Ep 8: No boss, no problem. How employees thrive without managers. | Todd Rose and Evan Baehr
The Great Workplace Delusion: Why Everything You Think About Work is Wrong
About the Episode
What if I told you we've been getting work completely wrong for the past century? My guest Todd Rose, Harvard researcher turned maverick CEO, has uncovered a shocking truth: there's a massive gap between what people actually want from work and what everyone thinks they want. Even crazier? The largest tomato processor in America figured this out decades ago.
At Morning Star Co., there are no bosses, no titles, and workers design their own jobs. The result? Twenty years of crushing it with double-digit growth. Sound impossible? That's exactly what Todd Rose's research on "Collective Illusions" exposes - the lies we tell ourselves about work, success, and the American Dream.
This episode will blow up everything you thought you knew about what people want from their careers. We'll go inside Morning Star's radical experiment in self-management, unpack why prestigious jobs don't actually make people happy, and reveal what the future of work really looks like.
This isn't just another conversation about remote work or four-day weeks. It's about the fundamental transformation happening right under our noses - one that could finally deliver on the promise of work that actually matters.
No timid souls here - this one's going to make you rethink everything you thought you knew about success.