Your Working Life

In her 18 years at Google, Jenny Wood grew from entry-level to executive, and she most recently led a large operations team that helped drive billions in revenue per year. In 2021, she started a passion project within Google called Own Your Career, which grew to one of the largest career development programs in Google's history. Through the program she founded, she has trained tens of thousands of people on: acing a job search, building relationships, personal branding, effective email writing, landing the right mentor, maximizing workplace influence, and most importantly, increasing confidence. Jenny's writing has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Forbes. She is an FAA-licensed private pilot, a daily hiker, an improv student, a tap dancer, and a zucchini bread connoisseur. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her two young children and her husband, Jon. She met Jon by chasing him off the NYC Subway, and the New York Times featured their story.

WILD COURAGE: Go After What You Want and Get It A bold, empowering, and energizing guide to embracing your ambition and chasing after what you want from an executive who spent nearly two decades climbing the ranks at Google.

What if the traits you need to get ahead are the exact opposite of what you've been told? To be successful you need to be Weird, Selfish, Shameless, Obsessed, Nosy, Manipulative, Brutal, Reckless, and Bossy. And that takes courage. WILD COURAGE: Go After What You Want and Get It is an energizing and empowering guide to embracing your ambition and chasing after what you want, from Jenny Wood, an executive who spent 18 years from entry-level to executive at Google. Wood reclaims nine traits from their negative shackles and teaches you how to apply them in a savvy and sane way to supercharge your success, whether you're trying to impress your new boss, snag a stretch promotion, or land a life-changing deal.

Wood knows her way around courage. In this book, she shatters conventional wisdom about achieving your goals. She gives you permission to ditch your fear and chase after what you want, unapologetically.

Wild Courage will teach you how to be:

Ø Weird: Win as you or lose as "who?"

Ø Selfish: Be your own champion.

Ø Shameless: Kick impostor syndrome to the curb and self-promote with ease.

Ø Obsessed: Push, persist, and perform at your highest level.

Ø Nosy: Get curious to network confidently and learn from others.

Ø Manipulative: Build influence with empathy and manage up like a pro.

Ø Brutal: Draw lines and stick to them. Embrace the power of no.

Ø Reckless: Err on the side of action and take healthy risks.

Ø Bossy: Steer others to success, even if you're not in charge yet.

Wild Courage coaches you to smash through your fear of discomfort, failure, and the judgement of others, to embrace your boldest self in pursuit of what you want. To be successful, you need to have courage. Wild amounts of it.

Wood can speak to:

• Getting what you want. Unapologetically.
• Increasing confidence at work—and in life.
• Communicating effectively and powerfully.

• Recognizing how tiny daily actions can have a big impact.

• Discovering work-life balance and the power of boundaries.

From the collaborators behind the modern business classic All the Devils are Here comes a damning indictment of American capitalism—and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemic In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it painfully clear that the U.S. could not adequately protect its citizens. Millions of Americans suffered—and over a million died—in less than two years, while government officials blundered; prize-winning economists overlooked devastating trade-offs; and elites escaped to isolated retreats, unaffected by and even profiting from the pandemic. Why and how did America, in a catastrophically enormous failure, become the world leader in COVID deaths? In this page-turning economic, political, and financial history, veteran journalists Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera offer fresh and provocative answers. With laser-sharp analysis and deep sourcing, they investigate both what really happened when governments ran out of PPE due to snarled supply chains and the shock to the financial system when the world's biggest economy stumbled. They zero in on the effectiveness of wildly polarized approaches, with governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Ron DeSantis of Florida taking infamous turns in the spotlight. And they trace why thousands died in hollowed-out hospital systems and nursing homes run by private equity firms to "maximize shareholder value." In the tradition of the authors' previous landmark exposés, The Big Fail is an expansive, insightful account on what the pandemic did to the economy and how American capitalism has jumped the rails—and is essential reading to understand where we're going next.

SEE LESS

From the collaborators behind the modern business classic All the Devils are Here comes a damning indictment of American capitalism—and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemic In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it painfully clear that the U.S. could not adequately protect its citizens. Millions of Americans suffered—and over a million died—in less than two years, while government officials blundered; prize-winning economists overlooked devastating trade-offs; and elites escaped to isolated retreats, unaffected by and even profiting from the pandemic. Why and how did America, in a catastrophically enormous failure, become the world leader in COVID deaths? In this page-turning economic, political, and financial history, veteran journalists Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera offer fresh and provocative answers. With laser-sharp analysis and deep sourcing, they investigate both what really happened when governments ran out of PPE due to snarled supply chains and the shock to the financial system when the world's biggest economy stumbled. They zero in on the effectiveness of wildly polarized approaches, with governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Ron DeSantis of Florida taking infamous turns in the spotlight. And they trace why thousands died in hollowed-out hospital systems and nursing homes run by private equity firms to "maximize shareholder value." In the tradition of the authors' previous landmark exposés, The Big Fail is an expansive, insightful account on what the pandemic did to the economy and how American capitalism has jumped the rails—and is essential reading to understand where we're going next.

SEE LESS

From the collaborators behind the modern business classic All the Devils are Here comes a damning indictment of American capitalism—and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemic In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it painfully clear that the U.S. could not adequately protect its citizens. Millions of Americans suffered—and over a million died—in less than two years, while government officials blundered; prize-winning economists overlooked devastating trade-offs; and elites escaped to isolated retreats, unaffected by and even profiting from the pandemic. Why and how did America, in a catastrophically enormous failure, become the world leader in COVID deaths? In this page-turning economic, political, and financial history, veteran journalists Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera offer fresh and provocative answers. With laser-sharp analysis and deep sourcing, they investigate both what really happened when governments ran out of PPE due to snarled supply chains and the shock to the financial system when the world's biggest economy stumbled. They zero in on the effectiveness of wildly polarized approaches, with governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Ron DeSantis of Florida taking infamous turns in the spotlight. And they trace why thousands died in hollowed-out hospital systems and nursing homes run by private equity firms to "maximize shareholder value." In the tradition of the authors' previous landmark exposés, The Big Fail is an expansive, insightful account on what the pandemic did to the economy and how American capitalism has jumped the rails—and is essential reading to understand where we're going next.

SEE LESS

Gather Your Courage. Overcome fear to achieve your biggest ambitions. Stand out to get what you want in life. Just don't expect it to be easy.

Chapter 1. Weird: Win as you or lose as "who?" Within your so-called weirdness lie your greatest strengths. Hone and highlight every ounce of weird you've got.

Chapter 2. Selfish: Be your own champion. Give everyone a leg up at your own expense and get trampled. Start showing up for yourself.

Chapter 3. Shameless: Find your swagger. Audacity—shamelessness—is a survival skill. How will you learn whether you've got the goods if you don't act like it first?

Chapter 4. Obsessed: Push, persist, and perform. None of these traits will serve you if you don't learn to deliver—not for some company but to achieve your ambitions.

Chapter 5. Nosy: Get insatiably curious. Curiosity drowns out fear and pulls you toward what is most exciting to you. Use it as a compass.

Chapter 6. Manipulative: Build influence through empathy. Whether you're selling a product, an idea, or yourself, the ability to win friends, allies, and supporters is all about mutual benefit. Figure out what people want and get it for them.

Chapter 7. Brutal: The power of no. People-pleasing pleases no one and keeps you small. Brutality is cleaner, more effective, and far kinder. Cut through the bull and spare everyone's time, energy, and attention.

Chapter 8 Reckless: Err on the side of action. Better to learn from your mistakes than waste time predicting the consequences of every decision. Think fast and fearlessly—if you're on the fence, do it.

Chapter 9. Bossy: Steer others to success. All the traits and habits that looked so negative in this Table of Contents come together and create a leader. Cultivate allies, partners, and collaborators. Help them aggressively. Push them mercilessly. Win their gratitude. Achieve amazing things together.

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Sabina Nawaz episode:

The music used in this episode was Sweeping Broomstick by Jangwa from Free Music Archive (CC BY)

YOU'RE THE BOSS: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need)

Sabina Nawaz is an elite executive coach who advises C-level executives and teams at Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, nonprofits, and academic institutions around the world. Sabina gives dozens of keynotes, seminars, and conferences each year and teaches faculty at Northeastern and Drexel Universities. During her fourteen-year tenure at Microsoft, she went from managing software development teams to leading the company's executive development and succession planning efforts for over 11,000 managers and nearly a thousand executives, advising Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer directly. She has written for and been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, NBC, Nasdaq, and MarketWatch.

Millions of managers in today's global economy—16 million in the U.S. alone—steer firms toward greatness or failure. Which way depends on the manager's skill. Too often, bosses are turned loose without a roadmap, only to discover the traits that launched them to the top now block their success. At today's breakneck business pace, there's no time for navel-gazing. So, how do you quickly become the manager who gets things done and people want to follow? How do you recognize what's holding you back and affecting your relationship with your team?

Global C-suite coach Sabina Nawaz gives surprising answers and contrarian views in her new book YOU'RE THE BOSS: Becoming the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need) (Simon & Schuster, March 4, 2025). According to Nawaz, it's not power that corrupts—it's pressure. As a manager's role grows, so does the pressure to deliver. Power, on the other hand, blinds. As a boss climbs the ranks, they grow more distant from their teams, often missing important cues. Taken together, pressure and power are career-killing forces that can turn even a well-meaning manager into someone no one wants to work for.

Nawaz taps her lived experience as a Microsoft executive and backs it up with 12,000 pages of proprietary data drawn from thousands of 360° interviews. She distills insights from over 20 years of coaching CEOs and executives at organizations like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Motorola, Nordstrom, and the United Nations. Her myth-busting stories and data reveal the leadership secrets of highly successful managers that anyone at any level can use to succeed.

Topics Nawaz explores in YOU'RE THE BOSS include:

• What makes one manager a superstar and another crash and burn
• Why being promoted is the riskiest time in your career and how to make sure you thrive
• Why managing yourself first pays off better and faster
• Power Gaps and Pressure Pitfalls – how to spot and avoid them before they derail your relationships and career
• The power of Blank Space – how doing "nothing" can reset your mind and management skills while amping up your creativity
• Mapping communication fault lines to short-circuit conflict before it starts

• Why busyness is a choice—and a trap – and how to avoid picking it

• Why you need a Yes List– to build habits, recalibrate your thought process, and create sustained results
• Why self-care for managers isn't a maybe, it's a must–and crucial to your team's success
• Why everyone needs a Time Portfolio–a simple, quick tool to manage your time to achieve your goals

• Rediscovering your "why" –to stop pressure from stealing your passion and purpose

Offering a fresh, evidence-based framework for managing pressure and power with grace and intelligence, YOU'RE THE BOSS provides proven strategies to become the boss you want to be—and others need—while experiencing less stress and greater impact. And that impact can go beyond the workplace. As Nawaz reminds us, "the more we upgrade our skill set at work, the more we feel enlightened and empowered outside the workday—and vice versa. We become better bosses, better spouses and partners, better parents, and better community citizens. Our experiences, both professional and personal, are made richer as we see ourselves and the path forward with clarity, inspire others, and make a potent difference in the world around us."

Social media:

Website: https://sabinanawaz.com/

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sabinacoaching/

Jennifer Moss episode:

The music used in this episode was Senility by Jangwa from Free Music Archive (CC BY)

Jennifer Moss specializes in future-focused leadership development, expertly balancing employee well-being with performance. As an award-winning writer and internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, she specializes in transforming workplace culture using data-driven leadership strategies. Her book, The Burnout Epidemic tackled employee burnout and was among Thinkers50's "10 Best New Management Books for 2022."

Book: WHY ARE WE HERE: Creating a Work Culture Everyone Wants by Jennifer Moss (Jan)

Website: https://www.jennifer-moss.com/why-are-we-here-book

Questions/topics for discussion:

1. Your title asks a big, existential question - what is its significance and how does it relate to worker sentiment today?

2. Your previous books covered happiness at work and then the burnout epidemic at work. What is the thread that connects these three topics? They relate to health, happiness and high performance.

3. You write that work is "fundamentally broken." How did we get here?

4. Your book comes out right around the five-year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic but you barely mention it in the book - was this on purpose? Why?

5. Your book covers a lot of ground, and you've broken it down into three parts. Can you briefly outline the key areas of work that leaders must approach differently?

6. Let's dig into the first area: hope. You write that we're experiencing a surge of hopelessness - particularly amongst Gen Zs - that is deeply affecting organizational future readiness. Please explain.

7. We can't talk about the state of work today without talking about flexibility and return-to-office mandates (with Amazon being the elephant in the room). Why are we still having these battles, five years after the pandemic disrupted where people work?

8. If RTO mandates aren't the way forward, what is? How can leaders give employees the freedom and flexibility they want while also meeting organizational goals?

9. You also dig into the topic of generational bias at work – not just "ageism," but also bias aimed at younger generations. Why is there so much division between generations at work right now, and how is it affecting the workplace?

10. What's the key to overcoming this generational bias?

11. We're in the midst of a huge backlash against DEI programs, and you write in your book that DEI strategies aren't working. What went wrong, and what's the path forward?

12. In the section on DEI, you write that it needs to become more inclusive of people living with disabilities and those who are neurodivergent. What does this look like in action and are there companies doing it right?

13. Your book points to stark data showing that women are breaking up with work. What's driving them away from the workforce?

14. And yet, we've been talking about helping women break the glass ceiling for decades. Why haven't we made more progress toward gender parity at work? What needs to change?

15. AI is a huge priority for companies, and it's also a source of anxiety for workers. What did you learn from your interviews and research about how AI is impacting workers?

16. How can leaders navigate this AI anxiety and FOBO (fear of becoming obsolete) that their workers are experiencing? And what will happen if leaders don't proactively address it?

17. Let's talk about the loneliness epidemic at work - how did it come to be, and how is it impacting both individual workers and organizations?

18. Community, as you write, is the antidote to workplace loneliness. How can leaders build community and foster workplace friendships?

19. You write that rediscovering happiness at work starts with purpose. How do you define purpose, and how can organizations operationalize it?

20. Is there a company that's getting all (or most) of these things right?

21. What is your biggest hope for the future of work?

All social media links:

• https://x.com/jennifermossinc
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenleighmoss/
• https://www.instagram.com/betterworkinstitute/

The music used in this episode was Hurt by Unheard Music Concepts from Free Music Archive (CC BY)

Website: https://www.theconflictdocs.com/Home

Book: HOW TO GET ALONG WITH ANYONE: The Playbook for Predicting and Preventing Conflict at Work and at Home by John Eliot and Jim Guinn

The average American worker spends 156 hours a year engaged in moderate-to-intense workplace conflict, and managers spend twenty-six percent of their time addressing and resolving conflicts on their teams. It doesn't have to be this way.

Drs. John Eliot and Jim Guinn have three decades of experience building and facilitating team chemistry for Fortune 500 companies, professional sports franchises, schools, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and families. Eliot and Guinn discovered that people respond to conflict in one of five ways: avoid, compete, analyze, collaborate, or accommodate.

If you can predict how someone will behave in a given circumstance, you can formulate a game plan. The secret is knowing which of the five patterns someone is wired to use under stress. HOW TO GET ALONG WITH ANYONE is a pragmatic hands-on book filled with actionable tips to help you navigate the arguments that emerge in day-to-day life with coworkers and loved ones, to foster better communication and more effective collaboration.

About the authors

Dr. John Eliot mentors executives and advises professional sports teams, coaches, and athletes on how to apply individual and organizational psychology principles for enhancing health, performance, workplace culture, and bottom line. He has consulted for, among others: NASA, the USOC, the Shepherd School of Music (which, while working with Dr. Eliot, passed Julliard to become the #1 music school in the United States), MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Mayo Clinic, Accenture, Deutsche Bank, Shell, BP, Sony, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and scores of Fortune 500 decision-makers. His work has received considerable media attention, from being a featured guest on Donny Deutsch's "The Big Idea" to ESPN, Fox Sports, MSNBC, Bloomberg, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, and many more. Dr. Eliot has held professorial appointments at the University of Virginia, Stanford, Rice, the SMU Edwin Cox School of Business, and the Texas Medical Center, all where he won institution-wide teaching awards.

Dr. Jim Guinn is the president of the Resolution Resource Group, a training and development company that works with Fortune 500 companies, professional sports franchises, large-scale school districts, universities, law firms, and governments on effectively handling conflict. As a mediator, he has conducted over a thousand successful mediations involving family, organizational, civil, and governmental disputes. In addition to his firm's corporate work with a large diversity of clients across HR departments, sales staffs, middle management, and boards, Dr. Guinn personally trains CEOs from all walks of life, plus numerous celebrities and sports icons.

About the book

Defuse any heated conflict by learning which of the five conflict styles you are and how to resolve even the most sensitive dispute with this must-read guide.

The average American worker spends 156 hours a year engaged in the kind of moderate to intense workplace conflict that adversely impacts both performance and health. Managers spend twenty-six percent of their time addressing and resolving conflicts on their team—the equivalent of chewing up one full workday each week. But what if it didn't need to be like this? What if there was a way to spend less time in stressfully interpersonal interactions and more time on the things that really matter? Through three decades of building and facilitating team chemistry for Fortune 500 companies, professional sports franchises, schools, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and families, Drs. John Eliot and Jim Guinn have reduced the time and cost of conflict resolution. With this on-the-ground experience combined with industry-leading science and research, Eliot and Guinn discovered people respond to conflict in one of five ways: avoid, compete, analyze, collaborate, or accommodate.

Because our responses are ingrained byproducts of the subcortex in action, they are predictable. If you can predict how someone will behave in a given circumstance, you can formulate a game plan. The secret is knowing which of the five patterns someone is wired to use when smacked by a stressor. HOW TO GET ALONG WITH ANYONE is a pragmatic hands-on book to help you determine conflict types so you can navigate the arguments that emerge in day-to-day life. You'll learn the formula for identifying your coworkers' and loved ones' conflict styles and how to use this information to foster better communication and more effective collaboration.

Filled with fun, engaging examples and actionable techniques, HOW TO GET ALONG WITH ANYONE teaches you how to predict and prevent escalated conflict, arming you with practical tools for flipping the script on sticking points to nurture stronger and more meaningful relationships.

Social media: @theconflictdocs

Deborah Perry Piscione is cofounder of the Work3 Institute, an AI and Web3 advisory firm. She is also a Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and innovation and future-of-work thought leader. She is the author of multiple books, including the New York Times bestseller Secrets of Silicon Valley. She was previously a staffer in the U.S. Congress and at the White House, and she served as an on-air commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.

Website: https://work3.me/book/

Book: EMPLOYMENT IS DEAD: How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing the Way We Work by Deborah Perry Piscione, Josh Drean (Jan)

Book promo:

With disruptive technologies on the horizon, traditional employment models are becoming outdated. How will your organization adapt to the evolving landscape of work?

Business is on the cusp of a profound transformation. Conventional work models are failing to adapt to the evolving needs and expectations of the modern workforce. Simultaneously, the emergence of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, coupled with web3 innovations, including the metaverse and decentralized work models, is unlocking a new realm of possibilities. It raises the question: Is the era of traditional employment over?

The tools of tomorrow will amplify human potential, from collaborating in virtual spaces through digital avatars, to managing transactions transparently on blockchain. Those who embrace these technologies—and the ways people want to work—will unleash unprecedented levels of productivity and innovation. But those who don't risk losing out on the best talent, and even becoming obsolete.

Employment Is Dead ventures into unexplored territories to reveal how these innovations can transform work into more democratic, human-centric, and empowering work experiences. Deborah Perry Piscione and Josh Drean bring to life the seismic shifts occurring in the workforce, propelled by employees' growing demand for autonomy, flexibility, and a sense of purpose in their work. The authors challenge leaders to embrace these changes, offering vital insights into navigating this new landscape. With compelling case studies and cutting-edge examples, this book is an essential read for those aiming to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving digital environment and harnessing disruptive technologies to redefine the future of work.

Questions/topics:

1. "Employment" and "work" used to be synonyms, but the title of your book declares EMPLOYMENT IS DEAD. However, people still want to contribute their skills and earn an income. How is "employment" different than "work"?
2. In the book, you share the ten operating principles of Work3: partnership, transparency, autonomy, ownership, decision-making, flexibility, upskilling, incentives, interoperability, and community. How can they help unlock the full potential of a workforce?
3. Each version of the internet has brought new ways of working. Can you talk about the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, and how Web3 is creating ways for people to collaborate on open source projects and distribute the collective returns equitably?
4. Can you explain how GenAI can provide advanced training and upskilling opportunities, , enabling personal growth and development, which can prepare a workforce for new challenges?
5. While some people know of Mark Zuckerberg's passion project, the Metaverse, many haven't considered its possibilities. Inthe book, you share the great example of how Accenture was able to use the metaverse to help connect its workers. Can you share what they did and how other companies can benefit?
6. The primary challenge with contract work, even when it is enabled by blockchain, is the age-old problem of human approval. A worker can feel they have delivered a job to specification, but the project owner can disagree. How can intermediary companies help when this situation occurs?
7. While the gig economy can eliminate the need for middlemen or managers, allowing workers to engage directly with clients or customers, how can individuals approach their personal development in the future and become aware of where they need additional skills?
8. What do you see is the role of HR in the new future of work?
9. While AI has a lot of potential, there are also ethical issues its use raises. What would be your advice be to people as they navigate these waters?

Social media links:

· Twitter.com: work3institute

· Instagram.com: work3institute

· Linkedin.com: work3institute

LEAD WELL: 5 Mindsets to Engage, Retain, and Inspire Your TeamBy Paula Davis

A holistic, research-backed framework that helps leaders design healthier team cultures to unlock high-performance and increase well-being intelligence at work. In the wake of the pandemic and on the cusp of the generative AI revolution, the world of work has undergone a seismic shift. Chronic stress, burnout, and employee disengagement have reached crisis levels, and leaders are struggling to keep their teams motivated and inspired amid relentless change and uncertainty. Conventional management approaches are no longer sufficient, demanding a new leadership framework to address the root causes of these challenges. To meet this moment, Lead Well: 5 Mindsets to Engage, Retain, and Inspire Your Team provides a timely and practical blueprint for a new era of leadership. Drawing on extensive research and workshops with thousands of leaders, Paula Davis, founder and CEO of the Stress & Resilience Institute and author of Beating Burnout at Work, offers a transformative approach to building high-performing teams that can adapt and grow, even in the face of persistent change.

Lead Well offers actionable tools and insights to help you and your team today, including:

· Five mindsets that can transform your team's well-being at work;

· The business case for prioritizing both team performance and well-being;

· The systemic factors driving a shift in the way leaders must think to help their teams thrive; and

· Tiny Noticeable Things (TNTs) to improve workload management, create sustainable productivity, deliver "sticky" recognition, and promote values alignment and meaning at work,

Whether you're a seasoned leader or an emerging manager, Lead Well will help you navigate today's turbulent work landscape, which has never been more critical—or more achievable.

Paula Davis JD, MAPP, is the Founder and CEO of the Stress & Resilience Institute. For 15 years, she has been a trusted advisor to leaders in organizations of all sizes helping them to make work better. Paula is a globally recognized expert on the effects of workplace stress, burnout prevention, workplace well-being, and building resilience for individuals and teams. Paula left her law practice after seven years and earned a master's degree in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. As part of her post-graduate training, Paula was selected to be part of the University of Pennsylvania faculty teaching and training resilience skills to soldiers as part of the Army's Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness program. The Penn team trained resilience skills to more than 40,000 soldiers and their family members.

Paula is the author of Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being & Resilience, which is about burnout prevention using a teams-based approach. Beating Burnout at Work was nominated for best new book by the Next Big Idea Club, which is curated by Adam Grant, Susan Cain, Malcom Gladwell, and Daniel Pink. Paula has shared her expertise at educational institutions such as Harvard Law School, Wharton School Executive Education, and Princeton. She is a two-time recipient of the distinguished teaching award from the Medical College of Wisconsin.

She has been featured in and on The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post and many other media outlets. Paula is also a contributor to Forbes, Fast Company and Psychology Today.

LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Website

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS/KEY TOPICS:

· How can we learn to celebrate our wins at work, and why does it matter?

· What advice do you have for anyone who is looking to get to the next step in their career?

· What is a Lead Well mindset? How do you go about implementing it on your team?

· Can you talk about the four factors impacting our experience at work—and why they matter?

· How did the pandemic change work forever? As we enter into 2025, what should leaders be looking at in terms of hybrid, in-person, and/or remote workplace to make the experience more meaningful to employees?

· Meaning and mattering at work means more to people than ever before. How can leaders help their teams flourish in a post-pandemic world?

· We are at the intersection of human capital and GenAI. What do leaders need to get right and what are the risks of getting it wrong?

· What is the case for prioritizing People + Performance Focused companies?

· How can the "Me and We" approach save your team—and help it thrive?

· How and why are the ABC's (Autonomy, Belonging, and Challenge) the foundation of meaning at work?

· What are the six leadership practices that foster meaningful work?

· How can leaders prioritize sticky recognition and mattering on their team?

· How and why is understanding generational views of meaning at work crucial to the future of work?

· What is the role of resilience? And what are the four important resources resilient teams use to succeed?

Ximena Vengoechea is a user researcher, writer, and illustrator, and the creator of The Life Audit. She is the author of several nonfiction books and journals, including the new book, The Life Audit: A Step-By-Step Guide to Discovering Your Goals and Building the Life You Want and companion The Life Audit Journal (forthcoming). Her previous books include Rest Easy: Discover Calm and Abundance through the Radical Power of Rest, which received a starred review from Library Journal and was named one of BookRiot's Best Books of 2023, and Listen Like You Mean it: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection, which was a Next Big Idea Club finalist in 2021. Her writing has appeared in Inc., The Washington Post, Newsweek, Forbes, and Fast Company, among others. She also writes Letters from Ximena, a newsletter about staying curious, getting creative, and living well. Ximena is a keynote speaker on topics such as empathetic and inclusive listening, navigating difficult conversations, and preventing burnout. A user researcher by training, she previously worked at Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and is an expert in bringing design thinking outside of the lab and applying it to our everyday world. In addition to her writing and speaking, she advises organizations and individuals on user research, executive communication, and living and resting well.

Website: https://www.ximenavengoechea.com/

Books: The Life Audit and The Life Audit Journal

See separate press release with additional book promo info.

Welcome to the Life Audit, an exercise in self-reflection that helps you clear the cobwebs of noisy, external goals and distractions, and revisit or uncover the real themes and core values that drive and inspire you. Think of it as spring-cleaning for the soul.

For anyone looking to find fulfillment in every aspect of life—love, friendship, career, finances, and beyond—this encouraging handbook offers the tools to prioritize your goals and turn personal insights into action to create a beautiful, meaningful future. In this step-by-step guide, made irresistibly and uniquely engaging by insightful and entertaining illustrations throughout, you'll learn how to use design thinking and creative exercises to:

· Identify the core values and key themes hidden within your goals.

· Overcome the internal judgments and outside expectations that stifle your growth.

· Find the people, skills, and resources you need to nourish your dreams.

· Design a practical, personal action plan you can follow with confidence and clarity.

Whether you're a recent graduate, contemplating a career change, facing a personal crossroads, or searching for satisfaction, The Life Audit is a safe space for dreaming big, a path to kickstart dreams previously on hold, and a rousing call to design a life that honors your values and desires every day.

The Life Audit Journal

An inspiring illustrated journal packed with creative and thought-provoking prompts to help you discover your passions, goals, and dreams and live every day with joy and purpose.

Are you ready to design a fulfilling future and build the life you want? The Life Audit Journal is a unique and powerful guide filled with tools and practices to help you. Filled with bright, uplifting art and tons of space for reflection and goal setting, this enriching companion will help you uncover your personal and professional passions and make confident decisions based on those revelations.

Featuring thought-provoking prompts, vibrant artwork, and interactive creative exercises, this self-discovery journal will guide you in learning to:

· Identify your core values and goals

· Overcome any obstacles that might stifle your growth

· Find the people and resources to nourish your dreams

· Design a personal action plan you can follow with confidence

Social media links:

· @xsvengoechea on Instagram, #thelifeaudit

· Ximena Vengoechea on LinkedIn

· Ximena.substack.com on Substack

· @chroniclebooks on Instagram

Iris Bohnet and Siri Chilazi are leading gender experts and Harvard researchers. Their work centers on data-driven evidence to create accessible strategies to bridge the gender gap at work and create environments based on fairness. What makes Iris and Siri's work different is that they focus on changing behaviors around equality, not attitudes. As they show, this helps us move from virtuous intentions to visible action without trying to tackle people's deeply held beliefs. Iris and Siri explore these issues in their upcoming book MAKE WORK FAIR: Data-Driven Design for Real Results (Harper Business; January 28, 2025; must-read nonfiction title by the Next Big Idea Club)

It's cliché to say that the numbers don't lie, but the fact is, they don't:

· McKinsey's latest Women in the Workplace report shows that while women today make up 29% of C-suite positions (compared with just 17% in 2015), women are still progressing slower earlier in the corporate pipeline, at the entry and manager levels.

· New research has also come to light that women leaders face 30 different kinds of discrimination in the workplace

Topics Iris and Siri can expand on include:

• People will always be biased—why we need to focus on behaviors, not attitudes to achieve fairness
• How to move from virtual signaling to concrete action

• Why we need to make the workplace compatible to women, not the other way around

• Your gain does not equal my loss—debunking common myths about workplace fairness
• The hiring process is broken and how to fix it

• Bias from above, bias from below—the vicious cycle that keeps women from leadership positions
• The middle management gender gap and how it impacts women's career trajectories

• How flexibility creates fairness and unleashes talents
• It's possible to fix America's parental leave problem—here's how

• Why we need norm entrepreneurs and how to become one
• Why we can't settle for moral outrage anymore—to truly eliminate bad behavior in the workplace we need to make the change we want to see

**Next Big Idea Club pick for January 2025

Women have certainly come a long way in the workplace. When the U.S. Census Bureau first started including data on women-owned businesses in 1972, there were only about 400,000 female business owners in the country. Fast forward to 2024, and there are over 13 million women-owned businesses, and when it comes to the Fortune 500, women CEOs now account for 10.4% of the list. At the same time, the gender gap—in terms of pay and leadership positions—still hasn't been bridged, despite the best intentions of many companies. How do we achieve equality in the workplace so that everyone has the opportunity to work better and smarter—and more fairly?

Iris Bohnet and Siri Chilazi, two leading gender experts and Harvard researchers, explore the concept of fairness in the workplace and offer novel solutions for professionals in their new book, MAKE WORK FAIR: Data-Driven Design for Real Results (Harper Business; January 28, 2025). As Bohnet and Chilazi explain, many well-meaning individuals and companies invest their time and resources in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives with less than stellar results. Because inequity is built into the structures, processes, and environments of our workplaces, adding these programs has been ineffective and often becomes a burden passed off to the individuals they are meant to help.

In MAKE WORK FAIR, Bohnet and Chilazi offer data-backed, actionable solutions that build fairness into the very fabric of the workplace. Their methods—tested at many organizations and grounded in data proven to work in the real world—focus on changing behaviors, not attitudes. This helps us move from virtuous intentions to visible action without trying to tackle people's deeply held beliefs.

Using Bohnet and Chilazi's framework, employees at all levels can embed fairness into their everyday practices. "For us, making work fair means designing workplaces where everyone can thrive and perform at their best," Bohnet and Chilazi write. "This means giving all people—regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other aspect of their identity or background—access to a playing field where some people are not unfairly advantaged in a way they didn't earn."

Offering an evidence-based blueprint, MAKE WORK FAIR shows you how to make fairness at work a reality, no matter your role, seniority, responsibilities, or where you are in the world. As Bohnet and Chilazi remind us, "To make change for good, we have to keep at it. The price of not persisting is simply too high—for each of us, companies and governments, and societies across the globe. Unfair work keeps the right people from doing the right job the right way in the right positions. That's what we call a market failure in economics. So, let's not keep failing."

LAURA NGUYEN is an experienced marketing executive and entrepreneur with an extensive background in data-driven marketing, digital marketing, and communications for Fortune 500 companies. She is the founder of Solle Solutions, a marketing consultancy. Laura is also a certified executive coach, helping mid-career, high-achieving leaders go from burned out to balanced through her coaching program and online community. Laura received her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science at Truman State University, and her Master in Business Administration from Rochester Institute of Technology. She lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with her family.

Book: CAREER BREAK COMPASS: Navigating Your Path to a Balanced Life Through Intentional Time Off. The book is a compelling guide for those considering a career break to reinvigorate their productivity and boost their overall happiness.

The challenge of maintaining career momentum and drive amidst chronic overwork and lack of work-life balance is a serious issue for many mid- and senior-level professionals. Career breaks are increasingly recognized as essential for long-term career success and personal happiness, yet many don't pursue them for fear of professional repercussions. Laura's insights will offer strategies and practical advice for intentional career pauses that enhance both personal and professional growth.

Suggested topics for discussion:

· What common fears do professionals have about taking career breaks, and how can they be overcome?

· How can someone plan a career break without jeopardizing their professional trajectory?

· What advice do you have for someone who feels burned out but is hesitant to take a break?

· Can you discuss the long-term benefits of career breaks for high achievers?

· What role do employers play in supporting career breaks?

· How does taking a career break differ from simply taking a vacation?

· In your book, you outline a "Compass Framework" for career breaks; can you explain its components?

· What strategies can people use to build confidence and overcome self-doubt when returning to work after a career break?

· How do cultural attitudes toward work impact the acceptance of career breaks?

Website/social links:

· http://lauranguyen.co/

· https://www.instagram.com/lauranguyen.co

· https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauran546/

Lauren Neal is the Founder of and Chief Programme Creator at Valued at Work (UK) – a consultancy that creates workplace cultures where no one wants to leave, in traditionally male-dominated sectors.

Since 2005, Lauren has worked as an engineer and project manager in the energy sector offshore, onshore, and onsite on multimillion-dollar projects across the globe. Chartered through both the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Association of Project Management (APM), Lauren is a sought-after speaker, writer, and consultant championing career progression within STEM and inclusive workplace cultures beyond the boundaries of demographics.

Lauren's book released in October 2023 – Valued at Work: Shining a Light on Bias to Engage, Enable, and Retain Women in STEM – became an Amazon #1 best-seller and is a finalist in the 2024 Business Book Awards.

Book synopsis:

Your gender stats are tumbling, women aren't advancing, their feedback is poor, and too many are leaving. What's going on? Women navigating a traditionally male-dominated technical sector too frequently feel invisible, frustrated, and undervalued in the workplace. Lauren Neal has been there, and she's developed tried-and-tested approaches that male-dominated organizations can take to motivate and retain women. Because only a truly empowered, diverse workforce can drive the best business outcomes and innovations.

Inspired by real-life stories, Valued at Work gives you the tools to take control and drive real change without alienating any of the workforce!

Questions/topics of discussion:

1. How can leaders ensure that women in STEM feel valued at work?
2. Why high turnover is a real threat to the wider company culture
3. Acknowledging disrespect and identifying toxic cultures
4. How to confront bias at work?
5. How can we uplift aspiring women into C-suite roles?
6. Communicating with confidence - how do we put ourselves forward for promotions/development opportunities?

Social media:

LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/laurenneal

#valuedatwork