Brian Levenson's Reflections from the Aspen Ideas Festivals

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different than a lot of our past episodes because it’s just going to be me on here. I’m going to share a lot of my observations, a lot of my notes, from a festival I recently attended called The Aspen Ideas Festival. It’s really a conference, but it’s much more than a conference. It’s where some of the best thought leaders gather to share what’s on their mind, to discuss, they have all kinds of experiences, they have debates, they have panels, they have interactive experiences. I figured I would capture the four days that I spent at the conference with all of you and share it in today’s episode.

Wendy Smith on The Power of Paradox

Wendy K. Smith is the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management, faculty director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Lerner College of Business and Economics, University of Delaware and fellow at The Academy of Management. She earned her PhD in organizational behavior at Harvard Business School, where she began her intensive research on strategic paradoxes—how leaders and senior teams effectively respond to contradictory, yet interdependent demands.

Michael Bungay Stanier on Teaching, Coaching, and Becoming a Writer

Michael Bungay Stanier helps people know they’re awesome and they’re doing great. He’s best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century and already recognized as a classic. His new book, How to Work with (Almost) Anyone, does what it says on the label. Michael was a Rhodes Scholar and dabbles in the ukulele. He’s Australian, and lives in Toronto, Canada.

Jackie Insinger on Valuing Values

Jackie Insinger is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and a sought-after leadership and team dynamics consultant. Jackie combines the science of positive psychology, which we talk a lot about in today’s conversation, with revolutionary tools and programs to help leaders increase authentic connection, performance, and fulfillment. Jackie works with teams to build a culture of trust, while guiding them to become more aligned, communicate more effectively, collaborate with ease, and support each other more efficiently.

Annie Murphy Paul on Exploring Creativity

Annie Murphy Paul is an acclaimed science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Scientific Americans, Slate, Time Magazine, and The Best American Science Writing, among many other publications. She’s the author of three books. Her latest book is The Extended Mind, which we get into quite a bit in today’s conversation. Her TED Talk has been viewed by about three million people.

Dolly Chugh on Striving to be Goodish

Dolly Chugh (she/her, hear my name) is an award-winning professor at the New York University Stern School of Business where she teaches MBA courses in leadership and management. Her research focuses on “bounded ethicality,” which she describes as the “psychology of good people.” She is the author of The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, A More Just Future, and the popular Dear Good People newsletter. Dolly’s TED Talk was named one of the 25 Most Popular TED Talks of 2018 and currently has almost 5 million views.

Vanessa Bohns on Using Your Influence

Vanessa Bohns is a social psychologist, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University, and author of the book You Have More Influence Than You Think. She is an expert on help-seeking, social influence, compliance, consent, and why it’s so hard to say no.

Lauren Fleshman on Good For a Girl

Lauren Fleshman is one of the most decorated American distance runners of all time. She also is a brand strategy advisory for Oiselle, which is a fitness apparel company for women. She was sponsored by Nike for many years, which she talks about at length in her book, Good for a Girl. She’s also the co-founder of Picky Bars, which is a natural food company. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Runner’s World, and many other places.

Safi Bahcall on Loonshots

Safi Bahcall went to Harvard for undergrad and then went on to get a PhD in Physics from Stanford. After he finished up his education, he went on to work for 3 years as a consultant for McKinsey. He then co-founded a bio-technology company where they develop new drugs for cancer treatment. He led their IPO and served as their CEO for many years. In 2011, he worked with President Obama’s Council of Science Advisors on the Future of National Research. His book, Loonshots, which is his first book, has been translated into 21 languages and was selected as a Best Business Book of the Year by Amazon, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Forbes, The Washington Post, and more.

Alex Auerbach on Elite Sport Psychology

Alex Auerbach is a Licensed Counseling and Sport Psychologist, he’s a Certified Mental Performance Consultant and Board-Certified Coach working in professional sports. He’s worked with elite teams and performers from a range of domains, including the NBA and the NFL, Olympians, Army Special Forces, Fortune 5 companies, and venture-backed start-ups. Currently, he is the Senior Director of Wellness and Development for the Toronto Raptors.

Sherri Coale on Coaching and Writing

For 25 years, Sherri Coale served as the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Oklahoma where she is the winningest women’s basketball coach in OU history. She built a powerhouse program in Norman that appeared in 19 straight NCAA tournaments and competed in three Final Fours. During her illustrious career at the University of Oklahoma, in addition to coaching the Sooners, Coale participated in USA Basketball as an assistant coach. She is an author, a master motivator, an engaging speaker, a gifted writer, and a keen observer of everyday life.

Joe Ferraro Interviews Brian Levenson on a Variety of Topics!

Today’s episode of the podcast is a little bit different. Today, I’m going to be interviewed by Joe Ferraro. In Joe’s interview of me today, we talk about things like boundaries, business, how I see and think about things, and we even talk about art and creativity. I hope you enjoy.

Steve Gladis on Partnerships, Leadership, and Culture

Dr. Steve Gladis is an executive coach, author, speaker, and professor at George Mason University. He’s published 26 books on leadership and thinks a lot about culture and the elements of a great leader. He’s also a former faculty member at the University of Virginia, served as an FBI special agent, and was a decorated officer in the US Marine Corps.

Tim Urban on Procrastination

Tim Urban is a writer and the creative force behind the extremely popular Wait But Why blog and newsletter, which has over 600,000 subscribers. He has a book coming out in February of 2023 and has authored dozens of viral articles on subjects such as why we procrastinate, which is what we talk a lot about in today’s conversation. His email list has people like Elon Musk as subscribers, and TED Curator Chris Anderson and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. Tim also is a speaker; he’s got an incredible TED Talk that I highly recommend you check out.

Tom Rath on Contributing through Strengths

Tom Rath is an author and researcher who has spent the past two decades studying how work can improve human health and well-being. Tom has 10 books, which have sold more than 10 million copies. He has made hundreds of appearances on global best-selling lists. Tom also spent 13 years at Gallup, where he led the organization’s strengths, employee engagement, well-being and leadership consulting worldwide. He has served for the past 5 years as an external advisor in Gallup Senior Scientist. He’s also served as the vice-chair of the VHL Cancer Research Organization and has been a regular lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania.

Derek Thompson on Hit Makers

Derek Thompson is an author, writer, speaker, and podcaster. He’s a regular contributor for NPR’s Here and Now, he has his own podcast with The Ringer called Plain English, and he has an amazing book called Hit Maker.

Amanda Ripley on Conflict

Amanda Ripley is a New York Times Bestselling Author, an investigative journalist, the host of The Slate Podcast “How To!,” and the co-founder of Good Conflict, a company that creates workshops and original content to help people get smarter about how they fight and deal with conflict. Her most recent book is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out.

Dr. Michele Borba on Thrivers

Michele Borba, Ed.D. is an educational psychologist, former classroom teacher and Mom who has spoken to over one million parents and educators in 19 countries. She is recognized for her solution-based strategies on raising resilient kids, and recipient of the Sanford N. McDonnell Lifetime Achievement Award in Character Education. Dr. Borba has appeared over 150 times on the TODAY show and featured in outlets including New York Times, Dr. Phil, Washington Post, Time, and Dateline.

Jessica Lahey on Addiction and Failure

Jess Lahey is the author of the NYT bestselling The Gift of Failure and The Addiction Inoculation. Her writing can be found at The Atlantic, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. She co-hosts the award-winning #AmWriting podcast and works as a prevention coach at Sana at Stowe, a medical detox and recovery in Stowe, VT.

Michelle Segar on The Joy Choice

Dr. Michelle Segar is an award-winning lifestyle coach and sustainable behavioral change researcher at the University of Michigan. For nearly three decades, she has pioneered methods to create sustainable healthy behavior change that are being used to boost patient health, employee well-being, and gym membership retention. She’s an advisor to leading global organizations and frequently interviewed in major media outlets like The New York Times, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal.

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