All Fired Up - Exploring the Modern Worker and Workplace
Tired of a work world that has become despirited? Did you know that workplace stress is costing American businesses $300 billion annually? Share your stories about your work experiences and listen to the ideas of others. Let's move out of the old mill model and into the New Millennium.
...They probably have workplace stress, too... Ok, that was a lame joke.
I'm impressed by this! You have a nice, even voice with seriousness and lightness in equal measure, and I think this is a meaningful arena to explore, as more and more people express disatisfaction with corporate anonymity, globalization repurcussions, and salaries that wither in the face of executive compensation... Your teaser definitely makes me want to hear this show -- very professional presentation. You've hit on something that defines modern life, and there's a lot of space to delve.
Rootin' for ya,
Kalle
Nice production, liked your delivery. Best.
Great idea and very well done. I would really love a show like this, as workplace stress has impacted virtually everyone I know. No longer can we count on being a part of a "company family;" and no longer are we guaranteed that hard work means we will move forward. The workplace is a scary place these days.
Good luck with your pitch, and I'll look forward to tuning in. Very interesting!
"Give me chastity and continence, but not yet."
- Saint Augustine (354-430)
http://www.publicradioquest.com/audio/7689
http://www.OurMissBrooks.blogspot.com
Does anyone else feel like breaking into song and singing a public radio version of "Oh God I need this job, I really need this job, oh God I need this job..."? You see, I really need this job, because I'm soooo ready for a new path, a new journey, an invigorating new challenge. Let the games begin!
MaryLynn Schiavi
All Fired Up: exploring the modern worker and workplace
http://www.publicradioquest.com/node/190
Other projects:
Good Grief: transmuting the loss in our lives. http://www.evoca.com/myrecordings/my_recording.jsp?rid=76784
Wagner Farm: from dairy farm to arboretum
http://www.evoca.com/myrecordings/my_recording.jsp?rid=78221
There does need to be more discussion about working, and the workplace environment. And the solutions.
I can see the synergy between our shows,and we should keep in touch.
Bob "Heart Works" Oehmen,
Chicago, IL
www.publicradioquest.com/user/8145
I know it's only a segment of what you would cover but just talking about getting fired would be a great idea for a show I think. I saw a documentary about it late last year. The premise sounded great. The execution was a little boring. I bet you wouldn't be boring. Good job.
It is funny how Americans don't seem to realize all the weekend, vacation, medical, and maternity time we don't have in comparison to the rest of the world, and all of the stress that we have instead.
I think it would be a great topic.
Elizabeth
My entry at Public Radio Quest:
http://www.publicradioquest.com/audio/user/7572
My College Radio Myspace (feel free to friend me!):
http://www.myspace.com/girlsongprimerradio
Did I say great voice? Very relaxed and confident delivery. Sounds very hosty to me.
Hear me, rate me, critique me, or trash me if you want, but please listen and vote.
I feel that there is so much to be explored and what has always truly excited me is when I see a window of possibility open in someone's eyes when they are exposed to new ideas -- ideas that offer hope, a new way of thinking about an issue that helps them break out of the habitual response or reaction. The audio format is very powerful because like reading books, it offers people an opportunity to still use their imagination in the process. I'm very excited about this medium that now has a longer shelf-life through rss\podcast distribution. Two other programs I'm currently developing include: Mind Over Matter in the World Religions: the difference between prayer, magic and positive thinking and Good Grief: transforming loss in our lives. I really hope I get a chance to go to the next round. I feel that I'm on the cusp of something very exciting!
Listen to my proposal for:
Good Grief: Transmuting the Loss in Our Lives At the heart of our sadness and frustration is a nagging feeling of loss. Ultimately it is the fear of death. This program will look at all of the aspects of our lives and help us identify the feeling of loss that lives at the base of all of our negative and self-defeating emotions and seeks to tranform those feelings of loss into something that is positive and fuels us for the journey ahead.
http://www.evoca.com/everyone_recording.jsp?rid=76784
WOW! What a clear well enuciated and articulate voice, a real pleasure to the ears. Your voice is perfect for us mid-lifers who swear sometimes we are going deaf, after listening to some of the slow quiet voices on NPR that sort of dribble the end of a word or frase. Oh and the story idea, "All fired up," I hope they let you develop that idea into a program, I would love to here more! Good Luck!!!!!!!!
I think you've got a great program and terrific hostiness. Coincidentally I was laid-off/fired just 2 months ago...and, well...here I am looking for a job. :)
David
Hear my entry:
http://www.publicradioquest.com/audio/user/6455
MaryLynn
Thank you for viewing my entry and leaving such kind words. Yes I would love to be a guest on your show, let's work out the details. Your website is impressive. We share a similar passion, I'm heavily into career education. Working in HR for 16 years there's much to tell. Only when we know better...can we can do better. I look forward to the future.
Have YOU voted yet? Career Conversations
www.PublicRadioQuest.com/node/744
Stephanie C. Harper, PHR, CCP, CHRM
Author, Career Expert and Speaker
www.StephanieHarper.com
I really enjoyed listening to this. It's interesting, informative and could prove to delve into some really significant issues about our "world of work" - nice one.
I'll be posting mine up soon - ("bricklane beats") - would love your feedback too.
Being a code monkey myself, I would tune in to your show.
Sounded like I tuned in to my local NPR station.
Loved the list on how to loose your Job, all too true.
You have a wonderful speaking voice, easy to listen to and interesting.
Good luck!
Yeah, I hope everyone is taking most of my comments in my "10 Ways to Lose Your Job essay" in a lighthearted manner. While all of it is true, some of the time, it certainly isn't true all of the time and there are a lot of wonderful, hardworking, caring people in corporate America. Unfortunately, there are enough bad apples to make the environment less than ideal. So I think we can do better and that's what I'm hoping my program will help bring about.
MaryLynn Schiavi
http://marylynnpodhoster.podhoster.com/index.php?pid=2395
Wow. I think your show concept is really interesting and refreshing and you seem to have plenty of that "hostiness" factor in your voice. I'd definitely to hear more of "All Fired Up." I hope I get to!
I appreciate your support!
MaryLynn Schiavi
http://marylynnpodhoster.podhoster.com/index.php?pid=2395
This is in response to those who felt that I should add a little humor to the show. I promise, there will be humor, albeit black humor.
***
How To Lose A Job in 10 Easy Ways
by
MaryLynn Schiavi
1. Show up and be overly enthusiastic, your boss will be threatened by you and your co-workers will do their part to get you booted out as well.
2. Know more about technology and what's happening in popular culture than the rest of your team and your boss. Again, nobody wants to be around someone who has a clue.
3. Take time to look good and dress well. If you're a woman, wear clothes that are business like but also have some flair and a sense of fashion forward. If your boss is a woman and she doesn't look as good as you do, she'll hate your guts in no time flat and you're as good as on vacation already.
4. Come up with lots of ideas and show initiative -- while some bosses and co-workers will appreciate this, most will hate you for it and be glad to throw you out of the school yard.
5. Be inventive, think out of the box. This always throws everyone out of whack. Especially when you speak up in big group meetings with your big ideas. Make sure that the VP or someone in senior leadership hears you spouting off about your big, ambitious ideas to move the business forward -- security will show up at the opening of your cube before you can say "asap."
6. Talk a lot about how you care about how people are treated in the workplace. This is a surefire way to make sure that your butt will be flying out of your cube leaving your head behind. Again, it's even better if a senior leader hears you talking this way -- senior leaders can't stand it when they've got some upstart humanitarian on their team. There's no room for that in corporate America.
7. Make friends with people at all levels -- whether it be the secretary or a senior vp in another organization or anywhere in between. Your management will be highly suspicious of you. Most bosses can't stand it when their direct reports are too well liked throughout the organization -- makes them very nervous. They figure you must be up to something and that something is no good. Someone may even suggest that you be promoted.
8. Take a vacation, in fact take all of the vacation that is alloted to you. No self-respecting boss is going to stand for this. Who the hell do you think you are? A human being? Get the hell out of here. Unless you're willing to suffer all year long like the rest of us, you have no place in this organization.
9. Get sick and go out on disability. When you get back, you will surely find yourself on the exit ramp. No company or organization can afford people who get sick -- ever! They figure you can just put one foot in front of the other like everyone else -- and just keep marching on. Otherwise you're a big wuss...and nobody wants a wuss on their team. Makes them think about their mortality. Might make people think about how short life is and how much of their lives they're wasting on meaningless tasks and projects.
10. And if all else fails, come up with some really great, creative, innovative ideas and present them in a meeting with your boss in attendance. Before you know it, your boss will find a way to extricate you from your cube and while you're walking out of the building with your cardboard box full of photographs, post-it notes and your coffee mug stamped with the company logo, your boss will be presenting your great ideas as his or her own and basking in the breeze of applause while you are happily on your way to the unemployment Web site...
Bonus Tip: Actually enjoy your job. See the long term ramifications of your work in the company and the world. Be an idealist. This really makes people nervous, most often your boss. Who the hell wants someone on their team who's actually happy while they're making a living. You obviously haven't read the company rulebook. Get out!
at least HALF of this just happened to me.
on another note. I just listened to some of your podcast about the farm...nice work there too.
maryjo
What I hope to do is offer a forum that would allow a national dialogue about the world of work and how to make it better. For instance, some telework gurus say that clearly 60 percent of the workforce could work virtually from anywhere. This would not only free us from dependence on foreign oil but also offer greater flexibility for most workers and allow people to better integrate their worklives and personal lives. It could also allow people to live anywhere and offer greater economic opportunities for people who live outside of major urban centers. I had hoped by now we would have made the shift. As one guru has said, "Work is something you do, not something you go to." Work shouldn't be a death march, it should be something we love to do and something that enriches our lives. Most people spend most of their waking lives working. We have so many programs focused on politics, cooking, sports, but there are so few programs that really address what is at the heart of most people's stress and discontentment. I don't know if it's just my friends and family, but I seem to know a lot of people whose primary stress in their lives comes from their jobs. This just shouldn't be. What I hope to explore are topics like: why hasn't telework been widely embraced? Why is it that so many managers cry out that they want "out of the box" thinking and yet they can't seem to deal with the types of personalities that think "out of the box?" And then there's the issue of having to leave one's heart and soul at the door. I've been told so many times, "Your problem is that you reveal too much about yourself. You need to keep your personal life and interests to yourself. Don't give people too much information." I don't know, to me, this is like having to put on a mask when you go to work. This is like having to leave a great part of yourself at the door for 40 to 50 hours each week. Why? I've experienced the best of what work could be and the worst. I would love to help bring about a work world that allows all people to bring their heart and soul to work and allows for a more joyous and life-enriching environment for all.
MaryLynn Schiavi
http://marylynnpodhoster.podhoster.com/index.php?pid=2395
Darn good question, MaryLynn. Telework is eminently sensible on so many levels.
I haven't been a part of corporate nine-to-five in twenty-five years - and even then for only a very short time. But boy, I've been studying it through my friends' experience.
It's all about control. My observation is that corporations don't really want the job done. They want it controlled. Even if that doesn't get the job done quickly or cheaply or efficiently. Bosses would rather have a predictable half-wit slogging through something at a snail's pace, than work with an out-of-the-box, what-do-I-do-to-solve-this-problem-and-move-on kind of thinker - because they can bully the half-wit and are, frankly, threatened by the problem-solver.
Three types of people out there. The folks who care deeply about what they do, who have no agenda but getting the job done the best way possible. The second type is unimaginative, unmotivated and unengaged - little more than a clockwatcher. Then there are the folks that believe the world revolves around them and they do nothing except what pushes their own personal agenda forward and if everyone else gets trampled in the process so much the better.
The first type burn out from frustration with middle management. The second type stay in the same job for forty years - unless they're downsized - because they can be quantified and controlled. And the third type end up dominating middle management.
If you can help change that poisonous state of affairs, MaryLynn, you have my full and enthusiastic support!
*n*
"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about" - Oscar Wilde
I think that this is a great idea for a radio show. So many people have experienced what you described in your clip but are afraid to talk about it. Your delivery is warm and inviting, and I think you would get people to open up about the subject. I'd definitely tune in!
The production and voice sound very professional and humor will come overtime, but I think right now, you're in the top three. Now the the format and topic I'm worried because it might be just the workplace. I would focus on different industries, divisions, companies and how they function. So far, excellent.
Tracy
We spend 2080 hours a year on the job (70% of our lifetime in the workplace). People want the info, a worksplace show would be awesome, comical and refreshing...relieve stress. I laugh constantly at the calls I get on Monday's. People are hungry for knowlege that will take them to the next level...surely...it's more than just a great resume, who you know, and who you've come to know too well.
But you did tell me you were an HR "person" right? I'm shocked to hear an HR person show concern for a show about workplace...or did I misread your post.
Have you voted yet? Career Conversations
www.PublicRadioQuest.com/node/744
Stephanie C. Harper, PHR, CCP, CHRM
Author, Career Expert and Speaker
www.StephanieHarper.com
Isn't that why we are all trying to get a spot on Public Radio? The stress of our current jobs...
I like the concept and you could do well if you add a little more inflection.
Good Luck
Cheeers
Check me out at: http://www.publicradioquest.com/audio/user/2409
What is with this using the word "earnest" to describe your piece? Not a word *I* would have used. Very strange.
Straightforward. That's a good word. Well-thought-out. That's not one word, but a good phrase. Intelligent. Pertinent. *Interesting*.
Mind you, I don't think we ought to be discussing the concept - which is an excellent one, btw - but your "hostiness". Your approach isn't drive-time dj (thankdog) nor is it FM latenight jazz dj (whew). It's literate, clear, straight-ahead. It sounds very much YOU - and that "you" is very "public broadcasting" to my ear.
Could you goose it / loose it up a bit, yes. But would that be appropriate for the material you're pitching (even though we're not pitching material, right?)? I think perhaps not. Seems to me you've succeeded in what you've set out to do. Enough said.
*n*
"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about" - Oscar Wilde
MaryLynn, your presentation and subject matter belongs on NPR... I like it, I think it's excellent, and I wish you all the best of luck!
Amanita
I read your bio and it's very interesting. We are operating on the same spectrum. About five years ago I was developing a documentary called: New Mill Work: what work could be in the new millennium. The focus was on new ways of working driven by technology that could not only create greater balance and opportunities for vast numbers of people but also free us from dependence on foreign oil. For whatever reason, I could not raise the funding to complete this doc -- but I hope to explore this via the audio medium which is a lot less expensive to produce. I'm absolutely new to radio, but not to exploring ideas,researching, interviewing and reporting. I'm very excited about this medium which I've sort of overlooked in my quest to produce video stories.
I like both this person's voice and the production values she chose to support it. And I think her hostiness derives from her earnestness; her passion is a part of her personality, and therefore of her on-air presence.
Also, I don't usually like to get into show concepts; as pointed out below, they do tend to distract us from the task at hand. But I believe this is a 21st-century topic that needs careful and serious exploration, which leads me to conclude that the subject and the personality are a tight match.
MaryLynn, I hope you go forward. Good luck.
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