Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist and the creator, executive producer, and host of the podcast, A Slight Change of Plans, which Apple awarded as the Best Show of the Year in 2021. Maya was a Senior Advisor in the Obama White House, where she founded and served as Chair of the White House Behavioral Science Team. She also served as the first Behavioral Science Advisor to the United Nations, and as a core member of Pete Buttigieg’s debate preparation team during his 2020 presidential run.

Maya has a postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience from Stanford, a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, and a B.A. from Yale. She's been profiled by The New Yorker and been the featured guest on NPR's All Things Considered, Freakonomics, and Hidden Brain. She's also a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music's pre-college program. And most recently, Maya is the author of the book, The Other Side of Change.

In this episode we discuss the following:

Josh Foster is an award-winning independent writer, thinker, and farmer in Rigby, Idaho. He is the author of The Last Good Snow Hunt (2024), The Clean Package: A Pioneer Assemblage (2023), and The Crown Package: A Personal Anthology (2022).

Josh earned a PHD in literature and creative writing from the University of Houston, a master’s of fine arts degree in fiction and nonfiction from the University of Arizona, and an undergraduate degree in English from BYU Idaho. In between his master’s degree and PhD, Josh was selected as a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, one of the most prestigious creative writing fellowships in the world. Josh also earned a minor in Spanish and studied at the University of Guadalajara.

In his almost two-decade writing and publishing career, Josh has served in key editorial positions with notable magazines such as Terrain.org, DIAGRAM, and Gulf Coast. Josh now co-operates the creative cooperative and press FOSTER LITERARY with his wife, the poet Georgia Pearle Foster.

In this follow up interview with Josh (see Episode 99 for our first interview) we discuss the following:

David Beck is the principal of Granite Connection High School in South Salt Lake, Utah. He has served as a teacher at Pleasant Grove High School, and Assistant Principal at both Cyprus High School and Granger High School in Utah. David earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from BYU.

In this episode we discuss the following:

Peter Schein is co-author of the worldwide bestseller, Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling. Together with his father Edgar Schein, one of the founders of organizational psychology, Peter has co-written six books, including Humble Leadership and Career Anchors Reimagined.

Peter holds degrees from Stanford, Northwestern and USC. 

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Dorie Clark is an executive education professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School, and is the bestselling author of several books, including The Long Game and Stand Out. A frequent Harvard Business Review contributor, she has consulted for leading organizations including Google, Microsoft, and the World Bank. Dorie is former presidential campaign spokeswoman, an award-winning journalist, and a four-time Thinkers50 honoree who was named the world’s top communication coach by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards.

Dorie holds degrees from Smith College and Harvard Divinity School.

In this episode we discuss the following:

Mike Baer is an award-winning business professor at Arizona State University, where he researches trust, justice, and impression management. Mike has published his research in top academic journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Personnel Psychology, and Mike is currently the Editor-in-Chief at one of the field's top journals—Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 

Mike’s research has been covered by media outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, PBS, NPR, Business Insider, Men's Health, and New York Magazine among others.

Prior to joining academia, Mike worked in the construction industry, at Hewlett Packard's Executive Leadership Development group, and in publishing and online education. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from BYU, and his PHD from the University of Georgia.

Sébastien Page is the Chief Investment Officer at T. Rowe Price, one of the world’s largest investment management firms. Sebastien oversees a team of investment professionals who manage more than $500 billion in assets, and he rose from a non-English-speaking intern to the C-suite. Sébastien is also the author of the book, The Psychology of Leadership.  

In this episode we discuss the following:

Ian Williamson is dean of The UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business. Prior to joining the Merage School, he served as pro vice-chancellor and dean of commerce at the Wellington School of Business and Government at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Ian has also served as a faculty member in business schools in Australia, Switzerland, and Indonesia.

Ian is a globally recognized expert in the area of human resource management and his research has been published in leading academic journals and covered by leading media outlets across the world.

Ian received his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in business from Miami University.

In this episode we discuss the following:

Elyce Arons is a cofounder of Kate Spade and the cofounder and CEO of Frances Valentine. Elyce grew up on a cattle farm in Kansas before attending the University of Kansas where she met her lifelong best friend, Katy Brosnahan. Together they helped launch the multibillion-dollar bag company Kate Spade, with Katy’s eventual husband Andy Spade and Pamela Bell. Elyce is also the author of the book, We Might Just Make it After All. 

In this episode we discuss the following: 

Steph Wagner is the National Director of Women & Wealth at Northern Trust, where she leads the firm’s Elevating Women platform focused on building financial literacy. She is the author of the book, Fly!: A Woman's Guide to Financial Freedom and Building a Life You Love, and her insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Yahoo Finance, among others.  

In this episode we discuss the following: