Leaders' Playground
Irene Salter, PhD
What if work could feel like play? Join Irene Salter PhD for stories, science and strategies that help leaders thrive, not just survive.
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Top 10 Leaders' Playground Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Leaders' Playground episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Leaders' Playground for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Leaders' Playground episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
7: Hero or Heroine? Which Journey Suits You?
Leaders' Playground
05/14/24 • 32 min
In this episode of the Leaders' Playground, we'll examine how the craft of storytelling can inspire the art of leading. We'll begin by comparing and contrasting two dramatic arcs used by bards from Homer to Steven Spielberg: the well-trodden hero's journey versus the often-overlooked heroine's journey.
We traverse through familiar tales and myths, pondering the archetype of the solitary superhero or Jedi knight and wondering whether the stories of community and collaboration found in Harry Potter and heist flicks might offer a different way to triumph, a different way to lead. This episode peels back the layers of these narrative arcs, revealing how they sculpt our understanding of leadership and champion the idea that strength can be collective, not just a lone conquest. What kind of leadership journey are you on?
Resources:
- Heroine’s journey leadership retreat https://www.irenesalter.com/leadership-retreat
- Learn more about the book I’m writing at https://www.irenesalterbooks.com (and sign up for updates by joining my newsletter)
- I highly recommend Gail Carriger's book, The Heroine’s Journey https://gailcarriger.com/books/the-heroines-journey-for-authors-book/
- Maureen Murdock’s book by the same title is also quite good https://maureenmurdock.com/
- Joseph Campbell's book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/588138.The_Hero_With_a_Thousand_Faces
- Meet my agent, Kimberley Cameron’s website https://kimberleycameron.com/
And meet my writing mentor, Allison K Williams https://allisonkwilliams.com/ - Learn more about dramatic arc in storytelling with Allison's blog post https://brevity.wordpress.com/2023/11/10/five-scenes/
- More than you ever wanted to know about Star Wars https://starwars.fandom.com
- And Harry Potter https://www.wizardingworld.com/
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
10: Escaping the time trap: How to turn time confetti into time serenity
Leaders' Playground
07/01/24 • 24 min
Tick-tock goes the clock, echoing the relentlessly busy pace of life. From my early days as a teacher to life as a principal juggling a young family, my obsession with time management and productivity twisted my days into a chaotic, multitasking, exhausting whirlwind.
In this episode, we explore the concept of "Time Confetti," a term coined by Brigid Schulte, representing the way time in our modern lives gets chopped up into tiny scraps like confetti. Through a series of experiments (try it with me!) and surprising studies (featuring a unicycling clown?!?) we'll explore the science of task switching and multitasking, revealing how they drain energy, increase errors, and reduce productivity.
We'll end with practical tips for reclaiming your time, from focused time blocking to batching small tasks. Transform your scattered days into a balanced flow, achieving what time researchers call "Time Serenity."
Resources:
- Read Brigid Schulte’s book Overwhelmed! It’s great. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17934399-overwhelmed?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=dej8btydIc&rank=3
- In this episode I mention...
- Episode 5 about avoiding overwhelm https://leadersplayground.buzzsprout.com/2282726/14850884-5-how-to-cut-one-million-to-do-items-down-to-just-three
- Episode 6 where we talk about decision fatigue https://leadersplayground.buzzsprout.com/2282726/14967365-6-how-to-dump-delegate-date-do-re-define-your-to-do-list
- Episode 9 about executive attention and default mode https://leadersplayground.buzzsprout.com/2282726/15196587-9-four-ways-to-make-conferences-worth-the-effort-with-the-science-of-creativity
- Here’s a link to some NYTimes coverage about that WWU study on task switching https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/what-clown-on-a-unicycle-studying-cell-phone-distraction/
- To learn more about time blocking and bunching the little things, see this blog post https://www.irenesalter.com/post/overwhelmed-by-your-to-do-list-5d-s-to-the-rescue
- Learn about pulsing in Tony Schwarts’s book The Power of Full Engagement https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68985.The_Power_of_Full_Engagement?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=m3DBV1malu&rank=1
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
14: Soaking in Mindfulness: Lessons in centering from a Japanese onsen
Leaders' Playground
09/02/24 • 26 min
Join me, Irene Salter, as I reflect on a serene visit to Arima Onsen, one of Japan's oldest and most charming hot springs. I'll describe how the tranquil waters and peaceful ambiance offered a profound sense of relaxation and inspired a deep dive into mindfulness.
In this episode, I’ll guide you through a centering meditation, dive into the neuroscience of mindfulness, and offer practical tips on how to bring the peace of a hot spring back to work, a moment of calm amidst life’s chaos. Tune in to explore how soaking in tranquility—whether through a hot spring or mindfulness practice—can renew your mind, body, and soul.
Resources:
- This article in NPR was the one that led me to the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn: https://www.npr.org/2021/12/21/1066585316/mindfulness-meditation-with-john-kabat-zinn
- Jon Kabat-Zinn’s website: https://jonkabat-zinn.com/
- For a fantastic, and fairly accessible review of your brain on mindfulness meditation, see this article in Nature Neuroscience: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3916
- But if you want a one-page infographic of your brain when centered, head to my podcast page to find that resource. Or better yet, subscribe to my newsletter and get beautiful illustrations of your mind on beauty, awe, adventure, and much more: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
- If you’d like to access this episode’s centering meditation directly, you can download the audiofile at: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
- Or try one of many many others on my favorite mindfulness app, Buddify: https://buddhify.com/
- Episode 10 - Time confetti, goes more deeply into the default mode network: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
- Here’s the onsen that I went to visit in Arima: https://www.arima-gh.jp/en/
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
16: Leading with Heart: What if your heart did the thinking and mind did the feeling?
Leaders' Playground
10/02/24 • 23 min
What can the Pixar movie Inside Out teach leaders about management? A lot!
In this episode of "Leaders' Playground," we dive deep into the emotional landscape. A whirlwind of emotions can hit in a single day—fear, joy, sadness, and everything in between. By understanding those emotions, we can transform our leadership style.
We unpack the science of emotions, drawing on the groundbreaking research of psychologists like Paul Ekman, Dacher Keltner, and Lisa Feldman Barrett. Discover how emotional awareness not only enhances personal well-being but also boosts team dynamics, productivity, and overall job satisfaction.
As much as we might wish to shove emotions into a jar and pretend they don't exist, emotional intelligence can turn work into a far more enjoyable and fulfilling experience.
Resources:
- Inside Out 1 trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRUAzGQ3nSY
- Inside Out 2 trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEjhY15eCx0
- Plutchik’s Feelings Wheel and how to use it https://positivepsychology.com/emotion-wheel/
- Brené Brown’s list of emotions to expand emotional vocabulary https://brenebrown.com/resources/atlas-of-the-heart-list-of-emotions/
- Emotions Revealed by Paul Ekman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156462.Emotions_Revealed
- Awe by Dacher Keltner https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62352297-awe
- How many emotions are there? This article explores the latest research. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_many_different_human_emotions_are_there
- Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58330567-atlas-of-the-heart
- How Emotions are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23719305-how-emotions-are-made
- Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26329.Emotional_Intelligence
- Some data on how EQ matters https://www.fastcompany.com/90614212/iq-vs-eq-in-the-workplace
- Alisa Yu’s work at Stanford on why it pays to notice emotions https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/all-feels-why-it-pays-notice-emotions-workplace
- Mark Fenton-O’Creevy on the impact of emotions on picking stocks https://oro.open.ac.uk/31984/4/JOB-08-0440-pre-publication.pdf
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
6: How to Dump, Delegate, Date, Do, Re-Define your To Do List
Leaders' Playground
04/29/24 • 32 min
Follow me through my day as I declutter my to-do list. In an era where adults on average make 35,000 decisions in a single day (it's true!), this episode peels back the curtain on a process you can use to not just manage your overwhelm, but fix it. Learn about the actual capacity of your working memory and the impact of cognitive load.
We've all felt the weight of an overflowing inbox and the endless stream of tasks vying for our attention. Me too. With an overwhelming to do list of my own, it's time to use the 5Ds, my personal strategy for task prioritization, delegation, and completion. This episode is "a day in the life" of Irene capturing the thirty minutes where I sat down to get a grip on my overwhelm. I use three tools that you too can use: 1) staying true to my purpose, 2) managing my energy with a break after each bout of deep thinking, and 3) using the 5Ds to dump, delegate, date, do or re-define each and every item on my list.
Resources:
- For the 5D handout, download it from irenesalter.com/podcast
- Link to episode 3 on character creation
- Link to episode 4 with movement break
- Link to episode 5, part 1 of overwhelm!
- Decision fatigue https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1359105318763510
- My blog post on how to 5D your to do list https://www.irenesalter.com/post/overwhelmed-by-your-to-do-list-5d-s-to-the-rescue
- All about time confetti from Cosmopolitan Magazine https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/body/health/a38696205/time-confetti/
- Overwhelmed by Brigid Schulte https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17934399
- Retreat website! https://www.irenesalter.com/leadership-retreat
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
5: How to Cut One Million To Do Items Down to Just Three
Leaders' Playground
04/15/24 • 26 min
Feeling overwhelmed by your to do list? You're not alone. In this episode, we dive into the ins and outs of overwhelm, its connection to burnout, how your brain handles the cognitive load, and what to do about is. From the demands-resource imbalance to the limitations of our working memory, this episode explores how our brains handle stress and juggle tasks.
I’ll share personal experiences, practical strategies, and insights from experts like Oliver Burkeman and Michael Bungay Stanier. We will break down overwhelming tasks into doable steps, prioritize effectively, and seek support when needed. In the end, we’ll be taking the million and one things on your to do list and turning them into three. Imagine how it would feel to have just three things on your to do list. Tune in and I’ll show you how!
Resources:
- Irene’s blog, “What’s the opposite of overwhelmed?”: https://www.irenesalter.com/post/what-s-the-opposite-of-overwhelmed
- A great article published in World Psychiatry on burnout: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/wps.20311
- Emily and Amelia Nagoski’s book, Burnout: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42397849-burnout
- Allison William’s website: https://allisonkwilliams.com/
- Laura Vanderkam’s TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/laura_vanderkam_how_to_gain_control_of_your_free_time
- Oliver Burkeman’s book, Four Thousand Weeks: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54785515-four-thousand-weeks
- George Miller’s famous 1956 article: https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_2364276_4/component/file_2364275/content
- Michael Bungay Stanier’s book, The Coaching Habit: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29342515-the-coaching-habit
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
4: Instead of Fight, Flight or Freeze... Dance! The Power of Movement.
Leaders' Playground
04/01/24 • 23 min
As I watched the dancers on stage at a fundraiser supporting victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, a profound sense of joy washed over me, contrasting with the gravity of the cause. This was a powerful reminder of dance's impact on our emotional landscape. Trauma makes us freeze (or take flight or brace for a fight). The opposite is dance.
In this episode we celebrate the mind-body connection via movement and music, sharing stories of my own experience with sexual assault and the collective effervescence of dance. Together, we explore how dance is your brain's "pleasure triple play", share a musical brain break, discuss the benefits of letting loose in professional settings, and provide a multitude of ways to inject play into your work life.
Links:
- One Safe Place website: https://www.ospshasta.org/
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: https://www.thehotline.org/ or (800) 799 - SAFE (7233)
- Harvard study showing that music is a human universal: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/epl/files/mehr_et_al_2019_science.pdf
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine study showing how dance improves cognition in the elderly: https://www.einsteinmed.edu/research-briefs/8930/social-dancing-to-improve-cognition-reduce-alzheimers-risk
- Scientific American article on dance and the brain: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-dance/
- Collective effervescence article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/arts-and-health/202108/please-don-t-take-my-collective-effervescence-away
- Shake and dance with the Center for Mind Body Medicine: https://cmbm.org/self-care-resources/resource/shaking-and-dancing/
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
3: Design Your Leadership Character Just As You'd Design a D&D Character
Leaders' Playground
03/12/24 • 30 min
Ever felt pigeonholed by traditional leadership definitions? Ever looked at leaders like Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, or Martin Luther King and thought, I'm not that, so how can I consider myself a leader? In this episode, we shatter the traditional leadership template to create something from scratch that's completely genuine and authentic.
I'll walk you through five steps to craft your own unique leadership style, just as you would customize a Dungeons & Dragons character or video game avatar. It's what I do with all my one on one leadership clients and the heart of a full day leadership identity workshop. The five steps are:
- Strengths – the things we’re good at.
- Values - the core beliefs that define us.
- Passions - the things we love.
- Vision - the place we’re headed.
- Purpose - the meaning behind everything we do.
Resources:
- VIA strengths survey: https://www.viacharacter.org/
- Stuart Brown TED talk on play: https://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_play_is_more_than_just_fun?language=en
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi TED talk on flow: https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness
- Simon Sinek TED talk on purpose: https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action
- Irene's “Two ways to forge your leadership compass” blog post: https://www.irenesalter.com/post/forge-your-leadership-compass
- Irene's “Making hard choices by leaning into your values” blog post: https://www.irenesalter.com/post/making-hard-choices
- Awe outing/vision walk: https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/awe_walk
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
2: Soothe Impostor Syndrome by Inviting Your Inner Critics to a Dialogue
Leaders' Playground
03/12/24 • 23 min
Do you ever suffer from impostor syndrome? I do. In this episode, we'll peel back the layers of self-doubt and get to know our inner critics. There’s a voice in my head that sometimes (often) says, “Who do you think you are? You’re a fraud!” Well, today we’re going to sit down to tea with our inner critics.
You'll hear my growing up story. Learn about the work of Suzanne Imes and Pauline Rose Clance who described the impostor cycle. Get the scoop on the latest rage in therapy, internal family systems courtesy of Richard Schwartz. And sample a taste of an exercise that was the breakthrough moment for several women at last year's Mendocino leadership retreat. It's time to get good at impostor syndrome.
Resources:
- Pauline Rose Clance’s book: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/8212
- New Yorker article pushing back against impostor syndrome: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/13/the-dubious-rise-of-impostor-syndrome
- Richard Schwartz’s book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55384168
- Richard Schwartz videos: https://ifs-institute.com/resources/videos
- “How to get good at impostor syndrome” blog: https://www.irenesalter.com/post/how-to-get-good-at-impostor-syndrome
- Heroine’s Journey Women’s Leadership Retreat: https://www.irenesalter.com/leadership-retreat
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
1: Rediscovering Joy in Your Work by Harnessing the Power of Play
Leaders' Playground
03/12/24 • 26 min
Welcome to the very first episode of the Leaders' Playground -- a podcast for people who wish their work could feel more like play. In this episode, you’ll hear the origin story of how this podcast came to be and why it's called the Leader’s Playground. I’m your host Irene Salter, a PhD neuroscientist and science educator with a passion for helping people thrive, not just survive. Consider me a story-telling scientist. In this and every episode you will find:
1) A story: Being challenged to create a podcast initially felt heavy and overwhelming, but an excellent question by my friend and coach turned work into something playful and creative. You’ll also hear about a hike up “Death Hill”, and a Dungeons and Dragons game involving cats and Ferris Bueller.
2) Some science: We’ll explore dopamine systems; brain areas like the amygdala and the ventral anterior cingulate cortex; and the research of play scientist, Stuart Brown.
3) A strategy: To start making work feel more like play, begin by identifying what play looks like for you.
Resources:
- Stuart Brown's TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_play_is_more_than_just_fun
- Stuart Brown's book: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/4997659
- David Vox’s website: https://www.davidvox.com/
- Christina Howard’s website: https://www.intentlyco.com/post/meet-christina
For complete show notes, transcript, and free downloadable resources go to: https://www.irenesalter.com/podcast
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FAQ
How many episodes does Leaders' Playground have?
Leaders' Playground currently has 16 episodes available.
What topics does Leaders' Playground cover?
The podcast is about Life Sciences, Leadership, Podcasts, Science, Leaders, Business and Careers.
What is the most popular episode on Leaders' Playground?
The episode title '8: This is your brain on beauty in Paris' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Leaders' Playground?
The average episode length on Leaders' Playground is 26 minutes.
How often are episodes of Leaders' Playground released?
Episodes of Leaders' Playground are typically released every 14 days, 5 hours.
When was the first episode of Leaders' Playground?
The first episode of Leaders' Playground was released on Mar 12, 2024.
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