Glossophobia, is the fear of public speaking and it’s believed to affect about 75% of people across the globe.  With this in mind, think about how critical being able to speak to an audience, to customers, to teammates, in any working environment is. It’s why communication skills are in such high demand in organizations, and why today’s guest is particularly important. Matt Abrahams is an instructor and lecturer at Stanford University, and author of “Speaking Up Without Freaking Out: 50 Techniques for Confident and Compelling Presenting.” He was the co-founder of Silicon Valley based coaching group BoldEcho and is the founder of Think Fast Talk Smart - The Podcast. Matt has been studying and practicing the art of communicating for over 25 years, and after helping companies like Twitter, Google, and even the U.S. Army coach their members to be better communicators, Matt has compiled all of his experience in his latest book, “Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot.” We caught up with Matt to dive headfirst into the book, and cover some of the biggest pain points around speaking, things people often overlook, and what the dawn of AI means for our ever evolving communication styles. This is another episode you’re not going to want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!

For as long as work has existed, new technologies have been a double edged sword for the workforce, making some jobs easier to do and making others obsolete. With data collection, computer processing, automation, and generative AI being implemented daily within our workforce, this issue has never been more apparent than today. Educators and authors Dr. Anna Tavis and Stela Lupushor are at the forefront of the fight for human capital, to make sure that technology is set to enhance the worker experience, not to replace it. Dr. Anna Tavis is Clinical Professor and Academic Director of Human Capital Management Department at NYU School of Professional Studies, Senior Fellow with the Conference Board, and the Academic in Residence with Executive Networks. She is a former Executive Editor of People+Strategy Journal, a publication of SHRM’s Executive network and is currently an Associate Editor of Workforce Solutions Review of IHRIM. Stela Lupushor is an Adjunct Faculty Adjunct Faculty at the NYU School of Professional Studies. She is also a Senior Fellow in Human Capital Center and the Program Director for The Conference Board Strategic Workforce Planning Council, and leads Reframe.Work Inc. where she consults on how to create inclusive workplaces through the use of technology, human-centered design, people analytics, and future-thinking. Previously Stela consulted at Fidelity Investments, TIAA, IBM, Price Waterhouse, and PwC Consulting.  Together, the pair have combined their vast amount of experience in the HR world to write their book, Humans at Work: The Art and Practice of Creating the Hybrid Workplace where they’ve compiled all their strategies on how to develop a human centric workforce that uses technology to help improve their people, and ultimately, the way they do business. This is another podcast you’re not going to want to miss, especially with stories about the impact of AI dominating the headlines almost everyday, so with that…let’s bring it in!

One of the biggest challenges of leading any team, is being able to coach the individuals in an organization, as well as coach the team that those individuals make up. A number of sports encapsulate this coaching challenge, and golf, is probably one of the best examples of it. That’s what led us to our conversation with today’s guest, Coach Anne Walker. Coach Anne is the Margot and Mitch Milas Director of Women’s Golf at Stanford, has two (2015 and 2022) NCAA Championship titles under her belt, 2x WGCA National Coach of the Year, and 3x Pac-12 Coach of the Year. Upon her appointment to Stanford in 2012, she had an immediate, and profound effect on the Stanford golf program, with 39 full-field victories to her name, and produced 28 (and counting) All-American women’s golf athletes. We wanted to sit down and have a conversation with Coach Walker about what it takes to transform, and lead a program in a highly competitive field with some of the biggest churn out of any field. And it doesn’t come down to any secret drill, or running long and hard practices: but relationships and understanding. This is another episode you’re not going to want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!

AAAAAAAARRRRRRR MATEY! We’re still talking about pirates on the podcast, because there's just too much treasure to dig up here. Today, we’re looking at the “sequel” to “Be More Pirate” with the aptly named “How to Be: More Pirate” by our guest, Alex Barker. Alex graduated from Kings College in 2008 and after pursuing an MA in Conflict Resolution studies, began backpacking around the Middle East which eventually led to her working at Global Citizen, and then came to the Royal Society of Arts as a community manager. Eventually she began freelance writing, where she came upon (last week's guest) Sam Conniff’s Be More Pirate, and was inspired to join his team in 2019. Since then, as Conniff described, Alex has gone from his “right hand pirate” to “full time pirate” spearheading the Be More Pirate movement. It led to How to Be: More Pirate, which chronicles the strategies and stories of “modern day pirates” from healthcare workers to startups, and the How To Be: More Pirate Podcast, and to a bona-fide social movement that spans the globe. With looking at lessons from the history of old school pirates, to new modern day “pirates” this is another episode of the podcast you’re not going to want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!

Steve Jobs once said, ‘I’d rather be a Pirate than be in the Navy.’ He believed it so much that often, the Skull and Crossbones would be flown at Apple HQ, so what can businesses learn from pirates? Our guest today, Sam Conniff is here to answer that with his book, Be More Pirate.  Sam is a multi-company founder from the UK, starting with Don’t Panic London, a creative agency that he founded out of his bedroom when he was 20 years old in 1997. Since then he’s gone on to co-found a youth centered marketing agency Livity, and it’s sister company Digify Africa, as well as to produce and present content on BBC 4 and Netflix. Sam has gone on to speak and consult with major companies around the world such as Google, Salesforce, Mercedes-Benz, Coca-Cola and more, bringing his insights from over 25 years in the startup world, and lessons learned from those “living on the edges”. During the Golden Age of Piracy, as Sam goes on to uncover in his book, pirate crews were some of the most democratic and diverse teams in the world, where leadership, teamwork, and absolute trust in culture decided whether or not a crew scored some treasure, or sunk to the bottom of the sea. ‘Tis is one of the most unique conversations we’ve had on the podcast, so with that…let’s bring it in!

Today’s a very special episode of the Bring It In podcast, as we’ve got not one, but two returning guests and friends of the podcast!  First we’ve got John O'Sullivan, a member of the 1990 Patriot League Championship team, the former executive director of Oregon Rush Soccer Club, and founder of the Changing the Game Project, as well as the author of the “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes, and Giving Youth Sports Back to our Kids” book. He’s joined by Dr. Jerry Lynch, founder of Way of Champions, author of a ton of books like “The Competitive Buddah: How to Up Your Game in Sports, Leadership and Life” and “Let Them Play: The Mindful Way to Parent Kids for Fun and Success in Sports” ex-Navy Officer, sports psychologist, speaker, athlete, and has coached super stars in the sports world like Phil Jackson, Steve Kerr, and Kobe Bryant. These two superstars have teamed up to add another book into their already impressive collection of written works, “The Champion Teammate: Timeless Lessons to Connect, Compete and Lead in Sports and Life” that compiles decades of championship winning experience into a book that focuses on how to develop winning, healthy, and caring teams at a time when most organizations are in disarray. This is another one you’re not going to want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!

It’s World Cup Season and if you’ve caught the past few games, you’ve probably seen a few former players from the UCLA Bruins on the field, coached by the great Margueritte Aozasa.  Coach Margueritte is the 6th head coach in UCLA women's soccer history and only one of five Asian American women currently serving as a head coach for a NCAA women's soccer team. She previously coached Stanford to great success during her seven seasons (2015-21), helping guide the Cardinals to the NCAA Championships in 2017 and 2019 and Pac-12 titles from 2015-19. The 2018 team also reached the College Cup.  Margueritte Aozasa made history in 2022, becoming the first rookie head coach and first woman of color ever to win the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, in an epic match against the UNC Tar Heels. We talked with Coach about her journey to becoming one of the youngest high performance coaches in the NCAA, and the importance of trust and preparation in her team, especially when things get tough. This is another episode you’re not going to want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!

While there are specific skills that go into doing any job, being able to learn by doing and make it up as you go along, is a skill a lot of workers need to have in today's market. With 80% of Americans in a job where they’ve had little to no training for, a surprising skill is becoming more and more important for workers every day: the ability to improvise. Patricia Ryan Madson is a longtime professor Emerita from Stanford University’s theater department. During her time at the university, she founded the Creative Initiative course and the Stanford Summer Improvisation School. She’s been a speaker, coach, and advisor for multiple tech giants in the Silicon Valley area, such as Adobe, Google, and Apple.  We wanted to catch up with Patricia to talk about her book “Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up,” and how theater skills like improvisation, empathy, and gratitude are imperative for business leaders in today's complicated workforce. In a time when only 15% of workers are engaged, leaders need to find a way to do more with less, and the secrets to that may just lie in some of the oldest theater practices in the world. This is another episode you’re not going to want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!

Words like desperation, rock bottom, and adversity probably don’t inspire the best of feelings in people. But for Todd Burnham, embracing these extremes has led him to become one of the most successful litigators in the country. A two-time All American NCAA Lacrosse Star from Hobart College and graduate from Albany Law School, Todd is the founding partner of Burnham Law, one of the top rated law firms in the country with offices spread across the Western United States. He’s also the host of the Deep Bench Podcast, and author of the book “Comeback: Epic Rebound Strategies for Personal or Business Adversity.” Starting from a basement practice, Todd has built a career around intensely focused service, not just to his clients, and to those he coaches, but to his immediate community. Todd is a member of the Executive Board of Directors for the nonprofit organization Von’s Vision, providing low-income Denver youth with corrective eyewear and quality eye care. He is a former executive board member of the nonprofit Boulder Interdisciplinary Committee, a team of professionals focused on educating and supporting individuals working in the family law arena. We caught up with Todd to talk about his practice, his book, and how with the right mindset, embracing desperation, rock bottom, and adversity can actually help you build (or re-build) you and your company, into a stronger, more resilient group. This is another episode you’re not going to want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!

Today, we’re living in the loneliest time in history. Despite the marketing campaigns from major social media companies claiming to be able to connect with one another, technology, globalization, and urbanization have driven humanity at large to be more isolated, disconnected, and disengaged than any other time in human history. Charles Vogl has made it his mission to help reconnect us and to build better communities. Charles served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Sub-Saharan Africa where he worked on justice for human rights abuse and providing rural health care for his host village. Later he created Broken English Productions documentary film company in NYC. His PBS projects won numerous international awards, including the Amnesty International Movies That Matter Award. He then began advising and developing leadership and programs worldwide within organizations including Google, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Twitch, Amazon, and the US Army. Over the course of his work, Charles has authored numerous books such as, “Building Brand Communities: How Organizations Succeed by Creating Belonging,” “Storytelling for Leadership: Creating Authentic Connections” and the book that we wanted to chat to Charles about, “The Art of Community: Seven Principles for Belonging.” Charles sat down with us to discuss the consequences of the epidemic of loneliness in America, and how you foster a strong community through connection, boundaries, and genuine care.  At a time when only 15% of workers are engaged at work, and layoffs are sweeping across industries, it’s more important than ever to create strong communities within the workspace.  So, with that…let’s bring it in!