Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

Aja Evans and Farnoosh Torabi on financial therapy

Finances are a huge part of our lives. They can affect how we live, show up for people, and often even how we feel about ourselves. While it’s common to hire a financial planner to help you run numbers and think about your future, financial therapists are there to help you work through the emotional aspects of finance. In this episode, financial therapist Aja Evans and finance journalist - and author of A Healthy State of Panic, Farnoosh Torabi - join Jessi in conversation on the growing field o...

Navigating Career Changes with Herminia Ibarra

Have you ever dreamed of starting again? Maybe after 5, 10, 15 years in the same field, your heart’s just not in it anymore. Today’s guest wrote her book based on years of interviews with professionals in this exact position. Herminia Ibarra’s Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career breaks down the process of career reinvention, giving readers the tools to identify their next steps towards a more fulfilling career. Herminia has a PhD in Organizational Behavior fro...

Rethinking DEI with Michèle Lamont

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives have changed rapidly over the years, and often not for the better. Many companies quickly hired DEI professionals and then dissolved these roles just as fast. Our guest today has put years of research into strategies that encourage workplaces to embrace social inclusion and for her, the solution lies in the power of recognition. Michèle Lamont is a professor of sociology and African American studies at Harvard University. Her newest book, Seeing Other...

Marcus Collins breaks down the power of culture

Most of us have brands we’ve always been loyal to. Maybe you stick to one brand of paper towels, or have a pair of shoes that you swear by. What drives this loyalty? Today’s guest would say that, beyond quality or familiarity, this tendency is most influenced by culture. Dr. Marcus Collins is a lecturer at the University of Michigan and a digital strategist who has run campaigns for Google, Apple, and even Beyoncé. His book For The Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Wa...

Hello Monday Celebrates National Coming Out Day

We’re posting this bonus episode on October 11, the 35th Annual National Coming Out Day. The Hello Monday team celebrates everyone who has ever come out of the closet, and we’re marking this occasion with a personal reflection on queer identity by our phenomenal associate producer, Lolia Briggs. Follow Lolia Briggs on LinkedIn and check out her work here. Follow Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn and order her debut memoir, The Family Outing, now in paperback. You are welcome in the Hello Monday community...

Caroline Webb on how to have a good day at a bad job

We spent a while earlier this summer talking about good jobs. But what if you don’t feel like you have one of those right now? Of course, no one is guaranteed to love their job all of the time - but what happens when you’re feeling unhappy and are unable to quit? Enter Caroline Webb - executive coach, economist, and author - to help Jessi explore what a good day at work looks like, and how everyone can take concrete steps to have more of them. Follow Caroline Webb on LinkedIn. You can subscribe ...

Everyday Dharma with Suneel Gupta

Have you found your purpose? Don’t worry, many people wouldn’t even know where to start. Even the most accomplished of people can feel their talent and energy are focused in the wrong place, including today’s guest Suneel Gupta. Suneel has been a tech CEO, congressional candidate, and now author, but he only recently found what brings him joy no matter where he is in life. His book, Everyday Dharma, details some practices to help you find fulfillment in your day to day. In this episode, he sits ...

Getting happier with Arthur Brooks

Happiness is one word that seems to have a million meanings. For one person it could mean health, for another it’s material success. What is the universal meaning of happiness? And how do we achieve it? Today, we have a three-part answer from an expert on happiness. Arthur Brooks teaches the course "Managing Happiness" at Harvard University. He wrote his latest book, Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, with an illustrious co-author– THE Oprah Winfrey. Today, we welco...

Eduardo Briceño on moving from mindset to action

We all have something we’re trying to improve. Whether you’re learning how to code for work, getting into the guitar in your downtime, or just building a better workout routine, cultivating a growth mindset is what helps you get there. A growth mindset is the belief that any person’s abilities can be improved by diligent practice and learning. Our guest today warns us of the phenomenon where we focus so much on performing this ability, we forget to build the little skills on the way. His book Th...

Kids and social media with Devorah Heitner

These days it feels like kids come out of the womb glued to a screen. The term “iPad Kid” has been coined on TikTok – ironically another addictive piece of technology – to describe toddlers who seem to always have a tablet in tow. Even with kids’ programming and parental controls, it still feels nearly impossible to shield children from the challenges of the internet. Devorah Heitner tackles this subject in her latest book, Growing up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World. In this special ...

Amy Edmondson on how to fail better

In a society that rewards perfectionism, failure can be a hard pill to swallow. Even when we make silly mistakes, it can make us question our capabilities and intelligence, but what if we flipped this script on failure? Today’s guest wants us to embrace the mistakes we make and even encourages us to “fail better.” Amy Edmondson is the author of Right Kind of Wrong: The science of failing well, which dissects the power of intelligent failure and our ability to create environments where people fee...

Battling impostor syndrome with Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin

This Labor Day, we’re returning to our 2020 episode with Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin. Dr. Orbé-Austin is a psychologist, TEDx speaker, and author of Own Your Greatness: Overcome Impostor Syndrome, Beat Self-Doubt, and Succeed in Life. She’s leaving us with a few ways we can appreciate our talent and battle impostor syndrome. Follow Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin on LinkedIn. Follow Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn and order her debut memoir. Join the Hello Monday community: Subscribe to the Hello Monday newsletter, and ...

Making Connections with Susan McPherson

We’ve all heard the age-old phrase, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” While being knowledgeable can keep you in a great role, your network can open doors to your next opportunity. Today’s guest, Susan McPherson, is regarded as one of the best-connected people in the social good world. She’s sat on the board of organizations like the UN Refugee Agency and the The Lower Eastside Girls Club. Her book, The Lost Art of Connecting, is a guide to building and maintaining great relationships,...

ChatGPT and you

At the end of 2022, OpenAI released the generative AI- powered chatbot ChatGPT to the public. We immediately put it to the test, using the chatbot to tell stories, write code, and even engage in philosophical conversation, all the while considering its implications in almost every industry. What are its uses in your workplace and your life? We posed this question a while back, and you answered. On today’s episode, Jessi is joined by LinkedIn Technology Editor, Tanya Dua to share listener experie...

Jessi gets organized with Tiago Forte

We spend what feels like half our lives on our devices. All our ideas and projects eventually find their way to a phone, tablet or laptop. How can we possibly keep track of them all? Just as our physical rooms, offices, or workspaces can get cluttered, our digital lives can get messy too. In this episode, Tiago Forte returns to Hello Monday to share his approach to taking control of your digital life. We first spoke to him a year ago about building a second brain, using technology. His newest bo...

Why quitting works with Julia Keller

In a culture that values perseverance, quitting is often seen as failure. We’re encouraged to stick out jobs, hobbies, and often, people as to not be labeled a “quitter”. So what do we do when something just isn’t going to work for us? Pulitzer prize winning journalist and author Julia Keller is shifting the narrative around walking away with her book “Quitting: A Life Strategy”. She joins us today to talk about the power of quitting and how sometimes, it’s just the thing we need to set us free....

Bonus: Megan Rapinoe on leveling the playing field

Changing work cultures with Dr. Ben Michaelis

On the first day of a new job, we all cross our fingers hoping for supportive co-workers and empathetic managers, but the fact of the matter is that a positive office environment takes work– and not everyone is prepared to do it. Our guest today is Dr. Ben Michaelis, a clinical psychologist who has seen it all when it comes to the workplace. Dr. Michaelis coaches both individuals and teams in an effort to strengthen a company’s office culture. In this episode, he is going to share what sets posi...

Debating our way to understanding with Bo Seo

Before Jessi sat down with champion debater and disagreement expert Bo Seo, our team would have mostly told you that the goal of a solid relationship or colleagueship is being able to avoid disagreement. But Bo schooled us on the real opposite of bad disagreement: GOOD disagreement! Bo’s work teaches us that avoiding conflict isn’t the best path to good relationships. It’s learning to listen and be heard, keeping in mind that disagreement can be a creative act, and above all else, remembering th...

Aurora James on igniting a movement

Three summers ago, a major retailer phoned designer Aurora James, asking for help. At the height of the protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, this retailer wanted advice on how to meet the moment. Aurora, the creative director and founder of shoe brand Brother Vellies, offered a thought that became a movement: Since Black people are almost 15% of the US population, retailers should commit 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses, and pledge 15% of thei...

The WGA and the changing nature of work

In an effort to get a fair deal with the AMPTP - the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since May 2nd of this year. A month later, in early June, the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) authorized their own strike. As we post this episode, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP have extended their deadline to make a deal until July 12. In this episode, Hello Monday producer and SAG-AFTRA me...

Making negotiations mutual with Barry Nalebuff

This holiday weekend, we’re bringing back last year’s conversation on negotiation with Barry Nalebuff. Barry is an entrepreneur and Professor at Yale University’s School of Management. He's the author of Split the Pie: A Radical New Way to Negotiate. In this episode, he balances fairness and power to show us all a better way to negotiate through collaboration. Follow Barry Nalebuff on LinkedIn, and check out his book Split the Pie: A Radical New Way to Negotiate Follow Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn a...

Megan Rapinoe on leveling the playing field

We’re nearing the end of Pride month for 2023, and this year visibility, equity, and safety seem more critical than ever. Olympic gold medalist and USWNT soccer star Megan Rapinoe, now Chief Equality Officer at software startup Trusaic, joins Jessi for a conversation about pay equity, the importance of standing and speaking up, and the unassailable human rights of every member of the LGBTQIA+ community. In this conversation, Megan shares the journey to establishing equal treatment and pay for th...

What Makes a Good Job, part 3, featuring Simone Stolzoff

In the final installment of our Good Jobs series, Jessi meets with journalist Simone Stolzoff, author of the new book, The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life From Work. Simone, who goes by Simo, wants to flip the script on good jobs entirely. Instead of putting all our energy into work and shoehorning our life into the margins, he says our work lives should give us plenty of time to look for meaning outside of our jobs. The conversation between Simo and Jessi explores the decline of community orga...

Bonus: Former President Barack Obama on Working Today

The conversation on Good Jobs is happening all over the LinkedIn newsroom these days. In this episode of our sister show, This is Working with Daniel Roth, former President Barack Obama shares the passion for working Americans that prompted him to create the new Netflix series - Working, What We Do All Day - through his and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground production company. The show looks at how people from various backgrounds and industries spend their workdays, and why. In this conversation wi...

What Makes a Good Job, part 2, featuring Zeynep Ton

In this second installment of our Good Jobs series, Jessi sits down with Zeynep Ton, founder of MIT’s Good Jobs Institute and author of the new research-driven book, The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone's Work. Zeynep argues that a good job should provide sufficient pay to give individuals agency in their personal and professional lives. She dives into the importance of stable schedules and adequate hours, as well as the need for companies to co...

What Makes a Good Job, part 1, featuring Bruce Feiler

Once upon a time, many kids in the American middle class were told the same story: Go to the best college possible. Study hard, then do what you love. That is your (linear) path to a good job, and from there to meaning and success. But that path seems ill-equipped to survive our current reality of burnout, inflation, and layoffs. So what do we do now? The idea that it's time to divorce pay from meaning is going mainstream. More of us are less willing to sacrifice everything to the grind. Instead...

Jessi Hempel on the power of coming out

This week marks the start of June, and with it, Pride month in the US. To celebrate, we're sharing a very special episode featuring Hello Monday’s own Jessi Hempel as the guest. In this episode, guest host Leah Smart interviews Jessi about her memoir, The Family Outing. From the guest chair, Jessi shares what she’s learned about identity, the bonds of family, and what gifts await on the other side of the courage to live out loud. Follow Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn and order her debut memoir here. F...

The price women pay to be good with Elise Loehnen

Whether or not we are individually religious, a lot of our lives are governed by our relationships to what the Christian church calls the Seven Deadly Sins - pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. As Elise Loehnen explores in her new book, On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to be Good, that leads us to uphold patriarchy, and sometimes to hurt ourselves and each other. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In a candid conversation driven by curiosity ...

Feed Drop: Possible, a new podcast by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger

Happy Thursday! Here's a new podcast to check out. It's called POSSIBLE, and it's hosted by two friends of Hello Monday - Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger. This episode takes on the future of work and features a cameo from our own Jessi Hempel. If you like it, we hope you'll subscribe! You can find and follow Possible wherever you listen.