Learning Through Experience

In this episode, Heidi Brooks talks with Robin Dembroff who invites us to notice the confining, prescriptive categories we get boxed into and the opportunity to maybe name or nudge our way to a more enlivened self. Robin challenges us to see gender fundamentally as a verb rather than a noun–an active, ongoing process of "gendering" rather than an immutable, biological trait. By looking at the "win...

In this episode, Heidi Brooks and Zoe Chance invite you to step out of the transactional pursuit of influence and into the relational, visceral reality of self-influence through coaching.  Through their conversation, Heidi and Zoe take you on a journey to reframe coaching not as a corrective tool for fixing what is broken, but as an enlivening stance for everyday leadership and human connection. Y...

In this episode, Heidi Brooks and Gianpiero Petriglieri invite you to step out of the mechanical pursuit of efficiency and into the "beautiful problem" of being human in a professional world. Through their conversation, Heidi and GP take you on a journey to reframe your everyday experiences as moments of learning, curiosity, and choice. They guide you through the essential tension between converge...

In this season finale, we do something a little different. Instead of featuring an outside guest, we bring you behind the scenes—with the voices and minds who help design and deliver the very work this podcast explores. Dr. Heidi Brooks is joined by her colleagues David Tate and Stacey Casamassima for a candid, deeply human conversation that essentially doubles as a real team meeting. This is the...

What does it mean to create something that didn't exist before—and to do so with a sense of possibility, even in the face of constraint? In this episode, artist Mario Moore joins Dr. Heidi Brooks to reflect on art as agency, the power of process, and the untold stories behind his Yale-commissioned painting Black Governors . Together, they explore the tension between presence and invisibility, and...

In a time marked by anxiety, division and disconnection, the path forward lies not in fixing the past but in expanding our freedom to imagine what's next. In this episode of Learning Through Experience , Dr. Heidi Brooks is joined by Suzi Tucker, a writer, teacher and pioneer of Family Constellations work. Together, they explore how our personal and ancestral stories shape the patterns we repeat—a...

How can storytelling deepen our understanding of emotional connection in turbulent times? Join Heidi Brooks for a powerful and special episode of Learning Through Experience featuring returning guest Marc Brackett, along with filmmakers Horacio Marquínez and Kirill Myltsev. Together, they explore the extraordinary journey behind their documentary, America Unfiltered: Portraits and Voices of a Nati...

What does it take to cultivate joy—not as a fleeting feeling, but as a steady presence—even in times of deep uncertainty? In this luminous conversation, Dr. Heidi Brooks is joined by psychologist and author Emma Seppälä and artist Clara Nartey to explore the resilient, regenerative power of joy. With insights drawn from neuroscience, personal experience and artistic practice, Emma and Clara reflec...

What if the institutions we rely on—our workplaces, schools, and legal systems—aren't built for full participation? And what if real change starts not from the top, but in small, intentional spaces we create ourselves? In this episode Heidi Brooks and legal scholar and change-maker Susan Sturm explore the paradoxes of institutional transformation, and how facing uncertainty–rather than seeking to...

What if the challenges you're facing aren't obstacles—but invitations to grow? In this episode, Heidi Brooks and leadership expert Jennifer Garvey Berger explore how we grow through uncertainty, not just survive it. They also discuss why change is essential for leaders, how to turn everyday challenges into opportunities for growth and why embracing imperfection might be the key to thriving in an a...

Creative expression is essential for everyone—to think differently, connect deeply and thrive through uncertainty. In the Season 4 premiere of Learning Through Experience , Heidi Brooks welcomes Ivy Ross and Susan Magsamen, co-authors of Your Brain on Art , for a thought-provoking conversation about how engaging with art can help shape the way we learn, collaborate and navigate life's complexities...

Welcome to a new season of Learning Through Experience! This season will explore something that resonates deeply with everyone right now: facing uncertainty . My conversations are with a diverse array of exceptional guests who will talk with us about how they see and experience uncertainty through their lens. Together, we'll dig into the mindsets, practices and environments that allow us to learn,...

Thank you for tuning in this season on the Learning Through Experience podcast! In this season 3 reflection episode, I take a step back to reflect on the key themes, conversations, and experiences that shaped the show. This season featured several insightful and impactful conversations. I highlight discussions with guests like Lisa Lahey on overcoming change, Mark Brackett on emotional intelligenc...

Writing has the power to transport us to the depths of the human experience – to illuminate the joys, sorrows and complexities that make us who we are. In this captivating final episode of Learning Through Experience Season Three, Amy Bloom and I explore the transformative power of the written word. Amy, an acclaimed writer and psychotherapist, shares a poignant reading from her memoir "In Love,"...

Imagine a world where education isn't just about information but about inspiring awe—a spark that transforms learning into discovery. This episode of Learning Through Experience envisions this future where teaching and learning are more collaborative, experiential and empowering, for instructors and students alike. As my guest Jenny Frederick, director of Yale's Center for Teaching and Learning, e...

What if listening could change everything? This raw and captivating episode with guest Avi Kluger reveals how listening and the "space between" people can unlock new ways of seeing, feeling and transforming, and profoundly reshape how we lead, connect and grow.  A pioneering researcher in feedback and organizational behavior, Avi shares his personal journey to understand the power of listening and...

Learning through experience is dynamic, not static. As you'll hear in this episode with artist Kim Weston, her photography is a way of deepening understanding of ourselves and the world around us, seen and unseen.  Through compelling story and image, Kim takes us on a journey where each photograph tells a story of heritage, community and spirit. As she says, "Our ancestors are with us; the people...

Learning through experience requires us to shift from the purely intellectual to a more holistic engagement. I try to create that shift by opening each of my leadership classes with some form of art—a poem, a piece of music or a visual work. It's a way of helping my students, many of whom are management or law students, executives, or leaders in their fields, step out of their typical "brain-bound...

How do different emotions impact everyday life? And what are the kinds of experiences we want and need—in the classroom, at work, and in our own developmental trajectories—to be able to deepen our emotional wisdom so we can make better decisions and have healthier relationships? In this episode of Learning Through Experience, we dig deep into feelings with Dr. Marc Brackett. As he underscored duri...

How can we overcome change and learn to create a better experience at work—for ourselves and our teams? To launch us into Season Three of Learning Through Experience, my first guest explores with me the pedagogy of hope and transformation, focusing on interpersonal and group dynamics. As Dr. Lisa Lahey aptly put it during our conversation, "When we invest in our relationships and our own developme...

Welcome to a new season of Learning Through Experience! This season will echo the cadence of one of my popular courses here at Yale since it is a learning through experience pedagogy. My conversations are with brilliant guests who help us think about how we learn through interpersonal and group experience from their area of expertise. This podcast is not just for students though—it's for everyone...

Can a mindfulness practice help us at work? In a season focusing on how we learn through experience, I wanted to make sure that we heard about some of the social science that supports the practices. My guest on this episode has lived a fascinating life and has so much wisdom to share on this topic.  Lindsey Cameron is an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsy...

How can we change and transform the education system through leadership? The Broad Center at the Yale School of Management fosters the ideas, policies, and leadership to help all students in K-12 public schools — particularly those from underserved communities — to learn and thrive.  Broad is a stellar example of the unique mission of Yale SOM: educating leaders for business and society. Since I f...

This podcast season is all about the HOW of learning through experience. We learn through experience using four core practices: challenging your perspective, stretching and building range, directing your learning, reflection and inquiry. The core practice that we are paying attention to in this episode of Learning Through Experience is reflection and inquiry .  In this episode, I spoke with reflec...

This season we've been taking on HOW to learn through experience which fundamentally challenges the brain-bound assumption that learning starts and stays in the brain. We aren't so great at honoring the wisdom, expertise, and leadership that emerges from lived experience, but our own life may guide us – especially if we tap into learning practices, like reflection and challenging our perspective....