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PODCAST

The Modern Manager

Mamie Kanfer Stewart

Practical management skills you can use this week. Host Mamie Kanfer Stewart helps managers close the gap between knowing what good management looks like and actually doing it. Each week brings either a short solo lesson with one tool you can use right away, or a conversation with an expert on topics like feedback, difficult conversations, delegation, meetings, strategic thinking, team culture, collaboration and using AI at work. Get new episodes and one-page takeaways by email:

business management

All Episodes

29:13

How Grateful Leaders Build Teams No One Wants to...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/10/06

Some days, gratitude feels like something for people with calmer inboxes. Someone dropped the ball, you're three meetings deep, and "thank you" is the last thing on your mind. But gratitude that only shows up on easy days never shows up at all. Learn what grateful leadership really looks like, how to appreciate the team member you struggle with, why a pizza party can backfire, and the one question that reveals how each person wants to be recognized.We could all use a bit more gratitude, so

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7:14

427: The Meeting Portfolio Every Manager Needs

The Modern Manager ·

2026/09/29

Planning an agenda feels like it takes forever, so too often, we skip it or do it poorly at the last minute. But that’s often because we treat each meeting like we’re starting from scratch. Instead, what if you perfected your weekly team meeting, brainstorm session or any other type of meeting you hold regularly and then just used that same agenda structure again so meeting prep becomes fast and easy? That’s called creating a meeting portfolio. This episode breaks down exactly how to design

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31:50

426: How Tiny Habits Rewire Your Identity with BJ Fogg

The Modern Manager ·

2026/09/22

Most of what happens in a workday, from how you open a meeting to how you respond to bad news, runs on autopilot. Habits, not decisions, are doing the heavy lifting. Behavior scientist BJ Fogg explains why willpower fails, why "bad habits" aren't really the enemy, and how one tiny action, done consistently, can quietly reshape how you see yourself as a leader, teammate, and person.Guest BioBJ Fogg, PhD, is a behavior scientist at Stanford University, where he founded the Behavior Design

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8:59

425: 4 AI Tools I Use Every Single Day (And the...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/09/15

Most AI tools promise to make you more productive, but few actually remove the friction hiding in your daily grind. This episode breaks down four AI tools used every single day, not for the novelty, but for the real bottlenecks they eliminate: typing, email triage, meeting notes, and building the small tool you always wished existed. If you want less busywork and more bandwidth for the parts of management that actually matter, this one's for you.Conversation Topics(00:00) Introduction:

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34:35

424: How to Manage Up, Down, and Across with Kristen...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/09/08

Save your seat for the free, live masterclass From Knowing to Doing: https://www.themodernmanager.com/webinarMost leaders pour all their energy into managing the people who report to them and forget the other two-thirds of the job: managing up to their boss and across to the peers who can make or break a project. Skip those relationships and you end up stuck in silos, guessing what your boss actually wants, and wondering why cross-functional projects keep stalling. Here's the mindset shift

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6:40

423: How AI Can Help Us Show Meaningful Appreciation...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/09/01

Save your seat for the free, live masterclass From Knowing to Doing: https://themodernmanager.com/webinarMost of us have an instinctual positive response to great work.“This is amazing, thank you so much.” It feels warm and authentic, but could have been said about anyone or any work. The lack of specificity means those words are cheap and the positive impact they make is short-lived. Here's how to show authentic appreciation, using AI as a thinking partner (not a ghost writer) to pinpoint

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31:32

422: Turn Uncomfortable Conversations into Just...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/08/25

That stomach-drop feeling before a hard conversation? It's not weakness. It's your brain doing exactly what it was designed to do. Emotional intelligence expert Amy Jacobson breaks down the neuroscience of avoidance, the exact questions to ask before you say anything difficult, and why the conversation you've been dreading might be the most important one you ever have.Guest BioAmy Jacobson is an emotional intelligence and human behavior specialist delivering programs, keynotes, and

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7:33

421: The Difference Between Consensus and Agreement...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/08/18

Picture a room stuck for three weeks on one sentence for a new policy. Half the team wants a rule tight enough to enforce, the other half wants it loose enough to survive real life. Nobody's wrong, and nobody's moving. This episode breaks down why chasing full agreement kills decisions, why forcing a vote kills them slowly in the background, and the three questions that get a group to something everyone can actually stand behind.Conversation Topics(00:00) Introduction(01:39) Redefining

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30:28

420: The Hidden Force Pulling Your Team Apart (and...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/08/11

Your team isn't falling apart because something went wrong. It's falling apart because that's what teams do by default, drifting toward disconnection unless someone actively counteracts it. Lucky for us, there are four forces that pull people back together. Discover the fast, free actions any manager can take this week to stop the drift before it costs you your best people.Guest BioMatt Poepsel, PhD is the author of Expand the Circle: Enlightened Leadership for Our New World of Work and

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8:59

419: What It Really Means to Have Integrity

The Modern Manager ·

2026/08/04

You say yes to the small stuff: the draft review, the book recommendation, the shampoo run. Then Thursday comes and none of it has happened. No one complains, but something quietly cracks. Every broken commitment, even the tiny ones, adds up to a trust tax you’re paying without realizing it. This episode breaks down the three-part structure that turns a yes into something people can actually count on.Conversation Topics(00:00) Introduction: The Three Small Promises I Broke(01:31) Redefining

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33:33

418: Insights on Effective Leadership from the LGBTQ+...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/07/28

Some of the best leadership lessons don't come from business books. Throughout history, different cultures have developed wisdom for how we can interact with and lead others. By exploring what different cultures value, we can identify insights into what might help us be better managers today.Dr. Joel A. Davis Brown is an attorney, executive leadership consultant, and author of The Souls of Queer Folk. Drawing on lessons from LGBTQ+ cultural values and decades of leadership consulting, he

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6:57

417: Why Hitting Your Goal Doesn't Always Mean You...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/07/21

Hitting the goal doesn’t always mean the project was a success.A project can finish on time, hit every target, and look like a clear win on the dashboard while quietly burning out the team, damaging trust, or leaving the same problems waiting to happen again.In this episode, I explain why outcomes alone don’t tell the full story of project success and introduce three measures every manager should consider: the outcome, how the work got done, and what the team learned. You'll discover how to

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29:21

416: Stop Difficult Conversations From Going Wrong...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/07/14

Difficult conversations are rarely difficult because we don't know what to say.More often, they fall apart because we have the conversation at the wrong time, in the wrong way, or without realizing that the other person is experiencing the situation very differently than we are.Fortunately, this week's guest shares a practical framework for navigating challenging conversations without creating more conflict. Instead of focusing on "winning" the discussion, you'll learn how to create the

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11:01

415: The 30-Day Onboarding Plan Isn't a Welcome Packet

The Modern Manager ·

2026/07/07

Most onboarding plans focus on helping new hires feel welcome and settled in their role.But the real purpose of onboarding isn't orientation; it's creating clarity before misunderstandings become habits and before small mistakes turn into difficult performance conversations.In this episode, I explain why the success or struggles you see three months after someone joins your team are often determined before they even start. You'll learn the difference between orientation and onboarding, why

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29:36

414: How to Create Space for Strategic Thinking with...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/06/30

Most managers know they should spend more time thinking strategically. The problem is that strategy often gets crowded out by urgent tasks, endless decisions, and the pressure to solve today's problems.But strategic thinking isn't just about setting long-term goals. It's about creating the space to explore possibilities, challenge assumptions, and help your team think beyond what's immediately in front of them.Fortunately, this week's guest shares a practical approach to developing

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9:14

413: What to Do When a Meeting Gets Heated

The Modern Manager ·

2026/06/23

When a meeting becomes tense, your natural instinct might be to calm things down.But when emotions start rising, the real problem usually isn’t the conflict itself. It’s that something important is at stake, and the conversation has shifted from solving a problem to defending positions, competence, or credibility.In this episode, I explain why trying to smooth things over or bypass the hard stuff by “taking it offline” often makes things worse. You'll learn how to recognize what's really

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32:07

412: How Great Managers Create Accountability Without...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/06/16

Managers often say they want more accountability on their teams. But accountability often feels like micromanaging people, chasing updates, or constantly correcting mistakes.In fact, many accountability problems begin long before performance issues show up. They start with unclear expectations, missing resources, and assumptions that everyone interprets requests the same way.Fortunately, this week’s guest offers a practical framework for creating accountability that actually works, without

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12:57

411: 3 Types of Team Conflict and How to Resolve Each...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/06/09

Some team conflicts seem to get resolved quickly.Others keep resurfacing in meeting after meeting, leaving everyone frustrated and no closer to a solution.In this episode, I explain why certain disagreements are so difficult to resolve and introduce a simple framework for identifying the three types of conflict that show up on nearly every team: process conflict, perspective conflict, and personality conflict.You'll learn how to recognize which type of conflict you're dealing with, why

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31:37

410: The Simple Coaching Habit That Changes How Teams...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/06/02

Most managers think their job is to have the answers.But the managers who create the strongest teams often do the opposite: they ask better questions.The challenge is that under pressure, most of us default to fixing, advising, and jumping in with solutions. And while that may feel efficient in the moment, it can unintentionally shut down ownership, confidence, and independent thinking on our teams.Fortunately, this week’s guests explain why coaching doesn’t have to mean hour-long

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8:02

409: The Feedback Conversation Managers Avoid (And...

The Modern Manager ·

2026/05/26

Most managers think difficult feedback conversations are hard because they don’t know what to say.But often the real problem is that the conversation they’re preparing for is the wrong one.In this episode, I break down why feedback conversations become so emotionally exhausting, why managers keep delaying them, and how unclear expectations quietly damage trust long before feedback is ever delivered.You’ll learn why feedback only works when there’s a shared understanding of standards first,

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