"May the Fourth Be With You. Always." w/ Sensei Gary Koan Janka

Explicit content warning

05/04/20 • 84 min

In a bit of a departure from the normal business programming, Chris sits down with Zen Priest Sensei Gary Koan Janka to talk about how our wants and fears of not getting what we want fuel our suffering and how to begin to alleviate that suffering.
From Chris: "I was thinking about all of the people who are afraid right now and what impact that fear is having on not only our economy, but our society writ large. I wanted to do something that went beyond the day to day micro-coping, or analysis of this or that aspect of business and offer a conversation that could literally appeal to every single person who listened to it, no matter their circumstance. I hope this helps."
Chris also offers a warning to folks looking to find enlightenment on a stationary bike or in a Lululemon, and explains how Jedi Masters walk among us.

Writer, Host: Chris Thierfelder
Producers: Sarah and Max Warman
Art: Jennie Jacobs
Music: Kevin MacLeod
IG: @mondaypod
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Previous Episode

"Lead with Grace and Patience" w/ Gia Vitali

Chris talks with the Chief of Staff for the Mayor of Minneapolis, Gia Vitali. Gia has spent her career dedicated to public service and to making her communities better, fairer, and healthier.
We discuss the challenges of keeping a city of 425k people functioning during a crisis, what Gia's had to learn in short order to be an effective leader during this time, and her hopes for what we see on the other side of this surreal time.
Chris also tells you why you're terrible at assessing risk, and why you not wearing a mask doesn't mean what you think it means.
Read this stuff:
Book; "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," Yuval Noah Harari
Book; "Thinking, Fast and Slow," Daniel Kahneman
Article; Humans are Too Optimistic to Comprehend the Coronavirus, Olga Khazan, The Atlantic
Article; The Psychology of Risk Perception, Harvard Mental Health Letter, HMS
About Gia Vitali:
Gia Vitali began her career on Capitol Hill in working for Congressman Bruce Vento and his successor Congresswoman Betty McCollum. In 2004 Gia returned to Minnesota and led the Get Out the Vote effort for the Kerry/Edwards Campaign. She went on to manage several campaigns, work for Senator Amy Klobuchar, and served as political director for a national organization focused on recruiting, training, and helping to elect candidates to state and local office.

Gia served as deputy campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families – the historic campaign that successfully defeated the constitutional amendment to define marriage as solely between one man and one woman.

In April of 2013, she joined the corporate communications team at Medica Health Plans where she supported the Medicare and Medicaid business segments. In November 2015, Gia joined the Department of Human Services as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner. She currently serves as the Chief of Staff to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Next Episode

"The Meritocracy Trap" w/ Daniel Markovits

Chris has a wide-ranging conversation with Daniel Markovits from Yale Law School about his recent book "The Meritocracy Trap" and how the structural imbalances that exist within corporate America conspire to prevent most workers--of almost any level--from the kind of stable career progression that once was responsible for creating a Professional Middle Class in this country.
Chris also muses about gratitude, considering ethical work, and gives a preview of next week's guest (for the first time!)
Read this stuff from Professor Markovits:
Article: "How Life Became and Endless, Terrible Competition"
Article: "How McKinsey Destroyed the Middle Class"
Book: "The Meritocracy Trap"
Op-Ed: "A Wealth Tax is the Logical Way to Support Coronavirus Relief"
About Professor Markovits:
Daniel Markovits is Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Private Law.

Markovits works in the philosophical foundations of private law, moral and political philosophy, and behavioral economics. He publishes in a range of disciplines, including in Science, The American Economic Review, and The Yale Law Journal.

Markovits’s current book, The Meritocracy Trap (forthcoming, Penguin Press), places meritocracy at the center of rising economic inequality and social and political dysfunction. The book takes up the law, economics, and politics of human capital to identify the mechanisms through which meritocracy breeds inequality and to expose the burdens that meritocratic inequality imposes on all who fall within meritocracy’s orbit.