Political IQ: Wrestling workplace politics to the ground

Shellye Archambeau doesn't deal with drama. She deals with accepting reality and controlling what you can. Silicon Valley CEO, Board Member Verizon, and so much more. 

What do your employees want? Respect! Design guru Susan Juvet helps you create the office of the future with both your people and productivity in mind.

Gail Angelo has the antidote! Learn how to live a life of significance, not of success and why anxiety is the most contagious of all emotions.

Anxiety, engagement, humanity, motivation - it takes work to deal with all this intelligently. Adrian Gostick shows us how.

Product guru Petra Wille helps Nancy embrace the radical mindset change in marrying the user and the scientist when it comes to great design.

The working parents' best friend, advocate and wise advisor, Daisy Dowling, reflects on how much has changed and how much still has to change. 

Nancy keeps saying "wait a minute!" to Professor James Bailey about corporate social activism, consumers' political orientation and the erosion of hierarchy.

Promotability expert Amii Barnard-Bahn talks about nailing the balance between empathy and professional boundaries when it comes to retaining talent. Not to mention figuring out just how promotable you are. 

Oprah is her role model! Researcher, advocate, author, teacher and coach Dr. Ruth Gotian teaches us all about what it means to really connect with others.

Dan Cable wants you to build a highlight reel so that you know you're not just exceptional - you've had true impact on others. Nancy tries to distract him by talking about Satan. But Dan's too smart - he just laughs and gets us right back on track.

Geek out with Nancy and Dr. Richard Claydon on why the American evangelical movement gave us the messiah leader and how a lack of trust is fueling employee power.  Throw in quick visits to Japan and Scandinavia and you have a trip around the intellectual world of leadership. (Hint: Richard's read Kierkegaard; Nancy had to sip scotch from a baby bottle to do the same).

Francine Parham unpacks the economics of advancement, tells the truth about relationship building versus transactions and so much more you've never ever even thought about.

Alain Hunkins, author of Cracking the Leadership Code on why the two most important questions in life are: "do you love me?" and "who's in charge?" Not to mention why empathy and power are the Montague and Capulets of corporate life and how consensus can be nuts when it's about the entree choices at the office party.

Gary Bolles and Nancy agree that hybrid is the worst of the worst. Come reimagine the future of work and find out why you and your organization need a defibrillator jolt.

Marianne Roux joins us from Australia and explains the 4th Industrial Revolution: become more human, treat people like adults, upskill, reskill, and stop thinking your culture is in your office (hint: better coffee won't get them back).

Marc Effron is begging you - do not build a nice culture! He also offers Nancy half a billion dollars. And since it's recorded, I'm holding him to it.

Journalist Rebecca Knight talks about how to create the kind of work environment you want, including getting rid of brilliant jerks and approaching political conversations with curiosity and compassion. 

Kara Goldin is more than undaunted. She's irrepressible, curious, bold, impressive, humble and an utter delight. From collecting stories in supermarkets to watching her big brother tinker with cars, she's the best kind of human sponge.

Jackson Jeyanayagam and Nancy keep tumbling over each other talking about big corporations versus start ups, hiring the best talent, being contrarians and why nice cultures aren't very nice at all. 

Drop that cube of cheese and forget the events you dread.  J. Kelly Hoey teaches us how to build relationships with strategic intent, humor, intelligence and grace. Bad wine optional. 

Heidi Gardner, author of Smart Collaboration, explains why specialized expertise and increasingly complex problems are making collaboration more difficult than ever before. And virtual meetings? That really doesn't help.

Julian and Nancy - joined by the energetic construction crew next door - drill into what makes organizations thrive. 

Aubrey Blanche educates us on "diversity theater", how inspiration can be a creator of will, and what happens when you combine empathy and science. 

Ben Waber agrees with me: you can't always trust your gut. But he's smart enough to explain why. Let's just say it has a lot to do with the inertia of the status quo and using data to help you love your work.

Alison Fragale on why it's better to be assertive rather than warm, why you should focus more on making people love you and less on convincing them that you're right and why people like hierarchy (hint: maybe it's all about wearing Spanx?!)

Dan George marries process and people to teach others how work can be done more productively as well as more empathetically.

Marilyn Markham speaks the languages of all stakeholders, getting us to a better world in technology, product and organizational change.

If 2020 wasn't a wake-up call to reimagine and redefine HR then they might as well keep sleeping. Lars Schmidt knows that we're never going back - but he knows how to go forward.

Dr. Mike Barbera explains why you would drive 5 miles to save $20, why oversold is so much better than sold out and why being a behavioral scientist is so sexy.

Murder, drug trafficking and codes of conduct. Ethicist, executive and lawyer Rob Chestnut examines the Bathsheba complex and challenges the enemies of integrity. 

What's it like to be a Black woman in the workplace? Best selling author Minda Harts talks about space, grace, color blindness and a certain aunt of hers who we hope isn't listening.

Rhett Power and Nancy swap tells from the factory floor, coin a tee shirt worthy slogan and explore why Rhett used to hide in a coffee shop.

David Noble, Coach to CEOS, packs years of wisdom into sharing what derails leaders and teams - and that's just in the first three minutes! The secret of it all: "fight the war you have, not the war you wish you had". 

How do we get to equity? Elisa Van Dam knows alot about practical pushing, allyship, listening, self-limiting behaviors and "She-Succession." Nancy throws in men loving video games, women hating manipulation, bread baking, clay and anything else she can think of...and the dog chimes in!

Chris Wade talks with Nancy about multi-national vs. national office cultures; getting the same message across in different countries and the "ask the CEO anything" strategy. Nancy encourages him to pick on the Brits.

Leading from the middle is like doing pilates: you need a strong core. Thought leader, speaker, author and all around wise man Scott Mautz teaches you how (spoiler alert: never spray paint your grass green!)

Ron Carucci and Nancy dive deep into values, judgement and why business processes encourage lying, duplicity and bad behavior. And what, if anything, can we do about it?

Explore your own data with behavioral scientist Matt Wallaert as we riff on feedback, assumptions, money, power, short term thinking and everything else we can cram into 30 rollicking minutes.

A conversation about skulduggery, dating site desirability, finding new boundaries and short term highs. Karen Dillon, author of the HBR Guide to Politics, talks about why you must have a strategy for dealing with people. 

Bonnie Marcus, author of The Politics of Promotion, and Nancy talk about being passed over for promotion and being fired. She lays out the five critical steps women should take to protect themselves from workplace politics. 

Grab a latte and a cookie for storytelling time with best selling author Paul Smith. Stories bring us together and shape organizations in powerful ways - especially during tough times like these.

Scientist, leader, mentor and inclusion champion, Dr. Terri Cooper helps us understand how women can be their own worst enemy. She knows that diversity of thought requires intentionality and what it takes to be a great leader in these difficult times.

Six men sitting around a table with a bottle of scotch join Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Nancy as they talk data, instincts, gender blindness and why they both hate Lean In. Spoiler alert: Nancy's language gets a little salty. 

Deborah Gruenfeld is the  Joseph McDonald Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of Acting with Power. Nancy and Deb wonder which fights are worth fighting for, how the motivation for respect can turn into control over others and why talking about power is so frightening.  

Timothy R. Clark, Founder and CEO of LeadFactor, explains the spectrum of influence, and why persuasion is the mid zone we all aim to reach. We also examine how innovation undermines the status quo and how leaders get in the way.

Educator, Board Member, Author and Advisor Elaine Eisenman talks truth about family businesses, the dirty secrets of corporate life and why betrayal is the shadow companion of trust.

Crisis and change leadership author Eric McNulty tackles working together without hierarchy, staying in your lane and the cost of being overly rigid. Nancy wants to know how Covid will change  leadership and culture in all companies.

Global thought leader Ravin Jesuthasan shares the three biggest trends shaping the future of work in 2021. Nancy is so mesmerized she never even brings up office politics. 

English majors Felice Gray-Kemp and Nancy talk about the unnecessary political distractions in global companies and the cop-out of being your "authentic" self.

Master coach John Baldoni discusses purpose, values and the delusion of self awareness in a time of coarseness and disagreement. Nancy just wants to be more like him.

Patricia Russo runs The Campaign School at Yale, and  knows alot about recognizing fear, telling people they're ready and staying open, loving and kind. Nancy listens adoringly.