Your Working Life

In this episode of Your Working Life, Caroline Dowd-Higgins talks with Leidy Klotz about the power of our physical spaces. Klotz, a behavioral scientist and University of Virginia engineering professor, wrote the new book In a Good Place: How the Places Where We Live, Work, and Play Can Help Us Thrive . While most self-improvement advice focuses on what we do, Klotz makes a compelling case for pay...

Today, we have an appointment with the "Teamwork Doctor"! Liane Davey is an organizational psychologist, CEO advisor, and author of her forthcoming book Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work . With over 25 years of experience advising teams at companies like Amazon, Google, and Walmart, Davey argues that today's workplace crisis isn't caused by oversized workloads — i...

Today's guest is Caroline Maguire, an internationally recognized social-emotional learning expert, ADHD coach, and author of the groundbreaking new book Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults: A Guide for the Anxious, Uniquely Wired, and Easily Distracted . Caroline offers neuroscience-grounded strategies for a community too often left out of conversations about connection, belonging, and pro...

In this episode of Your Working Life, Caroline Dowd-Higgins speaks with Minette Norman, keynote speaker, former software executive, and award-winning author about her new book The Psychological Safety Playbook for Changemakers . Despite psychological safety topping the list of leadership priorities, Minette explains why it still isn't working in most organizations and why mission statements and on...

In this episode, Caroline Dowd-Higgins is joined by Chris Dyer, whose new book Moments That Matter: See, Shape, and Scale What Counts offers a groundbreaking look at why we remember less than one percent of what we experience. Dyer reveals that the moments shaping our careers, cultures, and relationships rarely announce themselves, they happen in hallways, on quick phone calls, and in the first mi...

In this episode of Your Working Life, Caroline Dowd-Higgins sits down with Daniel Coyle, New York Times bestselling author of Flourish . Drawing on years of research and immersive reporting, Coyle reveals the surprising science behind what makes certain groups, from a band of miners trapped underground in Chile to a beloved Michigan deli, thrive with deep connection, joy, and purpose. He shares ho...

Anthony Klotz is a professor of organizational behavior at UCL School of Management in London, best known for predicting the pandemic-era labor shift he coined the "Great Resignation" — a term that became a defining phrase of modern work culture. His new book, Jolted: Why We Quit, When to Stay, and Why It Matters , explores how over half of all decisions to quit are triggered by a single unexpecte...

In this episode, Caroline interviews researcher and author Marcus Buckingham about his newest book, Design Love In: How to Unleash the Most Powerful Force in Business. Buckingham challenges the prevailing belief that pressure, force, and intensity drive excellence — arguing instead that thirty years of data point to a different and more powerful force: love. Love in a work context looks like a dee...

Dr. Suzan Song is an internationally recognized humanitarian psychiatrist, anthropologist, and advocate who's dedicated her career to supporting forcibly displaced youth, former child soldiers, and other vulnerable populations worldwide. Her debut book, Why We Suffer and How We Heal: Using Narrative, Ritual, and Purpose to Flourish Through Life's Challenges , draws on two decades of clinical and a...

In this episode, Caroline interviews Caroline Stokes, a global leadership strategist and one of the world's leading voices on future-ready leadership in the age of AI and rapid disruption. Her new book, Aftershock to 2030: A CEO's Guide to Reinvention in the Age of AI, Climate, and Societal Collapse , is a bold guide for CEOs, founders, and changemakers navigating today's era of polycrisis — where...

In this episode, Caroline talks to Stephanie Grabow, founder of SG Style Collective and personal stylist for executive women. Stephanie shares how two decades in public policy, politics, and philanthropy shaped her unique understanding of the power of personal image. Stephanie breaks down why the way you show up visually is a strategic tool — not just a superficial concern — and how the right ward...

In this episode, Caroline interviews Liz Freedman, a community deathcare advocate and end-of-life doula. Liz's mission is to normalize honest, compassionate conversations around grief, death, and dying - with people of all ages - so that no one has to face life's biggest transitions alone. Liz talks about how we can handle all the grief in our lives from death to divorce to losing a job. More from...

Joe Huff is a keynote speaker, bestselling author of  Experiential Billionaire , and Action Catalyst who helps people and organizations turn intention into action—and momentum into lasting results. In this episode, Caroline interviews Joe's about his latest passion: helping people overcome AI overwhelm and fear of replacement—shifting the conversation from anxiety and paralysis to agency, intentio...

In this episode, Caroline interviews Jana Werner, an executive in residence at Amazon Web Services. Throughout her career, Jana led transformations across financial services, tech startups, and global logistics to help Fortune 500 leadership teams build more adaptive, customer-focused organizations. She gathers what she's learned in her latest book, T he Octopus Organization , co-authored with fel...

Emily Tedards is a Harvard researcher and senior consultant whose work examines how businesses, governments, and civil society organizations collaborate to tackle complex challenges — from climate change to economic development. Her new book, Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation , co-authored with leadership scholar Linda Hill and former Microsoft executive Jason Wild, argues that i...

Dr. Sheila Gujrathi is a biotech entrepreneur and physician who has spent 25 years developing medicines for serious diseases, building biotech companies, and championing women and underrepresented groups in leadership. Her new book, The Mirror Effect: A Transformative Approach To Growth For The Next Generation Of Female Leaders , Dr. Gujrathi offers a roadmap for women and underrepresented profess...

Kenji Yoshino is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law and co-founder of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging — the nation's only DEI center based at a law school. In his new book, How Equality Wins: A New Vision for an Inclusive America , co-authored with David Glasgow, Yoshino tackles the urgent question of how institutions can a...

Dr. Karen Lisko is a persuasion expert with more than 30 years of experience helping professional women amplify their influence in the workplace. Her new book, Kind Dynamite: Six Ways Women Can Use Our Uniquely Explosive Power to Persuade in Meetings , is a game-changer for any woman who wants to show up with confidence and credibility. Dr. Karen makes the case that women don't have to choose betw...

Krista White is a co-founder of Culture Design Lab, where she combines research, in-depth interviews, and storytelling to craft powerful narratives around intentional culture design, inclusion, and racial justice. Caroline talks to Krista about her latest book Culture Design: How to Build a High-Performing, Resilient Organization with Purpose , which offers an invaluable multigenerational perspect...

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is challenging the focus on authenticity in his latest book, Don't Be Yourself: Why Authenticity Is Overrated and What to Do Instead . Caroline interviews Chamorro-Premuzic about our collective obsession with authenticity, exposing a deep disconnect between popular beliefs and what science actually reveals about success and fulfillment. Drawing on three decades of research,...

Caroline interviews Samantha Gadd, author of the book Employee Experience Design: How to Co-Create Work Where People and Organizations Thrive . Samantha presents a proven, step-by-step methodology for implementing Employee Experience Design (EXD)—an approach that designs with employees rather than for them, leading to more engaged teams and superior organizational performance. Drawing on decades o...

Lily Zheng is a leading organizational consultant, speaker, and strategist specializing in systemic workplace change. Their latest book, Fixing Fairness: 4 Tenets to Transform Diversity Backlash into Progress for All , introduces the FAIR Framework—a practical model grounded in Fairness, Access, Inclusion, and Representation—designed to move organizations beyond performative DEI practices toward c...

Sylvia Ann Hewlett has dedicated her career to understanding workplace dynamics and leadership. Her updated book, Executive Presence 2.0: Leadership in an Age of Inclusion , builds on her groundbreaking earlier work that identified the essential components of executive presence—gravitas, communication, and appearance—showing how these qualities have evolved in our post-pandemic world. More from Sy...

In this episode, Caroline sits down with Dr. Rebecca Hinds, Stanford-trained organizational behavior expert to discuss one of the workplace's most universal frustrations: unproductive meetings. In her new book, Your Best Meeting Ever: 7 Principles for Designing Meetings That Get Things Done , Rebecca reveals how outdated meeting practices are costing American companies $1.4 trillion annually—and o...

When the pandemic started in 2020, many employees learned how to work from home for the first time. But six years later, what is the state of work-from-home and is it working? In this episode, Caroline welcomes Dr. Ranya Nehmeh, senior HR strategist and co-author of In Praise of the Office: The Limits to Hybrid and Remote Work . The book explains what the evidence actually shows about when in-offi...