The Busyness Paradox
The world of work is a world of paradox. In this podcast, we tackle your everyday workplace or office environment topics, challenges, or activities. We also discuss trends and strategy in business. Our end goal is to help managers stamp out bad practices and help employees deal with them. Drs. Frank Butler and Paul Harvey, two management professors, co-host this podcast. We encourage your participation in our podcast by asking questions or sharing your experiences with us.
Episodes
59 episodes
Beyond the Bill: Tipping Trends and Research Revelations
Live from the Southern Management Association conference in St. Pete Beach, FL, Frank and Paul interview Cornel University's Dr. Mike Lynn, arguably the world's foremost researcher on service tipping. We discuss the pros and cons of tipping as ...
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Season 3
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Episode 59
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1:28:23
Kneeling at the Altar of Busyness
Fans of American College Football were recently treated to a baffling display of heroic determination. Needing only to touch a kneecap to a blade of grass to secure a hard fought victory, the University of Miami's gridiron team bravely stole de...
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Season 3
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Episode 58
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58:24
Why Not Win? A Discussion with Larry Thornton and Dave Ketchen
Larry Thornton and Dave Ketchen join us to discuss their award-winning graphic novel, "You Have to Live, Why Not Win?" and Larry's journey from racial segregation to success as an entrepreneur, author, teacher and artist. This is our most inspi...
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Season 3
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Episode 57
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1:24:26
The Paradox of Fearing Change
We humans have a love/hate relationship with change. Many of us are probably alive today because some cave-dwelling ancestor said “on second thought, let’s not try that new shortcut through viper country cousin Erg suggested before he mysteriou...
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Season 2
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Episode 56
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53:01
Mo' Money, Mo' Busywork
Have you ever gotten a pay raise and then, looking back, sort of wished you hadn't? It's become a surprisingly common phenomenon as employees have found hidden strings attached to the Covid-era generosity shown by employers. To discuss this unu...
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Season 2
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Episode 55
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48:39
Artificial Work Meets Artificial Intelligence
With all the fanfare about artificial intelligence these past few months, listeners have asked us: "Will ChatGPT put an end to busywork?" Like all self-appointed experts, we took the question straight to ChatGPT. It tells us that "ChatGPT is de...
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Season 2
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Episode 54
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55:57
Who’s The Real Time Thief?
It’s that time of year when endless news reports about March Madness-related “time theft” bubble up to the surface (get it? like teams on the bubble? anyone?) They all bemoan the incalculable dollar amount, which dozens of studies nonetheless c...
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Season 2
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Episode 53
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45:41
When Working Hard Looks Like Hardly Working
Join us as we pat ourselves on the back for reaching the fabled 52-episode milestone. Because 52 is way more exciting than 50. Not because we had already passed 50 episodes without realizing it. Why would you even think that? Anyways, publishin...
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Season 2
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Episode 52
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1:10:21
Excessively Lean: When a Lack of Slack Bites You in the Back
We all know the story. After worshipping at the altar of "lean" for decades, we spent two years wondering where all the toilet paper and pickup trucks went. Covid reminded us that too much efficiency could be colossally inefficient, slack was b...
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Season 2
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Episode 51
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49:14
Unions, Strikes, and Your Rights with Dan Gilmore
If you're like us, you grew up being told that American labor unions were a fading relic of the past. After a string of successful organizing drives and a stunning 406 strikes in 2022, we're ...
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Season 2
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Episode 50
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1:01:35
Repressing Workers With Busywork
Back in March 2020, millions of workers around the world abruptly learned that their jobs didn't always require their presence at a specific desk in a specific building at a specific set of times each and every week. After a bumpy start, many b...
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Season 2
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Episode 49
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51:24
Let's Get Down(sized)!
“Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” So says Mike Tyson, and so it is with layoffs. No one starts a new job expecting it to end with a pink-slip. Even when the grim employment reaper is seen milling about our own workpla...
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Season 2
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Episode 48
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44:13
Striking Back: Protecting Your Paycheck When Your Job Goes Off The Rails
Almost three years in, we think it's safe to conclude that history will view the 2020's as "an interesting time to be alive." But a silver lining of these turbulent times has been the widespread rethinking about how work should "work." The resu...
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Season 2
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Episode 47
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51:05
The Quiet Quitting Quagmire
By now you've probably heard about "quiet quitting," the latest workplace trend to blow the minds of journalists and social media posters alike. This stunning act of rebellion involves employees doing the work they are paid to do. Seriously. Th...
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Season 2
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Episode 46
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47:31
People Don't Want to Work (for you) Anymore!
We've all seen the signs and memes. We've heard the cranky scorn from talking heads, business owners, politicians and old men yelling at clouds. No one (except them) wants to work anymore! Everyone (except them) is lazy! In this episode, we cha...
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Season 2
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Episode 45
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32:36
Charlotte Lockhart and the 4-Day Week
You asked us to talk more about four-day work weeks, we did you one better. Join us for a discussion with Charlotte Lockhart, founder and managing director of the 4 Day Week Global Foundation! With operations in North America, Australia, New Ze...
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Season 2
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Episode 44
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48:03
Expanding the Compressed Workweek
With all the changes brought about by Covid-19, you might not be surprised to hear about a huge uptick in research on the effects of shortened work weeks. You might be surprised to hear that this sudden burst of scholarly interest began - and e...
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Season 2
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Episode 43
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36:17
Busy Signals
There is such a thing as "good" busyness - that baseline euphoria you feel when you're humming along, pummeling your to-do list like it owes you money. There's also such a thing as fake busyness - that absurd phenomenon where adults convene in ...
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Season 2
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Episode 42
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29:49
Time For Niksen (not that Nixon)
That's it! We're starting a church...Links to articles, episodes and topics discussed in this episode:0:30 -
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Season 2
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Episode 41
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34:22
WFH is Dead! Long Live WFH!
Every few months someone proclaims the death of this working-from-home silliness. Citing indisputably indisputable sources, they assure us that our long nightmare of comfort and efficiency is over. "Rejoice!" they tell us! All who toil in their...
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Season 2
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Episode 40
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32:59
Resigners' Regrets
Been a whole lot of quitting goin' on these past couple years. Early on we celebrated triumphant stories of the over-worked and under-appreciated declaring that enough was enough. These days we're hearing less inspiring tales, where reasonably ...
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Season 2
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Episode 39
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31:28
Calling Out Kardashian
Here at the Busyness Paradox, we share a deep and sincere commitment to not giving a rat's a** about the antics of the inexplicably famous. But we bear no ill will toward those who lean in to the meta-paradoxical wonderland of unearned success ...
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Season 2
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Episode 38
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34:17
Optimal Busyness? Let's Ask An Expert
Excessive busyness is bad, especially when you don't have enough of it. Not gonna lie, even we at “The Busyness Paradox” didn’t see that busyness paradox coming. Two researchers in France did, however, and we’re joined by one of them! Dr....
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Season 2
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Episode 37
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49:23
Untangling the Paradox of The Busyness Paradox
As the Business Paradox returns from a quick break, we take a few minutes to answer your questions, take stock of the Business Paradox's first 15 months of existence, and reflect on the time we started a heated hoodie cult.
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Season 2
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Episode 36
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51:41