Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

Work has always been demanding, but lately, it feels like the ground is constantly shifting. Business is moving faster, projects disappear overnight, expectations change without warning. Under pressure, teams see more tension and uncomfortable moments. So how do you stay steady through these times and even use workplace tensions to grow and improve?

This week on Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel talks with Aiko Bethea, leadership coach and author of Anchored, Aligned, Accountable: A Framework for Transcending Bullsh*t and Transforming Our Lives.

Aiko’s book comes with a forward from Brené Brown, and offers a road-tested framework for navigating modern work with more clarity and intention. Instead of looking outward for stability, she argues that the real work starts within: understanding your values, recognizing your impact, and reclaiming your sense of agency.

In this conversation, Jessi and Aiko discuss:

Why work feels more chaotic than ever

What it really means to be “anchored” in your values—and why most of us get this wrong

How to align your decisions and behavior with what actually matters to you

A more generous, effective way to think about accountability (hint: it’s not about blame)

The many forms of power operating inside organizations

Why curiosity is the key to better leadership and stronger relationships

How to stop waiting for external conditions to improve and start creating your own stability

This episode is for anyone looking for a way to regain clarity, ownership, and direction in the middle of constant change.

Follow Aiko Bethea and Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn.

Work can feel a little surreal. Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat makes that feeling literal.

In this episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Lee Eisenberg, writer and co-creator of the Jury Duty franchise, and Nick Hatton, executive producer, to talk about the hit series. The show’s premise is simple but radical: one real person dropped into a completely staged world, surrounded by actors. In Company Retreat, that world is the workplace. Specifically, a hot sauce company navigating a looming acquisition in the midst of their annual retreat. 

Beneath the comedy, the show lands because it feels real.

Lee has built his career capturing the nuances of human behavior at work, spending 5 years in the writer’s room for The Office before co-creating Jury Duty. Nick, too, has built a career in comedy, with past producing credits such as Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and This Is America. 

In this conversation, they unpack how they recreate workplace dynamics so convincingly, why audiences connect so deeply with these stories, and what the show reveals about modern work culture.

Jessi, Lee, and Nick discuss:

The "David vs. Goliath" design behind Company Retreat and why Anthony was cast as the lowest rung on the corporate ladder

How the show argues that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary decency when given the right environment

The unexpected discovery that many of their casting candidates were gig workers, and what that says about the modern economy

The ethics and mechanics of "laying breadcrumbs" for their hero without compromising his free will

Their fears and cautious hopes about AI's impact on the entertainment industry and the future of meaningful work

Follow Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn

When was the last time you felt truly bored? And when was the last time your life felt genuinely meaningful? For Harvard social scientist Arthur Brooks, those two questions are more connected than you might think.

This week on Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Arthur Brooks — professor at Harvard Business School, bestselling author, and one of the most compelling thinkers on happiness and purpose — to dig into his new book, The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness. 

In this episode, Jessi and Arthur discuss:

Why so many high-achievers feel empty even when everything is going right

How our devices are literally pushing us into the wrong hemisphere of the brain, and why eliminating boredom may have accidentally eliminated meaning

The psychology of strivers: why so many driven, successful people are secretly running on a fear that idleness means they'll stop being loved

The "arrival fallacy": why reaching your goals so often feels like a letdown, and what that tells you about whether you were chasing the right things

The four types of career paths, and why "spiral" careers — built from a series of reinventions — may be the most fulfilling model for this moment

How to retrofit a sense of calling into the job you already have

Arthur's gut-check formula for evaluating any career opportunity: 80% excitement, 20% fear, 0% deadness

Why suffering and meaning share the same part of the brain — and why trying to avoid all pain may be the very thing standing between you and a purposeful life

This episode is for anyone who has achieved what they set out to achieve and still found themselves wondering, "Is this it?" — and for anyone still figuring out what they're actually working toward.

This conversation was recorded live. If you’re a premium member, you can watch the extended version, featuring lots more audience questions, here.

Follow Arthur Brooks and Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn.

Finding your path to a meaningful career has never felt more complicated. The job market is entirely unpredictable, AI is reading your resume, and entire industries seem to be disappearing. 

It’s a particularly uncertain moment to be entering the workforce for the first time. This week on Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel talks with Jodi Kantor about navigating the early years of a career. 

Jodi is one of the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists who broke the Harvey Weinstein story, igniting the Me Too movement. Last year, she delivered a commencement speech to Columbia’s class of 2025, offering practical and comforting advice for young people on the cusp of their professional lives. She’s expanded on that guidance in her new book, How to Start, which offers a roadmap to a meaningful career.

In this episode, Jessi and Jodi discuss:

Why the early stages of a career are inherently difficult, and how to embrace a “fruitful struggle” instead of giving up

Jodi’s own winding path, from law school dropout to journalist

How the job search itself has changed, including the rise of AI interviews and increasingly impersonal hiring processes

Why the real measure of a career isn’t prestige or stability, but how connected you feel to the work in your day-to-day tasks

The challenge of distinguishing your own voice and interests from expectations coming from parents, culture, or conventional career advice

Why trying to game the job market or chase the “safe” profession rarely works

How to hold onto the belief that work can be meaningful, satisfying, and sustainable, even in a difficult job market

How cold calling doesn’t get easier, and why you should do it anyway

This episode is for anyone starting out, starting over, or helping someone else navigate the messy early chapters of a career.

Follow Jodi Kantor and Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn

If you feel like your attention span has shrunk, you’re not imagining it.

According to social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, our phones and social platforms have fundamentally reshaped childhood, work, and our ability to focus. In his bestselling book The Anxious Generation, Jon argues that the rise of smartphones and social media triggered what he calls the “great rewiring of childhood.” But the consequences extend far beyond kids.

In this episode of Hello Monday, Jessi talks with Jon about what constant connectivity is doing to our minds,how we got here, and why reclaiming our attention may be one of the most important challenges of our time.

Jon and Jess discuss:

How smartphones reshaped adolescent development

Why social media use is linked strongly to rising anxiety and depression among young people

How tech platforms are intentionally designed to capture and fragment our attention

Why today’s digital tools isolate people

Practical steps families, workplaces, and individuals can take to reclaim focus and develop healthier tech habits

Why restoring unstructured play, independence, and boredom is critical for healthy development

At its core, this conversation asks a simple question: What happens when an entire society loses control of its attention, and how do we get it back?

Find Jon’s new book for kids, The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World, here. 

Follow Jonathan Haidt and Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn.