By Charlie Oliver
The podcast currently has 36 episodes available.
With so many people suffering during the early days of the pandemic, can you just imagine what advice columnists must’ve seen in their inboxes from people desperately seeking coping solutions to an unprecedented global crisis? Well, this week, Charlie shares fascinating insights from an article (What It’s Like to Be an Advice Columnist During a Global Pandemic, TIME) that interviews several of the most popular advice columnists in America today to get their take on how the advice people sought changed drastically during the pandemic and how that, in turn, changed them and how they give advice.
LINKS MENTIONED IN SHOWThis problem was plucked from ARTNews and their fairly new advice column for the art community, Hard Truths. Charlie delves into a problem involving a two successful brothers and the art and technology that divides them (among other things).
This is a great example of how we can miss a potentially huge opportunity to further our knowledge, experiences and maybe even our finances by being closed-minded to new, intimidating ideas.
Charlie suggests that, because everything (especially emerging technology) is evolving so quickly (thanks to the pandemic), we have to seize opportunities to continuously learn at every opportunity and continuously -- even if the opportunity comes to you buy way of your scamming younger brother and his Silicon Valley slick tech-investing friends!
LINKS MENTIONED IN SHOWCharlie makes the case for why we are all so desperately seeking advice and guidance now, more than ever before, and why it's crucial that we learn how to become more mindful and give/receive advice better. Can we really succeed as a society post-pandemic if we don't improve our problem-solving skills?
She highlights four big forces that are relentlessly driving humanity to seek solutions and reassurances to problems none of us ever experienced before the pandemic (it's an entirely new world now). The four driving forces are: the pandemic, existential crisis, uncertainty, and mistrust
While the pandemic is the overarching driving force behind our search for answers and meaning, Charlie focuses this episode on the other three, less obvoius, forces: existential crisis, uncertainty, mistrust -- and offers examples of how this is playing out.
QUESTIONSHere are the questions Charlie presented as food for thought:
This week, Charlie is the one with a problem. She shares a recent experience giving advice to a business associate she just met and why it made her realize that “advisory imposter syndrom” is a real thing!
LINKS MENTIONED:This week's problem is from a manager who is feeling rejected by his employees who he believes are trashing him on the company’s messaging platform.
The problem was submitted to Business Insider’s career advice column (I’m a boss, and I’m worried my team is talking about me behind my back):
“I manage a team that relies heavily on message and call apps to communicate. We have an official group chat that I mostly use to make announcements. But I recently learned that my team has another group chat that I’m not a part of. One of my team members let it slip during a weekly meeting.
I realize I’m not always the easiest person to get along with — I tend to be brutally honest, which can make people uncomfortable. But I feel left out, and I can’t shake the idea that they’re talking about me. I am happy my team gets along, and, hey, who doesn’t complain about their boss from time to time? But how can I let them know that if they have a problem, they can talk to me? And also that I wouldn’t mind being invited for beers after work every once in a while?
—Dejected manager, Beaverton, Oregon”
Charlie explores how this boss can create a more healthy office culture (something many companies are struggling with in the new post-pandemic, hybrid workforce!).
CONNECT WITH SHOWBefore delving into solving problems in the reboot of the podcast, in this first episode, Charlie takes us back in time to the first season of the show (2016) and shares her top five favorite episodes that you should listen to if you want to get a feel for what the show is (or was).
Check out the episodes below:
Charlie also wants to know: When was the last time you gave someone bad advice?
CONNECT WITH SHOWThere is nothing more exhilerating than a comeback (but don’t call it a comeback!).
After a 5-year haitus where we saw the rise and fall of Donald Trump as president, a global pandemic, and the collapse of systems and social order that has shocked us all, I have decided to bring the podcast back but with a revamped mission and purpose.
In this episode, I explain why I decided to bring the podcast back and how this season will be different than the first (and only!) season (which was more of an experiment for me than a real attempt to grow an audience and poplular show).
I hope you join me on this journey of self-discovery as we all grapple with questions and problems we never could’ve imagined in a post-pandemic world. I look forward to your participation and feedback!
CONNECT WITH SHOW
In this episode, we’re focusing on the New & Noteworthy, with a review of FiveThirtyEight‘s new advice column that offers solutions to readers’ problems using a panel of experts and statistical data. Yeah baby, number-crunch those problems!
About FiveThirtyEight’s new advice column: http://53eig.ht/2kxEqGb Problem: “How Do I Handle An Annoying Gum-Chewing Co-Work
THE PROBLEM
"I work in a large open “bullpen” with three desks in each of a dozen or so rows. People are alternately on the phone or a computer, and it can be loud sometimes, but not deafening. My co-worker incessantly pops and sucks gum, even pulling it in and out of her mouth with her fingers. The offending gum chewer has been at it for a couple of months, and though I’ve heard one or two people joke about the popping, no one has ever confronted the perpetrator. Many of the employees in this area are just past entry level, working on specific contracts, and the gum chewer is a manager, jovial but a bit thin-skinned. It’s driving me mad! What should I do?"
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It has been a few months since we’ve had a show. The last episode was back in November (the Carrie Fisher episode, sadly). I’m back with a new, shorter format and more problems to solve!
This problem was sent in to Ask Andrew WK at the Village Voice by an atheist who is struggling to tell his religious family that he no longer believes in God, and who now fears dying and being disconnected from them forever. Heavy.
This week’s problem was submitted to Ask Andrew WK at The Village Voice HERE.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
I’m An Atheist Who Is Afraid of Death, and That’s OK! by Martin Hughes
Have advice or comments about this week's problem? Leave your feedback and advice on the blog post at (or leave a voicemail) at: http://bit.ly/nobodyaskedme21
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In this episode, I’ll review Carrie Fisher’s new advice column for the Guardian. The incomparable Carrie Fisher (actress, writer, and survivor) has come a long way since playing her breakout role as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars. At almost 60 years old, Fisher has lived a tumultuous life working in Hollywood, battling drug addiction, conquering her demons, and telling her story and help others through her writing and comedy shows. What kind of advice does Carrie Fisher give in her new column? You’d be surprised.
Carrie Fisher announces her new column: http://bit.ly/2cNPz1H
This week’s problem was submitted to Carrie Fisher at The Guardian: http://bit.ly/2dqEf9B
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The podcast currently has 36 episodes available.