- Dan Toomey is a sharp and engaging commentator known for his Goodwork YouTube series covering business and corporate content.
- Mr. Toomey is the classic American reporter donning a trench coat who pokes fun at the absurdities of corporate culture.
- Unlike typical business channels that stick to pure facts and figures, Goodwork often delivers humorous perspectives that highlight corporate quirks and contradictions.
- This article features episodes that stand out not only for their insightful content but also for Dan’s unique style and humor.
1. Dan Toomey Investigates What Investment Bankers Actually Do All Day
Workplace productivity demands a concerted effort to minimize distractions and maximize efficiency.
Dan Toomey from the Goodwork YouTube series champions this cause by exposing the proverbial “paper-pushers” in the corporate world.
Among the professionals under his radar are New York City’s prominent investment bankers.
“Perhaps no job embodies the image of business than investment banking. It has got screens, fancy offices, and those dress shirts where the collar is of a different color from the rest of the shirt,” says Dan Toomey.
Reporting from the busy pavements of what appears to be Wall Street, Dan Toomey sets out to investigate what investment bankers do but ends up drowning in buzzwords, vague job titles, and suspiciously huge bonuses.
One of his sources revealed that investment banking primarily involves advising companies on selling shares or raising capital.
This “inside source” described a daily workflow with endless Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and financial modeling, with significant downtime spent waiting for comments.
While acknowledging the job description as ‘electric’, Dan takes great exception to the work-life balance in investment banking.
The reporter cites the common tendency of investment bankers to work overtime, with some spending entire nights holed in offices, busy adjusting margins and tweaking financial models.
2. Dan Toomey Calls for a Ban on Office Meetings
Away from the world of investment bankers, the Goodwork investigation team tackled the epidemic of endless meetings that seem to be strangling productivity in modern workplaces.
“At Goodwork we refuse to accept constant meetings as a by-product of having a job,” says Dan as he hilariously begins the special report from an ongoing boardroom meeting.
The video highlights a significant surge in meeting time, with some workers spending nearly eight hours a week in pointless meetings, contributing to a mental health crisis.
Toomey also demonstrates the erroneous managerial perception that meetings equate to productivity.
While one interviewee, Eric Shewelter, supports meetings as crucial for connection and decision-making, he also acknowledges that they are often overused due to a lack of thoughtful planning.
The episode floats a few solutions, including Shopify’s swooping move to delete 322,000 hours of planned meetings.
“We can live in a meeting-free society. The dream of an empty calendar is alive in all of us,” says Dan as he calls for a revolution against meetings.
His partying shot comes against the backdrop of a Soviet military parade, perhaps signifying the profound seriousness of his revolution.
3. What Does a Consultant Actually Do?
This Goodwork episode highlights distinguished management consulting firms like BCG, McKinsey, and Deloitte, which have recorded lower acceptance rates than Ivy League universities.
“Even with this prestige, fame, and exclusivity, society is still unsure of what these consultants do all day,” reports Dan, who stands outside the Hudson Yards headquarters of leading management consulting firm BCG.
Through interviews, including with former BCG employee Tyler Cook, the episode reveals that a consultant’s work often involves “going to meetings and preparing for meetings.”
After hours of digging through various sources, Mr. Toomey discovered one consistent definition: management consultants “recommend ways to improve organizational efficiency,” a description he found painfully vague and unsatisfying.
Beyond the meetings and money, Goodwork established that consultants are often hired to implement difficult, unpopular changes within a company.
This then allows CEOs to deflect blame to external “expert” recommendations.
The episode exposes these “brains for hire” as the ultimate paradox: a job that somehow appears to be everything and absolutely nothing at the same time.
Dan Toomey’s relentless quest to unmask the reality behind corporate facades often comes in clutch.
With his mastery of sarcasm, Dan tactfully challenges the “paper-pushing” menace, prompting everyone to look at what truly offers value in modern economies.
Sometimes the most profound insights on productivity come from simply asking: “What exactly do you do here?”