Work For Humans

Darius Mirshahzadeh built the company he'd always wanted. In just three years, he grew it from a one-person operation into one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States. But when he looked around, he realized something unsettling: he hated the company he had created. That experience forced him to rethink what it really means to scale a business. In this revisited episode, Dart and Darius discuss how core values shape the way organizations grow, why culture must be designed intentionally, and what it takes to build a company that can scale without losing itself.

Darius Mirshahzadeh is an entrepreneur, author, and leadership advisor who helps founders build values-driven organizations. He founded Twin Capital Mortgage, later served as CEO of The Money Source, and is the author of The Core Value Equation.

In this episode, Dart and Darius discuss:
- Building culture through values
- When values become operational
- Hiring for alignment
- The language organizations create
- Measuring engagement differently
- Why some polarization is healthy
- Scaling without losing your culture
- Finding your calling
- And other topics…

Darius Mirshahzadeh is an entrepreneur, author, and leadership advisor who helps companies scale through strong culture and clearly defined core values. He founded Twin Capital Mortgage, growing it into one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States, and later served as CEO of The Money Source. He is the author of The Core Value Equation, where he shares a framework for building organizations around values that guide hiring, leadership, and growth.

Resources Mentioned:
The Core Value Equation, by Darius Mirshahzadeh: https://www.amazon.com/Core-Value-Equation-Framework-Limitless/dp/1544506708

Connect with Darius:
Official website: https://therealdarius.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmirshahzadeh/
The Greatness Machine podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-greatness-machine/id1555334180
Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.

After years building software products, Chris Metcalfe crossed into People & Culture and noticed something surprising. Organizations invested enormous effort into understanding customers, testing ideas, and improving products, yet the work people did every day was rarely designed with the same discipline. That realization led him to ask a different question: what if work itself were managed like a product? In this episode, Dart and Chris discuss what happens when organizations move beyond HR as a service function, how product thinking changes the way work is designed, and why better work begins with solving the right problems.

Chris Metcalfe is a product leader and organizational strategist helping organizations apply product management to the design of work. After leading product teams at Workday, Docebo, and Primark, he now helps People teams build product capabilities through Red Oak and PX as a Product.

In this episode, Dart and Chris discuss:
- HR through a product lens
- Treating work like a product
- The customer inside your company
- Solving real work problems
- Outcomes over outputs
- The power of constraints
- Product thinking for HR
- Rethinking HR as product
- And other topics…

Chris Metcalfe is a product leader and organizational strategist who helps organizations apply product management to the design of work. He has held product leadership roles at Workday, Docebo, and Primark, where he led product teams spanning enterprise software and People & Culture. Today, he is the founder of Red Oak and PX as a Product, where he helps organizations build product-led People functions and apply product operating models to the design of work. He also writes The Operating Model, a newsletter on product leadership, organizational design, and the future of work.

Resources Mentioned:
Inspired, by Marty Cagan: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119387507
Transformed, by Marty Cagan: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119697336
SapienX: https://sapienx.co.uk/
Chris's newsletter, The Operating Model: https://metcalfec.substack.com/

Connect with Chris:
Red Oak: https://www.red-oak.agency/
PX as a Product: https://pxasaproduct.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-metcalfe-red-oak/ 
Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.

Most companies obsess over products, but Jim Kalbach believes they're asking the wrong question. Customers don't buy products because of what they are. They "hire" them to make progress in their lives. Jobs to Be Done is a way of uncovering that progress, helping organizations stop guessing what people want and start understanding twhat people are really trying to accomplish. In this revisited episode, Dart and Jim discuss how Jobs to Be Done helps organizations uncover unmet customer needs, align teams around real problems, and apply the framework to innovation, hiring, and finding the right work for people.
Jim Kalbach is an author, speaker, and instructor in innovation, design, and the future of work. He is the Chief Evangelist at Mural and Co-Founder and Principal of the JTBD Toolkit, where he helps organizations apply Jobs to Be Done to innovation, product strategy, and customer experience.
In this episode, Dart and Jim discuss:
- Why customers "hire" products
- Finding unmet customer needs
- Solving problems, not building features
- Using JTBD to drive innovation
- Matching people to the right work
- Understanding customer circumstances
- A shared language for teams
- Mindset before methodology
- And other topics…

Jim Kalbach is the Chief Evangelist at Mural and Co-Founder and Principal of the JTBD Toolkit, where he helps organizations apply Jobs to Be Done to innovation, product strategy, and customer experience. He is the author of Designing Web Navigation, Mapping Experiences, and The Jobs to Be Done Playbook, and co-author of Collaborative Intelligence. Before joining Mural, Jim worked in design and innovation consulting with organizations including eBay, Sony, IBM, EY, LexisNexis, and Citrix.

Resources Mentioned:
The Jobs to Be Done Playbook, by Jim Kalbach: https://www.amazon.com/Jobs-Be-Done-Playbook-Organization/dp/1933820683
Mapping Experiences, by Jim Kalbach: https://www.amazon.com/Mapping-Experiences-Complete-Creating-Blueprints/dp/1491923539
JTBD Toolkit: https://www.jtbdtoolkit.com/
The Experience Economy, by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore: https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Economy-Competing-Customer-Time/dp/1633697975

Connect with Jim:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalbach/
JTBD Toolkit: https://www.jtbdtoolkit.com/
Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.

Vanessa Monsequeira spent years leading change initiatives and helping organizations roll out new systems. Again and again, she saw that the hardest part wasn't convincing people to change, it was that the work itself had never been intentionally designed. That realization led her to apply product thinking to the workplace, treating work as something to be researched, tested, and continuously improved. In this episode, Dart and Vanessa discuss what it means to design work intentionally, how product thinking is reshaping HR, and why the future of work depends less on new technology than on better design.

Vanessa Monsequeira is a people and product leader who applies product thinking to the design of work. She has led People teams at Miro and Gorilla and now advises founders and executives on building more intentional, human-centered organizations.

In this episode, Dart and Vanessa discuss:
- Why work should be designed
- HR as a product team
- The MVP approach to work
- Experimenting before scaling
- Rethinking performance management
- Designing fairness into systems
- Better managers by design
- AI as a learning partner
- Leading with an abundance mindset
- And other topics…

Vanessa Monsequeira is a people and product leader who helps organizations design better work through product thinking. She has held leadership roles at Miro, Gorilla, PwC, Deloitte, and Philips, where she applied product management principles to people strategy, employee experience, and organizational design. Today, she advises founders and executives on building better workplaces, developing stronger leaders, and navigating AI-driven change.
Connect with Vanessa:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamonsequeira/
Website: https://www.vanessamonsequeira.com/
Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.

Dr. Bob Aubrey has spent decades advancing the field of human development across Asia. With experience spanning 25 countries and six continents, he founded and chairs the Advisory Board of the ASEAN Human Development Organisation (AHDO), which promotes human development across the region and beyond. In this episode, Dart and Bob discuss the global human development movement, where it fits alongside HR, and what it means for capitalism, company profitability, and the future of work.

Dr. Bob Aubrey is a human development consultant, author, educator, social entrepreneur, and leadership advisor whose work has spanned more than 25 countries across six continents.

In this episode, Dart and Bob discuss:
- How human deveolpment (HD) creates a better work environment
- How HR and HD work together
- HD curriculum and career paths
- The importance of ethics in companies and investments
- How Environmental Social Governance improves profitability
- HD within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
- HR practices in Western vs. non-Western nations
- How to create an organization that prioritizes employee well-being
- If and how HD can coexist with capitalism
- And other topics...
Dr. Bob Aubrey is a human development consultant, author, educator, social entrepreneur, and leadership advisor whose work has spanned more than 25 countries across six continents. He is the Founder and Chair of the Advisory Board of the ASEAN Human Development Organisation (AHDO) and the Managing Director of Bob Aubrey Associates.
Bob has authored numerous books on human development and leadership, including Human Development Careers: Leading the Future of Work, one of the first books dedicated to careers in human development, and The Ethics of ASEAN. Through his writing, consulting, and educational initiatives, he continues to advance the field of human development across Southeast Asia and beyond.

Resources mentioned:
Human Development Careers, by Bob Aubrey: https://www.amazon.com/Human-Development-Careers-Leading-Future-ebook/dp/B08QJ1BS98
Measure of Man, by Bob Aubrey: https://www.amazon.com/Measure-Man-Leading-Human-Development-ebook/dp/B014IF1W36
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas S. Kuhn: https://www.amazon.com/Structure-Scientific-Revolutions-50th-Anniversary-ebook/dp/B007USH7J2
Human Resource Champions, by David Ulrich: https://www.amazon.com/Human-Resource-Champions-David-Ulrich/dp/0875847196

Connect with Bob:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobaubrey/
ASEAN Human Development Organisation: https://www.aseanhdo.com/about
Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.