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:

Raise an Adult, Make Meetings Better, Economic Impact of Immigration Dec 29, 2017

Show notes

How to Raise an Adult (15:21) Julie Lythcott-Haims studied law at Harvard and then practiced law in the Bay Area in the 1990s before returning to Stanford to serve in various roles including Dean of Freshmen, a position she created and held for a decade. As summer closes and September officially gets underway, over a million students will be attending college for the first time. And while college marks the beginning of independence for some, other students are having their parents come along for their first year of college. Mrs. Lythcott-Haims is the author of the book: How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success. She discusses over parenting. Make Meetings Better (59:01) For over 30 years, Bob Frisch has worked with Senior Executive Teams and Boards on their most vital strategic and organizational challenges. He is considered one of the world’s leading strategic facilitators. Bob is the author of four Harvard Business Review articles and his first book, Who’s In The Room? How Great Leaders Structure and Manage the Teams Around Them, quickly became an Amazon bestseller. He is the founder of the Strategic Offsites Group Company. Bob Frisch shares his article about how to make meeting better. Economic Impact of Immigration (1:47:28) Kevin Shih, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research interest includes immigration, education, labor, public policy and international trade. Although once praised as the trailblazers of America, immigrants are now considered a threat to Americans jobs, interest, and economy. Dr. Shih shares an article he wrote and explains why this isn’t the case. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:15:21 - How to Raise an Adult 00:59:01 - Make Meetings Better 01:107:28 - Economic Impact of Immigration

Woodpeckers Save Football, Children and Apologies, History of Exhaustion Dec 28, 2017

Show notes

How Woodpeckers Will Save Football (11:09) Dr. David Smith has been practicing medicine for 27 years and has spent the last 9 years studying Traumatic Brain Injuries. He is a Visiting Research Scientist at Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center. He is the President and CEO of Traumatic Brain Injury Innovations LLC, overseeing all their operations. Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) also known as concussions, are a major cause of death and disability in the United States and contribute to about 30% of all injury deaths. With Will Smiths starring role as a Nigerian Forensic Pathologist, the movie Concussion has brought nationwide attention to the negative effects of TBIs. What can we do to prevent these types of injuries and how can Woodpeckers help? Dr. David Smith with some ideas. Should Parents Ask Their Children to Apologize (51:53) Craig Smith, Ph.D., is currently the director of the Living Lab project at the University of Michigan. The Living Lab is a research/education model that brings developmental research into community settings such as museums and libraries. Your child is playing with another child while you watch from across the playground. Suddenly your child lashes out and hits their friend. What do you do? Do you demand an “I’m Sorry”? Do you apologize to the other parents? What’s the best thing to do to teach your child? Dr. Craig Smith explains his research. History of Exhaustion (1:33:32) Anna Katharina Schaffner, Ph.D., is a Reader in Comparative Literature and Medical Humanities at the University of Kent in England. Her current research interests are situated in the fields of the medical humanities, cultural history, the history of psychiatry and psychoanalysis, and mind-body theory. Her book, Exhaustion: A History charts the forgotten history of exhaustion from classical antiquity to the present day, examining the role of exhaustion symptoms in syndromes including nervousness, depression, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and burnout. Dr. Schaffner shares her research. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:11:09 - How Woodpeckers Will Save Football 00:51:53 - Should Parents Ask Their Children to Apologize 01:93:32 - History of Exhaustion

Poverty Stoplight, Police Culture & Masculinity, Deal with a Jerk at Work Dec 27, 2017

Show notes

Poverty Stoplight (13:05) Jeff Sheets is currently the Director of the Laycock Center for Creativity and Collaboration here at Brigham Young University. He excels in creating powerful brand touch points through memorable and impactful brand to consumer communication. With more than 3 billion people, half of the world’s population living in poverty and over 1/3 of them living on less than $1.25 a day, poverty is one of the world’s top social-economical concerns. The United States has close to 47 million people living on or below the poverty line. Though there is no silver bullet to ending poverty, Brigham Young University students along with prominent non-governmental organization, Fundacion Paraguaya, might have found a catalyst for change. Police Culture & Masculinity (55:00) Frank Cooper is a Professor of Law of Suffolk University in Boston where he teaches about constitutional law, criminal procedure, criminal law, and race gender and law. With police officers mainly being drawn from comparably privileged sections of society: men and whites, victims of the criminal justice system, people of color are unjustifiably targeted. Is racial profiling the only contributing factor to police brutality? What role does police culture play? Professor Frank Rudy Cooper explains. How to Deal with a Jerk at Work (1:36:02) Peter Economy is a best-selling business author, ghostwriter, developmental editor, and publishing consultant with more than 80 books to his credit. He writes columns on leadership and management for Inc.com (The Leadership Guy) and has also served as Associate Editor for Leader to Leader magazine since 2001. They're always the one cracking crude jokes, inappropriately speaking out, or just making those around them feel really uncomfortable. They may even be the type that seems to enjoy bullying others around them. We try ignoring them, staying polite--sometimes even going as far as even trying to befriend them at the cost of our own mental sanity. But just how should we really be dealing with jerk

Train Brain to Lose Weight, Importance of Being Alone, Great Teams Dec 26, 2017

Show notes

Train the brain to Lose Weight (15:30) Laurel Mellin, Ph.D., is a health psychologist who founded and developed emotional brain training. She is an associate clinical professor of family and community medicine and pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Mellin has authored papers on the science and efficacy of EBT and is a New York Times bestselling author of four books on the method. Dr. Mellin explains how to take control of your brain to meet personal goals like weight loss. Importance of Being Alone (56:17) Scott Campbell, Ph. D. is Professor of Telecommunications in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. His research examines social changes associated with the update of mobile communication technology. Dr. Campbell explains the importance of solitude and why it is helpful to spend quality time alone without technology. Great Teams (1:40:57) Dan Yaeger is an award-winning keynote speaker, business leadership coach, an eight-time New York Times Best-selling author, longtime Associate Editor for Sports Illustrated, and author of Great Teams: 16 things high performing organizations do differently. The Rio Olympics have already shown us what teams can do, whether it’s the USA’s dominant gymnastics team, the star power of their women’s swimming relays, or the superstar filled basketball team. That raises the question. What makes one team great and others just okay?

Real Food/Fake Food, Violence on Children, Emotionally Intelligent Handle Loss Dec 25, 2017

Show notes

Real Food/Fake Food (13:41) Larry Olmsted writes the “Great American Bites” column for USA Today. His forbes.com food and travel column was named one of the World’s top 100 Travel sites, and The Society of Professional Journalists named Olmsted one of the “10 Most Extreme U.S. Journalists.” His book is “Real Food, Fake Food" discusses how much of the food we eat is not what we think it is. Effect of Witnessing Violence on Children (51:16) Daniel J Flannery, Ph.D., is the Director of the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University. How do you raise a child in a world with so much violence? We hear of terror attacks and school shootings and other violent acts nearly weekly. What’s the best way to approach your children and how is this violence affecting them? Dr. Flannery with some ideas The Way Emotionally Intelligent People Handle Loss (1:38:27) Damon Brown is an Inc. columnist and author of several books. His latest book is The Bite-Sized Entrepreneur: 21 Ways to Ignite Your Passion & Pursue Your Side Hustle. All of us will experience loss in some form, and without emotional intelligence, the loss would cause of to crumble under our circumstances. Damon Brown explains how emotional intelligence can aid us all in handling loss in our lives. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:13:41 - Real Food/Fake Food 00:51:16 - Effect of Witnessing Violence on Children 01:98:27 - The Way Emotionally Intelligent People Handle Loss

Hidden Potential, Nonpartisan Journalism Future, Beautiful Revenge Dec 23, 2017

Show notes

Discover Your Hidden Potential (10:00) Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., is a professor of engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan; a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, San Diego; and Coursera’s inaugural “Innovation Instructor.” Her research involves bioengineering with a focus on the complex relationship between neuroscience and social behavior. People may feel like they’re at a disadvantage if they pursue a new field later in life, consequently falling into career ruts and feeling pigeon-holed into their career track. It’s easy to feel stuck or stagnant in life, and not know how to keep progressing. Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential by Barbara Oakley is solidly based on cutting-edge science about how to change your brain to feel passion for learning something new and different—even things you thought you always disliked. Nonpartisan Journalism Future (49:35) Justin Buchler is a professor of Political Science at Case Western University. He studies elections, political parties, and Congress. He has written extensively on the nature of competitive elections and their place in a democracy. This past election cycle has caused many journalists to look at their profession to determine what the future of journalism is. Whenever a nonpartisan journalist fact-checked the President, they chose to be labeled as part of the liberal media or to intentionally leave the fact unchecked. Did this past election cycle have any nonpartisan media coverage? Does nonpartisan journalism have a future in modern-day politics? Justin Buchler shares his thoughts. Revenge Can Be Beautiful (1:31:47) Susan D. Boon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary. A social psychologist by training, she is passionate about the topic of personal relationships and has a particular fascination with their darker sides. “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” - Mahatma Gandhi. Today we’re discussing revenge, why do w 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:10:00 - Discover Your Hidden Potential 00:49:35 - Nonpartisan Journalism Future 01:91:47 - Revenge Can Be Beautiful

Changing Point of View, Millennial Money Fix, Screen Cleaning Dec 22, 2017

Show notes

Why It's So Difficult to Change Someone's Point of View (20:50) Stephen J. Betchen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified Sex Therapist. He maintains a private practice in Cherry Hill, NJ and also supervises in the Couples and Family Therapy Graduate Program at Thomas Jefferson University where he is a Clinical Assistant Professor. Have you ever noticed that when you debate with someone, especially on politics or religion, you aren’t simply arguing with “one” person about “one” issue? Rather, you are arguing with an individual’s entire life history and all the people that have influenced that person along the way. Why is it so difficult to change a person’s point of view? Stephen Betchen explains. Millennial Money Fix (1:11:00) Douglas Boneparth is a financial advisor the President of Bonafide Wealth, LLC. Early in his career, he became one of the youngest CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals in the country. In 2016, he was named to the InvestmentNews Top “40 Under 40.” Some of the stereotypes about Millennials is that they are the “Me Generation,” are self-entitled, and are lazy. Although these stereotypes may be false, another stereotype about Millennials being financially illiterate might be true. The nation’s student loan debt may suggest this stereotype is true at more than 1.3 trillion dollars. How did we get to this point? Douglas Boneparth, a co-author of The Millennial Money Fix, talks about the financial challenges facing Millennials. Jeff Simpson - Screen Cleaning (1:39:44) Jeff Simpson talks about movies and TV helping you find family-friendly options. It's the Christmas episode where Jeff and Jacob Gowans share some Christmas favorites. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:20:50 - Why It's So Difficult to Change Someone's Point of View 01:71:00 - Millennial Money Fix 01:99:44 - Jeff Simpson - Screen Cleaning

Lone Wolves and ISIS, Kids Bullying Parents, Hosting Adult Children Dec 21, 2017

Show notes

What draws ‘lone wolves’ to the Islamic State? (21:39) Jim Gelvin, Ph.D., is a professor of modern Middle Eastern history at UCLA. The attack on a bike path in lower Manhattan once again causes us to ask: Why do people pledge allegiance to the Islamic State? Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect in the attack, isn’t a devout Muslim, so why would he want to be a martyr? Jim Gelvin has spent the majority of his professional life studying the region, its culture, society, and politics. In recent years, he has researched and written about IS and its terrorist activities and explains what is driving “lone wolves” to the Islamic State. 3 Reasons Why Parents Let Their Kids Bully Them (1:08:51) Sean Grover, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist and author of the book WHEN KIDS CALL THE SHOTS: How to Seize Control from Your Darling Bully – and Enjoy Parenting Again. Dr. Grover has worked with parents and children for over 20 years and maintains one of the largest group therapy practices in the United States. More and more parents these days don’t realize they are actually letting their own children bully them and fill their homes with screaming, kicking, and floods of tears. Dr. Grover teaches us how to reassert our roles as parents. Hosting Adult Children for the Holidays (1:54:40) Heather Johnson, M.S., has been an adjunct faculty member at Brigham Young University for nearly 10 years. She is passionate about teaching students the principles behind successful families and the importance of families spending time together. She blogs at FamilyVolley.com. Heather and Dr. Matt talk about low maintenance mothers. Heather and Dr. Townsend talk about Hosting Adult Children for the Holidays. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:21:39 - What draws 'lone wolves' to the Islamic State? 01:68:51 - 3 Reasons Why Parents Let Their Kids Bully Them 01:114:40 - Hosting Adult Children for the Holidays

American Culture Shame, Learn Better, Celebrate Your Relationship Dec 20, 2017

Show notes

Does American culture shame too much (21:06) Peter N. Stearns, Ph.D., is a University Professor of History at George Mason University. Professor Stearns has written widely on world and emotions history. His most recent book is Shame: A Brief History. There has been a lot of study about the use of shame in our homes, in society, and in politics. But what is the history of shame in America and how is it implemented today? Professor Peter explains the history of shame in the United States. Learn Better (1:08:56) Ulrich Boser is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who writes and researches education issues. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. Our ability to learn is one of the most important skills that we can develop in life. We are constantly learning, and our success in life is often dependent on how well we are able to do it. However, it turns out that we are surrounded by false beliefs and teachings about what it means to learn and how to learn most effectively. Ulrich Boser, whose new book, Learn Better, maps out the science of learning, destroying a number of myths along the way. Makena Bauss - Better Gift Giving (1:31:52) The giving of gifts can be perplexing. Finding that perfect gift can be tough and knowing what someone else would want can be challenging. Producer Makena Bauss shares some ideas on how to be a little bit better at giving gifts. Do You Celebrate Your Relationship (1:56:38) Brian Willoughby, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. Dr. Willoughby's research focuses on young adult dating and relationship patterns. Dr. Willoughby is the co-author of the book "The Marriage Paradox" Dr. Willoughby discusses how we should celebrate our relationships. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:21:06 - Does American culture shame too much 01:68:56 - Learn Better 01:91:52 - Makena Bauss - Better Gift Giving 01:116:38 - Do You Celebrate Your Relationship

Kindness of Strangers, Empathetic Kids Succeed, Holiday Health Dec 19, 2017

Show notes

Kindness of Strangers (20:04) Abigail Marsh, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Georgetown University. Would you risk your life to save a total stranger? Although you might not do that to this extent, people do this every day to help people they don’t know on the fly. Abigail Marsh shares her research into Altruism. Empathetic Kids Succeed (1:06:28) Michele Borba, Ph.D., is an internationally renowned educator, award-winning author, and parenting, child and bullying expert. Her newest book is UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed In Our All-About Me World. As a motivational speaker, she has presented keynotes throughout the world and is an NBC contributor who has appeared 135 times live on the TODAY show and countless shows. Children in today’s world are exposed to cyberbullying, terrorist attacks on the news, violent video games, and more. Studies show that kids are 40% less empathetic than they were thirty years ago. Is the world that they live in today to blame? What is the cause of this loss of empathy? Michele Borba shares with us about why children need empathy and how we can teach our children to be less selfish in our “all-about-me world.” Holiday Health (1:50:32) Ron Hager, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Exercise Sciences in the College of Life Sciences at Brigham Young University. His area is expertise is Chronic Disease Prevention. Dr. Hager discuses how to enjoy the holidays and keep to your health goals. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:20:04 - Kindness of Strangers 01:66:28 - Empathetic Kids Succeed 01:110:32 - Holiday Health

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