Reconsidering: Recent Episodes
Meredith Black, Bob Baxley, Aarron Walter
Re:considering explores how to navigate your career, relationships, and the values that guide you through the inevitable changes of life. Each episode co-hosts Bob Baxley, Meredith Black, and Aarron Walter talk with people who’ve figured a few things out about living a satisfying life filled with meaning and show you how you can too.
Now that season 2 has wrapped, the Reconsidering team is taking a break. Season 3 is already coming together with exciting new interviews that will further illuminate the elements of a satisfying life. Kieran Setiya will be back to talk about his new book, Life is hard, which explores philosophical insights that can set us on the right path. Dan Pink will share the power of regret and how it can actually help us live a more fulfilling life. And we’re working on a special 5 episode series in partnership with our friends at Indeed that will feature inspiring people like Leslie Witt of Headspace and John Maeda. It’s going to be an epic season and we’re launching September 20. If you have any feedback that will help us improve the show or you just want to say hi, shoot us a message at http://reconsidering.org/contact. We’ll be back on September 20 with season 3 of Reconsidering.
In sports, the coach plays the important role of guiding players and delivering the feedback they need to operate at their best. But in our professional lives we almost never have the guidance and support of a coach, which makes it challenging to reach our full potential and at times leaves us trapped in negative behavior cycles. Ed Batista has spent years coaching senior leaders who are facing a series of challenges or seeking greater fulfillment in their role. He’s distilled decades of guidance into a self-coaching course at Stanford as well as a book entitled The Art of Self Coaching. In our conversation with Ed, he unpacks the self-coaching methodology and how to shift our aggressive, self-interested warrior approach to work to that of a humble, curious sage. Show notes and a full transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/21
Starting early in childhood, creativity is slowly extracted from our lives. It becomes the domain of the select few of exceptional talent. But creativity can and should be an important part of everyone's life. In this episode of Reconsidering we’re going to explore an entirely different way of approaching creative expression—one that sees it not as a destination that yields a singular artifact but rather one that imagines creativity as an essential tool for learning—one that not only tolerates but actually encourages mistakes, feedback, and unjudged curiosity. Our guest is Kaushik Panchal, a designer, writer, and creative director. Over the past few years, he’s developed and delivered an amazing workshop that helps teams and individuals reconceptualize the act of creating into a journey of learning and discovery. It’s a powerful message and one that we hope will resonate with you as you perhaps reconsider new ways of expressing yourself be that writing, cooking, painting, pottery, or any of other hundreds of forms of art that make life worth living. Show notes and transcript: http://reconsidering.org/episodes/20
If the past few years have taught us anything it is this: don’t get too attached to your plans. Or as Patricia Ryan Madson might put it, “Life is something we all make up as we go along.” For many of us, the improvisational life can feel awkward, uncomfortable, and even frightening. But with some practice, reflection, and a slight shift in attitude, it can lead us to a life filled with YES! One where opportunities and adventures flow naturally into our lives—ones that we willingly embrace and follow just to see where they might lead us next. In this episode we’re going to learn about the practice of improv from Patricia Ryan Madson, author of “Improve Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up”. Over a career that spans some four decades, Patricia has taught improv to thousands of students at Stanford, online, and at the storied Esalen Institute in Northern California. It’s going to be a great conversation…wherever it might go. Show notes and transcripts can be found at: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/19
In this special rewind episode, we re-air one of our most popular interviews that guests on the show have often cited as a favorite. In it Brad Stulberg shares practical guidance to get out of the grind and build a more grounded life. Hustle culture keeps us grinding, busy, overcommitted, rushed, and subsequently ungrounded. It’s a phenomenon Brad Stulberg calls “heroic individualism” and it’s something he knows all too well from his own life and his performance coaching work with people doing their best to reach their peak. Brad wants to shake us out of the hustle mindset and help us find a more grounded, sustainable existence. His book The Practice of Groundedness provides the framework. In our conversation with Brad he shows us how to neutralize negative talk, be present in the moment, and recognize that how we spend our time day to day is ultimately how we spend our life. Transcript, links, and show notes: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/7
At some point we all struggle with stress, anxiety, and incessant overthinking. Meredith Arthur, author of Get Out of My Head, is on a mission to help us find strategies for defusing these emotional bombs. Meredith founded Beautiful Voyager, an online community where people discuss mental health challenges and support one another on their journey. In this episode we talk with Meredith about her own struggles with mental health and how to muster the courage to admit to our own limitations so we can find a more peaceful path. You'll find a transcript and links to all resources mentioned at http://reconsidering.org/episodes/18
In his New York Times bestselling book Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman writes, “The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short. But that isn’t a reason for unremitting despair, or for living in an anxiety-fueled panic about making the most of your limited time. It’s a cause for relief. You get to give up on something that was always impossible – the quest to become the optimized, infinitely capable, emotionally invincible, fully independent person you’re officially supposed to be. Then you get to roll up your sleeves and start work on what’s gloriously possible instead.” In this episode Burkeman presents us with an entirely different way of thinking about time management and our futile attempt to squeeze every ounce of productivity from our already short lives – telling us instead to relax and embrace what is possible, acknowledging and accepting the fact that doing it all was never really an option anyway. You'll find the show notes and a transcript of our conversation at https://reconsidering.org/episodes/16
Though most people pass through a midlife malaise or crisis, few have studied the phenomenon as closely as M.I.T Philosophy Professor Kieran Setiya. As Kieran shares in his book Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, people as far back as ancient Greece have written about midlife crises and searched for answers to life's big questions. In this episode, Kieran Setiya boils down what happens to us at midlife and exposes the wisdom of those who have come before us and found satisfaction as they entered the second half of life. Find the show notes and transcript at http://reconsidering.org/episodes/16
Living in isolation for two years without the support of community clarified for many of us just how nourishing and essential relationships are to us. Now that we’re starting to re-enter the world, how might we be more intentional about cultivating community? Tina Roth-Eisenberg—Swissmiss to her hundreds of thousands of followers on the web—has thought about this deeply. She’s the founder of Creative Mornings, a global creative community in 224 cities and 67 countries that welcomes thousands of people each month to inspiring events. She’s also a master at bringing small groups together for support, and as you’ll hear in this episode, pretty clever at building new friendships. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/15
Too often we’ve been told that the workplace is an arena of competition, a zero-sum game where the strong thrive and the rest barely survive. If we’re going to reconsider anything, it’s hard to imagine a better place to start than this outdated, outmoded, and destructive model of the workplace. In this episode, Scott Shute, the former Head of Mindfulness and Compassion at LinkedIn and the author of the book, “The Full Body Yes”, shares stories and insights from his experience leading a large-scale mindfulness initiative at a major corporation. We’ll also learn about the power of compassion and hear some of his insights about how to start following our own path rather than being buffeted about by the demands and expectations of others. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/14
It’s no secret that many of us feel pushed to the limit, rushed, overwhelmed, and perennially behind. We keep our heads down, focused on an endless to-do list without a moment to breathe. How can we break out of this vicious cycle of short-term thinking and create the kind of interesting, meaningful lives we all seek? Dori Clark, Duke University professor and author of The Long Game, wants to help us reorient ourselves towards big picture thinking that will help us make small changes today that will have enormous impact on our future success. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/13
Now that season 1 is wrapped, we're bringing you a special mini-episode to tide you over while we work on season 2. The tables are turned as Bob Baxley and Meredith Black interview their co-host Aarron Walter to uncover his origin story and why the themes of Reconsidering are important to his personal journey. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/12
Now that season 1 is wrapped, we're bringing you a special mini-episode to tide you over while we work on season 2. The tables are turned as Bob Baxley and Aarron Walter interview their co-host Meredith Black to uncover her origin story and why the themes of Reconsidering are important to her personal journey. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/11
Now that season 1 is wrapped, we're bringing you a special mini-episode to tide you over while we work on season 2. The tables are turned as Meredith Black and Aarron Walter interview their co-host Bob Baxley to uncover his origin story and why the themes of Reconsidering are important to his personal journey. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/10
Shanti Brien received a phone call from her husband that changed everything. Authorities started a criminal investigation into her own husband’s company and he needed a lawyer to defend him. As a criminal defense attorney, Shanti knew how to navigate these situations but not when it was her own husband facing jail time that could tear her family apart. In this episode, Shanti shares how this moment of crisis and reflection helped her rethink her career as an attorney and inspired her to start a non-profit called Fogbreak Justice and write a book called Almost Innocent. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/9
Katherine May is a mother, nature lover, writing teacher, and a New York Times best selling author. She’s also been knocked down many times in her life and found a way forward by embracing the coldest passages of life. Katherine’s personal struggle is the subject of her most recent book Wintering, which has influenced many with wisdom about the power of rest and retreat to help us through difficult times. On this episode of Reconsidering, we talk with Katherine about work addiction, illness, guilt about not being productive, and how sometimes we have to accept a period of “wintering” to transform and come out the other side to a life you may not have anticipated. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/8
Hustle culture keeps us grinding, busy, overcommitted, rushed, and subsequently ungrounded. It’s a phenomenon Brad Stulberg calls “heroic individualism” and it’s something he knows all too well from his own life and his performance coaching work with people doing their best to reach their peak. Brad wants to shake us out of the hustle mindset and help us find a more grounded, sustainable existence. His book The Practice of Groundedness provides the framework. In our conversation with Brad he shows us how to neutralize negative talk, be present in the moment, and recognize that how we spend our time day to day is ultimately how we spend our life. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/7
We all have those moments of uncertainty where we don’t know if we should stay put at our careers or jump ship. And sometimes we don’t have a choice and are forced to jump. It can lead to an existential crisis. Who am I now? Do I have anything left to offer? What’s next? These are all questions pop up in our conversation with our guest, Maria Giudice, who has navigated career change many times with grace. Maria Giudice is a design executive who has had quite the career in Silicon Valley. She had her own design firm Hot Studio for over 15 years, sold it to Facebook and then went on to lead global design teams at Facebook and Autodesk. After all that time working with executives and championing design, she started to reconsider what her next career chapter was going to look like. Her journey is relatable and honest and full of twists and as you’ll find out towards the end of the discussion, also a surprising turn. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/6
Listening. It’s a skill that is hard to perfect in a world filled with distractions. But cultivating a satisfying life filled with rich relationships, growth, and connection requires this foundational skill. Getting good at listening to others can also help you tune into your own inner dialogue and emotional state. In this episode, Ximena Vengeochea, author of “Listen like you mean it” explains the art of listening and why it makes us better thought partners at work and at home, provide us with some tips for cultivating the listening mindset, and shares how we can become more empathetic listeners. We also talk about how listening can change the way we build lasting relationships—handy for many of us after a pandemic has stunted our social skills. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/5
For many of us, time slips by mysteriously. It’s gobbled up by email, social media infinity pools, and the flotsum and jetsum of life. At the end of the day we’re left wondering, “uh, what did I do today?” John Zertasky, co-author of Make Time, wants us to be more aware of and intentional about how we spend our most precious resource—our time. John spent years working at Google and GV, the venture capital arm of Google. With that sort of background you might think John’s perspective on time management slants towards productivity and optimizing output, but you’d be wrong. Years in the tech industry grind where attention is fragmented and speed is fetishized have given John clarity that a laser focus on what’s important is the path to satisfaction and balance. John’s perspective will help you reflect on what’s most important in your life so you can allocate your time accordingly and find highlights every day. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/4
Careers, careers, is there anything else so central to our lives that is so ill-defined and largely misunderstood? Academic career, sports careers, college careers. It seems we're awash in careers, and yet when it comes to our professional career, the one that really matters, many of us feel somewhere between uncertain and confused. Unable to see or appreciate the common patterns or longer arcs that might allow us to understand, process, and position our own ambitions, successes, and disappointments. On this episode we talk with Judy Wert, co-founder of Wert & Company, an executive recruiting and search firm that specializes in creative and business leaders. Trained as a designer, Judy has a unique and powerful perspective— one that's been honed over her 25 years of talking to designers, building relationships, cataloging conversations, and coming to understand the journey, challenges and patterns many of us move through as we evolve in both our personal and professional lives. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/3
Nearly 50% of the US workforce is reconsidering their career and thinking about leaving their current job. Was the pandemic the driving force behind this? What does this mean for employees right now? We dive into this with Vipula Gandhi, Head of US Enterprise and Managing Partner at Gallup Inc and the author of a very popular article that some of you may have read called The 'Great Resignation' Is Really the 'Great Discontent'. We talk in detail with Vipula about why people are re-evaluating their current jobs, what employers need to do about it, and what the future of the workplace actually looks like. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/2
For most people the ingredients that go into a satisfying life are mysterious. Certainly career and relationships play a big role but they don’t always go as planned which makes satisfaction and happiness mercurial. Bill Burnett, Executive Director of the Design Program at Stanford, founder of Stanford’s Life Design Lab, and co-author of two best selling books Designing Your Life and Designing Your Work Life, thinks of life as a design problem that can be prototyped and iterated upon using design thinking. Maybe you’re the type of person who already has a life plan. Congrats, you’re a rare breed. The problem with most life plans is that our pathway in life is ever changing. How do we plan for the unexpected? In our conversation with Bill he helps us see that change in life is a feature, not a bug. It creates opportunities for incremental improvements and growth. After a historic year of transformation we are all well positioned to rethink life and design something new for ourselves with clarity of convictions and a recognition of what’s real. Bill’s approach to life design will help you get started in your own process. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/1
The pandemic has forced many of us to step back and reflect on what's important. Reconsidering, a new podcast launching Sept 14 from Meredith Black, Aarron Walter, and Bob Baxley, explores how to navigate big transitions in your career, relationships, and values to help you learn how to make a life while making a living.