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]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 209. Lauren Smith Brody: The Fifth Trimester

Ep 209. Lauren Smith Brody: The Fifth Trimester

Lauren Smith Brody is the founder of The Fifth Trimester and author of the bestselling book The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby. She was previously the executive editor of Glamour magazine. Stew talks with Lauren about practical advice for working mothers following their children’s arrival…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 208. Jason Harris: The Soulful Art of Persuasian

Ep 208. Jason Harris: The Soulful Art of Persuasian

Jason Harrisis is CEO of the creative agency Mekanism, which has been named to Ad Age's Agency A-list and twice to their Best Places to Work. He’s the author of a recent book, The Soulful Art of Persuasion. Jason has been named in the Top 10 Most Influential Social Impact Leaders, as well as the 4A's list of "100 People Who Make Advertising Great." His methods are studied in cases at Harvard Business School. Stew talks with Jason about building a trusting workplace culture and strengthening your reputation and your market power through persuasion, though Jason’s take on persuasion is not what most people think about when they picture what it means to be persuasive..[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 207. Liya Shuster-Bier: Alula is Making Cancer Less Lonely

Ep 207. Liya Shuster-Bier: Alula is Making Cancer Less Lonely

Liya Shuster-Bier is the founder and CEO of Alula, a radically honest platform for cancer patients, caregivers, and survivors. She is a cancer survivor herself. Prior to Alula, Liya built a career in community development and impact investing, partnering with mayors and governors across the country to create innovative financing solutions that improved community outcomes. Stew talks with Liya about her inspiring leadership story of transforming an excruciating pain in your life into something of value to others…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 206. Erica Dhawan: Digital Body Language

Ep 206. Erica Dhawan: Digital Body Language

Erica Dhawan is author of Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection No Matter the Distance and co-author of Get Big Things Done. She is also the Founder and CEO of Cotential. She was named by Thinkers50 as “The Oprah of Management Ideas” and featured as one of the Top 20 Management Experts around the world by GlobalGurus. Stew talks with Erica about her latest book and Erica shares lots of practical advice such as when to write in all caps, with whom to use emojis, how to negotiate ambiguous time-to-respond issues, how to respond to passive aggressive emails…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 205. Katy Milkman: The Science of How to Change

Ep 205. Katy Milkman: The Science of How to Change

Katy Milkman is an award-winning behavioral scientist and the James G. Dinan Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She hosts Charles Schwab’s popular behavioral economics podcast Choiceology and is the co-founder and co-director of The Behavior Change for Good Initiative, a research center at the University of Pennsylvania with the mission of advancing the science of lasting behavior change. This work is being chronicled by Freakonomics Radio. Stew talks with Katy about her new book, How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. Katy shares her very practical advice about how to craft a way to get things done that is tailored to your own particular stumbling blocks…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 204. Jordan Shapiro: How to Be a Feminist Dad

Ep 204. Jordan Shapiro: How to Be a Feminist Dad

Jordan Shapiro is the author of Father Figure: How to Be a Feminist Dad.; senior fellow for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop; Nonresident Fellow in the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution; and his previous book is The New Childhood: Raising Kids To Thrive in a Connected World. Stew talks with Jordan about fatherhood in the modern world, dilemmas, stigmas…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 203. Joann Lublin: How Executive Mothers Navigate Work and Life

Ep 203. Joann Lublin: How Executive Mothers Navigate Work and Life

Joann Lublin was management news editor for The Wall Street Journal until she retired in April 2018, and she is still a regular Journal contributor. She shared a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for stories about corporate scandals and was awarded the 2018 Lifetime Achievement from the Loeb Awards, the highest accolade in business journalism. Stew and Joann discuss her new book -- Power Moms: How Executive Mothers Navigate Work and Life -- which explores the emotional and professional challenges women face as they try to move forward in their careers while raising a family…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 202. Susan McPherson: The Lost Art of Connecting

Ep 202. Susan McPherson: The Lost Art of Connecting

Susan McPherson brings 25+ years of experience in marketing PR, and communications to her new book -- The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships. Stew talks with Susan about the very best question to ask -- How can I help you? -- and how to build relationships at work and elsewhere….[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 201. Tsedal Neeley: Remote Work Revolution

Ep 201. Tsedal Neeley: Remote Work Revolution

Tsedal Neeley is the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, an accomplished scholar and author, and award-winning teacher. Stew and Tsedal discuss her new book, Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding from Anywhere, and the pros and cons of remote work -- for performance, well-being, and relationships in all parts of our lives -- and what we’ve learned about these pushes and pulls during the disorienting world of the pandemic…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 200. Darby Saxbe: What Happens to Us When We Become Parents?

Ep 200. Darby Saxbe: What Happens to Us When We Become Parents?

Darby Saxbe is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California’s David and Dana Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Stew talks with Darby about her research on what happens to men and women when they become parents and how the pandemic has affected parents…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 199. Julie Kashen: Advocate for Change in Public Policy

Ep 199. Julie Kashen: Advocate for Change in Public Policy

Julie Kashen is the director for women’s economic justice and a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a progressive independent think tank that fights for economic, racial, and gender equity in education, health care, and work. She served in federal and state government, including as Labor Policy Advisor to the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and as Deputy Policy Director for former New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine. Stew talks with Julie about the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue plan, also known as the American Rescue Plan, and its implications for strengthening our nation’s care infrastructure…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 198. Anne Driscoll and Chris Schultz: Partners at Work and in the Rest of Life

Ep 198. Anne Driscoll and Chris Schultz: Partners at Work and in the Rest of Life

Anne Driscoll and Chris Schultz are co-founders of an organization called Launch Pad and they are a married couple. Stew talks with these successful entrepreneurs and investors about what it takes for a married couple to run a company together and how their philosophy of investing in long-term relationships in growing their business affects their relationship beyond work…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 197. Cal Newport: A World Without Email

Ep 197. Cal Newport: A World Without Email

Cal Newport is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University, a New York Times bestselling author on the intersection of technology and culture. He's written seven books, including Digital Minimalism and Deep Work. Stew and Cal discuss his new book, A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 196. Martin Davidson: The End of Diversity as We Know It

Ep 196. Martin Davidson: The End of Diversity as We Know It

Martin Davidson is the Johnson & Higgins Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and he currently serves as their senior associate dean and global chief diversity officer. His book, The End of Diversity as We Know It: Why Diversity Efforts Fail and How Leveraging Difference Can Succeed, introduces a research-driven roadmap to help leaders more effectively create and capitalize on diversity in organizations. Stew and Martin discuss the reasons the diversity and inclusion efforts often fail as well as a proven, practical model for creating positive change…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 195. Erik Peper: Practical Tools for Coping with Tech Stress

Ep 195. Erik Peper: Practical Tools for Coping with Tech Stress

Erik Peper, a professor in the Institute for Holistic Health Studies at San Francisco State University, is an internationally known expert on workplace health, stress management and holistic health. Stew and Erik discuss his book Tech Stress: How Technology Is Hijacking Our Lives, Strategies for Coping, and Pragmatic Ergonomics and how to cope in ways that reduce stress and strain, increase energy and avoid burnout…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 194. Lindsey Cameron: The Gig Economy and the Pandemic

Ep 194. Lindsey Cameron: The Gig Economy and the Pandemic

Lindsey Cameron is an Assistant Professor of Management at Wharton whose research focuses on how changes in the modern workplace -- as algorithms/machine learning, short-term employment contracts, and variable pay -- affect work and workers. She recently completed a four-year ethnography of the largest employer in the gig economy, exploring. Lindsey spent over a decade in the U.S. intelligence and diplomatic communities as a technical and political analyst and completed several overseas assignments in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Stew and Lindsey discuss how the pandemic has affected gig workers both on the job and in the other parts of their lives…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 193. Kristen Shockley: Impact of the Rapid Shift to Remote Work

Ep 193. Kristen Shockley: Impact of the Rapid Shift to Remote Work

Dr. Kristen Shockley is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Georgia studying how companies adapted during the pandemic, or how they haven’t adjusted, to meet the needs of worker productivity and well-being. Stew’ and Kristen discuss how couples forced to handle childcare, housework, and their day jobs have divided the responsibilities, managed zoom fatigue…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 192. Eve Rodsky: Creating an Egalitarian Partnership with Fair Play

Ep 192. Eve Rodsky: Creating an Egalitarian Partnership with Fair Play

Eve Rodsky is the author of Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (And More Life to Live). Stew and Eve talk about her practical solution to the ubiquitous problem of inequality in our home lives…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Ep 191. Amina Gautier: A Writer's Work and Life

Ep 191. Amina Gautier: A Writer's Work and Life

Dr. Amina Gautier is an associate professor in the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Miami and a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania. She’s published one hundred and twenty-nine short stories, including three award-winning short story collections -- Now We Will Be Happy, The Loss of All Lost Things, and At-Risk: Stories. Among her many honors, she’s been the recipient of writing awards, prizes, and fellowships. Stew and Amina talk about her creative process, especially the importance of managing boundaries…[Click for more]

Listen on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…

Connect by following Stew Friedman on Twitter and Total Leadership on Facebook.  Visit Total Leadership and subscribe to our newsletter to get free tools and resources for improving performance at work, at home, in the community, and for the private self (mind, body, and spirit).