We Interrupt - A Podcast

We Interrupt - A Podcast

Join us as we explore the ins and outs of interruptions. Many people place interruptions in the category of “bad things”. Interrupting someone when they’re speaking is rude. Frequent task switching at work reduces productivity. A resume gap marks a major setback. A disrupted supply chain creates confusion and delay. But is this uniformly negative perception of interruptions really true? Are interruptions always disruptive, or can they sometimes be the catalyst for connection, creativity, and necessary changes? In this podcast, we talk about interruptions with people who study them and live them to better understand how neurobiology, cognition, language, culture, and organizational structures shape our perceptions and feelings when we experience a minor or major break in the action of our daily lives.

Episodes

November 21, 2023 64 mins

We all want to be heard and understood for what me mean by what we say.  But the style in which we converse flavors all of our interactions.  How we participate.  How we perceive others, and how others perceive us. Join us for a conversation with Deborah Tannen, Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University and author of many books and articles about how the language of everyday conversati...

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Meetings are a microcosm of organizational culture where all social dynamics are in play. Join us as we talk to Tabea Soriano, Partner at The Ready, for an exploration of organization design. We talk about the past, present and future of work, and how process, practice, and principles are the core of creating the meaning of work. How, by making the implicit explicit – like who talks when, how agendas are assembled, and what meeting...

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Oh, you are in for a treat! In this episode I go back to my neuroscience roots with Earl K. Miller, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Earl studies the neural basis of executive brain functions, the ability to carry out goal-directed behavior using complex mental processes. We talk about learning, memory, and cognitive capacity. How wisdom is our brain encoding our experiences into principles, categories, a...
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Welcome to We Interrupt, a podcast that explores the ins and outs of interruptions. In this episode, we talk with professor and clinical psychologist Michael Karson (michaelkarson.com) about personality and societal rules for what is deemed “acceptable” behavior – and how these are normalized, tested, and evolved over time. We discuss the use of performance as a means of exploring – and challenging- roles and rules, as well as t...
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In this podcast we explore the ins and outs of interruptions to understand more fully what interruption is and how it may be useful or even necessary for enhancing creativity, connection, reducing power imbalances, and building inclusive communities. In this episode, we explore interruption in the context of conflict transformation with Lorraine Segal, founder of Conflict Remedy (https://conflictremedy.com/). Disagreement is a na...
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In this episode, we explore innovation and interruption in the research community with Jason Barkeloo, founder of the open science platform Therapoid. We talk about building a parallel pathway for innovation, one that provides open technologies, lab equipment, and microgrants and builds reputation through blockchain technologies, with the goal of providing more researchers access to scientific resources. We get a bit nerdy and ...
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In this episode, we explore interruption with Andrea Michalek. A serial entrepreneur, Andrea started her career as a software engineer working on innovative search algorithms. Early on, she was tapped to lead a spin-out, and she was hooked. Andrea has led spin-outs, start-ups, and a major acquisition (twice), all in the space of search technology, research literature, and more recently in scholarly reputational management. All ...
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In this conversation with cognitive scientist and philosopher Hanne De Jaegher, we explore interruption in the context of participatory sense making – how we understand the world and ourselves is affected by inter-individual coordination. Participatory sense-making relies on the capacity to flexibly engage with your social partner from moment to moment. It involves emotion, knowledge, mood, physiology, background, concepts, languag...
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In this episode, we talk with Emily Russo about talent management, and how interruptions in workplace culture are facilitating an increasingly neurodiverse workforce. Join us as we dig into job crafting, the pros and cons of self-disclosure, and the critical importance of workplace conversations, managing strengths, and training in neurodiversity for managers and team members. Emily does research in the areas of talent management...
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Teaching – and learning – how to be in dialogue is both fun and complex. Join us as we talk with Diane Finegood about building scaffolding for effective conversation. How to foster an ethic of care so that we can practice active listening. We talk about the challenges of power differentials in the classroom and her iterative approach to devolving power through self disclosure and ungrading. How group size matters. And how onli...
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We generally think of interruptions in the context of human conversation. One voice, speaking words, interacting with another. Music is another form of conversation, with instruments (including voices) interacting and purposefully building upon one another, melodies to harmony to counterpoint and fugue. In this podcast, we talk with piano teacher and professional accompanist Doris Mattingly about her perspectives on interruption...
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Can interruptions be a positive force in transforming violence to peace? We can use specific breathing patterns to pause, bring our mind and bodies into the present moment, and “turn question marks into exclamation points”. Join our conversation with Mandar Apte, a petroleum engineer whose career and purpose evolved into social innovation. We talk about how daily inner recalibration through breathing techniques can connect our...
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We were curious about consciousness and interruption. How we can view interruption as a destructive distraction in some settings, but we can also benefit from interruptions when we are in intentionally crafted creative spaces. When we are paying attention, conscious of the thriving of the people we are with, interruption can be a positive motive force. Join us as we talk with Marti Spiegelman and explore disjointed career paths, ...
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March 1, 2023 45 mins
We have deep-seated questions about “interruption” as a concept and social construct. In this podcast, we ask what is interruption and how might it be useful. Our goal is to start evocative conversations across a diverse set of perspectives — and thank Josie Gibson and The Catalyst Network for hosting our launch episode. Please see www.weinterruptthis.com for show notes and content links.
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