Second City Works presents "Getting to Yes, And"

Kelly welcomes author and researcher Tom Rath back to the podcast. At an early age, doctors told Tom he wouldn’t live past forty. As that date came and went, he began examining what it means to live a life well lived. We talk about that and his new book “What’s the Point: Turing Purpose Into Your Daily Superpower.” […]

Kelly speaks to Adam Morgan, Director of Brand Marketing at Twilio, where he leads global brand strategy for one of the world’s most influential developer-first technology companies. His work focuses on making complex infrastructure brands culturally relevant by blending creativity, clarity, and storytelling at scale. He is the author of “Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business.”  […]

Kelly sits down with Dr. Jeremy Levin, Executive Chairman and founder of Ovid Therapeutics, a public company focused on medicines for epilepsies and seizure-related brain disorders. He has a fantastic new book titled “Biotech in the Balance: Saving a Strategic Industry in an Age of Distrust.”  “Misinformation spreads faster than corrections.”  “Talented people learn that candor carries&#...

Kelly has a fascinating conversation with King’s College London professor Fay Bound-Alberti about her compelling new book, “The Face: A Cultural History.” “The idea that a commoner would have their image captured for posterity was unthinkable.”  “The average person today takes 450 selfies a year.”  “Most people in the past didn’t spend as much time looking at...

Kelly connects with Amy Kurtz, a patient advocate, health coach, and author of the trailblazing book “Kicking Sick: Your Go-To Guide for Thriving with Chronic Health Conditions.” Amy has been featured on Good Morning America, Oprah Daily, The Boston Globe, Fox and New York Magazine. She has a new book, “But You Look Fine: Trapped in the Hell […]

Kelly meets Daryl Davis, a noted musician who is even more widely known for his extraordinary journey seeking out conversations with members of the Ku Klux Klan – a feat made more astonishing when you learn that Daryl is a Black man. In this conversation, we learn why Daryl has made this work his life […]

Kelly welcomes Marcus Buckingham back to the podcast. For over 25 years, Marcus has been the world’s leading researcher on strengths, engagement, and human performance. He began his career at Gallup and was the co-creator, with Donald O. Clifton, of StrengthsFinder. He is a bestselling author with a brand-new book: “Design Love In: How to Unleash the Most […]

Nearly ten years ago, Kelly got connected with Stephanie Weaver, a speaking coach assigned to him for a TEDx-style talk in Chicago. Now, Stephanie has written a book, “Bitter, Sweet: How to Heal Yourself When Your Family is Broken.” Warning: this episode contains discussion of family sexual abuse. Please listen with care. “I help people […]

Kelly goes across the pond to speak to educator Daisy Christodoulou, whose provocative books on education take aim at a lack of teacher autonomy, fact-based curricula, and the misuse of technology in the classroom. “You cannot unscramble knowledge and skills.” “Modern technology can’t do the memorizing for us.” “Good readers are those who tend to […]

Acclaimed journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis joins Kelly to talk about his new book “You’ve Changed: The Promise and Price of Self-Transformation.” “Any identity is a kind of performance.” “Humans are broken meaning-making machines.”  “There’s no freedom without the perception of change.” 

Kelly welcomes Leidy Klotz back to the podcast, where they last talked about his book, “Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less.” He has a new book, “In a Good Place: How the Spaces Where We Live, Work, and Play Can Help Us Thrive.” “Our inner and outer worlds are inseparable.” “Many books tell us how […]

Kelly talks with Erik LeDrew, a photojournalist and US Army veteran who transitioned from the chaos of combat to the chaos of filmmaking. He wrote and co-directed “Alex vs. ARod” for HBO, a fantastic documentary that looks at the life and career of baseball great Alex Rodriguez.  “Once you do something like join the US […]

Kelly sits down with Jake Braun, who has worked at the intersection of politics, national security, and foreign policy for over two decades and was appointed to prominent roles in the Obama and Biden administrations. He wrote the book “Democracy in Danger,” and he has a new book, “Fentanyl: Fighting the Mass Poisoning of America […]

Kelly connects with Dr. Khameer Kidia, a writer, physician, and anthropologist at Harvard Medical School and University of Zimbabwe. A Rhodes Scholar and 2023 New American Fellow, Dr. Kidia has worked on global mental health research practice, and advocacy for the last decade. He has a new book, “Empire of Madness: A Physician’s Case for […]

Kelly speaks with Erin McGoff, an award-winning filmmaker and content creator – known as the “internet’s big sister” through her AdviceWithErin branding. She received a Pulitzer Fellowship in 2017 and was named a Forbes 30 under 30 recipient in 2025. She has a new book: “The Secret Language of Work: Hyper-Helpful Scripts for Every Situation.” […]

Kelly connects with Julia Minson, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School. She is a behavioral scientist with extensive research experience in conflict, communication, negotiations, and decision-making. She has a new book: “How to Disagree Better.” 

Kelly talks to Joe Pine, an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and management advisor to Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial start-ups alike. He is a co-founder of Strategic Horizons LLP, a thinking studio dedicated to helping businesses conceive and design new ways to add value to their economic offerings. He is the co-author of the best-seller “The Experience […]

Kelly spends time with Jane Marie Chen, a globally recognized entrepreneur, inventor, speaker, and leadership coach. She is the co-founder of Embrace, which developed an infant incubator that has helped to save over a million babies. Jane has been a TED fellow and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She has a new memoir, “Like […]

Kelly talks to Jenny Raymond from the Harnish Foundation and Julie Dumais Osborne from The Second City Training Center to talk about a new partnership that offers free improv-based leadership training for girls in grades 3 through 8 in Chicago called Funny Girls. The best part: IT’S FREE! For more information or to sign up […]

Kelly welcomes futurist Bob Johansen back to the podcast to discuss his book “Navigating the Age of Chaos.” Bob introduces us to the term BANI, which describes the world we live in now: Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible. Spoiler alert – improvisation is a skill one needs to navigate this world. “In the mid-2010’s, everything […]

Kelly talks to Harvard professor Leslie John, whose research into self-disclosure provides a rich source of insights into how we can better build relationships, foster connection, and lead a more purposeful life when we are willing to be vulnerable and share details of our lives with others. “If in doubt, transparency is the safer bet.”  […]

In this engaging conversation, Kelly connects with Paul Eastwick to discuss his new book, ‘Bonded by Evolution,’ exploring misconceptions about love and connection. He critiques the outdated ‘Evo script’ that shapes our understanding of attraction and relationships, emphasizing the impact of modern dating practices. Eastwick highlights the fluidity of attraction, the import...

Journalist Kate Murphy has a compelling conversation with Kelly about her new book “Why We Click: The Emerging Science of Interpersonal Synchrony.” In this conversation, Kelly and Kate find a direct line between improvisational training and the kind of synchrony that leads to better relationships, more effective teams and the superpowers that flow from human […]

In this conversation, Kelly welcomes best-selling author Daniel Coyle back to the podcast. His new book, “Flourish: The Art of Building Meaning, Joy and Fulfillment,” emphasizes the significance of meaningful moments in life, particularly in fostering relationships and collaboration. He discusses how these moments often occur during ritual-like pauses where individuals reflect on their...

Kelly talks to former Obama White House EPA official Judith Enck, whose new book is called  “The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late.”  “Don’t microwave food in plastic.”  “Plastics are on track to surpass coal emissions in the United States.”  “Get rid of all black plastic in your kitchen.”