Work Smart: Use Your Brain and Behavior to Master the Future of Work

Releasing Winter 2023

This book is about how we can use an understanding of the human brain and behavior to infuse humanism into our workplace today. Everyone thinks the future of work is about better technology but based on her experience, research, and guts Dr. Jennie Byrne is convinced that the future of work is about being a better human.

Story of My Book

My name is Dr. Jennie Byrne and I am the author of Work Smart: Use Your Brain and Behavior to Master the Future of Work. I wrote this book because I heard so many of my colleagues and friends talking about going back to “normal” work after the pandemic and was upset. Why aren’t they seeing the opportunity to start the Future of Work now?

 

My hope is that, in reading this book, you will learn a little science about how human brains and behavior work, and you will learn a lot about how the workplace can be better. I hope to instill in you the same sort of passion and excitement that I have for creating a new workplace that is more humanistic and equitable. Ultimately, I want you to see this book as a tool to help you work smarter rather than work harder.

 

In this book, you’ll learn about how to (1) manage your time aggressively and intentionally, (2) relearn how to communicate in the digital age, and (3) cultivate empathy and challenge assumptions. Here are some examples of what you will find in the book:

 

  • story of a senior executive who learned unexpected benefits of virtual work with her granddaughter on her knee
  • the science of getting back into your body during the workday
  • my experience challenging personal schemas and assumptions

 

You will love this book if you are an employee, manager, or leader who has switched away from in-person work for the first time. You will also love this book if you struggling with virtual or hybrid work, and you want to take small steps to make your virtual workplace better now.

 

Work Smart: Use Your Brain and Behavior to Master the Future of Work is a nonfiction book that speaks to individuals and managers who are looking at continuing to work virtually/hybrid or starting to work virtually/hybrid for the first time.

The Book - Work Smart: Use Your Brain and Behavior to Master the Future of Work

The book is written in 5 Parts…

 

Part 1 contains the Introduction + Chapters 1-3:

  • Step 1: Manage your time aggressively and intentionally. Our brains need proactive, aggressive time management to give us space for empathy and communication, to get into the flow and creative spaces. “Time confetti” requires us to switch attention rapidly, using brain resources, decreasing our productivity, and making us feel tired. Work needs to intentionally create space for creativity – longer chunks of time without interruption. It’s okay to make mistakes. Understanding personal rhythms is important to get the most out of time.

 

Part 2 contains Chapters 4-7:

  • Step 2: Relearn how to communicate in the digital age. Our tools for remote and hybrid work have left us feeling fatigued, confused, and dissatisfied because we don’t know how to communicate with one another. Video in ZOOM and other platforms is putting us into stress states because of the unnatural eye contact and viewing space. Virtual reality is an interesting option for the future because you feel more connected in your body and visual field. For now, we need to find digital collaboration tools that foster engagement, provide a sense of place and time, and feel like part of a group.

 

Part 3 contains Chapters 8-11:

  • Step 3: Cultivate empathy and challenge assumptions. The future of work requires us to be better humans—understanding how to cultivate empathy and stay curious is the key. Empathy is key to bringing us closer together and regulating our brain/hormone systems. We need to have trust, a sense of belonging, and meaning in our lives.

 

Part 4 contains Chapters 12-14:

  • The Future is Now. We need a new normal. This is how and WHY we need to disrupt the system.

 

Part 5 contains a Toolkit of helpful tips and tools you can use today to improve your workplace.

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About the Author

Jennie Byrne, MD, Ph.D. is the founder and CEO of Constellation PLLC and the Chief Patient Officer at Belong Health. She has been called a “Triple Threat” because of her work as a Physician Leader, a Healthcare Executive, and as an Entrepreneur. She is a brain and behavior specialist with extensive training and experience in Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Neuroscience.

 

Dr. Byrne wrote this book because she is passionate about challenging assumptions to infuse humanism into the workplace and the world. She was frustrated at the lack of human-centered design in the workplace and believes that the Traditional Office is an inequitable and outdated concept. Dr. Byrne is a relentless optimist and believes that if we challenge our outdated assumptions, we can all work smarter.

 

Dr. Byrne is also a lifelong musician—she started her university career as a music performance major on the bassoon—and decided mid-pandemic to live out a high school fantasy and play the electric bass in a rock band. She is a proud math/science nerd who loves to read across the high-low spectrum of books. She is married to a lawyer-turned-fiction-author, and she has been surprised by how much fun she is having as the parent of two teenagers.

 

For more information, you can connect with Dr. Jennie Byrne at jbyrne@constellationpllc.com and on LinkedIn.

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