As we find ourselves in the midst of a great experiment around how and where work is done, I wanted to talk to someone who has been thinking about and leading companies through this process for years. Our guest today is Cali Yost, CEO and Founder of Flex+Strategy Group - a company that helps leaders reimagine how, when and where their people work today and tomorrow. Join us as we discuss 5 things you can do right now in your organization to help you weather our current coronavirus crisis and how...
Mar 24, 2020•37 min•Ep. 155
Our guest today is Scott Miller. Scott is the Executive Vice President of the Thought Leadership practice at FranklinCovey. Scott is a twenty-three veteran of FranklinCovey, which is part of the reason that I wanted you to hear from him. His 20+ year tenure would suggest that FranklinCovey recognizes that for an organization to get where it wants to go, its people need to grow --- to practice personal disruption. Scott faced more than his fair share of struggles on his 20+ year path to leadershi...
Mar 19, 2020•39 min•Ep. 154
Right now, we find ourselves in uncharted waters. A pandemic, political wrangling, a volatile stock market. Most of it we've experienced before. But it feels a bit like we've sailed into the Bermuda triangle of uncertainty, even chaos. These macro events coupled with the micro anxieties that accompany our everyday human lives might make us fear we are sinking. There's no question that the past few weeks have been disconcerting. Most of us are finding it discombobulating; pretty normal to be feel...
Mar 17, 2020•44 min•Ep. 153
Today our guest is Stew Friedman, an organizational psychologist at Wharton. He's one of the most influential management thinkers in the world, as named by Thinkers 50, one of HR Magazine's most influential thought leaders, and one of America's most influential men who have made life better for working parents according to Working Mother Magazine. And this is the subject of his latest book, Parents Who Lead , which he co-authored with Alyssa Westring, a management professor at DePaul University....
Mar 10, 2020•46 min•Ep. 152
Our guest today is Michael Bungay Stanier, and if that name sounds familiar, you may remember him from our previous conversation on the podcast in early 2018. Michael is our first repeat guest on the Disrupt Yourself podcast, and it would be hard to find a worthier candidate for the distinction. Michael is the number one thought leader in coaching as named by Thinkers 50 MG 100, and is the bestselling author of The Coaching Habit , which has sold a staggering 700,000 copies. His new book, The Ad...
Mar 03, 2020•59 min•Ep. 151
My guest on the podcast today is Marco Trecroce, Senior Vice President and the first ever Chief Information Officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. I had a chance to meet Marco in Toronto a few months ago, and on hearing about his completion of a 10-year technology transformation which obviously requires all sorts of internal and personal disruption, combined with the fact that the Four Seasons is known as the global industry leader of luxury hotels and resorts, not technology, I was intrigu...
Feb 25, 2020•36 min•Ep. 150
Today's guest is Gabrielle Blair, a woman whose life has been full of disruption, of playing where no one else is playing and discovery driven learning and growth. Beginning with her lifestyle blog Design Mom - which she started in 2004 - a blog focused on the intersection of motherhood and design, she then founded Alt Summit , the premier summit for creative entrepreneurs and social media content creators. Gabrielle is a New York Times bestselling author of the book Design Mom: How to Live with...
Feb 18, 2020•52 min•Ep. 149
My guest on the podcast today is Jeremy Andrus, the CEO of Traeger Grills and the former CEO of Skullcandy. During his tenure, Skullcandy grew from $1 million in sales to $300 million, and over the past few years, Jeremy has taken Traeger from $70 million in revenue to almost half a billion with a goal to reach $1 billion in the near future. Join us as we discuss Jeremy's journey, from childhood dreams of being a CEO to realizing he needed to be a good CEO; his short-lived but thrilling career a...
Feb 11, 2020•58 min•Ep. 148
Our guest today is Tom Rath, the New York times bestselling author of How Full is Your Bucket and Amazon's top selling non-fiction book of all time StrengthsFinder 2.0 . For the past five years Tom has served as Gallup senior scientist and he recently co-founded the publishing company Silicon Guild with Peter Sims (a previous guest on this podcast). Tom has sold over 10 million books, including his latest works Life's Great Question: Discover How You Contribute to the World, and the autobiograph...
Feb 04, 2020•34 min•Ep. 147
Our guest today is Angela Blanchard, a globally recognized expert practitioner in community development, disaster recovery, and effective long-term integration for immigrants and refugees. It may be sad to think about, but we have culturally become accustomed to seeing the immediate aftermath of natural disasters. Dramatic visuals of fleeing citizens, devastated buildings, and heroic rescues fill social media feeds for the days immediately following the unthinkable. Join us as we discuss the mea...
Jan 28, 2020•48 min•Ep. 146
Our guest on the podcast today is BJ Fogg, world-renowned behavioral scientist and the founder of Stanford's behavior design lab. BJ's new book, Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything , he examines the fundamentals of what it takes to modify our habits and lays out a framework for individuals to make small adjustments that lead to lasting change. Many authors once dreamed of writing a book, but BJ can state unequivocally that this book exists because of a dream. When he began teac...
Jan 21, 2020•37 min•Ep. 145
My guest today is Claire Diaz-Ortiz, digital strategist and author of the new book Social Media Success for Every Brand. Claire's journey in social media expertise began as an early user of Twitter, and to put that in perspective, her Twitter handle is @claire. That's it. No other words, numbers, or symbols. Just @claire. After effectively using the platform to raise funds and promote awareness for her nonprofit organization, Twitter hired her to help others do the same and proactively make a po...
Jan 14, 2020•49 min•Ep. 144
To kick off 2020 I am talking to Simon Sinek, who is best known for popularizing the concept of "why" in his 2009 TED talk. To date, it is the third most-watched talk at TED.com with over 40 million views. Simon is the author of several best-selling books, including "Start With Why," "Leaders Eat Last," and "The Infinite Game," which was released in October of 2019. Join us as we discuss how to shift your mindset from finite to infinite, the role of worthy rivals, and how becoming the leader you...
Jan 07, 2020•33 min•Ep. 143
The end of the year is a time for reflection and looking back at the progress made. We love taking a look at where we are as a team in our S-Curve of Learning as podcasters. looking back at some of our most popular episodes, which interestingly, include the solo episodes; we also love sharing our favorite conversations and the impact they've had on each of us. Full show notes and links available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/disrupt-yourself-podcast/...
Dec 31, 2019•40 min•Ep. 142
On today's episode of the Disrupt Yourself podcast, we're talking with Jim Ferrell. Jim is a bestselling author, sought-after speaker, and renowned thought leader on mindset and organizational change. And we're talking all about self-deception. Understanding this concept of self-deception is key to one of the most important accelerants in disrupting ourselves - battling our sense of entitlement. This is where we preference ourselves above others, effectively turning those around us into objects,...
Dec 17, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 141
Constraints. For most of us, just hearing this word evokes a negative response. Limitations. Restrictions. A cage that prevents us from spreading our wings. However, if you're familiar with the accelerants of disruption, you'll know that Accelerant #3—Embrace Constraints—will be one of your finest friends if you are really serious about growth. To build momentum toward the life you dream of, you need resistance. You need structure. And constraints provide both. Full Episode & Blog Post: http...
Dec 10, 2019•44 min•Ep. 140
When a photo of a new "boy band" crossed PR Agent Heather Hawkins' desk in 2001, she was surprised at how glamorously they were presented. The era of Backstreet Boys was over; kids were listening to "real music" (like highly produced punk), and what was more, the look of the band didn't match the sound. As Heather and her coworkers listened to the music and got to know the band members, they quickly realized that something needed to change. "[W]e realized that in order for them to survive in the...
Dec 03, 2019•50 min•Ep. 139
Disruption can be a powerful personal tool, but as we discussed during the re-launch of Disrupt Yourself earlier in the month, disruption is not limited to individuals looking to jump into the entrepreneurial life. Significant disruptions can come from within large organizations, leading, as Kaihan Krippendorff pointed out, to important innovation. But how do you disrupt from within a large organization? My guest today is one of the foremost experts on this very topic. A professor at the Ross Sc...
Nov 26, 2019•56 min•Ep. 138
Disruption can be a powerful personal tool, but as we discussed during the re-launch of Disrupt Yourself earlier in the month, disruption is not limited to individuals looking to jump into the entrepreneurial life. Significant disruptions can come from within large organizations, leading, as Kaihan Krippendorff pointed out, to important innovation. But how do you disrupt from within a large organization? My guest today is one of the foremost experts on this very topic. A professor at the Ross Sc...
Nov 26, 2019•56 min•Ep. 138
As a child, Allison Holzer was fascinated with the invisible. When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would enthusiastically tell the listener that her dream job was to be a nuclear physicist (even though she wasn't completely clear on what that meant). All she knew was that she wanted to study the teeny tiny particles that, when tapped into, could create huge amounts of energy. Years later, Allison's career trajectory took a turn when a psychology professor dramatically helped he...
Nov 19, 2019•35 min•Ep. 137
Today is the day! Disrupt Yourself: Master Relentless Change and Speed Up Your Learning Curve has officially been re-launched into the world. As with all my book "children," I am very proud of this creation. You, my audience, have been so receptive, and I am gratified and humbled by your many emails and comments characterizing what this book has meant in your life. Your stories are inspiring, and I am eager to learn more! On today's episode, we have our wonderful producer, Macy Robison, back in ...
Nov 12, 2019•44 min•Ep. 136
It's okay to end up in a place you didn't expect. Just ask Eric Schurenberg. As with most of our guests, Eric's path was not a linear one. His post-collegiate occupation was acting, but after finding some success he realized that the lifestyle no longer matched his ideals. Pivoting, he went back to school and launched himself into the world of journalism. His career continued to be punctuated by strategic pivots, with the end result being that Eric is now the CEO of Mansueto Ventures, the media ...
Nov 05, 2019•49 min•Ep. 135
When picturing disruptive innovators, many people picture the lone genius entrepreneur: Steve Jobs or Bill Gates in a garage, working outside of The System to get their product to market. But is this really how great innovations are created and incubated? In Driving Innovation From Within, Author Kaihan Krippendorff delves deep into the 30 most transformative innovations of the last 30 years. What he found was that despite the stereotype it is actually employees that push the boundaries of innov...
Oct 29, 2019•43 min•Ep. 134
For the past few weeks, we have been taking a deeper dive into the seven-point framework of personal disruption in anticipation of my book Disrupt Yourself being re-released by Harvard Business Press on November 12. If you stick around to the end of this episode, we'll talk about a special opportunity for those of you who pre-order the book. So, today's deep dive is on accelerant number five. Step back to grow. Though we always want to be moving forward in growth, this accelerant addresses the i...
Oct 22, 2019•35 min•Ep. 133
In anticipation of the re-release of my book, Disrupt Yourself with Harvard Business Press - available for pre-order now - we are continuing our look at the seven-point framework of personal disruption. Today our interview focuses on accelerant number four - battle entitlement. What do I mean by battle entitlement? There are a number of definitions that I use, but one of them is the belief that the more successful we are, the more we think we deserve that success. Buying into this mindset might ...
Oct 15, 2019•34 min•Ep. 132
In anticipation of the re-release of my book, Disrupt Yourself with Harvard Business Press on November 12, 2019, we are continuing our look at the seven-point framework of personal disruption. Today, we will be examining accelerant number three - embrace constraints. This accelerant can be tricky for people at first. It's tricky because we think we need limitless resources to be successful. We think we can't launch that company until we have an investor with deep pockets or think we can't start ...
Oct 08, 2019•43 min•Ep. 131
Playing to your distinctive strengths is vital to personal disruption. We covered this accelerant in episode 120 , and I hope you've taken the time to consider your own "superpower." Today's episode is focused on distinctive strengths, but with a bit of a twist—instead of focusing on your own, we're going to discuss the inherent value of the distinctive strengths of others. My guest today is CV Harquail, author, consultant, speaker, and self-proclaimed "change agent" whose life's mission is to c...
Oct 01, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 130
With today's episode, we're starting something new. On November 12, 2019, Harvard Business Press will be releasing a new version of my book Disrupt Yourself . As a countdown of sorts, we're going to spend the next seven episodes focusing on the seven-point framework of personal disruption. These seven accelerants help you manage through – even embrace change - whether at work or at home. Today, we'll be talking about accelerant one - taking the right risks. We covered this in-depth in episode 10...
Sep 24, 2019•34 min•Ep. 129
Nancy Duarte is a communication and persuasion expert whose firm, Duarte, Inc ., is behind some of the most influential visual messages in business and culture. She's worked with 25 of the world's top 35 brands, helping them incorporate story patterns into business communications. Nancy has been featured in Fortune, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. She's written five best-selling books, four of which have won awards. Her most recent book, DataStory , is available tod...
Sep 17, 2019•40 min•Ep. 128
Today's guest is David Bray, and hearing his life story is like hearing the movie "War Games" brought to life. At the age of 15 he began working on computer simulations for the US Military. By the year 2000 he was working as the IT Chief for the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response program for the US Centers for Disease Control, and in 2001 he lead the response to the horrible anthrax attacks that followed 9/11 as well as the SARS outbreaks in 2003 and other public health emergencies. Join us ...
Sep 10, 2019•42 min•Ep. 127
