Your Working Life With Caroline Dowd-higgins

In this episode, Caroline talks to Jenn Tardy, a diversity practitioner and human resources expert about how to promote workplace diversity amid current DEI backlash. Jenn has worked with organizations like Gap Inc., Red Bull, Harvard, and the US Chamber of Commerce. Rather than offering generic advice, she provides actionable insights for combating hidden biases at every stage of the talent lifecycle—from finding and attracting candidates to engaging and developing employees. Her new book, The Equity Edge: How Addressing Bias in Recruiting and Retention Drives Success, serves as both a strategic guide for leaders and a valuable resource for potential employees navigating today's hiring landscape.  More from Jenn Tardy: Book: The Equity Edge: How Addressing Bias in Recruiting and Retention Drives Success  Find Jenn on LinkedIn Jenn's Website More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

Dr. Scott D. Anthony, a clinical professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, joins Caroline to talk about eleven pivotal innovations that changed business and the human experience. From gunpowder, to the printing press, to Julia Child's cookbook and now generative AI, Scott tells the stories of how these innovations changed the world. Rather than simply celebrating these inventions, Anthony reveals the underlying patterns of how disruption actually occurs and spreads through society.  More from Dr. Scott Anthony: Book: Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.  

Caroline sits down with Dr. Josephine Palermo, an organizational psychologist and executive coach, to talk about how women should reconsider everything they think they know about power in the workplace. Josephine is the author of the new book Rising to Feminine Power: The Lasso of Truth, which talks about how current power structures aren't working and how women especially can bring a new kind of leadership to the workplace. Josephine talks about the science behind feminine power and how we uncover the hidden barriers that may be holding you back from stepping into your authentic power. Connect with Dr. Josephine Palermo: Book: Rising to Feminine Power: The Lasso of Truth  Podcast: Teams, Culture & You More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.  

On this episode, Caroline talks with Lesley Cooper, a management consultant with over 25 years of experience in employee well-being. She's the founder of WorkingWell, an award-winning consultancy that helps companies manage workplace pressure to facilitate growth and development. Her new book, Brave New Leader: How to Transform Workplace Pressure into Sustainable Performance and Growth, addresses the persistent problem of workplace well-being despite widespread support systems. The book tackles the harsh reality that employees often fear speaking up about workplace pressure due to concerns about consequences, creating a culture sustained by fear rather than openness.

This week, Caroline talks to Juliet Schor about the case for the four day work week. Schor is an economist and sociology professor at Boston College, and has gained widespread recognition through national media appearances and her viral 2022 TED Talk "The Case for a 4-Day Work Week," which has been viewed over three million times. Caroline talks to Juliet about her latest book, Four Days a Week: The Life-Changing Solution for Reducing Employee Stress, Improving Well-Being, and Working Smarter, which is the first large-scale study of the four-day work week based on her four decades of work research. The book demonstrates how companies like Kickstarter, Bolt, and Basecamp have successfully eliminated the fifth workday while maintaining productivity and dramatically improving employee well-being, hiring, and retention. Schor provides a comprehensive blueprint for implementing this transformative workplace model, arguing it can address major challenges including burnout, AI disruption, and the climate crisis.

On this episdoe of Your Working Life, Caroline talks to Andrew Brodsky, an award-winning business professor and management consultant at The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. Andrew specializes in virtual communication and workplace technology, and wrote a new book called "PING: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication". He and Caroline talk abbout his actionable framework for mastering modern workplace interactions across all communication platforms. Social Media/Links:  Read 'Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication'.  LinkedIn Ping Group Music credits for this episode:  Week Thirteen by Ben von Wildenhause, Free Music Archive (CC BY)  Week Thirteen by Ben von Wildenhause, Free Music Archive (CC BY)  Social Media/Links:  ·      Book Link for 'Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication: https://www.amazon.com/Ping-Secrets-Successful-Virtual-Communication/dp/1668055244 ·      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsbrodsky/ ·      Personal We

Dr. Sunita Sah is an award-winning professor at Cornell University and an expert in organizational psychology. She leads groundbreaking research on influence, authority, compliance, and defiance. A trained physician, she practiced medicine in the United Kingdom and worked as a management consultant for the pharmaceutical industry. She currently teaches executives, leaders, and students in healthcare and business. Dr. Sah is a sought-after international speaker and consultant, advisor to government agencies, and former Commissioner of the National Commission on Forensic Science. Her multidisciplinary research and analyses have been widely published in leading academic journals and media entities including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Harvard Business Review, and Scientific American. She lives with her husband and son in New York. DEFY: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes How many times have you wanted to object, disagree, or opt out of something—but ended up swallowing your words, shaking you

Dr. Margaret Heffernan produced programmes for the BBC for 13 years.  She then moved to the US where she spearheaded multimedia productions for Intuit, The Learning Company and Standard&Poors. She was Chief Executive of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and then iCast Corporation, was named one of the “Top 25” by Streaming Media magazine and one of the “Top 100 Media Executives” by The Hollywood Reporter.  The author of six books, Margaret’s third book, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. In 2015, she was awarded the Transmission Prize for A Bigger Prize: Why Competition isn’t Everything and How We Do Better, described as “meticulously researched…engagingly written…universally relevant and hard to fault.” Her TED talks have been seen by over 13 million people and in 2015 TED published Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes. In 2020, she published Uncharted: How to map the futu

Manar Sweillam Morales is a national thought leader and visionary on building human-centered workplace cultures at the intersection of diversity, flexibility, and well-being. As the Founder & CEO of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance, Manar is on a mission to empower organizations to unlock their full potential by creating inclusive environments, implementing effective flexible work strategies, and prioritizing holistic employee well-being. A sought-after speaker, author, and trusted advisor, Manar brings a wealth of expertise from her background as an employment litigator and adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University. She is the author of “The Flexibility Paradigm: Humanizing the Workplace for Productivity, Profitability, and Possibility” (Georgetown University Press, January 2025), which provides a roadmap for building adaptive, resilient organizations that bring out the best in their people. Manar is a recent recipient of the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award and is a member of the

Lynn Blades episode: Minimal Brain Activity by Unheard Music Concepts (source: Free Music Archive) (CC BY)    www.lynnblades.com Lynn Blades, author of THE QUIET BURN: The Ambitious Woman’s Guide To Recognizing And Preventing Burnout, is the founder of Legacy Leadership, an executive leadership consultancy, and a dedicated DEI advocate. She has strived to cultivate a 21st-century leadership workforce that truly reflects the diversity of our society. RECOGNIZING AND PREVENTING BURNOUT Demanding Careers Should Not Overshadow Health And Well-Being Women face numerous challenges in their careers – dealing with sexist and demeaning work environments, juggling work and family obligations, struggling to achieve parity with their male colleagues – all of which require having the necessary physical and emotional capacity to maintain one’s self-esteem. Lynn Blades has spent decades advising women in Fortune 500 companies and independent businesses. An executive leadership coach, her message is clear: it’s time to

After graduating from Boston’s Emerson College in 1985, Tom headed west to work in the film and television industry. In Hollywood, he honed his writing skills through the trials and tribulations of episodic TV, animated series, screenplay options, and game shows for over two decades. When the feast or famine lifestyle of a Hollywood Writer became too sporadic for his maturing life (He had grown to enjoy eating two to three times a day – every day), he took a job at a call center to make ends meet. After his first day on the phones, his manager asked him to stop.  He was terrible at the entry-level position. Tom got easily frazzled, had no focus, and was simply in the wrong role. But rather than look to another company to find his niche, Tom looked inward to learn more about himself and the industry that didn’t want him. Tom leveraged his findings to change himself and the work environments he occupied. Climbing the corporate ladder one rung at a time, Tom evolved into an innovative leader with a proven track

Alison Fragle episode:  Distances by Beat Mekanik (source: Free Music Archive) (CC BY)    ALISON FRAGALE, PhD Speaker. Professor. Compulsive Organizer. Website www.alisonfragale.com Newsletter alisonfragale.substack.com ALISON FRAGALE is the Mary Farley Ames Lee Distinguished Scholar of Organizational Behavior at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina. Her scholarship has been published in the most prestigious academic journals in her field, and featured in prominent media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Boston Globe, and Inc. She is the author of the book, Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve, published by Penguin Random House on September 3, 2024. A sought-after keynote speaker and trusted advisor, she lives in Chicago with her family. Questions/topics to discuss: What is the difference between power and status? Why is status more important? What is the definition of a Likeable Badass and why is it the ke

Lori Rosenkopf is the Simon and Midge Palley Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. As Vice Dean for Entrepreneurship, she serves as Wharton’s faculty director for Venture Lab, Penn’s home for student entrepreneurs, and also their San Francisco campus. In a prior role as Vice Dean of Wharton’s Undergraduate Division, she introduced a new curriculum and developed experiential classwork in the tech sector. For over thirty years, Rosenkopf has taught entrepreneurship and management of technology to more than 20,000 high schoolers, undergraduates, MBAs, and executives, connecting these learners to many of the most entrepreneurial alumni at Wharton and Penn through treks, panels, and classes. Rosenkopf was named a Best Undergraduate Professor by Poets and Quants, and has received multiple awards for her teaching, including Wharton’s prestigious David Hauck Award for Distinguished Teaching. Rosenkopf has published more than thirty articles on technological communities and social network

Abby Davisson episode:  Quickening by malictusmusic (source: Free Music Archive) (CC BY)  Abby Davisson is an author, speaker, and award-winning leader obsessed with holistic decision-making (the kind that takes multiple bottom lines into account). After spending two decades making change from within existing organizations, she launched her own, focused on helping leaders make smart choices for lasting success in work and life. The book she co-wrote with Stanford Professor and labor economist Myra Strober, Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life's Biggest Decisions, was called “brilliant” by professional poker player Annie Duke; named a top business book of 2023; and is required reading at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Prior to launching the Money and Love Institute®, Abby’s professional experience included strategy-focused roles in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, including a decade at Gap Inc. where she led the Gap Foundation and co-founded the company’s employee resource

Distances by Beat Mekanik, via Free Music Archive (CC BY)    Wes Adams is the CEO of SV Consulting Group. He partners with Fortune 500s and scaling companies to develop high-impact leaders and design operating structures that support high performing teams. He is also a positive psychology researcher at the University of Pennsylvania where he studies the leadership practices and organizational structures that help employees thrive. He lives in Atlanta, GA.  LinkedIn  Website   Tamara Myles is a speaker, author, professor, and entrepreneur specializing in the science of human flourishing at work. She helps leaders and organizations like Microsoft, KPMG, and MassMutual unlock the power of meaningful work to drive peak performance, innovation, and resilience. A faculty member at Boston College and a researcher and instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, Tamara’s work challenges assumptions about work, showing that when leaders make work meaningful, they create thriving teams and lasting impact. She lives

Karen Freeman is Chief Product Officer at DCM Insights and one of the authors of the Activator research published in Harvard Business Review, titled "What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently."  That article was named one of HBR’s top 10 reads of 2025. At DCMi, she is one of the global faculty and responsible for the company’s training products and diagnostics.  She has delivered the Activator research and training programs across the globe to clients in the legal, consulting, accounting, and talent advisory sectors. Before joining DCMi, Karen was head of digital & analytics learning for generalist consultants at McKinsey & Company. She led a team upskilling roughly 17,000 consultants globally in topics including advanced analytics modeling, leading digital transformations, and agile methodology. Prior to McKinsey, Karen spent 13 years at Corporate Executive Board (CEB) in research and learning & development roles. There, she led three best practice membership organizations, developing insights, advi

Mark Fava episode:      Liberosis (Instrumental) by Nihilore, via Free Music Archive (CC BY)    Mark C. Fava is an author, retired Navy officer, and an aviation lawyer. He currently works as a Vice president at The Boeing Company. Fava flew as a Naval Flight Officer and Mission Commander in the P-3 Orion, accumulating more than 3,000 flight hours, tracking Soviet submarines during the Cold War. He retired in 2015 from the Navy Reserve as a Captain.  He has led a national aviation law practice at a major law firm. From 2001 to 2004, he worked as the Chief Operations Attorney for Delta Air Lines. He began his legal career as a federal judicial law clerk in Charleston. His first book Lessons from the Admiral, Naval Wisdom and Sea Stories for Leaders, was published in January 2025 and is an Amazon Bestseller. He is an entertaining speaker and lecturer.

Kweilin Ellingrud episode:      Glass Structures by Unheard Music Concepts, via Free Music Archive (CC BY)    Kweilin Ellingrud is McKinsey's Chief Diversity Officer and a director of the McKinsey Global Institute, based in Minneapolis. As a senior partner at McKinsey, she has led research on the topics of gender equality, racial equity, generative AI, the future of work, and global competitiveness. She also serves clients in financial services across strategy and operational transformations. She is the co-author of THE BROKEN RUNG: When the Career Ladder Breaks for Women--and How They Can Succeed in Spite of It, with fellow McKinsey senior partners Lareina Yee and María del Mar Martínez. Book Promo: The broken rung is more pervasive than the glass ceiling in holding women back from career success. Three McKinsey senior partners offer strategies for overcoming it and fulfilling your potential. Women around the world do extremely well when it comes to their education. They graduate at higher rates than me

Steve is a visual artist whose work has been displayed in numerous galleries, juried exhibitions, and prestigious corporate art spaces. He’s planning on transitioning to full-time artist from managing the creative side of a web design firm he founded 25 years ago. Previously, Steve had engaged in numerous careers: media training, tech journalism, book writing (he penned more than 50 solo titles and collaborations, including a million-copy, bestselling parenting book). He was also the founder of a successful ad agency and founder of numerous ill-conceived small businesses that failed miserably. Prior to striking out on his own, Steve had intended to become an academic in the field of ancient Chinese science and technology. But after receiving his masters in East Asian studies from Harvard, he decided that academia was not for him. From the outside, his professional life seems to be a maze of disparate paths; from the inside, it’s all logical stepping stones.  Topics: What I’ve Learned from 50+ years of Making

  Anjali Sharma The music used in this episode is Upstream Color by Mark Wilson X Source: Free Music Archive (CC BY)    Website: https://narrative.com.sg/storytelling/blog/author/anjali/ Anjali Sharma is the founder of Narrative: The Business of Stories and is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers trusted by international brands seeking guidance on finding, developing, and using their stories to make a dynamic change happen. Sharma works with private and government organizations to determine what their individual and unique business challenges are, and by incorporating story skills, she crafts individualized solutions to help solve those challenges. She is based in Singapore.   Anjali Sharma introduces leaders and ambitious influencers to the Who, Why and How of strategic storytelling in business, enabling them bring about change and drive corporate success by telling exactly the right story in the right way.   Book: Strategic Storytelling: Why Some Stories Drive Your Success at Wo