Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

Most of us think of negotiation as something reserved for high-stakes boardrooms—or even hostage situations. But Christopher Voss, former FBI lead hostage negotiator and bestselling author of Never Split the Difference, says negotiation is everywhere: in salary talks, in team meetings, even in conversations with your kids.  In this episode from the Hello Monday archives, Jessi Hempel sits down wit...

We tend to talk about AI and the future of work as a young person's game. Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, CEO of AARP, is here to challenge that notion. A physician turned healthcare executive turned nonprofit leader, she joins Jessi in the studio to talk about ageism, AI, and what it means to not just stay relevant, but to move ahead, in the second half of a working life.  In this episode, Jessi and D...

“It’s not your fault.” This is the message Alissa Quart has spent over a decade trying to get people to believe when it comes to economic hardship. Right now, it feels harder than ever to embrace. Alissa Quart is the executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, the nonprofit Barbara Ehrenreich built after writing her groundbreaking exposé Nickel and Dimed. A journalist herself, A...

We've built an economy that rewards destroying value. Eric Ries wants to know how we got here, and whether we can build our way out. Eric wrote The Lean Startup in 2011 and helped define a generation of entrepreneurs. Since then, he's watched promising, mission-driven companies get hollowed out, and he thinks he knows exactly why. His new book, Incorruptible: How Good Companies Go Bad and How Grea...

Joanna Stern spent a year using AI to do (almost) everything: write her emails, analyze  her medical records, text her wife, drive her around, and even fold her laundry. The result is her new book, I Am Not a Robot, which documents what she learned testing AI as a journalist, a parent, and a newly independent founder. Joanna spent over a decade as a tech reporter at The Wall Street Journal before...

Comedy writer Jenny Hagel has six Emmy nominations. The other week, she wrote 20 jokes. One made it to television. She doesn’t see this as failure, though. It’s the nature of the job. And it might offer the most useful career lesson you'll hear all year. Jenny is a writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where she also regularly appears on camera in the popular segment Jokes Seth Can’t Tell. She is...

Lesbian bars aren’t just nightlife, they’re evolving spaces of community and chosen family, and they have a special place in Jessi Hempel’s heart. On this bonus episode, Jessi sits down with one of Hello Monday’s own producers,  Rachel Karp, to talk about her new book The Lesbian Bar Chronicles: The Living History and Hopeful Future of America's Dyke Dives and Sapphic Spaces.  Rachel’s journey sta...

We're trained to climb ladders and chase titles, but what if the real metric of career success was the positive impact you have on the world? In this episode from the Hello Monday archives, host Jessi Hempel sits down with Rutger Bregman to explore moral ambition—a framework for building a career based on what positive impact you can have on the world.  Rutger's groundbreaking book, Moral Ambition...

Rituals work. They help us make meaning, process transition, and connect with each other. That’s why we’ve been doing them for more than 300,000 years. So why, in this century, have we largely abandoned them?  This week, bestselling author, repeat Hello Monday guest, and longtime friend Bruce Feiler joins us in the studio to talk about his new book, A Time to Gather: How Ritual Created the World a...

You might think the biggest, most prestigious job is always the right career move. Patty Stonesifer — founding CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and an early Amazon board member — says that’s exactly the wrong way to decide what to do next. So what should guide your career? In this special episode from WorkLife with Molly Graham, Patty shares the nine-word personal mission statement she’s...

We talk a lot about what technology is doing to our minds. But what about everything below the neck? This week, Jessi is joined by Manoush Zomorodi, host of NPR's TED Radio Hour and author of Body Electric: The Hidden Health Costs of the Digital Age, and New Science to Reclaim Your Wellbeing. Unfortunately, a killer workout or a standing desk won’t save us from the long-term health consequences of...

Work has always been demanding, but lately, it feels like the ground is constantly shifting. Business is moving faster, projects disappear overnight, expectations change without warning. Under pressure, teams see more tension and uncomfortable moments. So how do you stay steady through these times and even use workplace tensions to grow and improve? This week on Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel talks wi...

Work can feel a little surreal. Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat makes that feeling literal. In this episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Lee Eisenberg, writer and co-creator of the Jury Duty franchise, and Nick Hatton, executive producer, to talk about the hit series. The show’s premise is simple but radical: one real person dropped into a completely staged world, surrounded by...

When was the last time you felt truly bored? And when was the last time your life felt genuinely meaningful? For Harvard social scientist Arthur Brooks, those two questions are more connected than you might think. This week on Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Arthur Brooks — professor at Harvard Business School, bestselling author, and one of the most compelling thinkers on happiness and...

Finding your path to a meaningful career has never felt more complicated. The job market is entirely unpredictable, AI is reading your resume, and entire industries seem to be disappearing.  It’s a particularly uncertain moment to be entering the workforce for the first time. This week on Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel talks with Jodi Kantor about navigating the early years of a career.  Jodi is one o...

If you feel like your attention span has shrunk, you’re not imagining it. According to social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, our phones and social platforms have fundamentally reshaped childhood, work, and our ability to focus. In his bestselling book The Anxious Generation, Jon argues that the rise of smartphones and social media triggered what he calls the “great rewiring of childhood.” But the co...

Do you think of your beliefs as immutable facts? If so, you might be holding yourself back. In this episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Nir Eyal, bestselling author whose work sits at the intersection of psychology, technology, and human potential. His latest book, Beyond Belief, explores how the stories we tell ourselves shape our motivation, and how changing those stories can ch...

Women spend nearly a decade more of their lives in poor health than men. It’s a gap that doesn’t just affect individuals, it holds back entire organizations. This week on Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Melinda French Gates, philanthropist and founder of Pivotal, and Regina E. Dugan, President and CEO of Wellcome Leap, to unpack the health disparities impacting women at work, and explore...

AI is reshaping industries and jobs faster than most of us can keep up. But futurist Amy Webb argues we have more control over what lies ahead than we might think.  In today’s episode, Jessi Hempel sits down with Amy, founder and CEO of the Future Today Strategy Group and one of the world’s leading experts on strategic foresight. For nearly two decades, Amy’s annual tech trends report has helped l...

What skill is most critical in a world defined by constant change? Leadership coach and author Liz Tran believes it’s AQ, or agility quotient. In this episode of Hello Monday, host Jessi Hempel sits down with Liz to explore why traditional measures of intelligence like IQ and even EQ may matter less in today’s AI-powered, rapidly evolving workplace. Instead, Liz argues that what really predicts su...

Hot flashes. Brain fog. Sleepless nights. For too long, we’ve mislabeled midlife women’s health as burnout, anxiety, or a loss of ambition. But what if the real issue isn’t performance — it’s hormones? In this episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel talks with Joanna Strober, founder and CEO of Midi Health, about menopause, perimenopause, hormone therapy, and power at work. Together, they unpack how...

Be yourself. That’s the advice we give graduates, job seekers, and leaders. But what if it’s wrong? In this episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with organizational psychologist and author Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic to interrogate one of the most popular ideas in modern career advice: authenticity at work. Tomas is the Chief Talent Scientist at ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psycho...

Rest is essential. It’s like food or water; without it, we die. As today’s guest points out though, it’s also a sacred practice. In today’s rerun conversation, originally held live on Hello Monday’s Office Hours, Octavia Raheem joins Jessi Hempel to talk about, and to practice, rest. Octavia Raheem is a rest coach, yoga and meditation teacher, and author. Her latest book is called Rest is Sacred:...

AI didn’t decide to reshape work. People did. And that distinction matters more than we like to admit. Dr. Rumman Chowdhury says the real story isn’t about machines replacing humans. It’s about the choices people in power are making—and the agency the rest of us still have. In today’s episode, Jessi Hempel and Rumman unpack what responsible AI really means, why fear is the wrong default reaction,...

Every day is filled with negotiations. Here’s how to start winning them. Any conversation that has a want or a need is a negotiation. It's critical to approach even the low stakes negotiations with the same tools that will win high stakes conversations. But what if the key to better outcomes isn’t pushing harder, but listening better? In today’s episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with...