Curious Minds at Work
Self-Improvement
About
Want to get better at work? At managing others? Managing yourself? Gayle Allen interviews experts who take your performance to the next level. Each episode features a book with insights to help you achieve your goals.
Episodes
- CM 319: David Epstein on the Power of Limits
We think we need complete freedom to achieve our goals. But maybe freedom is the problem. What if, instead, constraints are what we really need? That’s the question David Epstein was curious about. David Epstein is author of the bestsellin…
- CM 318: Judd Kessler on How to Get More of What You Want
We live in a world of markets. The ones we can easily see, like grocery stores or restaurants. And the ones that are less obvious, like college admission, waitlists, even your schedule. Yet these less obvious markets play an important role…
- CM 317: Eric Zimmer on How to Change
It would be great if we could gain success overnight. In a matter of hours, we’d be happier, smarter, maybe even wealthier. But when we step back and assess how much time success actually takes, we can feel overwhelmed. Those are the feeli…
- CM 315: Chris Duffy Makes You Laugh
When life gets hard, humor can feel like a luxury. Like an indulgence we don’t deserve or have time for. But science tells a different story. Researchers have learned that humor can help with healing and grief, and it can improve our socia…
- CM 314: Anthony Klotz on When and How to Quit
Anthony Klotz believes we’re just one event away from quitting our jobs. Anthony is a professor of organizational behavior at University College London’s School of Management and the person who coined the phrase, “the Great Resignation.” H…
- CM 313: Sunita Sah on the Power of No – Rebroadcast
In those moments when we want to disagree, why do we often stay silent? At those times when we want to opt out, why do we often just go along? A key reason is that it’s hard to defy. It’s hard to question the way something’s always been do…
- CM 312: Daisy Fancourt on How Arts are Essential for Health
When it comes to our health and well-being, something’s missing from the checklist. Sure, we’ve got to get enough sleep, eat healthfully, exercise, and socialize. But one thing rarely makes the list – the arts. Singing. Dancing. Drawing. V…
- CM 311: Dan Coyle Asks, Are You Flourishing?
Relationships that thrive have characteristics that rarely appear by accident. Instead, their design is often intentional, even if the designers are unaware of the formula. That’s where Dan Coyle comes in. Curious about how some leaders cr…
- CM 310: Kate Murphy on Why We Click
Most of us long to connect and, as social creatures, it makes sense that we not only want this but need human relationships to live a healthy life. With numbers on loneliness and polarization continuing to climb, I wanted to speak with som…
- CM 309: Toby Stuart on How Status Works
Decisions tax our brains. Whether it’s deciding which shows to watch or which products to buy, the choices are endless and can feel exhausting. That’s where status comes in. Researchers have learned that status is a mental short-cut we tur…
- CM 308: Julia Hotz on the Connection Cure – Rebroadcast
Each day, millions of doctors write prescriptions for drugs intended to help their patients. But what if many of our modern health ailments, like depression, anxiety, and chronic pain, would benefit as much, if not more, from a social pres…
- CM 307: Joe Keohane on the Benefits of Talking to Strangers – Rebroadcast
I have a confession to make. I enjoy talking to people I don't know. I like learning about them and hearing their stories. I'm sure it explains why I started this podcast over ten years ago. Yet I know a lot of people who avoid talking to…
- CM 306: Jennifer Garvey Berger on Thriving in Uncertainty – Rebroadcast
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/curiousminds/CM_306_Jennifer_Garvey_Berger.mp3
- CM 305: Maryellen MacDonald on Talking as a Superpower
In today’s hyper-connected world, when you want to communicate, you’ve got so many alternatives to talking. But before you spend another minute drafting a text or email, consider how essential it is for us to talk to others. Talking – whet…
- CM 304: Steve Magness on Real Toughness – Rebroadcast
How we think about toughness needs a reset. Too often, it’s been associated with brute forcing our way through things. Ignoring our feelings. Making an outward show of confidence and dominance. The problem is it just doesn't work. Performa…
- CM 303: Ben Rein on Why Brains Need Friends
You’re days into a work project, staring at a screen, feeling anxious about your tight deadline. Mid-afternoon your phone lights up with a call from a friend. You want to connect, but you feel like you don’t have a minute to spare. You let…
- CM 302: Paul Leonardi on Overcoming Digital Exhaustion
Digital exhaustion is real. We’re working across more apps than ever before, and since they’re always accessible, work-life boundaries have disappeared. Combine this with our personal tech, and we’ve got a recipe for burnout. Paul Leonardi…
- CM 301: Colin Fisher on Building Smarter Teams
We spend a lot of our lives in groups. Whether it’s at work. With friends. Even with family. Yet we tend to focus on everyone as individuals. We rarely think about things from the group’s perspective. Colin Fisher is an expert in organizat…
- CM 300: Zorana Ivcevic Pringle on Turning Ideas into Action
What prevents some of us from acting on our creative ideas while others dive right in? That’s the question creativity researcher, Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, set out to answer. It’s what she writes about in her book, The Creativity Choice: The…
- CM 299: Zach Mercurio on Feeling Like You Matter
Good things happen when people know they matter. Engagement and performance increase, which then motivates people to stay. In addition, they’re happier, which, makes work more enjoyable for everyone. But creating this kind of workplace doe…
- CM 298: Anne-Laure Le Cunff on a Life of Tiny Experiments
When’s the last time you ran an experiment? Not as a scientist. But as a person who wants to get unstuck or try something new. There are messages coming at us from all directions. A popular one encourages us to pursue big dreams often in s…
- CM 297: Ethan Kross on How to Manage Your Emotions
Something happens at work – good or bad – and it brings on strong emotions. Instead of taking a moment to calm down, we’ve got to quickly shift gears and head into another meeting. We know we’ve got to manage our feelings, but the question…
- CM 296: Dacher Keltner on How Awe Helps Us Thrive – Rebroadcast
A few years ago, we experienced a solar eclipse. Walking the streets of my neighborhood that day, looking through my solar eclipse glasses and sharing them with others, I felt a profound sense of awe. And I saw that awe, that wonder, refle…
- CM 295: Olga Khazan on Changing Your Personality
If you think about it, your personality impacts how you approach your life. The choices you make, the risks you take, the relationships you have. Our personalities create a set of habits, automatic reactions that impact what we think, feel…
- CM 294: Sunita Sah on the Power of No
In those moments when we want to disagree, why do we often stay silent? At those times when we want to opt out, why do we often just go along? A key reason is that it’s hard to defy. It’s hard to question the way something’s always been do…
- CM 293: Dan Heath on How to Be a Change Agent
Making changes in our own lives is hard enough. It’s even more challenging when we need to lead our teams or organizations to do it. That’s why I invited Dan Heath back to the podcast. Dan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Mad…
- CM 292: Rosalind Chow on How to Enjoy Networking
Most of us dislike networking. At its best, it’s exhausting. At its worst, it can feel inauthentic, even manipulative. But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if, instead, we could focus on helping others in ways that, in the long…
- CM 291: Dan Dworkis on Leading in an Emergency
At some point in every leader’s career, they’ll experience a moment of crisis. And in these moments of enormous pressure and uncertainty, a leader’s actions can mean the difference between an organization’s survival or its demise. Dan Dwor…
- CM 290: Sabina Nawaz On Becoming The Manager You Want To Be
As you move up in leadership roles, you gain more power. Initially, you may take it in stride, thinking it’s something you earned and something you’d never let get in the way of being the manager you want to be. But as the pressure to perf…
- CM 289: Melody Wilding on How to Manage Up for Career Success
Managing up is crucial for your success. It’s about knowing your career goals and aligning them with your manager’s needs and priorities. Yet it’s a skill we’re rarely taught and one we rarely see done well. For Melody Wilding, this gap in…
- CM 288: Charles Feltman on a New Understanding of Trust
On the surface, trust seems simple. You either trust someone or you don’t. That’s why I was so intrigued by Charles Feltman’s book, The Thin Book of Trust: An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work. Charles is a leadership coach and t…
- CM 287: Andrew Brodsky on the Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication
We’re all virtual communicators. Even if we don’t work remotely, we’re texting, using social media, and making phone calls. But the question is, are we good at it? Do we know the best practices that can set us apart? Andrew Brodsky can tea…
- CM 286: Chris Lipp on Stepping into Your Personal Power
Most advice on power is about why we need it or how we can get it. And it's typically focused on things outside us, like titles or promotions. While these external markers are important, they can leave us empty inside. Advice that focuses…
- CM 285: Adam Galinsky Shares What Great Leaders Do
Adam Galinsky is a social psychologist and the Paul Calello Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School. He believes leaders are made, not born, and he’s spent decades proving it. In this interview, we talk about his fin…
- CM 284: Alison Wood Brooks on the Science of Conversation
Conversations play a big role in our personal and professional lives. It’d be hard to build or maintain a relationship without them. That’s why Alison Wood Brooks, Harvard Business School Professor and conversation expert, has written the…
- CM 283: Sandra Matz on Protecting Our Privacy Online
With few exceptions, we have digital footprints. And each time we scroll social media, run a Google search, or use a smartphone to navigate, we’re adding data to that footprint. While we gain a lot from our ability to do all these things,…
- CM 282: Cassie Holmes on Happiness, Meaning, and Fulfillment – Rebroadcast
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…
- CM 281: Alison Fragale on Women and Success
If you’re a woman in the workplace, you know the deck is rarely stacked in your favor. For example, promotions are harder to come by. The gender wage gap is real. And power can feel elusive. Psychology professor and researcher, Alison Frag…
- CM 280: Michael Gervais on Overcoming Our Biggest Fear – Rebroadcast
There are many good reasons to look to others. For example, you might need expert advice or feedback to improve your performance. But there’s one reason not to, and, that is, to determine your self-worth. When you look to someone else to d…
- CM 279: Brian Lowery on Who You Really Are
It’s tempting to believe that the self is a constant. That it’s a core component of who we are from the time we’re born. But social psychologist and Stanford Professor Brian Lowery has a different view. He believes the self we are today is…
- CM 278: Lorraine Besser on Living a Richer Life
We need pleasure in our lives. We also need meaning. Pleasure gives us joy and delight. Meaning gives us purpose and a set of goals to work toward. But have there ever been times in your life when you’ve experienced meaning and pleasure, y…
- CM 277: Emily Austin on a Recipe for Happiness
When we’re looking for insights on how to make friends, manage our anxiety, or just live a happier life, we rarely look to the past. Instead, we tend to focus on what today’s thinkers have to say. But what if the recipe for happiness lies…
- CM 276: Mary Anderson on Success without Stress
We often assume that stress and anxiety are the price we pay for success. Yet these feelings can lead to burnout and self-doubt, two debilitating outcomes that can get in the way of the very achievements we’re striving for. This is a patte…
- CM 275: Mithu Storoni on Working Smarter
As a knowledge worker, you face two challenges. First, you need to take in staggering amounts of information to stay current. Next, you're expected to convert that information into innovative solutions that benefit your team and your compa…
- CM 274: Keith Sawyer on Group Genius
We like the idea of the lone genius, that one person who developed a game-changing innovation. But whether or not we realize it, research shows that creativity is collaborative. Yep. You heard that right. And we have lots of examples: the…
- CM 273: Kasley Killam on the Art and Science of Connection
It’s become common knowledge that we need to prioritize our physical and mental health. In fact we’re encouraged to commit to regular exercise and good nutrition, and to engage with mental health professionals as part of a healthy lifestyl…
- CM 272: Julia Hotz on the Connection Cure
Each day, millions of doctors write prescriptions for drugs intended to help their patients. But what if many of our modern health ailments, like depression, anxiety, and chronic pain, would benefit as much, if not more, from a social pres…
- CM 271: Anna Goldfarb on Modern Friendship
We know how important friendships are. At the very least, for our health and well-being. But we also know how hard it gets to make and keep friends over the course of a lifetime, especially as we move, change jobs, and have families. That’…
- CM 270: Alex Budak Helps Us Become Changemakers
Most of us believe we can make a difference in the world. That we can have an impact. What holds us back from acting on those beliefs are often the doubts. Doubts about our skills, our credentials, even our roles at work. Alex Budak studie…
- CM 269: Dacher Keltner on How Awe Helps Us Thrive
This year, we witnessed a solar eclipse. Walking the streets of my neighborhood that day, looking through my solar eclipse glasses and sharing them with others, I felt a profound sense of awe. And I saw that awe, that wonder, reflected in…