The Lift

“You're not a good fit.”  “The company's going in a different direction.” Every manager thinks these phrases are legally safe. But according to attorney James Bryton, they're basically an engraved invitation to a lawsuit. And a lot could be avoided if leaders took a different approach to letting people go. This is part two of our two-part series about letting people go with empathy and dignit...

Most leaders know when someone isn't working out, for months – sometimes years. So why does it take so many of them so long to do anything about it? Dr. Dennis Davis has a theory, and it has a lot more to do with the manager than the employee. This is part one of our two-part series about letting people go with empathy and dignity.  Topic Highlights: – The real cost of the “performing-at-35%-...

How do you work with people you genuinely can't stand? Not someone who rubs you the wrong way in a meeting. Someone on the opposite side of your moral compass. Adam Kahane has spent 35 years finding that answer in some of the most intractable conflicts in modern history. His conclusion? You don't blow the system up. You find the cracks. Topic Highlights: – The simple tool for moving from blame to...

What's the fastest way to kill any chance of actually moving the needle on a big, complex project? According to longtime NYC power broker Kathryn Wylde, it's defensiveness.  Kathryn knows this because she spent 50 years dragging billionaires, union bosses, and city officials into the same room and getting them to agree on the best way forward. And she’s here to share how she did it. Topic Hig...

People with a best friend at work are *seven times* more likely to be engaged in their jobs. Yet most leaders spend zero budget, zero strategy, and zero intentional effort on workplace friendships.  Tom Rath has done the research to understand the power of friendship at work, and how leaders can better foster it.  Topic Highlights: – Why Gallup's employee engagement prompt "I have a best...

Here’s a scorching hot take: modern workplaces make it nearly impossible for employees to forge real connections. But according to third space culture expert Adam Tanaka, it’s not the connections themselves that are impossible – it’s the space where they’re (not) happening in. So we took this episode into a wood-fired Finnish sauna pop-up on the Brooklyn waterfront to test his theory.  Topic...

No one loves a genuine truth bomb more than kids – unfiltered, no social contract, no concern for how it will land. Ginny McCormick has spent her career figuring out what that kind of radical honesty, and the play that produces it, can teach the rest of us. Turns out the principles that work in the playroom work just as well in the boardroom. We just forgot them somewhere along the way. Topic High...

When was the last time someone on your team told you something you didn't want to hear? If you have to think about it, you have your answer (too long ago). Too many leaders have spent their entire careers avoiding conflict, and now they're running teams where nobody tells them anything useful, nothing real gets decided, and everyone is very, very pleasant about it. According to Amy Gallo, this isn...

During World War II, the Office of Strategic Services published a manual teaching ordinary citizens how to sabotage the enemy from within. One of the tactics: hold unproductive meetings.  Nearly a century later, Dr. Rebecca Hinds is dedicating her career to studying why meetings fail – and what it actually costs when they do. Topic Highlights: – The WWII sabotage manual that became standard b...

Roughly 75% of the global workforce has a faith identity that shapes how they work, when they need time off, and whether they feel like they can truly show up. Reverend Mark Fowler isn't asking leaders to get a theology degree. He's simply asking them to be a better host. Topic Highlights: – How religion is already happening at work – usually in quiet corners and over lunch – and what leaders are...

Many business relationships can’t seem to get out of transactional mode. That’s why Marco Ziegler flew almost 100,00 miles in one year – not to close deals, but to show up for his clients. There's a difference, and that’s the whole point. Marco has a formula for this philosophy. And it’ll make you reconsider how you think about client relationships.  Topic Highlights: – The Trust Equation: fo...

One in five Americans has a learning or thinking difference, and 53% of Gen Z identifies as neurodivergent. That means neurodivergent employees are already on your team, whether you know it or not. Nathan Friedman isn't here to make this a DEI checkbox issue. He's here to make it a business case. Topic Highlights: – Why the best neuroinclusive management practices are just...good general mana...

Charles King has been arrested more than 300 hundred times. Not because he's reckless – quite the opposite, in fact: because he's strategic. As the CEO of Housing Works, he's spent 35 years cycling between courtrooms, legislative offices, protest frontlines, and memorial services, doing whatever it takes to pull whichever lever of power any given moment demands. His thesis: it's all advocacy. It's...

Most brands don’t fail because they’re ugly. They fail because they’re unclear about the most fundamental question: what is our purpose? Éva Goicochea has built a category-defining company, maude, in one of the most taboo industries in business: sexual wellness. She did that by stripping the “brand” down to one thing: clarity.  Simply put, if you can’t say what you are in one sentence, you do...

In this episode of The Lift, Ben is joined by Margaret Andrews, Harvard professor of executive education programs on leadership, emotional intelligence, and self-management, founder of The MYLO Center, and author of Managing Yourself to Lead Others . Key takeaways:  Self-awareness is the foundation of great leadership Emotional intelligence matters more than many leaders realize, particularly...

In this episode of The Lift, Ben is joined by Robbie Hammond – Co-Founder of The High Line, a beloved elevated park and greenway in NYC – and the global president of Therme Group, a company centered on urban wellbeing. Key takeaways:  Break big, long-term visions into small, self-contained projects that show progress and keep you motivated Tenacity matters more than perfect conditions, especi...

In this episode of The Lift, Ben is joined by Kut Akdogan – entrepreneur, strategist, and Managing Partner at Gaussian Holdings – to explore how leaders can build strategy in a world defined by uncertainty, rapid change, and AI disruption. Key takeaways:   Why humans are wired to resist uncertainty – and how leaders can work with that wiring instead of against it How to define a clear “North...

In this episode of The Lift, Ben is joined by Keziah Wonstolen, founder and CEO of Vannin Chief of Staff. A former management consultant and Chief of Staff (CoS) herself, Keziah is passionate about transforming how modern leaders work through optimizing the role of the CoS. Key takeaways:  Why so many CEOs feel like they’re “drowning” and how a Chief of Staff can give them back hours each wee...

In this episode of The Lift, Ben is joined by Sachin Shivaram, the first non-family CEO of the nearly 110-year-old Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry. Sachin is also an adjunct faculty member at the Schneider School of Business at St. Norbert College and serves on the boards of half a dozen companies and organizations, including the Green Bay Packers. Key takeaways:  Community leadership isn’t a dist...

This week on The Lift, Ben is joined by meditation expert and teacher Michael Miller, founder of New York Meditation Center and London Meditation Center (and the first person to teach Ben to meditate 15 years ago).  Key takeaways:  Why practicing real meditation over simply going for a run is more powerful for stress relief and anxiety management There are three main types of meditation,...

This week on The Lift, Ben is joined by Justin Kerr, also known as “the efficiency monster,” a former senior executive at brands like Levi’s, Uniqlo, Old Navy, and Gap. Justin is the author of the “survival guide” How-To series ( How to Cry at Work, How to Quit Your Job, How to Write an Email, and How to Be a Boss ). Key takeaways:  Over-communication at work reduces anxiety and “status check...

This week on The Lift, Ben is joined by Sir Andrew Likierman, professor of Management Practice in Accounting at London Business School and the author of Judgement at Work: Making Better Choices .  Key takeaways:  Good judgment is a learnable leadership skill, not intuition or instinct Applying judgment principles requires context and flexibility, not rigid rule-following Awareness of per...

This week on The Lift , Ben is joined by Mita Mallick, leadership strategist and the author of The Devil Emails at Midnight: What Good Leaders Can Learn From Bad Bosses (and also a self-proclaimed former bad boss).  Key takeaways:  Bad bosses are created, not born: Toxic leadership behaviors often emerge under stress, pressure, and unexamined power rather than from personality alone Mana...

This week on The Lift, Ben is joined by Helen Tupper, the CEO and co-founder of Amazing If and the author of Squiggly Careers and Learn Like a Lobster .  Key takeaways:  Learning is a core leadership skill, not a side project Vulnerability accelerates learning and leadership growth Personalized, “squiggly” career paths drive engagement and adaptability Turning off autopilot improves lear...

Welcome to The Lift, the show about leadership, growth, and getting what we want. On The Lift, we pull up to see the bigger picture from accomplished leaders who know how to get things done in a rapidly changing world. Host Ben Brooks dives deep into a relevant leadership topic each episode and connects the dots to leave you with powerful distinctions that you can use as a leader. The Lift is host...