The Modern Manager

No matter how big or small your team is, there are always things to discuss. Most managers respond by holding weekly meetings. At their best, team meetings are a forum for open and productive communication between team members. At their worst, they waste everyone’s time and energy. If your weekly meetings aren't moving your work forward and leaving people in a positive mood, it’s probably time you...

Understanding identity is vital for managers. We all want to respect and better understand our colleagues, but in order to do that we must first understand ourselves. Identity informs how we relate to people, how we make decisions, and how we lead.  Today’s guest is Victoria Shiroma Wilson. Victoria is a leadership development coach and consultant who partners with world-class organizations and pr...

Both verbal and nonverbal communication are critical interpersonal skills. Listening to others, observing their reactions, speaking in a way that promotes understanding and connection, using body language—these are all essential to our leadership development. Effective leaders must know that communicating is a combination of what you say, how you say it, and how you respond to what has been said b...

Be honest with yourself for a moment: Are you managing your time and tasks well? Do you have a weekly planning routine that helps ensure you’re focused on your most important work? Sometimes, just a few simple changes to your planning can help you find more freedom and fulfillment in your work. Today’s guest is Demir Bentley. Demir teaches hard-hitting efficiency techniques and proven accountabili...

Vacation time is so important. We know there are a myriad of health benefits that come from taking time away from work. I also know how anxiety producing it can be to worry about your team or projects while you're away or stress over returning to an overflowing inbox and build-up of tasks, which can negate some of the health benefits and enjoyment of your time off. So what can you do to make your...

Does it ever seem like your tasks just keep piling no matter how busy you are? As managers, it’s crucial that we’re able to follow through on our tasks and responsibilities so we can take care of our businesses and people. But in order to do that, we must have the right tools and mindset to organize and prioritize our daily work.    Today’s guest is Mark J. Silverman. Mark is an executive coach, a...

Authenticity at work requires being true to yourself. However, this can be a difficult feat for managers. We often step into the management position believing there is a certain way we must speak and act, or certain knowledge we should now possess simply because we’re leading others, but research shows people respond more favorably to managers who are their true selves. How can managers fulfill th...

It's cliche, but true: Your people are your biggest asset. There's nothing more important than hiring people who are a strong fit for the job responsibilities and also align with your organization's values and mission. But recruiting the right people for your team can pose a challenge, and the hiring process can leave managers feeling exhausted. Today’s guest is Tatiyana Cure. Tatiyana brings her...

Most people have a general idea about how their colleagues or team members work best. You may occasionally pick up a random fact about a person's personality or work style, but it's rare to have the full picture. The result: we are frustrated by our coworkers because we don’t understand them and they don’t understand us.  Today I talk about creating a Personal Instruction Manual, or PIM for short....

We’ve all been there. We thought we knew what was best, only to find out later that what we thought we knew was wrong. Even the best manager can get lost in all the leadership advice, trying to do what’s right and still somehow failing. This is because sometimes that leadership advice is wrong. Today’s guest is Sumit Gupta. Sumit spent 20 years in software, started 2 for-profit and 1 non-profit or...

When working with a team, delegation is one of the most important skills to develop. One of our main goals as managers is to unlock the potential of our people, and effective delegation enables that to happen. However, ineffective delegation can lead to frustration and inefficiencies for everyone.  Today’s guest is Yuri Elkaim. Yuri is a former pro athlete, leading health expert, New York Times be...

A modern manager is an employee’s partner. You support them, teach them, and guide them through the ups and downs of doing their work. While many new managers, and entrepreneurs are thrown into the position without training, they don’t need to flounder. With a bit of intention and determination, anyone can become a rockstar manager.  Today’s guest is Joie Jager-Hyman. Joie is the Founder of Colleg...

We live in an age of distraction. No matter what we have to do – whether it's writing an essay, working in an office, or just going about our daily lives – we are constantly at the mercy of internal and external distractions. These attention-breakers have serious consequences on our quality of work. The good news is that with our growing knowledge of the brain and improved technology, there are sp...

People that don't feel safe in their work can't reach their full potential. Psychological safety can make the difference between a productive and innovative workplace, and one where employees feel the need to keep their heads down. As managers, it's our responsibility to create a culture of psychological safety so our team members can communicate well, produce better results, and be their authenti...

For many people, the pandemic blurred the lines between personal and professional spaces. While this had many benefits such as bringing people closer together, it also created ambiguity that is challenging for managers to navigate. How can managers best create and maintain boundaries while supporting their team members’ whole selves? Today’s guest is Deborah Grayson Riegel. Deborah is a keynote sp...

Organizations across the globe are reconsidering how, when, and where work gets done. As offices reopen and employees desire more flexibility, now is the time for teams and organizations to design a work ecosystem that meets today's needs while setting people up for the future.  Today’s guest is Emily Esterly. Emily has nearly 15 years of experience in roles spanning HROD, corporate strategy, econ...

Today I’m celebrating 200 episodes. This feels like a major accomplishment. When I launched the show in May 2018, just getting to 10 episodes felt a little overwhelming. Now, looking back, I’m so proud of what I was able to do and how many managers like yourself I’ve been able to help. It’s because of you that I create this show week after week. For this special 200th episode, I looked back over t...

Athletes train their bodies with intention. They practice their chosen activity but also take time to develop the skills needed for high performance. If our bodies benefit from both “playing the game” and “training in the gym”, why wouldn’t that same approach be true for our brains?   Today’s guest is Darcy Luoma. Darcy is the author of Thoughtfully Fit® and a highly sought-after coach and consult...

Whether you're a leader or a manager, the chances are that you occasionally (or regularly) find yourself dealing with difficult situations. Coaching is an increasingly popular way of helping people develop the skills, habits, and mindsets needed to reach their full potential by better understanding themselves, their goals, and the situations they encounter.   Today’s guest is Dr. Richard Levin. Ri...

It seems like every day there is a new communications app or an advance in communications technology capabilities. These tools are intended to help us collaborate more effectively with our team, but they can also lead to a tangled web of information and a messy communication system. Plus, teams are exploring new ways of working as hybrid work slowly replaces fully remote teaming. Given the foundat...

How we go about our work can make or break our productivity and effectiveness. The ability to meet deadlines, stay calm under pressure, develop a project plan and focus on a task without checking email every five minutes are all part of the skillset known as executive functioning. While this part of our brain develops throughout childhood, many of us still struggle with executive functioning as ad...

Managers know the value of team building, but not all activities are effective or right for your people. Traditional team-building activities like ropes courses, paintball games, or scavenger hunts often don’t speak to millennials or employees in other generations. They can also be competitive instead of collaborative, or require physical abilities that not everyone is capable of. Instead, manager...

Accountability, when done right, isn't about exerting power or authority. It’s not about enforcing punishments or negative consequences. Instead, it’s about making sure that everyone does what they commit to doing through shared responsibility for success. Managers who do this develop strong teams with strong performance. Those who don’t do this end up with extra pressure on themselves and disenga...

As managers, we have a responsibility to help our employees find stability in a time of chaos. To do this most effectively, we need to understand how the brain functions best—and most importantly, how it can go wrong. Understanding the neuroscience of change will give us unparalleled insight into managing moments of uncertainty and times of change so that our team members remain productive, engage...

The brain is an amazing thing. Its capacity to learn is almost endless. But too often the process of learning can feel boring, difficult, stressful, and even painful. In order for the brain to retain what we’ve learned, we need to deploy the right strategies. These simple approaches make learning efficient and enjoyable.  Today’s guest is Collin Jewett. Collin is an industrial engineer, author, co...