Our first guest had to be Superman Joe.

Joe started as someone who worked for Kelly and became a lifelong friend, part of the family, and the person Lauren has known as “Superman Joe” since she was four.

This week, we get into The Weakest Link, step aerobics, pagers, early restaurant technology, “flying with the cattle,” some recreationally evil management, and the leadership lessons that survived all of it.

Joe talks about what Kelly taught him about trust, mistakes, letting people fail successfully, and supporting someone when the right next move means leaving your team.

Because jobs change. Titles change. And every once in a while, you walk away with a Superman Joe.

Is AI making us smarter—or are we slowly outsourcing our ability to think? 🤖In Episode 4 of Becoming Anyway, Kelly and Lauren take on AI, technology, and the line between using tools to make us more capable and becoming too dependent on them.From AI at work and the skills we may be losing, to robot pilots, self-checkout, a dead phone that left someone completely stranded, an AI-designed condo that looked incredible but didn't actually fit the room, and one very important lesson involving the word “Madagascar”… this conversation goes places.At the center of it all is one question:Are we using AI to replace the work—or letting it replace our judgment?We talk about:• Why critical thinking may matter more in an AI world• How AI is changing the workplace• What happens when everyone can make the perfect presentation• The human skills technology can't replace• AI in education and parenting• Where automation helps—and where it goes too far• Whether we'd get on an AI-flown airplane ✈️• And whether AI could eventually make an entire episode of Becoming Anyway without usSo… is AI making us stupid? We have thoughts.👇 Tell us in the comments: What's one thing you happily let AI do for you—and one thing you'd never hand over?🎙️ Becoming AnywayTwo generations. Two perspectives. One conversation.Subscribe and join us for a new conversation each episode.#BecomingAnyway #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Podcast #MotherDaughterPodcast #FutureOfWork

Airports have a way of revealing who people really are—and apparently, Kelly and Lauren have a lot of opinions about it.

In Episode 3, we’re boarding Becoming Anyway Flight 003 and talking about the unwritten rules of flying, the behaviors that send otherwise reasonable people over the edge, and the travel stories we still can’t believe actually happened.

From a stranger reaching directly into Lauren’s bag of Chex Mix (and then asking to share her AirPods), to Kelly’s unforgettable middle-seat encounter, Grandma Sandy’s legendary “drunk watermelon watcher” accusation, questionable seat swaps, bare feet, speakerphone offenders, overhead-bin warfare, and the airport behaviors that deserve straight-to-jail status—we’re settling the debates once and for all. The episode even gets into the more serious side of flying: patience with airline employees, subconscious bias, inconsistent rules, and why a little common sense goes a long way at 30,000 feet.

So buckle up. We’re deciding who’s rude, who’s reasonable, and who belongs in airport jail.

Two generations. Two perspectives. One conversation.

And one rule we can both agree on: stay in your space, mind your business, and please keep your shoes on.

How much of your child’s future can you actually control, and when do you have to let go?

In Episode 2 of Becoming Anyway, Kelly and Lauren get honest about parenting, expectations, education, and the complicated transition from raising a child to having a relationship with an adult one.

What starts as a conversation about college, career paths, and the things parents believe they’re doing “for” their kids turns into something neither of them expected: a conversation about a decision Lauren kept from Kelly for years, and why she was afraid to tell her.

There’s a long pause. A little hindsight. Some very different perspectives. And one realization they can agree on: you can prepare the road, pay for it, and point your child toward it, but eventually, they have to walk it themselves.

Because becoming an adult means making your own choices. And parenting one might mean learning when to bite your lip, even when you still have plenty to say.

Two generations. Two perspectives. One conversation.

Becoming Anyway with Kelly MacPherson and Lauren Maddern.

Tell us: When does helping your adult child become too much, and what do parents have the hardest time letting go of?

Two generations. Two perspectives. One conversation.So, why are we doing this?In the first episode of Becoming Anyway, mother-daughter duo Kelly and Lauren sit down behind the microphones for the first time and quickly discover that starting a podcast is a little more complicated than just... talking.We get into how writing Kelly's memoir Becoming Anyway helped start a different kind of conversation between us, when we actually started liking each other as adults, the strange intersection of being mother and daughter while also working together, and what happens when "Mom" and "Executive Kelly" show up at exactly the same time.There are cruises. A Burger King CIO. A very poorly timed Dyson request. A family meeting that apparently qualifies as a pre-shift. And at least one story neither of us expected to tell in Episode 1.We also put our claim that we know each other pretty well to the test with I Knew You'd Say That and start figuring out exactly what we're willing to talk about on this show.Turns out... quite a lot.@becominganywaypod is a mother + daughter podcast about real life, relationships, work, family, travel, technology, the things happening right now, and everything we're still figuring out along the way.New episodes every Thursday.Subscribe and come along for the conversation.Keep becoming.