The Lift podcast

Seventy percent of organizational change initiatives fail. Not because leaders lack conviction, but because they're using the wrong model. Adam Kahane, co-founder of Reos Partners and author of Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems, spent 35 years facilitating change in some of the world's most intractable conflicts, from post-apartheid South Africa to Colombia's peace process. His argument: you don't transform a system by blowing it up or waiting for perfect conditions. Instead, you find the cracks – the places where things are already shifting – and you work with what's moving from there. This practice is called "radical engagement," and it’s more effective than almost anything else on offer.

The Lift podcast

Defensiveness, not disagreement, is what kills change, according to Kathryn Wylde, former President and CEO of the Partnership for New York City. Kathryn spent five decades building coalitions between billionaires, union leaders, and government officials. Her central finding is both simple and underused: the leaders who get things done don't start by stating their position. They start by understanding what's driving the other side, quantifying the problem in terms they actually care about, and coming in with a specific ask instead of a grievance.

The Lift podcast

People with a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs – and yet friendship remains almost entirely absent from most organizations' leadership strategy, budget, and culture design. Tom Rath, author of a dozen books about work, life, and leadership, argues that social wellbeing is the single strongest predictor of overall life satisfaction, that high-achievers are chronically the worst at investing in it, and that the fix is less complicated than most leaders assume – but it does require actually treating relationships as a priority rather than a byproduct.

The Lift podcast

The design of a physical space – its scale, its seating geometry, its relationship to technology – does more to shape human connection than most leaders realize, and more than most team-building budgets reflect. Adam Tanaka, COO of Therme Group US and PhD sociologist, argues that in a world increasingly mediated by screens and AI, the premium on analog, embodied experiences is approaching an inflection point. His case: wellness is no longer a luxury amenity, it's social infrastructure. And leaders who understand that have a meaningful advantage.

The Lift podcast

The principles that make great children's products – clarity over complexity, freedom within frameworks, unfiltered feedback, and permission to fail – are the same principles that drive high-performing adult teams. Ginny McCormick, Chief Experience Officer at tonies, argues these aren't separate ideas for separate audiences. They're universal truths that most organizations, unfortunately, quietly abandon somewhere between the playground and the conference room.

The Lift podcast

Most organizations don't have too much conflict – they have too little. For Amy Gallo, author of Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) and contributing editor at Harvard Business Review, the default mode in most workplaces is “artificial harmony”: teams that look aligned on the surface while real disagreements, unspoken feedback, and simmering resentments pile up underneath. Her prescription isn't to create more friction for its own sake; it's to help leaders understand that avoiding conflict isn't actually the safe path, it just feels precariously like one.

The Lift podcast

There are over 50 million meetings per day in the U.S. alone — and as many as 50% of these meetings are a waste of time, accounting for at least $70 billion per year in wasted money. Managers lose nearly a full working day each week to meetings that deliver nothing.

Dr. Rebecca Hinds, organizational psychologist and author of Your Best Meeting Ever, argues that meetings aren't just a scheduling problem. They're a systems failure. Her fix starts with one clarifying question most organizations have never actually answered: what does a meeting exist to do?

The Lift podcast

Religion is the diversity dimension most leaders avoid. Not because they're hostile to it, but because they feel unprepared and afraid to get it wrong. Reverend Mark Fowler, CEO of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, argues that the solution isn't more policy or more training. Rather, it's all about better hospitality: that same instinct that makes someone a thoughtful host at a dinner party? Apply that to how you run your team.

The Lift podcast

Trust in business relationships isn't built through expertise alone; it's built through a specific combination of credibility, responsibility, and intimacy, divided by how self-oriented you appear. Marco Ziegler, global client leader at Accenture and former head of the Office of the CEO for Julie Sweet, has spent decades applying this trust equation across some of the world's most complex enterprise relationships. His central argument: the leaders who move from vendor to trusted partner are the ones who learn to lean in first, authentically and honestly.

The Lift podcast

One in five Americans has a learning or thinking difference, and 53% of Gen Z identifies as neurodivergent — which means neurodivergent employees are already on your teams whether they've disclosed it or not. Nathan Friedman, Co-President and CMO of Understood.org, argues that the organizations best positioned to engage this talent aren't just the ones with the most progressive DEI policies. They're the ones that have quietly redesigned how work actually gets done — and they have the business results to prove it actually serves them.

The Lift podcast

Charles King built Housing Works, one of the country's most effective advocacy organizations, not by mastering one form of influence, but by knowing which form to deploy and when. Whether he's chaining himself to a commissioner's chair, lobbying the capitol, or eulogizing a community member’s funeral, his operating principle is the same: it's all advocacy — just in front of different judges. After 35 years leading Housing Works, Charles' model offers a masterclass in how conviction, versatility, and proximity to the people you serve translate into durable, systemic change.

The Lift podcast

Most brands don’t have a positioning problem; they have a clarity problem. Éva Goicochea argues that if your team and your customers can’t explain what you are and why you exist, then you don’t actually have a brand. The brands that do last are those that pair a clear mission with ruthless discipline – and know exactly who and what to say no to.

Be Well Sis: The Podcast

Certified breathwork facilitator and founder of The Self-Care Suite Tara Pringle Jefferson joins us to reframe self-care beyond consumerism. Drawing from her new book Bloom How You Must: A Black Woman’s Guide to Self-Care and Generational Healing, Tara unpacks the “strong Black woman” narrative, shares what was happening in her life when her doctor literally prescribed rest as medicine, and points out practical ways to build support, not just stamina.

The GitHub Podcast

In this year-in-review episode of The GitHub Podcast, Cassidy and Abby are joined by Helen Hou-Sandí, GitHub’s engineering manager for the Accessibility Engineering team and lead developer in the WordPress project.

The GitHub Podcast

In this episode guest host Greg Cochran from the GitHub Secure Open Source Fund brings together four maintainers who are helping secure the open source projects we all depend on: Christian (Log4j/Log4Shell), Carlos (GoReleaser), Michael (EVCC), and Camila (ScanAPI) to unpack what it really looks like to level up security in critical OSS.

The GitHub Podcast

Abby sits down with Angie Jones, VP of Engineering at Block, live at GitHub Universe to talk about Goose, Block’s open source AI agent and reference implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Be Well Sis: The Podcast

Palliative care nurse turned fragrance founder and CEO Octavia Morgan joins us to share how scent became both a healing practice and a business, ultimately leading to Ulta Beauty’s first Black- and woman-owned prestige fragrance house.

The GitHub Podcast

In this episode, recorded live at GitHub Universe 2025, Andrea sits down with Frank “Frenck” Nijhof, a GitHub Star and project lead for Home Assistant, one of the most active open source projects on the platform.

Be Well Sis: The Podcast

In today’s episode, personal trainer and future pelvic floor physical therapist Röbynn Europe demystifies all things pelvic floor health: what it is, why it matters, and how to get help when needed.

The GitHub Podcast

Andrea and Kedasha sit down with data whisperer Jeff Luszcz, one of the wizards behind GitHub’s annual Octoverse report, to unpack this year’s biggest shifts.