The Daily Helping

In this episode, we sit down with Sarah Benton, a licensed mental health counselor, alcohol and drug counselor, and the author of Understanding the High-Functioning Alcoholic and Parents in Recovery . Sarah brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to the conversation, sharing her own journey of recovery and the clarity it gave her as a therapist, parent, and advocate. Her work has been...

Kyle McDowell joins us for a deeply honest conversation about leadership, apathy, and the moment success stopped feeling meaningful. After nearly three decades leading massive teams inside Fortune 10 organizations, Kyle hit a wall that forced him to confront the culture he had helped create—and the leader he had become. That reckoning led to the creation of the Ten “We’s,” a set of principle-based...

This is Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Stephen G. Post, renowned researcher, author, and one of the world’s leading voices on altruism, compassion, and the science of love. As the founding director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University, Dr. Post has spent decades exploring how love, meaning, and generosity shape human flourishing. In...

In a time marked by social tension and cultural fragmentation, we welcomed Dr. Stephen G. Post—founding president of the Institute for Research on Pure Unlimited Love and director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine. With more than forty years of work exploring compassion at the intersection of science a...

Writer, historian, and Emmy Award–winning host John T. Edge joins us for a powerful conversation about identity, inherited stories, and the emotional resonance of food. Best known for True South and his acclaimed books—including House of Smoke , the focus of our discussion—John T. shares how growing up in a home steeped in Confederate mythology shaped his early worldview, and how his adult life be...

Professor, speaker, and transformation strategist Dr. Danielle McGeough joins us to explore a powerful reframe that can reshape the way we plan, work, and show up in our lives. Known for her Rise Ritual Method and her podcast “ Plan Goal Plan ”, Danielle helps high performers reconnect with their core identities, navigate transitions with clarity, and build intentional practices that support real,...

Pop culture commentator and YouTube creator Gary “Nerdrotic” Buechler joins us for one of the most candid conversations he’s ever shared publicly. Known for his massive presence on YouTube and Rumble, with millions tuning in for his unapologetic takes on fandom and culture. Gary opens up about the long, painful road that came before Nerdrotic. In his new book, Waiting for a Nerdrotic, he traces hi...

Licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and author Tonya Lester joins us to explore one of the most pervasive issues she sees in her practice: what happens when people stay silent for too long. Known for her Modern Love essay in The New York Times and her popular Psychology Today blog, Staying Sane Inside Insanity , Tonya has spent years helping individuals and couples navigate communica...

Award-winning keynote speaker, author, and career development expert Andy Storch returns to The Daily Helping to share transformative insights from his newest book, Own Your Brand, Own Your Career. Andy has spent years helping professionals step out of “reaction mode” and take ownership of how they show up in the world. In this conversation, he explains why personal branding is no longer optional—...

Award-winning strategy consultant and Harvard Business Review contributor Kyle Austin Young joins us to reveal the surprising math behind every success story. His new book, Success Is a Numbers Game: Achieve Bigger Goals by Changing the Odds , challenges the way we think about goals, risk, and achievement—showing that success is less about luck and more about probability. Kyle shares how being lai...

Dr. Sharon Livingston, best-selling author, speaker, and thought leader in qualitative research and career psychology, joins us to unpack how power and influence have evolved in the modern workplace. With over 30 years of experience interviewing more than 64,000 people---including executives at Fortune 100 companies---Dr. Livingston brings an unparalleled understanding of human behavior at work. H...

Claude Silver, the world’s first Chief Heart Officer at VaynerX, joins us to share how leading with empathy transforms teams and culture. Partnering with Gary Vaynerchuk for 11+ years, Claude has scaled “the honey empire”—kindness first, results second—and now distills her approach in her new book, Be Yourself at Work, out tomorrow. We explore Claude’s journey from struggling student to 93 days in...

Corporal Todd Nicely of the U.S. Marine Corps is one of the few modern veterans to survive catastrophic blast injuries that cost him both hands and both legs. Six months into his second deployment, an IED changed his life on March 26, 2010. Todd lets us in on what came next—first the grit of rehab fueled by a mission mindset, then the hard truth that life after the hospital brought isolation, grie...

We sit down with Joe Pardavila—radio veteran with more than 10,000 hours behind the mic on New York’s 95.5 PLJ’s Scott & Todd Morning Show and author of the bestseller Good Listen: Creating Memorable Conversations in Business and Life. Now a creator and producer of entrepreneur-focused podcasts, Joe brings a storyteller’s toolkit to modern communication: curiosity, humility, and genuine care f...

John O’Leary returns to The Daily Helping with a timely reminder born from extraordinary adversity. Burned across 100% of his body at age nine and given less than a 1% chance to live, John has since inspired millions as a keynote speaker and the bestselling author of On Fire and In Awe. Now, his story reaches the big screen in Soul on Fire, a feature film shot in the very St. Louis places where hi...

Ranae Van Roekel never imagined the word felon would be part of her identity. Yet after serving 36 months in federal prison for mail fraud, she refused to let that label define her. Instead, she used it as a turning point. A mother, grandmother, wife, and dog lover, Ranae is also the founder of Connecting to Cope , a platform designed to empower individuals with the tools, community, and support t...

Margaret Andrews—leadership expert and longtime Harvard instructor—joins us to share the MYLO framework: Manage Yourself to Lead Others. Her executive program has run for years with a loyal waitlist, and she’s distilled those lessons into her book, Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding. We explore her journey from hard feedback about “self-awareness” t...

We sit down with Wes Adams—CEO of SV Consulting Group and positive psychology researcher at UPenn—and Tamara Myles—speaker, author, professor, and researcher at UPenn—to unpack their new book, Meaningful Work. Together, they argue that what makes work feel worthwhile isn’t a lofty mission on a wall; it’s the daily experience we create. Their research shows leaders and environments account for near...

Valerie J. Walsh is a bestselling author, sought-after speaker, and transformational leader whose work turns personal tragedy into a mission to help others rise. Through her memoir Shattered to the Core and her follow-up, CoreAgeous, she invites us into the real work of healing—naming trauma, telling the truth, and leading from the heart. We explore her journey from fitness professional to aviatio...

We sit down with Dr. Reza Zahedi—civil engineer, international real estate leader, and author of Self-Made Maverick—whose story begins as a child refugee from Iran and evolves into a career built from scratch across Europe. What struck us wasn’t the highlight reel, but the mindset shift he credits for everything: believing he could build something from nothing and change his destiny despite the do...

Content Warning: This episode contains detailed accounts of domestic violence, emotional abuse, and the murder of a parent. It may be distressing or triggering for some listeners. Please use discretion and take care of yourself while listening. In part two of our conversation with filmmaker, podcaster, and speaker Collier Landry, we continue the extraordinary story that began when he was just 11 y...

Content Warning: This episode contains detailed accounts of domestic violence, emotional abuse, and the murder of a parent. It may be distressing or triggering for some listeners. Please use discretion and take care of yourself while listening. At just 11 years old, Collier Landry’s life was upended when his father murdered his mother. Refusing to remain silent, he gathered evidence, testified aga...

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Scott Hutcheson, a biosocial scientist and senior lecturer at Purdue University, whose work with hundreds of organizations has redefined how we understand leadership. Dr. Hutcheson’s new book, Biohacking Leadership, takes a unique look at how leadership is rooted in biology and behavior—demonstrating that how we feel at work is shaped less by the job itself and mo...

In this episode, we sit down with Melissa Swift, an innovative organizational consultant and the author of Work Here Now: Think Like a Human and Build a Powerhouse Workplace. Having worked with global giants like Mercer and Deloitte, Melissa brings a data-driven yet deeply human perspective to understanding what’s broken about modern work—and how we can actually fix it. Her book unpacks the three...

In this episode, we’re joined by Susanne Madsen, a globally recognized executive coach, award-winning author, and specialist in transformational leadership for complex organizations. With nearly 30 years of experience working with global leaders at companies like JP Morgan, Citigroup, and Lego, Susanne has dedicated her career to helping people rethink how they lead—and, more importantly, how they...