Making Positive Psychology Work

Leah Weiss is a researcher, lecturer, consultant, and author who teaches compassionate leadership at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she created the perennially waitlisted course, Leading With Mindfulness and Compassion. Leah is a principal teacher, and a founding faculty member of Stanford's Compassion Cultivation Programme conceived by the Dali Llama. Her first book "How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim your Sanity and Embrace the Daily Grind" focuses on developing compassionate and soft skill-based leadership, while also offering research backed actionable steps towards finding purpose at work. In today's episode, Leah talks to us about why business leaders are lining up to learning how to be more compassionate in workplaces and how this is helping them to harness the wisdom of their emotions, to fail better in order to learn and to find more purpose in their work. Connect with Leah: Website: leahweissphd.com You'll Learn: [02:01] - Leah explains why graduate students are lining up to learn how to be more compassionate leaders in workplaces. [04:17] - Leah explains why practicing compassion at work doesn't mean we need to be doormats for others to take advantage of. [06:32] - Leah explains the difference between compassion and empathy. [09:44] - Leah provides some practical tips to harness the wisdom of our emotions at work instead of suppressing our feelings. [17:03] - Leah explains how leaders can help their people to fail better at work. [19:56] - Leah provides her tips on how we can mindlessly going through our work days. [21:32] - Leah completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Kelly Mcgonigal Ted Talk - How to Make Stress Your Friend The Upside of Stress by Kelly Mcgonigal Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Leah!

Susan David is an award willing psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, co-founder, and co-director of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, and CEO of Evidence Based Psychology, a boutique business consultancy. She's the author of the number one Wall Street Journal best selling book "Emotional Agility," based on her concept that Harvard Business Review heralded as a management idea of the year, and has been featured in numerous leading publications including The New York Times, Washington Post and Time Magazine, and has worked with the senior leadership of hundreds of major organisations including the United Nations, Ernst & Young, and the World Economic Forum. In today's episode, we'll discuss why emotions are not simply positive or negative, and how we can navigate the way we feel in more agile and effective ways at work. Connect with Susan: Website: http://www.susandavid.com/ You'll Learn: [02:20] - Susan explains why thinking of emotion as positive or negative can undermine people's ability to thrive. [07:25] - Susan suggests that thinking of emotions as data, rather than as good or bad, can help people develop emotional agility. [14:40] - Susan shares her recommendations for ensuring people own their emotions, rather than letting their emotions call the shots. [19:16] - Susan provides tips for how teams can practice emotional agility. [20:43] - Susan shares how the skills of emotional agility can build psychological safety in teams. [22:39] - Susan explains how self-compassion can make it easier to be emotionally agile. [26:09] - Susan shares how tiny tweaks and the willingness to keep pushing beyond our comfort zones can enable emotional agility. [24:29] - Susan completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Adam Grant's Worklife Podcast Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Susan!

Dr. Adam Fraser is a human performance researcher and consultant who studies how organizations adopt a high-performance culture to thrive in the challenging and evolving business landscape. Adam has worked with elite-level athletes, the armed forces, and business professionals of all levels, and in the last five years, he has delivered more than 600 presentations to over 50,000 people in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. In today's episode, we'll be discussing how struggle functions as a stimulus for change in workplaces. Connect with Adam: Website: dradamfraser.com You'll Learn: [02:09] - Adam shares how he's been helping leaders at Queensland Urban Utilities evolve their mindsets and behaviors to better support their people. [04:21] - Adam explains how he creates safe spaces for them to learn to lead with vulnerability. [06:15] - Adam shares what his research has found about helping HR teams to thrive. [08:11] - Adam expands on what his research has found about the importance of having challenging opportunities at work. [14:31] - Adam explains how diversity helps to create positive disruptions in workplaces. [16:44] - Adam shares how the creation of third spaces can help people to thrive. [23:07] - Adam shares his tip for the hottest workplace wellbeing over the next 12 months. [24:29] - Adam completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Netflix Grace & Franky Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Adam!

Michelle is a senior fellow at the University of Melbourne and holds a Masters in Positive Psychology and a provisional Ph.D. on how AI summits create positive disruptions that enable systems to flourish. She's the author of several books, and her newest book, "Your Change Blueprint" with Professor David Cooperrider is about to be released. Michelle also works with organizations around the world on finding ways to help people flourish. In today's anniversary episode, we'll discuss Michelle's hot of the PhD presses research findings on how AI Summits can be used to create positive disruptions that enable people and systems to flourish. Connect with Emily: Website: https://www.michellemcquaid.com/ [free_product_purchase id="27103"] You'll Learn: [01:50] - Michelle explains how Appreciative Inquiry helps people and systems to create positive changes. [03:46] - Michelle outlines how an AI Summit differs from other appreciative inquiry applications. [07:03] - Michelle shares what she has observed about AI Summits around the world and their ability to help people and systems to flourish. [10:26] - Michelle explains how self-determination theory shapes successful AI Summits. [12:43] - Michelle explains why creating opportunities for generative connections shapes the success of an AI Summit. [15:25] - Michelle shares why her research found an AI Summit needs a 6d – not a 4d – cycle to make it work. [18:22] - Michelle introduces the 12 magic mechanisms that explain how to use an AI Summit to create a positive disruption. [21:49] - Michelle shares her tips for when an AI Summit might most benefit your system. [24:19] - Michelle completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Big Potential by Sean Achor Michelle Mcquaid on Amazon Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Michelle!

Emily Larson serves as the director of the International Positive Education Network and is an assistant instructor in the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania. Emily has worked on various positive education projects in Nepal, India, the Philippines, the UK and the USA. She holds numerous board positions and is a published author. In today's episode, we'll be discussing how schools are applying positive psychology to help improve wellbeing across the school environment and what other organizations can learn from their efforts about creating systemic change. Connect with Emily: Website: ipen-festival.com You'll Learn: [01:58] - Emily explains what schools are learning about applying positive psychology findings to improve people's wellbeing. [03:05] - Emily shares why a systemic approach to improving people's wellbeing can be so important. [05:10] - Emily provides a case study of how a school is implementing a systemic approach to the wellbeing of teachers, students, and their community. [10:13] - Emily shares how change champions within a system can help to embed wellbeing practices. [12:09] - Emily explains the power of a common framework and common language when it comes to systemically improving wellbeing. [14:05] - Emily explains some of the struggles whole system change approaches have encountered when it comes to improving people's wellbeing. [17:03] - Emily explains how positive education practitioners from around the world are coming together to share their learnings and work more closely together. [23:10] - Emily completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook TED Podcasts Freakonomics The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Emily!

Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School. She's an expert on leadership, teams and organizational learning, whose research on psychological safety in workplaces has been discussed in the New York Times, the Financial Times, Forbes and many other media outlets around the world and is the author of several books, including her most recent, Extreme Teaming: Lessons in Complex, Cross-Sector Teaming. In today's episode, we discuss why Google have found that psychological safety is the common factor in all of their highest performing teams, and what you can do in your workplaces to improve psychological safety for others. Connect with Amy: Website: Amy Edmonson HBS Faculty Profile [free_product_purchase id="26666"] You'll Learn: [02:03] - Amy explains why more and more workplaces are talking about the need for psychological safety. [04:43] - Amy offers practical tips for leaders to improve the levels of psychological safety in their teams. [06:38] - Amy explains how leaders can practice inclusive leadership to improve psychological safety. [08:45] - Amy shares why courageous conversations can be problematic in workplaces. [11:15] - Amy explores the intersection between psychological safety and growth mindsets. [12:39] - Amy shares her tips for creating psychology safety in more temporary teams. [14:10] - Amy talks about ways of assessing psychological safety in teams. [16:44] - Amy explains how to help teams get over the politeness hump when it comes to improving psychological safety. [19:49] - Amy outlines some of the biggest challenges leaders face when it comes to improving psychological safety at the moment in workplaces. [21:18] - Amy shares why a coaching mindset can help improve psychological safety in teams. [22:17] - Amy completes the lightning round. Your Resources: How to Turn a Group of Strangers Into a Team | Amy Edmondson | TEDxHGSE Building a psychologically safe workplace | Amy Edmondson | TEDxHGSE Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Amy!

Dr. Mark Williamson, who is the Co-founder and Director of Action for Happiness. Since creating and launching Action for Happiness in 2011, Mark has engaged with a vast range of organizations, projects, and people on the topics of happiness, well-being, and resilience, including leading academics, major multinational corporations, public sector organizations, policymakers, schools, charities, and community organizations. He's led the development of all of the Action for Happiness resources and activities and has spoken regularly on related topics at events and conferences across the UK and around the world. In today's episode, we'll explore how Action for Happiness are helping to improve people's wellbeing in workplaces and communities around the world. Connect with Mark: Website: actionforhappiness.org/ You'll Learn: [02:04] - Mark explains how Action for Happiness became a global movement to improve people's wellbeing. [04:09] - Mark shares how Action for Happiness has mobilized wellbeing champions around the world. [07:07] - Mark shares how Action For Happiness help bridges the gap between knowledge and action when it comes to improving people's wellbeing. [10:27] - Mark explains how coaching circles can provide social support for people creating behavioral changes. [13:51] - Mark explains how to have meaningful conversations in workplaces about wellbeing behaviors. [15:58] - Mark shares an example of a company building wellbeing practices across their workplace. [17:57] - Mark explains why organizations will continue to invest in wellbeing programs over the next 12 months. [21:15] - Mark completes the lightning round. Your Resources: Making Positive Psychology Work on Facebook - Free Gift 10 Keys to Happier Living by Vanessa King A Fearless Heart by thupten jinpa Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Mark!

Paul Zak is the founding director of the Centre for Neuroeconomic Studies and professor of economics, psychology, and management at Claremont Graduate University. Paul is part of the team of scientists that first made the connection between oxytocin and trust, and this TED Talk on the topic has received over a million views. 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. In today's episode, we'll be discussing the effects of oxytocin on trust and how heightening the OXYTOCIN factors can help to build stronger and more effective teams in workplaces. Connect with Paul: Website: pauljzak.com [free_product_purchase id="26345"] You'll Learn: [01:57] - Paul explains how neuromanagement works. [04:33] - Paul outlines the OXYTOCIN factors that workplaces can build to improve trust in organizations. [08:30] - Paul explains how to confidently share neuroscience findings as researchers continue to learn more about the brain. [14:34] - Paul shares the bottom-line benefits of trust in workplaces. [17:30] - Paul outlines the research on how oxytocin impacts people's ability to trust. [21:28] - Paul shares why new studies have found oxytocin can stimulate envy. [23:17] - Paul completes the lightning round. Your Resources: Making Positive Psychology Work on Facebook - Free Gift Gwynne Shotwell's TED Talk Eat People by Andy Kessler Trust Factor by Paul J Zaj & Dan John Miller Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Paul!

Dr. Elaine O'Brien is an educator, trainer, author, presenter, speaker, and pioneer in the Health, Exercise, and Fitness Industry, as well as a leader in the burgeoning science of Applied Positive Psychology. She is CEO of Lifestyle Medicine Coaching & Training, a consultancy, & FitDance: Move2Love providing training, presentations, and program content development around positive health, whole fitness, optimal performance, exercise and aging well through the lifespan. Elaine delivers positive exercise programming, and training protocols to help boost motivation, exercise adherence, enjoyment, and whole health and wellbeing across domains and through the lifespan. In today's episode, we'll be discussing the psychology of human movement and the small steps you can take in workplaces to keep people's bodies, hearts and minds functioning at their best. Connect with Elaine: Website: Elaine O'Brien (LinkedIn) [free_product_purchase id="26102"] You'll Learn: [02:07] - Elaine explains the psychology of human movement and how understanding this can help to improve people's wellbeing. [06:07] - Elaine shares why workplaces are becoming more intentional in finding ways to help people move more during their days to improve our ability to learn, connect and flourish. [08:22] - Elaine explains how workplaces can use energy breaks to improve people's mood and sense of connection with each other. [12:16] - Elaine shares how energy breaks can be a great opportunity for people to practice their growth mindset, develop their strengths and engage their self-compassion. [14:32] - Elaine shares the latest thinking on how much movement we should be aiming for to maintain our wellbeing. [16:07] - Elaine offers some tips for workplaces wanting to engage their people in their more authentic, joyful and positive movement programs. [21:42] - Elaine completes the lightning round. Your Resources: Making Positive Psychology Work on Facebook - Free Gift Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Elaine!

Rick Hanson is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at the Greater Good Science Centre at UC Berkeley, and New York Times bestselling author. Founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, he's been an invited speaker at NASA, Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, and other major universities, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. His books are available in 26 languages and include Hard Wiring Happiness, and his newest book, Resilient, has been featured on the BBC, CBS, and NPR. In today's episode, we'll be talking about how to develop the traits of resilience to help people manage their levels of anxiety and stress in the workplace. Connect with Rick: Website: www.rickhanson.net/ [free_product_purchase id="25900"] You'll Learn: [02:12] - Rick explains why modern life is neurologically heightening our levels of anxiety. [04:38] - Rick explains how we can be more resilient in the face of constant change, uncertainty and complexity in workplaces. [07:37] - Rick shares the three simple steps people can take to build resilience practices. [10:48] - Rick gives several quick techniques for improving resilience that take less than 5 minutes per day. [11:47] - Rick shares the 12 neurological muscles for resilience that people can build. [13:06] - Rick explains how the intensity of positive emotions impact our levels of resilience. [17:44] - Rick points out the difference between building positive emotions that are state-to-state and those that are sustainable traits that boost our resilence. [26:44] - Rick completes the lightning round. Your Resources: Resilient by Rick Hanson Resilience training resource Fred Rogers acceptance speech Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Rick!