Diana Kander: Professional Af

My guest this week is Kelly McGonigal. Kelly is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University who specializes in understanding the mind-body connection. She is the best-selling author of The Upside of Stress – the book we discuss in part one of this show. Kelly's TED talk on the topic, "How to Make Stress Your Friend," is one of the most viewed TED talks of all time, with over 20 million views. And I can't stress enough how much her perspective, and research, have altered my relationship with stress. In part two of the show, we discuss Kelly's brand-new book, The Joy of Movement, which explores why physical exercise is a powerful antidote to the epidemics of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Kelly tackles some of the biggest myths about exercise and shares some very interesting research to explain exactly what movement and exercise does to us and how to harness its effects! Important Links for the Show:The ultimate fitness tracker optimizes your life: https://www.whoop.com/ and use code DIANA

BJ Fogg is a Social Science Research Associate at Stanford, author, and the founder and director of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab.In February, 2018, Wired Magazine claimed Fogg's "Stanford lab created the formula to make technology addictive." The article said that Fogg’s lab "was a toll booth for entrepreneurs and product designers on their way to Facebook and Google. Students included Nir Eyal, the bestselling author of the book, Hooked, Ed Baker, who would later become the Head of Growth at both Facebook and Uber, and Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the founders of Instagram.BJ and I discuss his brand new book Tiny Habits, The Small Changes that Change Everything.The book is based on 20 years of research and BJ's experience personally coaching over 40,000 people. The content in the book is practical, immediately applicable and most importantly brand new. Tiny Habits is unlike any habits book you have ever read. BJ and I are going to discuss:Why you shouldn't rely on willpower to create new habitsWhy em

Today, I'm discussing Brene Brown's book Dare to Lead with my therapist Candy Smith.You remember Candy from earlier this season when we talked about shame. (incredible episode, if you haven't heard it, you've got to make that your next listen) Candy has been a licensed therapist for several decades. She specializes in working with adults, and children with trauma. That's how I met her. And every time I talk to her, I wish I had a pen and paper handy to write down her insights.In Dare to Lead, Brene teaches us that leadership is not about titles or the corner office. It’s about the willingness to step up, put yourself out there, and lean into courage. The world is desperate for braver leaders. It’s time for all of us to step up. Brene has written the ultimate playbook for developing brave leaders and courageous cultures.And today, Candy and I are going to dive deep into the work and discuss:The connection between courage and vulnerability in the workplaceHow our time management sabotages our courage and creati

Research shows that self-awareness—knowing who we are and how others see us—is the foundation for high performance, smart choices, and lasting relationships. There’s just one problem: most people don’t see themselves quite as clearly as they could. While 95% of us identify as self-aware, only 10% to 15% actually are. Dr. Tasha Eurich, a New York Times best-selling author and organizational psychologist has spent the last five years studying self awareness. Her clients include organizations like T-Mobile, KPMG, Walmart, IBM, Royal Bank of Canada, Vail Resorts, and the Miami Heat. Thinkers50 has named her one of the top 30 emerging management thinkers in the world and a top 50 World Leader in Coaching, and she ranked #13 on the GlobalGurus list of organizational culture experts. Tasha and I are going to talk about:Why self awareness isn't just about uncovering all the ways you are failing, it's also about understanding our unknown strengthsHow to balance the perception of others with how we see our selves and

Celeste Headlee is an award-winning journalist, professional speaker and author of We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter. In her 20-year career in public radio, she anchored programs including Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. Celeste’s TEDx Talk sharing 10 ways to have a better conversation has over 19 million views.As an NPR host and journalist, Celeste has interviewed hundreds of people from all walks of life. Through her work, she sheds a much-needed light on the lost and essential art of conversation.Celeste and I discuss:How people usually mess up a good conversationWhy the smarter you are, the worse you probably are at having conversationsThe biggest misconceptions people have about being good at conversation, andHow to ask much better questionsImportant Links for the Show:The ultimate fitness tracker optimizes your life: https://www.whoop.com/ and use code DIANA at checkout for 15% off!Amazing kids activity in a box: http://kiwico.com/diana

The reason you need to know and understand Psychological Safety is that study after study has demonstrated that it is the highest predictor of team performance. Google conducted a 2 year study in which they analyzed over 150 different factors to understand what created successful teams and they found psychological safety to be the number one predictor of success. A Gallup study found that psychological safety can lead to 27% reduction in turnover, a 40% reduction in safety incidents, and a 12% increase in productivity.And here's the kicker. We need psychological safety today more than ever. The Project Management Institute reported that project success is at its lowest in years. They found that fewer major projects were completed on time and within budget in 2016 than in 2012. As they interviewed teams about the reasons for this decrease they heard a common theme: projects fail because teams don’t know how to communicate, organize, and prioritize.Look, I'll save you all the research and just share that invest

Today, my guest is Tim Larkin. A former military intelligence officer and creator of the Target Focus Training, Tim has a 25 year career in which he has trained people in 52 countries in how to deal with imminent violence. A New York Times Bestselling author, Tim has trained over 10,000 clients on how to use physics and physiology to injure any human(s) trying to attack you. Tim and I are going to talk about:Why most programs that teach self-defense make a huge mistake in what they teachWhy you need to understand the difference between antisocial and sociopathic behavior to know when violence is your only answerHow to get into the proper mindset to protect yourselfThe best way to injure someone quickly to allow yourself to get awayImportant Links for the Show:The ultimate fitness tracker to optimize your life: https://www.whoop.com/ and use code DIANA at checkout for 15% off!The bank that won't charge you fees for banking: http://nbkc.com/diana - get a box of awesome Professional AF stuff for signing up, inc

My guest today is Kristen Holmes, Vice President of Performance at WHOOP. As you know, whoop is a sponsor of the show, but that's not why Kristen is here. I wanted to talk to an expert about sleep and actually understand much more about the analytics I've been getting from my whoop band, and I was so excited to talk to Kristin. I used to think that sleep was something you had to endure to be able to function, but I've learned that sleep is an amazing miracle process that makes you function at your best and regenerates and restores your body each and every night… If you let it.Kristen works with thousands of the best professional and NCAA athletes in the world. If your favorite athlete is having trouble sleeping, she’s the one they would call to help understand and interpret their data and figure out what to do about it. Kristen is also an amazing athlete and coach in her own right. She’s a former member of the U.S. National Field Hockey Team, as well as one of the most successful coaches in Ivy League history

I've stayed away from productivity books and talks like they were the flu. I just didn't think I needed efficiency in my life. I didn't want to hear their email hacks or their prioritization matrix. And then I came across the work of Laura Vanderkam and understood just how wrong I had been all this time. Productivity isn't about being a more efficient cog at work. Productivity is about managing your life in such a way to significantly increase how much fun you're having and how much growth you're achieving. Laura is the author of several time management and productivity books, including Juliet’s School of Possibilities, Off the Clock,I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall StreetJournal, Fast Company, and Fortune. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and four kids.Laura and I are going to discuss:The biggest question you can ask yourself to increase the time you have available each dayHow we ru

Did you know that every interaction you have with someone releases chemicals in their brain? And if you can release the right chemicals, you can increase, trust, cooperation, performance in significant ways? Paul’s two decades of research have taken him from the Pentagon to Fortune 50 boardrooms to the rain forest of New Guinea. His latest book, Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High Performance Companies, uses neuroscience to measure and manage organizational cultures to inspire teamwork and accelerate business outcomes. His 2012 book, The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity, recounted his unlikely discovery of the neurochemical oxytocin, which we'll cover a lot in this episode, as the key driver of trust, love, and morality that distinguish our humanity. Here are his specs: Paul is the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and Professor of Economics, Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He has degrees in mathematics and economics from San Diego

This weeks wisdom comes from the most unlikely places. Just about 150 years ago. If you're anything like me you've heard of or sampled the works of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Susan B. Anthony, Mark Twain, and you thought, I should really make time to read more of those books. And that time has never really come around. Well, my friend John Jantsch has done us all a solid and put together a new book with a daily excerpt from each of these authors and many more. John is a very successful though leader. His Duct Tape Marketing blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite and his Duct Tape Marketing podcast was called a "must listen" by Fast Company magazine. Seth Godin called John the "Peter Drucker of small business tactics." This book is something very new for this marketing guru. It is titled the Self Reliant Entrepreneur, but the concepts we're going to discuss are immensely helpful for anyone trying to create something in this world and for anyone trying to make a difference in their organization. Jo

Today's episode is about the number one thing that prevents us from being the person we want to be; the number one way we hurt ourselves and the people we love. I'm talking about Shame. As Brene Brown states: "Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change." I tried to get Brene Brown on the show and wasn't able to this season, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from having what I believe is the most important conversation we need to have. So I invited my therapist, Candy Smith, to discuss Brene Brown's book, The Gifts of Imperfection. This episode is like sitting in on my personal therapy session discussing shame. Including a moment of vulnerability, where I suggest a parenting technique I've been trying with my son, and Candy kindly tells me how I might unintentionally be causing shame. Candy has been a licensed therapist for several decades. She specializes in working with adults, and children with trauma. That's how I met her. And in every session, I've left with lessons an

Jennifer Petriglieri is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD, and the author of Couples That Work. A book that’s coming out this week on making a dual career relationship successful. Prior to joining INSEAD, she was a Post-Doctoral Fellow of Organizational Behavior at the Harvard Business School. Having lived and worked on three continents, she is now settled in France with her husband and their two children.Jennifer has spent the last six years studying over a hundred couples in a variety of roles and types of relationships from all over the world.Drawing on this research, she highlights the three distinct yet predictable transitions that all couples go through and offers practical guidance in the form of questions, exercises and activities that couples can use to overcome the most pressing challenges they face.From couples in their mid-20s to those in their mid-60s, from heterosexual couples to same-sex couples, her book has something of value to strengthen all of our relationships. I believe it

Kim Scott is the author of the NYT bestseller Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss without Losing your Humanity. Kim led AdSense, YouTube, and Doubleclick Online Sales and Operations at Google and then joined Apple to develop and teach a leadership program. Kim has been a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and several other tech companies.Kim received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA from Princeton. She is the author of three novels; she and her husband Andy Scott are parents of twins.Today's episode is not just a rehashing of Radical Candor. Kim is going to share:Why she had to write an update to her book because some people were misapplying it.How being nice on your team produces mediocre work product.How to help your team members do the best work of their lives.What she thinks of a new psychological safety tool I've been teaching to teams.The special challenges women face when receiving feedback and giving feedback.What men need to know about giving feedback to their female direct report

Denise Shull is a decision coach and performance architect for hedge fund managers, traders and professional athletes. She is the Author of Market Mind Games - book on the radical psychology of making decisions and risk. And she is the inspiration for the character "Wendy Rhodes" in the Showtime show, BillionsDenise's thesis is that there's a common mis-belief that you should "set your emotions aside when making a decision" and she will explain why this is an ineffective way to make good decisions. Based off of scientific research, we now know that it's impossible to make decisions without feelings. In Denise's book, I read about a study where people had brain injuries to that part of the brain that controlled emotions, and those people were incapable of making any decisions. Not what to wear, not what to eat. It was crazy. So how do we stop ignoring our emotions and instead learn to understand what they are telling us.Denise will also share:The most significant question you need to ask yourself before making

Everywhere she goes, people ask Esther Wojcicki for parenting advice. That's because each one of her three daughters has a crazy awesome job: Susan is the CEO of YouTube, Janet is a professor at UC San Francisco, and Anne is the co founder and CEO of 23andMe.Ester has also been a journalism teacher for more than 35 years at Palo Alto High School. The students that swear by her method include actor and director, James Franco and Jeremy Lin, a Harvard graduate and point guard in the NBA.So what is it? What's her methodology? Esther has just released a book called How to Raise Successful People in which she outlines a five step process for raising successful people. I read the book and interviewed ester about 3 months ago, and since implementing the methodology it has radically transformed my relationship with my son. What's more, this isn't just a way to raise happy/successful kids. It's a method you can take to work to have happy and successful employees. You can use these 5 steps in any relationship you want

Most people know Annie as a professional poker player. She’s won numerous poker championships and millions of dollars in prizes.  I got to know her in 2004 when I really got into poker.  My first book was actually a business novel that took place at the world series of poker and used poker hands to teach important innovation lessons.  So when I saw Annie, one of the few women who were even competing in the tournament, keep winning, keep being the only woman at one final table after another, and keep doing it with class and style, I became a huge fan. What I didn’t know about Annie until doing research for this interview is that she graduated from Columbia University and then graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania.  That she won a fellowship from the National Science Foundation and got a doctorate in cognitive psychology.  Annie is an entrepreneur, a committed advocate for important causes, a mother, a wife, and the author of several books including my favorite and the subject of our discussion toda

This week I sat down with Sally Helgesen.  Sally is one of the premier experts on women’s leadership. She has been a best-selling author, speaker and leadership coach for thirty years. Her mission has always been to help women recognize, articulate and act on their greatest strengths. Her latest book is called How Women Rise and it explains how the behaviors that served you so well at the beginning of your career, that got you promoted, are many times the same behaviors that keep you from big leadership positions.  Basically, what got you here won’t get you there.  Today, Sally is going to share:- How to overcome your reluctance to claim your achievements- Why you are overvaluing your expertise to your own detriment- Why you shouldn’t just expect others to notice and reward your work, and what you should do instead- How to not fall into the perfection trap- Why you can’t make behavior change by yourself – the secret ingredient you need to really make new behaviors stickWhether you are traveling by plane, trai

This week I sat down with Amy Morin, a psychotherapist turned “accidental” author. You’re going to hear Amy share her very moving, personal story, but I just wanted to brag on her for a second.  Amy gave one of the most popular TEDx talks of all time—The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong. It’s been viewed more than 8 million times. She’s a regular columnist for Forbes, Inc., and Psychology Today and a parenting expert for Verywell. Her articles reach more than 2 million readers every month. And she’s the author of 3 Bestselling books, the latest of which is called 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do.  And the interview is amazing because we spend about 2/3 of the conversation talking about specific habits mentally strong women should stop, and the last third on the science of creating lasting habit change. Today Amy is going to share:-       How to keep self-doubt from sabotaging our goals-       How the way we raise young girls has a big impact on their mental strength-       How to deal with critical

This week I spoke with Brad Staats, a professor at the UNC Business School and author of Never Stop Learning: Stay Relevant, Reinvent Yourself, and Thrive. Brad also works with companies around the world to develop their learning and analytics strategies. He has won numerous teaching and research awards, including an award as one of the 40 most outstanding business-school professors under 40 in the world, and the Prize for best article in Harvard Business Review on leadership, and I learned about Brad’s book from the Adam Grant’s Next Big Idea Club, a pretty prestigious collection of business books. Brad has been a venture capitalist, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and a strategic planner at Dell. And today Brad’s going to share: -       Why we’re so bad at learning from our mistakes and three strategies that will help us get much better-       Why our bias towards action is actually hurting our performance-       Several counterintuitive tactics that will significantly increase your work performance-