My guest today is Philip Sheppard, composer, cellist, inventor, and a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. How do I unpack everything from this episode? Philip is an engaging conversationalist, and coupled with his British accent (let's face it, in America that carries a lot of weight) I feel like we could have easily expanded this episode to twice the length of the final cut. Philip has led what I consider a dynamic and interesting life, peppered with stories of dinner parties wit...
Jul 17, 2018•58 min•Ep. 66
Last year I held a special live coaching session with Stacy Olsen Distefano, and at the end of the episode I put out a call to my listeners to see if anyone else felt brave enough to take the leap. Michelle Seymour Smith answered the call, and today you will hear another live coaching session that digs down deep into what motivates Michelle, what holds her back, and what she can do to disrupt herself. Sometimes when we hear about people disrupting themselves we imagine huge, sweeping changes. In...
Jul 12, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 65
Today's guest is Zach Obront, co-founder of Scribe (formerly Book in a Box), a company that helps entrepreneurs and innovators turn their ideas into a book. When Zach Obront was in college, he started a high school. A bit silly? Possibly, in retrospect. But Zach has never had an issue with out-of-the-box thinking. The next company he created, Handy Monkey, was a mold removal company he started when he realized that mold removal companies in Toronto did not understand the ins-and-outs of SEO and ...
Jul 10, 2018•42 min•Ep. 64
We are pleased to welcome Nate and Vanessa Quigley, the husband and wife team behind Chatbooks, a revolutionary method of printing photo books that focuses on helping families quickly (and economically) tell their story. In the past four years, Chatbooks has grown from a small start-up to a company that employs over 140 people and has sold over 5,000,000 books worldwide. Chatbooks is not the Quigley's first entrepreneurial venture; in fact, it's not even the first photo-centric business that Nat...
Jul 03, 2018•48 min•Ep. 63
When Sloane Davidson graduated from college, there was a plan. Having just completed a post-college trek around Europe, Sloane was excited to leave Pittsburgh and start her new adventure working at a resort, the next stepping stone on her path to conquer the dining services industry. She was due to start work in Florida on September 15… 2001. When the 9/11 terrorist attack occurred in New York City, Sloane's plans came to a grinding halt. Beyond flights being cancelled and the tourism industry i...
Jun 26, 2018•49 min•Ep. 62
My guest today is Chester Elton, the New York Times bestselling co-author of The Carrot Principle , which has sold over 1.5 million copies to date. He has been described by the Toronto Globe and Mail as "an apostle of appreciation," a moniker which he has whole-heartedly embraced. Coming from an athletic and competitively-minded family, Chester has always seen value in recognizing individual accomplishments. While selling televisions in New York City Chester was given the opportunity to work as ...
Jun 19, 2018•38 min•Ep. 61
My guest today is Laura Vanderkam, an expert on time management who's 2016 TED Talk "How to Gain Control of Your Free Time" has been viewed over 5 million times. She is the author of several books on time management, including Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done , which was released in May of this year. Laura did not go to college to become a time management guru. She admits to a mild interest in productivity, having read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People at a young a...
Jun 12, 2018•39 min•Ep. 60
Today's guest is Pat Flynn, a highly successful blogger and podcaster who teaches people how to make a "Smart Passive Income." Some people choose disruption, but many times disruption comes when we least expect it. In 2008, Pat Flynn was happy with his life. Working as the youngest Job Captain in the history of his architectural firm, he was on track for his dream occupation—world famous architect. When the national economic crisis hit Irvine, Pat found himself suddenly without a job and without...
Jun 05, 2018•51 min•Ep. 59
Our guest today is June Cohen, a pioneer in the web industry for her work at HotWired (the web division of Wired magazine), author of "The Unusually Useful Web Book," and the force behind bringing the informational and often inspirational "TED Talks" online and out to the world. She confounded WaitWhat?, a content incubator to develop original media properties over time, and the podcast "Masters of Scale," which explores the theories behind how companies grow and scale their business. June Cohen...
May 29, 2018•1 hr•Ep. 58
In 1988, college student Jonathan Bush climbed on top of a pile of wooden slats in the middle of an unfinished housing development and looked out over a gathering of political volunteers, "Okay," he announced. "Here's how it's gonna go. My name is Jonathan Bush, and we in the next four days are gonna win this election." "This election" was for his uncle, George H.W. Bush, in his first campaign for president. Jonathan didn't think much of the speech at the time; he'd given thousands of such stump...
May 22, 2018•38 min•Ep. 57
A silly little thing that takes over the world—to me, this is the simplest definition of a disruptor. My guest today is Becky Douglas, and her "silly little thing," which began at her kitchen table with a handful of friends, has gone on to change the lives of thousands of individuals in India and beyond. After a family tragedy disrupted her life, Becky, a mother of nine children, found herself in India on the path to adopting a beloved tenth child. While there she was appalled to see the prevale...
May 15, 2018•46 min•Ep. 56
Carter Cast is brilliant, blending intense insight with the heart of a teacher (although it took him years to uncover this truth). Having been a marketing manager early in his career at PepsiCo Food Service International, he appeared to be on the fast track for promotion—until he was transferred to the Frito Lay division, an abrupt change from his previous work. In Carter's words, he did not react well. "I did not respond well to the different…culture. I was always itchy and I was trying to move...
May 08, 2018•52 min•Ep. 55
Disrupting yourself is a way of life around here, so it's only natural that it is my turn to be disrupted. Today is Launch Day for my new book, Build an A-Team: Play To Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve , and I couldn't be more excited! To celebrate, we're doing things a bit differently on the podcast. Macy Robison, my fabulous project manager, is interviewing me to help break down what my listeners can expect from my new book, and how the information I've gathered can help the...
May 01, 2018•50 min•Ep. 54
Today's guest is Tom Peters, best-selling author of the groundbreaking book In Search of Excellence , which changed the way the world viewed the connection between corporate culture and the success of a business. His newest book, The Excellence Dividend , is likewise original, commanding, and cutting-edge. Forty years ago, Tom was tasked with creating a last-minute presentation for a client after a computer failure wreaked havoc on his company's original plans. Not wanting to disappoint his wife...
Apr 24, 2018•50 min•Ep. 53
My guest today is Dave Meltzer, entrepreneur, speaker, author, and CEO of Sports 1 Marketing. His personal objective in life is to "make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun." After spending only a few minutes in his company, it is apparent that having "lots of fun" is not difficult for Dave. Dynamic and engaging, Dave was told as a child that he could sell ice to an Eskimo, and his career path indicates that he might have succeeded had he ever been put in that situation. ...
Apr 17, 2018•53 min•Ep. 52
My guest today is Marisa Thalberg, Chief Marketing Officer of Taco Bell, founder of ExecutiveMoms.com, and listed as one of the top 25 Most Influential CMOs in the World by Forbes. The idea of "playing where no one is playing" appears to be second nature to Marisa. While a student at Brown University, Marisa actively sought out development opportunities, even going so far as to call up New York City communication companies to tell them that she wanted an internship. By graduation, Marisa had cul...
Apr 10, 2018•28 min•Ep. 51
Nick Gray thought museums were boring. As a business-minded individual, he couldn't understand why anyone would be fascinated by the contents and just wanted the physically (and emotionally) cold places to "get to the point." After a date turned into a private tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Nick began to be curious. He spent weekends learning more about the museum and the art, trying to understand the new world that had opened before him. "I said look, I could go and dr...
Apr 03, 2018•35 min•Ep. 50
Today's guest is Alison Levine, a former Goldman Sachs investor-turned-mountain climber who has climbed the highest mountains on every continent. She's the author of the NY Times bestselling book On the Edge , and is the executive producer of The Glass Ceiling , a documentary about the first Nepali woman to climb Mt. Everest. Takeaways from this Episode: You don't always have to be "better" than others to achieve something; you can simply be different. Alison found a way to stand out from the cr...
Mar 27, 2018•39 min•Ep. 49
Today's guest is Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, a book that has sold over a million copies. He's also the author of The Startup Way, a nuts-and-bolts, dollars and cents, how-to-do-the-math guide that shows how to make entrepreneurship a core discipline of your business. Takeaways from this Episode: No one gets things done in your organization the way "the process" says they get things done. The only way to find out how the company actually works is to run experiments and identify the rea...
Mar 20, 2018•48 min•Ep. 48
My guest today is Patty McCord, former Chief Human Resources Officer at Netflix, author of the unabashedly bold book, "Powerful," and a rocket ship of a disrupter. Although Patty describes herself as a serial entrepreneur, she started her career at very large companies and worked her way backward, with each company getting progressively smaller. Now a prized speaker and consultant, Patty works with companies that want the innovative spirit and agility of a start up, and she's not afraid to ask t...
Mar 13, 2018•54 min•Ep. 47
Benjamin Hardy was going nowhere. After barely graduating high school, he admits that he spent 12-15 hours a day playing World of Warcraft while living at his cousin's house with no job. He wanted to be better, but didn't know how to take that desire and transform it into action. It wasn't until Benjamin's environment changed that he realized he had the capacity to be different. Years later, Benjamin is a foster parent to three children, one of the top contributors on Medium, a PhD candidate in ...
Mar 06, 2018•43 min•Ep. 46
Today I am excited to introduce you to Richie Norton, a new friend that I am excited to be collaborating with on the video course UNSTUCK45 . Google "Stupid Richie" and you may just see his name at the top of the results—he is an innovative social entrepreneur and the author of "The Power of Starting Something Stupid," which encourages everyone to Live to Start and Start to Live. This podcast is a deliberate disruption to my usual format. An accelerant of managing change is being discovery drive...
Feb 27, 2018•54 min•Ep. 45
Kare Anderson is an Emmy award-winning former journalist for NBC and the Wall Street Journal, as well as the author of " Mutuality Matters ," which was inspired by her TED talk "The Web of Humanity: Become an Opportunity Maker." She believes passionately that individuals need to connect and make "unexpected allies," where it's okay to strongly disagree about some issues but still come to trust one another through shared interests. This mutuality allows us to find and recognize our strengths whil...
Feb 20, 2018•40 min•Ep. 44
Focus. And be lazy. Seemingly incongruous, these two ideas permeate Michael Bungay Stanier's disruption of the professional coaching model. Michael is the founder of Box of Crayons, a training company dedicated to coaching managers and leaders "in ten minutes or less." He is the author of five books, including " The Coaching Habit ," which has sold almost 300,000 copies and spawned an accompanying podcast. After years of listening to friends talk about their "angsty teenage life," Michael realiz...
Feb 13, 2018•46 min•Ep. 43
People often ask––is it really possible to disrupt yourself inside of an organization? If you, like Karen S. Carter, today's guest on the Disrupt Yourself Podcast, are determined, willing to risk, and hire the right boss, the answer is yes. What started as a summer internship to pay for college transformed into a two-decade long career path for Karen, who goes to work every day believing that her focus should be making a life rather than just making a living. The result? Eighteen months ago Kare...
Feb 06, 2018•36 min•Ep. 42
Vala Afshar, my guest on the Disrupt Yourself podcast, is here to answer the burning question: What is a Chief Digital Evangelist? For starters, that's the role Vala fills with Salesforce, the dominant player in the sphere of CRM technology. Vala, with his prior company, was an early Salesforce customer. He used Salesforce and innovated with it for years before he went to work there. He became "the first evangelist hired at Salesforce, so it was new territory." In addition to all things Salesfor...
Jan 30, 2018•36 min•Ep. 41
For Episode 40 of the Disrupt Yourself Podcast, I'm trying a little experiment. For the first time, I'm hosting a podcast interview with myself - so to speak. I'm answering several questions that came from podcast listeners and loved having a chance to think through them and try something new for the podcast. If you have any questions for future episodes, I'd love to have you submit them at whitneyjohnson.com/contact For show notes for this episode, click here....
Jan 23, 2018•18 min•Ep. 40
Join me for a lively conversation with best selling author Daniel Pink for the inside scoop on the research that went into his new book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing and the discoveries that came out of it. Who knew that our biological clock and circadian rhythm, internal ticking unheard and pendulum swinging unseen, were so influential in the decisions we make, and the outcomes of initiatives we undertake? Download the complete transcript and view show notes at https://whitneyj...
Jan 16, 2018•40 min•Ep. 39
Deb Dugan is the CEO of [RED], founded by U2 front man, Bono, in partnership with Bobby Shriver. [RED] has the ambitious goal of eradicating AIDS in our lifetime, and pursues this noble objective through a variety of disruptive social media and marketing initiatives. Download a transcript of Whitney & Deb's conversation and view the show notes by clicking here.
Jan 09, 2018•38 min•Ep. 38
Hear what Peter Sims, author of Little Bets, a Founder of Parliament, Inc., BLK SHP, Silicon Guild and more, has to say about stepping back, the value of collaboration and the miracles of the people we encounter in our path on the Disrupt Yourself podcast. Show Notes: https://whitneyjohnson.com/peter-sims-power-collaboration/
Jan 02, 2018•44 min•Ep. 37
