For our 300th episode, Charles Good sat down separately with six of the most influential thinkers alive, and asked them all the same question: in an age where AI can produce the work, what's actually happening to us?

Dan Ariely. Dorie Clark. Sally Helgesen. Whitney Johnson. Dave Ulrich. Alison McCauley. None of them heard the others' answers. They work in completely different fields. And every one of them landed on the same uncomfortable truth: your output is rising, your capability may be quietly falling behind, and you can't feel it happening, because the work still looks great.

This episode weaves all six voices into one conversation about what AI is really doing to human capability and what the sharpest minds in the world say you should do about it.

Because in the age of AI, the output is no longer the proof. The output is just the output. You are the proof.

Over the coming weeks, we're releasing the full deep-dive conversation with each guest as its own episode. Follow the show so you don't miss them.

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𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆?

In this episode of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁, award-winning social psychologist 𝗗𝗿. 𝗥𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗻 joins us to unpack the science behind high-performing teams and the practical habits that turn ordinary groups into superteams.

Drawing on the most comprehensive study of elite teams ever conducted, featured in his new book 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀, Dr. Friedman explains why the strongest teams aren't the ones that collaborate the most, work the longest hours, or get along best. What sets them apart is how they manage energy and attention, bring out the best in one another, and keep improving over time.

You'll learn how leaders can build stronger team dynamics, cut distractions, and design work environments—physical and digital- that make focus and high performance the path of least resistance.

𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀:

• What separates high-performing teams from average ones

• The core practices that define a superteam

• How to manage time, energy, and attention more deliberately

• Why leaders should speak last in meetings

• How to build shared goals, role clarity, and healthy interdependence

• Why constant communication can quietly undermine productivity

• How your environment shapes the way people work together

If you lead a team, work on a team, or want to build a culture of higher performance, this episode delivers research-backed strategies you can put to work immediately.

𝗗𝗿. 𝗥𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗻 is an award-winning social psychologist and bestselling author of The Best Place to Work and Superteams. His research on building high-performing teams has been featured in The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Harvard Business Review, where his article “How to Build a Superteam That Keeps Getting Better” is this month’s cover story.

Ron’s Website: www.superteamsinc.com⁠

Ron’s Social Media Handles:

LinkedIn: ⁠@ronfriedmanphd⁠

Instagram: ⁠@ronfriedmanphd⁠

X: ⁠@ronfriedman⁠

Threads: ⁠@ronfriedmanphd⁠

YouTube: ⁠@ronfriedmanphd⁠

Book: Superteams: The Science and Secrets of High-Performing Teams available on Amazon and all book sellers.

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀

00:00 Defining Super Teams

03:31 The First Steps to Building a Super Team

06:09 The Importance of Team Design

07:49 Creating a Team Mentality

09:46 Addressing Survivorship Bias in Team Success

12:32 The Role of Environment in Team Performance

16:33 The Impact of Constant Communication

17:48 The Shift from Individual to Team Success

19:18 The Surprising Office Amenity for High Performance

21:06 Strategies for Minimizing Distractions

22:25 Collaborative Focus: A New Approach to Productivity

25:26 Concrete Practices for Team Leaders

26:40 Embracing Mistakes for Team Growth

Subscribe to The Good Leadership Podcast: [⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠] | [⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠] | [⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠]

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The hours are the same, or maybe fewer, but the work has gotten heavier. More context-switching, more overlapping priorities, more pings fracturing your attention. And a nagging sense that all the effort is producing diminishing returns.

Melissa Swift has a name for what's happening and a framework for fixing it.

In this episode of The Good Leadership Podcast, Charles Good sits down with Melissa Swift, author of Effective: How to Do Great Work in a Fast-Changing World. As a founder, CEO, and former leader at Mercer, Korn Ferry, and Deloitte, Melissa offers a clearer way to think about what effectiveness truly requires. So if you're tired of running harder for less, listen in to discover what you should stop doing to get it back.

What You Will Learn

• The Effectiveness Architecture — the four-element "two-story house" (Knowledge and Methods on the ground floor, People and Technology above) and how to quickly diagnose your own dominant strength and blind spots
• Why burnout is really about intensification, not hours — the specific ways organizations unintentionally turn up the intensity dial, and the "stop-doing" moves that bring it back down
• How to handle emotion at work — practical behaviors for the moments managers dread: the blow-up, the tears, the team at war
• Why complaints are data — how to tell the difference between an early-warning signal worth acting on and noise you can safely let go
• The power of strong Methods — how repeatable design creates "optionality" when chaos hits, instead of leaving you dependent on heroic improvisation
• Leading in a hyper-transparent world — what one leader's awards-ceremony misstep reveals about how intentions get distorted, and how to build trust through visible decision-making

MelissaSwift

https://www.anthromeinsight.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/swiftmelissa/

Order Melissa's latest book on Amazon, 'Effective: How to do Great Work in a Fast Changing World

Chapters

00:00 The essence of effectiveness in leadership

02:47 Understanding the Effectiveness Architecture

10:48 Navigating work intensity and burnout

15:53 Managing emotions in the workplace

22:04 The power of strong Methods

26:47 Thriving in a hyper-transparent world

29:31 Navigating data-driven conversations

31:38 Closing thoughts

Subscribe to The Good Leadership Podcast: [⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠] | [⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠] | [⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠]

LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/charlesagood⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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