Emma Isaacs - The New Hustle: Don’t Work Harder, Just Work Better

About The New Hustle

What if weve been served a big, fat lie about what it takes to be successful at work?

Pro-hustlers will tell you living in a work-more, sleep-less world is how we get ahead. But on the back of the pandemic, entrepreneur and Business Chicks founder Emma Isaacs believes the hustle is now dead. Moreover, traditional ways of working - long commutes, unproductive meetings and outdated systems of bureaucracy - actually dont work at all.

Emma believes we dont have to work harder; we just need to work better. In fact, we can slash our hours, take shortcuts and still get more done without feeling depleted.

In The New Hustle , Emma condenses her wisdom into 77 anti-rules for maximum efficiency. Drawing inspiration from her team, Business Chicks members and the many entrepreneurs and leaders who have graced the Business Chicks stage, she will teach us to embrace radical flexibility, make quick decisions, work smarter and say no to the things that dont matter, so we can say yes to the things that do.

Written with humour, insight and a serving of tough love, The New Hustle is your go-to for more productive, creative and meaningful work by one of Australias most unconventional and effective entrepreneurs: a best-selling author, mum of six - and a woman determined to start an anti-hustle revolution.

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An old friend of mine had a beautiful relationship with her elderly grandparents, who were the most tender and loving couple. I looked up to them and admired the way they lived so effortlessly together, having such different interests yet enjoying each others company at the same time. She would potter in the garden alone for hours on end and walk the dog without fail every morning and night, staying up late to watch her favourite television programs. He was happier down at the beach in the water and whiling away the rest of the day reading a book and getting into bed early each night. In their eighties, it made more sense for them to sleep in different beds where theyd have the best chance at a good nights sleep, and yet theyd also make an effort to find moments in the day to spend time together and connect over their meals and cups of tea.

My friend and I would often get out of the city and go and stay with them for the weekend. Their energy was so gentle and reminded us about what mattered most and what was really important.

We watched as her grandfather fell ill with cancer and started to lose weight dramatically. He seemed to get so frail so quickly. Her grandmother was stoic throughout this time, tending to him around the clock and doing what she could to both make this time as gentle as possible but also come to terms with the fact that the end had come sooner than either of them had thought it would.

Towards the final few weeks of his life, the grandfather asked to speak with me alone. I sat on the side of his bed as he asked if Id help him with a secret job. He made me promise that I wouldnt tell anyone about it until he was gone. He directed me to some money hed been hiding and told me there was a bracelet he wanted to buy for his wife. He asked me to take the money and go down to their local jeweller to buy it for her. Unable to walk now, this was obviously a plan the grandfather had been scheming for some time as the jeweller knew the exact piece Id been sent to collect.

He was so frail at this point that he couldnt find the strength to write in the card Id bought to accompany the gift. He knew exactly what he wanted to say and had me write these words: Not for any reason, but for every reason.

Id never seen the grandmother cry once during those last few months of his life, but when I handed over the jewellery box on the day of his funeral and she read the words in the card, she sobbed without control. His gesture seemed a perfect end to their full life together.

The sentiment behind his words has always stuck with me, and the memory of his kindness and thoughtfulness having such an impact on another person is something that Ill never forget.

We dont need a love story or a death to remind us to be kind to one another. We dont need any reason or excuse to make someones day (or life). To be kind, to be thoughtful, to think of others, to care these are all wonderful practices and theyre practices that shouldnt be reserved just for home, but for our workplaces too.

Rule #33: Point the finger

One of the small joys of my pandemic experience was locking myself in my home office and interviewing some extraordinarily clever people for our digital events. One of my favourite interviews was with US soccer champion and ex-professional athlete Abby Wambach. As well as being funny, down-to-earth and unassuming, Abby dished out some solid advice about building teams that perform.

During her career, Abby won two Olympic gold medals and scored 184 goals which, at her retirement, made her the highest goal-scoring soccer player (male or female) of all time. In our conversation, she told me how she watched a replay of one of her old games with her wife, Glennon Doyle, and their kids. One of the kids, Amma, noticed that each time Abby scored a goal shed start pointing at her teammates and Amma wanted to know why.

Abby explained that those goals werent about her; they were about the effort from all her teammates who had set her up to make that goal happen. By pointing at them and directing some praise their way, she was sharing the triumph and ensuring they knew how appreciated they were.

In my conversation with Abby she said, In every soccer game, there is hopefully a goal. And when a goal is scored, I can tell everything I want to know about that team. I can tell if their teammates like the goal scorer, I can tell if their teammates like the assist maker. I can tell if they respect their coaches or if the players respect the bench players. There is so much to be learned from watching and observing a team by the way they act when they win.

Good people know that one of the best ways to become liked and respected is to be overt with giving credit where credits due. Its about calling out good work and making sure everyone else knows about it too. If you can build a reputation as someone who is always cheerleading for others, always pointing the finger, youll build your value as a positive and useful person to have around. This might mean dropping a note in your companys group chat, sending an email to the whole team or mentioning it in the team meeting. We do a form of finger-pointing in our business: each week in our company-wide meeting, we ask for the win of the week and shout out the colleague whos contributed in some special way. It feels good to be seen and it feels good to give praise. Have a think about your colleagues and their work this past week is there someone you can point the finger at? Go on then, youll make their day.

Rule #34: Another glass of water

A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.

Amelia Earhart

You know whats a great way to get a co-worker to love you? Whenever you get a glass of water from the office kitchen for yourself, get two. Get one for you and one for someone else. Just plonk it right down and say, There you go, love. Or... when you go fill up your water bottle, grab theirs and fill it up too. This idea sounds so obvious, but youd be so surprised at the number of people who dont think this way and are only ever thinking of their own needs. If youre making a cup of tea for yourself, yell out, Im making a cuppa! Who wants one? Youre doing the thing anyway, so do it for someone else too.