Kelly starts the new year talking about effective communication skills with Michael Chad Hoeppner, CEO and founder of GK Training. He teaches his unique approach to communications at Columbia University Business School in the PhD and MBA programs and coaches the faculty. He has a new book, “Don’t Say Um: How to Communicate Effectively to Live a Better Life.” 

“Speaking is not a sidecar to being human.” 

“Great communication is you, when you are at your most other-focused.” 

“Speaking is actually closer to an athletic event than a decision-tree flowchart of ideas.” 

Kelly sits down with Richard Cytowic, MD, Professor of Neurology at George Washington University and the author of “Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age.”

“Screens act like secondhand smoke.” 

“Waldorf Schools may be the best kept secret in education.” 

“You cannot rush learning any more than you can accelerate thinking.” 

Kelly talks to Aylon Samouha, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Transcend Education. Previously he served as Chief Schools Officer at Rocketship Education. He is the co-author of “Extraordinary Learning for All: How Communities Design Schools Where Everyone Thrives.” 

“Students today report higher levels of stress and anxiety than ever before.” 

“Employability is based on more than technical skills alone.” 

“Let us be clear: leadership is not the same as occupying a position of authority.” 

To celebrate The Second City’s 65th anniversary, Kelly sits down with the members of the legendary theatre’s creative leadership team to talk about how each of them found their way to The Second City.

“Ensemble lay at the heart of the work at Second City.”

“The Second City’s creative process is sacred to the work done on its stages and in its classrooms.”

“As Alison Riley used to say, at The Second City – two wrongs make a tradition.”

Kelly connects with Bob Moesta, founder, maker, innovator, speaker, and professor. He is the president and founder of The Re-Wired Group, as well as an adjunct lecturer at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern and a research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute. He is the author of Choosing College (with Michael Horn), Demand-Side Sales 101, and Learning to Build. His latest book is co-written with Ethan Bernstein and Michael Horn, it’s called “Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career.” 

“Switching jobs isn’t random or independent from the experiences you’ve had in the past.” 

“A fear of the unknown future creates friction that can thwart movement toward a new role.” 

“Without any context wrapped around it, money is just a feature. It’s not the underlying reason to change jobs.” 

Kelly sits down with Stephan Meier, the James P. Gorman Professor of Business Strategy and the chair of the management division at Columbia Business School. Previously, Meier worked at the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision-Making at the Federal Reserve Bank. HIs new book is called “The Employee Advantage: How Putting Workers First Helps Business Thrive.” 

“Just talking to the same people is not a recipe for generating ideas.” 

“Happier employees are more productive employees.” 

“It’s hard to incentivize innovation.” 

Kelly connects with Ravin Jesuthasan, a recognized futurist and authority on the future of work, human capital and automation. He is Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer and a member of the World Economic Forum’s steering committee on work and employment. He is the author of many books and his latest is called “The Skills-Powered Organization.” 

“The future lies in a combination of technical skills and human skills.” 

“Traditional four-year degrees are no longer seen as the only path to a successful career.” 

“Technology is, to an extent, only an enabler.” 

Kelly sits down with Alok Sama, the former President and CFO of SoftBank Group International to discuss his new book ‘The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble.”

“Impressing powerful men is a core skill for investment bankers.”

“The world romanticizes the causal relationship between adversity and breakout success.” 

“Money doesn’t talk, it swears.” 

Kelly welcomes Boston University professor David Livermore back to the podcast to discuss the latest edition of his successful leadership book, “Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success.” 

“I sometimes ask executives, ‘Will anyone tell you your joke isn’t funny?’” 

“At its core, culture intelligence is about how we connect with another as humans.” 

“Words are never just words. Their meaning is always rooted in context.” 

Kelly sits down with old friend Mike Thomas to talk about “Carson the Magnificent,” a book about the iconic talk show host Johnny Carson. The legendary Bill Zehme began the book but never finished it. Years after Bill’s death, Mike was brought on board to complete the book.

“And so, like sun and moon and oxygen and ionosphere, Johnny Carson was always there, reliable and steadfast.” 

“He was also mothered by omission.” 

“Work was easy for him, family was not.”