We spend about half our waking lives working. Let’s make that time a bit better, shall we? And let’s chat with desuckifiers who are out there making it happen, every day.
tjbennett.substack.com (https://tjbennett.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
Ep 148 | How networking can be less painful and more useful with Greg Roche
Networking doesn’t have to involve a room full of strangers.
Or shotguns.
After Greg Roche (https://www.gregsroche.com/) was laid off, someone invited him to a networking event built around sporting clays—which is apparently like golf, but with guns.
Greg sat in his car thinking:
“There has to be a better way to do this.”
There is.
Networking can be one conversation with someone you already know. No name tags. No elevator pitch. Just two people talking like actual people.
Greg writes a Substack called The Introverted Networker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregsroche/). He helps people build genuine professional relationships without forcing themselves into situations that make them want to fake their own deaths.
And those relationships matter.
The first time Greg lost his job, it took him three months to find another. After intentionally building his network, his next job search took three weeks.
But networking isn’t useful only when you need something.
Knowing the people around us builds trust. It reduces conflict. It makes asking for (and offering) help easier—and work a hell of a lot more enjoyable.
In this episode, we talk about:😼 How introverts can network without “networking.”😼 Why your best starting point is someone you already know.😼 How one good conversation can create opportunities you never saw coming.
—
Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work less chaotic, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.
(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)
Let the desuckifying begin.
—
Follow Greg (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregsroche/) on LinkedIn and subscribe to The Introverted Networker (https://theintrovertednetworker.substack.com/) for practical tips that won’t require you to “work the room.”
And if you’d like your agency to be 20% less crazy, let’s talk. Schedule a free half-hour “Chaos to Clarity” session (https://calendly.com/teejaybee/free-30-minute-chaos-to-clarity-session) and we’ll identify one place to start making the work less painful.
Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt (https://www.thepuddingfactory.net/merch/p/short-sleeve-t-shirt).
Bye, everyone!
—
Bonus question from Greg:When has a relationship helped you be at your best at work?
Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe (https://tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
29 Sept 2026
Ep 147 | Helping agencies relearn the art of communication with Django Weisz Blanchetta
Work sucks less when we talk to each other like human beings.
Especially creative work.
People need to feel safe asking dumb questions, challenging assumptions, and saying, “I have no idea what you mean,” before everyone wastes three days heading in the wrong direction.
We try to solve this with process.
😼 We add another Slack channel.😼 Schedule another (ten) meeting(s).😼 Try our 17th project management software in the past 3 years
And no one ever thinks to just pick up the damn phone.
Communication isn’t a soft skill. It’s part of the agency’s creative infrastructure. And I can help you build it.
When people understand one another, they collaborate. They challenge each other. They spend less time decoding half-thoughts and more time doing cool s**t.
Django Weisz Blanchetta (https://www.linkedin.com/in/django-weisz-blanchetta-b02667/) gets it. And he’s living it every day as co-founder of Superheroes (https://hellosuperheroes.com/). Their mission is to save the world from boring advertising. A-freakin’ men.
Django knows the way to do that is to get people talking. You know, that thing we used to do before we started hiding behind tools and screens?
Sometimes that means reminding folks we’re actually capable of it.
At their daily lunch around the big table in the agency, there are two rules:🐱 No phones.🐱 No talking about work.
I can feel your panic through the screen. But you get used to it, and even enjoy it. Django swears.
This is the work.
Meanwhile, we’ve set up systems in most of our agencies that set fire to our collective EQ. The one thing that will actually keep us distinct from the robots.
We should stop doing that.
—
Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work less chaotic, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.
(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)
Let the desuckifying begin.
—
You can follow Django (https://www.linkedin.com/in/django-weisz-blanchetta-b02667/) on LinkedIn and visit hellosuperheroes.com (http://hellosuperheroes.com) to see how the agency is saving the world from boring advertising.
If communication breakdowns keep producing confusion, rework and unnecessary chaos at your agency, let’s talk. Schedule a free half-hour “Chaos to Clarity” session (https://calendly.com/teejaybee/free-30-minute-chaos-to-clarity-session) and we’ll identify where communication is breaking down—and one place to start creating the conditions for better work.
Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt (https://www.thepuddingfactory.net/merch/p/short-sleeve-t-shirt).
Bye, everyone!
—
Bonus question from Django:What’s one thing your agency does—outside the work itself—that helps people connect and create better work together?
Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe (https://tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
22 Sept 2026
Ep 146 | Let's make work less soul sucking with Greg Harrod
Work sucks less when it doesn’t suck the life out of us.
Obvious, right?
And yet, agency leaders spend a lot of time thinking about utilization, capacity, deadlines and deliverables—and very little time thinking about what kind of work actually gives their people energy.
So the brilliant strategist spends half her week building decks.
The creative director becomes a project manager.
The agency founder approves every decision down to the brand of sparkling water in the fridge.
Everyone is busy. Nobody is working at their best. And the whole place feels more chaotic than it needs to.
This is one of the reasons I believe agency chaos isn’t simply a workload problem. It’s often a clarity problem.
This is one of the reasons I believe agency chaos isn’t simply a workload problem. It’s often an alignment problem.
Are the right people doing the right work? Does everyone know what they own? Are people spending enough time using their strengths—or is too much of their energy being drained by work that belongs somewhere else?
That’s why I loved this week’s conversation with Greg Harrod (http://gregharrod.com).
Greg uses the Six Types of Working Genius to help leaders understand how work moves from an idea to a finished product—and where the wrong people, unclear ownership or missing capabilities can cause it to fall apart.
It gives teams a shared language for something we often feel but can’t articulate:“I can do this work. But if I have to do it every day, I will cut a fool.”
In this episode, we talk about:
🐱 Why being capable of doing something doesn’t mean you should own it.🐱 Why agencies create rework when they leap from ideas directly into execution.🐱 How understanding what energizes your people can reduce friction, confusion and burnout.
Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work less chaotic, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.
(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)
Let the desuckifying begin.
You can follow Greg on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-harrod/) and take his free Leadership Clarity Scorecard (http://gregharrod.com/leadershipclarityscorecard) to see where a lack of clarity may be making leadership harder than it needs to be.
And if you’re leading an agency where everyone is working their asses off—but the place still feels stuck in permanent fire-drill mode—let’s talk.
Schedule a free half-hour “Chaos to Clarity” session (https://calendly.com/teejaybee/free-30-minute-chaos-to-clarity-session) and we’ll look at what’s creating the chaos and identify one place to start making work feel calmer, clearer and less life-sucking.
Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt. (https://www.thepuddingfactory.net/merch/p/short-sleeve-t-shirt)
Bye, everyone!
Bonus question from Greg:Do you know your working genius pairing? If so, how has that impacted what you do at work?
Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe (https://tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
Inside a recent episode
Ep 114 | From C-suite burnout to creating a better world with Erica Rooney.
Published 6 Jan 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] And that's, it's just, very rarely brought up when you enter those spaces yes but what i where my brain goes with this and what i think is so fascinating is we have a lot of work to do but we are getting a lot better right and and the world i'm gonna use the word hr here Because that's the one most commonly understood. But the world of HR has shifted a lot, right? So like pop quiz, what was the first department name for the HR department back in the day? I remember Personnel. Personnel is what I wrote down right there. Personnel. Then eventually personnel morphed into human resources because somebody was in charge of managing the resources that identified as human. […]
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
