Your Working Life

Dr. Karen Lisko is a persuasion expert with more than 30 years of experience helping professional women amplify their influence in the workplace. Her new book, Kind Dynamite: Six Ways Women Can Use Our Uniquely Explosive Power to Persuade in Meetings, is a game-changer for any woman who wants to show up with confidence and credibility. Dr. Karen makes the case that women don't have to choose between being kind and being direct — in fact, our unique combination of warmth and dynamism is a superpower.

More from Karen Lisko:

Get Karen's book and learn more about her work at karenlisko.com

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

Krista White is a co-founder of Culture Design Lab, where she combines research, in-depth interviews, and storytelling to craft powerful narratives around intentional culture design, inclusion, and racial justice. Caroline talks to Krista about her latest book Culture Design: How to Build a High-Performing, Resilient Organization with Purpose, which offers an invaluable multigenerational perspective and accessible roadmap for creating authentic workplace culture that resonates with teams—especially critical as organizations navigate AI adoption, political turmoil, and evolving work arrangements.

More from Krista White:

Learn more about Krista's book and other work at thekristawhite.com.

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is challenging the focus on authenticity in his latest book, Don't Be Yourself: Why Authenticity Is Overrated and What to Do Instead. Caroline interviews Chamorro-Premuzic about our collective obsession with authenticity, exposing a deep disconnect between popular beliefs and what science actually reveals about success and fulfillment. Drawing on three decades of research, he argues that common authenticity principles—like "always be honest," "follow your heart," and "bring your whole self to work"—are enticing traps that derail personal and professional goals, and instead advocates for cultivating the best version of ourselves by being mindful of our reputations, accommodating differing values, and focusing on others rather than rigid self-expression.

More from Tomas:

You can follow along with Tomas' work on his LinkedIn.

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

Caroline interviews Samantha Gadd, author of the book Employee Experience Design: How to Co-Create Work Where People and Organizations Thrive. Samantha presents a proven, step-by-step methodology for implementing Employee Experience Design (EXD)—an approach that designs with employees rather than for them, leading to more engaged teams and superior organizational performance. Drawing on decades of HR and leadership experience, the book introduces essential tools including the PREP Framework, which breaks employee experience into Purpose, Relationship, Enabling, and Performance categories, and the Double Diamond design process used by companies like Apple and Microsoft.

More from Samantha:

Check out more of Samantha's work at samanthagadd.com.

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

Lily Zheng is a leading organizational consultant, speaker, and strategist specializing in systemic workplace change. Their latest book, Fixing Fairness: 4 Tenets to Transform Diversity Backlash into Progress for All, introduces the FAIR Framework—a practical model grounded in Fairness, Access, Inclusion, and Representation—designed to move organizations beyond performative DEI practices toward creating workplaces that are fair by design.

More from Lily:

Follow Lily on LinkedIn and subscribe to their newsletter, Fixing Fairness, on Substack.

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett has dedicated her career to understanding workplace dynamics and leadership. Her updated book, Executive Presence 2.0: Leadership in an Age of Inclusion, builds on her groundbreaking earlier work that identified the essential components of executive presence—gravitas, communication, and appearance—showing how these qualities have evolved in our post-pandemic world.

More from Sylvia:

Follow Sylvia on LinkedIn and Instagram.

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

In this episode, Caroline sits down with Dr. Rebecca Hinds, Stanford-trained organizational behavior expert to discuss one of the workplace's most universal frustrations: unproductive meetings. In her new book, Your Best Meeting Ever: 7 Principles for Designing Meetings That Get Things Done, Rebecca reveals how outdated meeting practices are costing American companies $1.4 trillion annually—and offers a research-backed framework to fix them. Drawing on her work with Fortune 500 companies and her leadership of Asana's Work Innovation Lab, she shares actionable principles like measuring Return on Time Invested, creating "Meeting Doomsday" audits, and designing gatherings that actually drive collaboration and results.

More from Rebecca Hinds:

Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn or visit her webiste, www.rebeccahinds.com.

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

When the pandemic started in 2020, many employees learned how to work from home for the first time. But six years later, what is the state of work-from-home and is it working? In this episode, Caroline welcomes Dr. Ranya Nehmeh, senior HR strategist and co-author of In Praise of the Office: The Limits to Hybrid and Remote Work. The book explains what the evidence actually shows about when in-office, remote, and hybrid arrangements work best—and when they don't. Drawing on real data about career advancement, organizational culture, and employee wellbeing, Ranya offers practical guidance for leaders and employees navigating the future of work, with insights that challenge assumptions on all sides of the debate.

More from Ranya Nehmeh:

Follow Ranya on LinkedIn and check out her website www.ranyanehmeh.com.

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

In this episode, Caroline sits down with Kathy Miller, a manufacturing executive turned leadership coach and author of MORE Is Better: Leading Operations with Meaning, Optimism, and Relationships for Excellence. Kathy has led multi-billion-dollar operations across aerospace, automotive, and industrial sectors, and she brings a unique perspective on building high-performance cultures where people genuinely thrive. Drawing from both her decades in the C-suite and her master's degree in applied positive psychology, she reveals the science-backed strategies that connect meaningful work, optimism, and strong relationships to operational excellence. Whether you're leading from the plant floor or the executive suite, Kathy offers practical tools for engaging every team member's hands, head, and heart—proving that when people flourish, results follow.

More from Kathy Miller:

Follow Kathy on LinkedIn and check out her website at www.more4leaders.com.

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

Music Credits for this episode: Kumaon Foothills by Scanglobe is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

In this episode Caroline interviews Debra Clary, author of the new book The Curiosity Curve: A Leader's Guide to Growth and Transformation through Bold Questions. Clary believes curiosity isn't just a nice-to-have soft skill but a competitive edge that drives agility, innovation and collaboration. Drawing from more than three decades of executive experience, she shows leaders how to turn "quiet quitters" into passionate advocates by creating cultures where structured exploration and bold questioning are woven into daily operations.

Learn more about Deb and order her book at debraclary.com.

More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.