What Works
Latest Episodes
What's Your Type? with Steph Barron Hall
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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