Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast

Martin Seligman is a leading authority in the fields of positive psychology, resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism, and pessimism.  He is the director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center, the Penn Master of Applied Positive Psychology program.  In this conversation, you will hear Martin share what he would like attendees to take away from his presentation at the 5th World Congress on Positive Psychology.  He talks about changes he is seeing with governments as they implement positive psychology practices.  Martin believes well-being should be one of the principle goals of political policy around the world.   Martin also talks about positive psychology in the workplace. He shares one small change that he believes can make a big impact on workplaces.  He also shares that increases in occupational well-being should decrease accidents and increase safety in the workplace. Connect with Martin Seligman: Website - http://authentichappiness.org You’ll Learn: [02:02]  - Martin will be speaking at

Sonja Lyubomirsky is a professor of Psychology at the University of California - Riverside. Her research on the science of happiness has been the recipient of many honors.  She is a best-selling author of the books The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want and The Myths of Happiness: What Should Make You Happy, but Doesn’t, What Shouldn’t Make You Happy, but Does. In this conversation, you will hear Sonja share her thoughts and findings on happiness.  Sonja shares some of her findings that prove that positive activity interactions work.  Sonja also talks about some of the myths of happiness, which is the topic of her latest book.  She talks about the identification process to determine which interactions may work for individuals.  She also talks about happiness in group dynamics, specifically the workplace.  Sonja must present these interventions in various ways, depending on the environment and situation and she explains how she does that.   Connect with Sonja Lyubomirsky: Website:

Paula Davis Laack is a former practicing lawyer, an internationally published writer, media contributor, and a stress and resilience expert.  She has designed and taught burnout prevention and resilience workshops for thousands of professionals around the world. She also taught resilience skills to more than 25,000 soldiers.   While a lot of people are familiar with the term “burnout”, they don’t know what it is and how it develops.  In this conversation, you will hear Paula talk about burnout and how individuals can avoid it. She also discusses the strategies that organizations can implement to help team members avoid burnout. Connect with Paula Davis Laack: Website: http://pauladavislaack.com You’ll Learn: [01:55] - Paula explains why burnout is such an issue in workplaces, even though businesses have been addressing this issue for a long time. [03:45] - Paula defines “burnout” as a process of chronic stress.  She explains the difference between stress and burnout. [05:18] - Paula addresses how individuals

Carin Rockind is the creator of Purpose Girl, a movement to empower purpose-driven living.  She is also a leading happiness expert who works with companies around the world, teaching real-life strategies to help people live to their fullest potential of success and well-being.   In this conversation, you will hear Carin talk about purpose. Carin explains why purpose is a verb. She describes how you can find purpose in your life, even in existing situations.  She also talks about purpose in the workplace and how leaders can help individuals find more purpose in their work. Connect with Carin Rockind: Website: CarinRockind.com You’ll Learn: [01:15] - Carin believes purpose is the driving force behind who we are. She explains why purpose is so important. [02:32] - Carin explains why it’s so difficult people to discover their purpose. [05:19] - Carin talks about finding purpose in your existing situation.   [11:00] - “Start where you are.”  Carin talks about how the start the process of identifying and working t

Russ Harris is the author of the international best-selling self help book, The Happiness Trap.  He is a therapist and coach, as well as a world renowned trainer of acceptance and commitment therapy, otherwise known as ACT.  He has provided ACT training to over 20,000 people all around the world. In this conversation, you will hear Russ talk about the ACT approach. He explains how individuals and organizations can use the ACT approach to work through negativity and be comfortable with accepting rather than solving. Connect with Russ Harris: Website: ActMindfully.com.au You’ll Learn: [01:28] - Russ talks about finding healthy ways to accept things that seem completely unacceptable.   [04:07] - Russ shares how those of us that are used to a CBT approach to our challenges can get comfortable with accepting rather than solving.   [07:55] - Self-compassion is an important skill to normalize being able to get comfortably uncomfortable.  Russ explains how the ACT approach works through negativity.   [09:54] - Russ

Jo Murray is a facilitator and change consultant with a Masters in Positive Psychology from Melbourne University.  Jo is specifically interested in how leaders in organizations can use the concept of psychological capital to improve the engagement and wellbeing of their employees.    While your organization may measure and track your economic, human or even social capital, have you ever considered the psychological capital?  Psychological capital is about understanding what individuals uniquely bring to their role and the organization to give it life and vitality, and their potential to be great and perform at extraordinary levels.  By providing meaningful and productive feedback to your staff based on the components of psychological capital  - hope, self-efficacy, resilience, optimism -  you can unlock the performance potential of your team.   You’ll Learn: [01:33] - Jo explains that psychological capital is simply described as the notion of who you are and, more importantly, who you’re becoming. [02:44] –

Kathleen Cator is a clinical psychologist and former nurse with over 20 years’ experience as a health professional. Kathleen leads self-compassion and mindfulness based training and therapies in public, education, and health care settings. Self-compassion is about treating yourself during difficult or challenging times as you would a good friend - with kindness, understanding and encouragement. While it’s easy to believe that by being critical of your faults and failings you are more likely to be motivated to make changes, however this has actually been found to undermine your progress. However, when you practice self-compassion you are more likely to learn from your mistakes, and improve your motivation, performance, and wellbeing. Connect with Kathleen Cator Website:  http://mettahp.com.au/ You’ll Learn: [01:24] - Kathleen explains how you can use the same principles of showing compassion to others, to be compassionate to yourself. [02:43] – Research has found that self-compassion improves your emotional a

Louisa Jewell is a speaker, author, facilitator, and wellbeing teacher who has inspired thousands of people worldwide to be more confident.  She founded the Canadian Positive Psychology Association and her work has been featured in numerous publications. In this conversation, you will hear Louisa share her thoughts on developing more confidence, to help you and your organization become more innovative.  Louisa believes confidence is finding the courage to act in the moment you want to put a great idea forward.  While some self-doubt can be motivating, too much self-doubt and self-questioning can stop you in your tracks and undermine your wellbeing. Connect with Louisa Jewell Website - http://positivitymatters.com Twitter - @LouisaJewell You’ll Learn: [01:48] - Louisa talks about the importance of innovation in today’s business-world, and to be innovative organizations need people with the confidence to speak up about their great ideas. [04:05] - Louisa shares how confidence means having the courage to act

Dr. Barbara Fredrickson is a distinguished professor of psychology and neuroscience.  She is the director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  With 140 peer-reviewed articles published and translated into a dozen languages, her research is funded by the US National Institute of Health.   “Positive psychology is not just for when things are going well.”  This conversation may be exactly what some of you need in these times of global political uncertainty and fear.  Barbara talks about maintaining positivity and functioning or flourishing in times of negativity.   Connect with Barbara Fredrickson Barbara Fredrickson’s page on the Social Psychology Network You’ll Learn: [01:50] - As 2016 concludes, there is a lot of uncertainty and fear in the world due to political changes.  Barbara talks about the role of positive psychology in these times. [03:35] - Barbara shares her thoughts on maintaining positivity in the face of fear. [05:40] - Barbara ta

Monica Worline is an organizational psychologist, speaker, author, and the founder and CEO of Alive and Work, an organization that teaches businesses how to tap into courageous thinking, compassionate leadership, and the curiosity to bring their best work to life. In this conversation, you will hear Monica Worline describe the importance of compassion, specifically within organizations.  Monica shares components of her personal blueprint for compassion that she explains, in-depth in her upcoming book, Awakening Compassion at Work.   Business leaders may resist compassion in their organization because it’s perceived as “soft”, but Monica shares that research shows that embracing compassion can positively impact the business financially.  Monica also describes the dilemmas that organization leaders can face when embracing compassion in the workplace. Connect with Monica Worline Website - MonicaWorline.com or TheCompassionLab.comTwitter - @monicaworline You’ll Learn: [02:02] - Monica talks about compassion and

Robert Biswas-Diener, is a leading researcher on culture, wellbeing, positive psychology coaching and author of several wonderful books including the The Upside of Your Dark Side.  With recent political changes in the United States and the UK leaving many feeling fearful and apprehensive about the future, Robert shares his insights on how to become comfortable with these uncomfortable feelings.  He suggests rather than trying to whitewash them, by accepting them, and seeing them as signals that something isn’t right, you can then decide on a constructive response to what’s unfolding.  You can also apply this in workplaces when looming mergers or restructures stir up similar feelings of uncertainty and fear. Connect with Robert Biswas-Diener Robert’s Website - RobertDiener.com PositiveAcorn.com IntentionalHappiness.com You’ll Learn: [01:37] - Robert talks about how emotions are like signals giving us a mental thumbs-up or thumbs-down about the quality of our life.   [05:35] - If you are fearful, it’s telling

Paloma Lopez is the global sustainability director for Kellogg. She helped lead the launch of the Kellogg origins program in sustainable agriculture in Europe.  She is now helping roll that program out on a global scale.   Paloma shares Kellogg’s long history with “purpose”.  She explains how it is increasingly important for employees that the values of the organization align with their own.   Paloma has great insight into what Kellog have learned on their journey about having the right programs, the right partners and the right messages.  Connect with Paloma Lopez Twitter - @palomalpez You’ll Learn: [01:21] - Paloma talks about embedding purpose within an organization.  She shares how Kellogg has done this. [3:34] - Paloma also explains why this strategy is important for their millennial employees. [7:14] - Paloma talks about the role that leaders play in implementing and maintaining these strategies. Paloma also shares a new initiative that aims to connect employees with their sustainable agriculture sourc

Vincent Stanley is an author and chief story-teller with Patagonia.  In this conversation, you will hear Vincent talk about Patagonia’s journey from sustainability to responsibility, the mistakes they've made along the way and how they've won the hearts and minds of employees.  Connect with Vincent Stanley Vincent Stanley’s Website You’ll Learn: [02:18] - Vincent shares why he believes organizations shouldn't focus on sustainability. [04:23] - Vincent talks about Patagonia’s journey towards responsibility. [07:17] - Vincent explains how Patagonia have used story-telling and experiences to convince their employees to embrace this change. [13:15] - Vincent shares how Patagonia's willingness to stumble on it's responsibility journey has helped the company plan more proactively. [14:30] - The lightning round with Vincent Stanley. Your Resources: The Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned From Patagonia’s First 40 Years - Vincent Stanley and Yvon Chouinard Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Relucta

Dr. Peggy Kern is a senior lecturer in the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education in the Center for Positive Psychology.  Peggy has published over 50 peer reviewed articles and chapters.  Her research addresses the question, “Who flourishes and why?” In this conversation, you will hear Peggy talk about the role our behaviors and habits play in our well-being. With Julie Butler, Peggy has developed Permah Profiler, which is designed to measure different elements of well-being. She has also developed Permah Workplace Survey.  Peggy also shares that she recently received some criticism and she shares some valuable insight on how to react to criticism and ways to learn from it to become a better researcher.   Connect with Peggy Kern: Peggy Kern’s Blog - http://peggykern.org You’ll Learn: [01:40] - Peggy talks about our behaviors and habits and determining if these are undermine or uplift our well-being. [03:29] - Peggy shares her thoughts on why these little practices to promote well-being are s

Kevin Schnieders is the Chief Servant Leader and CEO of Educational Data Systems, Inc. (EDSI). EDSI is a workplace development, customized training, and consulting company who provides innovative solutions to close workforce skill gaps around America.  Since Kevin became CEO, EDSI has tripled in size.   In this conversation, you will hear Kevin talk about models and systems that he has implemented at EDSI.  By talking with 450 EDSI employees in 45 days through this servant leadership model, Kevin has been able to understand his employees as individuals.  You will hear him share the logistics of maintaining these relationships.  EDSI has experienced incredible growth under Kevin and he explains the role that this model had in the success of the company. You’ll Learn: [01:50] - Kevin talked with 450 EDSI employees in 45 days. He talks about what led him to making the decision to take on this challenge and what he took away from these conversations.   [02:40] - Kevin believes leaders need to understand their em

Dr. Aaron Jarden is a senior lecturer in psychology at Auckland University of Technology. He is also the president of the New Zealand Association of Positive Psychology. Aaron has done a lot of research on occupational wellbeing and in this conversation, he talks about how to introduce these practices to workplaces from the upper levels to the front-lines using a  “me, we, us” framework. Aaron also shares his thoughts on the links between the research community and practitioners.  He also speaks about the gap between the academic world and the general public's perception of wellbeing. You’ll Learn: [01:40] - Aaron talks about some of his research findings on occupational wellbeing. [03:12] - Aaron shares his thoughts on introducing these practices to workplaces. [05:08] - There are different ways organizations implement these practices and Aaron shares the different strategies and his thoughts on the variety of techniques. [06:23] - A challenge in implementing occupational well-being strategies is convincing

Sarah Lewis is the founder and managing director of Appreciating Change in the UK. Sarah consults for organizations around the world on how to effectively create sustainable change. In this conversation, you will hear Sarah talk about her philosophies on change and how she helps organizations through the change process. We discuss the questions that must be asked to unleash change. Often, the questions asked pertain to what is going wrong or what is broken. Instead, Sarah talks about the questions that need to be asked to unleash the power to move forward through positive change. Sarah also explains some other methodology for positive change, like World Cafe and Simu-Real. In the Lightning Round, Sarah shares several authors and books for which she has great appreciation. She also shares that “positivity is a state as well as a trait.”These methodologies are not about ignoring the negativity in life, but rather to help us get to a state where we are coping and thriving. You’ll Learn: [01:30] - Sarah shares t

Chris White is the managing director of the Center for Positive Organizations and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Chris developed and co-teaches the MBA class on social intrapreneurship. In this conversation, Chris explains social intrapreneurship - leading positive change without authority - and compares this with social movement activists.   Chris talks about how organizations can create workplace environments to foster more social intrapreneurship,  and where these efforts can go wrong. You’ll Learn: [01:24] - Chris talks about his presentation on leading positive change without authority. He draws parallels between social movement activists and trying to create change in organizations. [02:06] - Chris goes over the 4 things that occur in social movement theory literature and those also apply to social intrapreneurship . [04:24] - Chris talks about social intrapreneurship. [06:25] - Chris shares his thoughts on the roles of passion, meaning, and purpose play in social intrapreneurshi

Jason Wilburn is the Vice President and General Manager for the Industrial Services Division of Conco Services Corporation. Conco was a finalist in the 2016 Positive Business Project competition, presented by The Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Conco has a lot of remote employees that only see each other face-to-face twice a year, yet are expected to have the familiarity to be able to work effectively together. In January, Conco launched their program to develop and build high-quality connections. In this conversation, Jason talks about how he and Conco implemented these positive psychology practices. He shares the results and growth that Conco has experienced in 2016, with these practices in place. He also talks about the next steps of maintaining this program of high-quality connections. You’ll Learn: [01:36] - Jason talks about what he and his team have done at Conco to make 2016 the year of high-quality connections. [04:18] - Jason explains how C

Neil Garrett is a cognitive neuroscientist at the University College London. His research investigates the mechanisms by which individuals learn information about the world and the factors that influence learning processes. Neil Garrett’s website: http://neilgarrett.org/ In this conversation, Neil shares that research suggests that our brains may be wired for optimism. People tend to over-estimate the likelihood of positive events in the future and under-estimate the likelihood of negative events in the future. Although this is not the case with everyone, as there are external factors that can influence this in individuals. Neil’s findings can help leaders determine the best ways to deliver information in workplaces. There are some negatives that come from this optimism and Neil talks about what those negatives are and explains the necessary balance that needs to happen. You’ll Learn: [01:27] - Neil shares some takeaways from his presentation at the European Conference on Positive Psychology. [02:13] - Accor