Positivity Crash Course, Fixing College Admissions, Leaders

Steve H. Lawton is the author of “Head First! A Crash Course in Positivity,” a story about how his attitude literally saved his life from a near-fatal skiing accident. Steve enjoys helping others by sharing his story and practical advice on how to create a positive mindset, lead with positivity, and achieve better outcomes for individuals and organizations.  After a life-threatening ski accident, doctors weren’t sure Steve H. Lawton would survive. But because of his attitude, a helmet, a message from God, and a rubber chicken named Henrietta, Lawton not only survived but recovered nearly completely and lives to share his tale and the wonders of positivity.

Yan Chen is a professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan.  Yan Chen and a visiting professor of Economics at Tsinghua University. Her research interests include mechanism design, behavioral and experimental economics, and information economics. Fall marks the beginning of the college application season.  Many students get into the college of their choice… and many do not. The reality is that students both in China and in America don’t get into the Universities of their choice because of a broken system.  All of these students have the same question: Is there a better way to do this?  Yan Chen shows that there may way to fix the admissions system.

Our producer, Liana Tan traveled to many different places over the summer. One of those places she visited was Vermont to spend time with her Grandmother and extended family. She shares some of her adventures and some lessons she learned on how to reconnect with family and embrace a different way of life.

Susan Ashford holds the Michael and Susan Jandernoa Professorship in the Management and Organization at the Steven M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Her research interests include leader effectiveness and development. Business organizations especially need good leaders and spend more than $24 billion on leadership development every year. Despite this large amount of spending, many leaders who participate in these programs don’t gain the experience they need to make them the best possible leaders. Susan Ashford shares about how to overcome this deficit and become a better leader.