Second City Works presents "Getting to Yes, And"

Kelly connects with old friend Peter Murrieta, an esteemed Emmy-winning writer and Deputy Director at the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University. He is the mastermind behind two highly successful and beloved shows, “Mr. Iglesias” on Netflix and “Wizards of Waverly Place” on Disney. The latter, in particular, played a pivotal role in catapulting the young and talented Selena Gomez into the global spotlight, setting the stage for her rise to superstardom. Peter cut his teeth at The Second City, where he is a member of their artistic advisory board.

“Specificity is not a barrier to connection; it is its engine.” 

“Latinx representation has been siloed into ‘niche’ storytelling.”

“For many Latinx communities, apocalypse isn’t speculative – it’s Tuesday.” 

Kelly connects with Nir Halevy, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University. His research on influence, power, status, and leadership has appeared in top scientific journals and has been featured in numerous media outlets, including The Economist, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, BusinessWeek, CNN, and MSNBC. He has a new book, “Level Up: Why Hierarchies Are Broke and How to Fix Them.” 

“Hierarchy is the protagonist of the human story.”

“Mentoring does not have to be a one-way street.” 

“Power reduces accountability.” 

Kelly talks to economists Emma Harrington and Natalia Emanuel, whose research makes a convincing case for why being in person is better for our health, business success, and ability to be creative and innovative. Their new book is called: “In Person: How Working Together Fuels Creativity, Productivity, and Growth.”

“Humans are wired to connect in person.” 

“Remote work shrinks people’s worlds.” 

“Proximity to others is particularly central to innovation.” 

Kelly connects with Joshua Bandoch, Senior Vice President of Policy Research at The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. He has a new book, “How to Get What You Want: Mastering the Art and Science of Persuasion.”

“Persuasion is shared action.” 

“Don’t confuse understanding with agreement.” 

“Storytelling is the single most powerful persuasion tool. Period.” 

Kelly connects with filmmaker and writer Nick Davis. His films include “Once Upon a Time in Queens” about the 1986 New York Mets for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series; he recently won an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of “The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox” for Netflix. His book about his grandfather and great-uncle, “Competing with Idiots: Herman and Joe Makiewicz, A Dual Portrait,” was shortlisted for the LA Times Book Prize as biography of the year in 2021. His newest documentary is called “You Had to Be There,” which looks at the legendary 1972 production of “Godspell” starring Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, and Victor Garber, among others. 

“It was radical theater to enact Jesus and his disciples in this way.”

“These people all – for the most part – did remain really close friends.”

“I wrote Martin Short a letter, I sent it through to his agents, and he was willing to have lunch with me.”

Kelly talks to Jeff Cole, founder of the World Internet Project – the longest-running global study of online behavior, spanning 27 years in 35 countries. He now directs the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School. He has advised four U.S. presidential administrations, the FCC, Congress, and the Department of Defense, along with global government leaders. He has a new book co-authored with Harlan Lebo – it’s called “Disrupters at the Gate: When Visionaries, Trailblazers, and Two Guys in a Garage Turn the World Upside Down.”

“Disruption is innovation, but innovation is not necessarily disruption.” 

“Great success often brings complacency and arrogance.” 

“The pandemic rewrote the rules about how disruption begins and spreads.” 

Kelly connects with Ron Johnson, best known for creating the Apple Stores, working directly for Steve Jobs while serving as a member of Apple’s executive team. Prior to his time at Apple, Ron was highly regarded for the work he did with Michael Graves to bring good design to all as a merchant leader at Target. Their collaboration set the stage for the brand’s hundreds of later design partnerships and cemented Target as America’s premier upscale discount retailer. He has a new book, “Shop Different: How Retail Revealed Apple’s Genius.” 

“Make mistakes, then learn from them.” 

“The internet has not killed physical retail.” 

“Everyone deserved products that made them smile.”

Kelly talks to Roy Schwartz, co-founder and CEO at Axios HQ, the world’s first AI-powered internal communications management platform. He’s also the co-founder of Axios, the award-winning news organization. He is the co-author of “Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less” and he has a new co-authored book called “Simplify: Do 50 Percent More with 50 Percent Less.”

“Simplify is a modern survival guide for our AI times.” 

“We’re not just victims of complexity. We’re often its authors.” 

“We’re not just victims of complexity. We’re often its authors.” 

Kelly welcomes the always amazing Caroline Webb back to the podcast. Caroline is a former Partner at McKinsey, where she continues to serve as a Senior Advisor, and is now CEO of her own firm, Sevenshift. We spoke to Caroline some years back about her book How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life. She has another terrific book called Leadership Intelligence: Science-Backed Strategies for Mastering 21 Everyday Management Challenges.

“Much of what you do each day runs on autopilot, without you realizing it.” 

“Don’t forget to evaluate the option of doing nothing.” 

“The brain’s reward system is the engine of human motivation.” 

Kelly has an amazing conversation with Lindy Elkins-Tanton: a professor at UC Berkeley, Director of the Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory, and lead of the NASA Psyche mission. Her new book is titled “Mission Ready: How to Build Teams That Perform Under Pressure.” 

“Calmness is contagious.” 

“Posing problems as questions keeps the solution space open.” 

“Seeing challenges as a gift is another way to say never give up.”