my thoughts into words and relying on a new essay by communications scholar danah boyd to make sense of why getting back on platforms feels vaguely appealing. Footnotes: Read the essay version of this post. " Social Media Is Now Parasocial Media " by danah boyd in Social Media…
21 May 2026 · 23 min
Just Because You Can: The Eggbeater Effect Revisited
Eight months before ChatGPT launched to the world, I wrote about "the eggbeater effect," or the tendency for labor-saving tools to create new labor. Four years later, I'm revisiting that idea. Remember: just because you can doesn't mean you should . Footnotes: Read the essay version of this episode. " The Stepford Wives " on You're Wrong About More Work for Mother by Ruth Schwartz Cowan " The Illusion of AI Productivity Gains " by Philippa Hardman " AI Doesn't Reduce Work—It Itensifies It " by Aruna Ranganathan and Xingqi Maggie Ye in Harvard Business Review " AI's big productivity boost?…
30 Apr 2026 · 41 min
Apples, Oranges, and Iceberg Metrics
You can always rely on me to channel my righteous indignation at shoddy data analysis into a lengthy podcast episode. Footnotes: Read the essay version of this episode. " How Short-Form Clips Took Over the Internet " on Galaxy Brain with Charlie Warzel " The Clip Economy " by Ed Elson on the Simply Put newsletter " What happens when the short-form video bubble bursts? " by Ryan Broderick on Garbage Day " Sorry (Not Sorry) Self-Promotion Doesn't Work " by Tara McMullin on What Works " The Case for Zero-Click Content in a Zero-Trust Ecosystem " by Amanda Natividad for SparkToro The Crisis of…
9 Apr 2026 · 43 min
Oh Joy! On Facing Down Burnout
Another episode featuring HBO's The Pitt? You know it. This time: finding your course of action in the space between personal challenges and systemic and structural failings. Footnotes : Read the essay version here. " Rethinking Busyness " on What Works HBO's The Pitt " Changes in Burnout and Satisfaction With Work–Life Integration in Physicians and the General US Working Population Between 2011 and 2023" AMA STEPS Forward A Spectre, Haunting by China Miéville ★ Support this podcast ★
20 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
The Wages of Hierarchy
On March 11, the 5-time World’s Best Restaurant, Noma, began a 3-month Los Angeles residency. The vanguard establishment of New Nordic Cuisine, was finally available to Americans without an international flight. All-inclusive bookings—sold out well ahead of opening day—went for $1500 per person. Diners, arriving in luxury vehicles with tinted windows, anticipated the hyper-local, painstakingly presented menu designed by Noma’s celebrated chef René Redzepi. But first, they had to make it past the protesters. They held signs that said, “Noma broke me,” “Prestige is not a paycheck,” and “No…
12 Mar 2026 · 26 min
Technicians, Visionaries, and the Myth of Going Solo
To the uninitiated, "being your own boss" sounds pretty nice. Of course, the moment you go into business for yourself, you realize the wide variety of skills it requires—skills that you yourself do not possess. Skills that you don't want to and have no intention of learning. Being your own boss means balancing a host of functions within one corporate (that is, "body") system. You can address the variety of those functions in a number of ways: learn, hire, minimize, or fight like hell and hope the problem goes away on its own. Today, I'm exploring how we think about who a small business owner…
5 Mar 2026 · 29 min
This Process is a Mess
I live for people explaining how they approach analysis and critique. I desperately want to know how other people think about things so I can learn to think in new ways. I want a compelling intellectual or journalistic project, but I also want to know how it was conceived and executed. I hope you enjoy hearing that kind of behind-the-scenes, too, because that's exactly what this episode is. It's a case study that I shared with the last cohort of Making Sense, my 8-week program for turning "Wait, what?!" moments into compelling content, explaining how an article I published last year came…
19 Feb 2026 · 24 min
How I Learn a New Skill
So a couple of weeks ago, I downloaded Final Cut Pro and committed to learning how to use it. Despite logging hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in other video editing software, this is a big challenge. I took some time to reflect on how I make sense of learning a new skill like this—because learning new skills is an essential component of navigating the 21st-century economy. Footnotes : Read the essay version of this episode here. The Adult Learner by Malcolm Knowles " Apple Creator Studio is launching to take on Adobe " on The Verge Registration for Making Sense, an 8-week workshop…
12 Feb 2026 · 10 min
Wait... what?!
You’re going along, minding your own business, and then it hits you: “Wait, what?! ” Your expectation or assumption bumps against the facts. Things aren’t the way you thought they were. It’s not always a life-altering surprise. It might be something tiny—just enough of a shock to make you rethink what you thought you knew. Today, how we resolve those “Wait, what?!” moments. I’m kicking off my 8-week workshop series, Making Sense , on March 24. This program walks you through the sensemaking process and takes you step by step through applying it to a media-making project. By the end of the 8…
5 Feb 2026 · 54 min
Rethinking Higher Ed for the 21st-Century Economy with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
It's no secret that one of my, let's say, special interests is higher education. The reasons for this are at least threefold. First, I have a kid heading off to college next year. Second, I have past regrets and future fantasies about the academy. And third, the world of work and the realm of education overlap in myriad ways. Work and education have always had a close relationship. Access to education influences access to different types of work. New forms of work influence how we organize and deliver education. I've been talking about doing an episode or a series on the intersection of…
29 Jan 2026 · 13 min
Grieving The Future Self
A brief meditation on grief at the loss of one's future self and how often that loss passes unacknowledged. Footnotes: Read the essay version of this episode. “10:00 am” (Season 1, Episode 4) The Pitt on HBO “ Ho’oponopono ” on Wikipedia Unlearning with Hannah Arendt by Marie Luise Knott The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt More from Tara: Blank Slate is a guide to rethinking your business for sustainability. Making Sense is an 8-workshop on creating compelling media through sensemaking. New cohort starts March 24. Registration opens on February 12. Learn more! ★ Support this podcast ★
22 Jan 2026 · 21 min
Circling Back
How often do you revisit old work? Do you have systems for circling back to what you've created in the past to see how you could improve upon it or take it in a new direction? In this episode, I consider the practice of circling back through Mckenzie Wark's theory of "hacking." And I explain why my latest project, Blank Slate, is a hack and how it came to be. Footnotes: Read the essay version of this episode. Learn more about rethinking your small business status quo with Blank Slate . " Broken Links " by Tara McMullin on What Works Capital Is Dead: Is This Something Worse? by Mckenzie Wark…
15 Jan 2026 · 30 min
Making Intelligence Masculine Again
I've had all the various parts of this episode swirling in my head for months—from The Paperclip Maximizer to The Great Feminization to Meta's Masculine Energy to mind-body dualism to the AI industry's role in what I propose is The Great Re-Masculinization. It is absolutely about both the present and the future of work, and whether we accept the inevitability of regressing to an imagined past or forge into a more dynamic, multi-dimensional workplace that values the contribution of all sorts of intelligence. Footnotes: Read the essay version of this episode " The Great Feminization " by Helen…
8 Jan 2026 · 23 min
What Else Must Be True?
Have a big decision on your mind? Trying to choose between a bunch of good options? Today, I'm talking about decision-making… not so much how to choose, but the context of our choices. No decision gets made in a vacuum. Choices are always framed by circumstances, relationships, emotions, fears, and desires. The good news is that deepening our self-knowledge can be a great way to illuminate the context of our choices and point us in a productive direction. So I'm sharing an exercise from my new guide, Blank Slate , to unlock some of that self-knowledge as you head into the new year. Blank…
4 Dec 2025 · 52 min
Getting My $#*! Together: A Messy Review of 2025
Here we are at the tail end of 2025. I just "opened" my Spotify Unwrapped... And after 3 years of burnout recovery, I’m finally ready to figure out what getting my shit together in the shadow of everything I’ve learned about myself and my needs in the last five years is going to look like. It’s tempting to assume that getting one’s shit together is a forward-looking pursuit. You know, “Here are all the things I’m going to do.” But, in my opinion, an important part of getting one’s shit together is taking stock of said shit. And so this episode is a step in that direction. I enlisted my…
20 Nov 2025 · 30 min
On Getting Attention, Encoding Messages, and Diving into the Deep End
How do you get people to care about what you care about? It's a marketing question. A movement-building question. A question at the heart of the attention economy. And in one form or another, it's the question I've probably received more than any other over the last 15+ years. After all, there is no silver-bullet social media plan , no door-knocking strategy, no magical meeting agenda that produces results if the message at its heart doesn’t resonate with those receiving it. This episode is in four chapters. In the first chapter, I assure you that getting attention is actually (relatively)…
23 Oct 2025 · 19 min
Drifting Toward the Status Quo
If you’ve ever chosen an ambitious, unconventional, or deeply meaningful aim only to see your plan devolve into something far more run-of-the-mill, this one is for you. Footnotes: Read the essay version of this episode. " AI Can't Even Turn On the Lights " on The Vergecast About OpenAI " Applying Systems Archetypes " via The Systems Thinker Sam Altman saying we've "surpassed" the definition of AGI from 5 years ago More from Tara on AI: " What is a search engine? Or, Anne Leckie versus the 'Well, Actually' Bros" " Always Be Optimizing " " Black Box Thinking " ★ Support this podcast ★
2 Oct 2025 · 30 min
Rethinking Busyness (With Help From HBO's The Pitt)
Try as we might, many of us can’t shake the overwhelming sense that we're just too damn busy—that feeling that there’s something we’re forgetting about, somewhere we should be, some person we should be checking on. Busyness is sticky. And that’s because busyness is more than the amount of stuff we have on our to-do lists or the appointments on our calendars. Busyness is social, structural, and even political—though our go-to “solutions” for it tend to be individual. This episode examines busyness on a deeper level—and in doing so, offers ideas for how navigate it with more care and grace.…
4 Sep 2025 · 21 min
Delightful Misdirection (Or How to Rethink Your Options)
How we think about a problem or goal really matters. The variables we include, the relationships we draw between them, the flows of influence or resources—they change the interventions we choose. They change what interventions might even be possible. Today, an episode about crosswords, coffee shops, and rethinking your assumptions. ☞ By the way, just 3 spots remain in this cohort of Making Sense! Registration closes September 12, but I expect those spots will be spoken for by then. If you want to communicate with more clarity, help others rethink their assumptions, and make a bigger impact…
21 Aug 2025 · 8 min
We Can't Quit Turning Leisure Into More Work
I'm pretty sure The New York Times is trolling me. Footnotes: Read the written version of this episode. " Hobbies Too Relaxing? Try 'Leisure Crafting' " by Lora Kelley in The New York Times " Research: How 'Leisure Crafting' Can Help You Recharge " by Alexander B. Hamrick, et al., in Harvard Business Review " Our Yearning for Competence " by Tara McMullin " Always Be Optimizing " by Tara McMullin Self-Help, INC by Micki McGee Turn your meaningful ideas into remarkable media—and help others make sense of chaos. Join me for Making Sense. We start September 16! ★ Support this podcast ★
14 Aug 2025 · 21 min
The Spectacle of Competence
"Competence porn" is an indistinct genre of media that showcases people doing their jobs (loosely defined) exceptionally well, often using niche skills or uncommon expertise. You've no doubt seen it in documentaries, in short-form video, and even in a courtroom procedural or medical drama. What is it that's so appealing about competence porn? And why call it "porn?" And what can it tell us about what's missing from our work? This episode gets into all of that. But first, I gotta tell you about the day I became a boulderer. There are just 6 open spots in my next cohort of Making Sense ! If…
7 Aug 2025 · 31 min
3 Ways I Make Sense of the Unexpected & Perplexing
In the last episode ( written version ), we talked about how "sensemaking starts with chaos" and that chaos arises when our expectations don't match reality. That mismatch occurs because the mental model we have that creates our expectations doesn't work for the situation at hand. To alleviate the frustration (or at least make sense of it), we need a new mental model. Well, in this episode, I want to share 3 mental models that I use to make sense of things that frustrate people I care about. These models aren’t even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the different ways we can make…
31 Jul 2025 · 17 min
Make It Make Sense
"Sensemaking starts with chaos," says organizational theorist Karl Weick. Chaos is the confusion and frustration we feel when things don't turn out the way we expect them to. To make sense of the chaos, we have to look past the results and examine how we came to expect what we did. This is the first part in a miniseries on sensemaking and media. Next week, I'll share some of the mental models I use to make sense of what feel chaotic to me. This miniseries is good on its own—and even better with MAKING SENSE, an 8-part interactive workshop about turning meaningful ideas into remarkable media.…
24 Jul 2025 · 40 min
EP 500: What if you're not off track... and never have been?
If you're like me, you often think about what you would have done to prepare for... this job, this economy, this political climate, this financial situation, etc... if only you'd known. But you didn't know (I didn't know). And you (I) couldn't know. Some of the loudest shoulds and supposed-tos we face are those we couldn't have achieved due to the time we were born or the family we grew up in. In this episode, I reflect on the rapid changes occurring in work and the economy in the 21st century and how they relate to how I guide my now 17-year-old daughter. Then, I share my interview with…
17 Jul 2025 · 19 min
EP 499: Reduction in Force
No job is safer than a government job, right? Well, not anymore. At least not in the US. I’m paying special attention to the fight over government jobs (or, as the administration might put it, “bloat and inefficiency”) because it’s part of a more comprehensive narrative project—one that shapes how we think and talk about work, and therefore think and talk about who we are and how we fit into society. Questioning the narrative that government workers are lazy or that bureaucracy is bloated and unnecessary is one way to question the narratives we perpetuate in our own work lives. And that's…
26 Jun 2025 · 12 min
INTERLUDE: The Pleasure & Promise of Re-Reading
I wanted to drop in with a quiet interlude about re-reading (or re-watching, or re-listening) and its value in a world obsessed with new and different. Footnotes: Read the essay version of this episode. " Murderbot Gets Us In Ways Humans Don't " by Tara McMullin on Motley Bloom " Broken Links " by Tara McMullin Liquid Modernity by Zygmunt Bauman Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse? by Mackenzie Wark ★ Support this podcast ★
5 Jun 2025 · 24 min
EP 498: Breaking The Validation Spiral
Why is it that it seems like no amount of work, accolades, or achievement is enough? Why do we keep signing up for more, even as our capacity becomes ever more depleted? Why do we settle for mediocrity when we yearn for excellence? In today's episode, I revisit an idea from my book—the validation spiral—and provide a framework for understanding why we become stuck in it and how we can break free. Add to that a healthy dose of Audre Lorde's feminist theory, and you've got a satisfying mental model for rethinking your commitments. Summer Seminar starts Monday, June 9! Learn more about this…

About What Works

What Works is a English business podcast from Tara McMullin. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Tara McMullin
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 23 min
Latest episode: 25 Jun 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1054027973

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