This week I was both excited and intrigued to welcome Gaia Bernstein to the show for an eye opening talk about the addictive nature of technology. Gaia is a Law Professor, Co-Director of the Institute for Privacy Protection and Co-Director of the Gibbons Institute for Law Science and Technology at the Seton Hall University School of Law. She writes, teaches and lectures in the intersection of law, technology, health and privacy. In her new book, Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies she shatters the illusion that we can control how much time we spend on our screens by resorting to self-help measures. Unwired shifts the responsibility for a solution from users to the technology industry, which designs its products to addicts. The book draws out the legal action that can pressure the technology industry to re-design its products to reduce technology overuse.Gaia has academic degrees in both law and psychology. Her research combines findings from psychology, sociology, science and technology studies with law and policy. Gaia’s research has been featured extensively by the media including the New York Times, Forbes, ABC News and Psychology Today.Connect with Gaia: Website Book Linkedin Connect with Erik: Facebook  LinkedIn  Twitter  Instagram  ________________________________________ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was excited to welcome Phil Simon back to the show to discuss his new book, The Nine: The Tectonic Forces Reshaping the Workplace. Phil is the world's leading independent expert on workplace collaboration and technology. He is the award-winning author of 14 books, and helps organizations communicate, collaborate, and use technology better. Harvard Business Review, the MIT Sloan Management Review, Wired, NBC, CNBC, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and The New York Times have featured his contributions. He also hosts the podcast Conversations About Collaboration.In our chat Phil and I discuss the 9 forces that are redefining the workplace. These forces include generative AI, automation, dispersed workforces, blockchain, immersive technologies, employee empowerment, and the return of systemic inflation. The workplace is undergoing a massive, irrevocable shift. The only question for business leaders is, What should you do about it? Phil and I begin to unpack some of the first steps that he has been observing within corporations and workplaces. In addition, Phil also helps listeners understand how we can strive to keep our humanity, creativity, and ethical constraints while harnessing the power and time-saving productivity of various tools and trends that are evolving at an exponential rate.Phil’s Previous EpisodeErik’s Conversation with Christopher S. Penn About Chat GPTConnect with Phil: Website Linkedin Twitter Connect with Erik: Facebook  LinkedIn  Twitter  Instagram  ________________________________________ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was excited to talk with Monica Parker about her new book The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn. Monica is an author, speaker, and the founder of global human analytics and change consultancy HATCH, though her career has been punctuated with such highlights as being an opera singer, a museum exhibition designer, and a homicide investigator defending death row inmates for Florida’s Department of Justice. With such an eclectic and varied set of interests Monica has observed that the key component that ties them all together is a sense of curiosity and wonder. In this conversation we unpack exactly what wonder is and why it can seem at times difficult to access. We also address the practical steps that you can take to rejuvenate and reconnect with the wonder of this world in your everyday life your observations and even your workplace.This is a vital episode for anyone who feels like their intellectual curiosity or even inner nerd has been fading and who wants to reconnect with the childlike wonder that fueled their early curiosities and passions. Monica helps listeners explore some of the research she has been uncovering about our brain's plasticity and how it's never too late to start living a life with more curiosity, more intentionality and more wonder.Connect with Monica:   Website Linkedin Twitter Instagram Connect with Erik: Facebook  LinkedIn  Twitter  Instagram  ________________________________________ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was honored and privileged to speak with Seth Godin about his new book, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams. For most listeners Seth needs no introduction. Seth is perhaps best known for his prolific daily blog, as well as his books Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip and Purple Cow. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation for a long time now, and Seth of course did not disappoint. In our chat we unpack the purpose and passion that led Seth to writing this latest book. For anyone familiar with his book Linchpin, The Song of Significance is in many ways the spiritual sequel and companion piece to that book. If Linchpin was all about being indispensable on an individual level, The Song of Significance is about how to work together as a team of Linchpins. This was a really encouraging chat for anyone who might be feeling anxiety about how their skills or unique voice fits into the modern workforce or for anyone considering taking their skills into a freelance or entrepreneurial journey. Seth and I explore how the desire for agency and dignity lie at the core of the modern employee’s desires and how for all of the innovations and progress that have occurred since The Industrial Revolution these two key components have been lost. The purpose of this new book is to help teams and individuals find this dignity and autonomy again to remind people of their unique voice and how no amount of technology, AI, or automation can replace the song that only they know how to sing. This is truly a book to be read as a team and then have discussions to plan action steps that come out of it, coming together to build a team, organization or business that empowers and trusts everyone to deliver their best work and harmonize together. Connect with Seth:WebsiteBlog LinkedinTwitterInstagramConnect with Erik:Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Instagram ________________________________________Support the show by checking out our sponsors!Make sure to grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist. A Shortcast is a 7-10 min version of a podcast where you get the core takeaways.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was privileged to welcome Dr. Luana Marques to Beyond The To Do List to talk about her new book: Bold Move: A 3-Step Plan to Transform Anxiety into Power. As the Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and the Director of the Community Psychiatry Program for Research in Implementation & Dissemination of Evidence-Based Treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Marques is a national and international expert in Cognitive Behavioral Therapies (CBTs) and a leader in increasing access to scientifically rigorous mental health practices. In our chat Dr. Marques addresses the many forms that anxiety can manifest both in the workplace and our personal lives. We discuss the spectrum of anxiety and stress and the unique ways every person’s thoughts, behaviors and emotions begin to change in periods of anxiety. This is an extremely broad topic and by no means do Dr. Marques and I begin to address the many forms that anxiety, stress or depression can manifest; however her book is an extremely powerful resource for anyone who wants to identify their anxiety, define the cycles of stress and mindset and start to transform their anxiety into power. Connect with Dr. Marques  Book Twitter Linkedin Connect with Erik: Facebook  LinkedIn  Twitter  Instagram  Support the show by checking out our sponsors! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I'm excited to welcome Nick Sonnenburg to the show for an informative discussion about his new book Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work Nick is an entrepreneur, Inc. columnist, and guest lecturer at Columbia University. He is the Founder and CEO of Leverage, a leading operational efficiency consultancy that helps companies implement his CPR® Business Efficiency Framework. Coming Up for Air and what Nick calls The CPR Framework is the culmination of Nick’s unique perspective on the value of time, efficiency, and automation which stems in part from the eight years he spent working as a high-frequency trader on Wall Street. The CPR Framework consistently results in greater output, less stress, happier employees, and the potential to gain an extra full day per week in productivity per person—just by using the right tools in the right way, at the right time. Nick and his team have worked with organizations of all sizes and across all industries, from high-growth startups to the Fortune 10. It is Nick's hope that this book will serve an invaluable tool for organizations of any size to stop drowning in work and start building efficiencies.Connect with Nick: LinkedinTwitterFacebookConnect with Erik:Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Support the show by checking out our sponsors!Make sure to grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist. A Shortcast is a 7-10 min version of the podcast where you get all the core takeaways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was excited to welcome Scott Allender to the show for a chat about one of my favorite tools for helping people establish their personality type and more importantly their unhealthy traits, The Enneagram. Scott is an expert in global leadership and organizational development. Along with co-hosting The Evolving Leader podcast, he regularly teaches Enneagram workshops and conducts typing interviews and emotional intelligence assessments for individuals and teams who seek to become more radically self-aware and cognizant of the impact they have on the world.Scott’s latest book, The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence - A Journey to Personal and Professional Success helps you chart a personality-specific path toward lasting emotional health and improved interpersonal relationships by integrating the nine types contained within The Enneagram with the essential skills of emotional intelligence. In this episode Scott unpacks the basic principles of The Enneagram while exploring how the integration of his principles on emotional intelligence help you to take the more general aspects of personality type and transform them into practical applications for improving your relationship towards yourself and others. Support the show by checking out our sponsors!Make sure to grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist. A Shortcast is a 7-10 min version of the podcast where you get all the core takeaways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was delighted to welcome Valerie Fridland to the show for a really fun conversation about her latest book, Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English. By exploring the dark corners every English teacher has taught us to avoid, Like, Literally, Dude redeems our most pilloried linguistic quirks, arguing that they are fundamental to our social, professional, and romantic success—perhaps even more so than our clothing or our resumes. It explains how filled pauses benefit both speakers and listeners; how the use of “dude” can help people bond across social divides; why we’re always trying to make our intensifiers ever more intense; as well as many other language tics, habits, and developments.In this chat Valerie and I discuss the origins of this great book and how the evolution of language has been rapidly accelerating alongside developments in technology and communication. Valerie helps to guide listeners through the history of some unique words and phrases while unpacking the etymology of the word Dude and how it can give us a glimpse into the history of masculinity and culture in the 19th and 20th century. In addition we discuss some of the more notorious quirks of language and speaking in the modern age and discover how idiosyncrasies such as Um and Uh are by no means “Bad English'' and can even benefit clarity and empathy in our everyday conversations.Valerie Fridland is a professor of linguistics in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno. She writes a popular language blog on Psychology Today called “Language in the Wild,” In addition her lecture series, Language and Society, is featured with The Great Courses. With a PhD in linguistics, Valerie is an expert on the relationship between language and society, her work has appeared in numerous academic journals and she is co-author of the book Sociophonetics. Support the show by checking out our sponsors!Make sure to grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist. A Shortcast is a 7-10 min version of the podcast where you get all the core takeaways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was excited to welcome Chip Conley to the show for a great conversation about wisdom and the transforming experience of being a “Modern Elder.” Chip is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Modern Elder Academy, the "world’s first wisdom school" dedicated to reframing aging and helping people navigate the second half of adulthood with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility. Conley founded and ran the highly successful boutique hotel chain Joie de Vivre for over 20 years before accepting, at age 52, a position as the in-house mentor to Brian Chesky, the youthful co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. At the time, Conley was twice the age of most of the employees at the rapidly-growing company. During his years working there, he discovered how sharing wisdom and swapping ideas with Chesky helped them both to thrive. He honed his own sense of purpose for his second half of life: “To build a community of inspired and empowered midlifers.”In this chat Chip and I trace his journey and discuss the power of what he calls metabolizing wisdom. We also discuss the need for finding purpose and the fact that people who feel aligned with their sense of purpose tend to live longer, and during those extra years of life they also generally are healthier, feel happier and are less lonely. This is a great conversation for people of all ages and is vital for anyone looking at the second half of adulthood and asking questions about how they can apply their unique skills and life experiences to a more enriching career path or period of mentorship.Support the show by checking out our sponsors!Make sure to grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist. A Shortcast is a 7-10 min version of the podcast where you get all the core takeaways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was delighted to welcome Gretchen Rubin back to the show for a great conversation about her new book, Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World. Gretchen has been on the show in the past and it’s always great to catch up with her and see what she has been researching or pondering, and this new book is no exception.In LIFE IN FIVE SENSES Gretchen’s revelatory journey of self-experimentation, she explores the mysteries and joys of the five senses as a path to a happier, more mindful life. Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature, and her own efforts to practice what she learns, she investigates the profound power of tuning into the physical world. From the simple pleasures of appreciating the magic of ketchup and adding favorite songs to a playlist, to more adventurous efforts like creating a daily ritual of visiting the Met and trying ayahuasca, Rubin shows us how to experience each day with depth, delight, and connection. In the rush of daily life, she finds, our five senses offer us an immediate, sustainable way to cheer up, calm down, and engage the world around us—as well as a way to glimpse the soul and touch the transcendent. Gretchen Rubin is one of today’s most influential observers of happiness and human nature. She’s the author of many books, including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers Outer Order, Inner Calm; The Four Tendencies; Better Than Before; and The Happiness Project. Her books have sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide, in more than thirty languages. She hosts the top-ranking, award-winning podcast “Happier with Gretchen Rubin,” where she explores practical solutions for living a happier life. Raised in Kansas City, she lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.Check Out Gretchen’s Previous Episode Support the show by checking out our sponsors!Make sure to grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist. A Shortcast is a 7-10 min version of the podcast where you get all the core takeaways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices