New Podcast Category: Bring Your Whole Self To Work

This week’s episode looks at how we can be empathetic and compassionate towards people in our lives who are experiencing grief or other difficult situations. The author of the There is No Good Card for This: What to Say and Do When Life is Scary, Awful and Unfair to the People You Love. Dr. Kelsey Crowe shares her insights based on her many years of research on the subject. During the conversation, we touch on things organizations can do to gain loyalty by respecting their employees as whole beings, what to do and what not to say when someone you know experiences grief, and how we can become empathetic and compassionate during difficult times.

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In this week’s episode, I have the pleasure of talking with Chef, Author, Speaker, and Podcaster Chris Hill. Making the Cut is the title of Chris’s book and podcast; both are interview-based explorations into the success principles of entrepreneurial elite.

During the podcast, Chris describes his journey from being in a high-profile marketing position to switching gears and following his dreams to become a chef and restaurateur. He eventually turned his blogging into a book and his love of cooking into an enterprise. Chris shares the inspiration behind his forthcoming book, Lead Like a Chef, and about the ups and downs that accompany being a leader and change-maker.

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In this week’s solo episode, I examine how we deal with loss, the passing of time, the aging of our bodies, grief, and being human. I’m currently reading Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy, and it reminds me we all are going through some type of loss. As humans, when we go through something painful, we just can’t snap our fingers and move on. We still have to be responsible, show up for work and be there for our families. So how do we deal with loss and grief in the workplace?

Permission to be human in the workplace is what my book, Bring Your Whole Self to Work, is all about.  In this episode, I explore ways in which we can be even more human and vulnerable with ourselves, and others – especially when facing big challenges and changes.

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In this week’s solo episode, I discuss trust and how we can expand our ability to trust. Many of us believe trusting is naive. We spend a lot of time and energy shielding ourselves from being embarrassed, taken advantage of, or compromised. But, what are we really protecting ourselves from? Vulnerability is power, and trust is a generating energy. What would happen if we learned to embody trust and lead from a place of trust? How would our lives be different?

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In this week’s solo episode, I explore stepping out of our comfort zone. I was inspired to discuss this topic based on my experience of walking through the streets of Bangalore, India. When traveling to a place with a different language or culture, our self-sufficiency is stripped. It forces us (or gives us the opportunity) to be vulnerable in a purified way. When we stay in our comfort zone, we stay away from risk and discomfort. Can innovation or revolution happen without risk?

What does it take for you to have the courage to be bold, to show up, to step out of your comfort zone and bring all of who you are, to everything you do?

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In this week’s solo episode, I explore the topic of inner work and how it relates to our lives and our careers. One of the ways we can bring more of ourselves to the work we do, is to focus on the work we do internally. It is so easy to get caught up in the “doing-ness” of life and business.  However, what goes on within us, has so much to do with what shows up around us.

How committed are you to your inner work?  Doing work on ourselves and really looking within can be challenging, emotional, and, at times, even painful.  However, it is essential to our journey of growth, success, and fulfillment.  I recently attended another Hoffman workshop and did some great inner work, which prompted this episode.  The more willing we are to do our personal work, the more likely we are to create the kind of life and results we truly want.  We are all spiritual beings having a human experience. We are all works in progress.

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Nancy Collier joins me this week on the podcast to discuss her book, The Power of Off: The Mindful Way to Stay Sane in a Virtual World. She looks at the addictive side of technology, and how it is capable of removing us from our human relationships. Nancy believes we humans are giving up our capacity to think for ourselves, and are forfeiting the precious gaps between stimuli when our minds used to be free to run wild.

Nancy shares her personal intention to make technology a tool at her disposal instead of a consumption engine which eats away at the moments in her life. I know this idea will resonate with many of you who feel, as Nancy says, Twired, tired and wired. Being able to bring all of who we are to work our and our life, requires us to unplug and turn off our devices at times, in order to think, feel, and re-engage with ourselves and each other.

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My guest on today’s podcast is a true inspiration, to me and to so many other people in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. My friend Gopi Kallayil is a yoga instructor, a musician, an author, and has worked at Google for the past 11 years. Gopi manifested his own position, Chief Evangelist of Brand Marketing, because he wanted to do something he loved at the company he loves and feels honored to work for.

In addition to his successful career in technology and at Google, he is the author of The Internet to Inner-Net, which came out in 2015 and is published by Hay House (my publisher as well).  He is working on his second book, The Happy Human, which should be out next year sometime.  Gopi is a true renaissance man of technology, mindfulness, business, philanthropy, community, spirituality, and creativity.  He exemplifies bringing his whole self to work as well as just about anyone I know.

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In this week’s solo episode, I delve into the phenomenon of things that get in our way. There are many things we conjure up to sabotage ourselves. We may have limiting beliefs about not being good enough, or we may be afraid of putting ourselves out there, due to fear of judgment. The common theme these things share is, they are all self-imposed. They are all stories we are telling ourselves.

We are the common denominator in all of our relationships and experiences.  Therefore, nothing changes until WE change.

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This week’s episode is a fascinating, behind-the-scenes glimpse of a venture firm. My guest, Brett Berson, works with founders of startups as a Partner with First Round Capital. In 2000, Brett was immersed in NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts filmmaking program. He wanted his summer internship to broaden his horizons. So, Brett made a list of the talented people he knew and the list led him to First Round Capital. After graduation, Brett has moved forward within the organization to become a partner in less than 9 years.

Brett shares the attributes innovative leaders of successful companies have, what First Round Capital looks for when vetting a company for investment purposes, and why now is a great time to start a company.

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