Modern Mentor
Macmillan Holdings, LLC
Modern Mentor 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 Modern Mentor help you navigate your path to success—however you define it.
- 9 minutes 41 secondsWhy team silos cause failure (and how to fix your work design)
890. Are your teams clashing instead of collaborating? When balls are dropped and fingers are pointed, the problem usually isn’t your people—it’s your work design. If your team is "crushing it" but still missing goals, your productivity is being throttled by a lack of alignment.
In this episode, Rachel explains why "cascading" directives without cross-functional alignment creates organizational chaos. Using a real-world biotech case study, she reveals how to move from team silos to a high-performing system where productivity and well-being thrive together.
You’ll learn how to:
- Align leadership layers before deploying goals to prevent conflicting incentives.
- Shift from "demanding" to "inviting" to unlock hidden cross-team productivity.
- Turn daily workflows into employee development opportunities without adding more meetings.
Stop blaming the people and start looking at the system. Learn how to Work Better By Design to drive sustainable results.
Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: [email protected]
Discover more from Modern Mentor!
Transcripts available on your podcast app.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
31 March 2026, 9:00 am - 9 minutes 35 secondsHow to navigate organizational dysfunction (and still make progress)
889. Every organization has dysfunction. And while we should always be working to make things better, we also have to keep moving in the meantime. Rachel shares four practical ways to make real progress, even when the system isn't cooperating.
Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: [email protected]
Discover more from Modern Mentor!
Transcripts available on your podcast app.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
24 March 2026, 9:00 am - 8 minutes 53 secondsAre these antipatterns stopping you from being productive?
888. We think we're being productive. But some of our most intentional habits are quietly costing us. Rachel explores four antipatterns that could be robbing you of your best work.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
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https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
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17 March 2026, 9:00 am - 40 minutes 18 secondsThe Creative Pulse: Why humanity is the lynchpin of business, with Andy Pizza
In this episode, Rachel sits down with author and illustrator Andy Pizza to explore why a "creative pulse" is the essential, make-or-break component of any successful career. Andy argues that while business often relies on data and logic, the true differentiator is the ability to show up with a unique, human point of view.
The conversation covers:
- Strategic vs. exploratory creativity: How to use creativity to solve specific business problems by working backward from a goal.
- The "input diet": Why being mindful of what you consume—from art to fiction—is vital for generating fresh ideas.
- The heroine’s journey: A collaborative approach to success that prioritizes collective effort over the "solo hero" myth.
- Writing on stage: A method for testing creative hunches in low-stakes environments to build confidence and skill.
Creativity in the age of AI: Why tapping into the "humanity side" remains the most important skill as technology evolves.
Andy's Creative Pep Talk podcast
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
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10 March 2026, 9:00 am - 8 minutes 16 secondsThe expertise trap | Why your best people might be blocking innovation
886. Is your team's deep knowledge actually preventing them from seeing the next big breakthrough? In this episode, Rachel explores the "expertise trap"—the moment when having all the answers stops us from seeing new possibilities. She explains why traditional brainstorming often fails and how a "catalog of failures" can cage an expert's thinking.
Rachel introduces a practical tool, the Curiosity Hour, designed to flip the script on problem-solving by prioritizing "dumb" questions over expert solutions. Learn how to find the "gardeners" in your organization to challenge the status quo and unlock the fresh thinking your team has been missing.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
3 March 2026, 10:00 am - 8 minutes 54 secondsHow to stop talking about change and actually start doing it
885. In a world of constant meetings and shifting priorities, why does it feel like we’re repeating the same "to-do" list every six months?
This week, Rachel gets into the "bad patterns" that keep teams stuck in a loop of false comfort. We often mistake saying we need to change for actual progress, while our health and productivity suffer the consequences.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
- Master strategic prioritization: Why half-assing seventeen goals is costing you more than saying "no" to fourteen.
- Demystify AI upskilling: How to move past AI paralysis by building "warm-up" experiments for your team.
- Solve meeting fatigue: Why the answer isn't always fewer meetings, but shifting the lens to high-value dialogue.
- Build an innovation culture: How to create "safe sandboxes" for experiments that turn potential failure into actionable data.
Stop letting the cost of inaction hold your team back. It’s time to move beyond the refrain and start doing the hard things that drive real success.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
24 February 2026, 10:00 am - 42 minutes 2 secondsThe neuroscience of persuasion: How to engineer unforgettable communication, with Carmine Gallo
884. In this episode, Rachel Cooke and author Carmine Gallo explore the biological reality that the human brain is hardwired to ignore anything it deems "boring". If you want your message to land, you have to work with the brain’s chemistry, not against it.
- Engineering Memory: Learn how to use "Emotionally Competent Stimuli" (ECS) to act as a mental Post-it note for your audience.
- The 10% Strategy: Since audiences forget 90% of what they hear, Carmine explains how to strategically engineer the 10% they actually retain.
- The Brain's Evolution: Why our ancestors' survival depended on storytelling, and why that same wiring dictates modern business success.
Get Carmine Gallo's book, VIRAL VOICES.
Find Carmine Gallo on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/carminegallospeaker/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carminegallo/
https://www.tiktok.com/@carminegallospeaker
http://www.youtube.com/@CarmineGalloTV
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
17 February 2026, 10:00 am - 9 minutes 2 secondsWhat actually drives productivity in 2026?
883. Rachel shares how the productivity conversation has evolved - and what actually drives getting things done today.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
10 February 2026, 10:00 am - 6 minutes 50 secondsMotion versus meaning: Build operating rhythms that work
882. Rachel shares how to design operating rhythms that create space for meaningful work instead of just adding more meetings to your calendar.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
3 February 2026, 10:00 am - 8 minutes 21 secondsWhy is your team moving fast but staying stuck?
881. We’re all under pressure to move faster, ship earlier, and do more. But as Rachel Cooke explains this week, "speed" often looks a lot more like chaos when the foundation isn't there. If your team is missing deadlines or burning out, the issue probably isn't a lack of effort—it's a lack of the "unsexy" structure that makes agility possible.
Rachel looks at how to spot the difference between true agility and "panic with better marketing." She shares how to talk to leaders about conflicting priorities, how to stop casual executive brainstorming from turning into accidental team directives, and why establishing operating rhythms is the only way to kill the constant "fire drill" culture.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
27 January 2026, 10:00 am - 8 minutes 4 secondsLeading through uncertainty: Why you need an expedition mindset
880. Rachel shares why workplaces need expedition leadership - navigating uncertainty together - instead of tour-guide leadership that performs certainty when there is none.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at [email protected].
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
20 January 2026, 10:00 am - More Episodes? Get the App