Modern Mentor

Modern Mentor

Rachel Cooke 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 Rachel help you navigate your path to success—however you define it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

August 11, 2026 8 mins

697.We get a lot of mixed messaging when it comes to managing the tension between speed and efficiency. We need to be sure—to have the data, to have done the research and the analysis before deciding or implementing. But also, we need to be agile, move quickly, test-and-learn, and not fall into analysis-paralysis. How do we find the middle ground?


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On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in February 2020.


Episode 582: Saying "no" is actually makes you more successful at work. These essential strategies will help you set workplace boundaries with grace.


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909. Blake Mycoskie built TOMS into a $600 million brand and gave away more than 100 million pairs of shoes — then fell into a seven-year battle with clinical depression after selling the company. He talks with Rachel Cooke about why outward success never made him feel like enough, the limiting belief that drove him for decades, and the small, everyday practices — not the dramatic interventions — that finally pull...

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On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in April 2020.


Episode 594: In times of crisis, negative thoughts lurk around every corner. Use these techniques to rediscover your optimism and bump up your productivity.


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907. When should your team reflect on what went wrong, and when should you just move on? Rachel Cooke uses Ted Lasso's "be a goldfish" mantra to unpack the balance between looking back and looking ahead, then shares five questions—three that mine the past, two that aim at the future—to help your team do both intentionally. 


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July 25, 2026 11 mins

On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in Jne 2021.


Episode 654: Greg McKeown, bestselling author of Essentialism and Effortless, joins the Modern Mentor podcast to share his wisdom on making things simpler, smaller, and generally ...

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906. Leaders are frustrated that teams aren't delivering. Teams are exhausted and hitting walls. And the instinct is to pull harder. But the real work is finding the knots leadership has inadvertently tied, and undoing them one at a time. In this episode, Rachel talks about the unsexy work that actually unlocks speed.


Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!

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Summer Saturdays: Best of QDT

Encore Episode: This episode originally aired January 2020.


581. Running all-out all the time is the sure path to burnout. Productivity happens when you know how to use your energy wisely.


Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!

Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com

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July 14, 2026 12 mins

905. Everyone's maxxing something now. Their sleep, their skin, their fiber, even their jawline. But underneath the ring lights, each of these trends is quietly teaching a real principle about getting better at something. This week, Rachel Cooke builds the trend nobody's named yet, successmaxxing, by stealing the smartest lesson from five maxxing trends and pointing it straight at your career.


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904. Most of us define productivity as doing more, faster — but when budgets shrink and the path forward gets murky, speed turns into a liability. Rachel shares five ways to boost your productivity during uncertain times, including how to make faster decisions, avoid duplicating work your team's already doing, and judge your choices by your process instead of the outcome — a trap that poker pro and decision expert Annie...

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903. Most teams have mastered pushing hard. Some are even getting better at rest. But there's a third thing — the active recovery phase — that almost no one is protecting time for, and it's the one that turns raw effort into real capability. Rachel introduces the Breathing Room: a standing block on the calendar built not for output, but for reflection, after-action reviews, and solving hard problems together. Here's why...

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June 23, 2026 9 mins

902. We already know what's slowing us down at work — too many priorities, meetings that go nowhere, no space to experiment, and processes that create drag on everything. So why aren't we fixing any of it? Rachel breaks down why we stay frozen on problems we could actually solve, and how to find the one move between all and nothing that finally gets things moving. 


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Can small habit changes really lead to a more productive, focused, and happy life? They can! Author and podcaster Jeff Sanders's shares his secrets to forming habits that lead to success.


Encore Episode: Episode 598 originally aired May 2020


Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!

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901. Three challenges showing up in organizations everywhere right now. Rachel shares what she's hearing, what she's designing, and what's actually helping teams move.


Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!

Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.

Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com

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Not every job is a perfect fit, but that doesn't mean you can't love the one you're with. Your job can be a whole lot more than just a means to a paycheck.


Encore Episode: This episode originally aired in February of 2020.


Check out all the Quick and Dirty Tips shows: www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcasts


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900. Graduating into uncertainty isn't new. Every generation has done it. Rachel shares five pieces of career advice she wishes someone had handed her on the way out the door.


Expert advice for navigating life after graduation — for new grads and the people cheering them on. From finances and freelancing to nutrition and knowing when to ask for help, find it all in our "Life After Graduation" playlist on Spotify.


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899. Two listeners wrote in this month asking how to make sense of a temporary leadership stint. Rachel shares five practices for turning a short employment stretch into a meaningful career chapter, both for the team you're leading and the version of you who walks out the other side.


Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!

Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.

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898. We're drowning in information, advice, and self-help — so why do we still feel stuck? Returning guest Nir Eyal, author of the new bestseller "Beyond Belief," explains the motivation triangle most people are missing and why your brain is actively working against change. In a rare unscripted moment, Nir walks Rachel through an inquiry-based coaching exercise that surfaces a limiting belief she's been carrying for decades &...

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897. AI is changing work fast — but some capabilities remain deeply human. This week, Rachel Cooke breaks down five things AI still can't do well, from reading a room to knowing your stakeholders, and explains how to turn those into your professional edge. If you've been anxious about AI replacing your job, this episode reframes what to actually focus on.


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May 12, 2026 8 mins

896. Leaders right now are working hard, caring deeply and still coming up short. And some of what they're doing is quietly working against them. In this episode, Rachel delivers a tough love letter to the leaders she’s coaching, calling out four patterns that are quietly undermining performance, energy and trust. If something at work isn’t working, this one’s for you.


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