Work and Life with Stew Friedman

Dr. Suskind is a Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics and Public Policy at the University of Chicago, and is Co-Director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. She has dedicated her research and clinical life to optimizing foundational brain development and preventing early cognitive disparities and their lifelong impact. She is also the author of the bestselling book, Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain. 

This episode Stew and Dana discuss her latest book, Parent Nation: Unlocking Every Child’s Potential, Fulfilling Society’s Promise, and the ways parents can use developmental neuroscience to help their children grow and ultimately to build a society that works for families and for all of us.

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode.  Go to https://parentnation.org/get-involved/ and find the Big Shift Tool that Stew and Dana talked about on the show.  Take a few minutes to  respond to discover what you can do to move our nation toward a better tomorrow for our children.  Share your reactions and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn. 

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Diana Kapp is the author of Girls Who Run the World and now Girls Who Green the World; Thirty-Four Rebel Women Out To Save Our Planet. Her work as a journalist has taken her inside San Quentin prison and to deepest Afghanistan. She’s covered teen suicide clusters in Palo Alto, apps and bots to fight depression, and her father falling headlong in love at 85. She’s also worked for a senator and a biotech start-up, made ads for Nike, and helped launch women’s sportswear retailer Lucy. She’s got an MBA from Stanford, loves the Sawtooth Mountains, Neil Young, her 5am running club, and climbing mountains. She’s also a wannabe “rancher.” 

This episode, which is about the biggest work/life issue we can imagine, starts with Diana talking about her father’s finding love at 85, after her mother’s death, and how this demonstrated hope for the future emerging from the despondency of loss.  This heartwarming story sounded the keynote of Stew’s conversation with Diana about the inspiring stories of how the women profiled in her book are, in the face of our rapidly failing natural environment, taking action to make things better.  These powerful narratives not only tell us about the creative experiments abounding in our midst, they offer empowering ideas for how each and every one of us can do something good for our world. 

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode.  Find one small thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint and tell someone else about what you did, why you did it, and what you’re going to do next.  Share your reactions and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn. 

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Dr. Amy Beacom is the founder and CEO of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership, the first consultancy in the US to focus exclusively on parental leave, and the author of The Parental Leave Playbook: Ten Touchpoints to Transition Smoothly, Strengthen Your Family, and Continue Growing Your Career.  She is recognized as the United States’ premiere expert on the personal and professional interplay around parental leave for employers and employees. Amy created the first evidence-based parental leave transition coaching model. She has trained and supervised parental leave coaches both in the US and Australia and the manager-focused training program she created can be found in over 80 countries around the world.

In this episode, Stew talks with Amy about her evidence-based model for how to manage parental leave, as a working parent and as a manager or co-worker.  They talk through the three phases of preparing for leave (which is mostly about work), during leave (about parenting), and returning (about being a working parent).  Amy describes the crucial touch points in each of these phases and offers practical advice for anyone experiencing the joys and trials of taking time from work to care for children and for all those who support working parents.  

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode, if you’re a manager of someone approaching parental leave or a person about to take one yourself:  What’s your vision of how you want things to be upon return?  Share your reactions and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.  

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Christine Porath is an Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. She’s the author of the bestseller Mastering Civility and co-author of The Cost of Bad Behavior. Her most recent book is  Mastering Community: The Surprising Ways Coming Together Moves Us from Surviving to Thriving.

In this episode, Stew talks with Christine about her research on the waning of community and the effective ways of reweaving the fabric that holds our society together.  She describes contemporary examples from sports, business, health care, nonprofits and other organizations that illustrate what it takes to create and sustain communities in organizations and the many benefits that result.  Stew and Christine get into how the principles – like building a genuine sense of unity while embracing differences in political, religious and other attitudes – play out in the new world of work and how they inform efforts to save the planet from disastrous climate change. 

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode.  Is there an opportunity for you to take some action, within your power, to help people in your work life feel a greater sense of common humanity?  Share your reactions and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn. 

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Gianna Driver is Chief Human Resources Officer at Exabeam who was a student in Stew’s Total Leadership class 20 years ago.  After spending five years running a global fair trade organization, she went on to build a highly successful career in human resources and recently started a new job at a company that fights cybercrime.  Gianna manages the strategy and processes for building, investing in, and retaining top talent at Exabeam, enabling employees to do their best work. Prior to Exabeam, she was the Chief People Officer at BlueVine, a private fintech company based in Redwood City, CA. Before BlueVine, Gianna led HR and People functions in high-growth technology, gaming, consumer, and SaaS organizations including Playstudios, Aristocrat, Actian Corporation, Talend, and Balsam Brands. 

In this episode, Stew talks with Gianna about her experiences growing up in Texas, daughter of a Philipine woman who was a mail-order bride, and how that shaped her experiences as an undergraduate student at The Wharton School.  Gianna describes how her early life led her to want to have an impact through her work on valuing the humanity in each and every one of us.  She describes the opportunities and challenges on her path to pursuing that ambition in her current role and in her life beyond work.  

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode.  Think about your own history and your particular demographic characteristics – age, race, sexual orientation, etc. – and consider what is it about your particular mix that is distinctly valuable in the world of work.  What do you discover by taking a few minutes to think about who you are?  Share your reactions and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.  

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Lynda Gratton is recognized as a global thought leader on the future of work and a Professor of Management Practice at London Business School where she directs ‘Human Resource Strategy in Transforming Companies.’ Lynda is the founder of the advisory practice HSM and since 2008 has led the Future of Work Research Consortium which has brought together executives from more than 100 companies. Her books have been translated into more than 15 languages. She has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by HR Magazine and named by 'Business Thinkers 50' as one of the top 15 business thinkers in the world.

In this episode, Stew talks with Lynda Gratton about her latest book, Redesigning Work: How to Transform Your Organization and Make Hybrid Work for Everyone.  It’s a practical guide, with contemporary examples of progressive organizations, for what anyone can do to capitalize on the opportunities created by the revolutionary changes occurring in the world of work, shifts that have the potential to enrich our lives, if managed intentionally and intelligently.  

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode. Pause for a moment to consider a change you might make, either in the when or the where of your doing work, that you expect would result in greater performance and harmony in your life.  Then try it!  Share your reactions and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn. 

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Kevin Hancock is the CEO of Hancock Lumber Company, one of the oldest and best-known family businesses in America, and author of The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey into the Business of Shared Leadership. Hancock Lumber is an eight-time consecutive recipient of the ‘Best Places to Work in Maine’ award. Kevin himself is a recipient of the Ed Muskie Access to Justice award, the Habitat for Humanity Spirit of Humanity award, the Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen award, and the Timber Processing Magazine Person of the Year award. He’s also a member of the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission. Kevin is the founder of The Seventh Power, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing economic sovereignty for native communities across America.

In this episode, Stew talks with Kevin about how the loss of his own voice due to a rare illness changed his conception of leadership, how his immersion in the culture and values of indigenous peoples informed his radically revised leadership style, how giving voice to previously oppressed people can change their lives, and much more.

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode.  What would it take for you to listen more than you speak, especially to people who are in some way hierarchically subordinate to you?  Share your reactions and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.  

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Larry Hirschhorn is a Principal and one of the founders of the Center for Applied Research, also known as CFAR (which had its origins at the Wharton School). CFAR is a management consulting firm with offices in Philadelphia and Boston. Larry was also a founder of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO) and the founder and director of Dynamics of Consulting, a program for experienced coaches and consultants. He has published several books and many articles linking organizational functioning to psychodynamics, among them The Workplace Within and Reworking Authority, both published by MIT Press. Larry has a PhD in Economics from MIT.

In this episode, Stew talks with Larry Hirschhorn about his recently published book about the sudden death of his son, called Grieving Aaron: Poems in Response to the Death of My Adult Son. They discuss anger, despair, ambivalence, the various ways different people express grief, the changes wrought by the loss of a loved one, and what it takes to reach toward hope in the face of tragedy. While Larry’s loss is unique to him, with his background in psychology and the kind of consulting and research he has done over the course of his long, illustrious career, he has profoundly useful insights for all those who are grieving losses and dislocations due to the death of loved ones, especially in pandemic times.

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode.  Write a poem about someone you love who has died.  How does the writing affect your thoughts and feelings about your loved one and about your own identity and purpose?  Share your reactions and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.  

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Vanessa Bohns is a social psychologist and professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University. Her new book is You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate our Power of Persuasion and Why it Matters.  Vanessa holds a PhD in psychology from Columbia University and an AB from Brown University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and Harvard Business Review, and her research has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and NPR’s Hidden Brain.

In this episode, Stew talks with Vanessa Bohns about eye-opening research on how people undervalue the impact they have on others and what this means for our lives at work, at home, and in the community.  They discuss practical implications for how to ask for help, most effective means for negotiating boundaries between work and home, how to persuade people to take action on social issues like climate change, how embarrassment informs morality, and more.  

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode:  Think of someone who you want to ask for help and use what you learned from this conversation in making that ask.  Share your reactions to this episode and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn. 

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Alec Ross is one of the world’s leading experts on innovation. A former senior advisor in the Obama Administration, his book is called The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People — and the Fight for Our Future. Alec is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at The University of Bologna Business School and a Board Partner at Amplo, a global venture capital firm. During the Obama Administration, Alec served as Senior Advisor for Innovation to the Secretary of State, to help modernize the practice of diplomacy and advance America’s foreign policy interests. He also served as the Convener for the Technology & Media Policy Committee on Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. He’s also the author of the bestselling book The Industries of the Future.

In this episode, Stew talks with one of the world’s leading experts on innovation, Alec Ross. A former senior advisor in the Obama Administration, his new book is The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People — and the Fight for Our Future.  It’s a brilliant, highly-readable, comprehensive analysis of how our social contract became broken that provides practical ideas for action to reset our course toward a better tomorrow.  Stew and Alec talk about what he learned starting out as a school teacher in an economically ravaged part of Baltimore that informs his current thinking (“talent is everywhere but opportunity is not”); the central problems of government, the private sector, and labor politics; and what we can and must to to create a sustainable world as a nation, as employees, and citizens.  

Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you’ve had a chance to listen to this episode:  What consumer choice can you make, that you’ve not made before, that will direct your resources toward companies you want to support because of their values, even if it might be relatively less convenient or more costly to acquire their goods or services?  Share your reactions to this episode and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.

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