Episode 184: Improv Is the Resilience Skill Leaders Are Missing
What if the skill that makes a comedian great on an unscripted stage is the same skill that makes a leader great in an unpredictable economy? Layoffs and AI have left a lot of people feeling like a line item instead of a human being. Jordana Cole flips that on its head: you are not […]
Episode 183: How to Trust Your Intuition When You’re Running on Empty
Cortney McDermott had the titles, the accolades, and the corporate jet and she was, in her own words, “miserably successful.” In this episode, the two-time author joins Ashish Kothari to unpack why you can’t win the game of externally sourced success, and how to trust your intuition when you’re running on empty. You’ll walk away […]
Episode 182: AI Saves You 2.5 Hours a Week. Most People Waste It
AI now hands the average worker 2.5 hours back every week. Most of us pour it straight into more busywork, then wonder why we are busier than ever. That reclaimed time is the most valuable thing AI has given us, and we are giving it away without deciding to. Bonnie Davis, co-author of Still Human […]
Episode 181: How to Show People They Matter in 3 Small Moves | Zach Mercurio
Only 39% of employees strongly agree that someone at work cares about them as a person, and that number has fallen faster than any other engagement measure since 2020. Zach Mercurio, organizational psychologist and author of The Power of Mattering, joins Ashish Kothari to explain why billions spent on recognition platforms and perks can’t fix […]
Episode 180: 3 Moves to Succeed as a Generalist at Work
Over half of us identify as generalists and most workplaces still aren’t built for us. Siobhán O’Riordan, founder of Big Sea Strategies and author of Reframe, joins Ashish Kothari to make the case that in a world changing faster than any playbook, the “ubiquitous and yet unseen” generalist is exactly the talent leaders need. She […]
Episode 179: 54% of Veterans Can’t Get Hired. Talent isn’t the Issue.
Every year, 200,000 veterans leave the military and more than half can’t get hired. But this isn’t just a veteran story. It’s a story about everyone whose talent the system was never built to see. AETHEON co-founders Marie Gill and Gina Jeneroux join Ashish Kothari to unpack one powerful idea: we don’t have a talent […]
Episode 178: People First Strategy that Increases Retention and Unlocks Higher Performance | Rohit Bassi
Most companies treat employee retention as an HR problem. The data from hundreds of P&Ls says it’s a leadership problem and the companies that figure that out first are the ones that consistently outperform. Rohit Bassi, McKinsey veteran, private equity operator, and author of People Priority, introduces a framework that is changing how business leaders […]
Episode 177: Tackle High Attrition and Win with the Good Jobs System | Professor Zeynep Ton, MIT
Most companies treat labor as a cost to be minimized. Zeynep Ton has spent two decades proving that’s the most expensive mistake a business can make. Zeynep is a professor at MIT Sloan, founder of the Good Jobs Institute, and author of The Case for Good Jobs. Her research across retail, hospitality, and service industries […]
Episode 176: High Performance Starts with Self-Compassion | Dr. Kristin Neff
What if the quality that we’ve been told will weaken us – self-compassion – is actually the key to wellbeing, and higher performance? In this episode, Dr. Kristin Neff, the pioneering researcher who first defined and measured self-compassion, challenges one of the most persistent myths in high-performance culture: that being hard on yourself makes you […]
Episode 175: Feedback: The Big “F Word”—Mastering the Science of Growth with Dr. Brodie Riordan
Feedback is something we often crave yet simultaneously fear. In this episode, host Ashish Kothari sits down with Dr. Brodie Riordan, an industrial-organizational psychologist and author of Feedback Fundamentals and Evidence-Based Practices. Brodie pulls back the curtain on the academic research surrounding feedback to provide a practical, “chewed up” version that anyone can use. They […]