Humor As A Superpower

The Power Of Discord

Healthy relationships are mismatched 70% of the time. That's not a problem to fix. According to today's guest, it's the whole design. Dr. Claudia Gold is a pediatrician and co-author of The Power of Discord with Dr. Ed Tronick, the researcher behind the famous Still Face experiment. Their work shows that the out-of-sync, messy, imperfect moments in any relationship are where trust actually gets built. Rex and Claudia get into what that means at work: why curiosity beats certainty, what emotional absence looks like on a team, why "good enough" is essential and not just acceptable, and why "not knowing" might be the most underrated skill a leader can develop. If you've ever felt a working relationship go sideways and didn't know how to fix it, this one's for you. Find Claudia: ClaudiaMGoldMD.com | LinkedIn: ClaudiaMGold

Humor As A Superpower

What if the most underrated leadership skill isn't emotional intelligence, executive presence, or strategic thinking — it's a sense of humor? Paul Osincup spent 15 years researching exactly that. He's a keynote speaker, author of The Humor Habit, and host of the Laugh or Death podcast — and his work with Google, Harvard, and hundreds of other organizations makes a case that humor isn't a soft skill. It's a survival skill. In this episode, we dig into what it actually means to live and lead in a VUCA world — volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous — and why humor might be the most direct path to resilience, connection, and psychological safety on your team. What we cover: Why laughter nosedives at age 23 and doesn't recover until nearly 80 — and what that costs us Humorous reappraisal: the Stanford-backed technique for reframing setbacks (even grief) The DOSE chemicals humor releases — and why shared laughter creates real trust A Berkeley study that shows strangers who laugh together like each other more — immediately The humor triangle: which types of humor build connection vs. which ones blow it up Why self-deprecating humor is low-risk — unless you're a surgeon joking about being clumsy The 4 P's: Permission + Participation = Psychological Safety The "humor jar" — a dead-simple team ritual to double the ROI of funny moments One 7-day habit that increased happiness and reduced depressive symptoms for up to six months Paul also shares the story of losing his mom — and how finding humor in even that moment changed his relationship with resilience. It's the most honest thing in this episode. The quote that started this conversation: "Don't live your life as an actor in a drama just to reach the end and find out you were the director — and it could have been a comedy." Connect with Paul: 🌐 thehumorhabit.com 📚 The Humor Habit — available wherever books are sold 🎙️ Laugh or Death Podcast Connect with Rex & The HumanUp Imperative: 🌐 [RWC Consulting website] 🎙️ Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts The HumanUp Imperative explores the human skills — connection, leadership, trust, and relationships — that technology can't replace. #HumanUp [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/humanup] #Leadership [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/leadership] #HumorAtWork [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/humoratwork] #PsychologicalSafety [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/psychologicalsafety] #TheHumorHabit [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/thehumorhabit] #PaulOsincup [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/paulosincup] #VUCA [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/vuca] #Resilience [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/resilience] #WorkplaceCulture [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/workplaceculture] #LeadershipDevelopment [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/leadershipdevelopment]

Is AI More Biological or Technological- It’s Complicated!

In Season 2, Episode 3 of The HumanUp Imperative, Rex Wallace is joined by Dr. John Sviokla, co-founder of GAI Insights and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, for a grounded, forward-looking conversation on AI and its implications for healthcare leaders. Dr. Sviokla argues that by 2030, every competitive organization will operate as a hybrid of human and machine intelligence, and that healthcare is no exception. He walks through his RISE framework for AI adoption, explains why AI is a capability that must be grown rather than a technology you simply install, and makes the case that senior leaders, not just IT teams, need to be hands-on with these tools. The episode also explores the human stakes of AI deployment: organizational values, decision authority at the edge, and what it means to optimize not just for human audiences but for the AI models increasingly sitting between organizations and their customers.

The Senior VP & The Minivan ~ Lessons In Leadership Through Connection

Gary Culp, SVP of Government Markets at Blue Shield of California, joins Rex Wallace to explore what human-centered leadership looks like in real healthcare environments. Gary shares how he assesses culture before joining an organization, builds trust without leaning on hierarchy, and removes barriers so teams can deliver better experiences. They discuss leading in hybrid and virtual settings, forming true partnerships with vendors, and celebrating wins. The takeaway for healthcare leaders: improving patient and member experience (and the outcomes tied to it) starts with how you lead people.

The Zen Lobbyist How Presence Became Gary Jacobs’ Greatest Policy Tool

In this episode of The HumanUp Imperative, host Rex Wallace sits down with Gary Jacobs, longtime healthcare lobbyist, proud dad and grandpa, and author of The Zen Lobbyist, to unpack why presence, compassion, and silence can be as persuasive as any talking point on Capitol Hill. From Gary’s early days shaping Medicare policy and navigating the intensity of Washington, to the health scares that forced him to confront stress head-on, we explore how a “hyper-executive” life can pull you out of yourself and how mindfulness practices can bring you back. Along the way, Gary makes the case that members of Congress and policy leaders are not just decision-makers. They are humans first. When advocacy becomes relationship-driven instead of transactional, influence changes shape. We cover: 🧘 Mindfulness in the pressure cooker: why “silence is strategy, compassion is influence, and gratitude is renewal” reframes what effective advocacy looks like in DC. 🩺 Patient first, then mindful patient: panic attacks, anxiety, a blood clot, and a stroke scare that Gary did not recognize in real time, and how those moments rewired his priorities. 🌿 The pivot point: biofeedback, the Chopra Center, and how Gary embraced meditation and yoga as a holistic operating system, not just a wellness hobby. 📦 Box breathing as a real-world tool: the simple four-count method that helps you walk into high-stakes meetings calmer, clearer, and less reactive when life is happening at the same time. 🤝 Human connection beats transactions: why relationships built on authenticity outlast check-writing influence, and how being a trusted translator of “truth on the ground” shapes better policy. 🧭 The vision: a primary-care-led “dream team” model for every American that includes clinicians, behavioral health, navigators, home care, nutrition, and even yoga and meditation support, powered by analytics but anchored in dignity. ⚖️ Value-based care beyond the triple aim: how equity and workforce wellbeing fit into the future, why payment reform alone is not enough, and why slogans do not change incentives. 💥 Leading through loss: Gary’s most helpful failure, losing what he built and rebuilding with intention, courage, and authenticity. 📚 Rapid fire: the one book he returns to repeatedly, the belief that grounds execution, and the reminder that presence is not a tactic. It is a gift. ✨ One way to human up: stop rehearsing life, stop clinging to certainty, and practice being present so you can meet people as humans, not roles.