Episodes

Few professionals demonstrate the case for workplace empathy better than Hannah Jew. Hannah Jew (last name pronounced "Joe") is an empathy building brand strategist for Scotts Miracle-Gro, the nation's leading lawn and garden care company. Empathy is central to how Hannah does her job; it helps drive value for consumers who rely on her company's products to grow flowering plants and food from seed. During the pandemic, nearly 21 million people embraced gardening. And Hannah used her marketing...

For many in the active workforce, project leadership drives future work. As dramatic shifts in work behavior unfolded during the pandemic, one key insight popped out as truly meaningful. Project leadership drives future work. To help us explore the growing importance of project leadership, we turn to Rich Maltzman for guidance. He is a master lecturer of project management at Boston University's Metropolitan College. Rich is also one of the world's leading authorities on project management, ...

Cristina DiGiacomo applies practical philosophy for future work benefit. An author, podcaster, and practical philosopher, Cristina draws on ancient insight to help people solve contemporary problems. And as the founder of MorAlchemy, she guides people to lead happier, more purposed lives doing meaningful work. Skeptics may not recognize the immediate value of practical philosophy for future work. But, for every stressor, difficult workplace relationship, and vexing business problem Cristina sa...

Career professionals are swaying to the future of work, to thrive in their roles and workplaces. During 2020, the intense stressors of remote work sent many professionals to a panic state. But 17 months since the pandemic started, those professionals may now languish. They handle their responsibilities well and don't feel despair, but they don't necessarily thrive. According to workplace futurist Denise Brouder, swaying to the future of work helps people remain effective on the job...and joyfu...

When we act on future work opportunities, we help make our career dreams come true. Paired with dreams, exploration, and strategy, action helps us to achieve career success. These four components weave together like DNA, in countless combinations, to create a pathway for people to seek and do meaningful work. In this episode, Dan Smolen recalls how his early career ambition benefitted from a big relocation: "My first big career break also fulfilled the desire that my wife and I had to move to...

Strategize for your future work success to find and do the work of your dreams. Paired with dreams, exploration, and action, strategy helps us to achieve career success. These four components weave together like DNA, in countless combinations, to create a pathway for people to seek and do meaningful work. In this episode, Dan Smolen recalls an experience from his junior year of college. Back then, he engaged with Associate Professor of Advertising Howard Cogan. Howard was also a successful adv...

Explore future work opportunities to live your dreams of doing meaningful work. Paired with dreams, strategy, and action, exploration helps us to achieve career success. These four components weave together like DNA, in countless combinations, to create a pathway for people to seek and do meaningful work. In this episode, Dan recalls the impact of Seventh Grade Career Day on his lifetime of work. And his guest, Professor Anne Holton of George Mason University, provides thought-leadership on ho...

We discuss how dreams inspire our future work. Dreams are part of the components that help us to seek and do meaningful work and careers. Paired with exploration, strategy, and action, dreams help us achieve career success. These four components weave together like DNA, in countless combinations, to create a pathway for people to seek and do meaningful work. In this episode, Dan relives his early career dreams. And his guest, Dr. Charles Glassman, recalls how well-meaning people in his teenag...

Fostering a civil workplace is key to the future of work. As organizations reintroduce their people to the workplace, they must also reckon with social responsibility. It is one thing for management to express a desire for positive social change. It is quite another to "walk the talk" to create a civil work environment. Sejal Thakkar understands the sting of incivility like few others. During her teenage years in the Chicago suburbs, she suffered from near daily racial prejudice and bullying....

Few issues pair as precariously as A.I. and the future of work. Artificial intelligence or A.I. frightens people who fear that robots will take away their jobs and paychecks. Truth be told, A.I. will soon replace millions of low-skill jobs, for it can manage many tasks faster and better than people. But A.I. has no heart; only people can do jobs that require human touch and interaction. To help us understand A.I. and the future of work, we turn to Prateek Joshi. The author of numerous books ...

We pose five questions on post pandemic work experiences to our guest, Edythe Richards. Edythe is an Emotional Intelligence expert. She is also the new host of the EQ at Work podcast which explores how EQ may be used to positively shape the future of work. As we emerge from the pandemic, some of us will travel back to co-located offices. The prospect of returning is both exciting and terrifying. People used to working remotely for more than a year may be ill-prepared for their return to the o...

Entrepreneurs need financial security to scale business, but also have choices to do meaningful work. And more broadly speaking, financial security plays a big role in the future of work. Some entrepreneurs strive to scale take their start-ups public. But, more often than not, they are just people looking for autonomy to create products and services that solve vexing problems. And their pursuits typically take the form of side hustles. Angela Anderson is a veteran wealth advisor who counsels ...

We revisit some amazing interviews with workplace futurists who helped the future of work to become present. Astronishingly, 2020 ushered in massive changes in how and where we work. Helping to us navigate the changes are these featured guests from The Dan Smolen Podcast: Anne Driscoll and Chris Schultz: Launch Pad is their co-working community of first believers. Anne and Chris, the married co-founders of Launch Pad., celebrate co-working by fostering a community of first believers. Starts ...

When we achieve a career agility mindset, we benefit with boundless opportunities in the future of work. A year out from the start of the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, one key driver has emerged for people in the workforce: a career agility mindset. Agility is the-most important attribute of successful career professionals. People now must respond to new tasks, skill requirements, company directives, and market factors. And given that more of us work from anywhere, agility becomes a key success ind...

Emerging from the pandemic. virtual assistants help professionals to succeed. They take over many critical tasks that are associated with scaling a business. As millions of business founders and entrepreneurs settle into remote work, many of them turn to virtual assistants for help. As principal of VirtualKGB.com, Kate Gable Bright delivers the capabilities of big marketing services companies. Often times, Kate launches marketing campaigns, increases sales, and builds formidable social media p...

Launch Pad is a coworking community of first believers founded by Anne Driscoll and Chris Schultz. Anne and Chris know firsthand the struggles of starting a business. As serial start-up entrepreneurs, they often heard “no” or “that will never work." Thus, in establishing Launch Pad's first believer premise, Anne and Chris set up their coworking brand and members for success. First believers help each other overcome the stresses and strains of scaling start-up businesses. Often, they provide o...

As hiring managers navigate the future of work, they must also help to create opportunities for a neurodiverse workforce. Larysa Kautz is the President and CEO of Melwood, a nonprofit organization that helps people with disabilities find and do meaningful work. In the broad future of work discussion, neurodiversity gets scant attention. And yet the number of neurodiverse people in the workforce is considerable. The neurodiverse workforce often includes people with physical or intellectual dis...

Future of work thought-leader Nellie Hayat describes a brilliant future at transformed workplaces. Nellie is the Head of Workplace Transformation for VergeSense. Her mission is to empower companies to reimagine their workplaces so that their talent thrive in them, wherever they may be located. Since the start of Covid lockdowns one year ago, the American workplace has permanently changed. No longer do the majority of workforce professionals commute to co-located offices. Now, many prefer to ...

Dan Rosenzweig appears on the podcast, to describe how novel venues reimagine the workplace. There are many players in co-working. But among them, KettleSpace turned a glaring problem, underutilized spaces such as hotel lobbies and restaurants, into dazzling places to work. As co-founder of KettleSpace, Dan wants to give people who work: "[the opportunity] to choose their WHERE, so that they can achieve and focus on their WHYs." Currently in the United States, over one billion square feet of...

As we leave 2020 behind, we ask: can grief influence career choices? Meet New York Times best-selling author Hope Edelman. Through a series of books starting with Motherless Daughters, Hope helps people turn grief into a healing and meaningful experience. Now, her latest book, The AfterGrief, gets grieving people to a place a positivity and purpose: "There really are only two stages of grief that people care about: there's the stage where you feel really bad and then there's the stage where y...

Designing work from home space is mission critical in the age of the pandemic and the future or work. Leah Margolis Nathan is responding to her clients' needs for intentional space to work and conduct Zoom meetings. Based in Saratoga, New York, Leah helps her clients to brilliantly reimagine their square footage to live and work. What is more, she carves out beautiful and functional areas for kids in the household to participate in virtual classroom instruction. In this wide ranging episode, ...

In 2021, the rise of independent work will benefit people who compete for business with large firms and agencies. Laura Marella co-founded Overflow to help solo-entrepreneur marketing and strategy professionals succeed. As a business accelerator and professional community, Overflow provides independent professionals with specialized tools and resources that they need to compete effectively with big enterprises. What is more, Overflow connects "indies" to a large and growing ecosystem of likemi...

Volunteer programs benefit careers and extend corporate social responsibility. As the CEO of Realized Worth, Angela Parker leads an organization that inspires professionals at AT&T, Deloitte, Microsoft, Walmart and other companies with meaningful volunteer program engagements. "Volunteering can be a safe and non-threatening space where we encounter our own humanity." Nearly one year separated from workplace colleagues, people who work are seeking involvement in meaningful leadership opportuni...

Following a year of workforce disruption, career coaching empowers professionals to succeed in life and work. Rich Gee is arguably one of the-most successful career coaches in the United States. As principal the of Rich Gee High Performance Coaching, he empowers professionals to improve their on-the-job results and career outcomes. Incidentally, when he encounters clients for the first time, Rich asks a bold question: "[There are] people who make things happen. And there are people who watch...