This week we're bringing you an extra dose of inspiration. It's our conversation from October 2020 with Syd and Shea McGee, founders of Studio McGee, one of the most successful and fastest growing interior design companies in the country. But Syd and Shea didn't start out in the design world. They took a huge risk in jumping to a new S Curve, and it all began with a single Instagram post.
Sometimes the business landscape can be a battlefield, but this week's guest puts all that in perspective. General Stanley McChrystal is a highly decorated U.S. Army veteran who is no stranger to real battlefields. He's a retired four-star general, and commanded an enormous contingent of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's also an avid student of history, who acutely observes how the great successes and failures of the past are so deeply intertwined with risk management. His latest book is...
We are excited to share a bonus episode with you this week. It's our conversation with Bob Proctor, originally published in March of 2021. Bob Proctor is a towering figure wherever the mention of self-improvement comes into discussion. For more than 40 years, Bob has focused his entire agenda around helping people create enriched lives, full of rewarding relationships and spiritual awareness. Listen in to hear about Bob's journey from obscurity to successful entrepreneur, teacher, author, busine...
Mental health has never been more top-of-mind than in recent years, and Emma McAdam has built an extraordinary therapeutic resource in an unlikely place: YouTube. Emma is a licensed marriage and family therapist best known for her incredibly popular "Therapy in a Nutshell" videos that demystify things like anxiety, depression, and emotional regulation. This candid conversation will completely change your perspective on stress, happiness, and why our brains perceive stuff like email as a constant...
This week, the tables are turned when the host becomes the guest on her own show. Amy Humble, president of Disruption Advisors, interviews Whitney about the challenge and personal growth that comes out of writing a book. Smart Growth , which expounds on the S-Curve of learning for organizations, had a dramatic development curve of its own: unbridled excitement at the beginning, with a plummet to the bottom when the work began. It was "laborious and painful." But as Whitney explains, writing a bo...
If you're not great at long-term planning, you're not alone. In fact, the human brain is wired to seek short-term gains. Neuroscience even shows that we perceive our "future selves" as strangers — people we're aware of, but don't know personally. These ideas intrigue our guest Tanya Dalton, a productivity expert whose new book "On Purpose" unpacks success and motivation through a variety of lenses: perfectionism, fear, psychology, and being a woman in a world that suffers from bias. Tanya's prac...
If your company has too many meetings, this week's episode is a must-listen. Email, Slack, and Zoom are technologies built to make us more productive. But when we use meetings and messages to solve all our problems, it leaves little time to actually get work done. This is "collaboration overload." Our guest Rob Cross, who studies this phenomenon, says that collaborative demands on workers have risen 50% in the last decade, yet the enormous cost (time, money, and employee well-being) is often inv...
John Tesh wears many hats: News reporter, sports commentator, TV host, radio personality, composer, author, and touring musician to name a few. What you may not know is how a variety of mistakes and "crimes" (as he puts it!) lead him to become a household name. In this candid interview, John recounts how disappointing his dad, being homeless, and the kindness of one friend set him on a disruptive path toward radio and TV production. Thanks to his tinkering with reel-to-reel tapes and microphones...
A healthy amount of stress is so important for personal growth, but chronic stress that demands our attention 24/7 can disconnect us from our work, colleagues, and purpose. This is burnout, and Jennifer Moss observes that we are facing an epidemic. She's an award-winning journalist, columnist, and author of The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It. But contrary to popular wisdom, making time for that bubble bath or movie night isn't the solution. Burnout is a "we" p...
Even if you don't play golf, there's a surprising amount to learn from pro golfers who broke with tradition to "swing their own swing." That's what Steve Bullock learned when he analyzed tons of data for his book Out of the Box Golf . Think: Moneyball for the 9-iron crowd. For instance, even holding a club the "traditional" way puts players at a huge disadvantage. Yet even when golfers find clear advantages through technology or alternate practices, most players ignore them (often for decades!) ...
A 21st century career path can take many twists and turns. The skills you learn for one S Curve may not map perfectly to the next. That's why learning is the most important skill of all. That's some wisdom from Ekpedeme "Pamay" Bassey, the Chief Learning and Chief Diversity Officer at Kraft Heinz. And she should know. Before earning her many prestigious titles in the corporate world, she came from a background in standup comedy and improv. Pamay is a first generation Nigerian-American, born in N...
We all have jobs to pay the bills, but what is your purpose? And what's your company's purpose? Leena Nair asks these questions every day. She's the chief human resources officer at Unilever. She's also the first female, first Asian, and youngest CHRO in the company's history. "Companies with purpose last. And people with purpose thrive," Leena explains. And she has the data to back it up. Ensuring the well-being of 150,000 employees is a monumental endeavor, but her success stems from spending ...
Being a leader and teaching leadership are two very different things. Harry Kraemer found this out when he jumped S-curves later in life. Harry is the former chairman and CEO of Baxter International, a $12 billion global healthcare company. But more importantly for this conversation, he now teaches leadership at Northwestern University. Harry explains the importance of self-reflection and genuine humility, and identifies the nature of "true self-confidence." It's not about taking risks or gettin...
When we talk about starting a new S-curve, few exemplify this better than Jacqueline Novogratz. She upended her successful career in international banking to focus on addressing global poverty through the impact investment organization Acumen. Her journey is extraordinary, inspiring, and at times heartbreaking. Jacqueline and Whitney talk about what it takes to have a "moral imagination," the foundational work of building a better world. As she puts it, "the opposite of poverty isn't wealth, it'...
Dr. Astrid Tuminez is the first female president of Utah Valley University, and her journey is incredibly inspiring. Born in the Philippines and raised in extreme poverty, Tuminez made pivotal choices and gained important mentors which led her to the U.S. Her passion for international relations made her an influential voice of peace at the height of the Cold War. In her conversation with Whitney, Astrid explains how she got comfortable with failure, and how the kindness of teachers completely ch...
TV host, author, and podcaster Mike Rowe would have been a construction worker if not for advice from his grandfather: "Find a different toolbox." Turns out, Mike wasn't great with his hands, but his grandfather and other mentors recognized different skills. They pushed him out of his comfort zone and in front of microphones and cameras. Today, Mike's wildly popular "Dirty Jobs" TV series has shown millions of viewers what it takes to do extraordinary jobs that don't get talked about on "Career ...
Chris Dancy's life used to be a lot different. Back in 2008, he weighed more than 300 pounds, smoked two packs and drank 36 cans of Diet Coke a day. But he had one disruptive skill in his back pocket. As a database engineer, he's obsessive about tracking information. And when he put the lens on himself, it changed everything. By tracking every aspect of his life (food, feelings, TV, social media posts, etc.) he collected "big data" on himself, the way a tech company would. Using a variety of sen...
The proverbial "glass ceiling" is real, and can block women from reaching their full potential. There is a lot of work to be done here, but not all women are in a position to effect systemic change. So what can women (and their allies) do in their daily lives and careers to close the gap? That's the subject of Sally Helgesen's book, How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job. Helgesen's groundbreaking research with thousands of women and companie...
If you've already answered the question we posed in episode 80 (Why should you disrupt yourself in the first place?), then it's time to revisit risk, the first accelerant of personal disruption. In this encore episode, Whitney discusses why not all risk is created equal, and why taking the right risks can have huge upsides. If this podcast is valuable to you, email Whitney at wj@whitneyjohnson.com . She responds to every one. 80 Why would you disrupt yourself? 7-point framework for personal disr...
There's a lot of common wisdom around building good habits: stick to a schedule, reject constraints, and seek out great advice. But science would like a word. Katy Milkman is an economist and behavioral scientist who has done breakthrough research on how people form (or break) habits. Surprising data from her book, How to Change , shows that flexibility, not routine, is the key to conquering procrastination, exercise, and more. Environmental changes, even small ones like the start of a new week ...
Reframing failure as a learning experience is so hard to do. But when you can, it's one of the most powerful tools for personal growth. This week, Whitney explores the value of a discovery-driven mindset through the advice of many past Disrupt Yourself guests, and her own experience. Knowing where you are on your emotional journey before walking into the unknown removes so much risk. And traditional planning isn't always enough. Discovery-driven planning is a different, and often more flexible w...
In an economy dominated by tech giants, growing your business to compete with Amazon or Google can feel futile. But Ray Wang thinks differently about this challenge. Wang is the founder and chairman of Constellation Research, a Silicon Valley advisory firm that finds opportunities for businesses to scale — especially in highly competitive climates. He explains why companies that have won the digital innovation battle have yet to win the war. From Domino's Pizza, to Honeywell, to Walmart, and eve...
Brooke Snow is an author, meditation instructor, musician, podcaster, and parent who prefers to define herself by her qualities, rather than any of these roles. Reframing identity as traits (kind, thoughtful, determined) rather than titles allows Brooke to be so much more than the sum of her jobs. Brooke explains why bad days are actually good when you can recognize your wins (however small), putting floors and ceilings on your daily productivity, where her S Curves as an entrepreneur and a pare...
"Listen first" and "Disrupt yourself before you are disrupted." Those are some of the hard-won lessons from Scott Miller on this encore episode. Scott is the Executive Vice President of the Thought Leadership practice at FranklinCovey and author of Management Mess to Leadership Success: 30 Challenges to Become the Leader You Would Follow , about becoming the leader you would want to follow. In this episode, he offers many lessons that are critical for the challenges facing today's leaders. For a...
What does it take to get someone to believe in you? To back you and what you are doing? This episode's guest is Harvard University Visiting Scholar Suneel Gupta, author of the new book Backable . We talk about what you must do, and what you must leave behind, to get people to take a chance on you. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.com/222-suneel-gupta/...
Writer, investor, and entrepreneur Chris Yeh joins on this episode of Disrupt Yourself. He has been in the world of startups for 25 years and shares amazing insight and wisdom he has gained along the way including going faster than you might be comfortable with; deciding what you are willing to go "all in" on; how to realize that you need to discover the new rules, and others. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.com/221-chris-yeh...
Play to your strengths and play where no one else is playing These are the first two of the Seven Accelerants for Growth™ on the S Curve of Learning™. Sarah Feingold is a great example of both. She former General Counsel of Etsy, and general counsel of Vroom.com, and co-founder of Fourth Floor that helps women become ready for the Board Room—and her stories provide guidance and inspiration for all of us looking to have a great career. Enjoy this encore episode that we recorded in 2016. For a com...
Scott O'Neil is head of the organization that owns the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, the New Jersey Devils hockey franchise, and the Prudential Center in Newark New Jersey. He's just written a new book, Be Where Your Feet Are and we talk about jumping to new S Curves of Learning™, how to encourage other people to take new risks, how to be present where you are, and the importance of dreaming big. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.co...
Justin Osofsky, Chief Operating Officer at Instagram, shares some of his hard-won insights about Building an A Team. The five takeaways from the episode can help any manager be more engaged and supportive of their team.
When you combine the human spirit and technology all sorts of great things start to happen. Aicha Evans, CEO of the autonomous vehicle company Zoox, is our guest. There are six big takeaways from this conversation including understanding everyone's importance in a company's value chain, how complaints can help reveal truth, how to add value to a team by not just focusing on individual output. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.com/aicha-ev...
