Innovative Work Models for the Future with Megan Braverman

**SPEAKER_2** (0:04)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Sakach** (0:18)
Welcome back to the show, everyone. I'm Stephen Sakach here with my co-host Tullio Siragusa, and our special guests who we'll introduce in a moment. So the future of work continues to evolve as organizations rethink how teams collaborate, communicate, deliver value. There's an interesting stat. So according to McKinsey, more than 70% of organizations are experimenting with new models, including hybrid structures and more flexible operating approaches. It's a lot, 70%.
It must mean something's wrong with the existing model. I know we've said that in the past. So for professional service firms in particular, where client relationships and trust are critical, innovation and how work gets done must be balanced with that consistency, credibility, and of course, performance. So today, we explore how leaders can design innovative work models that both support business growth and strong team culture. Tullio, introduce our special guest today.

**Tullio Siragusa** (1:20)
My pleasure. Our guest today is Megan Braverman. She is the owner and principal of Berbay Marketing & PR. Megan leads a national award-reading agency, specializing in creating the visibility and credibility that fuels revenue, growth for law, finance, and real estate firms. She works closely with clients as a strategic partner, trusted advisor, and creative asset, helping them to exceed their business objective and stand out in very competitive markets.
With a deep understanding of how professional services firms operate, she helps organizations stay focused as they navigate critical business decisions, including succession planning and advanced long-term business objectives. As a leader, Megan has also built a collegial and a collaborative environment of skilled professionals dedicated to delivering outstanding results for clients in the firm. Megan, welcome to The Bliss Business Podcast. We're excited to have you.

**Megan Braverman** (2:22)
Thank you so much. Excited to be here.

**Stephen Sakach** (2:26)
Hey, Megan. I'd love to know why the topic Innovative Work Models for the Future kind of stuck with you as important right now.

**Megan Braverman** (2:36)
Yeah, I think that's all I'm thinking about. It takes up my whole day. I mean, as a leader of an agency, I think we have to be innovative, and we have to be forward-thinking. We always have to think about the future. That Innovative Work Models for the Future is really what takes up 75 percent of my time in terms of operating agencies. It's very near and dear to my heart.

**Stephen Sakach** (3:05)
Let's get into it. As I mentioned, you work closely with professional service firms that rely heavily on relationships and reputations. How are you seeing work models evolve in these businesses?

**Megan Braverman** (3:20)
Sure. Whenever I hear Innovative Work Models or Future of Work, to me, it's synonymous with AI. We can't go one day without the conversation of AI, usually multiple times per day. Although we might be all rolling our eyes at how many times it comes up, we all want to participate in those conversations because it's affecting everything that we're doing. I think that firms are actively rethinking about how work gets done. We're seeing things in professional service firms, we're seeing things like directors of AI, internal AI committees, and just real conversations about what should be automated, what needs to stay human. It's not just about efficiency. I mean, it's changing roles, it's changing workflows and just how we collaborate day-to-day. I think that's a big one. I think right behind AI for professional service firms and probably other industries is data. I think for a long time in professional service firms, decisions were made more on instinct than actual data. I mean, even when you would ask, like, where does all your business come from? It's like it was more from their gut than real numbers. I think we're seeing a lot of firms get that data in place and what's actually driving revenue. So you've got AI and data, and I think that these are both pushing firms to be more structured, to be more intentional in the way that they operate. And then I would say layered on top of that is what I call the hybrid hangover from COVID. After everyone went virtual unexpectedly, I think it became really, really hard to bring people back into the office environment. And someone said something to me and it really stuck, and I wish I could have heard who said it, but someone said that it felt like trying to put animals back in their cages after letting them roam free.
And that is just something that always stuck in me, right? So you can't just ask people to come back, especially if you're not offering anything different. Like what are you offering in the office that they can't get home? Because if you're just coming into the office and sitting alone in your office and doing the same work, they're going to question why they're there. So I just think that we're seeing the shift towards like a more intentional, innovative work model of like, how do people make, how do owners and C suites make their people happy, right? And so I think it's less about where people sit and more about how the work gets done. You know, define in purpose, in office purpose, you know, smarter use of the time together, leveraging technology. So I think the firms that are designing this, not just defaulting to one they think is best, I think that's where we're seeing something a little bit more meaningful. So I think that flexibility is not going away, but without the structure, it just doesn't work. And without the purpose neither does the office.