The perks of an optimistic mindset—and how to build yours

Hello Monday is LinkedIn News’ weekly career podcast hosted by me,?Jessi Hempel.?You’ll hear from thoughtful experts, authors and business leaders about the changing nature of work—and how that work is changing us. Each week, this newsletter shares learnings and practices connected to the conversations.?Subscribe to the show's newsletter?here. This week our guest is Stanford researcher Jamil Zaki.?

Jamil Zaki believes people in optimism and he has the data to prove it

This year, we set out to infuse optimism into our show. I’m speaking these words as news of yet another mass shooting tops the headlines. It’s followed by a story about a corruption scandal in Ukraine. I look up, and I’m wondering why it still hasn’t snowed where I live in New York City this winter. It's January, and I just dropped our daughter off at the playground without a hat! The evidence to support pessimism can be overwhelming—even to our guest this week:

Jamil Zaki is a psychology professor and a researcher at Stanford. He runs the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. Jamil’s research focuses on how people respond to each other, how we influence each other, and when and why we choose to help each other. His most recent book is called The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World.

The research he’s conducted for more than 15 years reveals surprises, and suggests we have reason to be much more optimistic about our future than the headlines might demand. Today, we’ll? talk about trust, and how it’s changing. We’ll explore the nature of the stories we tell ourselves. And Jamil will push us to embrace curiosity as we? consider adjusting those stories.?You can find the episode here, or listen below!

Join our Hello Monday Group!

A lot of you come to Office Hours regularly. As 2023 gets started, I can say with confidence that it is my favorite time of the week. It's a deeply restorative time when we connect with each other, offer help when we can, share the hard news (Dan, we are your cheering team as your navigate your layoff.) and the happy news (like Rachel Druckenmiller ?? congratulations on your first song! Now seriously, everyone go listen.) So Sarah Storm and I are starting a Group on LinkedIn for anyone who'd like to be in touch a bit more than just on Wednesday afternoons. Consider this your invitation, and we are invitation only. We aspire to be the kindest, most supportive place on the Web. Join us. Then, introduce yourself by sharing five things that aren't on your LinkedIn Profile.

Sharing a photo of some of our IRL community, the people who make and contribute to Hello Monday's success. Last week, we hosted Morra Aarons-Mele , host of a LinkedIn Presents show called The Anxious Achiever in the office for lunch. I bet a lot of you listen to it already, but if not, you may want to check it out.

Ok, and on to Office Hours...

Pour a cup of coffee, or grab your lunch, and drop in for Office Hours this Wednesday at 3pm for a chat about the episode. Sarah Storm leads it this week, and she'll want to hear from you about our episode. It's possible her dog will make a cameo. I have a conflict this week, but I'll be in the group all week if you want to connect. Click on the image below to rsvp for the event and calendar it. Or, if you're having trouble at all, email us at [email protected] for a link!