Kate McKay

In creating the Jack Reacher character, Lee Child launched a series of books that now boast 100 million copies in print and have been turned into movies and a popular Amazon streaming series. Today on the show, I talk to Lee about what makes Reacher so compelling and much more. We first discuss how Lee […]

Money can’t buy happiness. It sounds good as a bumper sticker platitude. But the truth is, money can buy happiness. At least sometimes. In certain circumstances. If we view it and use it in the right ways. Here to unpack the conditions under which money can buy happiness and facilitate our flourishing is Dr. Daniel […]

Are leaders born or made? Judging by the 50 billion dollar leadership development industry, the answer is definitely the latter. From schools to workplaces, everyone is seen as a potential leader and expected to become one by undergoing leadership training. My guest questions the assumptions underlying this phenomenon, which he calls “the leadership industrial complex,” […]

Speaking Into the Air by John Durham Peters. I’ve got a friend here in Tulsa who’s a professor of media theory at TU. His dad, John Durham Peters, is also a professor of media theory and teaches at Yale. Really nice guy, and he’s written one of the most interesting books I’ve read this year. Speaking […]

When people think about living more fully and making better use of their time, they typically think of finding some new organizational system they can structure their lives with. Oliver Burkeman says that what you really need instead are perspective shifts — small, sustainable changes in how you view and approach your day-to-day life. He […]

How to Win Friends and Influence People may have sold tens of millions of copies, but its author, Dale Carnegie, wasn’t born a complete natural at embodying the principles the book espouses. Instead, the warm, low-key charm Carnegie was known for during his life was developed through intentional and consistent effort and practice. One of the […]

We often think of the difference between a boy and a man as a matter of age. But Brian Tome says that there can be 15-year-old men and 45-year-old boys, and that the real difference maker in being grown up isn’t a matter of the number of years you accumulate but the qualities, behaviors, and […]

Imagination is the ability to form mental images and concepts that don’t exist or haven’t happened yet, think outside of current realities, and form connections between existing ideas to create something new and original. If the number of movie sequels and the outsized popularity of music made decades ago is any measure, our current age […]

In an age that doesn’t think too much about history, you might be forgiven for thinking that a culture of exercise only emerged in the 20th century. But the idea of purposefully exercising to change one’s body — what folks used to call “physical culture” — likely goes back to the very beginnings of time. […]

Skilcraft U.S. Government Ballpoint Pens. My dad was a federal game warden, and when I’d go visit him at his office as a kid, I’d swipe office supplies to take home as souvenirs. The pens at his office were Skilcraft U.S. Government ballpoints. I picked up a box a few weeks ago for old-time’s sake […]