Kelly talks to Sandra Steinbrecher, a Chicago documentary photographer whose new book captures the transformation of the Morton Salt factory into The Salt Shed, a premier music venue in Chicago.

“We protect our past so we are connected to what came before us and so we understand what lies in front of us – today and tomorrow.”

“Ultimately, the goal of architecture is to shelter and create spaces that improve human life and foster a sense of belonging,”

“For the ironworkers, It’s not how many years you have left – it’s how many winters.” 

Kelly meets up with writer, teacher and philanthropist Randy Fertel to talk about this new book “Winging It: Improv’s Power and Peril in the Time of Trump.”

“Improv seeks to widen our mental bubble.” 

“Improvisation is the discourse of paradigm shifts.” 

“Innovation always begins with disruption, a pushback against the dominant culture.” 

Live from The Second City in collaboration with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Kelly interviews Alison Fragale, the Mary Farley Ames Lee Distinguished Scholar of Organizational Behavior at the Kenen-Flagler Business School at the University of North Caroline Chapel Hill. She has an incredible new book, it’s called “Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve.”  

“The key to managing your status – and reaping all the benefits that come with it – is showing up as a likeable badass, getting others to see you as both assertive and warm.” 

“The faster we talk, the more status we get.” 

“There is a strong relationship between humor and status. People who have high status engage in more humor.” 

Kelly talks Yes, And with Dr. Frederik Pferdt, Google’s first Chief Innovation Evangelist. He founded Google’s Innovation Lab, where he trained tens of thousands of Googlers to develop cutting-edge ideas and taught groundbreaking classes on innovation and creativity at Stanford University for more than a decade. His new book is called “What’s Next is Now: How to Live Future Ready.” 

“We’re built by change but we’re not built for change.” 

“The pursuit of better is about progress, not perfection.” 

“Fair warning: it takes courage to be curious.” 

Kelly sits down with Robert Wolcott, adjunct professor of innovation at the Booth School of Business and adjunct professor of executive education at the Kellogg School of Management and Kaihan Krippendorff CEO of Outthinker Networks to talk about their new book: “Proximity: How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-in-Time Transform Business, Society and Daily Life.” 

“People want what they want, where and when they want it. Those who can give it to them are more likely to win.” 

“The robots are coming.” 

“The customer as king is a tired metaphor. It’s also increasingly accurate.” 

Kelly talks to Emmy award-winning former broadcaster Jessica Chen who is now the CEO of Soulcast Media and the author of “Smart Not Loud: How To Get Noticed At Work For All The Right Reasons.” 

“Growing up, I was never taught the importance of making myself visible.” 

“Filler words sabotage our message.” 

“Acknowledging isn’t agreeing, it’s just showing we’re listening.”

Kelly catches up with Stephanie Harrison, former leaning executive with Thrive. Her company, The New Happy, has revolutionized the way that people understand and pursue happiness. Her new book is called “New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong.” 

“Old Happy has put us all on autopilot.” 

“There is no ‘me’ without ‘we.’” 

“Humanity is the only type of gift that is required for happiness.” 

Kelly explores the history of play and games with Kelly Clancy, a neuroscientist and physicist who has held research positions at MIT, University of California – Berkley, University College London and the AI company DeepMind. She has a new book, it’s called “Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World.”  

“Play is practice for the unexpected.” 

“Intelligent choices don’t fall into a single fixed ordering; they depend on context.” 

“Game theory posits humans as a fixed bundle of preferences, when they are, in fact, learning systems.” 

Kelly connects with Matt Beane, University of California professor, to discuss his new book: “The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines.” 

“If it’s going to flourish, the future of skill needs the very technologies we’re concerned about.” 

“We learn best when we get healthy challenge: too much, and we burn out. Too little and we stagnate.” 

“Fixing a problem takes seeing it clearly.”

Kelly welcomes Jo Boaler back to the podcast. Jo is the Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Education at Stanford University. She is the author of nineteen books and numerous research articles. Her latest book is called “Math-Ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics.” 

“Mathematics can be a secret weapon.” 

“People with a growth mindset view mistakes as opportunities to learn.” 

“If you are walking on the edge of change, you will probably get arrows fired at you.”