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How to Help

How to Help

By: Aaron Miller
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Every single day, you do something to help other people. It might be at home, at work, in your neighborhood, or even for total strangers. And you might not think much of it. Helping is just part of who you are. I'm Aaron Miller, a professor of social innovation, nonprofits, and business ethics at Brigham Young University. I'm fascinated by how all of us can be better helpers. And so I started this podcast and it's called How to Help. Each episode, I talk with fascinating people who can teach us about helping others, whether it's through their research, experience, or example. I love every conversation and I'm confident that you'll enjoy them, too. How to Help is for everyone who wants a life and career with more meaning, integrity, and impact on the world and on the people around them.Copyright 2025 Aaron Miller Economics Personal Development Personal Success
Episodes
  • How to Be a Person Online • Prof. Andrew Brodsky, author of PING.
    Jul 1 2025
    Summary

    We live in an age of unprecedented communication tools, yet misunderstandings and conflicts online seem more common than ever. In this episode, we learn from Professor Andrew Brodsky, a management professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of "PING: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication." Drawing from his personal experience with isolation due to illness and his extensive research, Professor Brodsky shares the science behind effective virtual communication. You'll discover his PING framework for better online interactions, learn why we consistently overestimate our ability to convey emotion through text, and get practical advice for avoiding the most common digital communication pitfalls. This episode will help you become not just a better communicator online, but a more thoughtful and gracious person in all your virtual interactions.

    About Our Guest

    Dr. Andrew Brodsky is a management professor at The University of Texas at Austin in the McCombs School of Business.

    By implementing his own research-driven methods, he has won multiple research and teaching awards, including Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors in the world. Andrew’s expertise on virtual interactions and organization communication led him to publish the book Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication and form the Ping Group. His goal is to help organizations leverage research-based approaches that will enable their employees to improve all types of interactions and communication.

    Andrew has consulted, conducted training, and given keynote talks around the world. His research on workplace interactions has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals, and he has been regularly quoted for his expertise in major media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, The Economist, and Reuters.

    Useful Links

    Andrew Brodsky - Personal & Book Website: https://abrodsky.com

    Ping Group Consulting: https://pinggroup.org/

    Expert Tips for Better Virtual Communication: https://www.pcma.org/expert-tips-for-better-virtual-communication/

    Pleasant Pictures Music

    Join the Pleasant Pictures Music Club to get unlimited access to high-quality, royalty-free music for all of your projects. Use the discount code HOWTOHELP15 for 15% off your first year.

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    30 mins
  • A World without Hunger • Rebecca Middleton, Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer, World Food Program USA
    Jun 24 2025
    Summary

    Globally, hundreds of millions of people experience hunger, and the majority of those are found in armed conflict zones like Sudan, Yemen, and Gaza. A problem this size can make us feel powerless, but there are many reasons to engage and feel hope. In this episode, we talk with Rebecca Middleton, Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer of World Food Program USA. She tells us about the UN World Food Programme, which delivers aid to places no one else can reach. She explains how U.S. food assistance serves as powerful diplomacy and discusses practical ways to combat hunger through advocacy and support. We also learn about her career going from a Congressional staffer, to lobbying, and on to a vocation in hunger advocacy that was providentially guided. We also address how to help fight hunger while managing empathy fatigue in our suffering-saturated world.

    About Our Guest

    Rebecca Middleton is the Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer for World Food Program USA, where she and her team work to educate Members of Congress and their staff on the importance of U.S. government support for the U.N. World Food Program. She brings more than 25 years of experience in policy, advocacy, and strategy to the role.

    Rebecca began her career in Washington, DC, in 1997 as a Senior Legislative Assistant for Congressman Frank Wolf. Five years later she joined the public affairs firm Cassidy & Associates and quickly became Vice President, managing federal lobbying strategy and tactics for a variety of clients including Fortune 500 companies and organizations in the technology, health care, and defense industries.

    Rebecca combined her advocacy and management expertise with her longstanding passion for eradicating hunger in 2013 when she joined the Alliance to End Hunger as its COO; she became its Executive Director in 2016. Rebecca joined World Food Program USA in July of 2020.

    Rebecca holds a BA in political science and English from Mary Washington College. She serves on several boards including as treasurer of the Alliance to End Hunger.

    Useful Links

    About Rebecca Middleton: https://www.wfpusa.org/people/rebecca-middleton/

    World Food Program USA: https://www.wfpusa.org

    UN World Food Programme: https://www.wfp.org

    Alliance to End Hunger: http://www.alliancetoendhunger.org

    Write to Congress about Global Food Aid: https://wfpusa.quorum.us/campaign/2505_RES_ERT_Advocacy_Web/

    2024 Global Report on Food Crises: https://www.wfp.org/publications/global-report-food-crises-grfc

    Pleasant Pictures Music

    Join the Pleasant Pictures Music Club to get unlimited access to high-quality, royalty-free music for all of your projects. Use the discount code HOWTOHELP15 for 15% off your first year.

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    30 mins
  • Disagreement and the Common Good • Judge Thomas Griffith, DC Circuit Court
    Jun 10 2025
    Summary

    What if disagreement could actually unite us? Judge Thomas Griffith, former DC Circuit Court judge, joins us to explore the Constitution’s genius: its embrace of disagreement as a path to the common good. Judge Griffith shares personal stories from his judicial career, including his bipartisan support for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and dispels the myth of “partisans in robes.” He challenges listeners to defend the Constitution through humility, compromise, and local action, and offers hope for those discouraged by political division.

    About Our Guest

    Judge Thomas B. Griffith was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by President George W. Bush in 2005, and served until his retirement in 2020. He is currently a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, a Fellow at the Wheatley Institute, and Special Counsel at Hunton Andrews Kurth. He is also engaged in rule of law initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe.

    Earlier in his career, Judge Griffith served as General Counsel of Brigham Young University and as Senate Legal Counsel, the nonpartisan chief legal officer of the U.S. Senate. In 2021, President Biden appointed him to the President’s Commission on the Supreme Court. He is also a co-author of Lost, Not Stolen: The Conservative Case that Biden Won and Trump Lost the 2020 Presidential Election.

    He holds a BA from Brigham Young University and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.

    Useful Links

    Judge Griffith's Wikipedia entry:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_B._Griffith

    Braver Angels – Bridging Political Divides Through Civil Discourse:

    https://braverangels.org

    Judge Griffith's Letter in Support of Justice Jackson:

    https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2.26.22%20-%20Judge%20Thomas%20Griffith%20Support%20for%20Jackson.pdf

    Judge Griffith's 2012 Speech at BYU, "The Hard Work of Understanding the Constitution":

    https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/thomas-b-griffith/the-hard-work-of-understanding-the-constitution/

    Pleasant Pictures Music

    Join the Pleasant Pictures Music Club to get unlimited access to high-quality, royalty-free music for all of your projects. Use the discount code HOWTOHELP15 for 15% off your first year.

    Show More Show Less
    30 mins

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