All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 30 of 389 in total
EP 481: Preservation in the Post-Information Age with Sari Azout
Stop me if you've heard this before: we're overloaded and overwhelmed by information. There's more content than you could ever hope to consume. More scientific theorie...
EP 480: Exceedingly Complex Systems
In management cybernetics, there are 3 types of systems: simple, complex, and exceedingly complex. The systems we pay the most attention tend to be, you guessed it, ex...
EP 479: A Theory of Resourcefulness
You've probably heard of a scarcity mindset. Maybe you've even been accused of having one! In this short, I explore the false binary of scarcity and abundance mindsets...
EP 478: Data Never Speak For Themselves
We're constantly bombarded by data. And it's easy to think that with the right clues, we could answer the ultimate questions of life, the universe, and everything.But ...
EP 477: Here's a tip
Today's episode is about tips. As in gratuity. Wait, wait, wait! Where are you going?I know, you probably don't receive tips for your work. Maybe you don't live in the...
EP 476: Cult Value
If a chatbot writes your novel, did you really complete NaNoWriMo?Two niche internet panics caught my eye over the last couple of weeks: a bungled AI policy by the org...
EP 475: Values aren't chains; they are wings
Inspired by the current vibe shift, I'm interrupting my rebroadcast of the Self-Help, LLC series with an interlude about values—personal values, business values, Ameri...
What Does Power Sound Like?
This is the 6th installment in the Self-Help, LLC series, which originally ran in October 2022. Today's episode has been revised and re-engineered!We form an impressio...
The Spectacle of Influence(rs) with Sara Petersen
How influencers, well, influence the way we see the world, our work, our families, and ourselves? And how does the spectacle we immerse ourselves in daily contribute t...
What's Your Type? with Steph Barron Hall
This is the 4th part of my series Self-Help, LLC, which I'm replaying over the summer! Enjoy!If your Instagram feed or Explore page looks anything like mine, then you ...
The Paradox of Self-Help Expertise with Patrick Sheehan
This is an updated version of the 3rd installment in my series Self-Help, LLC, from 2022. Enjoy!Our quest for self-improvement requires us to decide who (or what) to t...
"She Looks Like an Instagram" Or, How Empowerment Became a Brand with Kelly Diels
I’m continuing my rebroadcast of a series I did a couple of years ago called Self-Help, LLC, and asked the question, "Are we all in the self-help business now?" Today’...
How Advice Culture Makes Us Winners (And Losers)
This is Part 1 of a series from 2022 called Self-Help, LLC. This summer, I’ll be republishing this series as I work on new essays and episodes. There’s a good chance t...
EP 474: Making Non-Obvious Choices at Work with Samhita Mukhopadhyay
For justice-minded people, navigating the world of work in the 21st-century economy can feel... impossible. A real no-win scenario. There's a constant tension between ...
EP 473: Unpacking Attention Fetishism with Jess Shane
Our podcast feeds and streaming services are full of real stories of real people. And not all of those stories feel... true. I mean, even if the facts are accurate, th...
EP 472: Speculative Investing Made Personal
Okay, this isn't really an episode about speculative investing. Well, it is. But I'm not talking about crypto or meme stocks. I'm talking about the challenges of livin...
EP 471: The Many Hats of Leigh Stein
What would happen if you archived all of your Instagram content, announced that you had taken a job at a fictional wellness company, and then got fired for disclosing ...
EP 470: Rethinking Creativity—A Cautionary Tale
Good luck going anywhere today without running into a message about creativity.I was going to say, "anywhere online," but really, it's just about anywhere. We get crea...
NEW: World-Building for Business Owners
I'm teaching a new workshop on May 15 & 16, 2024! It's called World-Building for Business Owners, and it's based on a process I've been honing for more than a decade. ...
EP 469: Building Solidarity in the Creator Economy with Kate Tyson & Charlie Gilkey
"How do I want to live?" Philosopher Rahel Jaeggi says this question is bound up in the concept of alienation. Our disconnection and dissatisfaction keep us from answe...
EP 468: Figuring Out the Creator Economy with Charlie Gilkey & Kate Tyson
It seems the creator economy is booming. Or is it?And what even is the creator economy??Platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TechTalk are quite happy to advertise th...
EP 467: Organizing Indie Labor with Chiarra Lohr
The labor market has undergone a sea change in the last 20 years. A full third of US workers are part of the independent workforce, including gig workers, contract wor...
EP 466: Making Room for Others with Leonie Smith
The Center for Nonviolent Communication describes what they teach as "empathy in action." And so it seems fitting to close out this series on Decoding Empathy with a l...
EP 465: Learning Empathy from Copywriters & Doppelgangers with Samantha Pollack
I have learned a lot about cognitive empathy by learning copywriting. After all, copywriting is a puzzle—the puzzle of figuring out what someone is thinking or feeling...
EP 464: Decoding Accessibility with Erin Perkins
Typically, the question of accessibility online is considered in technical terms: How does this website need to be designed? What ALT text is appropriate for this imag...
EP 463: A Brand is a Constellation with N. Chloé Nwangwu
How do you get seen in a world that doesn't see you? How do you get recognized when so many systems are designed to keep you unrecognized? Those are the questions at t...
EP 462: Decoding the Language of Empathy
Today, we peel back the layers of a term that's become ubiquitous in the business world and beyond: empathy. In this episode, empathy's origin story. Er, stories. We'l...
This is Not Advice: Process Entropy & Process Evolution
Are you waiting for a glorious day with your system, plan, or business just work? I hate to tell you this—but you will be waiting a long time.Plans, systems, and busin...
EP 461: My Nemesis
Our beliefs leave an indelible mark on how we interact with others and our environment. Even when those beliefs aren't conscious. Beliefs about quality of life are a w...
EP 460: In Defense of Gimmicks
The proliferation of derivative nonsense on various social media platforms begs the question: Is it possible to make a TikTok video, Instagram post, or LinkedIn update...