Curious Minds at Work

At some point, we all get stuck. Maybe it’s in a job or career. Maybe it’s a relationship or business venture.

Though it’s something we all experience, when it happens, we can feel alone and out of our depth. Emotions may overwhelm us. Mental traps lure is in. In no time at all, we can’t see a way out.

Award-winning professor, researcher, and author, Adam Alter, has spent decades studying how successful people get unstuck. In his latest book, Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most, he shares what we can do to move forward. Adam’s recommendations can help us with what might be the most important times in our lives.

Episode Links

Life is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age by Bruce Feiler

How the ‘Creative-Cliff Illusion’ Limits Our Ideas by David Robson

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

There’s never been a better time to question how we measure intelligence. With ChatGPT and other forms of artificial intelligence pushing the boundaries of what it means to be smart, there’s an opportunity – even an urgency – to reconsider everything we know.

That’s why I wanted to talk to Rina Bliss, author of the book, Rethinking Intelligence: A Radical New Understanding of Our Human Potential. A sociologist and genetics expert, Rina brings a fresh perspective to the discussion that expands what’s been, for far too long, a reductive numbers game.

In this interview, Rina offers a new model for assessing aptitude, one that extends beyond test results and mistaken assumptions about genetics. Instead, she explains how intelligence is far from fixed and how it’s deeply influenced by the degree of stress, connection, and play in our lives.  

Her book is filled with insights on how to rethink what it means to be smart, along with steps we can take to protect and deepen our intelligence.

Episode Links

AI Can’t Teach Children to Learn. What’s Missing?

Conceptualizing Race in the Genomic Age

DNA Tests for Intelligence Ignore the Real Reasons Why Kids Succeed or Fail

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

Small things add up. And, for the most part, that’s a good thing. Like taking the stairs to get more exercise or swapping out something sugary for a piece of fruit. Over time, small actions like these can add up to a healthier lifestyle.

Yet there are times when the small things that add up work against our well-being. Every time your boss shifts your priorities. Each time you have to cancel connecting with a friend.

Rob Cross and Karen Dillon take a closer look at these moments in their book, Microstress: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems – and What to Do about It. They explain how these seemingly small stresses can, over time, have a damaging effect on our physical and emotional well-being. They also share effective ways to handle them.

Episode Links

The Hidden Toll of Microstress

The Microstress Effect

Fight Back Against Microstress

Narrative Economics with Robert Shiller

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

Change is a part of life, and it’s a big part of growing and developing. Yet, with change comes uncertainty, and that can cause us to get stuck.

To thrive during change, we need a mental agility that comes from self-awareness, emotional awareness, and situational awareness. It’s about what Elaine Fox calls, switch craft.

Elaine Fox is a leading psychologist and performance coach who’s spent her career working with athletes, military leaders, and executives. What she’s seen is that the most successful people are the ones who can toggle between different approaches, who have an agile mind.

In her book, Switch Craft: The Hidden Power of Mental Agility, Elaine Fox teaches us what it means to be mentally agile and how to master its key components. It’s the perfect book for managing all of the change and uncertainty that surrounds us today.

Episode Links

Gut Feelings: How Does Intuition Work, Anyway?

Perspectives from affective science on understanding the nature of emotion

Turn Your Subliminal Biases Toward Optimism

The Matter of Everything: How Curiosity, Physics, and Improbable Experiments Changed the World by Suzie Sheehy

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

No one wants to feel like a sucker. In fact, the very thought of being one – of playing the fool – shapes our behavior in powerful ways.

But what if our fear causes us to make choices that aren’t good for us? Or worse, what if people weaponize our fear in order to dominate or disempower us?

Tess Wilkinson-Ryan has written a stunning book on the topic called, Fool Proof: How Fear of Playing the Sucker Shapes Our Selves and the Social Order and What We Can Do about It. A psychologist and law professor, Tess helps us understand what this fear is, why we have it, and how it plays out in law, politics, and everyday life. She also shares how to overcome it and make the decisions that are aligned with our goals.

It’s a book you’ll keep thinking about long after you’ve read it.

Episode Links

Breach is for Suckers

Transferring Trust: Reciprocity of Norms and Assignment of Contract

Moral Judgment and Moral Heuristics in Breach of Contract

Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen by Linda Heywood

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

Almost everything we do – personally and professionally – is affected by the words we use.

They help us build relationships, persuade others, and communicate feelings. But what if I told you that 6 types of words were better at doing those things than all the others?

These findings are at the heart of Jonah Berger’s latest book, Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way. Jonah is a bestselling author who’s studied millions of words used in all kinds of settings. And he’s found that certain words hold the key to getting your way.

Whether you want to be more effective in achieving your goals or just become more aware of how you’re coming across, this book is for you.

Episode Links

3 Rhetorical Techniques to Increase Your Impact

How Language Shapes Word of Mouth’s Impact

Don’t Just Vote Be a Voter

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

The pandemic caused many of us to rethink our lives. From the places we’ve been living to the work we’ve been doing. It’s been an opportunity to hit the reset button.

Of course, financial considerations play a central role, and that’s something Jill Schlesinger began to notice. It’s what prompted her to write her latest book, The Great Money Reset: Change Your Work, Change Your Wealth, Change Your Life. A financial analyst and former financial planner, Jill wants to give us the financial tools we need to hit the reset button.

That includes new ways of thinking about money, taxes, home ownership, and the businesses we want to build or sell. Her book is masterful. She takes a topic most people fear – money – and helps us put it in service of how we want to live.

Episode Links

Jill on Money: The IRS is Your Friend

How Changing Careers after 45 Can Pay Off in the Long Run

Jill on Money: Inflation Takes Bite out of Savings

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

As adults, we need to learn new things all the time.

Yet many of us are relying on the same outdated methods we used as adolescents to do it. Thinks like relentless highlighting and endless rereading.

If so, it may be time to take advantage of the latest research on learning.

That’s where Daniel Willingham comes in. In this interview, we discuss his latest book, Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy. Dan explains when our brains may be working against us. He also shares specific strategies for overriding our brains, so we can convert information into knowledge and understanding.

In a world where learning is more important than ever – for our lives and careers – Dan’s book is just the resource we need.

Episode Links

You’ve Been Studying All Wrong. This Professor Can Help You Outsmart Your Brain

Proof Points: One Expert on What Students Do Wrong

One Thing Teachers Can Do to Help Students Change Their Habits

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

One of the messages our culture delivers is “not enough.” Not clever enough. Not busy enough. Not successful enough. It’s a cultural mantra that beats just below the surface of many conversations, especially the ones we have with ourselves.

That’s what’s so refreshing about Vanessa Bohns’ book, You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate our Power of Persuasion and Why It Matters. Vanessa’s message, when it comes to influence and persuasion, is that we’re more than enough. That’s why it’s so important we understand how they work because, like our favorite superheroes, we can use these powers for good or for evil.

Vanessa is a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and Harvard Business Review, among other publications.    

Episode Links

Shared Experiences are Amplified

Audience-tuning Effects on Memory

Saying is Believing Effect

Prison Book Program

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

Confidence seems elusive. We do something that comes easily and we don’t think twice about it. Or we try something new, experience setbacks, and question our capabilities. It leaves us thinking that confidence is something other people just seem to have. All the time.

Performance psychologist Nate Zinsser knows that’s just not true.

For decades he’s been working with Olympians, professional athletes, military leaders, and other high performers in his role as Director of West Point's Performance Psychology Program. What he’s learned is that confidence is something we need to build, protect, and practice. In his book, The Confident Mind: A Battle-Tested Guide to Unshakable Performance, he shares the methods he’s developed to help us do just that.

Reading Nate’s book helped me realize just how many misconceptions we have about confidence. And they’re the kind of misconceptions that can really hold us back. I think you’ll enjoy the interview and I know you’ll learn a lot from the book.

Episode Links

How I Avoid Burnout: A West Point Performance Psychologist

A Psychologist Who Helps West Point Cadets Develop Mental Strength Shares 3 of His Best Tips

Plateaus, Dips, and Leaps: Where to Look for Inventions and Discoveries During Skilled Performance

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

Subscribe

Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.