Today we discuss the challenges of being human at work with two of my favorite humans – Amanda & Simon Cookson.

The three of us have a passion for helping leaders and organizations build more human workplaces and shift away from the commoditization of employees that has created stifling, unproductive and dehumanizing work environments.

We talk about the power that humans have to innovate and succeed in times of disruption. We also talk about future trends in the workplace and the necessity for trust, vulnerability, and honesty, and a flexible, more person-centric workforce.

Have you ever done something that you knew you shouldn’t, but you did it anyway? Even if you knew that doing it would get in the way of accomplishing something else that you really wanted?

That is self-sabotage: "unwanted behavior that undermines one’s goals".

To try and understand why we sometimes behave in this counterproductive way, I reached out to today’s guest, Dr. Howard Farkas.

It’s fair to say that we would all like to have as much joy in our lives as we possibly can. But if we’ve lost joy, how do we get it back? And what role do we play? Can we influence how much joy is in our lives?

Today’s guest, Linda Shively, discovered how to bounce back from loss and how to begin to restore the joy in her life. She did it by identifying and avoiding what she calls Joy Stealing Dragons.

How do we avoid becoming burned out?

Today’s guest, Janice Litvin, has some answers. Janice is the author of “Banish Burnout” and she is on a mission to help leaders and teams to lower stress and eliminate burnout in their organizations, so their employees can be healthy, happy, and ready to work.

In this episode, we discuss:

- Recognizing signs of burnout so you can head it off.

- Powerful strategies for managing stress for work & life.

- How to Set healthy boundaries to prevent burnout

When we talk about creating a more human workplace we often focus on bringing your whole self to work. In this episode, we bring that idea to the world of innovation by looking at it through the lens of both masculine and feminine energy. Slight spoiler here, to be successful at innovation you need to use both but unfortunately, many individuals and many organizations, only focus on just one of those.

Get ready for an exciting and fresh take on the topic of innovation with today’s guest Fabienne Jacquet.

They say it’s a wise person that learns from their own mistakes and it’s an even wiser person who is able to learn from the mistakes of others. Of course, all of this wisdom comes easier if you have someone willing to share the mistakes they’ve made and what they’ve learned from them.

Today’s guest, Ed Rigsbee, is going to do just that: share the wisdom he’s gained over a nearly 4 decade long career.

For many years now, Ed has been amassing many universal truths about business and life and he’s collected these bits of wisdom into a project he’s calling Life’s Little Blue Playbook.

Ed’s going to share some those hard earned lessons with us today, including:

· That there’s something more important to success than being right

· How to get the best (and avoid the worst) from your people

· The value of Relationship Bank Deposits

· What he learned at the Sunglasses display at the Park Pharmacy in Paso Robles, CA

· And we end with the 3 great words that will change your life.

I speak with friend and colleague Anne Archer about her most recent work in the mental health field and keys to maintaining mental health, including:

· The necessity of understanding the whole person and the interrelatedness of mental, emotional and physical health

· How we can use the 5 Fundamental Building Blocks of Mental Health to maintain a healthy mental state.

· How to manage the drains and negative impacts that can reduce our mental health capacity

· The impact of COVID and working virtually over the long term

· As well as the power of listening in being able to help others with their mental health and wellness.

Anne has a lot of really valuable insights that can help you, a co-worker or perhaps someone you love and I’m excited for her to be able to share them with you today.

As as a fun and interesting way of pulling together the learning for her students at the end of the semester, Jess challenges them to identify a myth about the brain and then explain why it’s not true. There are many beliefs about the brain that we commonly believe are true, when in fact they’re not. What are we talking about here? You know things like there are left-brained and right-brained people. That the brain works like a computer. Another one is very common is the belief that we only use 10% of our brains. Of course a favorite of mine, and apparently of Jess’ students is the myth that drinking alcohol can kill brain cells.

Jess and I sat down to discuss these brain myths and others and to get into some of the science that underlies these fallacies and if there are parts of them that might in fact be a little bit true.

Bias. You may think you’re immune to it - but you’re not. We all have biases and they come from a multitude of sources which accumulate over the course of our lives. These biases impact how each of us view the world, our decision making processes and how we interact with others. The impact of bias is felt everywhere - in the workplace, the classroom, and in our larger society. Unfortunately, we’re often unaware of our biases, hence the term “unconscious bias”. 

But what can we do about unconscious bias - after all, it’s unconscious, right? On the surface it might seem hopeless but luckily, there are strategies to manage unconscious bias and its impacts. To explore the options and opportunities, I asked an expert in unconscious bias to join us on today’s podcast.

Even for experienced job-seekers the process of recruiting, and what recruiters actually do, can be a mystery. One that can often lead to confusion, anxiety and unmet expectations. To provide some clarity and guidance, I spoke with experienced recruiter Ed Han about what recruiters actually do, how job requirements come together and some tips for job-seekers to improve their chances of landing the job.

It can be hard to make tough decisions even in the best of circumstances. It’s even more challenging in times of crisis when you or a loved one are suffering with a chronic or potentially life-threatening illness or injury.  It can be overwhelming and it’s easy to feel lost. It's the job of hospital chaplains to support patients and family members in navigating these trying times and helping them make what can be some of the most difficult decisions they will ever face.

So you might ask: “Where does a coach go when they need coaching?” The answer is to go to another coach: one they trust, one who has wisdom, and one who can help them see things from different perspectives. But most importantly, one who can foster the insights that can help solve the dilemmas they’re confronting.

Employee engagement is always a challenge.

The most recent Gallup survey shows 34% of US workers are engaged, tying the highest results in the survey’s history, while “actively disengaged” is down to 13%, a new low. However, it still means 66% of US workers are not engaged at some level. We know engagement is highly correlated with positive business outcomes so even though the numbers are up, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

Let’s say you have some questions on mentoring: What if you could ask a football player, a wrestler, a coach, a ship captain, a teacher, a physics historian, a published author, a person who lost most of their eyesight, a cancer survivor, and a director on several nonprofit boards, for their perspectives. You’d have a rich and diverse collection of opinions and advice, but getting a hold of all those people might be a bit difficult. We are lucky that today's guest, Dr. Terry M. Christensen, is all of those things. And it’s given him some unique perspectives on the topic of mentoring and the value of passing wisdom along to the next generation.

Networking is a misunderstood activity, and is often associated only with job search. But it’s much more than that.  Done well, networking can of course help you land a job, but it can also expand your circle of professional contacts, be a source of referrals, or perhaps allow you to find a mentor or even a friend. However, done wrong, it can be a painful and awkward series of one-way interactions that not only won’t help you succeed but may cause people to run in the opposite direction.

What happens when success isn't enough, when you want to stop climbing the corporate ladder? What are the consequences of not listening to that inner voice? In Amanda Michelle Eschevarria's case, it took a diagnosis of cancer to begin asking herself some deeper questions. In this episode of Insight at Work, "Mish" (as she is known to friends and clients alike) takes us on her journey of self-discovery and shares some of the key questions she used to discover her aspirations, reprioritize her life and career, and find a new definition of happiness.

Host Ken Blackwell welcomes you to the inaugural episode of the Insight at Work podcast and lays out his vision for the episodes to follow:

"On this podcast I talk with top performers in diverse fields of work to uncover their secrets to success. We explore the insights and breakthroughs that have changed the way they work and, at times, how those insights that have transformed the way they live their lives.

Along the way, we’ll also delve into topics like: leadership, teamwork, communication, managing time and stress, mentoring & coaching, and conversational intelligence.  And just generally, how to make work, and life, more productive, engaging and rewarding."