Kelly sits down with philosophy professor Christopher Wong Michaelson and management professor Jennifer Tosti-Kharas to talk about their fantastic new book, “Is Your Work Worth It? How to Think About Meaningful Work.” “Sometimes it takes a catastrophe for us to pay attention.”  “Art and work have more in common than that they share the word […]
Kelly talks to Mary Murphy, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University and founding director of the Summer Institute on Diversity at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Her new book is called “Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams and Organizations.”  […]
Kelly connects with Stanford professor of psychiatry, Elias Aboujaoude, to talk about his provocative new book, “A Leader’s Destiny: Why Psychology, Personality, and Character Make All the Difference.”  “Coaches may be ‘treating’ people who should be receiving mental health care instead.”  “Much is lost by embracing a narrow leadership brand.”  “One does not go online to […]
Please enjoy this bonus podcast as Kelly interviews opera legend Renee Fleming live for the Chicago Humanities Festival as they discuss her new book “Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness.”  “We humans likely sang before we spoke.”  “I believe that the arts should be embedded in our health-care system.” “As a singer, […]
Kelly welcomes the prolific author Cass Sunstein back to the show to talk about his new book, “How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgetting Superstars and How The Beatles Came to Be.” “Success and failure are exceedingly hard to predict.”  “Excessive familiarity is boring, and excessive novelty is incomprehensible.”  “Every successful artist succeeds in their […]
Kelly has a compelling conversation with Jerry Colonna, the Co-founder of Flatiron Partners, one of the most successful, early-stage investment programs; former partner with J.P. Morgan Partners (JPMP), the private equity arm of J.P. Morgan Chase. Jerry is the author of two books: REBOOT: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up and his latest book […]
Kelly speaks to journalist Tricia Romano who has published a vast oral history of the Village Voice newspaper called “The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of The Village Voice, the Radical Paper that Changed American Culture.”  “The paper was called the Voice, and that’s what it was. It was like a loud, open mouth.” […]
Want a productivity hack that will change your life? Kelly connects with Marc Zao-Sanders, the co-founder and CEO of filtered.com to discuss his new book “Timeboxing: The Power of Doing One Thing at a Time.” “Timeboxing is the flexible friend of any and all other time management techniques.”  “Disconcertingly organized people weren’t born that way.”  “Time […]
Is your spouse a tightwad or a spendthrift? Kelly talks to Scott Rick, marketing professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, about his new book “Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships.” “Too much dissimilarity is bad for a marriage.”  “Selecting great gifts requires careful listening.”   “For many of […]
Kelly connects with best-selling author Emily P. Freeman to talk about her new book, “How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away.” “We all walk through exits and endings throughout our lives.” “The mistake we make is to assume we’re all in the same room.”  “How we’re formed informs how […]
Kelly sits down at The Second City with Harvard business professor Michael Norton to discuss his new book “The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions.” “A ritual is not a habit.”  “Taken to the extreme, pre-performance rituals get in our way.”  “Rituals can be the practices that call […]
Kelly talks to Elaine Lin Hering, a former managing partner of Triad Consulting Group and a lecturer at Harvard Law School, specializing in dispute resolution, mediation, and negotiation. Her new book is called “Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully. “Silence is a survival strategy.”  “Getting people to share what […]
Kelly connects with Keith Boykin, a New York Times bestselling author, TV and Film producer, and former CNN political commentator. Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition and taught at Columbia University. He is the author of seven books and his most recent is called “Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race? […]
Kelly goes deep with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel de Vise about his new book, “The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic.”  “Belushi was a violent teddy bear, a cuddly monster, lovable and vulnerable and real.”  “Most Animal House actors followed the script: John improvised.”  “In truth, John […]
Kelly talks to tech entrepreneur Tobias Dengel about his new book “Sound of the Future: The Coming Age of Voice Technology.” “Speed is the ultimate weapon in business.”  “You cannot create the world’s best products if everyone in the room looks the same.”  “Your first task is to fall in love with the problem.
Kelly welcomes Cal Newport back to the podcast. Cal is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University where he is also a founding member of the Center for Digital Ethics. He is the author of many books, including “Deep Work.” His latest book is called “Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout.” “Slow productivity doesn’t ask that you extinguish […]
Kelly connects with Malissa Clark, an associate professor of industrial and organizational psychology at the University of Georgia. Her new book is called “Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture is Bad for Business – and How to Fix it.”  “Today, almost half of US workers would classify themselves as workaholics.”  “Engagement and workaholism can look similar.”  […]
Kelly has an insightful conversation with sociologist Corey Keyes about languishing, flourishing, and mental health. His new book is “Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down.”  “Games are a microcosm of adulthood.” “We humans often get fooled by feelings.”  “Acceptance needs to start with you.” 
Kelly speaks to Alison Taylor, a clinical professor at NYU Stern School of Business and the Executive Director of Ethical Systems, a research collaboration of prominent business school professors working on ethical culture founded by Jonathon Haidt. They discuss her new book, “Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World.”  “We’re […]
Kelly bridges the world of Navy Seals training and Second City improv training with performance psychologist and retired US Navy commander Eric Potterat and executive communication expert Alan Eagle. They’ve co-written a new book: “Learned Excellence: Mental Disciplines for Leading and Winning from the World’s Top Performers.” “It is the top performers’ mental approach to […]
Kelly explores The Second City’s landmark college program Comedy Studies with its Director, Anne Libera. “We learn from failing as opposed to the yes/no or risk/failure binary.” “With comedy, you have to be culturally competent, you have to be aware, you have to be observational.” “Comedy is a combination of recognition, pain and distance.”
Kelly welcomes the great Bob Sutton back to the podcast. Professor Emeritus at Stanford, Bob has a new book out called “The Friction Project” which he co-wrote with Huggy Rao.  “Piles of studies show, to do creative work right, teams need to slow down, struggle, and develop a lot of bad ideas to find a […]
Kelly talks to W. Russell Neuman,  a specialist in new media and digital education at New York University – whose career has also taken him to MIT and the White House – to discuss his new book “Evolutionary Intelligence: How Technology Will Make Us Smarter.”  “We are demonstrably poor at learning from our mistakes.”  “Eyeglasses and hearing […]
Kelly takes a look at leadership through the lens of history with Moshik Temkin, a professor of history and leadership at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University and a faculty affiliate at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. His new book is titled, “Warriors, Rebels & Saints: The Art of Leadership from Machiavelli to […]
Kelly connects with psychologist and professor Dr. Mariel Buque to discuss her new book “Break the Cycle: A Guide to Healing Intergenerational Trauma.”  “No cycle breaker will ever feel fully ready to break the cycle.” “The higher self is not a perfectly healed self, because perfect healing is a myth.”  “We cannot change what we cannot see.” You can follow […]
Kelly connects with Rajiv Shah, the President of the Rockefeller Foundation and a former government official who oversaw USAID from 2010 to 2015. His new book is called “Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens.” “For centuries, two factors determined an individual’s capacity for solving the world’s problems: divinity and dollars.”  “Money alone doesn’t deliver […]
Kelly talks to Vulture Senior Editor Jesse David Fox who also hosts the “Good One” podcast about his new book, “Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture – And the Magic That Makes it Work.”  “Comedy only exists when both the comedian and audience are working together to create the state of play.”  “’Funny is funny’ is a […]
Kelly chats with author Rob Kozlowski about a movie franchise that is dear to both of them and the subject of Rob’s latest book: “Becoming Nick and Nora: The Thin Man and the Films of William Powell and Myrna Loy.” “The characters of Nick and Nora Charles remain the standard for married couples in the movies.”  […]
Kelly welcomes Brad Stulberg back to the podcast, the well-being expert is on the faculty of the University of Michigan and his new book is called “Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything is Changing – Including You.” “Our biggest personal and collective challenges revolve around change.” “The best approach is to combine fierce self-discipline […]
Kelly has a fun conversation with longtime Saturday Night Live producer Lindsay Shookus about her experiences at the legendary comedy show as well as her current work co-leading the platform and networking community “Woman Work F’ing Hard.” “Expecting perfection is guaranteed disappointment.” “You’re not helping the woman next to you if you’re not being honest.” “Whenever you’re struggling, it’s so importan...
