“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”. So said Winston Churchill, a man who had his fair share of professional disasters to accompany his well known successes.
A less painful and more practical strategy for many of us might be to learn from other people’s mistakes. There can be no doubt that you will encounter unexpected and unwanted outcomes as a result of looking at the world through multiple perspectives, or as a result of changing or adapting your work habits in order to remain fresh and creative. So we all need to be prepared for the inevitable lows and I believe that the key is to quickly identify your mistake and take action.
It is for this reason we ask every guest about their most significant lows, and what they have learned from them.
Given their diversity of backgrounds and perspectives, here are some examples from the trenches about how a few of our highly accomplished guests from the worlds of business, academia, sports, science, and the arts have emerged from there lows and how they take that learning forward to create success.
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We believe passionately in the power of multiple perspectives to build and sustain innovation ecosystems.
And yet we are all creatures of habits, following schedules and routines that enable us to continue to perform at high levels, but which might leave us with little room for exploring the new. So unless we proactively seek out fresh perspectives, we run the risk of remaining in our own personal bubbles, surrounded by people who think only like us, so increasing the risk of biases like groupthink, not-invented-here and confirmation bias.
We always ask our guests what they do to remain fresh, to seek out diverse perspectives, and the answers are often surprisingly simple and practical. Here we provide a selection of tactics, all of which are easy to do, but are equally easy not to do. By regularly exercising your innovation muscles, the benefits to you and your organisation will build up and compound over time, as these world class performers have discovered.
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We have been extremely fortunate to have been able to attract some remarkable guests on OutsideVoices Podcast from the worlds of business, academia, sports, science and the arts, and all of these guests are world-class in their chosen field.
We ask our guests the same three questions, which get to the heart of what it takes as a leader to create an innovation ecosystem in your organization, irrespective of what business you are in, and where you are located. The guests are given these questions in advance so that they can reflect on them and the answers are invariably very insightful. The first of these three questions, "What Have You Changed Your Mind About Recently?" is the topic for this wrap up episode. The other two questions are featured in subsequent episodes.
The inspiration for the first question came from Charlie Munger, who in many respects constitutes one of the main wellsprings of inspiration for OutsideVoices.
Several years ago Charlie Munger made the following statement: “a year in which you do not change your mind on some big idea that is important to you is a wasted year”. This question gets to the heart of the unconscious biases that we as individuals all suffer from. Many of us go through life seeking confirmatory evidence to reinforce our decisions. Sometimes however, we are able to overcome this confirmation bias and change our minds on something big. From a business point of view it is key that you are able to overcome the organisational biases like "not invented here" syndrome, groupthink, the halo effect, stereotyping: this is how we can start to look at the market differently, to build our innovation muscles, to innovate around multiple value drivers, o change our perspective and the perspectives of those around us. So this is why we ask our guests this question, and the answers are fascinating.
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In this episode, we are joined by Amy C. Edmondson to discuss her latest book, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Amy is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School and is the world expert on psychological safety, a topic recently made famous by the findings of Google’s Project Aristotle, the quest to build the perfect team.
What Was Covered
In this episode, we are joined by author and professor, Ed Hess. Ed has published several notable books on learning and innovation including Learn or Die and his most recent work, Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age. Ed is currently a professor, Batten Executive-in-Residence and Batten Faculty Fellow at the Darden Graduate Business School at the University of Virginia.
What is Covered
My guest today is Wade Davis, an author and anthropologist, who was until recently Explorer in Residence for the National Geographic Society and is currently Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Some of his books include "The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World,” "One River," about which Sting wrote in his review “Read this book”, and most recently "Magdalena" which was described by the President of Colombia as essential reading for every adult Colombian.
Wade Davis is probably the most well known anthropologist in the world today. His work has received a huge boost recently from an article he wrote in The Rolling Stone Magazine about the decline of America brought on by the COVID-19 crisis, and we talk about the ongoing work he's planning with The Rolling Stone going forward. As well as being a great writer, this interview illustrates just how compelling a storyteller Wade Davis is.
What is Covered
- What tools anthropologists can bring to the world leaders in order to re-establish geopolitical stability and deal with the climate crisis
- Redefining the notion of wealth in contemporary society by finding inspiration in the reciprocal relationship to nature of indigenous communities
- Why Colombia is one of the hotspots of cultural and natural diversity, as well as resilience in a globalised world
Key Learnings and Takeaways
- The key thing to step back from is cultural myopia, and the idea that my world is the real world and everybody else is a failed attempt to be me; we can't afford that anymore in an interconnected world.
- In a society like the Penan culture, where material accumulation has no meaning, and where everybody can essentially make everything from the raw resources of the forest, wealth is defined explicitly as a strength of social relations between people.
- Colombia is not a place of drugs and violence; it’s a land with the greatest biodiversity, geographical diversity and cultural diversity in the Americas.
Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Connect with Wade Davis at https://daviswade.com/
- Magdalena: River of Dreams by Wade Davis https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/37925/magdalena-by-wade-davis/
- The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World by Wade Davis https://www.amazon.com/Wayfinders-Ancient-Wisdom-Matters-Lecture/dp/0887847668/
- One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forests by Wade Davis https://www.amazon.com/One-River-Wade-Davis/dp/0684834960/
- Colliding with the Unexpected with Gillian Tett on OutsideVoices Podcast https://outsidelens.com/colliding-with-the-unexpected-with-gillian-tett/
My guest in this episode is Jennifer Berger, the CEO of Cultivating Leadership, an organization that helps leaders use complexity as the key that unlocks new possibilities for a better future.
Jennifer has worked with senior leaders in companies like Google, KPMG, Lion, Microsoft and Wikimedia. She is the author of three books, the latest one being Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps: How to Thrive in Complexity which we talk about in this interview.
She speaks at leadership and coaching conferences, and offers occasional courses for coaches at Harvard University, the University of Sydney, and Oxford Brookes University.
Sahar Hashemi OBE is best known as the founder of Coffee Republic, as well as a confectionery brand Skinny Candy. She is active in the world of entrepreneurialism and charity, and is an accomplished author, having written "Anyone can do it" about her journey from corporate lawyer to founding a successful chain of coffee shops, and a more recent book titled "Start Up Forever” helping large companies innovate.
In this conversation, we cover all topics related to being an entrepreneur, building a business, and what it means from a personal development point of view. We discuss some of the skills and mindsets that one needs, as well as how this impacts people in larger process-driven organizations looking to foster a more entrepreneurial mindset.
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In this episode, we are joined by Hal Gregersen, author of The Innovator’s DNA, to discuss his recent book, Questions are the Answer. Hal is a Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Innovation and the Executive Director of the Leadership Center at MIT, and has previously taught at Dartmouth College, The World Economic Forum, and the London Business School.
What was covered
James Breiding is the author of Swiss Made, a book on why Switzerland - a tiny country with few natural advantages - has become so successful in the world of banking, pharmaceuticals, machinery, and more.
James discusses innovation in Switzerland and makes the point that when an entrepreneur comes up with a new and innovative method or product, there will be resistance from those who have accepted the status quo. Entrepreneurs as well as intrapreneurs need to have thick skin if they wish to disrupt the market.
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Steven Kotler is a bestselling author and award-winning journalist, and the Cofounder and Director of Research at The Flow Genome Project, a research organisation dedicated to understanding the peak human performance state of Flow. Today he joins us to discuss how to hack Flow and how it can improve business performance.
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In this episode, we are joined by author and journalist Gillian Tett, to discuss the role anthropology plays in today’s business world. Gillian is the author of the award-winning book, Fool’s Gold, which analyses the origin of the 2008 financial crisis, and most recently, The Silo Effect, and is currently a columnist and US Managing Editor of The Financial Times.
What Was Covered
In this episode, we are joined by Robert Hagstrom, who is an author, investment strategist, and portfolio manager. His books include The New York Times bestselling The Warren Buffett Way and The NASCAR Way: The Business That Drives the Sport and Investing: The Last Liberal Art, in which he investigates investment concepts that lie out with traditional economics.
What Was Covered
In this episode, we are joined by digital and marketing entrepreneur, John Straw, who describes himself as a “technonomist” – someone exploring the cutting edge of technology and looking to understand where it fits from both an economic and commercial perspective. John is a Senior Advisor at McKinsey, as well as an author, speaker and investor with over 30 years of experience in IT and digital transformation.
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Céline Schillinger is a self-described corporate activist, who was called a troublemaker by her bosses. But thanks to her passion to grow and improve on rigid corporate systems, she was awarded Woman of the Year — La Tribune Women’s Awards in 2013. Céline was the Head of Quality Innovation & Engagement at Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Now she is the Founder and CEO of We Need Social.
What Is Covered
Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Heiko Fischer is the CEO and Founder of Resourceful Humans. The company’s motto is 100% Entrepreneurship and 0% Bureaucracy. How does Heiko incorporate this motto into his company and the companies he consults with? Find out on this week’s episode.
In this episode, writer, speaker, and intrapreneur, Gib Bulloch, joins us to discuss his book, The Intrapreneur: Confessions of a Corporate Insurgent. He spent 20 years at Accenture where he started Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP), a buinsess unit set up to leverage that business’s expertise and experience in service of global development organizations.Gib now works as a consultant specializing in intrapreneurship, social enterprise, and cross-sectoral partnerships. He is also a noted public speaker and has contributed to The Huffington Post, Businessweek, and The Stanford Social Innovation Review.
What Is Covered
My guest in this episode is Benedict Allen, an English explorer, environmentalist, film-maker and author of a number of books, including “Mad White Giant”, “Into The Crocodile Nest” and “Hunting the Gugu.” Benedict has become famous for his immersive style of exploration, by disconnecting from technology and diving into the lives and cultures of indigenous communities, from whom he learns survival skills in challenging and often hostile environments. He has recorded six TV series for the BBC, both traveling solo and with camera crews, enabling armchair travelers to enjoy his remarkable adventures. In 2010, he was elected a Trustee of Royal Geographic Society.
My guest in this episode is Robert Swan, a world renowned polar explorer, environmental leader, public speaker and the first man in history to walk to both the North and South Poles. He is currently an advocate for the protection of Antarctica and renewable energy. Robert is also the founder of 2041, a company which is dedicated to the preservation of the Antarctic and the author with Gil Reavill of Antarctica 2041: My Quest to Save the Earth's Last Wilderness.
Diversity in all its forms is key to solving many of the most significant challenges we face today, and if we fail to address these challenges, future generations will inherit the consequences. Preserving cultural and intellectual diversity is the purpose of the Cultural Sanctuaries Foundation, and enables us to take advantage of useful wisdom hiding in plain sight. Learn more in this interview with the founders, photographer and National Geographic Society Fellow Chris Rainier and former Linklaters partner Olivia McKendrick.
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Dr. Andy Walshe is a globally recognised leader and expert in the field of elite human performance. He has spent more than 20 years researching ways to “Hack Performance” in sport, culture, military and business to create a deeper understanding of the “Human Potential Construct”. Andy’s ultimate vision is a world where we have established a known recipe for elite performance and thus can equip some of our greatest minds with the tools they need to succeed and improve the world. Andy’s elite performance programs are designed to make accessible, and to democratise these tools, and understandable to all regardless of industry, vocation or passion.
Andy led High Performance Program for Red Bull from 2009 to 2017, and worked with hundreds of international athletes and business leaders to develop and implement elite performance models. In 2012 he lead the performance plan for Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking jump to Earth from the stratosphere. In 2017 he co-founded The Liminal Collective, which helps create, plan, organize and execute against some of humanity's greatest opportunities, ranging from space flight and deep sea exploration to reimagining the future of national security and elite sport.
In this episode, Andy and Mark sit down to discuss the intricacies of human potential and how certain qualities of elite performers resonate across sectors, industries and arenas; how companies can evolve to enable more talented employees to excel and his project Human 2.0 which looks at how new technologies especially in the arena of Artificial Intelligence encourage us to explore our own potential at a much higher level.
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Michael Gervais is a high-performance psychologist who works in the trenches of high-stakes environments, he is a recognized speaker on optimal human performance, and he is the host of the Finding Mastery podcast. What can Michael teach us about success in the corporate world? Well, just a few of the important topics Mark and Michael discuss on this week’s episode are:
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Scott Peltin is founder and chief performance officer of Tignum, a company that helps his executive clients achieve their full potential. He's worked with CEOs, C-level executives, professional athletes, and many top leaders to improve their performance and sustainability. Prior to founding Tignum in 2005, Scott worked on the front-line for over 25 years as a firefighter and as a captain, and later led his crews as a battalion and division chief in the Phoenix Fire Department.
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In this episode, we are joined by Steven MacGregor, who is the founder and CEO of The Leadership Academy of Barcelona and author of Sustaining Executive Performance and his latest book is Chief Wellbeing Officer, in which he discusses the importance of maintaining positive mental health in the workplace. Steven is also an academic specializing in executive education and has taught at Stanford University, IMD at Lausanne, and CIBS in Shanghai.
What Is Covered
David Allen is widely recognized as the world's leading expert on personal and organizational productivity. He is the author of Getting Things Done and has shown millions of people how to transform their overwhelming lives into a relaxed and more productive one. Listen to David's popular methodology and how it has helped successful leaders all over the world.
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