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The Modern Manager

The Modern Manager

Mamie Kanfer Stewart 417 Episodes Oct 13, 2026

Host Mamie Kanfer Stewart shares practical approaches to help you be a great manager. Solo episodes are like mini-courses, providing actionable tips based on experience and research. Guest episodes are engaging conversations that elicit insights and suggestions for how to apply the ideas. Topics include effective meeting practices, communication skills, managing conflict, team building, time management, group dynamics, goal setting and accountability, team competencies, productivity and collaboration technologies, and organizational culture.

Episodes

How to Figure Out What’s Really Behind a Performance Problem
How to Figure Out What’s Really Behind a Performance Problem Oct 13, 2026 430 It's 4:47 on Thursday, the report still isn't in, and the story forming in your head is that they just don't care. But that story is usually wrong, and it's also the easiest one to tell because it means you don't have to look at anything you did. This episode gives you a three-question framework, person, process, promise, to find where a performance problem actually lives before you walk
428: How Grateful Leaders Build Teams No One Wants to Leave with TJ Sweet
428: How Grateful Leaders Build Teams No One Wants to Leave with TJ Sweet Oct 6, 2026 1753 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
427: The Meeting Portfolio Every Manager Needs
427: The Meeting Portfolio Every Manager Needs Sep 29, 2026 434 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 f
426: How Tiny Habits Rewire Your Identity with BJ Fogg
426: How Tiny Habits Rewire Your Identity with BJ Fogg Sep 22, 2026 1910 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 B
425: 4 AI Tools I Use Every Single Day (And the Friction They Remove)
425: 4 AI Tools I Use Every Single Day (And the Friction They Remove) Sep 15, 2026 539 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 pa
424: How to Manage Up, Down, and Across with Kristen Harcourt
424: How to Manage Up, Down, and Across with Kristen Harcourt Sep 8, 2026 2075 Most 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 and t
423: How AI Can Help Us Show Meaningful Appreciation (And Be More Human at Work)
423: How AI Can Help Us Show Meaningful Appreciation (And Be More Human at Work) Sep 1, 2026 400 Most 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 e
422: Turn Uncomfortable Conversations into Just Conversations with Amy Jacobson
422: Turn Uncomfortable Conversations into Just Conversations with Amy Jacobson Aug 25, 2026 1892 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 Jacobso
421: The Difference Between Consensus and Agreement That's Costing You Decisions
421: The Difference Between Consensus and Agreement That's Costing You Decisions Aug 18, 2026 453 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 som
420: The Hidden Force Pulling Your Team Apart (and How to Reverse It) with Matt Poepsel
420: The Hidden Force Pulling Your Team Apart (and How to Reverse It) with Matt Poepsel Aug 11, 2026 1828 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 P
419: What It Really Means to Have Integrity
419: What It Really Means to Have Integrity Aug 4, 2026 539 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 actua
418: Insights on Effective Leadership from the LGBTQ+ Community with Dr. Joel A. Davis Brown
418: Insights on Effective Leadership from the LGBTQ+ Community with Dr. Joel A. Davis Brown Jul 28, 2026 2013 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 o

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