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Patricia Grabarek and Katina Sawyer are cofounders of Workr Beeing, where they help clients create thriving workplace environments. They are both industrial/organizational psychologists. Patricia has a background in consulting and internal roles, having led people analytics and talent management initiatives for more than 60 companies. Katina is also an associate professor of management and organizations at the University of Arizona, where she focuses her research on workplace wellbeing. Whats the big idea? Achieving a culture of wellness at work goes way beyond a steps challenge or mindfulness program. Leaders need to demonstrate vulnerability about their own struggles to build bonds of trust and openness with their employees. They also need to spread gratitude and positivity. Once these pillars of a so-called Generator leader are put into action, then employees will be more willing to step up, engage, and invest their best effort for their team and company. Below, coauthors Grabarek and Sawyer share five key insights from their new book, Leading for Wellness: How to Create a Team Culture Where Everyone Thrives. Listen to the audio versionread by both authorsin the Next Big Idea app. 1. Workplace wellness matters. When leaders support employee wellness, employees are healthier, perform better, achieve their goals, and are more committed to their work. In addition, when employees feel better, they are more committed to the leaders and team members helping them feel that way. In turn, they help leaders achieve their goals, band together with others to tackle challenges, and ultimately create more innovative and productive workplaces. Yet, organizations struggle to support employee well-being. A recent Gallup poll found that employee engagement has sunken to an all-time low, with only 31% of employees reporting that they are engaged at work. Whats worse, not engaged or actively disengaged employees account for approximately $1.9 trillion in lost productivity nationally. Caring for employees well-being and improving the bottom line are aligned goals. Companies that dedicate time and money to employees health and wellness do better. Its as simple as that. Even better, improving employee wellness can also improve society. Happy, healthy employees bring positivity to their communities, making the world a better place. Our research repeatedly concluded that leaders are the key to driving employee well-being. While most organizations invest wellness dollars in step challenges, mindfulness programs, or team-building events, we find that the quality of day-to-day experiences with leaders is what really matters. We refer to leaders who promote healthy and supportive workplaces (while also driving results) as Generators. We term leaders who do the opposite Extinguishers, as they deplete workplaces of energy by undermining their teams well-being. The aim is to become a Generator: the type of leader that employees aspire to work for and whom they can be proud to represent. 2. No one wants a superhero. Employees dont want superheroes for leaders. Employees want authenticity from their leaders. They are looking for leaders who show their true selves at work. They do not trust inauthentic leaders who seem to put on a facade. Employees trust authentic leaders because they believe they are more willing to be transparent and honest. Employees can then better predict how their leader will behave. This predictability makes employees more likely to take risks by sharing their own truth and raising important issues that good leaders would want on their radar. As a result, employees with authentic leaders perform better, are more productive, more engaged, and have better well-being. Lets talk about a leader named Melanie, who is a senior executive at a telecommunications company. When interviewing her for our research, she described herself as having been a leader who always had her game face on. She admitted that she started her leadership journey as a no-nonsense leader. She believed her team would find comfort in her tough exterior when things became stressful or hard. That she could be a rock they would depend on. Instead, she learned that if her team members were struggling, they avoided bringing things up to her. Her perfect exterior made her unapproachable. She told us everything changed for her after enduring an unimaginable tragedy in her family. Her youngest sibling was murdered in a horrific random act of violence. This obviously impacted her greatly, but she continued to show up at work while hiding her true self and emotional state. Even though she did her best to hide her experience and feelings, her team could tell something was off. She was falling apart, and others could sense the shift. Then, one day, a campaign started around the company to support mental health. Other leaders started sharing their struggles, being vulnerable with the whole organization. She appreciated that their openness allowed her to know them as whole, complex people. Melanie began to wonder if her team would appreciate her more if she did the same. In her next team meeting, an employee shared that they were dealing with a challenge that could derail a project. At that moment, Melanie felt overwhelmed with the information and decided to take a pause. She told the team she appreciated all their hard work and was having a reaction to this new information because of the struggles shes been hiding in her personal life. She then proceeded to tell the team what she had been going through and how it had been impacting her and her work. To Melanies pleasant surprise, the team quickly rallied around her with empathy and compassion. They stepped up and wanted to help her as she navigated her loss. The team was more than willing to accept her as an imperfect leader. The team culture shifted that day. Other people began opening up, and they would flag challenges and issues as they happened. They were more willing to ask for help and give support to other team members as authenticity and vulnerability became the norm. One practice we teach leaders is to write struggle statements. Struggle statements help you communicate a set of challenges or difficulties you face at work, both past and present. When you are open about your struggles, employees can build their trust in you, and your openness helps them open up to you. This situation is great for employees and leaders because teams that can be open about their struggles usually do so because they are in a safe and supportive environment, making them more productive and higher-performing. 3. Its the tone, not the time. Being a role model for balancing work and life and showing positivity and gratitude toward team members can inspire employees to follow your example. Positivity and gratitude are contagious. When leaders share these sentiments with employees, those employees spread them to others. One of our favorite examples involves a leader who made it a point to spread positivity and gratitude to his team. To make sure he remembered to show gratitude to his team, he would put three coins in his left pocket at the start of each day. Each time he told someone on his team they were valued or thanked them for their efforts, he moved a coin to the other pocket. The physical reminder to show gratitude kept him on track and ensured he lived out his intentions. After a while, though, he didnt need the coins. His gratitude practice had become a habit. Even better, he noticed that his employees were paying i forward to one another. With a small shift in his behavior, he had created lasting change in his team culture. Employees are motivated to help each other if they see you and other team members doing the same thing. Generators create cultures of work-life balance, positivity, gratitude, and support. As team members begin practicing good behaviors, leaders dont have to be the sole architects or reinforcers of the culture. Employees become cultural caretakers so that leaders have their time freed up to focus on other things. Generators also understand how to become confidants to their employees quickly and meaningfully. To do so, they leverage what we coined as the SWIFT Process: Setting aside time for relationship-building sprints. Welcoming others warmly. Intentionally inquiring about employees lives. Following up with appropriate questions to dig deeper. Taking time to reflect on how to improve relationships with employees. By creating a positive team environment and building strong relationships with employees, Generators set the right tone for their teams: they focus on the quality of the work experience rather than narrowly focusing on how many hours are worked as a measure of success or productivity. 4. Work should support life. Work should support life instead of the other way around. As a leader, its important to be elastic by demonstrating flexibility and recognizing that your way isnt right for everyone. Its also important to protect and respect employees boundaries between work and life. Generators are boundary bouncers because they help employees set boundaries, serve to enforce those boundaries, and block employees from people or situations that violate boundaries. Boundary bouncers also protect their own boundaries by leading by example. Generators value work-life balance and recognize that employees preferences for balancing work and life may differ from their own (and other employees). For example, people differ in their preferences for integrating or segmenting work. Segmenters like to keep work and life separate. These employees like to put in their nine-to-five and then fully stop working at the end of the day. They do not like it when their personal life bleeds into their work life and vice versa. When they are working, they want to focus on work. When they are away from work, being pinged by someone from work is particularly stressful. On the other hand, some people prefer to integrate work and life. Katina and I both prefer integration. We are happy to shift between both domains throughout the day. Integrators may take a few meetings in the morning, then do a workout at lunch, followed by another meeting. After that, they might do laundry and complete a few work tasks. They may pause around 5 p.m. to spend time with family and grab dinner but then log back in for an hour at 7 p.m. to finish some tasks. They shift between work and personal life seamlessly, and it helps their productivity. Generators create work environments that better match employees unique needs and preferences in managing their work and life. When Generators earn employees trust, make them feel cared for, and act in ways that honor their preferences and needs for managing work and life, they retain their employees longer. 5. One size doesnt fit all. One size doesnt fit all when it comes to wellness. Generators recognize this and engage in what we call person-centered planning, a practice centered on the famous work of psychologist Carl Rogers, who used it in a clinical setting. Engaging in person-centered planning helps Generators find solutions that are tailored to employees real wellness needs, which can vary significantly from employee to employee. Person-centered planning is effective because it helps leaders to get to the root of the actual problems that employees are facing, so solutions can be tailored to their needs. Consider this example. An employee, Ollie, struggles with staying organized. His leader, Marta, is very skilled at organization and easily structures her workday, assignments, and deadlines. If Ollie shares with Marta that he is struggling with organization, she might assume that he just isnt putting in the effort. She might also assume that tips or strategies that help her stay organized will automatically work for Ollie. Ollies confidence might decrease as he is overlooked for opportunities, or he might take her advice and follow similar strategies that she has, but without getting results. Instead, if Marta engaged in person-centered planning, she would follow three steps: First, Marta would provoke honest and transparent responses. She would create an open and comfortable environment for Ollie to share what is getting in his way regarding his organizational skills. Second, she would suspend judgment. Even if Ollies situation doesnt resonate with her own experience, she will listen and validate his perspective, recognizing that she has likely struggled with things before that others found easy. Finally, she would show empathy by working with Ollie to devise solutions that work for him. Instead of feeling for him, she feels with him, invoking a more collaborative and unified stance toward solving the problem. This three-part process helps employees feel safe when sharing their wellness struggles, allowing leaders to respond to their challenges in ways that drive effective long-term solutions. Taking a person-centered approach also requires that leaders chip away at mental health stigma at work. Generators are vulnerable about their own mental health challenges, speak inclusively about mental health, and use experts to help their teams understand mental health more deeply. Reducing this stigma is another way that Generators learn what employees really need and allow these employees to gain true acceptance and validation from their teams. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
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First impressions matterthey shape how were judged in mere seconds, research shows. People are quick to evaluate others competence, likability and honesty, often relying on superficial cues such as appearance or handshake strength. While these snap judgments can be flawed, they often have a lasting impact. In employment, first impressions not only affect hiring choices but also decisions about promotion years later. As a researcher in cognitive science, Ive seen firsthand how first impressions can pose a challenge for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, or ASD. People with ASD often display social behaviorssuch as facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, and sense of personal spacethat can differ from those of neurotypical individuals. These differences are often misunderstood, leading people with ASD to be perceived as awkward, odd, or even deceptive. People form these negative impressions in just seconds and report being reluctant to talk to, hang out with, or even live near people on the spectrum. Its not surprising, then, that unfavorable first impressions create barriers for people with ASD in the workplace. The interview trap It starts with the job interview. Whether youre seeking a position as a computer programmer at a tech firm or a dog groomer at a vet clinic, the job interview is a critical gateway. Success depends on your ability to think on your feet, communicate your qualifications, and present yourself as likable, agreeable, and collegial. My research demonstrates that job seekers with ASD often perform poorly in interviews due to the social demands of the situation. This is true even when the candidate is highly qualified for the job they are seeking. In one study, my colleagues and I videotaped mock job interviews with 30 young adults (half with ASD, half neurotypical) who were all college students without an intellectual disability. We asked them to discuss their dream jobs and qualifications for five minutes. Afterward, evaluators rated them on social traits, such as likability, enthusiasm, and competence, and indicated how likely they were to hire each interviewee. As in most professional interviews, the evaluators werent aware that some candidates were on the autism spectrum. Candidates with autism spectrum disorder were consistently rated less favorably on all social dimensions compared with people without the condition, and those unfavorable social ratings weighed heavily on hiring decisions. Even though candidates with ASD were rated as equally qualified as neurotypical candidates, they were significantly less likely to be hired. Interestingly, when evaluators only read the candidates interview transcripts without watching the interviews, ratings for ASD candidates were the same as, or even better than, those for neurotypical candidates. This suggests that its not just what candidates say in an interview but how they present themselves socially that affects hiring decisions. This is especially problematic for jobs that require minimal social interaction (think data analyst or landscaper), where a candidates qualifications should be the main consideration. By relying on interviews as a primary screening tool, employers may miss out on competent, qualified applicants with unique strengths. Rethinking what makes a good candidate Scientists have explored whether its possible to teach adults with ASD how to improve their interview skills, for example by maintaining more eye contact or standing at a socially acceptable distance from an interviewer. While such training can help, it addresses only a small part of the problem, and I think this approach may not significantly improve employment outcomes for autistic adults. For one, it reduces the challenges faced by adults with ASD to a limited set of behaviors. ASD is a complex condition, and research shows that the negative evaluations of individuals with ASD are not driven by a single difference or a collection of specific differences, but rather by the individuals overall presentation. In addition, this type of training often encourages individuals to mask their autistic traits, which could make a stressful interview even more difficult. Finally, if ASD candidates successfully mask their autism during the interview but cant maintain that mask once they are hired, their longevity in the position could be at risk. A more effective approach may be to change how interviews are conducted and how candidates are perceived. This includes giving employers meaningful education about autism and giving job applicants a way to disclose their diagnosis without penalty. Research shows that when people know more about autism spectrum disorder, they have more positive views of people with ASD. In addition, ratings of people with ASD are often more favorable when evaluators know about their diagnosis. Combining these two approachesthat is, pairing ASD education for employers with diagnostic disclosure for candidatesmay lead to better outcomes. My colleagues and I explored this possibility in a series of studies. Again, we showed raters the mock job interviews of candidates with and without ASD. This time, however, some evaluators watched a brief educational video about autism, learning about characteristics and strengths often associated with ASD before evaluating the mock interviews. In addition, these raters knew which candidates had an ASD diagnosis. Even though raters still perceived the candidates with ASD as more awkward and less likable, they rated those candidates as equally qualified as neurotypical candidates and were just as likely to hire them. This boost in hiring ratings persisted even when the educational video about autism was viewed months before candidates were evaluated. Notably, neither of these interventions was effective on its own. In different conditions, some evaluators simply got the training but didnt receive diagnostic information about candidates; others received no education about autism but were aware of which candidates had ASD. Both groups continued to select against candidates with ASD in hiring decisions, even though the candidates with ASD were rated as highly qualified. It appears that both knowing a person ha autism and understanding more about autism are important for overcoming negative first impressions. We believe that our training fostered a greater understanding of the atypical interactive style and behaviors that can be common among adults with ASD. This understanding, when coupled with the knowledge of a candidates diagnosis, may have helped evaluators contextualize those behaviors and, in turn, place more emphasis on qualifications when making hiring decisions. When hiring decisions are based on merit, both employees and employers benefit. First impressions, though impactful, can be deceptive and often bias decisions, particularly for individuals with ASD. Our findings highlight an important truth: Understanding autism enables employers to focus on qualifications, giving candidates with ASD a fair opportunity to succeed based on their true potential. Cindi May is a professor of psychology at the College of Charleston. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Do you know where your drinking water comes from? In South Florida, drinking water comes from the Everglades, a vast landscape of wetlands that has long filtered the water relied on by millions of people. But as the Everglades has shrunk over the past century, the regions water supply and water quality have become increasingly threatened, including by harmful algal blooms fueled by agriculture runoff. Now, the water supply faces another rising challenge: saltwater intrusion. [Photo: South Florida Water District/Flickr/CC BY-ND 2.0] Protecting South Floridas water hinges on restoring the Everglades. Thats why, 25 years ago, the federal government and universities launched the worlds largest ecosystem restoration effort ever attempted. Im involved in this work as an ecosystem ecologist. The risks I see suggest continuing to restore the Everglades is more crucial today than ever. What happened to the Everglades? The Florida Everglades is a broad mosaic of freshwater, sawgrass marshes, cypress domes and tree islands, mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows all connected by water. But it is half its original size. In the early 1900s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began installing canals and levees to control flooding in the Everglades, which allowed people to build farms and communities along its edges. The Tamiami Trail became the first road across the Everglades in 1928. It connected Tampa to Miami, but the road and canals cut off or diverted some of the natural water flow in South Florida. Since then, Floridas economy, agriculture, and population have explodedand with them has come a nutrient pollution problem in the Everglades. The major crop, sugarcane, is grown in a region south of Lake Okeechobee covering 1,100 square miles thats known as the Everglades Agricultural Area. Nearly 80 tons of phosphorus fertilizer from federally subsidized farm fields runs off into the Everglades wetlands each year. And that has become a water quality concern. Drinking water with elevated nitrogen is linked to human health problems, and elevated phosphorus and associated algal blooms can cause microbes to accumulate toxins such as mercury. Healthy wetlands can filter out those nutrients and other pollutants, cleaning the water. Some of the ways the Everglades filters water contaminated with phosphorus. [Image: South Florida Water Management District] Rain falling in the Everglades percolates through the porous limestone and recharges the Biscayne Aquifer, which supplies drinking water for 1 in 3 Floridians. But wetlands need time and space to function properly, and the damage from farm pollution has harmed that natural filtering system. By the 1990s, Everglades wetlands and the wildlife they support hit a critical stress level from elevated concentrations of phosphorus, a nutrient in fertilizer that washes off farm fields and fuels the growth of toxic algal blooms and invasive species that can choke out native plant populations. The changes led to seagrass die-offs and widespread invasion of sawgrass marshes by cattail and harmful algal blooms. Degraded wetlands can themselves become pollution sources that can contaminate surface water and groundwater quality by decreasing oxygen in the water, which can harm aquatic life, and releasing chemicals and nutrients as they decay. A vast restoration campaign Congress approved the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan in 2000 to support reducing phosphorus concentrations by re-creating large wetlands areas to remove excess nutrients and reestablishing more of the natural water depth to bolster native populations. That restoration effort is making progress in reonnecting wetlands to natural water flows by rehydrating large areas that were cut off. Phosphorus levels are lower in many wetlands that now remain hydrated longer, and in these wetlands freshwater is recharging the aquifer, helping sustain the drinking water supply. However, delays in critically important components of that work have left some wetlands in degraded conditions for longer than expected, especially in regions near and downstream of the Everglades Agricultural Area, where phosphorus concentrations remain stubbornly high. An algal bloom spreads in Floridas Lake Okeechobee, at the heart of the Everglades. [Photo: Nicholas Aumen/USGS] South Florida continues to experience harmful algal blooms from phosphorus reaching rivers and the coast, resulting in fish kills and the deaths of manatees. Red tide can shut down fishing and keep beach-going tourists away, harming local economies. This pollution is estimated to have cost Floridas economy US$2.7 billion in 2018. The unexpected risk: Saltwater An unforeseen threat has also started to creep into the Everglades: saltwater. As sea level rises, saltwater reaches further inland, both in rivers and underground through the porous limestone beneath South Florida. Saltwater intrusion also occurs when wells draw down aquifers to provide water for drinking or irrigation. That saltwater is causing parts of the Everglades marshes, often referred to as a river of grass, to collapse into open water. The loss of these freshwater marshes reduces the capacity of the Everglades to remove phosphorus from the water. And that means more nutrients flowing downstream, contaminating aquifers and causing harmful algal blooms to form in coastal waters. The red line shows how far saltwater had intruded into aquifers beneath Fort Lauderdale as of 2019. [Image: South Florida Water Management District] Scientists have learned that marsh plants need freshwater pulses during the wet season, from April to November, to avoid saltwater intrusion. For example, saltwater intruded about one mile inland between 2009 and 2019 in parts of the Fort Lauderdale area. More freshwater is needed to push the saltwater back out to sea. However, the restoration effort was never intended to combat saltwater intrusion. Reasons for optimism Despite the continuing challenges, I am optimistic because of how scientists, policymakers and communities are working together to protect the Everglades and drinking water. I lead part of that restoration work through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research program. The effort started at Florida International University on May 1, 2000, the same year the Everglades restoration plan was authorized by Congress. Our research was used to set the levels of nutrients allowable to still protect the regions water supplies, and we have been working for 25 years to reduce saltwater intrusion and phosphorus pollution to ensure drinking water for South Florida remains both fresh and clean. We continually use our research to inform water managers and policymakers of the best practices to reduce saltwater intrusion and pollution. As saltwater intrusion continues to threaten South Floridas freshwater aquifer, Everglades restoration and protection will be increasingly important. Everyone in the region can help. By rehabilitating degraded wetlands, allowing for more freshwater to flow throughout the Everglades ecosystems, reducing the use of freshwater on lawns and crops, and reusing municipal water for outdoor needs, South Florida can keep its drinking water safe for generations of future residents and visitors. This is something that everyone can contribute to. Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Miamis renowned conservationist who helped establish the Everglades National Park, often said, The Everglades is a test. If we pass it, we may get to keep the planet. John Kominoski is a professor of biological xciences at Florida International University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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We all know the Sunday scariesthat creeping anxiety as the weekend winds down. But what you might not realize is that leaders experience it too. As a CEO, Ive found that the best way to fend off Sunday dread is by fully unplugging. At least once a week, I do a digital detox, shutting off my devices to be fully present with my wife and kids. Sometimes, we turn on the radio and play board games; other times, we stay in pajamas and take on a new cooking or baking challenge. Its our version of sndagshyggethe Danish idea of embracing cozy Sundays with tea, books, music, blankets, and other at-home rituals. While personal rituals can help, leaders can also play a role in easing their team members back-to-work anxiety. The question becomes: How can we support employees in making that transition? While theres no silver bullet, Ive found a few strategies that make a meaningful difference. Leading with empathy When it comes to facing challenges, togetherness is one of the most powerful antidotes to managing stress. Its like heading into a storm in a rowboathaving just one person by your side, paddling with you and understanding your perspective, can make all the difference. Thats what empathy is aboutdemonstrating to others that you truly identify with and understand their thoughts, emotions, and perspectives. Empathetic leaders show they care about their employees through words and through actionschecking in with them, actively listening, and acknowledging each persons unique circumstances. The result is a workplace where employees feel psychologically safe, fostering open and honest discussions. Studies have shown that employees with highly empathetic leaders are more engaged at workand more innovative, too. When a leader listens and genuinely makes an effort to understand their teams perspective, it builds trust and fosters collaboration. Knowing that this kind of supportive, understanding environment exists beyond the weekend can go a long way toward quelling the Sunday scaries. Promoting a healthy work-life balance Respecting each employees need to maintain a work-life balance is an essential part of an empathetic work environment. That means treating employees as individuals, not just cogs in a machine. I reflect on my own experience when my wife and I had our children. For me, it was crucial to be able to delegate responsibilities and take parental leave. Each time I returned to the office (admittedly a bit tired, as newborns dont care about your sleep schedule) I was ready to dive back in. I aim to offer the same flexibility and understanding to our team members. Research backs up the idea that supporting employees work-life balance can have a major positive impact. A 2023 survey from the American Psychological Association found that 92% of workers believe its important to work for an organization that values their emotional and psychological well-being. Studies conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have shown that when managers are trained to respect work-life harmony, employee job satisfaction increases and turnover decreases. Offering flexibility based on personal circumstanceswhether that means allowing employees to fully unplug for the evening or weekend, or taking a few hours off to attend their childs soccer gamehas helped us to maintain a low turnover rate at Jotform. When employees return refreshed, they might not whistle every moment while they work, but they seem genuinely engaged and content to be back at their desks on Monday. Gamifying the workplace Its hard to explain why adding a game-like dimension to an everyday activity can fuel motivation, but it does. Why else would brands like Nike and Fitbit offer users personalized feedback, social interaction, and even some friendly competition? Knowing youll earn that badge or publicly top your personal best pushes you to clock that extra mile. Experts call it gamificationleveraging game-like mechanisms, like the ones youd find in video games, to make real-world activities more engaging. Gamification has been shown to increase motivation and engagement. It makes employees more willing to take on repetitive tasks, engage in risks, and even fail. Surveys have found that gamification provides a sense of belonging and connection in the workplace. Employees report being more productive and happier at work. In short, gamification makes work, including the occasional mundane task, more fun. When employees participate in incentivized tasks, theyre not just motivated, theyre also excited. This excitement helps counteract the Sunday scaries. Instead of dreading the workweek ahead, employees are looking forward to the challenges and rewards of gamified tasks. Whether its earning points for hitting targets or engaging in friendly competitions with coworkers, the gamified experience gives them something to anticipate. And with AI making gamification more accessible and fun than ever, theres no reason why leaders cant bring this kind of excitement to the workplace, helping employees feel energized and eager to start their weekon Monday and beyond.
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E-Commerce
Not so long ago, a book deal and a live tour marked the outer limits of how far a hot podcast could hope to expand its horizons. These days, theyre only the beginning. Especially at Wondery, the fast-growing podcast network based in West Hollywood, California. Wondery has more than 240 podcasts, and more than 55 of them have hit the No. 1 spot on Apple Podcasts. The first book adapted from the networks hit survival podcast Against the Odds is set for publication this June, but a better example of where things might be headed is the line of toys Wondery just launched for the family-friendly science show Wow in the World or the immersive cruise inspired by its Exhibit C true-crime vertical, which is in the works for 2026. As the network continues pushing audio-first intellectual property into uncharted new territory, its starting to look like Wondery can turn podcasts into just about anything. Weve got this Hollywood-style approach to storytelling, says Nicole Blake, chief brand officer at Wondery, the network that perfected the podcast-to-streaming-series pipeline with scripted pods like Dying for Sex, Dirty John, and Dr. Death. So now, were trying to take a Hollywood-style approach to IP-building and apply it to podcasting. [Photo: Courtesy Wondery] The holy grail of branding Some brands are practically inescapable. Whether youre flipping through channels, stuck in traffic, or taking a Pilates class, they stalk you like prey. Blake has a term for brands like that. The holy grail is a 360-degree IPsomething the fans are seeing at many touch points, all the time, she says. Its not an on-and-off relationship, its an always-on relationship. One brand that certainly qualifies is the Harry Potter movie franchise, whose development Blake steered during her tenure as a senior vice president at Warner Bros. in the 2010s. Beyond all the books, movies, and spinoffs, Harry Potters tentacles have extended to clothing lines, food items, Lego sets, video games, theatrical plays, and theme park rides. Though the phenomenon factor of Harry Potter may be singular, the brands breadth exemplifies the inventive approach to market saturation Blake is exploring for Wonderys podcasts. So far, the show that seems furthest along the path to 360-degree IP is Wow in the World, the kid-focused science series with more than 100 million downloads. Designed in Pixar-fashion to appeal to parents listening along, it has steadily cultivated a devoted following, who call themselves Wowsers. The show has long since spawned the requisite live tours and book deals, along with an array of clothing and accessories that includes shirts, pillows, and backpacks. Where the shows extension breaks new ground, however, beyond a push into the classroom with a Next Generation Science Standards-aligned curriculum, is its new line of STEM kits like an Everlasting Volcano and Dino Dig & Diorama. Though character-driven pods like Welcome to Night Vale and the D&D-based Critical Role have spun off plush toys and action figures, Wow in the Worlds offerings may be the first line of podcast-inspired toys in the STEM space. (I like firsts, Blake notes.) Wondery partnered with science publishers Thames and Kosmos to launch this first wave of toys last fall, and theyre coming this month to Walmart. But its not just kids connecting with Wonderys podcasts at such a deep level. [Photo: Courtesy Wondery] Why podcasts are poised to become 360-degree IP That podcasts can become as colossally popular and highly valued as more traditional media is old news. Since Joe Rogan made the first $100 million podcast deal with Spotify in 2020, for instance, several similar deals have followedincluding one last fall between Wondery and NFL star sibling podcasters Jason and Travis Kelce. However, eye-poppingly lucrative deals and astronomic numbers of downloads dont paint the full picture of what popularity means for these shows. The main reason podcasts appear poised to become 360-IP, according to Blake, is because of the unique connection they foster with fans. Theres a certain intimacy inherent to the medium. It casts a spell on listeners, creating the illusion that theyre quietly participating in an ongoing conversation, rather than overhearing it. When someone falls in love with a podcast, they fall hardas Wondery recently demonstrated with a study on fandom conducted with Dentsu and Edison Research. According to its findings, 71% of podcast fans feel they are friends with the hosts of their favorite shows, while 46% claim they are more a fan of their favorite podcast than any other form of entertainment. The biggest podcasts dont just inspire affinity but loyalty. Their fans are willing to follow them anywhere. What helps present more branding possibilities, though, according to Blake, is the fact that podcasts follow their listeners everywhere. “Podcasts, unlike any other media, complement a persons day, she says. You can listen to a podcast while taking a walk, cooking, or doing arts and crafts. They can go with you on every step of your day; and as such, they provide plenty of opportunities for extensions into other areas such as apparel and consumer products. Wondery spent years coordinating the rollout of a line of toys for the Wowsers to play with while listening to Wow in the World together after school. But the network does not apply the same long-lead approach to product development for each of its shows. [Photo: Courtesy Wondery] One size does not fit all The first step to a successful brand extension for podcast IP, Blake says, is gathering research and insights to understand the DNA of the show and what people love about it. Beyond that, it can go any number of ways. Theres no one-size-fits-all approach to building a podcasts brand. The weekly nature of some podcasts creates a lot of opportunities for rapid response. Blakes team always monitors how fans react to Wonderys podcasts, ready to pounce on, say, a popular segment or catchphrase that emerges from the Kelce brothers New Heights podcast; or create a special T-shirt immediately after Jason Kelces former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, won the Super Bowl back in February. Similarly, the team also noticed that fans of MrBallen, a beloved mystery storyteller, were talking a lot on social media about Lungy, a frog character the host developed on the show. It seemed like they wanted more of Lungy, and more is what any aspiring 360-degree IP should have on tap at all times. Wonndery quickly turned around a Lungy the Frog pin, which sold out right away, paving the way for future frog-centric apparel. Of course, some ideas need more time to incubate. In order to arrive at the planned Exhibit C cruise for 2026an immersive experience for fans of Wondery true-crime shows like Morbid and Scamfluencersthe team had to first experiment. In 2023, the network staged Exhibit C: A True Crime Experience Live at New Yorks Gotham Hall, a sort of podcastapalooza, bringing together an Avengers of in-house true-crime show hosts. The interactive event got such tremendous feedback from fans, it proved the demand existed for even more outlandish events like the upcoming mystery cruise. Just how far can Wondery push its podcast IP beyond the high seas? According to Blake, anything is possible. There is nowhere traditional media has been extended, she says, that you wont see a podcast go in the future.
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