What Works

What Works


Latest Episodes

What's Your Type? with Steph Barron Hall
August 01, 2024

This is the 4th part of my series Self-Help, LLC, which I'm replaying over the summer! Enjoy!If your Instagram feed or Explore page looks anything like mine, then you likely see a preponderance of posts about personality types, conditions, or other self-k

The Paradox of Self-Help Expertise with Patrick Sheehan
July 25, 2024

This is an updated version of the 3rd installment in my series Self-Help, LLC, from 2022. Enjoy!Our quest for self-improvement requires us to decide who (or what) to trust with our time, energy, and money. What book do you decide to read next? Which coach

"She Looks Like an Instagram" Or, How Empowerment Became a Brand with Kelly Diels
July 18, 2024

Im continuing my rebroadcast of a series I did a couple of years ago called Self-Help, LLC, and asked the question, "Are we all in the self-help business now?" Todays episode is all about the aesthetics of self-help and what my guest Kelly Diels has dub

How Advice Culture Makes Us Winners (And Losers)
July 11, 2024

This is Part 1 of a series from 2022 called Self-Help, LLC. This summer, Ill be republishing this series as I work on new essays and episodes. Theres a good chance this series is new to you, and if its previous reception is any indication, I think youl

EP 474: Making Non-Obvious Choices at Work with Samhita Mukhopadhyay
June 13, 2024

For justice-minded people, navigating the world of work in the 21st-century economy can feel... impossible. A real no-win scenario. There's a constant tension between what's good for the communities we inhabit and what's good (and necessary) for us as ind

EP 473: Unpacking Attention Fetishism with Jess Shane
May 23, 2024

Our podcast feeds and streaming services are full of real stories of real people. And not all of those stories feel...true. I mean, even if the facts are accurate, the way something is edited, packaged, and marketed can dramatically alter a story's impac

EP 472: Speculative Investing Made Personal
May 16, 2024

Okay, this isn't really an episode about speculative investing. Well, it is. But I'm not talking about crypto or meme stocks. I'm talking about the challenges of living and working as a speculative investment.Today's episode is a brief reflection on self-

EP 471: The Many Hats of Leigh Stein
May 02, 2024

What would happen if you archivedall of your Instagram content, announced that you had taken a job at a fictional wellness company, and then got fired for disclosing your experience with company-mandated colonic hydrotherapy? Well, Leigh Stein did exactl

EP 470: Rethinking Creativity—A Cautionary Tale
April 25, 2024

Good luck going anywhere today without running into a message about creativity.I was going to say, "anywhere online," but really, it's just about anywhere. We get creative in the kitchen. Creative in our workouts. Creative in bed. And of course, creative

NEW: World-Building for Business Owners
April 19, 2024

I'm teaching a new workshop on May 15 & 16, 2024! It's called World-Building for Business Owners, and it's based on a process I've been honing for more than a decade. I'll help you apply creative, even playful thinking to your business strategy—and he