Most of us dislike networking. At its best, it’s exhausting. At its worst, it can feel inauthentic, even manipulative. But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if, instead, we could focus on helping others in ways that, in the long run, benefit us, as well? Rosalind Chow is an associate professor of organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon University. She’s learned that when we use our status to sponsor others, we gain status and sponsorship for ourselves. Her findings can fundamentally change how we think – and feel - about networking. In this conversation, I talk to Rosalind about her book, The Doors You Can Open: A New Way to Network, Build Trust, and Use Your Influence to Create a More Inclusive Workplace. It’s an inspiring playbook for helping others – and ourselves. Related Links ‘Sponsorship’ – Not Mentorship – Will Help You Land a Job Out of College Interview with Alison Fragale The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

At some point in every leader’s career, they’ll experience a moment of crisis. And in these moments of enormous pressure and uncertainty, a leader’s actions can mean the difference between an organization’s survival or its demise.   Dan Dworkis is an emergency room physician and professor of emergency medicine who’s built his career on moments like this. He not only understands how to approach them, but also how to learn from them. And his book, The Emergency Mind: Wiring Your Brain for Performance under Pressure captures the wisdom he’s gained. Related Links Layer Cake Debriefing: A Smarter Way to Learn from Crisis Decisions Shape Culture; Culture Shapes Decisions Interview with Steve Magness on Real Toughness The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

As you move up in leadership roles, you gain more power. Initially, you may take it in stride, thinking it’s something you earned and something you’d never let get in the way of being the manager you want to be. But as the pressure to perform grows, the gap in power between you and your team creates blind spots that can erode these relationships. Former Microsoft executive and Fortune 500 coach, Sabina Nawaz, experienced these challenges in her own career and, today, she coaches executives working through them. It’s why she wrote the book, You’re the Boss: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need). And in this conversation, she shares tools to help leaders manage their blind spots. Related Links To Make a Habit, Try Micro Habits How to Build a Relationship between Your Employee and Your Boss Interview with Mithu Storoni on Working Smarter The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

Managing up is crucial for your success. It’s about knowing your career goals and aligning them with your manager’s needs and priorities. Yet it’s a skill we’re rarely taught and one we rarely see done well.   For Melody Wilding, this gap in how to manage her career became clear when it caused her to lose her job. It’s what made her want to write her latest book, Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge. In this conversation we talk about how to get aligned with your manager on what’s most important to them in ways that also help you, how to engage in effective networking, and how to promote yourself in the workplace. Related Links Why Managing Up is the Most Critical Career Skill in 2025 4 Signs You’re too Emotionally Invested in Your Work (and How to Fix It) Skip-Level Meeting Success: How to Connect with Your Boss’s Boss The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

On the surface, trust seems simple. You either trust someone or you don’t. That’s why I was so intrigued by Charles Feltman’s book, The Thin Book of Trust: An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work. Charles is a leadership coach and trust expert. And where others view trust as binary, he sees it in four dimensions. He describes what each dimension looks like and explains how to assess the gaps. Then he talks about how we can address those gaps in ourselves – and with others, including our managers. I’m able to see trust in a completely different way and think you will, too. Related Links Interview with Michael Wenderoth The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

We’re all virtual communicators. Even if we don’t work remotely, we’re texting, using social media, and making phone calls. But the question is, are we good at it? Do we know the best practices that can set us apart? Andrew Brodsky can teach us. He’s a management professor and virtual communication expert. In this episode, we discuss his book, Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication. We talk about ways to build trust, increase likability, and manage digital conflicts. He shares insights we can immediately put into action. Related Links Your Company is Watching You. And Probably Doing It All Wrong. The Rules for Making a Good Impression on Zoom and Emails No, Remote Employees Aren’t Becoming Less Engaged The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

Most advice on power is about why we need it or how we can get it. And it's typically focused on things outside us, like titles or promotions. While these external markers are important, they can leave us empty inside.  Advice that focuses solely on external power leaves out how to build and maintain the crucial internal power we need.  That’s why Chris Lipp decided to mine the research on personal power and, ultimately, to write a book on it. In this interview we talk about his latest book, The Science of Personal Power: How to Build Confidence, Create Success, and Obtain Freedom.  Chris’s book gives us an opportunity to build the inner foundation for success, so we can match it with external achievements. If you're looking for a book with concrete ways to center and inspire you in your work - and in your life - you'll find it here. Related Links Interview with Mary Anderson on Success without Stress The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

Adam Galinsky is a social psychologist and the Paul Calello Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School. He believes leaders are made, not born, and he’s spent decades proving it. In this interview, we talk about his findings and how they apply to today’s leaders. We also discuss his latest book, Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others. In it, he shares three characteristics people repeatedly bring up when describing truly great leaders: they act as visionaries, exemplars, and mentors. Adam’s written an insightful guide for current and aspiring leaders looking to take their craft to the next level. Related Links How to be an Inspirational Force in an Infuriating World One Small and Powerful Thing You Can Do to be a More Inspiring Leader Interview with leadership expert Frances Frei The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

Conversations play a big role in our personal and professional lives. It’d be hard to build or maintain a relationship without them.   That’s why Alison Wood Brooks, Harvard Business School Professor and conversation expert, has written the book, Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves. She’s found that if we improve our conversations, even a little, the results can be game changing. In this interview, we talk about the framework she’s developed to help us do that. We also discuss how to improve our one-on-one and group conversations. Finally, we learn effective ways to manage difficult conversations, including apologies. Related Links How to Have the Perfect Conversation – and Why It’s Good for You Desperate for Better Dialogue? Interview with Jeff Wetzler on Deepening Connections The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

With few exceptions, we have digital footprints. And each time we scroll social media, run a Google search, or use a smartphone to navigate, we’re adding data to that footprint. While we gain a lot from our ability to do all these things, we also feed companies the data they need to target us. Sandra Matz is a computational social scientist and professor at Columbia Business School. Over the course of her career, she’s consulted with companies eager to profit from our data. In recent years, she’s intentionally shifted her consulting work in support of organizations that want to protect consumer data. In this interview, I talk to Matz about her book, Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior. We discuss the methods companies use to profile us and how that profiling puts all the power in their hands. We also discuss promising ideas for pushing back, including solutions to empower and unite us. Matz has written an accessible, highly readable book that anyone with a smartphone needs to read.  Episode Links Now Isn’t the Time to Give Users Control of Their Data Divided We Stand Interview with Eric Johnson on the Science of Decision-Making The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.