EP 410: The Economics of Work Relationships with Kate Strathmann

How can we avoid unintentional exploitation in our working relationships?

Show Notes

Sure, you can build a business or independent career made for one. But once you start thinking about making a bigger impact or scaling up to serve more customers, you start thinking about hiring help. And that makes a lot of people nervous!

The idea that we might unintentionally create a toxic work environment or exploit the people we hire is enough to keep many from hiring help at all. While you might expect this subject to get more of a psychological or sociological treatment, economics has a lot to teach us about creating equitable relationships at work, too.

In this episode, Kate Strathmann joins me for a “conversation with no answers,” where we explore the possibilities of work relationships outside the traditional structures.

Footnotes:

• More from Kate Strathmann and Wanderwell Consulting
• Previous episodes featuring Kate: 341, 298, 153
• “Exploitation” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Episode 386: Extra Context — Getting Paid
• Surplus Labor in Radical Economics
• More about Guerilla Translation
• “Open Value Accounting” (contributive accounting)

A written version of each episode is published every Thursday at explorewhatworks.com. Get it delivered straight to your inbox by signing up at explorewhatworks.com/weekly

If you’d like to learn more about how we can approach life and work differently, check out my book, What Works. I explore the history and cultural context that’s led us to this success-obsessed, productivity-oriented moment. Then I guide you through deconstructing those messages and then rebuilding a structure for work-life that works.

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What is What Works?

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.