The Matt Townsend Show

Matt Townsend specializes in energizing and involving audiences with his unique approach to building and maintaining successful relationships. Known as one of America’s top presenters in the field of Human Relations and Development, Matt blends humor and story telling with interactive, real-life solutions that motivate and inspire his listeners.

Latest Episodes:

Social Media Regulation, What You Pay Attention To Jun 05, 2018

Show notes

Government Regulation of Social Media (14:51) Paul Levinson, Ph.D., is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in NYC. Social media is something we cannot avoid; it is part of our world. Last week, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, testified in front of Congress for its part in the Cambridge Analytics leak of information. Would government regulation solve these problems? Paul Levinson explains how regulation of social media would be a bad idea. Control What You Pay Attention To (1:04:30) Maura Nevel Thomas is an award-winning international speaker and trainer on individual and corporate productivity and work-life balance, and the most widely-cited authority on attention management. Life gives us a million things to do sometimes. With so many attention demanding things, we can feel lost, overwhelmed or out of control. Maura Thomas shares the advice “To control your life, control what you pay attention to.” 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:14:51 - Government Regulation of Social Media 01:64:30 - Control What You Pay Attention To

Amazon Health Care, Engaged Employees are at Risk of Burnout Jun 04, 2018

Show notes

Amazon Health Care (14:00) J.B. Silvers, Ph.D., is the John R. Mannix Medical Mutual of Ohio Professor of Health Care Finance and professor of banking and finance at Weatherhead School of Management with a joint appointment in the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Earlier this year, Amazon announced they would be patterning up with different companies to improve healthcare for employees and to lower health care cost. Is this something we should pay attention to? J.B. Silvers. explains how this announcement from Amazon could change the healthcare industry. Engaged Employees are at Risk of Burnout (1:01:47) Julia Moeller, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany. She studies emotion and motivation in schools and workplaces. In particular, she is interested in seemingly paradoxical combinations of mixed feelings, that means, co-occurring positive and negative experiences, such as stressful motivation, or motivating anxiety. Employee engagement is a major concern for HR leaders. Year after year, concerned managers, and researchers discuss Gallup’s shocking statistic that seven out of 10 U.S. employees report feeling unengaged. Figuring out how to increase employee engagement has been a burning question for companies and consultants across the board, but now the question is more complex. Engagement carries with it the risk of overstress. Julia Moeller talks about the study and how we can decrease our risk of burnout. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:14:00 - Amazon Health Care 01:61:47 - Engaged Employees are at Risk of Burnout

Professional Leadership, Power of Your Identity Jun 02, 2018

Show notes

Professional Leadership (13:43) Barbara Kellerman is the James MacGregor Burns Lecturer in Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is the Founding Executive Director of the school’s Center for Public Leadership. She is the author of "Professionalizing Leadership", published at the beginning of this year. Barbara Kellerman tells us how leadership needs to become a profession, with specialized education. Power of Your Identity (1:02:44) From humble beginnings, Certified NLP Practitioner, a self-made millionaire, bestselling author & world-renowned speaker, Rock Thomas skyrocketed to success, earning awards, shattering records, and becoming one of the top fifty realtors in the world. Rock recently published his book, "The Power of Your Identity". He shares how your identity shapes you, and how you can shape your identity. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:13:43 - Professional Leadership 01:62:44 - Power of Your Identity

Internet Rudeness, Habits of Successful Parents, Screen Cleaning Jun 01, 2018

Show notes

Internet Rudeness (12:44) Mariana Plata is a licensed psychologist from Panama, currently finishing her Master's degree in Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology. She is also a play therapist in training from the Association for Play Therapy (APT), mental health writer and public speaker. We are in the digital era. For information we turn to Google, for communication, we turn to email, and for friends, we turn to social media. Also in this digital era, we have internet trolls, and between Twitter feuds and Facebook rants, rudeness seems to be the new normal. Mariana Plata shares why rudeness is prevalent in our day. Successful Parents (57:43) Ken Dolan-Del Vecchio is an author, speaker, leadership consultant, and family therapist. Ken founded GreenGate Leadership in 2017 after retiring from his role as Vice President, Health, and Wellness, at Prudential. Experience is the great educator and successful parents have similar attributes and characteristics across generations. In his book “Simple Habits of Exceptional (But Not Perfect) Parents”, author Ken Dolan-Del Vecchio shows us what how we can be the best we can be and he joined us today to share how we can be exceptional parents. Screen Cleaning (1:32:01) Jeff Simpson talks about movies and TV, helping you find family-friendly options. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:12:44 - Internet Rudeness 00:57:43 - Successful Parents

Could AI Compromise Better Than humans?, Adult Attachment May 31, 2018

Show notes

Could AI compromise better than humans? (15:56) Jacob Crandall, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Brigham Young University. His research focuses on developing machines and algorithms that learn from and collaborate with people to solve challenging problems. We all get into fights. We seek a therapist, friends, and anyone we can get on our side of the fight. However, when we seek compromise, are we doing it well? Can computers compromise better than humans can? Jacob Crandall shares his research. Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment (1:01:33) Amir Levine, Ph.D., is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist and neuroscientist. He graduated from the residency program at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University, where he is currently a Principal Investigator on a research project sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Levine is the co-author of the book “Attached” (with Rachel Heller) where they teach The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find - and Keep - Love. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:15:56 - Could AI compromise better than humans? 01:61:33 - Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment

Post-9/11 Leadership, Loneliness Can Be Damaging to Your Body May 30, 2018

Show notes

Post-9/11 Leadership (11:47) Ori Brafman is a multiple New York Times bestselling author. He specializes in organizational culture, employee engagement, business transformation, leadership, and emerging technologies. Brafman is founder and president of Starfish Leadership and co-founder of the Fully Charged Institute. How is it that as our access to information dramatically increases, our views appear to become narrower? Ori Brafman, author of "Radical Inclusion: What the Post-9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership", is with us to help us understand how leadership is changing and how to deal with society becoming more and more polarized. Loneliness Can Be Damaging to Your Body (58:46) Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University. Her research is focused on the long-term health effects of social connection. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Time Magazine. Whether it be as a child, a senior, or even a middle-aged adult, everyone feels lonely at some point or another. For some of us it may only be a temporary blip before we make new friends, but for other people, it may be as serious as social isolation. Whatever its form, loneliness is very unhealthy, both mentally and physically. Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad shares her research into the dangers of loneliness. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:11:47 - Post-9/11 Leadership 00:58:46 - Loneliness Can Be Damaging to Your Body

Schools and Student Mental Health, Successful People and Rest May 29, 2018

Show notes

Schools and Student Mental Health (13:53) Nathaniel von der Embse, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of school psychology at the University of South Florida and co-chair of the National Association of School Psychologists Government and Professional Relations Workgroup (NASP GPR). Dr. von der Embse utilizes a social justice framework to examine the intersection of education policy and school mental health. One out of every 4 or 5 students will display a significant mental health problem over the course of their lifetime, and those students can be identified early with considerable accuracy if educators are given the right training and tools. Unfortunately, most schools rely on reactive methods, like office discipline referrals, to figure out which students need behavioral and mental health services. Should schools stop waiting for red flags and act sooner? Successful People and Rest (1:00:00) Alex Pang, Ph.D., is the founder of the Restful Company and a visiting scholar at Stanford University. He is the author of two books “Rest: Why you get more done when you work less” and “The Distraction Addiction.” What if I told you that you get more done when you work less? Would you believe me? Dr. Pang recently published a new article, “The most successful people make room for rest”, and he discusses how we can avoid overworking ourselves and still meet deadlines. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:13:53 - Schools and Student Mental Health 01:60:00 - Successful People and Rest

Students and Perfectionism, Hermits Can Teach Us About Being Alone May 28, 2018

Show notes

More College Students Seem to Be Majoring in Perfectionism (11:10) Thomas Curran, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health, at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. His research focuses on perfectionism in young people. “Good won’t get me into med school.” That is what you might be hearing from your high school or college student. Today, social media is creating a world where students might have unrealistic educational and professional ideals---replacing good, with perfectionism. Thomas Curran shares his research into perfectionism. What Early Hermits can Teach us About Being Alone (59:48) Kim Haines-Eitzen, Ph.D., is a Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions with a specialty in Early Christianity, Early Judaism, and Religion in Late Antiquity at Cornell University. Social media shows us smiling faces surrounded by happy people in beautiful locations. But we all know that is just a moment in time and not a state of living. The time in between those pictures we post can be filled with loneliness. This doesn’t have to be that case as Dr. Kim Haines-Eitzen argues in her article “One isn’t always the loneliest number”. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:11:10 - More College Students Seem to Be Majoring in Perfectionism 00:59:48 - What Early Hermits can Teach us About Being Alone

Get Stuff Done, How to Talk to Your Spouse, Spirituality and Mind Body May 26, 2018

Show notes

How to Get Stuff Done (16:06) Jason Zook is best known for being the guy that made over $1,000,000 wearing t-shirts for a living and selling his last name (twice). For a lot of us, getting back up once we have already fallen is not always an easy task, and getting over the wall of incomplete projects can become vastly overwhelming. We are joined here this morning with Jason Zook, creator of Jasondoesstuff.com, to talk about some things that can help us get over that wall and back into the groove of success. The Best Ways to Talk to Your Spouse (1:05:21) Lesli Doares, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, marriage coach and author of Blueprint for a Lasting Marriage, How to Create Your Happily Ever After With More Intention, Less Work. Have you ever tried to get out of a sticky situation by saying what you think another person wants to hear, only to have your words come out sarcastic or condescending, and then ended up digging yourself into a deeper hole? On the other hand, have you ever given someone critiques, criticism, or feedback using positive tones and had them accept it openly and optimistically? What was the key difference? How can we influence how others react to our words? It all goes back to the old adage, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” Lesli Doares explains. Spirituality and Mind Body (1:49:43) Lisa Miller, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology and Education, Director of Clinical Psychology, and Director of the Spirituality & Mind Body Institute at Teachers College Columbia University. So much of our early education focuses on cognitive skills. We learn cursive and spelling, math and science. But teaching principles that the heart needs to understand is a different matter entirely and a delicate one. Dr. Miller discusses how spirituality helps people develop emotionally. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:16:06 - How to Get Stuff Done 01:65:21 - The Best Ways to Talk to Your Spouse 01:109:43 - Spirituality and Mind Body

Millennials in the Workplace, An Organized Life, Screen Cleaning May 25, 2018

Show notes

Millennial Mindsets in the Workplace (14:22) J.T. O'Donnell is founder and CEO of CareerHMO, a career improvement platform that uses smart technology to help people solve their career problems better and faster than they can on their own. The company is also the creator of the Career Decoder, which unlocks career potential and has helped one million people and counting on their path to greater career satisfaction. J.T. O'Donnell shares her insight into millennials and how they function in the workplace. One Year To An Organized Life (57:33) Regina Leeds, known as the ZEN ORGANIZER, is a professional organizer and author of several books including "The 8 Minute Organizer" and "Right Size, Right Now." Regina has spent many years of her life dedicated to helping others understand themselves and the chaos’s that they live in, and how they can work that into a new way of living. Regina Leeds shares with Dr. Townsend ways to organize your life. Screen Cleaning (1:34:26) Jeff Simpson talks about movies and TV helping you find family-friendly options. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:14:22 - Millennial Mindsets in the Workplace 00:57:33 - One Year To An Organized Life 01:94:26 - Screen Cleaning

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