Make Money by Doing Things a Better Way

Nov 16, 2025

Nelson Repenning and Don Kieffer, both professors at MIT Sloan, dive into their fascinating journey from early jobs to impactful careers in academia. They share how childhood experiences shape money habits and offer practical advice for parents teaching financial literacy. The duo recounts their serendipitous meeting at Harley-Davidson that sparked a 30-year collaboration and discusses the challenges of improving knowledge work over factory jobs. Their new book emphasizes that better systems—not harder work—lead to greater success and employee satisfaction.

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ADVICE

Subsidize Goals Wisely

Use a partial parent subsidy (like 50%) so kids learn saving pays off without getting crushed by unrealistic goals.
Encourage activities like sports to teach handling disappointment and hard work.

ANECDOTE

A Chance Lunch Sparked 30 Years

Nelson met Don at Harley-Davidson after a colleague suggested they connect about improving work processes.
That chance lunch launched a 30-year collaboration blending Don's hands-on fixes with Nelson's research.

INSIGHT

Doer + Thinker Is A Powerful Mix

Don provided raw practical problems from industry while Nelson provided research context and theory.
Their complementary strengths let them study, improve, and teach work design effectively over decades.

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Nelson Repenning and Don Kieffer are longtime collaborators and professors at the MIT Sloan School of Management. With nearly 30 years of combined research, leadership experience, and hands-on work inside major organizations, they specialize in fixing broken systems, developing leaders, and helping teams operate at peak performance. They are co-authors of the new book There’s Got to Be a Better Way, a practical, field-tested guide to improving how people work.

On this episode we talk about:

How Nelson and Don each earned their very first dollar
Why early childhood experiences shape lifelong money habits
Practical ways parents can teach kids about money today
The surprising paths that led both professors into higher education
How a chance meeting at Harley-Davidson sparked a 30-year collaboration
Why fixing knowledge work is harder than fixing factory work
The origin story behind their new book and why it finally came together
What teaching leaders revealed about how people actually learn
Why improving work makes companies more profitable and people happier

Top 3 Takeaways

Improving work isn’t about grinding harder — it’s about designing systems that allow people to succeed.
Kids learn more from watching how adults handle money than from any formal lesson.
Long-term collaboration thrives when partners bring different strengths but share the same mission.

Notable Quotes

“If you want better results, you don’t fix the people — you fix the work.”
“Kids learn about money by seeing how you treat it, not by what you tell them.”
“The moment we started teaching our ideas, we realized how much more we had to learn.”

Purchase a Copy of "There's Got To Be a Better Way"

https://www.amazon.com/Theres-Got-Be-Better-Way/dp/1541704622

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