Radical Moderation.

Sounds like an oxymoron. But it’s actually a way we can save our world and our workplaces from whatever the hell it is we’re all going through right now.

We’re in a low trust, high volatility time. And it affects everything. From the most horrific news headlines to the way we relate to the person in the desk across from us. Our armor is up. Which isn’t exactly conducive to conversation or collaboration.

Lauren Hall is an author, speaker, professor, university administrator and coiner of the “radical moderation” term. We talked on this week’s podcast about how embracing this mindset can help us connect more deeply with everyone in our lives.

It starts with avoiding binary thinking. Life is lived in the gray, no matter what your social media algorithms try to tell you.

From there, we need to understand issues in their full complexity.

To do that, we need to be curious and humble, especially when we’re confronted with ideas we don’t like.

Lauren gives one of the most incredible examples of someone who chose to embrace those ideals—Darryl Davis. A black man who has spoken with dozens of KKK members and influenced many to renounce their white supremacist views. His story is remarkable.

I don’t expect most of us to live up to the model of someone like Daryl. But man, wouldn’t the world be a better place if we tried?

Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. Today’s episode is a part of the ProHuman Series, in partnership with the ProHuman Foundation, where Lauren is an advisor.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

You can follow Lauren on LinkedIn. And check out her Substack, The Radical Moderate's Guide to Life. It’s the perfect antidote to our click-bait riddled feeds.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

Bonus question from Lauren to our audience:Are you happy with the politics that we have now? Do you feel as though what's happening is serving our communities?

If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a terrible boss.

Nice, I see lots of hands. Great.

Now raise your hand if you’ve ever been a terrible boss.

If your hand isn’t still up, you’re lying to yourself.

The moment we start leading others, we start finding ways to be bad at it. Not because we suck. Because we’re human. And this is how we learn.

F*ck around a find out, right?

Mita Mallick would like all of us to find out more quickly. Yes, we’re going to be crappy at times. But she’s done a lot of work to define our most craptastic tendencies so we can recognize them and stop doing them sooner.

I could’ve used Mita’s wisdom many times in my own career. Like that time I told a person on my team I didn’t really care for their design style. Ugh.

Her new book, “The Devil Emails at Midnight: What Good Leaders Can Learn from Bad Bosses,” outlines the (lucky) 13 types of bad bosses. So we can stop being most of them and start being who our teams need us to be.

Here are a few. Do you recognize any of these in yourself?

🙀 "Medusa": Screaming, public humiliation, throwing objects🙀 "The Napper": Disengaged, falling asleep in meetings🙀 "Tony Soprano": Career-threatening, talent-hoarding🙀 "The Cheerleader": Toxic positivity, unrealistic expectations

Mita even talks about her own experience as a “terrible” boss and what she’s learned since then. My impression? I think she’d make a great boss. I know she was an amazing guest.

Let the desuckifying begin. Here’s Mita.

Welcome to the DesuckifyWork podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

You can follow Mita on LinkedIn. And check out her site, where you can learn about all the cool work she’s doing and find a link to pre-order her book, “The Devil Emails at Midnight”, which launches in September 30th.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

Bonus question from Mita to our audience:Are you willing to admit when you've been a bad boss, if you're honest?

If you’d like to watch the episode on YouTube, please click here.

Is therapy culture destroying us?

Pushing us to analyze every moment as a potential trauma. Turning minor slights into rage and sadness. Making us feel good about feeling bad all the time.

Fred Luskin has a different idea. Forgiveness. He’s been studying it for over 30 years and the biggest takeaway? We can deal with 99% of the crap that comes our way. Feel the feeling, sure. Do some self soothing… vent to a friend, go for a run, eat a cookie. But then forgive and move on.

Resentment is an addiction. Fred should know. He held onto resentment from a painful experience for years until his wife told him “it ain’t that pleasant living with you.” Fred found a way to forgive what happened and turned that energy into the Stanford Forgiveness Project, doing research on methods to help others forgive.

Forgiveness is a gift to yourself. A decision to take ownership of how you feel and refuse to let the behavior of others drag you down.

Imagine if we took this advice at work. Letting the petty BS slide and allowing ourselves to truly connect with people. We’re all dicks sometimes. Let’s own that and do cool s**t together.

This is what emotional intelligence looks like. And it’s the thing that will keep us human as AI does whatever the hell it’s gonna do.

You wanna get mad about it? Feel free. But don’t hold onto that feeling for too long. It’ll ruin you.

As Fred says, “take the blinders off and realize what a gift life is.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Welcome to the DesuckifyWork podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. Today’s episode is a part of the ProHuman Series, in partnership with the ProHuman Foundation, where Fred is an advisor.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

You can follow Fred on LinkedIn. And check out his site at fredluskin.com where you can learn more about his books, including “The Forgive for Good Recovery Workbook.”

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

Bonus question from Fred to our audience:How can you take the blinders off your life so that you stop taking so much of the good in your life for granted?

If you’d like to watch the episode on YouTube, please click here.