Karen Dillon, co-author with Rob Cross of The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems and What to Do about It, describes their discovery of the little noticed day-to-day stressors causing significant impact on even the highest performing employees, and how failing to address them can lead to burnout. Karen Dillon is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review and coauthor of three books with Clayton Christensen, including the New York Times bestseller, How Will You Measure Your Life?

We encourage you to use and share a resource that complements this episode: The Hidden Toll of Microstress, the authors’ Harvard Business Review article with a link to a microstress diagnostic tool. You might also enjoy In Session episode 35 on how subtracting can lead to more, available on fjc.dcn, or from your favorite podcast app.

Leidy Klotz, author of Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, shares how subtracting before adding can create better outcomes, especially when we are clear about what we want to accomplish. Klotz’s innovative research shows how subtracting doesn’t necessarily mean doing less; rather it’s an important first step for individuals and organizations that want to improve processes and solve problems.

In addition to several research articles, Leidy’s work has appeared in the journals Nature and Science and been featured on NPR’s Hidden Brain podcast. He is an interdisciplinary professor of engineering, architecture, and business at the University of Virginia whose research focuses on the science of design.

A four-page Reading and Discussion Guide (shared with permission) complements this episode.

In remote or hybrid workplaces, leaders must be more intentional about building relationships that engender commitment, rather than just compliance, and focus more on accomplishment rather than just employee activity. This episode explores how to do that with organizational expert Kevin Eikenberry.

Kevin Eikenberry is founder and Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group and co-founder of the Remote Leadership Institute. He has improved the communication, leadership, learning, teams and teamwork of organizations worldwide for over twenty-five years. Kevin’s been named one of Inc.com’s Top 100 Experts Worldwide in Leadership and Management and is the author of several books including The Long Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership, and The Long Distance Team: Designing Your Team for Everyone’s Success, released in 2023.

In this episode, we explore how leaders can find their inner warrior and lead with courage. D.J. Vanas, author of The Warrior Within: Own Your Power to Serve, Fight, Protect, and Heal, explains that being a warrior is not about steely-eyed individual toughness. Rather, it is about practicing aggressive self-care, openness, and collaboration so that you’re emotionally, mentally, and physically prepared to serve and support your “tribe.”

D.J. is a former U.S. Air Force officer and a member of the Ottawa Tribe of Michigan. He has inspired thousands of public sector and Fortune 500 company leaders to find courage and lead with their inner warrior. He hosted the 2021 PBS television special Discovering Your Warrior Spirit and delivered the closing keynote at the FJC’s National Leadership Conference for Circuit and Court Unit Executives in Oklahoma City in October 2022.