WorkLife

Ep 230. Dana Suskind: Parent Nation

Ep 230. Dana Suskind: Parent Nation

Dr. Suskind is a Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics and Public Policy at the University of Chicago, and is Co-Director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. . She is also the author of the bestselling book, Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain. Stew and Dana discuss her latest book, Parent Nation: Unlocking Every Child’s Potential, Fulfilling Society’s Promise, and the ways parents can use developmental neuroscience to help their children grow and ultimately to build a society that works for families and for all of us…[Click for more]

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Ep 229. Diana Kapp: Girls Who Green the World

Ep 229. Diana Kapp: Girls Who Green the World

Diana Kapp is the author of Girls Who Run the World and now Girls Who Green the World; Thirty-Four Rebel Women Out To Save Our Planet. Stew and Diana discuss the biggest work/life issue we can imagine, climate change. Diana shares stories of inspiring women who, in the face of our rapidly failing natural environment, are taking action to make things better. These powerful narratives detail creative experiments abounding in our midst, and offer empowering ideas for how each and every one of us can do something good for our world…[Click for more]

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Ep 228. Amy Beacom: Parental Leave Playbook

Ep 228. Amy Beacom: Parental Leave Playbook

Dr. Amy Beacom is the founder and CEO of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership and the author of The Parental Leave Playbook: Ten Touchpoints to Transition Smoothly, Strengthen Your Family, and Continue Growing Your Career. Stew talks with Amy about her evidence-based and very practical model for how to manage parental leave -- preparing for leave, during leave, and returning to work…[Click for more]

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Ep 227. Christine Porath: Mastering Community

Ep 227. Christine Porath: Mastering Community

Christine Porath is an Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and the author of Mastering Civility, The Cost of Bad Behavior. Stew talks with Christine about her most recent book, Mastering Community: The Surprising Ways Coming Together Moves Us from Surviving to Thriving and her research on the waning of community and effective ways of reweaving the fabric that holds our society together…[Click for more]

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Ep 226. Gianna Driver: From Women's Shelter to Chief Human Resources Officer

Ep 226. Gianna Driver: From Women's Shelter to Chief Human Resources Officer

Gianna Driver is Chief Human Resources Officer at Exabeam who was a student in Stew’s Total Leadership class 20 years ago. After spending five years running a global fair trade organization, she went on to build a highly successful career in human resources and recently started a new job at a company that fights cybercrime. Stew talks with Gianna about how her early life led her to want to have an impact through her work on valuing the humanity in each and every one of us…[Click for more]

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Ep 225. Lynda Gratton: Redesigning Work

Ep 225. Lynda Gratton: Redesigning Work

Lynda Gratton is a Professor of Management Practice at London Business School She has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by HR Magazine and named by 'Business Thinkers 50' as one of the top 15 business thinkers in the world. Stew talks with Lynda Gratton about her latest book, Redesigning Work: How to Transform Your Organization and Make Hybrid Work for Everyone. To capitalize on the opportunities created by the revolutionary changes occurring in the world of work...[Click for more]

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Ep 224. Kevin Hancock: A CEO Discovers His True Voice

Ep 224. Kevin Hancock: A CEO Discovers His True Voice

Kevin Hancock is the CEO of Hancock Lumber Company, one of the oldest and best-known family businesses in America and 8-time consecutive Best Places to Work in Maine, and author of The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey into the Business of Shared Leadership. Stew talks with Kevin about how the loss of his own voice due to a rare illness and his immersion in the culture and values of indigenous peoples radically revised leadership style…[Click for more]

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Ep 223. Larry Hirschhorn: A Father's Grief

Ep 223. Larry Hirschhorn: A Father's Grief

Larry Hirschhorn is a Principal and one of the founders of the Center for Applied Research (CFAR), a management consulting firm with offices in Philadelphia and Boston; a founder of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO); and the founder and director of Dynamics of Consulting, a program for experienced coaches and consultants. He has published several books and many articles linking organizational functioning to psychodynamics, among them The Workplace Within and Reworking Authority., both published by MIT Press. Larry has a PhD in Economics from MIT. Stew talks with Larry about his recently published book Grieving Aaron: Poems in Response to the Death of My Adult Son. Larry’s professional background makes him uniquely suited to offer profoundly useful insights for all those who are grieving losses and dislocations due to the death of loved ones, especially in pandemic times…[Click for more]

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Ep 222. Vanessa Bohns: You Have More Influence Than You Think

Ep 222. Vanessa Bohns: You Have More Influence Than You Think

Vanessa Bohns is a social psychologist and professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University. Her new book is You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate our Power of Persuasion and Why it Matters. Stew talks with Vanessa Bohns about eye-opening research on how people undervalue the impact they have on others and what this means for our lives at work, at home, and in the community. They review how to ask for help, negotiate boundaries , persuade others, how embarrassment informs morality…[Click for more]

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Ep 221. Alec Ross: The Fight For Our Future

Ep 221. Alec Ross: The Fight For Our Future

Alec Ross is one of the world’s leading experts on innovation. A former senior advisor in the Obama Administration and currently Distinguished Visiting Professor at The University of Bologna Business School, his book is called The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People — and the Fight for Our Future. Stew and Alec talk about what he learned starting out as a school teacher in an economically ravaged part of Baltimore; the central problems of government, the private sector, and labor politics; and creating a sustainable world. [Click for more]

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Ep 220. Rob Cross: Breaking Free From Collaboration Overload

Ep 220. Rob Cross: Breaking Free From Collaboration Overload

Rob Cross is the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College and the author of Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to Work Smarter, Get Ahead and Restore Your Well-Being. He has studied the underlying network dynamics of effective organizations for more than 20 years. Rob is cofounder and Research Director of the Connected Commons business consortium and is the coauthor of five other books, including The Hidden Power of Social Networks. Stew talks with Rob about the causes of the epidemic of too much collaboration at work and how this problem has reduced productivity and well-being in all parts of our lives. Rob describes how to identify and reduce what he calls the now-common “micro-stressors” in our lives…[Click for more]

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Ep 219. Scott Behson: The Whole-Person Workplace

Ep 219. Scott Behson: The Whole-Person Workplace

Scott Behson is a professor of management and Silberman Global Faculty Fellow at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is the author of The Working Dad’s Survival Guide and most recently The Whole-Person Workplace: Building Better Workplaces Through Work-Life, Wellness and Employee Support. Stew talks with Scott about insights for action from his new book on how to garner employer support for all employees, and for working parents in particular, in the new world created by the pandemic’s jolt…[Click for more]

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Ep 218. Carmen Fernandez: Chief People Officer, Marsh McLennan

Ep 218. Carmen Fernandez: Chief People Officer, Marsh McLennan

Carmen Fernandez is Vice President and Chief People Officer at Marsh McClennan, one of the world’s leading professional services firms in the areas of risk, strategy and people. She is committed to creating a culture that is inclusive and vibrant with inspiring leadership. Stew talks with Carmen about the new challenges in Human Resources today; attracting and retaining talent; diversity and inclusion best practices…[Click for more]

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Ep 217. Daisy Dowling: The Workparent Toolkit

Ep 217. Daisy Dowling: The Workparent Toolkit

Daisy Dowling is Founder and CEO of Workparent, an executive coaching and training firm, and author of Workparent: The Complete Guide to Succeeding on the Job, Staying True to Yourself, and Raising Happy Kids. Stew talks with Daisy about the useful tips she gathered from speaking to a variety of working parents across different stages of the parenting life cycle…[Click for more]

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Ep 216. Jen Fisher: How to Work Better Together

Ep 216. Jen Fisher: How to Work Better Together

Jen Fisher is Deloitte’s chief well-being officer in the United States and the co-author of Work Better Together: How to Cultivate Strong Relationships to Maximize Well-Being and Boost Bottom Lines. Stew talks with Jen about relationships at work, how the pandemic as well as technology have had an impact on work connections and performance, and why it’s crucial to care for yourself if you’re going to succeed…[Click for more]

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Ep 215. Ulcca Joshi Hansen: The Future of Smart

Ep 215. Ulcca Joshi Hansen: The Future of Smart

Ulcca Joshi Hansen, a researcher and education advocate, is the author of The Future of Smart: How Our Education System Needs to Change to Help All Young People Thrive. Stew talks with Ulcca about what we want our children to learn, what they are actually being taught in our schools, what it means to be “smart” in today’s in today’s complex world, and how the educational system we have had for centuries has to change…[Click for more]

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Ep 213. Richard Culatta: Raising Children to Thrive in an Online World

Ep 213. Richard Culatta: Raising Children to Thrive in an Online World

Richard Culatta is author of Digital for Good: Raising Kids to Thrive in an Online World. He serves as CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE); senior fellow at NYU’s GovLab; and design resident at IDEO. Richard was appointed by President Obama as the Director of the Office of Educational Technology for the US Department of Education. Stew talks with Richard about practical ideas for how we can cultivate good digital citizenship in our children by developing five essential qualities: focusing on the quality and value of specific content and not on the amount of time spent online;…[Click for more]

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Ep 212. Jessica Bacal: Learning from Rejection

Ep 212. Jessica Bacal: Learning from Rejection

Jessica Bacal is director of Reflective and Integrative Practices and of the Narratives Project at Smith College. Her latest book is The Rejection That Changed My Life: 25+ Powerful Women on Being Let Down, Turning It Around, and Burning It Up at Work. It’s is a sequel of sorts to Jessica’s first bestseller, Mistakes I Made at Work: 25 Influential Women on What They Got Out of Getting It Wrong. Stew talks with Jessica about how to learn and grow from rejection by gleaning useful data from rejections, especially about your values…[Click for more]

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Ep 211. Latha Poonamallee: Mindfulness and Leadership in a Changing World

Ep 211. Latha Poonamallee: Mindfulness and Leadership in a Changing World

Latha Poonamallee is an Associate Professor, Chair of Faculty of Management, and University Fellow at the New School in New York City. She and Stew discuss her new book, Expansive Leadership: Cultivating Mindfulness to Lead Self and Others in a Changing World. Latha explains that meditation and mindfulness are tools that can change how we do business and are part of a new way to lead us to a better, more equitable world and how technology can be harnessed for good…[Click for more]

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Ep 210. Jason Thacker: A Banking Executive on Paternity Leave

Ep 210. Jason Thacker: A Banking Executive on Paternity Leave

Jason Thacker is a Senior Vice President of TD Bank Group and Head of Credit Cards and Unsecured Lending. He started his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble as the company's youngest global expatriate, leading priority brands in both the US and Canada. Jason holds an MBA from The Wharton School and an HBA from the Ivey Business School. Jason has been recognized as one of Canada's Top 40 under 40, The Wharton School's 40 under 40 and P&G's Global Alumni under 40. Stew talks with Jason about his career, his recent paternity leave, its impact on his work, and the impact of fatherhood on his career…[Click for more]

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