Curious Minds at Work

We crave meaning and purpose, yet obtaining them can feel beyond our control, like they're merely products of luck and circumstance. Fortunately, researchers who’ve studied the power of ritual have found they’re more in our control than we think. In this interview, I talk to one of these researchers, psychologist Michael Norton. He shares how rituals, especially ones we create, can provide the meaning and purpose we crave. And, unlike habits, rituals operate on an emotional level that deepens the experience. In his book, The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions, Norton shares what rituals are, why they matter, and how they can help bolster us throughout our lives. Episode Links The Calming Power of Rituals Forget Habits in the New Year. Find Joy in Rituals with Others Breaking up Can Be Easier if You Have a Ritual Interview with Eduardo Briceno on The Performance Paradox The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

At some point, we all get stuck. Maybe it’s in a job or career. Maybe it’s a relationship or business venture. Though it’s something we all experience, when it happens, we can feel alone and out of our depth. Emotions may overwhelm us. Mental traps lure is in. In no time at all, we can’t see a way out. Award-winning professor, researcher, and author, Adam Alter, has spent decades studying how successful people get unstuck. In his latest book, Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most, he shares what we can do to move forward. Adam’s recommendations can help us with what might be the most important times in our lives. Episode Links Life is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age by Bruce Feiler How the ‘Creative-Cliff Illusion’ Limits Our Ideas by David Robson Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

When we’re feeling stuck, it’s tempting to believe more thinking is the answer. We stew and we ponder, and then we double down on solutions we’ve tried before. It’s no wonder we start to feel like we just can’t figure it out. But what would happen if we put thinking aside and tried something else? Author and researcher, Norman Farb, has learned that there’s an entire canvas of sensory experience we can access any time we want. And by tapping into our senses, we may find ways to feel better. It’s what Norm writes about in his book, Better in Every Sense: How the New Science of Sensation Can Help You Reclaim Your life. By the time I reached the last page of this book, I felt like I’d been let in on an incredible set of tools for enriching my life. Episode Links How Your 5 Senses Can Help You Stop Worrying Feeling Sensations, Including Ones Connected to Sadness, May Be Key to Depression Recovery Attending to the Present: Mindfulness Meditation Reveals Distinct Neural Modes of Self-Reference Interview with Britt Frank on The Science of Stuck The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

When we think of geeks, we tend to think of the people who built the tech we use – from our smartphones to search engines to AI. But if we just focus on the tech, we’re missing out on a lot. We’re overlooking how these same geeks reinvented corporate culture using a repeatable set of norms that ensure sustainable innovation. Andrew McAfee is a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management and cofounder and codirector of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy. He’s been studying innovative companies for decades, and he’s taken what he’s learned and written about it in his latest book, The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results. I’m convinced what Andrew’s learned about the geek way – and its four key norms – is a roadmap for where today’s – and tomorrow’s - companies are headed. Episode Links The Geek Way New Book Explains the ‘Geek Way’ to Manage a Company Forward Thinking on How Geeks are Changing the World Interview with Roger Martin The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

There’s more to being a workaholic than working long hours. Consider what motivates you to work more. Where you’re spending your energy. Think about the impact those longer hours have on family and friends. These are some of the distinctions Malissa Clark makes in her book, Never Not Working: Why the Always-on Culture is Bad for Business and How to Fix it. She not only shares a helpful framework for thinking about workaholism but gives us ways to recognize it. Equally helpful, she explains steps we – and our organizations – can take to undo it. Malissa’s book is a great resource for assessing workaholic tendencies and for changing them – as individuals, teams, and organizations. Episode Links Are You a Workaholic? Don’t Wear it as a Badge of Honor These are the Four Drivers of Workaholism Thomas Curran on The Perfection Trap The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

We associate the word epidemic with disease. Yet it’s a word we’re increasingly using to refer to a state of mind, namely, loneliness. Researchers have not only found a significant increase in people’s feelings of loneliness, but they’ve also learned how detrimental loneliness can be to our health and wellbeing. One of the most effective antidotes to loneliness is feeling like we belong. In fact, researchers have discovered that feelings of belonging can spill over into every area of our lives, from school to work to home. When present, they can boost our motivation and performance. That’s why I wanted to speak with Stanford psychologist Geoffrey Cohen, author of the book, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides. Geoff has spent his career designing interventions to counter loneliness. In our conversation, he shares how taking even the smallest steps can reap big benefits. Episode Links Understanding and Overcoming Belonging Uncertainty The Science of Belonging and Connection A Crisis of Belonging Joe Keohane on the Benefits of Talking to Strangers The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

One-on-one meetings are the cornerstone of manager-employee relationships. For managers, they’re an opportunity to teach, coach, and mentor. For employees, they’re a chance to grow and develop. But given how important these meetings are, how well are we using them? How effectively do we plan and run them? Bottom line - are they an afterthought or a priority? These are just some of the questions, I asked meeting expert Steven Rogelberg, author of the book, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings. In response, Steve not only described what the most effective one-on-one meetings look like, but he also explained how to design and lead them. I left the interview with lots of practical tips and tools. Episode Links This is the Most Important Meeting You’ll Have. Here’s How to Make It Better. Meetings Can Really Suck. Here’s How to Fix That Managers, Take This Simple Assessment to Hold Better One-on-One Meetings Make the Most of Your One-on-One Meetings The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

For many of us, the word addiction quickly conjures up images of drugs and alcohol. But we’re often slower to apply the term to compulsive, tech-induced behaviors like playing video games, checking social media, or shopping online. We prefer to think of these pleasure-seeking activities as harmless distractions. Yet they can just as easily lead to addictive behaviors. And with our ever-present smartphones, the chance of mindlessly engaging in these activities, to the point of addiction, are more likely than ever. That’s why I wanted to talk to Anna Lembke, author of the book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence. Anna is a psychiatrist and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University. In this conversation, she uses patient stories to teach us about addiction. She also explains how our lifestyles encourage addictive behaviors. Finally, she shares insights on what we can do. I found her book to be revelatory and, as strange as this may sound, a real page turner. I also found it to be the resource we can all use to live more healthfully in a pleasure-filled world. Episode Links We Have a Dopamine Problem I’m Addicted to My Phone. How Can I Cut Back? Constant Craving: How Digital Media Turned Us All into Dopamine Addicts Judson Brewer on Unwinding Anxiety The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

We go to the dentist, get our eyes checked, and get our cars inspected. These regularly scheduled health and safety audits let us know how we’re doing. But we rarely audit how we spend our time. Sure, most of us have a calendar. Yet few of us study how these calendar events impact our happiness. We rarely track the connection between what we spend our time doing and how well we’re flourishing. As a result, we can find ourselves feeling unhappy, frustrated, and what scientists call “time poor.” Researchers like Cassie Holmes want to change that. They’ve learned there’s a strong connection between how we spend our time and how happy we feel. In her book, Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, she shares ways we can optimize our calendars for happiness, including ways to avoid distraction, extend joy, create a meaningful schedule, and avoid regret. Holmes’ tips on time tracking and time auditing are simple and powerful. As the year draws to a close, this may be just the book you’re looking for as we head into a new year. Episode Links Having Too Little or Too Much Time is Linked to Lower Subjective Well-being Our Flawed Pursuit of Happiness – and How to Get It Right A Valuable Lesson for a Happier Life (video) Trust by Hernan Diaz The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

I’ve spent a lot of time talking to guests about our relationships at work. For example, we’ve discussed how to listen better, how to navigate conflict, and how to influence others, just to name a few. What I’ve spent less time talking about are the relationships that go beyond work. That’s why I invited Kat Vellos on the show this week to talk about her amazing book, We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships. Kat’s book is more than a callout to the power of friendship. It’s a roadmap for making new friends, and, equally valuable, it’s an owner’s manual for deepening existing friendships. It's an episode that really resonated with listeners. With the holidays approaching - and opportunities for more time with friends and family - I wanted to rebroadcast it for you. Enjoy! Episode Links How Many Hours Does It Take to Make a Friend by Jeffrey A. Hall Better Than Small Talk The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker Donald Horton and Richard Wohl and Para-Social Communication Loneliness and Social Connections Choke by Sian Beilock Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg Kat Vellos TED Talk Happy City by Charles Montgomery Having and Being Had by Eula Biss The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.