275. Where Do You Really Work?

Where do you actually do your best and most important work?

Work does not always happen where, when, or how people expect it to happen. In episode 275 of At The Table, Pat Lencioni and Cody Thompson explore why thinking, brainstorming, reflecting, and solving problems should count just as much as the visible activity people typically associate with productivity. They challenge leaders to create cultures that measure people by meaningful contribution and results rather than how busy they appear at their desks.

Topics explored in this episode:

(00:00) Where Does Work Really Happen?

Pat questions whether traditional work hours and office spaces accurately reflect when people are actually doing their most valuable work.Cody expands the conversation by asking a more fundamental question: what should actually qualify as work?

(03:43) Making Space for Different Kinds of Work

Pat explains why choosing to stay away from the office for an hour of focused creative thinking can sometimes be more productive than immediately sitting at a desk.Pat and Cody discuss how personality, Working Genius, and the nature of a person's responsibilities can influence where and how that person works best.

(07:27) What Leaders Should Measure

Pat challenges CEOs to consider whether they want employees thinking about their work outside traditional work hours and argues that overly rigid boundaries can discourage that engagement.Cody pushes the idea further by questioning why computer work and task completion are so often treated as more legitimate than meetings, conversations, and creative thought.

(10:57) The Four Types of Work

Pat introduces a two-by-two framework that divides work into thinking versus doing and collective versus solitary.The conversation explores why each type of work may require a different setting and why organizations should deliberately create room for thinking rather than defaulting constantly to execution.

(14:32) Effectiveness Over Visible Productivity