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Modern Mentor
Build a culture of accountability with Work Design
892. Is your team missing targets, dropping the ball, or responding to missed deadlines with a shrug?
Many leaders believe accountability is a personality trait—you either have it or you don’t. But in reality, accountability is a design problem. When ownership is lacking, it’s usually because the "work design" itself is getting in the way.
In this episode, Rachel shares a case study of a pharmaceutical manufacturer where low accountability wasn't just a frustration, it was a safety risk. You’ll learn the results of a real-world "work design pulse check" and the five simple, high-impact tweaks that transformed a culture of "oh well" into a culture of "I’ve got this."
Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com
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Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com.
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914. Five moves to tell a better story in your year-end review
10:23||Ep. 914914. How do you get ready for your year-end review? And should you be starting now? Most of us reduce our professional story to the obvious stuff – titles, job descriptions, the big projects – and lose the truest evidence of how we actually work. Borrowing a page from college-admissions expert Sara Harberson, Rachel walks through five moves to uncover your fuller professional story, with enough time for year-end. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com
913. The unsexy fix for meetings, deadlines, and cross-team conflict
12:16||Ep. 913913. When something's broken at work, we reach for the big fix — the reorg, the new tool, the strategy overhaul. But ask people to describe their perfect coffee and they'll say rich, dark, bold. Put a cup in front of them and they reach for weak and milky. Rachel Cooke applies that same gap to work, where what's holding you back usually isn't strategy. It's the thousand small snags you've stopped noticing. Here's how to find one and ease it from right where you sit.Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com
912. How to handle uncertainty at work when your boss doesn't have the answers
10:10||Ep. 912912. Your boss used to have answers. Now they've got questions. It feels destabilizing - but Rachel makes the case that this is the opening of a lifetime. When certainty disappears, the old rules about who has the answers go with it. Four bold moves for a moment that's wide open.Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com
911. How to build workplace community in a remote AI-driven world
11:24||Ep. 911911. You can spend an entire day on video calls and still not have one real conversation. The connection that used to come free with the office doesn't come free anymore. After a trip to California wine country, Rachel Cooke found herself fixated less on the wine than on the village each winery had built around itself, and on what that says about connection in a remote, global, AI-driven workplace. Three reasons to build your own village, on purpose.Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com.
910. Billy Eichner on why success comes from love not trauma
36:59||Ep. 910910. What do you do when there's no template for the career you want, no obvious next step, and no one waiting to hand you the opportunity? Comedian, actor, and writer Billy Eichner built his entire career by refusing to wait to be chosen. In this conversation, he and Rachel Cooke get into how you bet on yourself when the path doesn't exist yet, how to keep going through constant rejection without letting it paralyze you, and why the wish to be chosen never fully goes away, even after you've made it.Billy is the force behind "Billy on the Street," a co-writer and star of "Bros," and a familiar face from "Parks and Recreation" and "The Lion King." Here he opens up about his new audio memoir, "Billy on Billy," the parents who built his confidence by never instilling shame in him, the artists like Madonna and Barbra Streisand who taught him defiance, and his belief that success can come from love rather than trauma. If you're trying to go off script and build something no one else can see yet, this one will give you the nerve.Listen to "Billy on Billy: An Audio Memoir" Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com.
909. Why your hard work isn't paying off and what's really slowing progress
14:08||Ep. 909909. Your strategy is sound. Your people are talented. Everyone's working harder than ever. So why aren't the results showing up? Rachel makes the case that when work breaks down, we inspect the people when we should be inspecting the work - and shares four questions that reveal the hidden friction quietly taxing your team.Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com.
616. A fresh approach to managing burnout
27:31||Ep. 616On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in September 2020.Episode 616 - Burnout is more than just a feeling—untamed, it can pose a real medical risk. Dr. Greg Hammer, an intensive care physician, Stanford University professor, and author of the book GAIN Without Pain: The Happiness Handbook for Medical Professionals, shares his simple, medically-backed framework for conquering burnout and finding your healthier, happier place.Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com.
697. When it comes to managing, do I do it fast or right? (Reissue)
08:31||Ep. 697697. We get a lot of mixed messaging when it comes to managing the tension between speed and efficiency. We need to be sure—to have the data, to have done the research and the analysis before deciding or implementing. But also, we need to be agile, move quickly, test-and-learn, and not fall into analysis-paralysis. How do we find the middle ground?Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. The episode transcript can be found here.
582. The awesome power of "No"
08:46||Ep. 582On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in February 2020.Episode 582: Saying "no" is actually makes you more successful at work. These essential strategies will help you set workplace boundaries with grace. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com.