Have you ever experienced the fear of sharing your opinion at work or had the feeling like you're walking on eggshells in a relationship? The absence of psychological safety probably plays a vital role in each of these scenarios. 

Dr. Amy Edmondson, a Harvard Business School professor, identified psychological safety as a key factor in innovative companies and stable relationships. Amy has won numerous awards including the Most Influential Thinker in Human Resources by HR Magazine in 2019. I loved her book, The Right Kind of Wrong, which delves into this topic, and has won prestigious awards like the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year in 2023.

Join Amy and me as she shares what psychological safety entails, how to nurture it in professional and personal settings, and why it's crucial for success in both spheres. 

Dreams are fascinating things. Whether we know it or not, we all dream approximately six times per night. We may remember our dreams and even think about them all day. Or we may forget them entirely.

For years, and in many cultures, dreams have held deep meanings. These days, some people continue to mine dreams for their meaning, and I have seen them have tremendous usefulness as a therapist and in my own life.

Dr. James Hollis is a psychologist and a Jungian analyst. He was educated at the Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, and he has written 14 books. I have read several of his books and consider him one of the most important voices in psychology. Jim regularly interprets dreams of his patients and he’s spent a great deal of time interpreting his own.

This is Jim’s second time visiting with me on SuperPsyched and I am so happy to have him back. As you’ll hear, he’s a thoughtful and relatable person. You’ll also hear him interpret one of my own dreams!So, listen in as Jim and I talk about dream interpretation.

What does it take to become a gold medalist at the Olympics? How about becoming a gold medalist at your third Olympics after coming home without a medal in the first two tries? And what is required to create a team that is in sync and ready for any in-game situation?

My guest answers these questions and more: Olympic men’s volleyball gold medalist Ryan Millar (https://www.goldmmindset.com/)!

As you’ll hear, Ryan is disciplined, and his practices go far beyond sport. We can all learn from what his path has taught him.

So, listen in as Ryan shares the gold medal mindset, here or anywhere you listen to podcasts:

This particular episode is something of a special one. It features a person I knew in high school but, as you will hear, there was so much about her I didn’t know.

We talk about many important themes including, but not limited to: the importance of narrative, discovering more about your family, and working through narrative and discovery to establish a cohesive sense of self.

While this may sound a bit intellectually challenging, fear not! Everything discussed on this episode is highly relatable!

My guest, Dr. Kathryn DeZur has worked as a professor of English for well over two decades including her most recent position at SUNY Delhi. She is a total delight to speak with and, as you'll hear, a proponent of what SuperPsyched is all about! She is committed to doing things—often things that scare her or intimidate her—but in doing so, allow her to feel most alive.

So, listen in as Kathy and I talk about the power of narrative.

Imagine being a 12-year-old girl. You are going through the awkward adolescence of any of your peers. But there’s a difference: you’re 6-feet tall. You stand out. And, although you are a person with many great qualities, it’s only your height that people focus on.

But soon you discover rowing. You love the sport. Better still, your height is an asset, a tool that assists you in excelling.

This is the origin story of Olympic Gold Medalist, Caryn Davies. Caryn would go on to study at Harvard and continue rowing there. She sat in the most important position on the boat known as stroke, as she participated in three Olympic Games: Athens, Beijing, and London. She has won two gold medals and one silver. She also won the Thomas Keller Medal, which is the most prestigious award in rowing, and she’s the only American to have ever won it.

As if that weren’t enough, she got her bachelor’s at Harvard, MBA at Oxford, and law degree at Columbia.

There are so many things I admire about Caryn. As you’ll hear, she thinks deeply about sport, excellence, and being a well-rounded person outside of sports. You’ll also hear I’m practically jumping out of my seat with excitement as Caryn tells her stories and shares her wisdom.

So, listen in as Caryn talks about winning in and out of the water.

These days, artificial intelligence is a hot topic on the news, social media, our workplaces, and our conversations. Yet AI has a long history. One of its pioneers, Dr. Terry Winograd, has been engaging it for well over 50 years.

After finishing his doctorate at MIT, Terry was hired by Stanford University to teach computer science. He’s now professor emeritus at Stanford where he spent the bulk of his career teaching and contributing mightily to the field of computer science. And just to give you a sense of his international impact, let’s consider the h-index, a way to measure the impact of a person’s research. An h-index of 40 is considered outstanding while an h-index of 60 is considered truly exceptional. Terry’s is 70, which means his research made a massive splash and has been frequently cited in order to further knowledge on his subject. 

And while at Stanford, two of his doctoral students were none other than Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who would later go on to found Google. You’ll hear that story and so many others.

So, listen in as Terry and I talk about AI and Google, then and now.

Sources: https://web.cs.ucla.edu/~palsberg/h-number.html and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10025721/#:~:text=It%20is%20simple%20to%20calculate,had%20h%2Dindex%20of%2030.

Love is a funny word. To be sure, it’s a word that has been used a lot on this podcast particularly as it relates to our love of people. These people could be a romantic partner, a family member, a friend, or another meaningful interpersonal relation.

But what about our love of things? We might love our houses, our phones, certain types of food, a brand, or a kajillion other things, both tangible and intangible.

On this episode I will be interviewing Dr. Aaron Ahuvia (https://thethingswelove.com/), a professor of marketing at the University of Michigan-Dearborn College of Business, who is the most widely published and cited academic expert on non-interpersonal love. His latest book, The Things We Love: How Our Passions Connect Us and Make Us Who We Are, explores our love of things that are not human. 

Speaking of things I love, I loved this book! And I’m not alone. Publisher’s Weekly said, “This stimulating volume is easy to love.”

So, listen in as Aaron and I talk about the things we love.

Anti-Jewish sentiment might be the world’s longest hatred. Historical documents suggest Jews have experienced this hatred for over 2,000 years, well before the Common Era even began. It would continue through various eras, including the Roman Era, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust. 

And it continues today. Hate crimes against Jews have gone up by 400% in the US compared to last year. 

So many questions arise, including the obvious: why are Jews so hated and what can we do to help? 

Jewish hatred confuses me deeply. Jews are a people who comprise about 0.2% of the world's population, yet they have been at the forefront of major social justice movements and scientific breakthroughs. Jews show up consistently to lend a hand in repairing the world in disproportionately high numbers considering they comprise only a fraction of a percent of the population.  

In this episode, you’ll hear two Jewish psychologists discussing anti-Jewish sentiment, misunderstandings that lead to antisemitism, and myths and truths. It is my hope that people can walk away with a better understanding of why this is a misplaced hatred. And, of course, we discuss what we can do to support Jewish people. My colleague, Dr. Liya Levanda (https://www.drlevanda.com/) is a psychologist and educator who specializes in teaching others about Jewish issues like antisemitism. As you'll hear, she's thoughtful and very well-informed.

So, listen in as Liya talks with me about supporting Jews through antisemitism.

Sometimes when we hear about the climate crisis, we can feel a sense of hopelessness. As a result, our anxieties can spike and there’s even a term for it: Eco-Anxiety.

One thing I have learned about anxiety—eco-anxiety or other forms of it—is that the more we avoid the thing that makes us anxious, the more the anxiety increases. If you’re asking, “What can I do about the environment and my own eco-anxiety?” then this episode is for you. 

Two years ago, I hosted Heather White, a licensed attorney and the author of One Green Thing, on this podcast and we geeked out to the topic of eco-anxiety. She’s returning with her new book, 60 Days to a Greener Life: Ease Eco-anxiety Through Joyful Daily Action. I loved this book because it acknowledges that despite the crisis, we must live our lives and that we can’t do all the things. But we can do some things. And the book shares small daily exercises that are easy and actionable that leverage our personal strengths, allowing each of us to lead from those strengths to improve the health of the planet.  When we do these things alone, it may seem like not much will affect change of the state of the planet; but when we do this collectively, as Heather suggests, the outcome can be quite different.

By the way, another person who loved this book was someone I know you’ve heard of—Erin Brockovich. She said, “I call Heather the Brené Brown of the environmental movement because she makes environmental action personal, doable, and joyful.”

So, listen in as Heather talks about 60 days to a greener life.

Vaping. It seems to be everywhere these days. Sure, adults engage in vaping but, sadly, so do adolescents and even children at very high numbers.

There have been all kinds of myths as they relate to vaping and, as always, it is crucial to listen to the experts who know the science. One such person is Dr. Adam Leventhal (https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/adam-matthew-leventhal/). Adam is a professor at Keck School of Medicine at USC where he serves as Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences as well as the Director of the Institute for Addiction Science.As his title suggests, he’s the guy from whom I would want to learn and I am so grateful he shared his knowledge.So, listen in as Adam and Adam talk about vaping, the myths and realities.