Kelly welcomes back NYU marketing professor Adam Alter to the podcast to talk about his new book,  “Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most.”  https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4131577/Adam_Alter_-_Anatomy_of_a_Breakthrough_2023-06-17-202617.64kmono.mp3 “People tend to get stuck in the middle.”  “The best way to be lucky is to persevere because luck overlaps with longevity.” “Most of the time, people overestimate the novelty of their ideas.” 

Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning & Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, connects with Marcus Collins, the head of strategy at Wieden+Kennedy and a clinical assistant professor of marketing at The Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, to discuss his new book: “For The Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, And Who We Want To Be.”  https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4130143/4130143_2023-06-13-173843.64kmono.mp3 “Culture is our everyday life.” “Trust is key. And where there is trust, love is right around the corner.” “Nothing is more emotional to us than us.” 

BONUS PODCAST: This bonus podcast was taped live at the Up Comedy Club at The Second City. Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning & Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, hosts a podcast taping with a stellar panel of guests to look at how comedy is an effective tool in the struggle for human rights. Presented by the MacArthur Foundation, Pillars Fund and The Second City. https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4128436/4128436_2023-06-07-212636.64kmono.mp3 “Comedy is not only cathartic, but it helps build resilience.” “There are a ton of really talented Native creatives in the industry, and that is part of the myth that we’re trying to bust here.” “If you are so scared to risk anything, you just end up paralyzing everything.”

Kelly sits down with Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University and the author of “Generations: The Real Difference Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents – and What They Mean for America’s Future.” https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4127689/4127689_2023-06-05-223829.64kmono.mp3 “Each generation is softer than the one before it.”  “The United States does not just have a growing income gape; it also has a growing happiness gap.”  “Older generations underestimate Gen Z at their peril.”

BONUS PODCAST: Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning & Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, welcomes the legendary Seth Godin back to the podcast to talk about his new book “The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams.” https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4124846/4124846_2023-05-26-160546.64kmono.mp3 “The work of significance embraces the very things that industrialism seeks to stamp out.” “What each revolution has in common is that it is inconvenient.” “Fear is an easy tool, but it rarely builds a resilient organization.”

Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning & Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, gets a lesson in both food and economics from Professor Ha-Joon Chang when they discuss his new book “Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World.” https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4124837/4124837_2023-05-26-155337.64kmono.mp3 “We Koreans don’t just eat garlic. We process it. In industrial quantities. We are garlic.” “This ‘invisibility’ of household work is such that we talk of ‘working mothers,’ as if mothers who stay at home do not work.” “Since the 1980’s, economics has become the British food scene before the 1990’s. One tradition – Neoclassical economics – has become the only item on the menu.”

Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning & Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, talks to facilitator, Neuro-Linguistic Programming Executive Coach, and Burnout Management Specialist Neelu Kaur about her new book, “Be Your Own Cheerleader: An Asian and South Asian Woman’s Cultural, Psychological, and Spiritual Guide to Self-Promote at Work.” https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4123348/4123348_2023-05-22-214848.64kmono.mp3 “We teach people how we want to be treated.”  “It’s quicker to change the mind with the body than it is with the mind.”  “American parents are perennial cheerleaders for their children in a way that Asian parents often are not.” 

Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning & Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, connects with University of Virginia psychologist Daniel T. Willingham to talk about his new book, “Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make it Easy.”  https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4121004/4121004_2023-05-15-223104.64kmono.mp3 “It may come as a surprise, but people can be mistaken about what they know.” “Anytime you multitask, you are distracting yourself.” “Feeling anxious is uncomfortable, but it’s not dangerous.” 

BONUS POD: Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning & Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, talks to Princeton historian Kevin Kruse about his new book “Myth America: Historians Take on The Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past.” https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4117005/4117005_2023-05-03-173305.64kmono.mp3 “American Exceptionalism has a double meaning.”“Political myths are never far from conspiratorial thinking.”“Few myths have the staying power and such a stranglehold on the American imagination than that of the Lost Cause.”  

Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning & Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, Kelly has a conversation with entrepreneur Surbhi Sarna who has a new book “Without a Doubt: How to Go From Underrated to Unbeatable.” https://serve.castfire.com/audio/4117005/4117005_2023-05-03-173305.64kmono.mp3 “Entrepreneurs are people who build their own ladders while also climbing them.” “Taking care of yourself is a demonstration that you do know your worth.” “Leaders need to be aware of power dynamics and create environments where a diverse set of people feel safe and respected.”