The Indigo Podcast

Do you feel compelled to work? Is your work difficult to stop thinking about? Are you upset if you have to miss a day of work? Do you tend to work beyond the actual requirements of your job? If so, you might be a workaholic–and so are almost half of U.S workers. Our guest today is Malissa Clark, author of Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture is Bad for Business –and How to Fix it. Malissa...

Love them or hate them, meetings are everywhere. But we really do need good meetings for teams and organizations to work. Steven Rogelberg is the world's top evidence-based expert on meetings. He's the author of the 2019 hit book The Surprising Science of Meetings and more recently, he wrote and published a new book, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings. It's a fascinating and useful l...

This episode is about loneliness--but it's also about so much more. The bigger issue has to do with building connections with each other and within a society that so often feels fragmented. So we do tackle loneliness in this episode, but building connections is the big theme of what we discuss. It's a topic that we see as absolutely critical for the flourishing of everyone both as individuals and...

Suzanne Lucas is the "Evil HR Lady." After a decade in corporate HR, she embarked on a new mission to enhance the world of work for all. She coaches and trains HR departments, speaks around the world, and is the mastermind behind the Evil HR Lady group on Facebook, which has become a community of more than 31,000 HR professionals. In this episode, we talked about the state of HR, the dangers of th...

What does it really take to be an effective senior leader? Beyond just getting promoted, what is it about people at higher levels that helps them genuinely succeed in those roles? In this episode, we explore: What skills people need to lead at different levels Paths toward gaining those skills, for both high-potential professionals and people currently in leadership roles Implications for people w...

Sam Paustian-Underdahl is the Mary Tilley Bessemer Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Department of Management at Florida State University's College of Business, and we were honored to have her join us for a fantastic conversation about women, work, and why this topic matters. Sam's research, which we discuss along with other related topics, focuses on gender and diversity in or...

Who are YOU, really? In this episode, Ben and Chris explore how "real" you should be at work and in other social circles, including:   The benefits and potential pitfall of authenticity How authenticity plays out in groups and organizations Implications for all of us, for leaders, and for organizations Links and Other Information Lehman, D. W., O'Connor, K., Kovács, B., & Newman, G. E. (2019). Aut...

It's common to hear people describe their work organizations as a "family." And that description is often made as a proud statement, as if to imply that an organization should operate or feel like a family. But that's problematic, as we discuss in this episode. Specifically, we explore: Why our use of metaphors for organization matters How the way in which we talk about things can create or reinfo...

Shonna Waters and Brodie Riordan recently wrote a book all about coaching called The Coaching Shift, and in it, they explain and describe coaching from an evidence-based perspective. Both Shonna and Brodie are industrial and organizational psychologists, and they teach coaching together at Georgetown University. Shonna is also an executive at BetterUp, where she works to scale human transformation...

Whether it's coping with unqualified people being promoted, working hard only to be rewarded with more hard work, supervisors getting away with being rude, or something else–we've all been there. Unfairness is common in life and at work, and our perceptions of fairness really matter. In this episode, we discuss:  Different types of "justice" or fairness in organizations Outcomes of fair and unfair...

The marvel cinematic universe, or MCU, comprises 29 films that together have pulled in $27.432 billion in total revenue. And industrial and organizational psychologists Gordon Schmidt and Sy Islam argue that there's plenty that we might learn from these films. In fact, they go deep into this topic in their book, Leaders Assemble: Leadership in the MCU. Tune into this great conversation about how w...

Few ideas in business are as commonly discussed as leadership. Just think about all of the business books and articles and videos and bits of advice–all dealing with this topic. And sometimes with common ideas we forget what exactly we're talking about. We're going back to the basics and talking about what is leadership, actually? In this episode, we discuss: What are we talking about when we talk...

The Vincent William Baran Day of Service is named after Ben's son, who died in a tragic accident in November 2020. The mission of the Day of Service is to bring joy, passion, empathy, and love to the world through an annual day of in-person service. In this episode, Ben and Chris discuss how everyone can get involved in the 2nd Annual Vincent William Baran Day of Service, which is set for Saturday...

When organizations hire managers they tend to look for experience in a similar role, or someone that might be able to take the team or organization to a higher level or a different strategic place. It's rare to come across hiring teams that select managers on a "does not drive their team crazy basis." And there are few management issues that people complain about as much as this one: micromanageme...

What would you do if you had everything you wanted? What if you didn't have to work and your life was perfect? What then? In this episode, we unpack our thoughts regarding: What does it mean to have "made it" in life and society? Why there's more beyond the struggle of life and why that matters How all of us might start or continue that journey and make the world better Links and Other Information...

A lot of what people know about leadership and organizations is based only on their own thoughts, observations, and maybe some pop psychology books. In our experience, much of what we hear people saying about leadership is just wrong. In this episode, we discuss: - How learning about leadership through unthoughtful observation doesn't work - How we might think about our leadership as a product tha...

Human resources (HR) does important work and has the potential to be a powerful force for organizational capability. At the same time, HR is rife with examples of non-evidence-based thinking. Quite simply, there are some big topics–like hiring–in which many HR professionals don't know what practices are supported by research and which ones aren't. In this episode, we discuss: - The "research-pract...

Erik Helzer is an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and he specializes in three facets of practical wisdom: ethical behavior and moral judgment, self-knowledge, and personal agency and adjustment. He joined us for a wonderful conversation, in which we discussed behavioral ethics and moral psychology, along with implications for all of us. Links and Other...

We recently released an episode about Joe Rogan. Some people HATED it. To be fair, some people liked it too. Since releasing that episode, we've thought a great deal about what we said, and we thought it was important enough–for you, our listeners, and because of the importance of the topic itself–to revisit this conversation. In particular, we'd like to explore some of the strongest reactions we...

Joe Rogan has almost 12 million subscribers on YouTube and a gigantic podcast audience. He's also at the epicenter of an evolving controversy that has to do with his content, his platform, and his exclusive deal with Spotify. In this episode, we discuss Joe Rogan and his role in the media landscape.  Links and Other Information Why is Joe Rogan so Popular? Article in The Atlantic   Spotify CEO Add...

It's great that women are filling college courses … and at the same time, it points to a potential problem with men. Or does it? In this episode, we explore:  - The decline of male college enrollment - Why we should care about this issue - Implications for parents, educators, and society Links and Other Information The Male Enrollment Crisis: article   Male College Completion: article Gender Gap i...

There's a lot of talk right now about the "great resignation" and the numbers of people leaving the workforce. Regardless of the nuances of that situation and whether or not it poses a problem for specific employers, the topic of keeping junior talent is one that seems particularly relevant right now. In this episode, we discuss: - Why do people stay in their jobs - What might be particularly impo...

For those of us living among other people–which is basically all of us unless you're a total hermit–it's natural to look around and notice other people. This is something called "social comparison." But it has both negative and positive outcomes for us. In this episode, we discuss:  - What social comparison is - How does social comparison work and what are its outcomes - Implications for people, l...

Everyone is talking about hybrid work, but there are some missing aspects to many of those conversations. In this episode, we discuss: - The phenomenon of hybrid work and the unfolding conversation - What critical considerations seem to be missing from that conversation  - Implications for people, leaders, and organizations Links and Other Information The effects of remote work on collaboration am...

Human resources or HR: Love it or hate it, it's the business function that deals with all of the messy "people stuff." HR people and HR as a function have tremendous potential for making businesses work better and helping people thrive. But there's this thing, "HR theater," that's everywhere. And that's not good. We discuss what HR theater is, why it exists, and what to do about it.  Links and Oth...