You’ve got one shot to sell your ideas...but you’re busy. So you leverage what's available: slides, data, charts, facts… and you end up with scrambled messages and no clear call to action—this is what our guest calls the Frankendeck. Today’s book teaches us to organize our ideas, data, and insights to help our audience quickly understand what they need to know and do with the information. It arms us with a framework for crafting influential narratives that up-level the conversation and drive bus...
Jul 28, 2021•49 min•Season 14Ep. 285
In the past few decades, strategy has become increasingly sophisticated. If you work for a sizeable organisation, chances are your company has: a marketing strategy a corporate strategy a global strategy an innovation strategy an intellectual property strategy a digital strategy a social strategy and a talent strategy And in each of these domains, talented people work on long lists of urgent initiatives. Our guest today shows how the best companies achieve more by doing less. At a time when rapi...
Jul 22, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 14Ep. 284
Corporations have changed the world radically in so many areas: medicine, consumer goods, transport, finance, agriculture, entertainment, communications. And they’ve done so by combining organizational abilities with the unique human capacity to imagine: the ability to see and create things that had never existed. Imagination is needed now more than ever. Since competitive advantage is increasingly short-lived, driven by rapid evolution of the technological and business environment, companies co...
Jul 15, 2021•55 min•Season 14Ep. 283
Artificial intelligence, big data, modern science, and the internet are all revealing a fundamental truth: The world is vastly more complex and unpredictable than we've allowed ourselves to see. Now that technology is enabling us to take advantage of all the chaos it's revealing, our understanding of how things happen is changing--and with it our deepest strategies for predicting, preparing for, and managing our world. This affects everything, from how we approach our everyday lives to how we ma...
Jul 07, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Season 16Ep. 282
In the previous book in this series, our guest observed the experiences of leaders on a rollercoaster ride through their professional and personal lives. Now, he follows them down the rabbit hole into the unknown, where, like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, they find a dystopian Wonderland in which everyone seems to have gone mad and life functions according to its own crazy logic, throwing up all kinds of obstacles in the search for truth. The first part of this book looks at the psychodynamics of leade...
Jul 01, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Season 16Ep. 281
Today’s book brings to bear on some of the most powerful and helpful macrotrends rippling through society today. The book teaches readers how to harness their outrage and capitalize on global trends to instigate and encourage change across the world. The author identifies five global undercurrents with outsized importance that are shaping our world. The book’s lessons are supported throughout by stories, experiences, data and observations from across the globe. It is perfect for activists and le...
Jun 25, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 15Ep. 280
59% of U.S. workers say that communication is their team's biggest obstacle to success, followed by accountability at 29% Today’s book explains a simple, powerful tool that helps team leaders and members align and get clarity on exactly who is responsible for each part of the team's most important activities and projects. With the guidance of today’s book, you can be better prepared as a team leader or team member to plan effectively, reduce risks, and collaborate with others. Your team will be ...
Jun 17, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 14Ep. 279
Today’s guest offers us a fascinating glimpse into a near-future where careers last 100 years, and education lasts a lifetime. Our guest makes the case that learners of the future are going to repeatedly seek out educational opportunities throughout the course of their working lives — which will no longer have a beginning, middle, and end. Her book focuses on the disruptive and burgeoning innovations that are laying the foundation for a new learning model that includes clear navigation, wraparou...
Jun 10, 2021•56 min•Season 15Ep. 278
This is a book about why people want what they want. It’s based on the notion that, in the end, we will either be masters or slaves of our desires and that we can choose the outcome. True freedom, our guest argues, is the freedom to want what is best for ourselves and for others—and that those need not be different things. The ability to desire in a healthy way is not something we’re born with, but a freedom we must earn. And due to one powerful and hidden feature of human desire, that freedom i...
Jun 03, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Season 14Ep. 277
Creating true change is never easy. Most startups don’t survive. Most community groups never get beyond small local actions. Even when a spark catches fire and protesters swarm the streets, it often seems to fizzle out almost as fast as it started. The status quo is, almost by definition, well-entrenched and never gives up without a fight. To truly change the world or even just your little corner of it, you don’t need a charismatic leader or a catchy slogan. What you need is a cascade: small gro...
May 27, 2021•49 min•Season 13Ep. 276
Marshalling unique insights from archaeogenetics, an emerging new discipline that allows us to read our ancestors' DNA like journals chronicling personal stories of migration, our guest charts two millennia of adaption, movement and survival, culminating in the triumph of Homo Sapiens as we swept through Europe and beyond in successive waves of migration - developing everything from language, the patriarchy, disease, art and a love of pets as we did so. As well as being a radical new telling of ...
May 22, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Season 14Ep. 275
In our world of incessant change, we are all threatened by VUCA volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity—at the individual and organizational levels. Today’s book offers you a new lens through which to consider change as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. You’ll be inspired to consider the big questions of today: What does the future hold? What does the exponential growth of technology mean for the world of work? What does a changing job market mean for future generations? What do...
May 20, 2021•57 min
Have you ever wanted to disagree with your boss? Speak up about your company's lack of diversity or unequal pay practices? Make a tough decision you knew would be unpopular? We all have opportunities to be courageous at work. But since courage requires risk—to our reputations, our social standing, and, in some cases, our jobs—we often fail to act, which leaves us feeling powerless and regretful for not doing what we know is right. There's a better way to handle these crucial moments—and today’s ...
May 13, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 12Ep. 273
If you're a shaper, you put your stamp on your work. You earn your stripes. You sync with a rhythm of life that lights you up. At times, work may be a frightening obstacle (and obsession), but shapers move through adversity with temperament and tenacity. A determination to continually improve and evolve. A willingness to experiment and learn from mistakes. To create on the fly. To work fluidly. To persevere and be patient in equal measure. To nourish the soul. A shaper is someone who becomes ene...
May 06, 2021•52 min•Season 12Ep. 272
Flex is a manifesto for living and working on your terms. It means looking at the established, rigid ways of doing things and asking: ‘Is this really working for me?’ If the answer to that question is ‘No’ then read on because this book is for you. When we learn how to flex we gain a superpower that allows us to challenge what is holding us back and reinvent the rules for a smarter, happier life. Because things are changing for women across the globe. We are getting married and having children l...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 12Ep. 271
It's no coincidence that most of the top 100 most valuable global brands invest heavily in technology to drive innovation into every aspect of their business: product development, operations, marketing, and customer service. In the next decade, a suite of six strategic technologies—artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, autonomous machines, and 5G networks—will drive unprecedented innovation into products and services, creating entirely new bus...
Apr 22, 2021•53 min•Season 11Ep. 270
Do you spend too much time learning with disappointing results? Do you find it difficult to remember what you read? Do you put off studying because it’s boring and you’re easily distracted? Today’s book is for you. Our guest struggled in the past with our learning. But has found techniques to help us master material—any material. Building on insights from neuroscience and cognitive psychology, she gives us a crash course to improve your ability to learn, whether you’re studying maths, language, ...
Apr 15, 2021•49 min•Season 12Ep. 269
Innovators. Changemakers. Entrepreneurs. Intrapreneurs. Catalysts. One of these things is not like the other. That is to say, each of these types of people can make a whole lot of change happen in the world, but within any group of innovators, changemakers, entrepreneurs, and intrapreneurs, are those people called Catalysts, Those of us who have a deep-rooted need to create positive change. Among Catalysts, there is an unmet need to be seen and valued for who we are and how we show up in the wor...
Apr 08, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 11Ep. 268
Even before the pandemic, it seemed the world was spinning so fast it’s difficult to keep up. Arguably a lot of the technological disruption that was around in 2019 simply got accelerated – remote working, digitisation and AI to name just three. Our guest today notes in his new book: Two hundred and fifty years ago the Industrial Revolution replaced our arms and legs at work. The fourth Industrial Revolution is now replacing our brains. He says The Machine Age is engulfing both organisations and...
Apr 01, 2021•58 min•Season 11Ep. 267
Leaders have experimented with open innovation programs, corporate accelerators, venture capital arms, skunkworks, and innovation contests. They've travelled the world to learn from today's hottest, most successful tech companies. Yet most would admit they've failed to create truly innovative cultures. There's a better way. And it all starts with the power of habit. The central argument in today’s book is that the world’s biggest untapped source of energy isn’t the wind, water, or sun. It is ins...
Mar 25, 2021•52 min•Season 10Ep. 266
Faced with the choice of starting a company or joining a large corporation, Steve Jobs believed that it was 'more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy'. But for innovators inside established companies, making a distinction between being a pirate and joining the navy is a fallacy. We have to figure out a way to become pirates in the navy! There is nothing harder in business than trying to innovate within large corporations. Innovators in big companies often face internal opposition as well as...
Mar 16, 2021•58 min•Season 10Ep. 265
Today’s book was born out of a desire to show how and why ritual is critical in our everyday lives, using examples from across the animal world, including elephants, chimpanzees, orangutans, wolves, dogs, lions, zebras, whales, flamingos, fish, and even insects. Although social animals exhibit many rituals, this book focuses on ten important rituals that are essential to our well-being: greeting rituals, group rituals, courtship, gifting, spoken rituals, unspoken rituals, play, grieving and heal...
Mar 11, 2021•57 min•Season 10Ep. 264
Paradigmatic shifts in the business landscape, known as inflection points, can either create new, entrepreneurial opportunities (see Amazon and Netflix) or they can lead to devastating consequences (e.g., Blockbuster and Toys R Us). Only those leaders who can “see around corners” - that is, spot the disruptive inflection points developing before they hit - are poised to succeed in this market. Columbia Business School Professor and corporate consultant Rita McGrath contends that inflection point...
Mar 04, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 9Ep. 263
Barry O'Reilly shares how the Cycle of Unlearning is a new way of thinking and a new way of leading organisations in every industry. It’s not difficult to learn more. What is difficult is to know what to unlearn, what to stop, and what to throw away. This is the paradox of success. While thinking and doing certain methods may have brought you success in the past, it’s almost certain they won’t continue to bring you success in the future. We discuss the importance of unlearning How Serena William...
Feb 25, 2021•58 min•Season 9Ep. 262
This mind-opening episode summarises some of the groundbreaking analysis of the business, economic, and technological trends of today to predict what the world will look like in 2030 – and how the Coronavirus pandemic will accelerate each of these major trends. Our guest is author of "2030: How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything", Mauro Guillén Some stats from the book: Birthplace of the next industrial revolution: sub-Saharan Africa The reason: 500 million ...
Feb 18, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 9Ep. 261
Today’s focus is a Playbook that helps innovators and entrepreneurs to harness new, extreme ideas despite complex business barriers. This visual guide provides insight, practical solutions and reusable canvasses to help innovation managers, CEOs, Chief Innovators and directors of innovation labs to develop breakthrough ideas. We welcome, authors of, "The Radical Innovation Playbook: a practical guide for harnessing new, novel or game-changing breakthroughs" Olga Kokshagina and Allen Alexander...
Feb 11, 2021•54 min•Season 8Ep. 260
This episode is about getting to grips with how to actually change your behaviour so you stay curious a little bit longer. It sounds like it should be easy, but it's not. You have to tame your Advice Monster, that part of you that jumps in to offer up ideas, opinions, suggestions and advice. And it's taming your Advice Monster that's at the heart of this book. But there are also some specific coaching strategies, particularly on how to focus on what matters most. We welcome author of The Advice ...
Feb 04, 2021•57 min•Season 8Ep. 259
Our guest was used to giving orders. In the high-stress environment of the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine, it was crucial his men did their job well. But the ship was dogged by poor morale, poor performance and the worst retention in the fleet. One day, he unknowingly gave an impossible order, and his crew tried to follow it anyway. He realised he was leading in a culture of followers, and they were all in danger unless they fundamentally changed the way they did things. He took matte...
Jan 28, 2021•43 min•Season 8Ep. 258
For millennia, dominant groups have had the habit of framing themselves to be the best, deep down: the more powerful they become, the more power begins to be framed as natural. When you see how power has shaped the idea of race, then you can start to understand its meaning. In Superior, celebrated author Angela Saini explores the concepts of race and caste, from their origins to the present day. Engaging with geneticists, anthropologists, historians and social scientists from across the globe, S...
Jan 21, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 8Ep. 257
Ozan Varol reveals simple strategies from rocket science that you can use to make your own giant leaps in work and life -- whether it's landing your dream job, accelerating your business, learning a new skill, or creating the next breakthrough product. Today, thinking like a rocket scientist is a necessity. We all encounter complex and unfamiliar problems in our lives. Those who can tackle these problems -- without clear guidelines and with the clock ticking -- enjoy an extraordinary advantage. ...
Jan 14, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Season 7Ep. 256
