In The Business of Humans

Season 2 Premiere: Lynda & Joe on Life, Leadership, and What's Next

Welcome back to Season 2 of In The Business of Humans with hosts Lynda Harvey and Joe Gilgoff. In this kickoff episode, Lynda and Joe reintroduce themselves, share updates from their professional and personal journeys, and set the stage for an exciting new season focused on the people side of work. From leadership and management to career growth, entrepreneurship, customer experience, workplace culture, and the evolving role of AI, they explore the conversations that help professionals build more meaningful and successful careers. Lynda draws on her extensive experience as an executive coach and leadership expert to discuss self-awareness, personal growth, and what it takes to lead effectively in today's workplace. Joe shares lessons from building customer experience teams, launching his advisory business, and helping companies create stronger relationships with both employees and customers. Together, they discuss career pivots, consulting, business development, networking, community building, and why authentic human connection remains one of the most valuable skills in any profession. The episode also introduces new resources for listeners, offers practical insights for leaders and individual contributors alike, and delivers the candid, relatable conversations that have become a hallmark of the show. Whether you're a manager, entrepreneur, customer experience leader, HR professional, executive, or someone simply looking to grow in your career, this episode provides actionable insights and fresh perspectives on navigating the modern world of work. Key Topics * Leadership and management * Career development and career transitions * Executive coaching and professional growth * Customer experience (CX) and business strategy * Entrepreneurship and consulting * Workplace culture and employee engagement * Networking and community building * AI and the future of work * Self-awareness and personal development * Building meaningful human connections at work

AI is for Humans

How does a podcast about driving humanity in the workplace tackle the imposing topic of AI for the first time? Bringing on one of the world's leading experts is a great place to start! On our special season 1 finale episode, we're joined by Aria Finger, former CEO of DoSomething.org [http://DoSomething.org] and current Chief of Staff to Reid Hoffman (Founder of LinkedIn, one of the world's leading AI experts/entrepreneurs; venture capitalists; philanthropists; authors; political influencers) and co-host with Reid of the acclaimed Possible podcast, which has explored this exact topic of AI + humanity with a curious, intellectual and optimistic lens with the likes of Sam Altman, Kara Swisher, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah and dozens of other superstars in business + society. Aria spends her days helping to shape our current world, while also partnering with other brilliant, influential folks to imagine and help shape what our future world could look like -- including how AI will continue to evolve, and co-exist with people. And it's not all bad! You'll hear about how AI can not only uplift and empower humans in their jobs and lives, but also serve purely altruistic purposes, like powering cutting-edge medical research to save real human lives. You'll also get to know Aria, the human being: a warm, humble and funny soul, and a loving wife and mom of 3 rambunctious kids -- trying to juggle quite a lot at once, and figure this "life" thing out just like the rest of us! We love our season finale episode, and we hope that you will too.

Boundaries at Work

The age-old topic of how to establish the right boundaries at work. Is this even a thing, for career-driven people?! (Yes!) But how, without damaging our standing and growth potential?! (Please have a listen to this episode!) Whether you like the expression "work-life" balance or not, we can all agree that success at work cannot come at the cost of well being, or having a life and sources of fulfillment outside of work. In this episode of 'The Business of Humans', Lynda and Joe unpack it all! As usual, actionable advice will be offered, made more colorful with personal stories across 40+ combined years of leadership roles, successes and setbacks.

Fix Your Hair (Managers vs. Leaders)

Join Lynda and Joe as they delve into the difference between a Manager, and a Leader. Interestingly, while being a great "leader" seems to get all of the shine, being a great "manager" embodies a distinct set of skills and is equally critical for an organization's success. The championship roster for any company will likely have great leaders, and great managers, working in tandem. So how to be a great leader? And how to be a great manager? How to even pull off both?! Tune in to find out. Oh, and tune in also to hear about Lynda's LinkedIn battle with Mr. "Fix Your Hair" - who helpfully provides a perfect "what not to do" example around leading, managing and interacting with fellow humans in 2026.

Mixing It Up With HR (with Morgan Montgomery-Rice)

Learn the ins and outs, and the "dos and don'ts" of working with the HR function effectively, in any workplace! Lynda and Joe are joined by Morgan Montgomery-Rice, current Founder + Fractional Head of People at Bloom Bridge Advisors; former HR / People / Finance / Operations leader at fantastic brands like Sundays for Dogs; IBM and much more; and holder of an MBA from Northeastern's D'Amore-McKim School of Business. Just as Lynda and Joe always aspire to bring a senior leadership, "insider" view to workplace situations and dynamics, Morgan is able to go a step further and present the insider perspective of the HR function -- specifically as Exec / Head of HR across fantastic industries and brands. Join this trio as we discuss challenging, nuanced and juicy workplace situations from all sides of the equation, in an episode that should be equally educational, actionable and entertaining.