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:

Anti-Terrorism, Financial Fitness, Video Games and Learning Jun 02, 2015

Show notes

FBI Anti-Terrorism (10:50) Todd Palmer, an FBI agent, joins Matt to discuss the FBI's role in preventing terrorism. Palmer also talks specifically about cyber terrorism. He explains what we can do to stay safe in our everyday lives. Financial Fitness (56:06) Alan Akina, Founder of 101 Financial in Hawaii, host of Fox Affiliate KHON 2 Morning News: Financial Fitness and Watch Your Wallet Wednesday segments, and author of amazon’s best-selling book, “The Super Duper Simple Book on Money.” Video Games and Learning (1:49:52) Aaron Berard is a Graduate Student at Brown University in the Laboratory for Cognitive and Perceptual Learning, in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences. He is currently working with Dr. Takeo Watanabe and Dr. Yuka Sasaki on perceptual learning experiments involving video games.

Politics, Responding to Insults, Laughter Jun 01, 2015

Show notes

News & Politics (12:11) Joe Cannon, CEO of Fuel Freedom Foundation, former Chairman of the Utah Republican Party, past assistant administrator in the US EPA, and editor of the Deseret News. Joe talks current political news including Rand Paul, Hillary Clinton, and the Future of the Patriot Act. How to Respond to Below the Belt Comments (58:44) Dr. Linda Sapadin is a psychologist in private practice, specializing in helping people overcome self-defeating patterns of behavior. She has many informative and interesting articles on her website, such as “Can Men and Women Really Be Friends” and “How to Deal with a Narcissistic Personality.” She is the author of six self-help books, including “How to Beat Procrastination in the Digital Age." Today she talks about how to best respond to insults. Why We Laugh (1:45:34) Sophie Scott FMedSci is a British neuroscientist. Professor Scott is Wellcome Trust senior fellow at University College London, researching the neuroscience of voices, speech, and laughter. She is the Group Leader for the Speech Communication Neuroscience Group and Deputy Director at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. Sophie Scott explains how laughter can be the best medicine. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:12:11 - News & Politics 00:58:44 - How to Respond to Below the Belt Comments 01:105:34 - Why We Laugh

Police Body Cameras, Sight by Sonar, Goldfish Attention Span May 28, 2015

Show notes

Police Body Cameras (12:55) Marina Lowe, of the Legislative and Policy Counsel at the ACLU of Utah. Lowe worked with the Salt Lake Legal Defenders Association, in the Appellate Division. Prior to that, Marina was an associate at the international law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP in San Francisco, concentrating on commercial litigation, as well as intellectual property counseling and litigation. Marina Lowe talks with Dr. Townsend about police body cameras and how effective they are in helping the police/citizen relationship. The Blind Can See Using Sonar and They Are Fearless (58:35) Daniel Kish is the President of World Access For The Blind. He is a popular TED Speaker. Daniel Holds two Masters degrees, Life-Span Developmental Psychology from California State University, San Bernardino, and Special Education from Cal. State Los Angeles. Daniel teaching others to see using echolocation, but perhaps his most important work is teaching both the blind and seeing to live without fear or inhibitions. Our Attention Spans Have Become Shorter than Goldfish (1:44:41) Vito Pilieci, from The Ottawa Citizen, suggests that our use of pocket-size devices could have caused our attention spans to decline to shorter than that of a goldfish! Mr. Pilieci has been on the forefront of reporting on issues of copyright and privacy, social media as well as Canada’s wireless and wired Internet industries. He was awarded the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology reporting in 2012 and his reviews on new consumer technology run regularly in papers right across the Postmedia chain. He joins us today to discuss the studies he investigated that led him to write this article and to help us understand how the goldfish has surpassed us in attention span. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:12:55 - Police Body Cameras 00:58:35 - The Blind Can See Using Sonar and They Are Fearless(58:35) 01:104:41 - Our Attention Spans Have Become Shorter than Goldfish(1:44:41)

Residential Segregation, Preschoolers, Motivating Employees May 27, 2015

Show notes

Residential Segregation (13:15) Richard Rothstein is a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute and senior fellow of the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at the University of California (Berkeley) School of Law. He is the author of Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right and Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap Parents Can't See That Their Preschoolers Are Obese (1:00:58) Dr. Dustin Duncan, ScD. is the lead author of this study. Dustin T. Duncan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health at New York University School of Medicine, where he directs the Spatial Epidemiology Lab. Recent research led by NYU Langone Medical Center found that a large percentage of parents cannot see that their toddler is obese. Motivating Employees In The Workplace (1:44:36) Ben Decker, together with his wife Kelly, run Decker Communications, a global firm that trains and coaches thousands of executives every year. Their new book Communicate to Influence: How To Inspire Your Audience to Action shares real examples and tips that can help us all become more effective communicators. Mr. Decker will help us understand ways of communicating more effectively that can help us create a better work environment. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:13:15 - Residential Segregation 01:60:58 - Parents Can't See That Their Preschoolers Are Obese 01:104:36 - Motivating Employees In The Workplace

Parental Leave, Smart is the New Rich, Fathers and Children May 26, 2015

Show notes

Parental Leave (27:49) Dr. Ruth Milkman is a sociologist of labor and labor movements who has written on a variety of topics involving work and organized labor in the United States, past and present. She is currently a Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center and at the Joseph F. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, where she also serves as Research Director. She recently co-authored a study of California's paid family leave program, focusing on its impact on employers and workers. Her most recent book is Unfinished Business: Paid Family Leave in California and the Future of U.S. Work-Family Policy. Smart is the New Rich (1:07:44) Christine Romans is the author of: "Smart is the New Rich: Money Guide for Millennials". Christine is the anchor of "Early Start" with John Berman weekdays from CNN's Chief Business Correspondent. She is the recipient of a 2004 Emmy for CNN series "Outsourcing America.", Media Excellence Award from National Foundation for Women Legislators, ISU Young Alumnus Award 2006, 2009 James W. Schwartz Award and MADD Media award 2007. Today she discusses her book which is described as a step-by-step guide to all things money. The Role of Fathers in Development of Children (1:44:07) Julie Nelson (the child whisperer) has a master's degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development. She teaches classes such as Applied Parenting and Marriage and Relationship Skills at Utah Valley University. Julie talk is the author of "Keep It Real and Grab a Plunger" providing parenting tips and ideas. Today she shares research on the importance of fathers in the development of children.

Feelings vs. Fact, Why We Celebrate Memorial Day, Movies May 22, 2015

Show notes

Douglas Van Praet - Feelings vs. Fact (11:17) Douglas Van Praet, a marketing and brand strategy consultant and author of Unconscious Branding: How Neuroscience Can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing. Mr. Van Praet is the founder of a marketing consultancy whose approach to advertising and marketing draws from unconscious behaviorism and applies neurobiology, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral economics to business problems. He's here to help us understand what truly motivates us in our purchases and if we really are in control of our brand choices. Stan Ellsworth - Memorial Day (57:47) Stan Ellsworth is the Harley-riding host of the popular television show. American Ride Stan is a former College Football Coach and history teacher. Mr. Ellsworth calling in from Gettysburg, PA, teaches us about the history of Memorial Day and the importance of remembering those who have fallen for the freedoms that we enjoy. Rod Gustafson - Parent Previews (1:44:11) Rod Gustafson from Parent Previews joins the show to look at what is new in theaters this week. Dr Matt and Rod talk about Tomorrowland and Poltergeist

Russia, Remedy for Unproductive Busyness, Young and Happy May 21, 2015

Show notes

Russia and History (13:15) Jeff Hardy Assistant Professor of Russian and Eastern European History at BYU. BYU (BA ’01, MA ’06) and Princeton University (PhD ’11). Primary research focus is the penal system (Gulag) of the Soviet Union. Dr. Hardy joins Dr. Townsend to discuss how events from Russian history have influenced their current political decisions. "The Remedy for Unproductive Busyness" (57:54) Bradley Staats is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He is also the Visiting Associate Professor OPIM at the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. Bradley teaches courses on core operations, operations strategy and project management. Staats is the co-author of the article: “The Remedy for Unproductive Busyness” published by the Harvard Business Review. Today he talks about how we may be unproductively busy. Putting the Happiness Back in “Young and Happy" (1:42:26) Dr. Ran Zilca, research scientist, entrepreneur, and author, who pioneered the development of mobile behavioral interventions, behavior change, and transformative technologies. Dr Zilca discusses his article, “Putting the Happiness Back Into ‘Young and Happy.'" 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:13:15 - Russia and History 00:57:54 - "The Remedy for Unproductive Busyness" 01:102:26 - Putting the Happiness Back in "Young and Happy"

Becoming Your Best, Technology, Internet and Intelligence May 20, 2015

Show notes

Becoming Your Best (14:01) Steve Shallenberger is the Founder and Chairman of Becoming Your Best. He is the author of Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders- which offers 12 principles that help make companies, people, and families exceptional. Steve talks with Dr. Matt more about his book and the steps to becoming your best Technology News (59:03) Jay McFarland joins Dr. Matt to discuss the latest developments in technology and technology related news. Jay is a radio host whose career has taken him to Nevada and Dallas and now has him on the air with a daily show called The Browsers on KSL NewsRadio in Salt Lake City. In addition to his daily radio show Jay has also authored two books, "Freedom Ain't Free" and "Joyful Union," and he has created several popular apps and games for the iPhone and iPad devices. Jay and Dr. Matt talk about a strange texting experience which turned into a predatory scam looking to exploit teenagers. They also discuss Elon Musk and his inventions including the Telsa electric car, the Hyer Loop, and power wall home battery. Unplugged, We Really Aren't That Smart (1:45:53) Matthew Fisher is a 4th year graduate student at Yale University's Cognition and Development Lab. He is interested in how well people can assess their own explanatory knowledge. Mr. Fisher helped conduct an experiment that showed that getting information online makes us feel a lot smarter than we actually are.

Managing Work Email, In Football We Trust, Functional Foods May 19, 2015

Show notes

Work Email Makes You Stupid (12:17) Professor Sir Cary Cooper-Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health, Lancaster University Management School. He is the author/editor of more than 150 books on occupational stress, women at work and industrial and organizational psychology. He discusses how work email is invading our lives. Tony Vainuku's "In Football We Trust" (1:08:07) Tony Vainuku is the director of “In Football We Trust” which was part of the Sundance Film Festival. Tony also founded and launched the Soulpro brand in 2011. It is a lifestyle apparel brand built on the philosophy of Passion is Purpose. Today Tony Vainuku talks about the movie and how football part of the Polynesian culture. Functional Foods (1:43:17) Dr. Ron Hager back with us again. Ron 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 talks about Functional Foods, which are foods that have a potentially positive effect on health beyond basic nutrition. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:12:17 - Work Email Makes You Stupid (12:17) 01:68:07 - Tony Vainuku's "In Football We Trust" 01:103:17 - Functional Foods

Politics, Happiness and Longer Life, Kindness and Mindfulness May 18, 2015

Show notes

News and Politics (11:15) Joe Cannon, CEO of Fuel Freedom Foundation, former Chairman of the Utah Republican Party, past assistant administrator in the US EPA, and editor of the Deseret News. Joe talks current political news including Jeb Bush mistake filled week and the money George Stephanopoulos from ABC News gave the Clintons. Effects of Self-Reported Happiness on Longer Life (57:47) Andrew Steptoe is Director of the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care in the Faculty of Population Health Sciences, and British Heart Foundation professor of psychology. He graduated from Cambridge in 1972, and completed his doctorate at Oxford University in 1975. Dr. Steptoe talks about a study monitoring self-reported happiness and its correlation with general health, that people who were “happier” lived longer. Kindness and Mindfulness (1:42:12) Dr. Elisha Goldstein is a psychologist, author and speaker who synthesizes psychotherapy and mindfulness to achieve mental and emotional healing. He is the author of the book: “Uncovering Happiness: Overcoming Depression with Mindfulness and Self-Compassion”, “The Now Effect: How This Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life” and “Mindfulness Meditations for the Anxious Traveler”. Dr. Goldstein teaches us about the benefits of mindfulness and kindness, and about how implementing both of these things in your daily life can increase your well-being. 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:11:15 - News and Politics 00:57:57 - Effects of Self-Reported Happiness on Longer Life(57:47) 01:102:12 - Kindness and Mindfulness (1:42:12)

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