Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight

Today I talked to Leonard Mdlodinow about his new book Emotional: How Feelings Shape Our Thinking (Pantheon, 2022).

"On or around December 1910, human character changed,” Virginia Woolf memorably wrote, citing the rise of Modernism. Take things ahead a century, and Leonard Mdlodinow is making a similarly striking statement that advances in how neuroscientists can trace the connectivity of neurons has led to another striking advancement in intellectual life since approximately 2010. From the 1980s until that date, psychologists and neuroscientists were both appreciating and refining the concept of emotions as inherited from Charles Darwin. Since then, what emotions are and how they operate has undergone a conceptual revolution. This episode follows Mlodinow’s guidance as he outlines how scientists today focus on emotions as functional agents, thoroughly emmeshed in how we selectively perceive and adapt to the circumstances we find ourselves in. One tangible example of the revolution: now we know that childhood can literally change our DNA as we react and adjust to emotionally-laden experiences that leave their emotional fingerprint on us all.

Leonard Mlodinow received his PhD in theoretical physics from the University of California, Berkeley, was a fellow at the Max Planck Institute, and has been on the faculty at CalTech. His previous, award-winning books include two written with Stephen Hawking, and another written with Deepak Chopra.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com.

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Today I talked to Ben M. Bensaou about his new Built to Innovate: Essential Practices to Wire Innovation into Your Company’s DNA (McGraw Hill, 2021).

This episode could have just as easily been called “The Democratization of innovation.” After all, the fundamental thrust of this book and our conversation was about moving innovation beyond the “usual suspects,” i.e., executives and the R & D Department, and spreading innovation opportunities throughout companies and organizations. Most promising of all for soliciting input is actually likely to be front-line employees, for instance, who know best the frustrations and disappointments of customers. In truth, every employee and every department should be given a chance to innovate, with current and potential customers, distributors, and other business allies invited into the mix as well. Where might resistance emerge to such an expansive view of the innovation process? The answer would be middle managers, who are focused on executing the current business model. To win them over, it may be necessary to combine coaching about the importance and means of innovating with incentives. Why? Because as the saying goes, “It’s not that people see the light so much as they feel the heat.”

Ben Bensaou is a professor and former Dean of Executive Education at INSEA. He’s also been a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, a research fellow at the Wharton School of Management, and a visiting scholar at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com.

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Today I talked to Minal Bopaiah about her new book Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives (Berrett-Koehler, 2021).

Remember the Marlboro Man? Of course you do, as he symbolizes the myth of rugged individualism. Minal Bopaiah is here to suggest that the idea of the “making it on your own” is and has always been a myth. There’s always a social context, which favors one group more than another. It’s not that individual efforts aren’t valid; it’s just that the story is always more complicated, and there are those in positions of power eager to camouflage the degree to which the “game” is tilted by factors involving gender, race, and other factors. Many aspects of this book and discussion are unique when it comes to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). This episode explores the world of non-profits, where “doing good” has aspects to it that should welcome reform. At the same time, how about the 19% of the population that have a disability? Rarely do they get addressed as part of what DEI initiatives should entail. Minal Bopaiah is among the most impassioned, incisive guests the show has had on. Give her a listen!

Minal Bopaiah is the founder of Brevity & Wit, a strategy and design firm focused on DEI initiatives. She’s written for the Stanford Social Innovation Review and TheHill.com an author, among other activities and career accomplishments.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com.

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Today I talked to Colleen Ammerman about her new book (co-authored with Boris Groysberg) Glass Half Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work (HBR Press, 2021).

The statistics are annoying, exasperating: choose your adjective. The proportion of female CEOs struggles to break 10%. On Fortune 500 boards, only about 0% of the seats are held by women. The problems with achieving gender fairness go on and on. Fortunately, my guest Colleen Ammerman covers many potentially solid ways of addressing the injustices still present. They include not tolerating bad behavior from “rainmakers”—even to the point of disallowing severance pay or other benefit if terminated due to sexual misconduct. Declining invitations to events that don’t prioritize gender diversity among speakers is another avenue of applying some pressure for change. From job interviews being structured before, to ensuring mentors are available, Ammerman offers a wealth of ideas. For anybody who wants to witness both structural changes and cultural changes within companies, this episode is well worth a listen.

Colleen Ammerman, the director of the Harvard Business School Gender Initiative. She’s also a researcher with Life and Leadership After HBS.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com.

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Today I talked to Pamela Slim about her new book The Widest Net: Unlock Untapped Markets and Discover New Customers Right in Front of You (McGraw Hill, 2021).

Almost all the new jobs created in America come from small businesses, Pamela Slim reports. The precise number may be as high as over 99%. And those same businesses provide over 50% of the nation’s GDP. So why not focus more on them? Slim does so by being expansive. Her focus includes Native American, Black, Latinx, Asian, disabled and LGBTQ entrepreneurs. How can they find their niches, then expand them? Who’s their ideal customer? What challenges or problems does a company’s branded offer solve? What kind of partners can one find? What kind of eco-system of “watering holes” allows one to join a greater community and thrive together? What do cohort-based courses like Wes Kao and Seth Godin’s altMBA program look like? If taking a business partner, what pitfalls to be on guard against? Those are among the topics this episode explores.

Pamela Slim is an author, community builder, business coach, and former director of Training and Development at Barclays Global Investors. Among her accomplishments is partnering with author Susan Cain to build and launch The Quiet Revolution. Among her books is Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com. 

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/dan-hills-eq-spotlight

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Today I talked to Nathalie Nahai new book Values, Uncertainty and the Psychology of Brand Resilience (Kogan Page, 2022)

David Brooks once joked that in the end the “revolution” promised us by the Baby Boomers amounted to nothing much more than the founding of Whole Foods. What will Millennials bring us? Already it seems that the answer is a workforce and consumer-citizens for whom the values they want to live by and be known for on social media will be paramount. Why is that the case? As Nathalie Nahai argues, a primary reason is the looming environmental disaster of global warming. The stakes are high, and the result is that nothing can be taken for granted. With trust being the emotion of business, today’s agile, atomized and antagonized workplace wants more justice: for women, for blacks, for everyone who feels like the mantra of “profit with purpose” at least helps to offset, a little, the raging economic inequality of today’s economy. From cancel-culture to woke-washing, this is a hugely timely episode.

Nathalie Nahai is an acclaimed international speaker, author, and consultant, with clients ranging from Google to Unilever, Accenture and beyond.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/dan-hills-eq-spotlight

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Today I talked to Sarah and Larry Nannery about their new book What to Say Next: Successful Communication in Work, Life, and Love with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Tiller Press, 2021).

What’s it like to live a life where there’s a time delay as you process what others are saying, what it might mean, and how you feel in response? Sarah Nannery knows that experience intimately, gaining in ability over the years to navigate everything from office politics to her personal life more adeptly given her ASD Brain. As a “neurotypical brain” person, her husband Larry Nannery adds his “two-cents” perspective here in terms of observing and helping Sarah and himself navigate their experiences together. Highlights of this conversation include: what internalization means to Sarah in coping with being “bottled up inside” more than perhaps most people, and how one makes a “conversational sandwich” as a way of handling small talk when it looms large as a challenge.

Sarah Nannery is the director of development for Autism Initiatives at Drexel University. Larry Nannery is a technology consultant who focuses on organizational change and life-coaching.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/dan-hills-eq-spotlight

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Today I talked to Thom Hartmann about his new book The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich (Berrett-Koehler, 2021).

To hear Thom Hartmann tell it, the battle over whether healthcare should be seen as a right or a privilege has two phases in American history. From the 1880’s to the 1980’s the idea of universal American healthcare was opposed due to racist bias, i.e., to provide it would favor aiding African-Americans, too. Then from the Reagan Revolution to today, greed has taken over because the current system favors industry insiders benefitting while the average American pays more for less than is true elsewhere in the so-called Developed World. Get ready for plenty of surprises here, starting with the fact that the debate about healthcare got launched by three Germans: Karl Marx, Otto von Bismarck, and a person named Frederick Ludwig Hoffman. Never heard of the third guy? Well, at a time when Prudential Insurance was the biggest player in its sector Hoffman provided the platform for denying the healthcare that Bismarck had decided was a way to counter the appeal of Marxism.

Thom Hartmann is a four-time winner of the Project Censored Award, a New York Times bestselling authority of 32 books, and America’s #1 progressive talk radio show host.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Politics. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/dan-hills-eq-spotlight

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Today I talked to Jamie Mustard about his new book The Iconist: The Art and Science of Standing Out (BenBella Books, 2019).

Ever feel like you’re “screaming” to be heard but in a world saturated by social media messages, et cetera, your “messages” are falling on deaf ears? If so, Jamie Mustard has a solution to propose. In short, you need to follow the Primal Laws of Attention. In essence, that means be bigger, brighter, and bolder than ever before in history to break through the clutter. In greater detail, those laws entail steps like the following: use repetition, deliver an emotional jolt by addressing the audience’s primary emotional concern, and practice transparency that establishes your authenticity. Most of all, engage in radical simplicity. If what you are saying can’t be readily understand, forget it. Then to back up that radical simplicity, the “shaft” behind that arrowhead of simplicity is sufficient information to make the messaging worthwhile. All of that—and more—delivered by Mustard in an impassioned episode.

Jamie Mustard is a London School of Economic graduate; he’s also an artist, filmmaker, consultant, and a leading authority on branding, art, design, and media perception.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Politics. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/dan-hills-eq-spotlight

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Today I talked to David Avrin about his new book Why Customers Leave (And How to Win Them Back) (Career Press, 2019).

There are three central themes to this book: immediacy (customers want instant gratification), individuality (offer flexible, customized assistance) and humanity (show interest and concern for those you are assisting). Of them, as David Avrin notes in this pleasing, semi-rant of an interview, immediacy should be the easiest for companies to act on. Unfortunately, automation is paradoxically making immediacy often harder to achieve. Other ironies worth noting from Avrin’s perspective include: companies trying to head off negative off-line reviews with surveys that don’t bring about change; and front-line employees who can figure out quicker than their managers what could and should be improved on. If upgrades don’t happen, what’s the solution? Run an exercise where employees are encouraged to formulate plans on how a competitor could undercut the company they currently work for by making the changes they detect would be beneficial. That move—or threat--would get management’s attention if nothing else will!

David Avrin is a highly popular speaker and consultant on the topics of the customer experience as well as on marketing. He’s a former CEO group leader and speaker for Vistage International. This is his third book, following It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You and Visibility Marketing.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Politics. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/dan-hills-eq-spotlight

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