Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
About This Episode
In this powerful episode of The Future of Work® Podcast, three leaders in workplace design and people strategy — Bree Groff, Priya Rathod, and Selena Rezvani — unpack what truly makes work meaningful today. From the myth that work must be drudgery to the practical systems companies can adopt for wellbeing, belonging, trust, inclusion, and confidence — this conversation reframes workplace culture as a strategic advantage. Drawing on decades of experience working with C‑suite leaders and global teams, our guests provide tangible ways leaders and employees alike can build environments where people show up energized, feel like they belong, and are empowered to bring their full selves to work. For anyone shaping the future of work — whether you lead teams, rethink culture, or build inclusive systems — this conversation is a roadmap to better days at work.
About Bree Groff
Bree Groff is a workplace culture expert and author of Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously). She has guided C‑suite leaders at companies like Microsoft, Google, Pfizer, Calvin Klein, and Hilton through complex change. A Senior Advisor at SYPartners and former CEO of NOBL Collective, Bree blends organizational change expertise with deep insights into team joy and culture. She holds an MS in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University and lives in New York City with her family.
About Priya Rathod
Priya Rathod is the Co‑Chair of Indeed’s Parents & Caregivers Inclusion Resource Group, advocating for equity and wellbeing at work. With over 20 years in media, tech, and talent solutions — including roles at CareerBuilder, Comcast, and MTV Networks — Priya combines product strategy, inclusive leadership, and user‑centric design to improve how work systems support people. She holds a BS in Management Information Systems and Marketing and is based in Dallas, Texas.
About Selena Rezvani
Selena Rezvani is a LinkedIn Top Voice, leadership speaker, and award‑winning journalist recognized as Forbes’ premier expert on self‑advocacy at work. She trains leaders at organizations like Microsoft, the World Bank, and Nestlé to build confidence, trust, and presence, and is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Quick Confidence. With an MBA and degrees from NYU and Johns Hopkins, Selena is a trusted voice on leadership, inclusion, and the future of work.
What You’ll Learn
• How redefining workplace culture makes work more human, productive, and sustainable.
• Why work doesn’t have to “hurt” to be valuable, and how joy boosts performance.
• The three core drivers of employee wellbeing leaders often overlook.
• Practical ways to build trust, belonging, and confidence in every meeting and team.
• Manager‑level actions that create psychological safety and inclusive team dynamics.
• How meeting design, calendars, and daily practices influence engagement.
• The role of data and employee feedback in shaping real systemic change.
• How individual agency — even in resistant cultures — can improve day‑to‑day work experience.
Transcript
Nova Host AI [ 00:00:00 ]: Welcome to the Future of Work podcast, where we explore what’s next in work, workplace, and the human experience. I’m Nova. Your AI host. Today, you’re listening to a Future of Work Expert Insights. A special format where we bring together the most thought-provoking insights from our top guests around a single topic shaping the future of work.
In this episode, the topic is workplace wellbeing. Exploring how modern organizations are reimagining the employee experience to foster engagement, connection, and resilience. From inclusion and leadership to day-to-day well-being, our experts explore the shifting dynamics of power, purpose, and participation, and what it means to lead a workforce that actually works for everyone.
We’ve curated three bold voices who are reshaping what a thriving workforce looks like. Brie Groff, Priya Rathod, and Selena Rezvani.
Each offering unique insights into leadership, culture, and the evolving expectations shaping the future of work. Let’s begin.
As we rethink what it means to lead in a world that never stops moving, there’s one challenge every organization faces: how to sustain performance without burning people out. But what if the secret to resilience wasn’t just strategy, but joy? Our first guest believes work should be something we look forward to, not just get through.
Host AI
[ 00:01:25,870 ] Bree Groff is a workplace culture expert, author of Today Was Fun, and a trusted advisor to top companies navigating complex change. She believes work can and should feel more human.
What if the key to workforce resilience wasn’t just strategy? But joy—why does fun at work matter more than we think?
Bree Groff
[ 00:01:45] If work should be fun most days, well, then how can we start making it so? Which is a much different orientation than ‘Work is called work for a reason. Work is supposed to be drudgery.’ Why would I even try to make it fun? That’s not the point of work.
But my rebuttal would be: is that we don’t get paid because work is painful and people wouldn’t do it. We get paid because we create value. The pain is optional. So if we want to have fun while we work, that is 100% on the table for us.
The ideal solution is that leaders are responsible for creating conditions and culture and a context in which people are having fun. That is the ideal solution. Because there’s no getting around the fact that.
Power exists in organizations. The people that do the paying of the paychecks have that power.
As much as we would like to think and hope that, you know, employee power is a thing. Unions are a thing, you know, like top talent is a thing. And yet, within an organization at best, it starts from the top.
Now that takes a leader and a leadership team that really believe in those two arguments that we mentioned. That one, People having fun at work, enjoying their days is valuable as an end unto itself. And number two, they have to believe that that’s actually good for business, which it is. I wouldn’t expect any leader to say, oh, we’re going to have so much fun at work and screw the money. Because no, you need to have a healthy business. You have to be able to pay people unemployment.
And declaring bankruptcy is the opposite of fun. So don’t go there. So, if a leader believes both of those things are true, then it’s really up to the leadership team to put some structural things in place. So, for example, how are you metering out work such that people are not overworking nights and weekends? But also culturally, how are you showing up as human and fun? Thank you. Kind of decent to hang around at the office. So that’s the ideal answer.
The backup answer, the backup solution is really what I address in the book.
Look, I’m at the company I’m at. I have the leadership that I have. What can I do as a manager or as an individual employee?
To make work fun, and there’s still so much to be done. Which is the good news: you could work at an organization that is like— does not adhere to any of these ideas or principles.
But at the local team level, one, managers can do so much to create what I call ‘cozy teams,’ which is really.
You know, at the at the manager level, you think of yourself like you’re the CEO of the team in many ways. So how are you making it safe to joke around, making it safe to be a human, making it safe to bring interesting ideas? How are you rewarding people and building each other up? And then, lastly, maybe you have none of that. Maybe your organization’s terrible. Your manager is terrible. And in that case, I say, look— you have still levers at your disposal. One is something what I call thin slicing your joy. So even if you look at your whole day and you’re like, ‘Oh no.’
I’ve got meetings. I’ve got tasks I really don’t want to do. I have uncomfortable conversations ahead of me. I want to do none of it. And the question is, look— if a day is too long to have fun, is there one hour where you’re pretty sure that’s going to be an okay meeting? The hour’s too long. Is there one minute? You go get yourself a cup of coffee and you enjoy the shit out of that cup of coffee. Like, what are some ways that you can. Find agency in what brings you pleasure.
Nova Host AI
[ 00:05:33] Whether you lead a company or a team of one, Brie reminds us that agency, kindness, and humor aren’t extras. They’re essentials.
But what happens when workplace culture bumps into real life? Like caregiving, burnout, or trust gaps in hybrid teams. That’s where Priya Rathod’s work begins.
Priya Rathod is co-chair of Indeed’s Parents and Caregivers Inclusion Resource Group, where she leads efforts to rethink equity, belonging, and well-being at work.
If well-being at work goes far beyond perks, what really drives a healthy, high-performing workforce?
Priya Rathod[ 00:06:09 ]: You know, when we talk about work well-being, across the board.
It’s it’s a couple of things that you would think it is and a couple of things that you wouldn’t think it is. So let’s start with, obviously, things like flexibility, fair pay, the right benefits— those things all contribute to work well-being. But when you get deeper into what actually drives work well-being, there’s three drivers that come out on top. One is being energized at work. Two is feeling like you’re a part of something. And three is trusting the people you work with. So I think what employers are getting wrong right now is that it’s not just nice perks at work, right? It’s about how you feel day to day in the role you’re at, the people you work with and for, and the way the company conducts itself, right? So just because you give me a gym membership doesn’t mean I’m all of a sudden happy at work, you know? I’m not burnt out anymore. Amen. So it’s really important. Like executives have to really think about how they built those three drivers into management practices, right?
You called it like, how do we train our managers? What do we tell them is important? How do we help them support their people? What’s the actual culture and dynamics at the company? Are companies really paying attention to what that culture is? And are they surveying their employees? Are they understanding what’s important? Are they understanding where areas they can improve? I’ll just give you an example of working at Indeed. We do surveys at certain points in the year for employees.
Where we gauge how they’re feeling stressed, how they’re managing their time. And so management is able to identify, ‘Oh, wow,’ our scores went up or down in this area. We need to really double down. So I think companies need to First of all, pay attention to this data, record this data, and then make real systemic changes that help employees feel like they belong in the companies they’re working at.
Nova Host AI[ 00:08:17 ]: Priya shows us that work well-being isn’t about nap pods. It’s about being energized, connected, and trusted every day.
From culture and care to confidence and communication, our next guest brings it all into the room.
Selena Rezvani is a leadership speaker, LinkedIn top voice, and best-selling author of Quick Confidence. She teaches people how to advocate for themselves and lead with presence.
What’s the simplest way leaders can build confidence, inclusion, and trust, starting with the next meeting?
Selena Rezvani[ 00:08:52 ]: I think when you plan a meeting and you are bringing people together and you are taking them away from their deep focus. Flow. Work. That’s a big ask of their attention and their energy.
Because they’re going to do this multiple times a day, interrupting their focus on their deep work. To come attend a meeting and so, I think we need to treat them as more precious and be more sparing in the first place and really challenge ourselves as managers to ask: ‘How can I have fewer? Do them for fewer minutes, invite fewer people, like just the essential, required, needed people So I think that’s the first mindset: just pruning these. Auditing your calendar and teaching your team to audit their calendar quarterly. Are there any recurring meetings on there that kind of aren’t critical anymore or you don’t belong there anymore?
I think once we’re in the room together, a few things you can do: get people talking in the first five minutes.
There’s research that shows if we get the team talking in the first five minutes, they’re more likely to be participative throughout, versus if we start with a lecture. You know, or a one-way monologue. So that can be really simple, by the way, it could be.
You know, today we’re going to get into Um, communicating our message to customers? What’s one word for each of you? What’s one word that comes to mind when you think of? our communications today? Right, it doesn’t have to be everyone’s doing a deep dive or giving a speech. It could be a little thing.
Another thing is slice up the agenda.
It’d be amazing how many managers I work with— coach still lead an entire meeting, every agenda item. Rather than slicing it up and giving people different talking roles. It’s such a small thing, but you can change it up generationally. Hierarchically Um, you know, so-and-so is going to address this project that they’re working on the front lines of. After that, we’re going to hear from this other person. Again, it’s a different mindset from leaders should be the main character. You know, to let’s literally hear multiple voices.
And I just think one more thing you can do is. If you have a quieter group, or you have a group with dominators and some quieter people. Having more of those round robin type questions.
I’m going to share the plan. After that, I want to go around and hear from each of you. One opportunity you see, one concern maybe you have.
You know, so you’re setting expectations. We all contribute here. We all speak up. And that’s one way to level. You know, the airtime— if you have some overtalkers.
Nova Host AI [ 00:11:53]: As we’ve heard today, building a better workforce isn’t about more rules. It’s about more trust. From Bree’s call for joy and agency to Priya’s deep dive into real well-being, to Celina’s practical tools for presence and inclusion, it’s clear that thriving teams start with thoughtful leaders. The future of work isn’t just about where we work. It’s about how we show up for one another. Thanks for listening to this Expert Insights episode of the Future of Work podcast. If you found it insightful, share it with a colleague, leave us a review. Or check out our show notes for links to each guest’s full interview. Until next time, keep asking not just where we work, but how we work better together.
