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Modern Mentor

QuickAndDirtyTips.com

Rachel Cooke is your guide to leadership and communication, helping you craft a workplace environment you can feel good about. She’ll share tips to help you balance your work and personal life, effectively invest your time, and be mindful about where you’re devoting your energy. Let Rachel help you navigate your path to success—however you define it.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • 23 episodes
  • a few times a week
  • Avg 13 min
  • English

Episodes 23

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  • #913
    Tuesday · 12 min

    The unsexy fix for meetings, deadlines, and cross-team conflict

    913. When something's broken at work, we reach for the big fix — the reorg, the new tool, the strategy overhaul. But ask people to describe their perfect coffee and they'll say rich, dark, bold. Put a cup in front of them and they reach for weak and milky. Rachel Cooke applies that same gap to work, where what's holding you back usually isn't strategy. It's the thousand small snags you've stopped noticing. Here's how to find one and ease it from right where you sit. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #912
    September 8 · 10 min

    How to handle uncertainty at work when your boss doesn't have the answers

    912. Your boss used to have answers. Now they've got questions. It feels destabilizing - but Rachel makes the case that this is the opening of a lifetime. When certainty disappears, the old rules about who has the answers go with it. Four bold moves for a moment that's wide open. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #911
    September 1 · 11 min

    How to build workplace community in a remote AI-driven world

    911. You can spend an entire day on video calls and still not have one real conversation. The connection that used to come free with the office doesn't come free anymore. After a trip to California wine country, Rachel Cooke found herself fixated less on the wine than on the village each winery had built around itself, and on what that says about connection in a remote, global, AI-driven workplace. Three reasons to build your own village, on purpose. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #910
    August 25 · 36 min

    Billy Eichner on why success comes from love not trauma

    910. What do you do when there's no template for the career you want, no obvious next step, and no one waiting to hand you the opportunity? Comedian, actor, and writer Billy Eichner built his entire career by refusing to wait to be chosen. In this conversation, he and Rachel Cooke get into how you bet on yourself when the path doesn't exist yet, how to keep going through constant rejection without letting it paralyze you, and why the wish to be chosen never fully goes away, even after you've made it. Billy is the force behind "Billy on the Street," a co-writer and star of "Bros," and a familiar face from "Parks and Recreation" and "The Lion King." Here he opens up about his new audio memoir, "Billy on Billy," the parents who built his confidence by never instilling shame in him, the artists like Madonna and Barbra Streisand who taught him defiance, and his belief that success can come from love rather than trauma. If you're trying to go off script and build something no one else can see yet, this one will give you the nerve. Listen to "Billy on Billy: An Audio Memoir" Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #697
    August 11 · 8 min

    When it comes to managing, do I do it fast or right? (Reissue)

    697. We get a lot of mixed messaging when it comes to managing the tension between speed and efficiency. We need to be sure—to have the data, to have done the research and the analysis before deciding or implementing. But also, we need to be agile, move quickly, test-and-learn, and not fall into analysis-paralysis. How do we find the middle ground? Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. The episode transcript can be found here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #908
    August 4 · 18 min

    How TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie recovered from depression

    909. Blake Mycoskie built TOMS into a $600 million brand and gave away more than 100 million pairs of shoes — then fell into a seven-year battle with clinical depression after selling the company. He talks with Rachel Cooke about why outward success never made him feel like enough, the limiting belief that drove him for decades, and the small, everyday practices — not the dramatic interventions — that finally pulled him through. He also shares what he's learned interviewing guests like Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Love, and Jewel (whose memoir "Never Broken" he recommends) on his mental wellness podcast "No Magic Pill," plus the story behind Enough, the brand he founded to fund mental health organizations. If you're a high performer who ties your worth to your latest win, this conversation is for you. Content note: this episode discusses depression and suicidal ideation. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #907
    July 28 · 11 min

    Be a goldfish...but only sometimes: when your team should reflect vs. move on

    907. When should your team reflect on what went wrong, and when should you just move on? Rachel Cooke uses Ted Lasso's "be a goldfish" mantra to unpack the balance between looking back and looking ahead, then shares five questions—three that mine the past, two that aim at the future—to help your team do both intentionally. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #906
    July 21 · 11 min

    Why your team is exhausted and still missing targets

    906. Leaders are frustrated that teams aren't delivering. Teams are exhausted and hitting walls. And the instinct is to pull harder. But the real work is finding the knots leadership has inadvertently tied, and undoing them one at a time. In this episode, Rachel talks about the unsexy work that actually unlocks speed. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #905
    July 14 · 12 min

    Are you successmaxxing?

    905. Everyone's maxxing something now. Their sleep, their skin, their fiber, even their jawline. But underneath the ring lights, each of these trends is quietly teaching a real principle about getting better at something. This week, Rachel Cooke builds the trend nobody's named yet, successmaxxing, by stealing the smartest lesson from five maxxing trends and pointing it straight at your career. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #904
    July 7 · 12 min

    Maximize your productivity in uncertain times

    904. Most of us define productivity as doing more, faster — but when budgets shrink and the path forward gets murky, speed turns into a liability. Rachel shares five ways to boost your productivity during uncertain times, including how to make faster decisions, avoid duplicating work your team's already doing, and judge your choices by your process instead of the outcome — a trap that poker pro and decision expert Annie Duke calls “resulting.” Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #903
    June 30 · 9 min

    Your team needs recovery time — introducing the Breathing Room

    903. Most teams have mastered pushing hard. Some are even getting better at rest. But there's a third thing — the active recovery phase — that almost no one is protecting time for, and it's the one that turns raw effort into real capability. Rachel introduces the Breathing Room: a standing block on the calendar built not for output, but for reflection, after-action reviews, and solving hard problems together. Here's why it keeps getting cancelled, and five specific ways to use it when you don't. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #902
    June 23 · 9 min

    Never waste a good workplace crisis

    902. We already know what's slowing us down at work — too many priorities, meetings that go nowhere, no space to experiment, and processes that create drag on everything. So why aren't we fixing any of it? Rachel breaks down why we stay frozen on problems we could actually solve, and how to find the one move between all and nothing that finally gets things moving. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #901
    June 16 · 9 min

    The 3 conversations every team needs right now

    901. Three challenges showing up in organizations everywhere right now. Rachel shares what she's hearing, what she's designing, and what's actually helping teams move. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke! Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com. Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor! Facebook LinkedIn Newsletter Transcripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Showing 1–20 of 23 episodes