Kicking an old habit is tough, so why not replace it with a good one? Vicki’s first guest today will introduce you to “The Habit Change Cheat Sheet.” And later, learn how to stop taking life so seriously and embrace the simple things, one day at a time! Enjoy Conversations Live every Monday at noon on KKNW 1150AM!

Susan Steinbrecher, author of Kensho: A Modern Awakening, Instigating Change in an Era of Global Renewal, acknowledges that lots of us make New Year’s resolutions to quit old habits cold turkey, only to fall back into them by the time the calender hits February. She submits the best way to kick a bad habit is to replace it with a better one! She helps to recognize what triggers old temptations and ways to avoid getting overwhelmed while still maintaining the changes in your behavior. Steinbrecher is an internationally acclaimed speaker, executive coach and author, and is CEO of Steinbrecher And Associates Inc., a management consulting firm.

Celebrating the simple things in life each day sounds good, but it’s easy to forget about them when you have a toddler crying, a bill collector calling, and needy clients bombarding your inbox. Sometimes you need a reminder to take a daily time out and embrace what is most important. Monique Alvarez, author of Celebrate Life… 365 Ways, has experienced life in 16 countries and shares her simple tips to enjoy everything the world – or just your neighborhood – has to offer!

Today Vicki is also joined by Buddhist practitioner and teacher Allan Lokos. On the roller coaster of daily life, it seems like it’s easy to run out of patience just when you need it the most. In his book Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living, he sheds new light on the nature of patience, and provides a practical approach for developing this essential state of mind. Lokos is the founder and guiding teacher of the Community Meditation Center.

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The business world has changed, and having the edge to running a successful business is now more crucial than ever! Vicki’s first guest recognizes the importance of socio-economic shifts in the corporate world that are changing the way a business projects itself. Her second guest is the legendary Harvey Mackey, who shares decades of timeless sales advice!

With a huge deficit and sluggish economy, how can you set your business apart? In Good Company, economist Laurie Bassi joins other experts in showing how to usher your business into the “worthiness era.” Good Company sounds an urgent warning, but at the same time offers a hopeful message that bad companies will wither while worthy companies will thrive. It covers every aspect of making your company worthy from consumer desire, shifts in moral and ethical values, social responsibility, and more! Bassi holds a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University, and was a tenured professor of economics and public policy at Georgetown. She is currently CEO of McBassi & Company, a consulting firm.

The Mackey MBA of Selling in the Real World brings back mega-bestselling business guru Harvey Mackey and his incomparable sales know-how. Today he shares tips on how you can sell yourself without “turning people off”, and how to get back up when you get knocked down. He will also share some of the biggest myths about selling, and how to avoid some common mistakes. Larry King says Harvey’s new book “is his best book yet – and that is saying a lot. Miss it at your own peril.”

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Eating and sex. Nearly everyone enjoys them, but are you doing them right? Our first guest today is an expert in creating a diet that can lead to better physical and mental health. Her second guests are a couple who are experts on sexually compulsive behavior. Enjoy Conversations Live every Monday at noon on KKNW 1150AM! 

Everyone experiences happiness at some point during their day, but can our diet encourage our brain to shift gears into that mode more often? Dr. Drew Ramsey’s new book, The Happiness Diet, shows that proper nourishment can help the brain to fire on all cylinders. His research has shown that the average American’s diet consists of an overabundance of mood-destroying foods that also lead to weight gain, while ignoring vital nutrients that are essential for a happy, well-balanced brain!

Can too much sexual activity be a bad thing? Sounds crazy, but it can be when it becomes an overwhelming addiction that damages a relationship from the inside out. George and Paldrom Collins are not only experts on the subject, they draw on their own personal experiences in recognizing, and ultimately defeating an addiction that could have easily destroyed what they hold the most dear. Their new book, A Couple’s Guide to Sexual Addiction, is designed to alert readers to the warning signs that sexual addiction has entered a relationship, and how to heal and repair any damage already done.

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Happy New Year from Conversations Live!
We all have our own way of defining success. We kick off 2012 with two guests who understand that their are many roads to achieving it, the key is to find the one that is right for you!

Vicki’s first guest is Michael J. Berland, co-author of What Makes You Tick? How Successful People Do It—and What You Can Learn from Them. (Harper-Collins) Both authors are highly successful in their own right: Michael J. Berland is an internationally recognized strategic adviser and communications consultant, and an expert in how people think and behave as consumers and decision makers. Douglas E. Schoen has been a Democratic campaign consultant for more than 30 years.

Vicki’s second guest is Barbara Winter. Whether you view self-employment as your next career, or you simply want to make a living being joyfully jobless, she is the expert on making it happen. Barbara Winter is the publisher of Winning Ways, a newsletter now in its 21st year, that shares inspiration and information with small business owners. Winter is also the author of Making a Living Without a Job (Bantam) and Jumpstart Your Entrepreneurial Spirit (Sogno Bella). In addition, her articles have appeared in numerous magazines, newsletters and online.

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Happy Holidays from Conversations Live! Enjoy this special re-broadcast! Get wined and dined as Vicki welcomes a globe trotting expert on food and vino today! But first, Vicki shares tips to promote a clear-cut guide to achieving a healthy lifestyle – the right way. Tune in to Conversations Live Mondays at noon on KKNW 1150AM.

From the mountainside vineyards of Germany, to the baked red earth of Australia, to the shady verandahs of Niagara, Natalie McLean whisks you away with colorful stories about the passionate personalities around the world who inhabit the world of wine. Her new book, Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines will amuse and enthrall as McLean takes a stand against wine snobbery using her signature conversational style. Her adventures as she traipses around the world include encounters with sharks, goats, predatory hawks, and obsessive personalities. McLean is the award winning writer of the bestselling Red, White and Drunk All Over. Her regular wine columns in print reach over 5.1 million readers.

Vicki shares the holiday’s top seven rules from New York Times best-selling author Tosca Reno. In her 13th book, Just the Rules, she trims everyday food decisions into a simple guide for eating right.

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Find out how to channel your inner genius with Gina Rudman, and CBC producer Marina Sonkina takes you on a fictional historical journey around the world with her book of short stories! Plus learn to live an upscale lifestyle on a limited budget with returning guest Danny Kofke!

Danny Kofke is a special ed teacher, whose latest work, A Simple Book of Financial Wisdom: Teach Yourself (and Your Kids) How to Live Wealthy with Little Money, debunks the theory that your income should limit you ability to enjoy the finer things in life. He has been a featured guest on the CBS Early Show.

Gina Rudman is the president of Genuine Insights Inc., a professional development and training practice with the mission of leveraging the genius within individuals and organizations. Gina has been a guest lecturer, trainer and strategist for organizations such as Merck Co., the BETNetwork, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Stern School of Business at New York University among many others. She is the author of Practical Genius: The Real Smarts You Need to Get Your Talents and Passions Working for You!

Marina Sonkina uses her short story collection to gives the readers unexpected characters put into surreal situations, taking place in diverse settings from Russia to Montreal to Mexico, and in different periods of time. She draws upon her real life experiences as a Russian refugee who escaped to Canada as a linguist, and eventually became an author and producer with CBC.

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Sometimes it seems that no matter what you do, you just cannot satisfy your partner. If you are in a relationship with someone who is critical to the point of endangering the relationship, Dr. Michelle Skeen has the answer. Later, Dr. Abraham Verghese discusses his first novel that’s been on the New York Times Bestseller List for more than a year!

Has it ever seemed like your partner blames you for things out of your control? Or perhaps exaggerates what they interpret as character flaws? If your self-esteem has taken a hit, Dr. Michelle Skeen recognizes these all too common behaviors and has written a book that will help readers understand the behaviors of these critical partners and ultimately end this destructive pattern. In The Critical Partner: How to End the Cycle of Criticism and Get the Love You Want, Dr. Skeen presents a clear step-by-step plan to help develop new coping strategies and deflecting criticism. Dr. Skeenhas provided both brief and long-term therapy for individuals and couples using schema, cognitive, and behavioral therapies to address a myriad of personal issues.

The new book by Dr. Abraham Verghese, Cutting For Stone, shares the captivating story of two brothers born of a union clouded in secrecy and abandoned by the death of their mother and the disappearance of their father. The twins come of age over a shared fascination with medicine, only to be torn apart and separated by an ocean over their passion for the same woman. Cutting For Stone is filled with mystical scenes and deeply engaging characters. Dr. Verghese is Professor and Senior Associate Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University. He is also an adjunct professor for the University of Texas Health Science Center where he founded the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics. His essays and short stories have appeared in many periodicals and he is a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Join him also for Ted Talks… Ideas Worth Sharing.

Today, Vicki also welcomes Larry Kane, bestselling author and veteran newsman about the sad state of local television news and reportage. He will also talk about his new novel, Death By Deadline. Kane currently hosts the Voice of Reasonshow on Comcast Network, and has the distinction of being the only newsman to anchor at all three network stations in Philadelphia.

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Fight the bad economy and grow your business in spite of it! And later, Vicki talks with Jason Selk, the Director of Mental Training for the World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals, about how to reach the next level by developing your mental toughness! Join Vicki and her guests on Monday at noon on KKNW 1150AM!

As founder and CEO of Intertech, a Minneapolis based consulting and training firm, Tom Salonek used his meteoric rise as the basis for his book Building A Winning Business. In it, he covers the basics like hiring and time management, and demonstrates why the poor economic times have little to do with business growth if you are doing the “right things”. He also shares how growing up on a farm made him a better business owner. Salonek holds a degree in computer science, and has written over 50 articles on business and leadership, and in 2005 was named one of Minnesota’s top business leaders under 40.

Dr. Jason Selk is the author of Executive Toughness: The Mental Training Program to Increase Your Leadership Performance. He uses his in-depth knowledge and experiences working with the world’s finest business leaders, athletes, and coaches to help individuals and organizations achieve extraordinary levels of success by developing their mental toughness. He covers a wide range of topics including whether women can benefit from mental toughness as well as men, if mental toughness requires a thicker skin and more competitive nature, and how these skills can affect your home life as well as business.

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The holidays are fast approaching, which means most of us will suddenly be thrust into family circles where old tensions can rear their ugly heads. Today Vicki talks with a psychologist who contends that dignity is the key to resolving these conflicts! Tune in at noon on Monday on KKNW 1150AM!

Turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, … tension? As much a tradition as pumpkin pie around the holidays, getting the family together is often a wonderful experience, but just as often old conflicts can appear at a moment’s notice. Dr. Donna Hicks has written a book that can help YOU be the one put these matters to rest! Dignity: The Essential Role it Plays in Resolving Conflict sets the focus on yourself, and shows how taking the concious effort to assume responsibility rather than blame others helps you set the example for others to follow. She points out that this is a perfect time of year to take stock in your relationships and mend fences by taking the first step towards re-establishing dignity to your family members, as well as yourself! Dr. Hicks is an Associate at Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Later, Thanksgiving is one of the biggest holidays for travelling of the year, and Vicki talks with air traffic analyst Chris Hills regarding making your travel plans as well as the best ways to deal with the TSA. And find out just how much Conversations Live producer Eric Reidar knows about Turkey Day as Vicki grills him with her Thanksgiving quiz!

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If you think you own your body you might ask: Who has a patent on your genes? The answer: Drug companies. 40,000 patents to be precise! Harvard medical ethicist, Harriet Washington, on Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself – and the Consequences for Your Health and our Medical Future. Listen live Monday at Noon PT / 3 pm ET on KKNW.

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