How to Be Awesome at Your Job

DJ DiDonna makes the case for why taking more extended time off helps professionals get further in their careers–and shares tricks for actually snagging that time.

— YOU’LL LEARN —
1) How to convince your boss to let you take a sabbatical
2) How sabbaticals act as “regret insurance”
3) How to plan a truly fulfilling sabbatical

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1169 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT DJ —
DJ DiDonna is a senior lecturer of business administration at Harvard Business School, where he teaches MBA courses on entrepreneurship and building meaningful professional and personal lives. He has spent his career translating social science research into real-world tools for positive change. In 2019, DiDonna founded The Sabbatical Project to define, explore, and research the role of sabbaticals in modern life. He has helped organizations around the world—from nonprofits to Fortune 50 companies—design and implement sabbatical policies.
His work has been featured in The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, Time, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Previously, DiDonna cofounded EFL Global, a fintech company that enabled more than $2 billion in capital to underbanked businesses and individuals across twenty countries before its acquisition in 2018. DiDonna earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. On his sabbatical, DiDonna walked nine hundred miles on pilgrimage in Shikoku, Japan, helped lead the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at his undergraduate alma mater, Notre Dame, and unskillfully remodeled his kitchen. Outside work, you can find him plotting how to be in the Big Outdoors.
• Book: Big Time Off: The Transformative Power of Sabbaticals and How to Take One by DJ DiDonna
• LinkedIn: DJ DiDonna
• Website: TheSabbaticalProject.org
• Website: djdidonna.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —
• Tool: Voice Dream Reader
• Book: The Three-Body Problem (The Three-Body Problem Series, 1) by Cixin Liu
• Book: Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career by Herminia Ibarra

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —
• Shopify. Sign up for your free trial at Shopify.com/awesomepod
• Monarch. Get 50% off your first year with code AWESOME at Monarch.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Simone Stolzoff shows you that it’s possible to turn uncertainty into your advantage.

— YOU’LL LEARN —
1) How to build your uncertainty tolerance
2) What to ask when you face indecision
3) Why curiosity is the antidote to fear

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1168 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT SIMONE —
Simone Stolzoff is an author and journalist who explores big questions about work, meaning, and identity. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, he is the author of two books: The Good Enough Job and How To Not Know. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and on the TED stage. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and son.
• Book: How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty in a World that Demands Answers
• Book: The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work
• Book site: HowToNotKnow.com
• Substack: The Article Book Club
• Website: SimoneStolzoff.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —
• Tool: Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS)
• Study: World Uncertainty Index
• Study: "Is the Pain Worth the Gain? The Advantages and Liabilities of Agreeing With Socially Distinct Newcomers" by Katherine W. Phillips, Katie A. Liljenquist, and Margaret A. Neale
• Study: "Increasing intolerance of uncertainty over time: the potential influence of increasing connectivity" by R Nicholas Carleton, Gabrielle Desgagné, Rachel Krakauer, and Ryan Y. Hong
• Figure: Annie Duke
• Book: Flex Your Feelings: Train Your Brain to Develop the 7 Traits of Emotional Fitness by Dr. Emily Anhalt
• Book: London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
• Book: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —
• Shopify. Sign up for your free trial at Shopify.com/awesomepod
• Monarch. Get 50% off your first year with code AWESOME at Monarch.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Olivia Fox Cabane reveals the behaviors and practices that help develop your personal charisma.

— YOU’LL LEARN —
1) The number one myth surrounding charisma
2) How to amplify your presence in just a few seconds
3) The master key to looking and feeling more powerful

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1167 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT IAN —
Olivia Fox Cabane is a leading authority on the science of charisma and the bestselling author of The Charisma Myth and The Net And The Butterfly, translated into 36 languages.
Formerly Director of Innovative Leadership for Stanford StartX, she has lectured on charisma, leadership, and innovation at Harvard, Yale, MIT, the Marine War College, and the United Nations. As cofounder of the KindEarth.Tech Foundation, she supports foodtech companies advancing environmental sustainability.
Her clients include the leadership of Apple, Google, TikTok, Deloitte, UBS, and JP Morgan as well as founders of Airbnb, Brex, Paradigm, and Presight. She has been featured in The New York Times, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal.
• Book: The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism
• Meditation: The Charisma Myth Exercises: Metta
• Website: AskOlivia.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —
• Study: “Case Report: Women, Be Aware that Your Vocal Charisma can Dwindle in Remote Meetings” by Ingo Siegert and Oliver Niebuhr
• Study: “Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes” by Jane M. Howell and Peter J. Frost
• Study: “Predictors of leadership: The usual suspects and the suspect traits” by John Antonakis
• Researcher: Dr. Oliver Niebuhr
• Microphone: Maono HD300T
• YouTube: Podcastage
• Book: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
• Book: Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —
• Shopify. Sign up for your free trial at Shopify.com/awesomepod
• Monarch. Get 50% off your first year with code AWESOME at Monarch.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steve Dalton details his systematic process for securing dream interviews.

— YOU’LL LEARN —
1) How to generate 40 target employers in 40 minutes
2) Three effective ways to reach out to potential advocates
3) The 6 crucial elements of the 75-word networking email

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep626 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT STEVE —
Steve Dalton is a senior career consultant and program director for Duke University’s full-time MBA program. He holds his own MBA from the same institution and a chemical engineering degree from Case Western Reserve.
Steve is also the founder of Contact2Colleague, a corporate training firm that helps organizations increase retention, drive sales, and develop internal expertise by teaching their employees to proactively and systematically build better professional relationships.
• Book: The 2-Hour Job Search: Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster
• Book: The Job Closer: Time-Saving Techniques for Acing Resumes, Interviews, Negotiations, and More
• Website: 2HourJobSearch.com
• Twitter: @Dalton_Steve
• LinkedIn Group: The 2-Hour Job Search - Q&A Forum

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —
• Tool: Hunter.io
• Platform: Crunchbase
• System: NAICS Code
• Database: OneSource Business Browser
• Study: "Do Informal Referrals Lead to Better Matches? Evidence from a Firm’s Employee Referral System" by Meta Brown, Elizabeth Setren, and Giorgio Topa
• Book: The 4 Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferris
• Book: Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
• Book: Awkward: The Science of Why We're Socially Awkward and Why That's Awesome by Ty Tashiro
• Book: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —
• Shopify. Sign up for your free trial at Shopify.com/awesomepod
• Monarch. Get 50% off your first year with code AWESOME at Monarch.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ian Bogost shares why everyday moments are the foundation of a gratifying life–at work and beyond.

— YOU’LL LEARN —
1) Why small moments matter so much
2) How dematerialization is hurting you–and what to do about it
3) Tiny upgrades that enhance every day

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1166 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT IAN —
Dr. Ian Bogost is a writer, designer, and scholar of media and technology. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor and Assistant Vice Provost at Washington University in St. Louis, and a founding partner at Persuasive Games LLC. His latest book is The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.
• Book: The Small Stuff: The Sensory Enchantment of Everyday Life
• Website: SmallStuffBook.com
• Website: Bogost.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —
• Book: Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
• Past episode: 1133: The Philosophy of Scores: How to Measure What Truly Matters and Stop Playing Someone Else’s Game with C. Thi Nguyen

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —
• Shopify. Sign up for your free trial at Shopify.com/awesomepod
• Monarch. Get 50% off your first year with code AWESOME at Monarch.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.