Rejection: Lessons learned and how we can use it

Everyone has a rejection story — from presidents, CEOs and bestselling authors to our neighbors and friends.  

Personal and professional rejection is part of life. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. 

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests dug into the psychology behind rejection and how we can use it to our advantage.  

They talked about why rejection is so uniquely painful and how we can use rejection to move on and move up in our lives. 

Guests:   

• Viann Nguyen-Feng, PhD., is an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Director of the Mind-Body Trauma Care Lab.  

• Cynthia Pong is founder and CEO of the career coaching firm Embrace Change. 

• Paul Stetler is the founder of Letters Aloud. His production, “Thanks But No Thanks: The Greatest Rejection Letters Ever” performs Saturday at the O'Shaughnessy Theater at St. Catherine University in St. Paul. 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.    

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.