At Work with The Ready

In this miniseries, we’re exploring Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges.

This week, Rodney and Sam look at the Sky—the external forces like market shifts, technological disruptions, and political changes that shape your organization. While most companies are comfortable staying heads-down in the day-to-day, failing to look outward creates costly blind spots that lead to org debt, misaligned strategy, and even existential risk.

Cultivating a regular practice of looking up and outward is the key to successfully meeting this moment—and all the ones to come.

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and examples of how to use it.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

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Mentioned references:

• lido deck
• Deep River potato chips
• the giant Snickers
• "building the bridge to the next thing" - dual transformation
• Kodak's digital revolution moment
• the Information age
• "op rhythm": BNW Ep. 118
• "Liberating Structures": BNW Ep. 49 with Keith McCandless
• Critical Uncertainties
• red team
• "essential intent": BNW Ep. 90 with Greg McKeown

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

2024 felt like a bit of a rollercoaster—and while we’re ready to close the book on this year, we wouldn’t be first-class org designers if we passed up the chance to hold a retrospective. Add in the fact that this is Rodney’s 200th episode and BNW + AWWTR have crossed the one million download milestone, and a little celebration feels like the right thing.

In today’s episode, Rodney and Sam reflect on the show’s 2024 season—including the episodes they loved, the episodes they want a do-over on, and what they hope for the show in 2025.

We want to know what you think! Take our 2024 Listener Survey.

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• LinkedIn
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Mentioned references:

• The Future of HR Miniseries
• The Ready's OS Canvas
• RACI episode: AWWTR Ep. 10
• Leaders as org designers episode: AWWTR Ep. 13
• "McGillicuddy"
• All the small things episode: AWWTR Ep. 19
• "video about the woman who doesn't use a calendar"
• Jason Fox episode: AWWTR Ep. 17 with Jason Fox
• Dual Transformation, book from 2017

Over the last decade at The Ready, we’ve seen firsthand that the most significant organizational challenges are nearly all cross-functional. But most company structures? Very much not cross-functional. Adding more project managers, looking to external partners for one-and-done silver bullets, or assembling yet another task force just isn’t cutting it as the world changes faster than most organizations can keep up.

Enter Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges. In our new Depthfinding miniseries, Rodney and Sam will help you see your organization in a new way whether you’re individual contributor or a C-Suite executive. Ready? Let’s dive in.

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and example Rodney mentioned in this episode.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

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Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here.

Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram

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Mentioned references:

• The Ready's OS Canvas
• strategy pancakes: AWWTR Ep. 2
• even/overs: BNW Ep. 44
• essential intent: BNW Ep. 90 with Greg McKeown
• check-in round

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

In this miniseries, we’re exploring Depthfinding—an easy-to-grasp framework designed to help leaders and teams solve their gnarliest cross-functional challenges.

This week, Rodney and Sam dive into the Sunshine Zone—the highly visible work of organizations, from strategy decks and OKRs to mission statements and financial targets. While these elements are easy to track and refine, spending too much time in the Sunshine Zone often leads to performative goal setting, misaligned priorities, and a disconnect from the deeper work that actually drives change.

Leaders who want real progress—not just a well-polished plan—need to balance the visible with the essential. Cultivating adaptability, feedback loops, and space for creative, cross-functional work is the key to moving beyond surface-level success.

Download the Depthfinding guide to get the template and examples of how to use it.

Want to learn more about Depthfinding? Head here: theready.com/depthfinding

--------------------------------

Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here.

Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram

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Mentioned references:

• EBITDA
• ACT Matrix
• "womperjawed"
• "90% of executives failing to reach strategic goals"
• operating rhythm: BNW Ep. 118
• Deming quote
• "Bach suite"
• SMART goals

This episode's theme music is Yaggadang by BG & Coyote Radio.

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.

There are plenty of organizations that say they want to be “customer-focused”—but in practice? It’s easy to fall back on leader-driven opinions and assumptions about what customers really want. That’s especially true in big companies with entrenched processes and hierarchies that prioritize internal agendas. In those environments, staying aligned with customer needs can be an uphill battle—and organizations instead get stuck building solutions based on what leaders think customers should want, rather than what they need, leaving exciting opportunities on the cutting room floor.

In this episode, Rodney and Sam dig into what it actually takes to adopt a product mindset. From navigating a “hammer looking for nails” ethos to designing flexible solutions that adapt to actual user behavior, they unpack how to bring customer-centricity into daily practice—and what to do when you start to veer off course.

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Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here.

Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram

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Mentioned references:

• Depthfinding
• psych safety ep: AWWTR Ep. 20
• experimentation ep: BNW Ep. 62
• founder mode ep: AWWTR Ep. 22
• Josh Bersin ep: The Future of HR Ep. 12 with Josh Bersin
• revealed preference