Work and Life with Stew Friedman

Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar is Chief People Officer for Minted.com.  He oversees and manages Minted’s People team, which includes human resources and facilities. After several years running a research lab in Silicon Valley, he went on to lead HR in multiple industries and various scales, from hyper-growth start-up to global Fortune 500, including stints at Sun Microsystems, Taco Bell, BlackRock, Gap and Old Navy, Starbucks, and Riot Games. Prior to his corporate career, he received his Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan, with his dissertation on organizational change and diversity. Jay considers himself a closet creative and maintains a weekly writer’s group and dusty art portfolio.  He is an internationally lauded game strategist with a particularly large following in the Magic the Gathering community.  

In this episode, Stew and Jay  talk about lessons he’s learned from decades of experience in cultivating meaningful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives; the disruptive impact of the pandemic on Minted’s business and people operations and how the senior team is responding to those challenges, especially in having to downsize and develop new revenue streams; the hurdles facing women in the gaming industry; how his experience as a self-described gaming nerd has influenced his career; and much more.  

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation.  How has your most significant non-work passion influenced your career and how might you teach what you’ve discovered about infusing your work with that passion from another part of your life?  Share your ideas, and your reactions to this episode, by  writing to Stew at [email protected] or via LinkedIn. 

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Jessica Calarco is Associate Professor of Sociology at Indiana University Bloomington. She earned her master’s and her PhD in sociology here at the University of Pennsylvania. Jessica’s research examines inequalities in education and family life, and she’s written about these inequalities for the New York Times, the Atlantic, Inside Higher Ed, and the Conversation. She’s the author of two books, A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum, which has just been published, and Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in Schools, which received a 2019 Scholarly Achievement Award for Best Book by the North Central Sociological Association.

In this episode, Stew and Jessica  talk about her latest research, which is about how the pandemic and its impact on childcare arrangements and schooling is having a disparate impact on mothers, compared to fathers. Jessica describes the emotional and financial costs for working women and the negative impact on their relationships with their partners as well.  They discuss how to turn rage into action and some of the possible solutions -- at the individual, corporate, and societal levels -- women need to ensure they don’t lose the ground they’ve gained in the workforce.  

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation.  Try taking some action that might help to make clear the structural or systemic forces that are causing distress for the working mothers in your life that results from the feeling of self-blame for failure to live up to impossible standards in pandemic times.  Share your ideas, and your reactions to this episode, by writing to Stew at [email protected] or via LinkedIn. 

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Carol Cone, Founder and CEO of Carol Cone ON PURPOSE, is internationally recognized for her work in social purpose and corporate social responsibility. Carol was a pioneer in the field of social purpose in the 1980s. Her work has built global movements, garnered hundreds of awards, and raised billions of dollars for a variety of worthy causes. She was the Founder, CEO and Chairman of Cone, Inc., recognized as the nation’s leading Cause Branding consultancy. PRWeek called her “arguably the most powerful and visible figure in the world of Cause Branding.” Her book, Breakthrough NonProfit Branding, was published in 2010.

In this episode, Stew and Carol talk about the history of incorporating social causes in corporate strategies and her role in it, which grew out of her engagement in social action in the 1960s and 1970s.  Carol shares insider insights about Reebok’s role in Amnesty International, PNC Financial’s sponsorship of early childhood education, Aflac’s support for pediatric cancer patients, and more.  They discuss what it took to overcome resistance to the idea of embracing social causes in the corporate world, how individuals and organizations today can take positive social action through business, and why it’s so important to do so. 

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation.  Come up with an idea for some action you can take, no matter how small, that you expect would result in your work being more meaningful because its social purpose is more clear to you.  Share your ideas, and your reactions to this episode, by writing to Stew at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.  

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Dr. Marilyn Gist, author of The Extraordinary Power of Leader Humility: Thriving Organizations & Great Results, is an expert on leader development. Marilyn’s academic career includes time at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the University of Washington, where she held the Boeing Endowed Professorship of Business Management; and Seattle University, where she served as Associate Dean, Professor of Management, and Executive Director of the Center for Leadership Formation. She earned her BA from Howard University and her MBA and PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park. 

In this episode, Stew and Marilyn  talk about what it means to lead with humility and why that’s most especially important during these tumultuous times.  People are crying out for respect for human dignity as a defining quality for leaders today.  Marilyn describes the three questions her research shows are what we ask of our leaders: Who are you? Where are we going? Do you see me?  What it takes to bring the answers to these questions is the focus of this conversation.  

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation.  Think about the people who matter most to you in your life, especially those who might look to you for leadership, as someone who can picture a better tomorrow and bring people along with you.  What might you do to demonstrate a greater appreciation for the dignity of one or more of these people?  Share your ideas, and your reactions to this episode, by writing to Stew [email protected] or via LinkedIn. 

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Joan C. Williams is a Distinguished Professor of Law, Hastings Foundation Chair, and Founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings Law. Joan has played a central role in reshaping the conversation about work, gender, and class over the past quarter century, and her path-breaking work helped create the field of work-family studies and modern workplace flexibility policies. She’s one of the 10 most cited scholars in her field and has written 11 books, including the influential What Works for Women at Work in 2014 and more recently, White Working Class in 2017. Her awards include the Families and Work Institute’s Work Life Legacy Award (2014), the American Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Scholar Award (2012), and the ABA’s Margaret Brent Women Award for Lawyers of Achievement (2006). Her Harvard Business Review article, “What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class” has been read over 3.7 million times and is now the most read article in HBR’s 90-plus year history.

In this episode, Stew and Joan  talk about how class, in addition to race and gender, produces dividing lines that result in polarization and alienation.  Joan describes and illustrates an evidence-based method for interrupting biases that reinforce systems of oppression in society and at work.  They talk about prospects for change in the upcoming Biden-Harris administration, the awful impact of the pandemic on women’s lives and careers, women’s reproductive rights, and more.

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation.  Check out Bias Interrupters and take the quick survey then develop an idea for action based on your results.  Share your ideas, and your reactions to this episode, by writing to Stew [email protected] or via LinkedIn.  

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Maurice “Tony” Ewing is the CEO of Conquer Risk, a Hong Kong-based risk management and compliance consultancy, and he’s also a motivational speaker and coach.  As a former senior banking executive, public company board member and Princeton-certified behavioral scientist who was a PhD student of Nobel laureates John Nash and Daniel Kahneman, Tony has a broad experience base. He’s advised over $4 billion in corporate investments and initiatives, using behavioral science methods to inform decision-making and group dynamics. He’s also an active columnist for Forbes and he serves on the Executive Education faculty of the University of Cambridge.

In this episode, Stew and Tony discuss a few of his recent Forbes pieces about how to talk about hot and potentially divisive issues like politics and race at work. Stew and Tony also talk about the added complexity of what “at work” means during the pandemic when so much of interacting with work colleagues occurs while one is sitting in one’s own home and one’s own home environment is visible to colleagues.

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation.  Try having a conversation with a work colleague, even if it’s on Zoom and not in person, in which you listen to understand what’s really bothering them about the world as it is.  Share your ideas, and your reactions to this episode, by writing to Stew [email protected] or via LinkedIn.  

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Reverend Charles “Chaz” Howard  is the first-ever Vice President for Social Equity and Community at the University of Pennsylvania—a role he assumed in June 2020. But he’s long been a part of the Philadelphia community as Penn’s University Chaplain. After graduating Penn's College of Arts and Sciences in the year 2000, Chaz served in both hospital and hospice chaplaincies, and as a street outreach worker to individuals experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia before returning to his alma mater. As Vice President for Social Equity and Community at Penn he’s overseeing the University’s Projects for Progress, a new fund intended to encourage students, faculty, and staff to design and implement pilot projects based on innovative research that will advance Penn’s aim of a more inclusive university and community. He also works with University leaders to expand successful initiatives across campus, prominent among them Penn’s ongoing Campaign for Community, as well as to convene University events and other programming centered around social equity and community themes. He is the author of five books including most recently Pond River Ocean Rain, a collection of brief essays about going deeper with God, and The Bottom: A Theopoetic of the Streets, which will be released on November 1, 2020.

In this episode, Stew and Chaz discuss what the Reverend has learned from his remarkable experience about the difficulties in bridging social divides -- across race, class, gender, and other categories -- and why striving to do so, especially now, is essential for our lives and our communities, at work and beyond.  They talk about how to overcome the barriers that keep us from understanding the fears that motivate those who don’t seem to be like us and how embracing love of our common humanity can be liberating.  

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation.  What step might you be able to take today to better understand someone who stands on the other side of some important dividing line -- political, cultural, racial, or religious -- in your world? Share your ideas, and your reactions to this episode, by writing to Stew [email protected] or via LinkedIn. 

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Dr. Uma Naidoo, Harvard based psychiatrist, chef, and author of This is Your Brain on Food: An Indispensable Guide to the Surprising Foods that Fight Depression, PTSD, ADHD, OCD and More, is regarded internationally as a pioneer in the field of nutritional psychiatry, having founded the first US hospital-based clinical service in this area. She serves as the director of nutritional & lifestyle psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and is also on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Naidoo also graduated from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts as a professional chef and was awarded her culinary school’s most coveted award, the MFK Fisher Award for Innovation. 

In this episode, Uma describes to Stew, in very practical terms, the ways that different kinds of food affect our moods, well-being, and productivity; how we can avoid the perils and pitfalls of over-eating or eating the wrong foods, especially when confined to home during the pandemic; and some useful suggestions for how businesses can support sound eating habits.  

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation, no matter what your current relationship with food.  What small change can you make in what and when you eat that you believe will result in a demonstrably positive impact on your mental health?  Share your ideas by writing to Stew [email protected] or via LinkedIn.  While you’re at it, share your thoughts with him on this episode and your ideas for people you’d like to hear on future shows.  

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Dr. Dana Sumpter is an associate professor of organization theory and management at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business. Her research employs a cross-cultural lens in understanding social behavior at work, studying topics including energy, mindfulness, power, work/family enrichment, managerial systems, and work relationships. She has published in professional journals and has been quoted in various popular outlets. Dr. Sumpter's research has received grants from the Center for Innovation Research in Cultural Intelligence and Leadership, and UC Irvine’s Center for Organizational Research. She is a member of two micro-communities of scholars: Mindfulness at Work, which she co-founded, Positive Relationships at Work. Her recent award-winning international management case focused on a woman’s expatriate human resource experience in Oman. Across 10 Asia-Pacific nations, Professor Sumpter led live executive training and coached executives on people management skills. She is an avid traveler, who has spent time in more than 30 countries (and counting!).

In this episode, Stew and Dana discuss her new research, with her colleague Mona Zanhour, on mothers during the pandemic. Dana discusses best practices for working mothers, their partners in parenting, and their employers, including how to engage in meaningful dialogue toward viable new approaches for what, where, and how things get done, and by whom in the domestic sphere.  She shares ideas about how to make self-care a priority because of how crucial it is in enabling working mothers to cope well with the intense pressures of our time.  And they discuss the importance of hope and the potential silver linings in these dark and difficult times.  

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation.  Ask yourself this question, if you’re a working mother or want to develop an idea to help one you might know:  What small step can you take now to better care of yourself and how by doing so will you increase your capacity to help those who depend on you?  Write to Stew ([email protected]) or connect with him on LinkedIn.  While you’re at it, share your thoughts with him on this episode and your ideas for people you’d like to hear on future shows.  

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Professor Quinetta Roberson has over 20 years of experience teaching courses and workshops globally on leadership, talent management and diversity, and her research and teaching are informed by her background in finance, having worked as a financial analyst and small business development consultant. She’s also served as an expert witness in employment discrimination lawsuits and provides professional advice and guidance to for-profit and non-profit organizations. Quinetta earned her Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of Maryland and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in finance. Her research interests focus on developing organizational capability and enhancing effectiveness through the strategic management of people, particularly diverse work teams. To summarize some of her experiences and insights from working with organizations, she delivered a TED talk on The Science of Inclusion at the 2013 TEDxVillanova conference. She currently serves as President of the Academy of Management (AOM) for 2020-2021. 

In this episode, Stew and Quinetta discuss the benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion (after parsing out important distinctions among these three terms, often referred to collectively as “DEI”) for teams and organizations with respect to productivity, retention, and the bottom line. Quinetta shares her research on equity and justice with teams and provides guidance for how to make DEI efforts succeed, starting with a clear sense of purpose as to the expected impact on organization performance.  

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation.  Ask yourself this question:  If you were to take a step toward a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment, why would you do it?  How, in other words, would you want your team organization to benefit?  And, how, by asking this, does your perspective change on what you might do to affect positive change?  Write to Stew to let him know, at [email protected], or connect with him on LinkedIn.  While you’re at it, share your thoughts with him on this episode and your ideas for people you’d like to hear on future shows.  

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