Dr. Dan Diamond is passionate about equipping leaders to make a difference, especially when resources are scarce or times are tough. For example, Dan was the director of the medical triage unit at the New Orleans Convention Center following Hurricane Katrina, he led one of the first medical teams into Haiti following their devastating earthquake and he was deployed to the Philippines following Typhoon Yolanda. Dan has packaged all of this experience into his book Beyond Resilience, Trench-Tested Tools to Thrive When Times Are Tough and its ideas have been featured on CNN and many other media outlets around the world.

In this episode, we explore how it's possible to adapt and thrive, even under extreme circumstances at work and in life as Dan explains how tow simple questions can move us towards a thriver mindset that renews us, or a victim, bystander or controller mindset that drains us.

Connect with Dan Diamond:

Website: dandiamondmd.com

You’ll Learn:

• [02:20] - Dan explains how power and purpose shape a thriver’s mindset and how it can improve our performance and wellbeing at work.
• [04:23] - Dan shares how our victim, bystander, controller, and thriver mindsets get shaped and how we can free ourselves of mindsets that don’t serve us well.
• [08:56] - Dan offers some practical steps we can take to move towards a thriver mindset more consistently at work.
• [15:55] - Dan shares tips for how leaders can help their teams cultivate more thriver mindsets when times are tough.
• [22.32] - Dan explains how we can be intelligent thrivers who don’t burn ourselves out in an effort to help others.
• [24:55] - Dan Completes the Lightning round.

Your Resources:

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Dan!

Dr. Heidi Wayment is a professor of social psychology at Northern Arizona University, whose research interests include psychological processes related to self-identity, self-evaluation, health behavior, and coping with stressful life events. Heidi is the co-author of Transcending Self-interest: Psychological Explorations of the Quiet Ego and has published nearly a dozen papers related to her research on this topic. In 2018, her work was recognized by a University as the most significant research in scholarly work.

In this episode, we explore how our egos shape our relationships, performance, and wellbeing at work. Heidi shares the simple steps we can take to quieten a noisy ego when needed, and how to avoid overplaying our quiet egos at work. 

Connect with Heidi Wayment:

Website: Heidi Wayment - Northern Arizona University

You’ll Learn:

• [02:20] - Heidi explains the quiet ego and how it can impact our performance and wellbeing at work.
• [04:23] - Heidi outlines the four characteristics of a quiet ego and how these can be applied in workplaces.
• [08:56] - Heidi helps us understand how fear, uncertainty, and dissatisfaction can trigger our noisy egos.
• [12:43] – Heidi explores how self-compassion can help us to quieten our noisy egos.
• [15:55] - Heidi shares a new approach being taken in the US Military to teach leaders and their teams to quieten their egos when needed.
• [22.32] - Heidi explores how we can avoid overplaying our quiet egos at work.
• [24:55] - Heidi Completes the Lightning round.

Your Resources:

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Heidi!

Peggy Kern is a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education in the Center for Positive Psychology. Originally trained in Social-Personality and Development Psychology, Peggy's research examines the question of who flourishes in life physically, mentally and socially, and she's one of the world's leading researchers on the subject of measuring wellbeing, particularly using the PERMA pillars.

In this episode, we explore new research to understand why most wellbeing workplace measures and strategies are falling short, and the small practical changes we can make to help more people thrive at work. 

Connect with Peggy Kern:

Website: http://peggykern.org

You’ll Learn:

• [02:43] - Peggy explains the surprising findings of a new survey on wellbeing across Australian workplaces, and what this might mean for other workplaces.
• [08:24] - Peggy explores how our current approaches to measuring wellbeing may have unintentionally created more stigma for people who are struggling.
• [10:58] - Peggy shares her concerns for how wellbeing is being taught in schools and what this could mean for workplaces as well.
• [12:23] – Peggy suggests workplaces need to embrace wellbeing diversity, just as they are starting embrace neurodiversity.
• [13:38] - Peggy explains why wellbeing is a not a solo endeavor in workplaces, and how teams and organizations impact people’s wellbeing at work.
• [17:09] - Peggy shares some practical strategies emerging from the research that workplaces can use to help support their people’s wellbeing.
• [20:23] - Peggy explains why workplaces shouldn’t be aiming for perfect wellbeing scores, and what they monitor instead to determine the success of their programs.
• [22:49] - Peggy Completes the Lightning round.

Your Resources:

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Peggy!

Today’s Guest:

Peggy Kern is a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education in the Center for Positive Psychology. Originally trained in Social-Personality and Development Psychology, Peggy's research examines the question of who flourishes in life physically, mentally and socially, and she's one of the world's leading researchers on the subject of measuring wellbeing, particularly using the PERMA pillars.

In this episode, we explore some side-effects of wellbeing measures in workplaces, and how to avoid them. 

Connect with Peggy Kern:

Website: http://peggykern.org

You’ll Learn:

• [02:43] - Peggy explains the surprising findings of a new survey on wellbeing across Australian workplaces, and what this might mean for other workplaces.
• [08:24] - Peggy explores how our current approaches to measuring wellbeing may have unintentionally created more stigma for people who are struggling.
• [10:58] - Peggy shares her concerns for how wellbeing is being taught in schools and what this could mean for workplaces as well.
• [12:23] – Peggy suggests workplaces need to embrace wellbeing diversity, just as they are starting embrace neurodiversity.
• [13:38] - Peggy explains why wellbeing is a not a solo endeavor in workplaces, and how teams and organizations impact people’s wellbeing at work.
• [17:09] - Peggy shares some practical strategies emerging from the research that workplaces can use to help support their people’s wellbeing.
• [20:23] - Peggy explains why workplaces shouldn’t be aiming for perfect wellbeing scores, and what they monitor instead to determine the success of their programs.
• [22:49] - Peggy Completes the Lightning round.

Your Resources:

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Peggy!

Today we’re talking to Zach Mercurio, whose research, teaching and consulting on how purpose and meaningfulness can help individuals and organizations unleash human potential to produce tangible results, has been applied to transform Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, schools, and universities around the world. Zach is the best selling author of “The Invisible Leader: Transform Your Life, Work, and Organization with the Power of Authentic Purpose,”

In this episode, we explore why what’s possible when purpose becomes the boss of our choices in workplaces and the practical steps you, your team and your organization can take to genuinely put meaning and purpose at the heart of what you do each day.

Connect with Zach:

Website:  https://www.zachmercurio.com/

You’ll Learn:

• [01:51] - Zach explains why purpose has become a priority in workplaces over the last few years.
• [03:48] - Zach studies are finding a focus on purpose impacts the bottom-line in workplaces.
• [06:05] - Zach explains why-washing has become a problem in some workplaces and how we can avoid it.
• [07:53] - Zach outlines why purpose is a process and the pathway to purpose that workplaces can follow based on his research.
• [11:38] - Zach explains how leaders can ensure their choices and actions remain aligned to their organization’s purpose even in a dynamic, complex and unpredictable world.
• [13:53] - Zach provides an example of how leaders can keep the purpose of their organization front-of-mind as they make decisions.
• [17:07] - Zach explains what we can do practically to be more purpose-focused – no matter what our role - if our organization isn’t yet clear on its purpose.
• [19:17] - Zach offers some tips to help us deliver on our organization’s purpose more consistently.
• [24:03] - Zach completes the lightning round.

Your Resources:

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• Make Your Job a Calling by Brian J. Dik & Ryan D. Duffy

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Zach!