Curious Minds at Work

When’s the last time you ran an experiment? Not as a scientist. But as a person who wants to get unstuck or try something new.

There are messages coming at us from all directions. A popular one encourages us to pursue big dreams often in service of a blanket version of success. For some, these messages are motivating. But for many others, they’re overwhelming. If, instead, we want to pursue our own path, how do we begin?

This week’s guest is Anne-Laure Le Cunff. She’s felt these cultural pressures, and it’s what’s led her to develop a different approach. She tapped into a method that lowers feelings of overwhelm and brings back the joy of discovery. And it’s a strategy that led her to write her book, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.

In this interview we talk about what a tiny experiment is and what it can do for us. We also discuss how to plan, run, and learn from them. I was energized by her approach.

Episode Links

The Trap of the Deadline High

Self-Authorship: The Art of Trusting Your Own Authority

Intellectual Self-Doubt: The Psychology behind Questioning Your Own Competence

Interview with Leidy Klotz (Episode 192), author of the book, Subtract

The Team

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

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Something happens at work – good or bad – and it brings on strong emotions. Instead of taking a moment to calm down, we’ve got to quickly shift gears and head into another meeting. We know we’ve got to manage our feelings, but the question is, how do we do that?

Ethan Kross is an experimental psychologist, neuroscientist, and writer who specializes in emotion regulation. He is a professor of psychology and management at the University of Michigan and Director of the Emotion and Self Control Laboratory there. In his latest book, Shift: Managing Your Emotions – So They Don’t Manage You, he shares simple, concrete ways to do this.

Episode Links

You Don’t Always Have to Process Your Emotions

Are You Overreacting?

The Expert Guide to Taking Control of Your Emotions

Interview with Michael Norton on The Ritual Effect

The Team

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

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A few years ago, we experienced a solar eclipse. Walking the streets of my neighborhood that day, looking through my solar eclipse glasses and sharing them with others, I felt a profound sense of awe.

And I saw that awe, that wonder, reflected in the faces of the people around me. For one or two hours, we were part of something bigger than ourselves. And that experience took us out of ourselves. It softened and connected us.

Experiences like that are what made me want to read Dacher Keltner’s book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. In this conversation, we talk about what awe is, how it works, and why it matters. We also talk about how to build more awe into our lives.

Episode Links

Here’s Why You Need to Be Cultivating Awe in Your Life

An Awe Walk

Strengthen Your Leadership with the Science of Awe

Interview with Norman Farb author of Better in Every Sense

The Team

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

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If you think about it, your personality impacts how you approach your life. The choices you make, the risks you take, the relationships you have. Our personalities create a set of habits, automatic reactions that impact what we think, feel, and do.

When we take on new roles, like becoming a manger or a parent, we may find that certain aspects of our personality no longer work for us. As a leader, we may need to be more extroverted, more open. As a parent, more patient, less reactive. But can we become those things? Can we change specific aspects of our personalities?

That’s the question Olga Khazan wanted to answer. She’s the author of the book, Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change. Through her research – numerous interviews with scientists and practitioners – as well as experiments she ran with herself on the road to becoming a parent – she learned we can. And that’s a game changer for anyone who has dreams of doing or being something different.

Related Links

Interview with Hal Hershfield

The Big 5 Personality Traits You Can Change with Practice

I’m Disagreeable – and It’s Backed by Science. Can I Change My Personality?

The Team

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

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In those moments when we want to disagree, why do we often stay silent? At those times when we want to opt out, why do we often just go along?

A key reason is that it’s hard to defy. It’s hard to question the way something’s always been done. To challenge comments, behaviors, and systems. Yet it’s in those moments of defiance that we flex our values and craft an identity.

That’s why I wanted to talk to Sunita Sah, organizational psychologist at Cornell University and author of the book, Defy: The Power of No in a World that Demands Yes. Her research reveals the importance of defiance and the skills we need to do it well. In her book – and in this conversation – she shares ways we can practice it and support others doing the same.

Related Links

Interview with Vanessa Patrick, author of The Power of Saying No

Speak up at Thanksgiving. Your Health Demands It.

America Thinks It’s a Country of Free Thinkers. But We’re Actually Compliant

The Team

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Making changes in our own lives is hard enough. It’s even more challenging when we need to lead our teams or organizations to do it.

That’s why I invited Dan Heath back to the podcast. Dan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Made to Stick, Switch, and The Power of Moments. This time he’s here to talk about his latest book, Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working.

Dan shares powerful stories of leaders who’ve helped their teams and organizations make high-impact changes. He discusses the tools they used and leverage points they prioritized. This book takes change management to a whole other level.  

Related Links

What’s the Goal of the Goal?

Dan Heath on Innovative Problem Solving (interview)

Dan Heath on Creating Moments that Matter (interview)

The Team

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

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Most of us dislike networking. At its best, it’s exhausting. At its worst, it can feel inauthentic, even manipulative.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if, instead, we could focus on helping others in ways that, in the long run, benefit us, as well?

Rosalind Chow is an associate professor of organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon University. She’s learned that when we use our status to sponsor others, we gain status and sponsorship for ourselves. Her findings can fundamentally change how we think – and feel - about networking.

In this conversation, I talk to Rosalind about her book, The Doors You Can Open: A New Way to Network, Build Trust, and Use Your Influence to Create a More Inclusive Workplace. It’s an inspiring playbook for helping others – and ourselves.

Related Links

‘Sponsorship’ – Not Mentorship – Will Help You Land a Job Out of College

Interview with Alison Fragale

The Team

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

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At some point in every leader’s career, they’ll experience a moment of crisis. And in these moments of enormous pressure and uncertainty, a leader’s actions can mean the difference between an organization’s survival or its demise.  

Dan Dworkis is an emergency room physician and professor of emergency medicine who’s built his career on moments like this. He not only understands how to approach them, but also how to learn from them. And his book, The Emergency Mind: Wiring Your Brain for Performance under Pressure captures the wisdom he’s gained.

Related Links

Layer Cake Debriefing: A Smarter Way to Learn from Crisis

Decisions Shape Culture; Culture Shapes Decisions

Interview with Steve Magness on Real Toughness

The Team

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

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As you move up in leadership roles, you gain more power. Initially, you may take it in stride, thinking it’s something you earned and something you’d never let get in the way of being the manager you want to be.

But as the pressure to perform grows, the gap in power between you and your team creates blind spots that can erode these relationships.

Former Microsoft executive and Fortune 500 coach, Sabina Nawaz, experienced these challenges in her own career and, today, she coaches executives working through them. It’s why she wrote the book, You’re the Boss: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need). And in this conversation, she shares tools to help leaders manage their blind spots.

Related Links

To Make a Habit, Try Micro Habits

How to Build a Relationship between Your Employee and Your Boss

Interview with Mithu Storoni on Working Smarter

The Team

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

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Managing up is crucial for your success. It’s about knowing your career goals and aligning them with your manager’s needs and priorities. Yet it’s a skill we’re rarely taught and one we rarely see done well.  

For Melody Wilding, this gap in how to manage her career became clear when it caused her to lose her job. It’s what made her want to write her latest book, Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge.

In this conversation we talk about how to get aligned with your manager on what’s most important to them in ways that also help you, how to engage in effective networking, and how to promote yourself in the workplace.

Related Links

Why Managing Up is the Most Critical Career Skill in 2025

4 Signs You’re too Emotionally Invested in Your Work (and How to Fix It)

Skip-Level Meeting Success: How to Connect with Your Boss’s Boss

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.