Larry King interviews Jane Dutton on Positive Voices episode
May 8, 2020
Positive Voices spotlights the value of applying positive psychology during hard times in “Episode 3: Coping with Covid with Larry King and Dr. Jane Dutton.”
Dutton, a Center for Positive Organizations (CPO) core faculty member, lays out a simple framework to help people be engaged, resilient and healthier at home and work. She tells King and co-host James Pawelski that the key is to cultivate positive connections, positive emotions and positive meaning.
The episode also examines the role of compassion in supporting laid-off workers and leading effectively, Dutton’s job crafting research with CPO faculty affiliate Amy Wrzesniewski, and the importance of first impressions.
“Sometimes people think of positive psychology as a way of cheering people up or a way of not focusing on things that aren’t pleasant,” Pawelski says. “But, what I hear you saying, Jane, is that positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship doesn’t shy away from the truth, from the reality that people find themselves in. But, rather, it leans into that reality and it finds ways of establishing, re-establishing those human connections, understanding that there’s something vitally important in how we connect with each other.”
Dutton is a CPO core faculty member and the Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Emerita Professor of Business Administration and Psychology at the University of Michigan.