Making Positive Psychology Work

Peter Senge, who has been at the forefront of organizational learning since publishing his classic text, The Fifth Discipline, in 1990, provided theories and methods to foster aspiration, develop reflective conversation, and understand complexity in service of shaping learning orientated organization cultures. Throughout Peter's work with leading organizations around the world, he's been asking, "How do we create the conditions for people to work together at their best, cultivating the innate system's intelligence that is our birthright, but is all but lost in modern culture." As an engineer by training, Peter's work has always emphasized tools and methods, not for their own sake, but as vehicles for building individual and collective capacities. And these approaches have been captured in the many books he's published.

In this week's podcast, we explore how to embrace the uncertainty and complexity of navigating change and unlocking learning in our workplaces.

Connect with Peter Senge:

• https://www.solonline.org/

• [02:57] - Peter explores if we need new measures of success when it comes to determining if workplace change efforts have succeeded or failed.
• [06:22] - Peter explains why the complexity of change in workplaces is often misunderstood.
• [11:32] - Peter offers tips for how we can create more cultures of learning to help us navigate workplace uncertainty and change in 2021.
• [16:12] - Peter explains how we can better navigate the creative and emotional tension that exists between our hopes for the future and our current reality.
• [21:50] - Peter shares why workplaces need healthy leadership communities, rather than leaders as heroes, to support change.
• [24:17] - Peter explains why the desire for continual growth creates changes challenges in workplaces.
• [28:49] - Peter offers guidance for our workplaces can leverage complexity to help them create more successful changes.
• [32:30] - Peter enters the lightning round.

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• Healing Collective Trauma by Thomas Hübl

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you, Peter!

Today we're talking to Vikki Reynolds, who's an activist and therapist who works to bridge the worlds of social justice with community work and therapy. An adjunct professor, she's written and presented internationally on her work, responding to the opioid catastrophe, refugees and survivors of torture, and supporting violence, mental health, substance abuse, housing, and shelter counselors in gender and sexually diverse communities.

In this week's episode, we explore how to find our zone of fabulousness and the power of collective accountability in the face of work experiences that can lead to "burnout".

Connect with Vikki Reynolds

• https://vikkireynolds.ca/

• [01:47] - Vikki explains why our approaches to vicarious trauma and burnout in workplaces need re-thinking.
• [03:33] - Vikki shares how we can each find our Zone of Fabulousness when it comes to helping others at work.
• [04:45] - Vikki explains why the goal of 'safe enough' rather than psychological safety may serve us better when it comes to sustaining connection with each other.
• [08:26] - Vikki offers some tips to help us resist the politics of politeness and instead embrace the potential value of discord.
• [10:45] - Vikki explains the power of collective accountability to enact our ethics.
• [23:40] - Vikki enters the lightning round.

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you, Vikki!

Today we're talking to Michael Platt, a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor with appointments in the Department of Neuroscience, the Department of Psychology, and the Department of Marketing in the University of Pennsylvania. Michael works at the intersection of economics, psychology, and neuroscience, and he is a former president of The Society for Neuroeconomics. Michael's work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Guardian, and National Geographic and his new book is called The Leader's Brain. In this week's episode, we explore how understanding more about how our brain's work can help us to thrive at work.

Connect with Michael Platt:

• http://plattlabs.rocks/

• [01:47] - Michael shares why neuroscience is of relevance to leaders & workplaces
• [03:33] - Michael shares why our brains crave a sense of certainty
• [04:45] - Michael shows how leaders can create cohesive & effective teams
• [08:26] - Michael shares how we can keep the social networks in our brain firing even when working remotely
• [10:45] - Michael shares how our brain's processing capacity impacts our reality
• [14:34] - Michael shares what leaders can do to communicate effectively given the brain's processing limitations
• [20:41] - Michael shares ways that leaders can approach accountability, to help us have more productive outcomes
• [22:18] - Michael shares how a leaders style of leadership can trigger a response in the brain
• [23:40] - Michael enters the lightning round.

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• Books by Neal Stephenson
• Books by David Mitchell

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you, Michael!

Today we're talking to Jessica Amortegui, who's the Senior Director of Learning & Development at LinkedIn where she designs and delivers programs for leaders and teams. Equipped with a conviction that we are all in beta-mode, Jess believes her work is much more than the opportunity to do what we do best. It's a training ground to become our most evolved selves.

In this week's episode, we explore how LinkedIn's development programs are helping their leaders to pivot and embrace their vulnerability to improve performance.

Connect with Jess Amortegul:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessamortegui/

• [02:38] - Jess explains how workplaces can create safe and effective training grounds for their people to become their most evolved selves.
• [04:47] - Jess shares how we all get stuck sometimes in performing, pleasing, proving, and perfecting and the impact this has on how we show up to our work.
• [06:51] - Jess outlines how LinkedIn has been helping its leaders to pivot during a year of extreme uncertainty and disruption.
• [12:09] - Jess shares how LinkedIn is designing a new leadership program to help their leaders embrace their vulnerability.
• [17:15] - Jess explains how LinkedIn is helping their leaders to turn their learnings about the importance of purpose, strengths, and vulnerability into consistent actions.
• [27:16] - Jess enters the lightning round.

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• Burnout by Amelia & Emily Nagoski

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you, Jess!

Today we're talking to Professor Edgar Shein and Peter Shein. Ed and his son Peter together co-founded the Organizational Culture and Leadership Institute (OCLI.org) and have together published the award-winning Humble Leadership and Culture + Change + Leadership: The Corporate Culture Survival Guide, along with the upcoming second edition of Humble Inquiry that will be released in 2021.

Ed is Professor Emeritus of MIT's Sloan School of Management. He holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Harvard University, has consulted and published extensively, and has been the recipient of two-lifetime achievement awards. Peter's unique work draws on 30 years of industry experience in marketing and corporate development at technology pioneers including Apple, SGI, Sun Microsystems, and numerous internet start-ups.

In this week's podcast, we explore how humble leadership and humble inquiry can help to improve our workplace cultures.

Connect with Edgar & Peter Schein:

• http://www.scheinocli.org/

• [02:07] - Ed shares clarifies what is culture and how we can shape it.
• [05:10] - Peter shares what Humble Leadership is and why it matters to workplaces and their culture.
• [09:13] - Ed gives us an insight into what Humble Inquiry is and what role it plays in Humble Leadership.
• [13:09] - Peter shares some of the barriers to inquiry.
• [16:49] - Ed highlights some practical tips for growing an attitude and approach of Humble Inquiry in workplaces.
• [22:18] - Peter shares where performance measurement and humble inquiry can collide.
• [24:52] - Ed and Peter enter the lightning round.

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute
• Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux
• Book by Bob Johansen

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you, Edgar & Peter!

Today we're talking to Dr. Margaret Heffernan, who's an entrepreneur and the author of six books, including her most recent Uncharted: How To Map The Future. Margaret's Ted talks have been seen by over 7 million people around the world. She is also the lead faculty for the Forward Institutes Responsible Leadership Program, and she mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global organizations.

In this week's podcast, we explore the difference between complicated and complex systems, and how we can help people to care for their wellbeing as they navigate unpredictable and challenging work environments.

Connect with Dr. Margaret Heffernan:

• http://mheffernan.com/

• [02:33] - Margaret explains why studies suggest we can only confidently plan the future in workplaces for approximately 150 days at a time.
• [06:29] - Margaret helps us explore the difference between a complicated world and a complex world and what this means for caring for wellbeing in workplaces.
• [11:39] - Margaret provides an example of how workplaces can help people successfully navigate complexity.
• [18:16] - Margaret outlines the capabilities we need to prioritize in workplaces to help people more confidently navigate complexity.
• [22:03] - Margaret explains why thinking of ourselves as artists rather than managers may serve us better in the future in workplaces.
• [27:47] - Margaret explores why thinking of ourselves as artists rather than managers may make us more resilient at work.
• [31:22] - Margaret takes on the lightning round.

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• TED Talk - Barry Schwartz: Our Loss of Wisdom

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you, Margaret!

Today we're talking to Doctor Tim Lomas, a Senior Lecturer in Positive Psychology at the University of East London. Tim completed his Ph.D. with a thesis focusing on the impact of meditation on men's health. And, since then, Tim has published over 70 papers and 11 books relating to wellbeing, linguistics, mindfulness, Buddhism, gender, art, cross-cul- cultural inquiry. His work has been featured in articles in prominent publications, like Time and The New Yorker.

In this week's episode, we explore the third wave of positive psychology recently published in the Journal of Positive Psychology and what leaders can be saying and doing to help team members navigate the complexity of our time.

Connect with Tim Lomas:

• https://www.drtimlomas.com/

• [02:21] - Tim explains the wave metaphor by sharing his views of the first wave when positive psychology was formalized as a field.
• [03:09] - Tim explains the second wave.
• [06:11] - Tim explains the third wave.
• [09:25] - Tim explains what teams can be thinking about in riding the third wave.
• [13:54] - Tim shares how his research on language fits into this third wave.
• [15:49] - Tim shares how paying attention to words is important for cross-functional and global teams.
• [17:59] - Tim takes on the lightning round.

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• https://wakingup.com/

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you Tim!

In this week's podcast, we discover how to soar into your individual or collective purpose at work with four simple but powerful questions to help us navigate uncertainty.

Connect with Jackie Stavros:

• http://www.soar-strategy.com/

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• [02:51] - Jackie shares why purpose is so powerful in moments when work and life feel chaotic.
• [05:31] - Jackie explains how an appreciative inquiry approach can help us to discover the best of what is and what is possible to surface our purpose.
• [07:45] - Jackie gives us four simple questions to help us SOAR into our purpose.
• [11:08] - Jackie shares an example of how the four SOAR questions can be used to surface your what and why.
• [15:48] - Jackie explains how teams and workplaces can use the four SOAR questions to help surface a shared sense of purpose.
• [18:33] - Jackie offers advice for aligning people's individual purpose with the purpose of a team or organization.
• [21:22] - Jackie shares how teams and workplaces drive radical change in 2021.
• [23:56] - Jackie explains why it's never too soon to reach for purpose in a team or workplace.
• [25:51] - Jackie gives us an exercise to help keep our sense of purpose in balance so we don't burn ourselves out.
• [28:11] - Jackie completes the lightning round

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
• A Bit of Optimism Podcast

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you Jackie!

In this week's episode, we explore how building a personal highlight reel can be effective in understanding our strengths, and dan shares with us the results of his research on the impact this has for individuals and teams.

Connect with Dan Cable:

• http://dan-cable.com/

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• [02:39] - Dan shares why we may struggle putting our strengths to use in our daily lives
• [04:23] - Dan explains the three-step process to the personal highlight reel
• [07:10] - Dan explains why the personal hi-light reel is effective
• [09:49] - Dan explains the impact that doing the personal highlight reel might have in your life
• [13:57] - Dan shares the bottom-line outcomes for workplaces of focusing on people's strengths
• [14:51] - Dan provides some tips to help us with self-reflection
• [22:45] - Dan shares how creating a personal highlight reel helps us have an impact in the world
• [24:26] - Dan describes some cautions and caveats to be aware of with the personal highlight reel
• [26:17] - Dan completes the lightning round

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• Give & Take by Adam Grant
• Redirect by Tim Wilson

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you Dan!

In this episode, we explore how it's possible to adapt and thrive, even under extreme circumstances at work and in life as Dan explains how two simple questions can move us towards a thrivers mindset that renews us, or a victim, bystander, or controller mindset that drains us.

Connect with Dan Diamond:

Website: dandiamondmd.com

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• [02:37] - Dan explains how power and purpose shape a thriver's mindset and how it can improve our performance and wellbeing at work.
• [04:40] - Dan shares how our victim, bystander, controller, and thriver mindsets get shaped and how we can free ourselves of mindsets that don't serve us well.
• [09:13] - Dan offers some practical steps we can take to move towards a thriver mindset more consistently at work.
• [16:12] - Dan shares tips for how leaders can help their teams cultivate more thriver mindsets when times are tough.
• [22.49] - Dan explains how we can be intelligent thrivers who don't burn ourselves out in an effort to help others.
• [25:12] - Dan Completes the Lightning round.

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care! Thank you Dan!