Catching the Next Wave: Recent Episodes
Aga Szóstek, Łukasz Szóstek
Aga and Łukasz Szóstek inspire leaders to reflect on the possibilities and challenges of 21st-century leadership through inspired conversations with amazing guests. They together discuss topics such as change, innovation, common sense, empowerment and more, each of them unique for one season of their podcast. Join them as they Catch The Next Wave.
Nobody is born a leader. Yet we seem to believe that there is a set of skills that will turn us into leadership perfection. Aga doesn't believe that one bit. This is why she wrote the book "Leadership by Design". It is a 12-week course in designing your personal leadership practice. In this bonus episode, łukasz asks Aga about the reasons for writing such a book in the first place and about the change a book like this can inflict on the life of a leader.
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"Leadership by Design" on Amazon
"Leadership by Design" at BIS Publishers
"The Artist Way" by Julia Cameron
The book illustrator Weronika Marianna's website
A conversation with Phillip Collins on CTNW
So many of us are afraid to be different and stand out of the pack. Our guest, Andrew Lacanienta, a senior strategist at George P Johnson Experience Marketing, thrives when he can share his uniqueness with others as long as what he does is truthful to himself. Andrew holds a PhD in Experience Design so we just couldn’t avoid the topics of experience and transformational design, however, we tackle them from both the personal and the business context. We also talk about the importance of embodied experience that makes us connect between our minds and hearts.
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“Designing Experiences” by Robert Rossman and Mat Duerden
“Deep Work” by Cal Newport
“The Anatomy of Peace” by The Arbinger Institute
Season 11 of the Catching The Next Wave podcast was about doing. But, it turned out that doing is not just about putting something into the world, it is a much more nuanced concept to ponder including aspects like curiosity, open-mindedness, accountability, and much more. We started by distinguishing between thinking and doing only to arrive at a conclusion that one is impossible without the other. We hope you will enjoy that season much as we did.
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“Obliquity” by John Kay
Culture can only be defined at an intersection of data argues our guest Theodore Edmonds – a creativity researcher, cultural futurist, artist, wellbeing entrepreneur, data analytics inventor, and a transdisciplinary academic. We talk about the third spaces, the different flavors of creativity, and Aristotelian notions of hedonism and eudaimonia and hope. We look for a definition of a new role of business and investment in the future world where not only financial gain is the growth motivator.
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“Range” by David Epstein
Every opportunity is a learning opportunity, says our guest Latifa Al-Khalifa – a Social Entrepreneur, STEAM education advocate, and a founding member of Clever Play, a purpose-driven startup with a mission to inspire, educate and empower 1 million children in MENA STEAM skills by 2030. In this insightful conversation we dive into the shape of the XXI century education (or rather learning). We discuss how it is no longer important what you know but what you do with what you know. And we talk that in order to do things you dream about you need to redefine yourself first.
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Latifa's start-up Clever Play
The STEM podcast
“Endurance” by Alfred Lansing
What is hype and how mischiefs and propagandists can help you build it? Or, in other words, how do you get people to hear and follow you? This is one of the many topics we discuss with our guest Michael F. Schein -- a writer and the author of the book “The Hype Handbook”. We also talk about thinning in bets, the future of social media, and the trap of following the rules others live by.
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“The Hype Handbook” by Michael F. Schein
“The Medici Effect” by Frans Johansson
“The Click Moment” by Frans Johansson
Creative industries offer the potential for going global with local flavor, unlike any other scalable businesses that are alike everywhere you go says Alice Loy, a co-founder of the world's first accelerator for creatives called Creative Startups. Alice argues that we need a new economy based on new models of investing and she says that creatives need to be a part of that conversation because they have a crucial role in combining community and culture. We also discuss the good questions to ask and the need for ambiguity as a way to stimulate entrepreneurship.
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“Getting Things Done” by David Allen
What can the mixture of curiosity and making things visual do to your collaborations? It is one of the many topics we discuss with our guest Anna van der Aa, a coach, researcher, illustrator, and musician. We discuss the notion of clean coaching using clean questions and we dive into evidence-based decision-making as a way to do things in an informed and wise way. And we try to figure out how people rock :)
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Anna’s website
Anna’s song that surprised her after being produced
Anna’s song “Roll the dice”
The drawing course with Brandy Agerbeck
Jessica Abel
Morgan Peng
"Creativity Inc" by Ed Catmull
“The Back of the Napkin” by Dan Roam
“See What I Mean, How to use comics to communicate ideas” by Kevin Cheng
“The Artist Way” by Julia Cameron
“The Creative Priority: Putting Innovation To Work In Your Business” by Jerry Hirschberg
How to define inventors of our times? This is a question, we try to answer with our guest, Daniel Owsiański, a VP of Technology at volt.io. We talk about the creativity of teams versus individuals, productivity versus effectiveness, and leadership versus management. We discuss the need for self-organizing teams and embracing the process, which is the only thing under our control.
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“Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman
“Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker
What do life-long learning and building communities have in common? David Nebinski, the host of the Portfolio Career podcast and a Community Operations Manager for the Chief of Staff Network Community says that communities are places for a social learning experience, which allows for creating a common language and stimulates accountability. We dive into the need for flexing your mind in order to deal with uncertainty and use generosity as a way to expand your worldview.
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David's Portfolio Career Podcast
“Get together” by Bailey Richardson, Kevin Huyn, Kai Elmer Sotto
“Atomic Habits” by James Clear
“The Artist Way” by Julia Cameron
“Flex: Reinventing Work for a Smarter, Happier Life” by Annie Auerbach
“War of Art” by Steven Pressfield
“Do The Work” by Steven Pressfield
“Turning Pro” by Steven Pressfield
“The Business of Belonging” by David Spinks
“Your Music and People” by Derek Sivers
To do or not to do? This is the question for this 11th Season of the Catching The Next Wave podcast. We hope to investigate the difference (or the connection) between thinking and doing. We also hope to dig into understanding how our guests help themselves to put things out in the world and what helps them to do so. Stay tuned for the new season of Catching The Next Wave.
In the anniversary 10th season of the Catching The Next Wave podcast, we went down quite a few rabbit holes with our guests. Some of them were challenging, some were reflective, some were eye-opening. We discussed topics of abusing natural resources, cracking own productivity, dealing with change, learning, innovating, experiencing, and transforming. All of them are important for every one of us and the question is - how deep are there rabbit holes for you?
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GoGoDone website
“Design to Change” by Roel Frissen, Ruud Janssen, Dennis Luijer
“Stuffocation” by James Wallman
“Time and how to spend it” by James Wallman
WXO
“National Geographic Ocean: A Global Odyssey” by Sylvia Earle
Cover image by hijasdelatierra.es (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
Everything is connected much more than we have ever realised. We are dependent on the nature that surrounds us much more than nature is dependent on us, in fact. This is why we should stop perceiving nature as something to conquer and start seeing it as our life-support system, argues our amazing guest, dr Sylvia Earle, also known as “Her Deepness”. We discuss the ways in which oceans and life that inhabits them are treated today and how they should be treated from now onward. We discuss tuna and octopuses, sharks, and oxygen production, and so much more in this conversation that has the power to stop you from ever eating fish again.
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“National Geographic Ocean: A Global Odyssey” by Sylvia Earle
“Half mile down” by William Beebe
“Reason for hope” by Jane Goodall
“Silent spring” by Rachel Carson
Books by Carl Safina
“Last chance to see” by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
Have you ever thought about whether for an experience to be memorable does it have to always be extraordinary or is ordinary also an option? This is one of the rabbit holes we visit together with our guest Mat Deurden, an Associate Professor of Experience Design and Management in the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University. We unpack a transformative process as tripping over the truth you never realized. We discuss the difference between a transformation that is a small “t” versus capital “T” transformation, dig into the role of storytelling in the process of transformation, and much more.
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“Designing Experiences” by J. Robert Rossman, Mathew D. Duerden
“Orbiting the giant hairball” by Gordon Mackenzie
“Think Again” by Adam Grant
“Wonder switch” by Harris III
“The power of moments” by Chip Heath, Dan Heath
“Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez
It is no longer enough for governments to measure GDP, they should finally use knowledge of sociology and psychology to figure out how to measure the quality of life. And part of these metrics should be about the value of experiencing rather than possessing things. Together with James Wallman, the author of “Stuffocation” and “Time and how to spend it”, and a co-founder of the World Experience Organization, we dig into the topic of how to measure experiences, and how to use these metrics to provoke organizations around the world to be more experiential. We wonder if it’s possible to create an equivalent of a B-Corp certification and certification for experience and how it should differ with respect to the final solutions and culture. We also wonder how to capture the subjective assessment of experiences and turn it into a reliable guideline. And we dive into the meaning of boredom, the rabbit hole of creative work, and the idea of trying out our different selves.
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WXO website
B-Corp website
Self-determination theory
“Stuffocation” by James Wallman
“Time and how to spend it” by James Wallman
“Rest” by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
“Shorter” by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
“On Writing” by Stephen King
“Time traveler’s guide to medieval England” by Ian Mortimer
“The wire” by David Simon and Rafael Alvarez
“Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets” by David Simon
“The science of storytelling” by Will Storr
“What a dog saw” by Malcolm Gladwell
Have you ever considered how being human-centered might not be a good idea? How any centricity is a wrong focus for design? With Gilbert Cockton, a professor emeritus from the Northumbria University and the University of Sunderland, we discuss the need for a big picture to be able to strategically move forward with any project. We talk about the design approach in the era of post-humanism, the agency of objects, and a fetish of rationality creeping into the design profession. We underline the importance of the studio culture with design critics as a way to keep on bringing good work to the world. And we wonder whether evaluation does a good job for forwarding motion or perhaps not really.
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“Things We Could Design“ by Ron Wakkary
“Change by design” by Tim Brown
“Notes on design” by Kees Dorst
The pandemic showed us that change is non-optional. But what remains to be figured out is how to make it good and lasting. With our guest Ruud Janssen, the co-author of “Event Design Handbook” and “Design to Change” we discuss what it takes to implement change you wish for. We deliberate what is more important, process or outcome, and we look into events as pivotal moments for change. We also wonder whether it’s possible to design for how people spend time at work.
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“Design to Change” by Roel Frissen, Ruud Janssen, Dennis Luijer
“Event Design Handbook” by Roel Frissen and Ruud Janssen
Design to Change podcast
Everyone can sing better, it’s just a matter of the right training. With the world-famous vocal coach, Greg Enriquez, we talk about the strange instrument that is our voice. We talk about the unrealistic expectations technology raises for musicians and how it should be replaced with daring to try things that are tough early on. Greg points out how learning to sing is a never-ending journey rather than a destination and gives advice on how to effectively exercise your voice and also how to find a good singing teacher.
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Greg’s website
Modern Vocal Training website
The European Vocal Camp website
“Singing for the stars” by Seth Riggs
Have you ever considered that risk-taking is a muscle that needs to be regularly exercised? In this conversation with a productivity nerd, coach in Seth Godin’s Akimbo community, and an entrepreneur at GoGoDone, Heather Chavin we talk about creating conditions to ship your work. We talk about how so many of us are obligers responding to the external rather than internal stimuli and why we need a powerful community to overcome that. We agree that it is important to mourn projects we say ‘no’ to but still, it is the only way to do what matters as trying harder doesn’t quite work. We also discuss the importance of listening to our bodies and our brains as they are pretty clear about what is good for us at a given moment.
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GoGoDone website
GoGoPublish website
“Willpower Doesn't Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success” by Benjamin Hardy
“Permission marketing” by Seth Godin
“The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too)” by Gretchen Rubin
“Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits - to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life” by Gretchen Rubin
“The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun” by Gretchen Rubin
“Steal like an artist” by Austin Kleon
“Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown
In order to face change straight up you can’t do things the usual way. You need a new, unusual approach to doing business. In this conversation with Joy van Baren, the Growth Acceleration Director at Ordina, we discuss the importance of the right mindset, the new way of looking at risk as a risk of missed opportunity. We investigate how important is brutal honesty to stay innovative and how to create a safe place for it. We also wonder what the success rate is for innovative projects.
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“Pirates in the navy” by Tendayi Viki
More than three years ago we jumped the rabbit hole of producing the Catching The Next Wave podcast. In this anniversary intro we share the kitchen view on how it all happens. We also introduce the theme of the 10th season - "Down the Rabbit Hole" and chat about the meaning of this statement for both of us. And, as usual, we unravel a few of the mamazing guests we lined up for you in this season.
Anthony Rocco and Pim Schachtschabel, our great guests from previous seasons, decided to put their forces together to develop an online course that aims to awake curiosity in people. Together with Łukasz, we got a preview of this course live that got us grateful, confused, and more. Check it out to see what condition your curiosity is in.
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The architecting curiosity program
“A curious mind” by Brian Grazer
As usual, our Season 9 guests at Catching The Next Wave podcast took us into directions we dared not to wander ourselves. We heard daring business and artistic stories, we discussed how to become more daring as a leader and as a person but above all we were taken for a roller-coaster ride to learn the amazing things they all undertook in their personal and professional lives.
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“Designing Experiences” by Rob Rossman and Mat Deuren
The EQ Method workshop by Brent Lamphier
The College of Extraordinary Experiences
Tim Ferriss podcast with Steven Pressfield
What is the difference between transformative and experience design? Our guest, Paul Bulencea, compares it (after professor Martin Seligman) to the cosmetic versus curative treatment. Together we explore the transformative journey as a way to re-wild yourself, to reconnect with your true nature and your path. Using the example of the College of Extraordinary Experiences, Paul is a co-founder of, we define the difference between the safe and the brave space and chat about the importance of being brave on your way to personal discovery.
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“The Experience Economy” by Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore
"Gamification in Tourism" by Paul Bulencea
“My octopus teacher” on Netflix
“The hero with a thousand faces” by Joseph Campbell
Born in the US and relocated to Syria at the age of 14, our guest Randa Taftaf found a way to combine the two so different cultures. She experienced the start of the war in Syria and then moved back to the US to start a publishing house that aims to create books for Arabic learners that are engaging and true to the cultural heritage of the Arabic world. In this conversation, we explore with Randa how you can embrace diversity and live a humane experience. We also discuss the issues related to minority publishing - a challenge that is one of the steps to be addressed in our road to equality.
Randa asked us to add a disclaimer to this episode. She wrote: “This is just my story and not the story of other Syrians. So many Syrians have had a journey that was far worse than mine which is one of the reasons why I haven't been outspoken about my experience.” We deeply appreciate Randa’s openness to share her story with us. Thank you!
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Rummana Publishing
“4-hour workweek” by Tim Ferriss
Our lives are interconnected with nature. Our art is too. With our returning guest, Jericca Cleland, an incredible filmmaker, we talk about the notion of meaningful entertainment and how it can redefine our relationship with the world. We dig into the reasoning of why we all are so wired to storytelling and what authentic storytelling is about. These are only a few themes we explore in this amazing conversation.
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“My octopus teacher” on Netflix
The cultures we originate from carry inspiration that never ends - in food, in dance, in singing, in writing, in symbols, you name it. With our guest, Lukas Cabalka - artistic director and founder of Creativiva, we talk about creating entertainment that’s memorable and meaningful. We explore the future of the entertainment world through mixing genres and coming out of the theaters and closed scenes back on the streets. We try to figure out where inspiration comes from and how cooking is a great expression of someone’s attitude towards art.
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“Flavor matrix” by James Briscione
“Ever-changing seasons” by Joanne Baxter
Can you imagine yourself standing in front of a 30 000 audience singing “I feel pretty”? Our guest, Kasia Santi-Sperczyńska doesn’t have to anymore. Nor does she have to be fearful of singing on the stages such as Carnegie Hall and Banquet Hall of Hotel Plaza in NYC. How did a tiny girl from a tiny Polish village make it happen? We dissect the notion of bravery being true to yourself and allowing your inner child to guide you.
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“The Gifts of Imperfection” by Brene Brown
“Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown
“Untamed” by Glennon Doyle
“The Path Made Clear” by Oprah Winfrey
“A Return to Love” by Marianne Williamson
What is the posture that makes others follow you? Why are questions so crucial? What can you do to develop your emotional intelligence? What does sonder mean? How is vulnerability helping your leadership? These are only a few of all the questions we investigated with our guest, Brent Lamphier, a seasoned AltMBA coach and a creator of the EQmethod workshop, where you will practice skill-building, deep listening, and connection.
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The EQMethod workshop by Brent Lamphier
“The Dip” by Seth Godin
“Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh
Leadership is like yoga. You are never fully trained, there is always more to learn. So you go and exercise it every day. We unpack this daily exercise with our guest Phillip Collins, a Global Leadership Coach, heading a team of internationally based coaches and facilitators at Action and Theory. We discuss how to embrace risk, minimize waste and create with what is - the three elements Phil applies both to his professional work and his cooking. And we dig into the need for conscious reflection as a way to progress with your path towards leadership.
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“The inner game of tennis” by W Timothy Gallwey
“The EQ Leader” by Dr Stephen Stein
“The four disciplines of execution” by Sean Covey
“Against Empathy” by Paul Bloom
“The Imposter Phenomenon” by P R Clance
In the drive to endlessly fit their curiosity and explore forever new possibilities, our guests Jacek Majewski and Mikołaj Molenda, the co-CEOs at tylko.com, did more daring things than you might imagine. They share some of these stories with us while sharing their perspective on the responsibility of businesses to change their practices to become more responsible and sustainable.
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TYLKO
“Quantum Gravity” by Carlo Rovelli
“The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature” by Geoffrey Miller
The theme for Season 9 of the Catching The Next Wave podcast seems to have chosen itself. It is DARING and with it, we hope to explore the different facets of what daring means in the professional and private lives of our guests. We also want to see how you could become more daring with your endeavors as you decide to leave your comfort zone and explore the unknown.
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“The Umami Strategy: Stand out by mixing business with experience design” by Aga Szóstek
This is probably the first season in history that generated more questions than answers for us. It has turned out that intuition is a complex and multifaceted term, and that you can look at it from different perspectives: cognitive, cultural, professional, and more. One thing that stayed with us is that intuition is not something opposite to logic (on the contrary) and that it is worthwhile to become good friends with it as it helps us reach out to the depth of our inner wisdom.
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“How we learn” by Stanislas Dehaene
“The meaning of it all” by Richard Feynman
"7 and 1/2 lesson about the brain" by Lisa Feldman Barrett
"How emotions are made" by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Conversation with Jorgen Bang Jensen on CTNW
Conversation with Clara Otero-Perez on CTNW
Conversation with David Millen on CTNW
Is change good? What does growth mean? When do you need a revolution and when evolution is what you require? Why should you reach out to the edges of your comfort zone? Where lies the difference between possibility and opportunity? You can get immersed in these subjects and many more in our conversation with Carola Verschoor, the author of “Change ahead” and the founder and chief creative at Transformational Studio.
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“Finite and infinite game” by James Carse
“The Infinite Game” by Simon Sinek
“How Do You Know When Society Is About to Fall Apart?”
“Mau 24: 24 principles for the design practice” by Bruce Mau
The article referring to Tainter's work.
“Change ahead” Carola Verschoor
“Power versus force” by David Hawkings
“The course in miracles”
Why do 21st-century leaders need dialogue spaces? How important is daring to be vulnerable? What are the boundaries for? Is leadership a role or a state of mind? Where lies the difference between the being mode or doing mode? Is busy the new stupidity? Should we be egoless as leaders? These are just a few topics that we tackle with our guest, Keren Tsuk, a founder and the CEO of Wisdomtolead, an organizational consulting firm specializing in helping executives find their inner wisdom and maximize their leadership potential through mindfulness.
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“Busy in the new stupid” a short video featuring Bill Gates and Warren Buffet
“Finding the space to lead” by Janice Marturano
“Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely
“The upside of irrationality” by Dan Ariely
“Thinking fast and slow” by Daniel Kahneman
Is data and testing always the best path? Or is intuition sometimes helpful in making design decisions? We talk about it with Bernt Meerbeeek, the Product Owner for IoT solutions, and the R&D Manager for UX and Living Labs at Signify. We chat about personality in robotic vacuum cleaners, a cat that speaks human, and whether people are willing to give away their control to be emerged into the Internet of Things. We also talk about how being a researcher helps to be an intuitive manager for innovation teams.
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“Peripheral interaction” by Saskia Bakker
“Humankind: a hopeful history” by Rutger Bregman
How to embrace diversity in a meaningful way? What is the role of a leader in that process? Why are women leaving the workforce so frequently these days? What does it mean to cultivate belonging? Where does self-reflection come into the picture? These are a few topics we discuss with our guest, Yuan Wang, a leadership coach for creative professionals.
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Morning Pages weekly newsletter
The Chinese painting master: Chang Dai-Chien/张大千. Yuan wrote an article about him in her newsletter
The recommended book: Inward by Yung Pueblo.
Coaching: yuanwang.design
Chinese ink paintings by Yuan
A collection of Design Books by Women & People of Color
First conversation with April Mills on CTNW
Second conversation with April Mills on CTNW
“The artist’s way” by Julia Cameron
Is art individual or collaborative? Is it neutral or political? What does it mean to truly be in the world? How does empathy fit into it all? Why is it easier to listen to male than female intuition? These and many more topics we chat about with Kathryn Zazenski, a visual artist and a director of an independent artist space in Warsaw: Stroboskop.
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Katie’s website
Stroboskop space in Warsaw
“Murmurs of the present” an article by Amélie Laurence Fortin and Katie Zazenski
“John Armleder: About Nothing: Catalogue Raisonné” by Lionel Bovier, Beatrix Ruf, John Armleder
How long should you wait before beginning to write your book? This and many other questions we discuss with the amazing writer Ann Morgan, the author of “The World Between Two Covers” and “Besides Myself”. We delve into the world of creative writing, inspiration, process, dedication, and post-publication blues. And we discover what intuition means for a writer.
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“The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe” by Ann Morgan
“Besides Myself” by Ann Morgan
“Crossing over” audiobook by Ann Morgan
“An African in Greenland” by By Kpomassie Tete-Michel and A. Alvarez
Is there a profession called “genius”? What can we learn from Leonardo da Vinci about curiosity? How is theater evolving? What role do emotions play in collaboration? Are there better ways for life-long learning? These are the things we dive into with our amazing guest, Gunnar de Jong - an actor, facilitator, and entrepreneur.
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Stanford Meisner
Konstantin Stanislavski
Stella Adler’s technique
“The artist’s way” by Julia Cameron
“How to think like Leonardo da Vinci” by Michael Gelb
“The prophet” by Kahlil Gibran
Is intuition fast or slow? Is it about making new connections or adapting the existing knowledge? How does wisdom fit into the picture? Is there a connection with cognitive biases? Is our anticipatory brain devoting us from free will? These and many more topics we touch upon in the conversation with Dawid Wiener: a psychiatrist, a doctor of philosophy, a cognitive scientist, a teacher of the psychology of design, and an entrepreneur.
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“Kinds of minds” by Daniel Dennett
“How emotions are made” by Lisa Feldman Barrett
“7 and ½ Lessons about the brain” by Lisa Feldman Barrett
“The artist’s way” by Julia Cameron
“Handbook of intuition research” by Marta Sinclair
“The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous” by Joseph Henrich
We seem not to be quite educated to listen to our intuition these days. It might be our schooling system, the way the business world operates, or perhaps the fact that because we don’t know how intuition works, we are slightly scared of it. In this 8th season of the Catching The Next Wave podcast the hosts, Aga and Łukasz Szóstek aim to catch the intuitive bull by its horns and go to figure out what is intuition, and whether it’s worthwhile to listen to it or not.
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“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron
“The Umami Strategy” by Aga Szóstek
“Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman
Alistair Cockburn talking about the Shu Ha Ri model
Our co-host, Aga, has published a book on September 10th, 2020. The book is a guide on how to create and implement a powerful experience strategy that will help your organization stand out on the market. In this conversation between both hosts, Aga explains how it is time for the next step in thinking about customer experience and what are the ingredients of creating an experience strategy that will truly make you be loved by your customers.
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“The Umami Strategy: Stand out by mixing business with experience design” by Aga Szóstek
The link to the book on the BIS Publisher website
Season 7 of Catching The Next Wave podcast was about change. We attempted to look at it from the personal, organizational and global perspectives. While you might think that there aren’t many common threads, we managed to find quite a few. Join us to listen to another set of eight amazing conversations with fantastic guests from the domains of social and behavioral change, tourism, finances and organizational development.
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The link to the conversation with Scott Belsky will only become available in December 2020. But the good news is that we will launch it as a bonus episode on CTNW, so it will be delivered to you as soon as we get hold of it :D
Where lies the difference between tourism and travel? What does it mean to get out of the comfort zone? We investigate the notions of sustainable tourism, transformational travel and resilience in this great conversation with Audrey Scott and Daniel Noll, writers, storytellers and propagators of conscious adventures into our beautiful world. We touch, among many other topics, upon the difference between a genuine experience versus commoditization of holiday time and also the importance of language to explain what sustainable travel is all about to the different people potentially interested in it.
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Audrey and Dan’s website
An interview with Audrey
The 5-minute Journal app
“Guns, germs, steel” by Jared Diamond
“Man’s search for meaning” by Victor Frankl
What is the difference between equality and justice? What are the best places to start change? These are a few topics we touch upon with our guest Amanda Gigler who is leading the development of Mama Cash (the feminist non-profit fund from Amsterdam) next 10 year strategic guide. We dive into the differences between feminism, activism and social change and discuss (among other things) the importance of creating narrative for change.
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MamaCash
“Permaculture design” by Aranya
“Dispossessed” by Ursula de Guin
With our guest, the amazing bond investment expert, Darek Kędziora we dive into the world of financial change that is swiping the world today. Darek shares his opinions (strictly personal and in no way any sort of advice) about how the pandemic impacts current geopolitics and how it is reflected in the world of finance. We touch upon the global trends in technologies, the power changes and also the role of China in reshaping our world. It’s not all dark though - Darek convincingly talks about some things that can have a huge positive impact on our future.
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Darek's blog Fintaste
“The Great Rupture” by Viktor Shvets
“Easternization: Asia's Rise and America's Decline From Obama to Trump and Beyond” by Gideon Rachman
“Freedom: The Courage to Be Yourself” by Osho
Managing practices of today are still deeply rooted in the industrial era. But there is a new way emerging called: regenerative management. Our guest, Kim Korn (in collaboration with our other guest Joe Pine) are on the mission to make this new way become the new standard for managing organizations. Kim shares with us the foundational ideas for regenerative managing practices that aim to help your organization grow rather than just stay focused on self-optimization.
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Kim's website
“Handbook of Self-Determination Research” by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan
“Man’s search of meaning” by Victor Frankl
“Radical management” by Stephen Denning
“In search of excellence” by Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman Jr.
“Good to Great” by Jim Collins
“Infinite possibility” by Joe Pine and Kim Korn
“Freedom Inc” by Brian Carney
“The Tyranny of Metrics” by Jerry Z. Muller
Can you undergo a process of transformation and keep on innovating? Are opportunities or options the same as solutions? With our guest, Milan Guenther, the author of the book “Intersection” and the founder of the Enterprise Architecture Association, we talk about the change in the context of mature organizations. We discuss the interplay between brand perception, customer experience and infrastructure architecture with an aim to find the big picture that helps you take the best decision of what to invest in next.
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“Intersection: How Enterprise Design Bridges the Gap between Business, Technology, and People” by Milan Guenther
“Reinventing organizations” by Frederic Laloux
“Design sprint” by by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Braden Kowitz
“Design-driven innovation” By Roberto Verganti
“The Elements of User Experience” by Jesse James Garrett
“Who moved my cheese?” by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard
Holacracy
Zachman Framework
Presentation by Erik Roscam Abbing at the Intersection conference in Paris, 2014
Let’s be honest - change is tough. First we tend to experience denial, then anger. Once we come to terms that change is necessary and start following it, soon we find ourselves in the dip, the valley of tears. With our guest, Michael Liehmann, a change consultant, we explore the phases of change, its antecedents and ways to make it last in your life and in your org.
LINKS
Michael's website
The Discworld novels by Terry Pratchet - if you would like to start, this is the very first book in this series of 38 books
Shelter Me by The Rolling Stones
The pandemic has shown us that what seemed impossible is actually quite possible after all. With our amazing guest, April K. Mills, an author and a change agent, we discuss the challenges of progressing rather than regressing with the change that started happening around us. We discuss the importance of not being held accountable for trying to change things but above all the importance of trust in building agency to create meaningful change.
LINKS
“Everyone is a change agent” by April K.Mills
“Change tactics” (work-of-progess) by April K.Mills
April’s assessment framework
“The Rickover Effect” by Theodore Rockwell
“The Design of Everyday Things” by Don Norman
Is behavior change possible? Sure thing, it is but under certain conditions. With Natalia Romero Herrera, an associate professor from Delft University of Technology, we discuss how necessary it is to embed behavior change in values and beliefs. We dig into the topic of self-judgement, self-experimentation and personal storytelling as one of the most crucial tools to inspire change in people.
LINKS
Article by John Zimmerman “Designing for the Self: Making Products that Help People Become the Person they Desire to Be”
“Cradle to cradle” by Michael Braungart and William McDonough
Year 2020 has brought an unprecedented change to the world as we knew it: change that we might have not been quite ready to embrace. In this seventh season of Catching The Next Wave podcast we decided to embark on a journey to understand what change means, what are the necessary conditions for it to happen and how it can be successfully implemented. We chose to look at it from three perspectives: the perspective of personal development, the one of organizational transformation and finally from the edge of introducing global change to the way people think. We hope to inspire you to change in the ways that help this new world we face be the one we all would like to live in.
In the age of machines business needs more romanticism. In this bonus episode we talk to Tim Leberecht, an author of “The Business Romantic” and the co-founder of the Business Romantic Society and Monika Jiang, the communications and community manager at the Society about the need for radical change in the way business is conducted today. We also discuss their unique global conference The Great Wave, a networked event full of flavor of secret society with a ton of romanticism, of course.
LINKS
“The Business Romantic” by Tim Leberecht
The Great Wave conference
House of Beautiful Business
Business Romantic Society
Technological development should matter and should solve real problems, shouldn’t it? In this insightful conversation with David Millen, a Senior Manager of Design Research at IBM Watson Health and an ACM Distinguished Scientist, we dive into the topics of purposeful innovation, developing an organizational culture that is ready to take risks and the need for diverse teams with a common language. David discusses how IBM is in a very different business it used to be and how an organization needs to be able to morph over time. Finally, we get into futures thinking and its value as a tool to rehearse scenarios, so you’ve seen some of them before as fiction when you face them in reality.
LINKS
Seed Cards
Steven Johnson, “Where do the good ideas come from?”
Can you get too much attention to innovation? In this insightful conversation with Ton Kalker, the CTO at Xperi and an IEEE Fellow we dive into the aspects of predictability, risk taking and trust, and their relationship with radical innovation. We discuss the role of an innovation-focused CTO and also chat about what are the aspects worthwhile considering if you think of doing innovation that matters.
LINKS
Scientific American
Does scientific research equal innovation? Is there at least a common denominator? In an insightful conversation with Christoph Bartneck, a professor of human-robot interaction at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand, we discuss the actual need for constant progress and whether there is anything truly new “under the sun”. We talk about robots and their interactions with humans and also about innovation being about deliberate changes in our immediate surroundings to make our lives better. We, finally, look into the notion of whether “better” means the immediate impact in a form of instant gratification or an impact over time that truly changes the world for the better.
LINKS
Christoph’s Human-Robot Interaction Podcast
Podcast episode with Anton Angelo
Podcast episode with Joe Rogan and Elon Musk
“The Good Place” - the Netflix series
Jibo robot
Robert Pirsing, “Zen and the art of the motorcycle maintenance”
Alan F. Chalmers, “What is this thing called science”
Many organisations think they innovate, but do they really? Ralph Talmont, the photographer, writer and creator, talks about the power of imagination to change your mindset towards true meaningful and, above all, ethical innovation. We discuss the importance of taking into account the environmental costs of doing business and we talk about the differences between easy innovation and the difficult one, one that aims at the long-term impact on the world rather than being the selfish drive for biggest profit. We also consider stealing creative processes from artists as a way to start thinking differently.
LINKS
Boma.global
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, David Chandler, “Black Swan”
Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations”
Salomon Ash
Kazimierz Dąbrowski
Kazimierz Dąbrowski “Positive Disintegration”
Innovation takes time. You can only see its effects over time, so you need to step back and see a bigger picture. How to do so? In the conversation with Jens Heitland, a former Head of Innovation at IKEA Centres and now a business innovation designer at Fjord, we investigate how to create a powerful innovation team and what its role is in your organisation (and it is not one to create more innovation). We discuss the criticality of the innovation mindset and the importance of having a powerful North Star to ensure you are going in the same direction. We also talk about the need to get your hands dirty (not only on the operational level but also in the executive one) and the importance of good measurement.
LINKS
Jerry Z. Muller, “The Tyranny of Metrics”
Eric Reiss, “The Lean Startup”
Thomas Gordon, “Leader Effectiveness Training”
Simon Sinek “Start with Why”
Seth Godin “Purple Cow”
Tim Ferris “The 4 Hour Workweek”
About Warren Buffett by Alice Schroeder, Kirsten Potter “ The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life”
Big breakthroughs are, in fact, a series of incremental steps. If you have one, it means that you were patient enough and humble enough to stick to your course. With Steve Thomas, an Innovation Director at JPI Media, we dive into the ways to set up your innovation machine (no matter whether you are a startup or a mature organisation). We discuss the importance of empathy not only towards the customers but also towards the internal stakeholders whose necks are on the line. We also talk that you can’t predict innovation but you can enable for it but in order to do so you need to have a “punk mentality”, a rebellious spirit informed by strong passion and purpose to become a champion of innovation.
LINKS
Story of Dyson making ventilators
Story of Cristian Fracassi 3d-printing ventilators’ valves
Story about helping to feed the frontline initiative
Daniel Pink “Drive”
Ryan Holiday, “Ego is the enemy”
If you are not different (and sometimes even disliked) you won’t be noticed. And it also means that most likely you don’t innovate. With Jessica Mignone, a Principal Product Designer at Intuit (and a former UX Designer at Google), we discuss innovation from the perspective of constant improvement, or, in other words, we say that: going back to the stuff we built and making it better - this is innovation. We note that people innovate their entire lives anyway, and they are not even aware of that. And we also talk about the importance of 20% projects as creative outlets for smart people.
LINKS
Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga, “The Courage To Be Disliked”
Innovation is only true innovation when it is put on the market and validated with customers. With our esteemed guest, Joe Pine, the author of (among many others) “The Experience Economy”, we investigate the innovation space for experience design. We dig into the value of long-term thinking and the importance of considering the employee experience next to staging the experiences for customers. We tap into a concept of regenerative management and into the importance of underpromising to create powerful word-of-mouth.
Please note that this episode was recorded before the outbreak of the coronavirus — some of the comments refer to the situation before the pandemic.
LINKS
Joseph Pine II, James Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
James Gilmore, Joseph Pine II, “Authenticity”
J. Robert Rossman, Mathew D.Duerden, “Designing Experiences”
Roman Egger, Paul Bulencea, “Gamification in Tourism”
Benjamin Hunnicutt, “The Age of Experiences”
Is there a universal definition of innovation? It seems there isn’t. But there are quite a few ingredients that seem universal such as purpose, long-term vision, diverse team, rebel spirit, trust, and protection of a boss who is willing to be patient. Once again our guests expand our worldview and make us rethink the concept we thought we had figured out. And what we conclude is this. If you want to be truly innovative you need to set your mind on a purpose that goes beyond your bottom line and stay curious to remain sensitive to the way the world changes around you.
LINKS
Stanislaw Lem, “Tales of Pirx the Pilot”
Innovation — do we know what we talk about? Is it something business-related or perhaps it links to academia? It is about the insight or the outcome? And what does trivial mean in this context? Or maybe innovation is like love — everybody talks about it but nobody has seen it… We are setting out to discover that in Season 6.
LINKS
Bill Buxton’s short article about innovation.
When we started this season about magic, we had no clue where it could take us. Actually, we had little clue of what magic meant in the first place. With our guests of Season 5 we had the great pleasure to look at magic from the perspective of an artist, designer, teacher, leader, and magician. And you might be surprised how much of it can be applied to both our personal and professional lives. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.
Is there a place for “magic” today, besides the theatrical dimension and the entertainment industry? Yes, there is! In our conversation, Ferdinando Buscema—a professional "Magic Experience Designer”—takes us on the journey of wonder, kindness and luck. We explore about how magic relates to the world of business, and what modern leaders can learn from the Archetype of the Magician.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Ferdinando's professional website
Doug Henning
David Copperfield
Archetypes by Carl Jung
Ferdinando’s book (written together with "Wonder Injector" Mariano Tomatis) in Italian
“The Glass Bead Game” by Hermann Hesse
“Techgnosis” by Erik Davis
“The Hero Within” by Carol Pearson
The Archetype of the Magician, Diploma Thesis (C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich) by John Granrose
There are always more than two options. In the way we see the world. In the way we collaborate. And in the way in which we hope to impact culture. Malcolm Campbell, an executive director of R&D labs at Canon Medical Systems, talks about how spirituality and science can create magic of desired culture through the narratives that people share.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Malcolm's "Skirnir" web page with his LARP games, photographs and writing.
A discussion about Malcolm's talk on "Living Seidr".
Malcolm's talk "Transforming an Organisational Culture" at "Agile By Example 2019" Conference.
Recommended book: “Hostage at the table” by George Kohlrieser.
Artists today have no other way but learn to become entrepreneurs. In a conversation with Rasmus Stride and Ariel Orah we investigate the challenges artists face in order to do their art. We also dig into the topics of collaboration and praise embracing diversity as a path to become an inspirational leader.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Soy Division Berlin by Ariel
Empathy-based Artist Collective by Ariel
Day Dream by Rasmus
“The book of symbols”
Brian Ino “Music for the airports”
Secret societies, immersive experiences - where is the magic in there? Together with Anthony Rocco - an immersive experience designer and one of the faces behind the Latitude Society in San Francisco, we unpack the magic of being together as a group that agree on certain rules and believe in a certain reality that leads to creation of a magic circle where new patterns of behavior can be formed.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Merry Pranksters
Cacophony Society
Latitude Society
Mormonism
Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy by Alejandro Jodorowsky
Magic is a part of us. Pim Schachtschabel, a bespoke experience architect of magic and founder of one of the world's best escape rooms shares his perspective on how magic is the way we see the world. How Magic can be a way of thinking and perceiving what is happening around us. He shares his insights on designing storylines in escape rooms and the experiential workshops he secretly co-creates.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Pim’s website
“Creative confidence” by David Kelly
“The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World” by Wade Davis
What propels you to do more? What brings you satisfaction in life? Joana Mao, a strategic designer and the author of the Clear Purpose Framework convinces us that a way to live a fulfilling life is to find your deeper purpose: the purpose that goes beyond your own goals and desires. Once this purpose is surfaced the magic of inner alignment will happen.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Fundacao Bradesco
Coexiste
“Skillful Means: Patterns for Success” by Tarthang Tulku
Experiences are something we remember for a long time. Much longer than we remember things. How to design for them? With Anna Pohlmeyer, the assistant professor at the Institute for Positive Design at Delft University of Technology, we talk about the challenges behind hedonistic adaptation, designing for values and virtues. And we also consider designing for inefficiency as a way to engage people on a new, deeper level than it usually happens.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Check out the Delft Institute of Positive Design for a selection of inspiring projects, tools & methods, as well as scientific publications
Books recommended by Anna:
“Funology: From Usability to Enjoyment” (Human–Computer Interaction Series)
“Designing pleasurable products” by Patrick Jordan
“Sketching User Experiences” by Bill Buxton
“Design of everyday things” by Don Norman
“Design for the real world” by Victor Papanek
“Thinking fast and slow” by Daniel Kahneman
“How of happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirsky
"Speculative everything: design, fiction, and social dreaming" by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby
Other links:
PERMA model for well-being
Hedonic adaptation
And if you would like to dig even deeper you can check out the following articles on:
Positive Design:
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Desmet, P.M.A. & Pohlmeyer, A.E. (2013). Positive design: An introduction to design for subjective well-being. International Journal of Design, 7(3), 5-19.
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Pohlmeyer, A.E. & Desmet, P.M.A. (2017). From good to the greater good. In J. Chapman (ed.), The Routledge handbook of sustainable product design (pp. 469-486). London: Routledge.
Hedonic Adaptation:
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Frederick, S., & Loewenstein, G. (1999). Hedonic adaptation. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 302-329). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
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Sheldon, K.M., Boehm, J., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2013). Variety is the spice of happiness: The hedonic adaptation prevention model. Oxford handbook of happiness, 901-914.
Experiential and material purchases
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Carter, T.J. & Gilovich, T. (2010). The relative relativity of material and experiential purchases. Journal of personality and social psychology, 98(1), 146.
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The study on experience enablers was conducted in collaboration with J. Claus. Mental Subtraction / Taking Notice and Savoring
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Koo, M., Algoe, S. B., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2008). It’s a wonderful life: Mentally subtracting positive events improves people’s affective states, contrary to their affective forecasts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1217–1224.
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The coffee machine that occasionally declines to serve coffee was developed in collaboration with J. Nanne.
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Pohlmeyer, A.E. (2017). How design can (not) support human flourishing. In C. Proctor (ed.), Positive Psychology Interventions in Practice (pp. 235-255). Cham: Springer.
What is magic? Professor David Bassuk from Purchase College NYC returns to our podcast to discuss whether magic is more of a mindset or rather a toolbox. He digs into the danger of magical thinking as a trap for avoiding the current problems we should be addressing.
IMPORTANT LINKS
“Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History” by Kurt Andersen
“Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions” by Stephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, Sandra Blakeslee
Can magic have anything to do with business and leadership? What is magic for in the first place? Why would we even discuss it? Aga and Łukasz look at the different perspectives of magic and its applicability in work and life.
So many of us dream about living a creative life. But isn’t it just fantasy? In our first ever live conversation with Rachel Uwa and Katja Wessling we investigate the joy but also the difficulties of choosing to become an independent creative.
IMPORTANT LINKS
School of Machines by Rachel
Kaospilot experience design program by Katja and Andy (our guest from the very first season)
“Buddhism for Mothers: A Calm Approach to Caring for Yourself and Your Children” by Sarah Napthali
“A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume Mass Market” by Foundation For Inner Peace
This season showed us the huge difference between the notion of the English phrase: common sense and its Polish version: healthy judgment. This realization made a great twist on all our conversations where we tried to investigate both these expressions. We dived into the world of measures, decision-making, changing minds, agile, design and even music to better understand whether common sense is as common as it should be. Or perhaps common sense shouldn't be as common as you might think after all...
IMPORTANT LINKS
Shu - Ha - Ri model in martial arts
Evolutionary Development Method - EVO
“Getting Things Done” by David Allen
“The bullet journal method” by Ryder Carroll
“How to measure anything” by Douglas W. Hubbard
There is plenty of stuff that should be common sense but it isn't. In this episode, Gus Power rants about many of such things: from abusing agile principles, through pretending to be aligned, to the misjudgments that stem from the ladder of inference. We tap into the topics of employee motivation, the innovation trap and also the phenomenon of weak consensus every organization on this planet should be aware of. You are up for a ride with this conversation.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Jeffrey Liker “The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer”
Richard Michael Cyert ,James G. March “A Behavioral Theory of the Firm”
Donald A. Schon “The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think In Action”
Kenichi Ohmae “The Mind Of The Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business”
Larry Keeley, Helen Walters, Ryan Pikkel, Brian Quinn “Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs”
Chris Argyris “Teaching Smart People How to Learn”
Chris Argyris “Flawed Advice and the Management Trap: How Managers Can Know When They're Getting Good Advice and When They're Not“
Hugh MacLeod “Company Hierarchy”
John Gall “The Systems Bible: The Beginner's Guide to Systems Large and Small”
So many of us find decision taking really hard. But does it have to be this way? In our conversation with Michelle Florendo, the decision engineer, we discover the three core elements of decision taking. But most of all we both realize that decision taking process is something very different from what is the outcome of that decision.
Important links
Michelle's podcast: Ask the Decision Engineer
“The paradox of choice” by Barry Schwartz
“Smart Choices” by John Hammond, Ralph Keene and Howard Raiffa
If you would like to ask Michelle a question, you can do it here
Many companies these days only vaguely know what they aim for. Their visions are in-concrete and difficult to execute on. In this episode we talk to Tom Gilb, the creator of the Evolutionary Development (EVO) about his impact on the way different companies (and even countries) around the world can improve their performance based on focused and tailored measurements. For those, who are curious: EVO is a software development method that is based on incremental product releases, frequent delivery, and dynamic plans and processes.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Tom's Book "Innovative Creativity" especially for our listeners is here. Please, treat it as a personal copy for you alone.
You can get the "Competitive Engineering" e-book for free from Tom here or you can buy a paper version in an Amazon store in your country.
Tom has been writing a lot lately, mostly ebooks. You can find them here - some are free, some have free previews.
Singing might seem like magic to so many of you. But is it really the case? In this conversation with the Brazilian musician and the signing teacher, Wagner Barbosa, we talk about the mechanics of the vocal tract, what does rhythm do to our brain and why is positive reinforcement so utterly crucial if you want to learn how to sing. We also hear the story of training 30 kids to sing the national anthem at the Olympic Games - can you imagine that?
IMPORTANT LINKS
Wagner's band: Banda Golonka - Wagner is the guy in a red t-shirt playing a guitar.
...and this is the original song from their upcoming album: Caixa Preta.
Album: Orum by Giana Viscardi - that is the first album Wagner worked on as a vocal producer and it changed his entire life and carrier.
Album: Africo by Sergio Santos - an album that changed the Brazilian scene when it came out.
Yeah, we all go to school and learn stuff. But is it the best way to become a professional? For centuries there was another way: an apprenticeship. Peter Droste, a self-thought experience designer from New York, talks about his personal path to become who he is today. He explores what experience design means, how you can test the limits of what's possible and how it was to learn making steaks from a vegetarian chef.
Important links
“The artist’s way” by Julia Cameron
“The war of art” by Steven Pressfield
“Finite and infinite games” by James Carse
“Getting things done” by David Allen
“Checklist manifesto” by Atul Gawande
“Museum of a lost wonder” by Jeff Hoke
We all have self-sabotaging mechanisms that stop us reaching our full potential. Elena Foggiato, an amazing coach from Milan, Italy, talks about focusing on the things we can change and also about being present with our lives. She also explains how improvisation is this amazing tool any of us can use to find new ways of interacting with others.
Important links
"Callings" by Gregg Levoy
Is Big Data able to take decisions for us, humans? In this episode, we talk to the Big Data expert from nPowered, Piotr Jegier about the traps that many of us will encounter as we start to rely more any more on data. We dive into the topic of cognitive biases and try to understand in what domains humans still can't be replaced by AI.
IMPORTANT LINKS
nPowered - what we do
Piotr's twitter
Flat Earthers' documentary - BEHIND THE CURVE | Official HD Trailer (2018) | DOCUMENTARY | Film Threat Trailers (YT)
Things that correlate, but that does not really mean anything (Spurious Correlations by Tyler Vigen)
The software that helps judges make bail decisions, which does not like black people
John Cleese on Creativity, including open vs. closed mode (YT)
Modern portfolio theory, ie. making sure your many mistakes of forecasting compensate each other (Wikipedia)
Traveling Wilburys, the supergroup and the history behind their name
An article on The Butterfly Effect and Edward Lorenz's contribution to the Chaos Theory
On the often-discussed death of strategy in business in these turbulent times - IMD: Strategy is dead? Long live strategic thinking!. Diagnostics, alternatives and choice By Emeritus Professor Paul Strebel
An interesting article on what you might make when you do strategy, includes the strategy statement and the strategic sweet spot: - Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? by David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad
Comments by the CEO of T-Mobile Poland on "turning the tanker around"
Ethics and addiction in tech product design: How Technology is Hijacking Your Mind — from a Magician and Google Design Ethicist, by Tristan Harris
What is the Turing Test? (a short video from Cnet on YT)
On the General AI and the control problem (YT) - Can we build AI without losing control over it? | Sam Harris (TED)
Confirmation Bias - a good intro by Shahram Heshmat Ph.D. on Psychology Today
A Vox article outlining the work of Dan Kahan on how the (politically) motivated reasoning makes us stupid, and how scientific curiosity can counteract this effect
A place where you can learn more on Open Science movement and pre-register your research hypotheses - Center for Open Science - preregister your hypotheses
AI Control Problem (Wikipedia)
An episode of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast, "The Destroyer of Worlds" on the difficult and risky early years of the nuclear cold war on Earth
A selection of 10 particularly non-obvious "For Dummies" books
An inspiring introduction and overview of Getting Things Done method (and book) by its creator, David Allen, on Google Tech Talks
An accessible and irreverent discussion of the Extended Mind article by Andy Clark and David Chalmers and the distributed cognition concept, on the Very Bad Wizards podcast
Peter Thiel's favorite job interview question, as written up by Quartz
The original article on the primacy and precedence of (moral) emotions compared to reasoning - more accessible writeups are also easy to find online - The Emotional Dog and Its Rational Tail: A Social Intuitionist Approach to Moral Judgment, Jonathan Haidt, University of Virginia
What do we talk about when we talk about common sense? David Straker, the author of the book "Changing minds" gives a great definition of what common sense truly means. He points out at the traps of our System 1 thinking when it comes to considering something to be common sense. Then we chat about the role of empathy in influencing people, what trust means in the interpersonal relationships and how crucial it is to be able to change our own minds before we attempt to change the minds of others.
IMPORTANT LINKS
David’s book: "Changing Minds"
All his books on Amazon
David’s Youtube channel about Affinity Photo
"Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis" by Eric Berne
"Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre" by Keith Johnstone
"Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work"
by Paul Babiak, Robert D. Hare
"Diffusion of Innovations" by Everett M. Rogers
"The Leap: The Psychology of Spiritual Awakening" by Steve Taylor
“Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman
Netflix series “Dark”
Sometimes we all ask ourselves this very question: is common sense all that common? In this fourth season of the Catching The Next Wave podcast we hope to investigate what common sense really means and whether it is something that should be generally popular. ...or perhaps not really...
Important links
Nassim Nicholas Taleb “Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder”
Once again we are standing corrected - whatever we imagined crossing the borders means, there is so much more to consider. We were talking about starting the transformational journey, crossing borders slowly or quickly, sitting in the fences and also about the certain borders that needn't be crossed. We looked at ways to let go of your own image of yourself and be happy about the choices you've made. We investigated crossing borders in the personal and professional domains tackling the forever elusive topic of business innovation. There were even a few personal borders we crossed ourselves when recording this very season :) We hope you will have a lot of joy listening to it!
Important links
Kaospilot Experience Design program
David Rock, Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long
The Ride in New York City
Staying innovative is the ultimate challenge for every organization today. Clara Otero, a Director of Systems Innovations for NXP’s Automotive Business Unit, talks about how to structure innovation so that the organization works on both the long-term as well as the short-term vision for product development. We talk about the need for collaboration to create new solutions. We also discuss how to lead a happy and fulfilled life by owning the choices you make.
Important links
“Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card
“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman
How does living a nomadic life change your perspective about owning stuff? Together with the world-wide known innovator Alex Grots we explore the importance of rituals, the history of Design Thinking at IDEO and the value of Design Thinking workshops. We also chat about the need to keep the unique organizational culture when your start-up is growing.
Important links
ProGlove
IDEO
The House of Beautiful Business conference
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Five Novels in One Outrageous Volume by Douglas Adams
The realization of your own mortality must impact the art you do. John-Paul talks about his path as an artist early touched by cancer. He takes us into the world of interactive video installations, game design and provocation. We chat about the burlesque theater as an ultimate space for women to be themselves to the core. And we look into the third gender: the choice of neither being a female or male but being both.
Important links
The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino
Have you ever imagined yourself being a guest at the Mad Hatter tea party from Alice in Wonderland? Our guest, Flemming Ottsen, can make it a reality. In this conversation we talk about switching from engineering and product management to performance. We explore the world of immersive theater, the importance of meditation and the ego work. We also cross a border we never imagined to cross on this podcast - we discuss the potential positive impact of psychedelics.
Important links
The Flyingfox Entertainment
“The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence In History And Its Causes” by Steven Pinker
Bill Gates Newsletter
Crossing borders is often considered as a metaphor. But it can be both physical and metaphorical too. John Law explains the idea of crossing over to the zone as a way to stretch your imagination and see the world (especially the familiar world) with new eyes. Next to it, John discusses the meaning of anarchy in today's world, tells the stories behind some of the neons to be shown at his upcoming exhibition and once more takes us once more to the world of immersive events.
Important links
Oakland Pro Arts Gallery & Commons – Be Pro Art!
Improvement of Joe Camel billboard by the Billboard Liberation Front
City Lights Booksellers and Publishers
An article about the 100th anniversary of Dada celebrated in San Francisco
Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps by Emmett Grogan
The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart
Apocalypse Culture by Adam Parfrey (Editor)
The Suicide Club by Robert Louis Stevenson
Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Have you ever thought why does the traditional advertisement never work anymore? And even further - is there a way to make it work again? In this incredible conversation with David Bassuk - the performance professor at the Purchase College in NYC, we investigate the world of transmedia, gameplay and immersiveness as the future of engaging with the audience before, during and after an event or service launch. Last but not least, we look into how theater and play has changed over time and deliberate about its future.
Important links
Purchase College at the State University of New York
"Building imaginary worlds" by Mark Wolf
Have you ever considered beach clean-up as a part of your holidays? Elena Rodriguez Blanco talks about responsible tourism, local social impact and transformational experience design. We discuss the dangers of burnout and the importance of mindfulness. We also dig into the world of female entrepreneurship and the challenges that can be found there.
Important links
Elena's startup Authenticitys
Elena Rodriguez Blanco , Mind Your Business: Redoing Entrepreneurship, TEDxModulUniversity
Adrienne Maree Brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
Have you ever considered what would you do if it was your last day on Earth? Together with Seth we explore the notion of excellence, good-enoughism and status. We discuss the importance of having time every day for creativity and reflection. And we look into the future of democracy, intellectual property and new artistic expressions.
Important links
Thomas Peters “In search of excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies”
Thomas Peters “The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE”
Kevin Kelly “What technology wants”
Sci-Fi Trilogy by Eliot Peper - “Bandwith”, “Borderless”, “Breach”
Season 2 made us aware that in order to feel empowered for transformation we need to cross some borders or boundaries. But what does it mean to cross one? How does it feel? Is it one big leap or a thousand little steps? In Season 3 we hope to explore the notion of crossing boundaries from the perspectives of leaders, designers, artists and performers. We begin with this question in mind: do we truly know what we talk about when we talk about crossing boundaries? And we hope to stand corrected :)
As Season 2 of the Catching The Next Wave podcast comes to an end, we attempted to untangle what empowerment means based on the fascinating stories our guests shared with us over the last few months. So, what is empowerment? It is the strength of self-permission? It seems like the right place to start.
Important links
The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
As almost nothing significant can be achieved individually anymore today collaboration is the front and center of challenges the modern companies face. Petter Abrahamsen, the former commander of the Norwegian Navy, talks about motivations and the methods of building teams in the military world. He also shares his thoughts of the ingredients necessary to make empowerment become a reality rather than only round words.
Important links
The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results Hardcover by Stephen Bungay
It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by D. Michael Abrashoff
Godfoten (in Norwegian) by Nils Arne Eggen
The traditional leadership style is getting old for the new times we live in. So, what can the leaders of today do to stay relevant and keep up with the new generations of people who don't want to be ruled by command and control bosses? Why would the leaders even want to change their style? Style that made them so successful for so many years? Ask Agger, the partner and the Change Agency Workz and the author of " The 3rd Generation of Storytelling" tells about the power of playfulness and games to teach leaders whya nd how to switch from the old ways to the new.
Important links
The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer
The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results by Stephen Bungay
Change in many organizations is the new constant. There problem is though - people are not happy about it. April Mills, the author of "Everyone is a change agent" and a perpetual change agent herself, explains ways in which a lasting change can be constructed. She draws from her experience as an engineer at the nuclear navy shipyard and from Intel, where she is bringing change about today.
Important links
Everyone is a Change Agent: A Guide to the Change Agent Essentials by April K. Mills
The Rickover Effect: How One Man Made A Difference by Theodore Rockwell
High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company by Andrew S. Grove
Finding a successful way to run a team, especially in the world of agile, is like fining a golden egg. Mel Lang, an amazing agile coach herself, shares secrets of what being a good agile coach is all about. She talks about her path from an interactive agency to becoming a cook and explains how this adventure changed her perspective on running good teams. And for those interested, she also shares her tricks to change bad habits for good.
Important links
Mel's agile online training
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg
Everybody is creative, right? Why don't we see it more often then? Scott Perry, a musician and an author of "Endeavor" and "The Stoic Creative" talks about the internal battles we all go through to release our creativity. He shares ways to overcome your resistance to become a person you always wanted to be.
Important links
"Endeavor" By Scott Perry
“The Stoic Creative” by Scott Perry
“Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius
Scott's website: Be creative on purpose
Brene Brown - the author
Victor Frankl
AltMBA workshop
The Marketing Seminar
Martin Taylor - jazz guitar player
Frank Vignola - jazz guitar player
The performance of Scott with Martin Taylor and Frank Vignola
Education needs to change to enable the next generations to become ready to take up the challenges they are going to face in their adult lives. Adam Lindstrom, the educator from New Jersey shares his approach to changing the education and empowering it through technology to make his school ready for the future.
Important links
"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho
"Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?" by Seth Godin
"Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman" by Yvon Chouinard
The Learning Lab
20% Time project
Marlboro Marketplace project
Future Ready Schools website
Church has spent two millennia finding ways to motivate, engage and empower people. Scott Gould, the author of "The Shape of Engagement", shares with us his definitions of what engagement means and tells an absolutely fascinating story of how church designs his ways to build an ultimate engagement.
Important links
The Shape of Engagement: The Art of Building Enduring Connections with Your Customers, Employees and Communities by Scott Gould
Human Sigma: Managing the Employee-Customer Encounter by John H. Fleming , Jim Asplund
Influence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini
The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II, James H. Gilmore
Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization by Ken Blanchard
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
Enterprise Engagement: The Textbook: A Roadmap to Achieving Organizational Results Through People by Bruce Bolger and Richard Kern
There are ways to empower that are not as obvious. That are based on becoming part of a group that gives you the space and the legitimacy to try things out. Things you might never dare to try outside of this secret world. John Law, the co-founder of the Burning Man festival, talks about his life as a member of secret societies, about generosity, morality and permission to be yourself. As much yourself as you can bare.
Important links
the definition of the Secret Society
the Laughing Squid where John is a partner
the Billboard Liberation Front
the Burning Man festival
Season 1 of the Catching The Next Wave podcast turned out to be about transformation. But, in order, to go through any transformation you need to feel empowered to do so. The hosts Aga and Werner share their initial thoughts of what empowerment is while getting ready to shoot the second season which aims to help them dig deeper into the notion of empowerment.
Is live content better than edited one? Should you publish weekly or by season? What sticks in audio and what doesn't? ...and many other insights on building audio experiences through podcasting.
Important links
Food 4 Thot podcast
Akimbo podcast
S Town podcast
99% Invisible podcast
Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio by Jessica Abel
In the world of transformational design, we create the narratives which define how we live our lives. The role of design is to enable the positive change to happen. To facilitate and to coach it. But ultimately the work needs to be done by the users. By each of us. The role of business and design is to responsibly accommodate us once we are ready to take the first steps. To leap. To become an artist.
Important links
Aga Szóstek @malka6
www.seed-cards.com
www.uxplus.pl
Medium writings
Werner Puchert @weenerdawg
Medium writings
Transformation is like an onion - it has many layers. It's essential that any work centring on Transformational Design is rooted within our humanity. Kelli Wood, provost of the Seth Godin's AltMBA workshop and artist behind LittleBigWorks, talks about being an artist, finding meaning and living up to your true potential.
Important Links:
“Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke
"Too Close To The Falls" by Catherine Gildiner
"Coming ashore" by Catherine Gildiner
"After the Falls" by Catherine Gildiner
Experience can be a lifestyle. It has the potential to build a valuable futureproof business. Andy Sontag, the Experience Design program manager at Kaos Pilots in Denmark, talks about meaning, change by design and the inspiration from the arts.
Important Links:
"Art as experience" by John Dewey
"How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain" by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Have you ever thought what responsibility means with respect to experience design? How might technology be appropriated for good or for evil? Marc Hassenzahl, the experience design professor at Siegen University in Germany, talks about the need for troubles and secrets, provocation and the effortful design.
Important Links:
“Experience Design: Technology for All the Right Reasons” by Marc Hassenzahl
“The Comfort of Things” by Daniel Miller
Pleasurable troublemakers: Keymoment]
Pleasurable troublemakers: The Chocolate Machine]
Pleasurable troublemakers: Forget-Me-Not
Mystery adventures can help us see our superpowers. Victor Milton van Doorn, the well-known Dutch escape room designer and a co-founder at The Number 1 Escape Room in Amsterdam - Sherlocked, talks about 'awesomeness', the need for magic and finding your better self through play.
Important Links:
"What They Don't Teach You at Film School: 161 Strategies For Making Your Own Movies No Matter What" by Camille Landau and Tiara White
Victor's secret map of the best work-friendly café's in Amsterdam
Mobile game Victor's team has made to teach you how to crack safes - iOS and Android
Here's the video about production of this game.
Sherlocked on Creative Morning
What are events? What are they for? How much time do you invest in designing them comparing to the time they last? Does it make sense to spend 1% of that time to strategise what change you hope to inspire Ruud Janssen, the co-author of the “Event Design Handbook", talks about behaviour change, the event design process and living in the moment.
Important Links:
“The Experience Economy” by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
“My dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton” by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
We are all inspired and driven by stories. We all think in narratives, no matter where we come from. It shapes our world, our thinking, our actions. Yes, our lives are ultimately fashioned by the tales we weave. Jericca Cleland, an award-winning writer and director, talks about story substructure, how she designed her own life and the need for authenticity.
Important Links:
Noerlum Studio
“Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom
4OCEAN
You can’t execute what you don’t measure. Jorgen Bang Jenssen, the former CEO of the Polish telecom Play, talks about the need for consistency, the value of transformation and the need for customer-centricity in today's world.
The Experience Economy is finally here! Joe Pine, co-author of 'The Experience Economy', shares his thoughts on designing for 'time well saved' and 'time well spent'. He also leads us towards the ultimate actualisation of the experience economy: the need for transformative experiences.
Important Links:
- “The Experience Economy” by B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore II
- “Infinite Possibility: Creating Customer Value on the Digital Frontier” by B. Joseph Pine II and Kim C. Korn
- “Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want” by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II
- “Computers as theatre” by Brenda Laurel
- the article about the history of the Experience Economy
We find ourselves in a world bogged down in technology. It needs to change, we believe this change is inevitable. In fact, It is already happening under our noses and Design will be in the thick of it. We kick off with our podcast wondering: what is next for Design? Is the Experience Economy already here? Or did the world take another turn? What is the meaning of positive psychology, searching for happiness and addressing deep human needs? Will this become a discussion point in the boardroom? Will it ever?
Important links
Aga Szóstek @malka6
www.seed-cards.com
www.uxplus.pl
Medium writings
Werner Puchert @weenerdawg
Medium writings
Aga recently spent a few days in Viborg Denmark where she met and interviewed an extraordinary friend of ours. Jerrica Cleland is a wire, director, filmmaker and teacher - a real artist. She's a partner in the Danish studio Noerlum, but before that, she honed her skills in, amongst others, Pixar where she worked on Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2.
However, if you speak to her, she would probably tell you that she's a storyteller. I urge you to listen to the full interview Aga recorded where they deep dive Jerrica's experience and focus on the importance of narrative and storytelling.
It was also during the interview, that Aga asked Jerrica how we could apply narrative to the production of your Podcast. It is interesting to listen to how Jerrica applies her Narrative structure to our project. Even though it did not make the final cut we thought it was refreshing and applied some of what she suggested to the season we are producing.
It's always refreshing to hear an alternative perspective and we thought we'd share it with our friends.