Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

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

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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Do you think of your beliefs as immutable facts? If so, you might be holding yourself back.

In this episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Nir Eyal, bestselling author whose work sits at the intersection of psychology, technology, and human potential. His latest book, Beyond Belief, explores how the stories we tell ourselves shape our motivation, and how changing those stories can change our outcomes.

In this conversation, Jessi and Nir explore how limiting beliefs take hold, why our brains default to helplessness, and how we can challenge the narratives that keep us stuck.

Jessi and Nir discuss:

Why beliefs should be treated as tools, not truths

How limiting beliefs undermine motivation and progress

The “motivation triangle” and why belief is essential to action

Why we often quit too early, and what a famous rat experiment reveals about persistence

A practical method for questioning assumptions and collecting new perspectives

Why visualization can actually hurt motivation, and what to do instead

The difference between pain and suffering, and why separating the two matters

At the heart of Nir’s work is a simple idea: our minds default to safety and survival, not growth. But when we learn to question the beliefs that hold us back, we can unlock more motivation, agency, and possibility in our lives.

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Office Hours are back! Join Jessi live from her LinkedIn page on Wednesday 4/1 at 3pm EST.