Your Working Life

Kate Lowry is a CEO coach, venture capitalist, and author who has made it her mission to help people not just survive but thrive under toxic leadership. In this episode, Caroline interviews Kate about her new book, Unbreakable: How to Thrive Under Fear-Based Leaders, where Lowry explains why domineering, manipulative leadership is making a troubling comeback—and offers tactical strategies for maintaining your autonomy when working under such leaders. Drawing from her own experience growing up in a hierarchical family and working in high-pressure environments at McKinsey, Meta, and Insight Partners, she's developed a powerful methodology for understanding and navigating fear-based leaders. More from Kate Lowry: Order Kate's book and learn more about her work at her website, katelowry.com. Connect with Kate on LinkedIn and Substack. More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

What if the key to sparking real innovation isn't unlimited freedom—but strategic constraints? In this episode, Caroline sits down with Sheri Jacobs, author and innovation strategist, to explore this counterintuitive fact: boundaries don't stifle creativity, they fuel it. In her latest book, The Unexpected Power of Boundaries: Rethinking the Rules, Risks, and Real Drivers of Innovation, Sheri challenges conventional wisdom about creativity and shares practical strategies for making innovation a repeatable habit rather than a lucky accident. Through stories from Pixar to polar expeditions, she shows how the right structure actually nourishes ideas and empowers people to take smarter risks. More from Sheri Jacobs Order Sheri's book at learn more about her work at her website: sherijacobs.com. Connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn. More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

What if the very thing we've been taught drives success is actually holding us back? In this episode, Caroline sits down with Ruchika T. Malhotra, founder of global inclusion strategy firm Candour and author of the groundbreaking new book UNCOMPETE: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success. Ruchika challenges one of the workplace's most fundamental assumptions: that competition is necessary for excellence. Drawing on her extensive work with major corporations, insights from business leaders, and cutting-edge research, she makes a compelling case that our obsession with competing is actually fueling exhaustion, anxiety, burnout, and isolation—while preventing us from reaching our true potential. More from Ruchika: Buy Ruchika's book and learn more about her work at www.ruchika.co. More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

In this episode, Caroline interviews Jaime Goff about her new book The Secure Leader: Discover the Hidden Forces that Shape Your Leadership Story - and How To Change Them. Jaime argues that effective modern leadership requires more than mastering techniques—it demands deep self-understanding. Drawing on attachment theory and psychology, Goff shows how leaders' emotional blueprints shape their behaviors and offers a transformative framework for deconstructing and reauthoring their narratives to lead with authenticity and purpose. The book provides practical guidance on integrating emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and self-compassion into leadership practice, addressing the post-2020 shift where employees increasingly seek meaning, connection, and belonging at work rather than just compensation. More from Jaime Goff: Order The Secure Leader from Jaime's website. Find Jaime on LinkedIn. More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

When a woman moves into a leadership position at work, she is much more likely to burnout, be depressed and face different criticism than her male colleagues. It's something author Meghan French Dunbar experienced herself, and why she wrote her new book,This Isn't Working: How Working Women Can Overcome Stress, Guilt, and Overload to Find True Success. Meghan interviewed leaders like Eileen Fisher and former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario to reveal why contemporary business culture disproportionately harms women and causes epidemic levels of burnout. Rather than asking women to "lean in harder," she offers a rallying cry for a better way to work and lead, providing actionable strategies for individuals and organizations to optimize performance without sacrificing well-being. More from Meghan French-Dunbar: Buy Meghan's book: This Isn't Working: How Working Women Can Overcome Stress, Guilt, and Overload to Find True Success Follow Meghan French-Dunbar on LinkedIn. More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

Muriel Wilkins is a leadership coach, Harvard Business Review podcast host, and author whose new book Leadership Unblocked tackles the unconscious beliefs that prevent leaders from reaching their full potential. Caroline and Muriel talk about the hidden "blockers"—such as "I know I'm right" and "I need to be involved"—that cause common leadership frustrations, and how leaders can recognize when the problem isn't their team or circumstances, but their own mindset. More from Muriel Wilkins: Buy Muriel's book: Leadership Unblocked: Break Through the Beliefs That Limit Your Potential Follow Muriel on LinkedIn and Instagram. More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Head to carolinedowdhiggins.com to book Caroline as your next keynote speaker, check out her books or get in touch.

Claude Silver is on a mission to spread the word of human-centered leadership. In her debut book, Be Yourself at Work: The Groundbreaking Power of Showing Up, Standing Out, and Leading from the Heart, she makes a compelling case that authentic presence is today's greatest business superpower. The book offers a practical framework built on emotional optimism, emotional bravery, and emotional efficiency. With real-world stories, actionable exercises, and sample dialogues, Claude provides leaders at every level with the tools to build cultures of belonging where individuality is celebrated and teams thrive through genuine human connection. More from Claude Silver: Buy Claude's book: Be Yourself at Work: The Groundbreaking Power of Showing Up, Standing Out, and Leading from the Heart. Follow Claude on LinkedIn More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

Goldie Chan, a proud introvert, brings a fresh perspective to personal branding that rejects the exhausting "fake it till you make it" mentality. In her new book, Personal Branding for Introverts, Chan offers empowering, practical strategies that help introverts build authentic and memorable brands without draining their energy or compromising their true selves. Drawing on real-world examples from Taylor Swift to everyday professionals, she shows how introversion can be a powerful asset and provides actionable guidance on networking, community-building, and creating sustainable visibility that feels genuine rather than performative. More from Goldie Chan: Get Goldie's book Personal Branding for Introverts. Follow Goldie on LinkedIn More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

Julie Kratz is a leading voice in workplace allyship and inclusion, drawing from her 12 years in Corporate America where she experienced her own struggles with belonging. She now helps organizations create environments where everyone feels seen and heard. Her latest book, We Want You: An Allyship Guide for People with Power, provides leaders with practical, research-backed strategies to move beyond fear and use their power intentionally to foster psychological safety and equity. The guide offers concrete tools for building inclusive policies, modeling vulnerability, and creating pathways for diverse talent at the individual, team, and organizational levels. More from Julie Kratz: Get Julie's book We Want You: An Allyship Guide for People with Power Follow Julie on LinkedIn More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

Caroline interviews Vanessa Druskat, a leadership and team performance expert, about how to create the best workplace team for you. Vanessa challenges the common misconception that simply assembling emotionally intelligent individuals will create a cohesive team. Instead, she demonstrates that exceptional team performance requires building a culture around agreed-upon norms and habits that foster emotional intelligence at the group level. More from Vanessa Druskat: Read her book: The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Building Collaborative Groups that Outperform the Rest. Connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn. More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

Rachel DeAlto is on a mission to connect people to their most powerful resource—each other—in today's diverse, multi-generational workforce. But creating genuine connection can be difficult, which is why Rachel wrote her latest book, The Relatable Leader: Create a Culture of Connection. Caroline and Rachel talk about the actionable strategies in the book that help leaders learn how to be more authentic to gain trust and unlock team potential. More from Rachel DeAlto: Book: The Relatable Leader: Create a Culture of Connection Rachel's website. Find Rachel on LinkedIn. More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

After receiving harsh feedback about her lack of self-awareness despite strong business results, embarked on a deep exploration of leadership through philosophy, psychology, and management studies. She ultimately developing her MYLO (Manage Yourself to Lead Others) approach for other leaders, which led to her writing her new book, Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding. Caroline and Margaret talk about the practical steps for identifying the leader you want to become, managing emotions and difficult situations, navigating organizational culture as a "Culture-Maker" rather than "Culture-Taker," and recovering from setbacks. More from Margaret Anthony: Book: Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding. Find Margaret on LinkedIn More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

In this episode, Caroline talks to Jenn Tardy, a diversity practitioner and human resources expert about how to promote workplace diversity amid current DEI backlash. Jenn has worked with organizations like Gap Inc., Red Bull, Harvard, and the US Chamber of Commerce. Rather than offering generic advice, she provides actionable insights for combating hidden biases at every stage of the talent lifecycle—from finding and attracting candidates to engaging and developing employees. Her new book, The Equity Edge: How Addressing Bias in Recruiting and Retention Drives Success, serves as both a strategic guide for leaders and a valuable resource for potential employees navigating today's hiring landscape. More from Jenn Tardy: Book: The Equity Edge: How Addressing Bias in Recruiting and Retention Drives Success Find Jenn on LinkedIn Jenn's Website More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

Dr. Scott D. Anthony, a clinical professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, joins Caroline to talk about eleven pivotal innovations that changed business and the human experience. From gunpowder, to the printing press, to Julia Child's cookbook and now generative AI, Scott tells the stories of how these innovations changed the world. Rather than simply celebrating these inventions, Anthony reveals the underlying patterns of how disruption actually occurs and spreads through society. More from Dr. Scott Anthony: Book: Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

Caroline sits down with Dr. Josephine Palermo, an organizational psychologist and executive coach, to talk about how women should reconsider everything they think they know about power in the workplace. Josephine is the author of the new book Rising to Feminine Power: The Lasso of Truth, which talks about how current power structures aren't working and how women especially can bring a new kind of leadership to the workplace. Josephine talks about the science behind feminine power and how we uncover the hidden barriers that may be holding you back from stepping into your authentic power. Connect with Dr. Josephine Palermo: Book: Rising to Feminine Power: The Lasso of Truth Podcast: Teams, Culture & You More from Caroline Dowd-Higgins: Book Caroline as your next keynote speaker! Check out Caroline’s books. Get in touch with Caroline.

On this episode, Caroline talks with Lesley Cooper, a management consultant with over 25 years of experience in employee well-being. She's the founder of WorkingWell, an award-winning consultancy that helps companies manage workplace pressure to facilitate growth and development. Her new book, Brave New Leader: How to Transform Workplace Pressure into Sustainable Performance and Growth, addresses the persistent problem of workplace well-being despite widespread support systems. The book tackles the harsh reality that employees often fear speaking up about workplace pressure due to concerns about consequences, creating a culture sustained by fear rather than openness.

This week, Caroline talks to Juliet Schor about the case for the four day work week. Schor is an economist and sociology professor at Boston College, and has gained widespread recognition through national media appearances and her viral 2022 TED Talk "The Case for a 4-Day Work Week," which has been viewed over three million times. Caroline talks to Juliet about her latest book, Four Days a Week: The Life-Changing Solution for Reducing Employee Stress, Improving Well-Being, and Working Smarter, which is the first large-scale study of the four-day work week based on her four decades of work research. The book demonstrates how companies like Kickstarter, Bolt, and Basecamp have successfully eliminated the fifth workday while maintaining productivity and dramatically improving employee well-being, hiring, and retention. Schor provides a comprehensive blueprint for implementing this transformative workplace model, arguing it can address major challenges including burnout, AI disruption, and the climate crisis.

On this episdoe of Your Working Life, Caroline talks to Andrew Brodsky, an award-winning business professor and management consultant at The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. Andrew specializes in virtual communication and workplace technology, and wrote a new book called "PING: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication". He and Caroline talk abbout his actionable framework for mastering modern workplace interactions across all communication platforms. Social Media/Links: Read 'Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication'. LinkedInPing Group Music credits for this episode: Week Thirteen by Ben von Wildenhause, Free Music Archive (CC BY) Week Thirteen by Ben von Wildenhause, Free Music Archive (CC BY) Social Media/Links: · Book Link for 'Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication: https://www.amazon.com/Ping-Secrets-Successful-Virtual-Communication/dp/1668055244 · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsbrodsky/ · Personal Website: https://abrodsky.com/ · Ping Group: https://pinggroup.org/ PING: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication by Award-Winning Professor and Virtual Communication Expert Andrew Brodsky, PhD We’ve all been there—sitting through a meeting that could’ve easily been an email. And that email? Maybe it should have been a quick voice note. And your camera? It’s okay to turn it off. In fact, sometimes it’s even better. Andrew Brodsky—a Harvard Business School doctoral graduate, award-winning business professor, management consultant, and expert in virtual communication at The University of Texas at Austin—has dedicated his career to unraveling the intricacies of virtual communication. Diagnosed with cancer as a teenager, his treatment led to a lifelong immune deficiency, which has resulted in years of his life being confined primarily to the virtual realm. This personal experience has given him a unique understanding of the challenges and nuances of communicating from a distance. In his forthcoming book, PING: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication (Simon Element/Simon Acumen; February 11, 2025), Brodsky explores the complexities of modern workplace interactions and provides an actionable framework for mastering virtual communication. His research shows how to make the most out of communication technology from video calls to instant messaging, offering practical strategies for navigating all workplaces from in-person to remote and everything in-between. Featuring compelling stories, insights from top business leaders, and Brodsky’s groundbreaking research on virtual communication tools, PING is the essential guide to mastering virtual communication—enhancing productivity, amplifying influence, and forging deeper connections. Andrew Brodsky is an award-winning professor, management consultant and virtual communications expert at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. Poets&Quants selected Andrew as one of the “World’s 40 Best Business School Professors Under 40.” He is an expert in workplace technology, communication and productivity and serves as the CEO of Ping Group. Andrew earned a PhD in organizational behavior from Harvard Business School and BS from The Wharton School. He currently lives with his wife and two rescue dogs in Austin.

Dr. Sunita Sah is an award-winning professor at Cornell University and an expert in organizational psychology. She leads groundbreaking research on influence, authority, compliance, and defiance. A trained physician, she practiced medicine in the United Kingdom and worked as a management consultant for the pharmaceutical industry. She currently teaches executives, leaders, and students in healthcare and business. Dr. Sah is a sought-after international speaker and consultant, advisor to government agencies, and former Commissioner of the National Commission on Forensic Science. Her multidisciplinary research and analyses have been widely published in leading academic journals and media entities including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Harvard Business Review, and Scientific American. She lives with her husband and son in New York. DEFY: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes How many times have you wanted to object, disagree, or opt out of something—but ended up swallowing your words, shaking your head, and just going along? In her groundbreaking new book, DEFY, a former physician and award-winning organizational psychologist Dr. Sunita Sah delves deep into why the pressure to comply is a corrosive and often invisible force in our society. With her own revelatory research, she radically transforms our idea of defiance from a misunderstood negative trait into a crucial, positive force for personal and societal change. Taking us through her five stages of defiance, Dr. Sah equips readers with the tools to unleash the power of a “True No.” At the core of DEFY is a profound analysis of why we often say yes when we shouldn’t, and how to say no when it matters most. Drawing on her story as a woman scientist of color, as well as her original research and insights from multiple disciplines including psychology, ethics, law, medicine, organizational behavior, sociology, and philosophy, Dr. Sah reveals the critical need to rediscover our core values. She explores how we are neurologically, psychologically, and socially pressured to comply, and what we can do to train ourselves for conscientious resistance and reclaim our agency. Social: @drsunitasahIG: @drsunitasah@drsunitasah@sunitasahuk Music credits for this episode: Orion-Instrumental by Mindseye, Free Music Archive (CC BY)

Dr. Margaret Heffernan produced programmes for the BBC for 13 years. She then moved to the US where she spearheaded multimedia productions for Intuit, The Learning Company and Standard&Poors. She was Chief Executive of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and then iCast Corporation, was named one of the “Top 25” by Streaming Media magazine and one of the “Top 100 Media Executives” by The Hollywood Reporter. The author of six books, Margaret’s third book, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. In 2015, she was awarded the Transmission Prize for A Bigger Prize: Why Competition isn’t Everything and How We Do Better, described as “meticulously researched…engagingly written…universally relevant and hard to fault.” Her TED talks have been seen by over 13 million people and in 2015 TED published Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes. In 2020, she published Uncharted: How to map the future, which quickly became a bestseller and was nominated for the Financial Times Best Business Book award, was one of Bloomberg’s Best Books of 2021 and was chosen as the “Medium Best of the Best” business book. 2025 saw the publication of Embracing Uncertainty: How Writers, Musicians and Artists Thrive in an Unpredictable World, described as ‘a timely, insightful book’, Heffernan highlights what it takes to excel in turbulent times.’ In 2024, she was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame, in recognition of her lasting impact on management thinking. She is a Professor of Practice at the University of Bath, Lead Faculty for the Forward Institute’s Responsible Leadership Programme and, through Merryck & Co., mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global organizations. She chairs the board of DACS and is a parish councillor. Synopsis of her recent book: Embracing Uncertainty: How writers, musicians & artists thrive in an unpredictable world. Most people hate and fear uncertainty. It causes such stress and anxiety that we often choose certain surrender over doubt, becoming passive, dependent, addicted—and more anxious than ever. Doubling down on the certainties promised by technology and micro-management only makes things worse, leaving no opportunity for innovation, adaptation or invention. Artists live with uncertainty constantly—but instead of waiting for the future, they run towards making it, with agency and freedom. What can we learn from them, about facing a future that grows more uncertain daily? At a time when organizations of all kinds crave innovation but complain their people lack creativity and initiative, the arts have never been so essential to our future. We may not all be artists, but we can learn to think like them. Margaret Heffernan makes a compelling argument for the vital integration of art into all aspects of our lives and for artists to guide us with their stamina, freedom and endurance. ​“At a time when algorithms promise to extinguish all doubt, Heffernan makes a compelling case for uncertainty as humanity's greatest resource.” — Daniel H. Pink, author of The Power of Regret and Drive. Social media: X: https://x.com/M_Heffernan Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/margaretheffernan.bsky.social Music Credits for this episode: Spores-Instrumental by Mindseye, Free Music Archive (CC BY)