Meikles & Dimes is a podcast dedicated to the simple, practical, and underappreciated. Monologue episodes cover science-based topics in decision-making, health, communication, negotiation, and performance psychology. Interview episodes, called Layer 2 episodes, include guests from business, academia, health care, journalism, engineering, and athletics.
Episodes
Monday Feb 05, 2024
Monday Feb 05, 2024
Bob Sutton, Professor at Stanford University, is a New York Times bestselling author of 9 books including his most recent, with co-author Huggy Rao, titled The Friction Project. Bob co-founded Stanford’s Center for Work, Technology, and Organization, the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and the “d school.” Bob has served as an advisor to McKinsey, Bain, and Microsoft, as a Fellow at IDEO, and as faculty at the World Economic Forum, and he is currently a Senior Scientist at Gallup.
Bob has given keynote speeches to more than 200 groups in more than 20 countries and has been a guest on numerous radio and television shows, including ABC, Bloomberg, BBC, CNBC, Fox, NBC Today Show, PBS, NPR, Marketplace, and CNN.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- The best leaders see themselves as trustees of other’s time. As Bob told his employer at Stanford, and even a Google executive yesterday, “If the California DMV can be trustees of our time, you can do it for your employees too.”
- At the CA DMV, Bob showed up at 7:30 am, and 60 people were in front of him. Bob was thrilled when he saw a worker walking each row passing out forms, prepping people for their visit, and re-routing those in the wrong line. This DMV hero was a trustee of other peoples’ time (and Bob was out in less than an hour).
- Our natural tendency is to add things to anything we do, whether it’s a recipe, a vacation, or our jobs. But when we switch to the subtraction mindset, we can vastly improve things.
- Switch to the subtraction mindset: In the state of Michigan there was a form that 2.5 million residents filled out that had 1,000 questions. But thanks to Project Reform, the form is now 80% shorter and takes half the time.
- Lead with love. Starting with love, and then building the logistics behind it, can lead to vastly improved experiences compared to starting with logistics. For example, when Netflix made it easy to cancel, they got much better data from their customers.
Follow Bob:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/work_matters
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobsutton1/
Website: https://www.bobsutton.net/
Follow Me:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/
Monday Jan 29, 2024
Monday Jan 29, 2024
Hayagreeva "Huggy" Rao, professor at Stanford University, is the author of several bestselling books, including his most recent, with co-author Bob Sutton, The Friction Project. His books have been covered in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Inc. Magazine, Amazon, Forbes, and Washington Post among others.
Huggy has also consulted with organizations such as British Petroleum, CEMEX, General Electric, IBM, Mass Mutual, American Cancer Society, the FBI and CIA.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- Whether leaders are wasting others’ time or underestimating coordination problems, they are creating bad friction that leads people to say things like, “After pouring myself into my BS work each day, I only have scraps of myself for my family.”
- Not all friction is bad. Creating friction for the Oakland Police Department led to less African Americans and Latinos being unjustly stopped.
- A leader has two primary jobs: remove obstacles that infuriate. And insert obstacles that educate.
Follow Huggy
X: https://twitter.com/huggyrao
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayagreevarao/
Website: https://huggyrao.com/
The Friction Project Book: https://amzn.to/48BVX3I
Follow Me:
X: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/
Website: https://natemeikle.com
Monday Jan 22, 2024
Monday Jan 22, 2024
Dan Heath is the co-author, with his brother Chip, of four New York Times bestsellers: Decisive, Switch, Made to Stick, and The Power of Moments. Their books have sold over 3 million copies and been translated into 33 languages.
Dan is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE center, which supports social entrepreneurs. Previously, Dan worked as a researcher and case writer for Harvard Business School. In the late 1990s, Dan co-founded a publishing company called Thinkwell, which produces online college textbooks featuring video lectures from the country’s top professors. And one proud geeky moment for Dan was his victory in the 2005 New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest, beating out 13,000 other entrants.
Dan has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- We’re prone to focus on weakness and shortcomings. Almost 2/3 of emotion words are negative. When we write in journals, we tend to focus on what’s not working. But focusing on our bright spots can be superpower.
- We naturally assume that when there are problems we should spend our time focusing on the problems. But an alternative approach is to focus on strengths…the bright spots.
- It’s so easy to think, “What’s the problem and how do we fix it?” But another mode of inquiry that is every bit as powerful but rarely asked is “What's working today and how can we do more of that?”
- "Again and again in life you’re going to encounter situations with mixed signals. Our natural tendency is to dwell on what's not working, what's broken. But I want you to be the person that says 'Hang on a second, let's flip this and look at the other side of the spectrum. What are the bright spots?'”
- Dan is a serial procrastinator. But by focusing on his bright spots, analyzing when he was at his best, he realized that to be most productive he needed to spend his mornings writing in coffee shops.
- “One company in particular added an increment of about 9 digits of revenue just by studying their own best work.”
Follow Dan:
Website: https://heathbrothers.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-heath-aa5a63147/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatitsliketobepodcast/
Follow Me:
X: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Chris Voss is a former Lead FBI Negotiator who debunks the biggest myths of negotiation. Chris has lectured on negotiation at business schools across the country and has been seen on ABC, CBS, CNN, and Fox News. Chris has also been featured in Forbes, Time, Fast Company, and Inc. Chris’s Keynotes are based on his book Never Split The Difference which has sold more than 3 million copies in 33 languages.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- For most negotiations use either a playful, upbeat tone or the “Late night FM DJ voice.” And smile.
- Oprah may be the greatest negotiator of all time. And people still like her. Collaboration beats cutthroat.
- Women pick up “tactical empathy” better than men. But also they are punished more than men for bad negotiating.
- Extreme anchors have the tendency of driving deals away from the table.
- If you routinely win “too big” in negotiations, people may stop dealing with you.
- Prepare people for bad news with phrases like, “You’re probably not going to like this…” This phrase is way better than, “Not to be rude…”
- Accusation Audit: Imagine the negative thoughts your counterparty has about you and proactively address them.
- Mirror Technique: Repeat that last 3-5 words of what somebody just said. This is often received much better than, “What do you mean?”
- Labeling Technique: After your counterparty speaks, label what they said by using phrases such as, “It seems like…” or “It sounds like…”
- Use no-oriented questions: “Have you got a few minutes to talk” can be changed to “Is now a bad time to talk?” “Can I have the day off?” can be changed to “Is it ridiculous to ask for tomorrow off?”
- When negotiating salary, first negotiate success: “How can I be guaranteed to be engaged in projects that are critical to our strategic future.”
- And Chris’s final message: You’re going to be more prosperous being collaborative than cutthroat.
Follow Chris:
Website: https://www.blackswanltd.com/
X: https://twitter.com/fbinegotiator
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophervoss/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefbinegotiator/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk7jHqdlFFDBhC1QIFqi54w
Book: https://amzn.to/41zEcQj
Follow Me:
X: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/
Monday Jan 08, 2024
Monday Jan 08, 2024
Cassie Holmes is an award-winning marketing professor at UCLA and the bestselling author of Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most. Her book was called a “must read” by Forbes, the Washington Post, and the Financial Times, and was featured on the Today Show, CBS Mornings, CNN, NPR’s Hidden Brain, and GOOP with Gwyneth Paltrow.
Cassie’s research has been published in leading academic journals, and the course she developed, Applying the Science of Happiness to Life Design, is among UCLA’s most popular MBA classes.
Prior to joining UCLA, Cassie was a professor at Wharton. She has a Ph.D. from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and a B.A. from Columbia.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- The answer for greater happiness isn’t having more time. It’s making our time more fulfilling.
- Looking at data of hundreds of thousands of working and nonworking Americans shows that people with too little time were just as unhappy as people with too much time. However, 2-5 hours of discretionary time, plus using that time in meaningful ways, was the sweet spot for maximum happiness.
- Happiness isn’t about being time rich. It’s about making our time rich.
- One way to make our time rich is to track our time for a week, while also rating how we feel on a 10 point scale coming out of each activity.
- Initial data shows that social media can set subjective and arbitrary expectations for how we should spend our time, thus decreasing our feelings of time richness and fulfillment.
- When we feel “time poor” we stop helping others. But helping others makes our time more fulfilling thus reducing our feeling of time poverty.
- Time management has traditionally focused on maximizing productivity. But by slowing down and focusing on tasks that are more meaningful, like having a nice conversation with a colleague, spouse, or child, we can increase our happiness and reduce our feeling of time poverty.
- To increase your happiness, take your grandma to lunch. She’ll have perspective, knowledge, and wisdom gained through experience on how to spend your time meaningfully.
Follow Cassie:
Website: https://www.cassiemholmes.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassiemholmes/
Follow Me:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Justin Tozer is a math and science prodigy who grew up on a farm where formal education was all but prohibited. Yet, somehow Tozer would make his way to the world’s most prestigious firms, first in Silicon Valley and later in Los Alamos at the world’s preeminent scientific lab.
Yet no professional accomplishment compares to the countless lives Tozer has saved, changed, and enhanced.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- How Tozer started tutoring people in college and in Idaho Falls
- How Tozer used me to help other people
- How Tozer received a standing ovation for standing up for his classmates
Follow Me:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Justin Tozer is a math and science prodigy who grew up on a farm where formal education was all but prohibited. Yet, somehow Tozer would make his way to the world’s most prestigious firms, first in Silicon Valley and later in Los Alamos at the world’s preeminent scientific lab.
Yet no professional accomplishment compares to the countless lives Tozer has saved, changed, and enhanced.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- How the medicine to treat Tozer's tumor affects his quality of life
- Tozer's parenting instinct
- Tozer's work as a court appointed special advocate for children
Follow Me:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Justin Tozer is a math and science prodigy who grew up on a farm where formal education was all but prohibited. Yet, somehow Tozer would make his way to the world’s most prestigious firms, first in Silicon Valley and later in Los Alamos at the world’s preeminent scientific lab.
Yet no professional accomplishment compares to the countless lives Tozer has saved, changed, and enhanced.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- Tozer working for Halliburton and driving a truck with no brakes
- Tozer serving as safety coordinator
- The tumor on Tozer's pituitary gland
- How the tumor affects Tozer's testosterone and prolactin levels
- How the medication clouds Tozer's mind
- Tozer's former ability to do millions of calculations in his head
- How Tozer wanted to remember everything he studied
Follow Me:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Joe Folkman is co-founder and President of Zenger Folkman, a firm specializing in leadership and organizational development. As one of the nation’s renowned psychometricians, his surveys and assessments utilize a database comprised of over one million assessments on over 80,000 leaders.
Joe’s clients include AT&T, General Motors, General Mills, Wells Fargo, and Yale University, he has published nine books, and his research has been published in the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal.
Joe holds a doctorate degree in Social and Organizational Psychology, as well as a master’s degree in Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- When people receive feedback about their strengths and weaknesses, they often choose to focus on their weaknesses. But Joe’s research, based on one million assessments of 80,000 leaders, shows that people tend to be better off focusing on their strengths rather than their weaknesses.
- To build leadership strengths, such as trying to improve our honesty, it can be helpful to focus on adjacent strength builders such as assertiveness. By improving our assertiveness, we can improve our honesty.
- Joe’s research shows that those who rate us are twice as accurate at predicting our strengths and weaknesses as we are.
- Steve Jobs had weaknesses, some of which were nearly fatal flaws. But his strengths were so strong, that they more than compensated for his weaknesses in the workplace.
Follow Joe:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeFolkman
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-folkman-4766813/
Joe’s HBR Article on Strength Builders
Follow Me:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
Jennifer Pahlka is the founder of Code for America and the author of Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. She has served as U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer under President Obama and on the Defense Innovation Board under Presidents Obama and Trump. She also co-founded United States Digital Response, which helps government meet the needs of the public with volunteer tech support. Jennifer received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, was named by Wired as one of the 25 people who has most shaped the past 25 years, and her 2012 TED Talk, “Coding a Better Government,” has over 1 million views. Jennifer is a graduate of Yale University.
In this episode we discuss the following:
- After backpacking in Asia for a year, and then returning to the states, Jennifer realized that our culture and infrastructure could be different because she had seen different.
- People think of government as an “other” and unchangeable. But it’s up to us to make government more aligned to our values.
- Lots of people talk about public service as giving back. But Jennifer got more out of public service than she gave, and hopes that we would all spend time in public service.
- We need to hold our politicians accountable for not only planting new seeds, but also nurturing the seeds that have already been planted.
- David Graeber: “The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and could just as easily make differently.”
Follow Jennifer:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pahlkadot
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpahlka/
Follow Me:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/