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:<ul><li><a href="http://whatworks.fyi/articles/drift-to-low-performance">Read the essay version of this episode.</a></li><li>"<a href="https://www.theverge.com/podcast/801532/ai-smart-home-apple-m5-vergecast">AI Can't Even Turn On the Lights</a>" on The Vergecast</li><li><a href="https://openai.com/index/planning-for-agi-and-beyond/">About OpenAI</a></li><li>"<a href="https://thesystemsthinker.com/applying-systems-archetypes/">Applying Systems Archetypes</a>" via The Systems Thinker</li><li>Sam Altman saying we've <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1lf6nis/sam_altman_says_definitions_of_agi_from_five/">"surpassed" the definition of AGI</a> from 5 years ago</li><li>More from Tara on AI:<ul><li>"<a href="https://whatworks.fyi/articles/search-engine-ai-chatbot">What is a search engine?</a> Or, Anne Leckie versus the 'Well, Actually' Bros"</li><li>"<a href="https://whatworks.fyi/articles/in-search-of-a-life-thats-fullbut">Always Be Optimizing</a>"</li><li>"<a href="https://whatworks.fyi/articles/black-box-thinking">Black Box Thinking</a>"</li></ul></li></ul>

 <a href="http://whatworks.fyi" rel="payment" title="★ Support this podcast ★">★ Support this podcast ★</a>

On Getting Attention, Encoding Messages, and Diving into the Deep End

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 creative spirit are used to enrich others and maintain the status quo. It's time for an intervention. What Works is a show about rethinking work, business, and leadership for the 21st-century economy. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's working (and what's not) today. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to deep-dive analysis of how we work and how work shapes us.