Your Working Life

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Wes Adams is the CEO of SV Consulting Group. He partners with Fortune 500s and scaling companies to develop high-impact leaders and design operating structures that support high performing teams. He is also a positive psychology researcher at the University of Pennsylvania where he studies the leadership practices and organizational structures that help employees thrive. He lives in Atlanta, GA. LinkedIn Website

Tamara Myles is a speaker, author, professor, and entrepreneur specializing in the science of human flourishing at work. She helps leaders and organizations like Microsoft, KPMG, and MassMutual unlock the power of meaningful work to drive peak performance, innovation, and resilience. A faculty member at Boston College and a researcher and instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, Tamara's work challenges assumptions about work, showing that when leaders make work meaningful, they create thriving teams and lasting impact. She lives in Concord, Massachusetts. LinkedIn Website

Book: Meaningful Work: How to Ignite Passion and Performance in Every Employee

We're in the middle of the most significant transformation in work in over a century. Whether it's remote work, the rise of burnout and "quiet quitting," or the changing values and priorities of employees, leading an organization has never been more complex. But through all this, a single factor remains the core driver of fulfilled, high-performing teams—their belief that their work has meaning. In Meaningful Work, Wes Adams and Tamara Myles, advisers to some of the world's most successful companies, leverage the science of positive psychology to show leaders why and how to make meaning the cornerstone of leadership practice. It is a practical playbook based on decades of research, including their own groundbreaking multi-year study of meaning at work, and stories from leaders you already admire and others that will surprise and inspire you. The book reveals that high engagement, happiness, productivity, and financial performance from employees are all outcomes of helping them find meaning at work. And that every job can be meaningful when leaders create a workplace culture that focuses on the three Cs: Community, Contribution, and Challenge. Whether you lead a team of call center workers, care professionals, cycling instructors, or corporate executives, this book will show you how to take small actions each day to inspire passion and performance in every employee.

Questions/topics:

• What is meaningful work and why is it so important?
• What are the biggest misconceptions about meaningful work?
• How can leaders create an environment where employees can find meaningful work?
• How does the "Three C" framework (Community, Contribution and Challenge) factor into meaningful work?
• How can leaders address employees' different generational or cultural needs when it comes to meaningful work?
• How does meaningful work help a company's bottom line? What happens to an organization that fails to offer meaningful work?
• Why is the onboarding process so crucial in creating an environment for meaningful work?
• What's your prediction for meaningful work in the future?

Karen Freeman is Chief Product Officer at DCM Insights and one of the authors of the Activator research published in Harvard Business Review, titled "What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently." That article was named one of HBR's top 10 reads of 2025. At DCMi, she is one of the global faculty and responsible for the company's training products and diagnostics. She has delivered the Activator research and training programs across the globe to clients in the legal, consulting, accounting, and talent advisory sectors.

Before joining DCMi, Karen was head of digital & analytics learning for generalist consultants at McKinsey & Company. She led a team upskilling roughly 17,000 consultants globally in topics including advanced analytics modeling, leading digital transformations, and agile methodology.

Prior to McKinsey, Karen spent 13 years at Corporate Executive Board (CEB) in research and learning & development roles. There, she led three best practice membership organizations, developing insights, advice, and benchmarks for Global 1000 functional heads in marketing, sales, and customer service. Much of the company's highest-impact research was spearheaded by the teams that Karen created. Several were published in Harvard Business Review and became the subject of two best-selling business books (The Challenger Sale and The Effortless Experience). Later, as Head of CEB University, Karen oversaw development and delivery of training sessions for more than 10,000 participants worldwide in sales, insight & advisory, and corporate roles.

Karen has an A.B from Harvard and an MBA from MIT, plays cello and piano, and currently lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and two children.

Book promo:

Today's professional services sector faces sharp declines in client loyalty. And the "trusted advisor" model, once the gold standard in business development, no longer stands up to rapidly changing client expectations.

A groundbreaking new study - The Rainmaker Genome Project – surveyed nearly 3,000 partners at professional services firms in law, accounting, consulting, executive search, investment banking, and PR, and revealed five profiles in business development (Experts, Confidants, Realists, and Activators).

THE ACTIVATOR ADVANTAGE: What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently (HBR Press, 5/20/25) reveals why only one of these profiles—the Activator—consistently drives growth and profitability to win, retain, and grow client relationships in today's disruptive environment.

Co-Authors: Matthew Dixon, Rory Channer, Karen Freeman, Ted McKenna

The authors explore the keys to winning and growing relationships:

· Behaviors: characterized by Commit, Connect, and Create.

· Habits: engagement strategies from developing relationships to managing stakeholders.

· Mindsets: self-determined, resilient, and focused on client needs.

· Pivot Points: optimizing key moments like initial contact, pitching, negotiation, and navigating setbacks to build stronger relationships.

Activators deeply embed business development strengths into their daily workflow, proactively leverage their networks and deliver value to clients—ensuring longer-lasting, more engaged relationships while preventing uncertain client buying behaviors.

Socials:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenefreeman/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/dcm-insights/

Mark Fava episode:

Liberosis (Instrumental) by Nihilore, via Free Music Archive (CC BY)

Mark C. Fava is an author, retired Navy officer, and an aviation lawyer. He currently works as a Vice president at The Boeing Company. Fava flew as a Naval Flight Officer and Mission Commander in the P-3 Orion, accumulating more than 3,000 flight hours, tracking Soviet submarines during the Cold War. He retired in 2015 from the Navy Reserve as a Captain.

He has led a national aviation law practice at a major law firm. From 2001 to 2004, he worked as the Chief Operations Attorney for Delta Air Lines. He began his legal career as a federal judicial law clerk in Charleston.

His first book Lessons from the Admiral, Naval Wisdom and Sea Stories for Leaders, was published in January 2025 and is an Amazon Bestseller. He is an entertaining speaker and lecturer.

Kweilin Ellingrud episode:

Glass Structures by Unheard Music Concepts, via Free Music Archive (CC BY)

Kweilin Ellingrud is McKinsey's Chief Diversity Officer and a director of the McKinsey Global Institute, based in Minneapolis. As a senior partner at McKinsey, she has led research on the topics of gender equality, racial equity, generative AI, the future of work, and global competitiveness. She also serves clients in financial services across strategy and operational transformations. She is the co-author of THE BROKEN RUNG: When the Career Ladder Breaks for Women--and How They Can Succeed in Spite of It, with fellow McKinsey senior partners Lareina Yee and María del Mar Martínez.

Book Promo:

The broken rung is more pervasive than the glass ceiling in holding women back from career success. Three McKinsey senior partners offer strategies for overcoming it and fulfilling your potential.

Women around the world do extremely well when it comes to their education. They graduate at higher rates than men and have higher average GPAs. But then a strange thing happens: upon entering the workforce, they immediately lose their advantage. When the first promotions come around, the slide continues. For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women overall and 77 women of color get promoted.

This is what McKinsey senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, and María del Mar Martínez call "the broken rung," and its effects compound throughout women's careers, causing them to fall behind at the start and keeping them from catching up. In this groundbreaking book, the authors reveal the problem's underlying cause: while about half of a person's lifetime earnings come from education and half from work experience, men get more value from their experience than women do. It is also here, in one's work experience, that the solution lies: women need to build their "experience capital" to level the playing field and maximize their earning potential.

The book combines over a decade of research, personal conversations with more than fifty remarkable leaders, and the authors' own rich experiences as leaders at McKinsey. They weave data on the potential pitfalls with inspiring and instructive stories of women who have climbed over the broken rung using strategies that increased their experience capital.

Leaders and companies must do more to address gender inequalities in the workplace. But you don't have to wait. The Broken Rung is your guide, right now, for moving up the career ladder and reaching your full potential at work.

Questions or topics of discussion:

• What is the broken rung? How does it compare to the glass ceiling?
• What is experience capital? How does it impact one's ability to advance in their career and increase their earnings?
• What advice do you have for young women looking for their first entry level job?
• You recommend making frequent job moves early in one's career to gain experience capital. Do you advise changing companies or roles within an organization? Why is it important?
• You highlight the dangers of the broken rung to those in the first few years of their career, but you reveal it's never too late in one's career to gain experience capital. How can women accelerate their well-established careers?
• How can women make motherhood an experience capital escalator? Why is it often seen as a career derail?
• What questions should women ask themselves to help accelerate their career and build experience capital?
• What do you hope readers take away from this book?

Social media:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kweilinmellingrud/

Steve is a visual artist whose work has been displayed in numerous galleries, juried exhibitions, and prestigious corporate art spaces. He's planning on transitioning to full-time artist from managing the creative side of a web design firm he founded 25 years ago. Previously, Steve had engaged in numerous careers: media training, tech journalism, book writing (he penned more than 50 solo titles and collaborations, including a million-copy, bestselling parenting book). He was also the founder of a successful ad agency and founder of numerous ill-conceived small businesses that failed miserably. Prior to striking out on his own, Steve had intended to become an academic in the field of ancient Chinese science and technology. But after receiving his masters in East Asian studies from Harvard, he decided that academia was not for him. From the outside, his professional life seems to be a maze of disparate paths; from the inside, it's all logical stepping stones.

Topics: What I've Learned from 50+ years of Making a Living as an Entrepreneur

1. "Accidental" vs "intentional" transitions; riding the currents vs steering the boat.

2. Being receptive to career/entrepreneurial opportunities—even when you're not looking for one. My train station metaphor.

3. ABN: Always Be Networking! Networking as a "long-tail" activity.

4. Don't believe that if you do what you love the money will follow. It often doesn't.

5. Hope and blind optimism are not strategies for success. Get real.

6. Everyone fails along the way. Failure is a great teacher. But it still sucks. If failure will rock your self-esteem, travel a safer path.

7. Retirement is a four-letter word. Wearing out vs rusting out. Think encore career.

8. Choosing visual arts as an "encore" career entails unique challenges. The solution: treat it like any other kind of business in terms of promotion and marketing, tactics, and strategies.

Social media:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevebennettvisualartist/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/sjbennettvisualartist/

X: https://x.com/sjbennettvisual

Anjali Sharma

The music used in this episode is Upstream Color by Mark Wilson X

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Website: https://narrative.com.sg/storytelling/blog/author/anjali/

Anjali Sharma is the founder of Narrative: The Business of Stories and is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers trusted by international brands seeking guidance on finding, developing, and using their stories to make a dynamic change happen. Sharma works with private and government organizations to determine what their individual and unique business challenges are, and by incorporating story skills, she crafts individualized solutions to help solve those challenges. She is based in Singapore.

Anjali Sharma introduces leaders and ambitious influencers to the Who, Why and How of strategic storytelling in business, enabling them bring about change and drive corporate success by telling exactly the right story in the right way.

Book: Strategic Storytelling: Why Some Stories Drive Your Success at Work and Others Don't

In today's connection economy, the most successful leaders inspire their people with purpose and meaning. Powerful corporate storytelling can mobilise people around an organisational objective in a way that a focus on market share never will. Be it a digital transformation or a diversity and inclusion initiative, corporate change needs the support of the people in that organisation in order to stick. Yet, while all stories can move people to take action, storytelling isn't a one size fits all. The most effective influencers learn to flex their narrative based on the audience's time or their level of expertise. A story that works on the stage doesn't work in the boardroom A story that works in the boardroom doesn't work in a team meeting A story that works in a team meeting doesn't work in a one-to-one conversation A story that works in one-to-one conversation doesn't work in sales...

Socials:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjali-sharma-i-strategic-storytelling%E2%84%A2%EF%B8%8F-4973a642/?originalSubdomain=sg
• Twitter: https://x.com/anjsharmaaa?lang=en
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anjalistories/

Website: https://secure.ice/?https://www.crushyourmoneygoals.com/

BERNADETTE JOY isn't just another financial expert—she is a passionate advocate for financial literacy and empowerment and a sought-after financial coach and speaker. Having paid off $300,000 in debt by age 37 she is a living testament to the power of smart money habits having achieved a net worth of $1 million in her 30s as a first-generation Filipina-American. Bernadette's story is proof that anyone can take control of their finances and thrive. Since launching Crush Your Money Goals® in 2020, she has impacted thousands of people nationwide, offering down-to-earth financial education that's both fun and relatable. Bernadettes has been featured in Forbes, on CNBC, ACCESS Hollywood, Good Morning America, Publishers Weekly, and recognized as one of The 25 Most Influential New Voices of Money, Now with CRUSH Your Money Goals, she's making financial education more accessible, actionable and enjoyable than ever before.

Book promo:

Financial coach and debt-crushing expert Bernadette Joy reveals 25 game-changing habits that will help you save more, invest smarter, and fast-track your wealth journey in her just released book: CRUSH YOUR MONEY GOALS - packed with practical no-nonsense strategies like her $1 rule.

Packed with practical no-nonsense strategies like the $1 rule, along with real-world advise on overcoming financial fears and breaking free from debt, this book empowers readers to make smarter decisions with their money. Bernadette's step-by-step habits aren't just for getting by – they're for getting ahead. Whether you are learning how to budget, save for the future, or invest with confidence, CRUSH Your Money Goals provides you with the tools to transform your financial life.

Social:

· Twitter: Profile / X

· IG Bernadette Joy Cruz Maulion (@bernadebtjoy) • Instagram photos and videos

· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernadebtjoy/

Jacqueline Carter is an international partner and leads Potential Project in North America. She has worked across industries with top companies including Cisco, Disney, Accenture, Kimberly-Clark, and Royal Bank of Canada to navigate the challenges of leadership and successfully implement complex changes for large organizations. She is the coauthor, with Rasmus Hougaard, of Compassionate Leadership and The Mind of the Leader.

Book: More Human: How the Power of AI Can Transform the Way You Lead

by Jacqueline Carter and Rasmus Hougaard (NOTE: co-author)

AI has the potential to transform leadership and business—or to lead us toward an automated and uninspiring work experience. Which will it be?

Humans have always been good at inventing tools that change the way we live and work, but not always good at adapting to those changes. The internet has given us instant access to gigabytes of data and yet has made us more distracted. Social media has enabled constant connection to our networks and yet it can also alienate or isolate us. What impact will the phenomenal growth of AI ultimately have on our life and work?

So far, that question has mostly prompted a wave of anxiety about the disappearance of jobs and the loss of humanity in our work lives. But as founder and managing partner of Potential Project Rasmus Hougaard and senior partner Jacqueline Carter show in this essential book, that's a very limited perspective, leaving out a crucial point: AI has the power to transform leadership for the better. The key is in how leaders use it.

The authors conducted in-depth interviews with more than a hundred CEOs and executives across a range of industries, met with top AI experts, and completed 360-degree surveys of scores of leaders and employees worldwide. They found that by thoughtfully delegating tasks to AI and using it to augment skills and behaviors, leaders can unlock a truly human experience of work while enhancing organizational performance.

The AI-augmented leader moves beyond a focus on the technology itself to constantly probe how it can strengthen the core qualities of human-centered leadership: awareness, wisdom, and compassion. In this way, AI can help leaders and organizations become more human.

With deep insight and rigorous research, More Human will help leaders navigate our AI-enabled future.

>>> Article in Harvard Business Review: "The Best Leaders Can't Be Replaced by AI"

Social media:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelinecarter1/

Melody Wilding:

The music used in this episode is Simulator by Scanglobe

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MANAGING UP: How To Get What You Need from the People in Charge

By Melody Wilding

An indispensable guide to navigating power dynamics, building effective relationships with higher-ups, and earning more authority, freedom, and confidence at work—from one of today's "most innovative career coaches" (Insider). Do you feel vulnerable to the whims of your boss, peers, or internal politics, pushing through each day with a nagging undercurrent of anxiety? Maybe you're micromanaged, interrupted in meetings, saddled with busy work, or overlooked for career opportunities. But what if you could subtly teach those above you to value your ideas and treat you with respect—without ever changing your job title? Human behavior professor and award-winning executive career coach Melody Wilding has helped thousands of clients advocate for their needs at work while navigating the minefield of office politics. In this clear, tactical guide, Wilding shows you how to operate from a position of power—even if you lack formal authority—to build the emotional intelligence, relational capital, and negotiation savvy to succeed in a world of competing stakeholders and remote work. Drawing on real-life client stories and the latest research on trust and persuasion, Managing Up distills a vital skillset into ten key conversations, including: • The Alignment Conversation: How can I get in my boss's head to understand their needs, motivations, and goals? • The Styles Conversation: Will I earn more respect from my manager if I get to the point quickly, or should I try swapping stories and building rapport? • The Boundaries Conversation: How do I say no and push back with tact when my manager saddles me with yet another task? Packed with time-tested strategies, detailed scripts, and transformative insights, this book is a must-read for professionals of all levels ready to reclaim control of their careers.

Packed with time-tested strategies, detailed scripts, and transformative insights, this book is a must-read for professionals of all levels ready to reclaim control of their careers.

Social media:https://www.facebook.com/groups/thehavencommunity/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/melodywilding

https://twitter.com/melodywilding

https://www.instagram.com/melodywilding/

Dr. Rosalind Chow is a professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory at the Tepper School of Business, and also affiliated with the Social and Decision Sciences group at Dietrich College. Her research, teaching, and writing focus on how we all participate in social systems in ways that have implications for the maintenance or attenuation of inequitable outcomes.

She currently serves as the faculty director for CLIMB, offered through the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in partnership with Deloitte. CLIMB focuses on preparing Black and Latino professionals for leadership positions in the accounting industry. Prior to CLIMB, she served as the founding faculty director for the Executive Leadership Academy, an executive leadership program addressing the challenges facing the advancement of Black leaders in the Pittsburgh region.

She holds a BA in Psychology from Columbia University, and a PhD in Organizational Behavior from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

THE DOORS YOU CAN OPEN: A New Way to Network, Build Trust, and Use Your Influence to Create a More Inclusive Workplace

In it, Dr. Chow offers a myth-busting look at mentorship and explains why the new style of networking called sponsorship has more power to transform our relationships in and out of the workplace. Put simply, while mentors act on mentees, sponsors act on external observers – audiences — to change how they see proteges.

Turning traditional models of networking on their heads, Dr. Chow reveals:

• Why sponsorship is more valuable and effective than mentorship
• Why the rewards of sponsorship far outweigh the risks
• Why being a sponsor is the key to ultimately finding a sponsor
• How gossip and chatter can be used for the collective good
• How we can intentionally increase diversity in our networks
• The four different categories of sponsorship: Prevent, Create, Confirm, and Protect
• How current approaches to networking work against women and people of color
• How to create opportunities for protégés that they wouldn't typically have access to
• Insights into the lived workplace experience of people from marginalized groups — the pain from lacking sponsorship and the transformative power for recipients
• Why anyone can — and should — be a sponsor, regardless of perceived power or status

Packed with original research and science-tested solutions, THE DOORS YOU CAN OPEN will inspire readers to do away with transactional networking in favor of authentic relationships, and in turn, help create stronger workplaces — and healthier connections — for us all.

Suggested topics for discussion:

1. What is sponsorship? Why is sponsorship more valuable and effective than mentorship and traditional networking?
2. Why is being a sponsor the key to ultimately finding a sponsor? How can we become good sponsors and create opportunities for protégés that they wouldn't typically have access to?
3. How do current approaches to networking work against women and people of color?
4. How can anyone be a sponsor, regardless of their perceived power or status?

Socials:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosalind-chow-6b25541b0/

Website: https://www.rosalindchow.com/

#sponsorship #mentorship #networking #dooropeners