Mandatory Cocktail Hour: Recent Episodes
JOE Houde
The Mandatory Cocktail Hour, the companion podcast to The Networked Letter, a newsletter about applying the science of social networks to you career and leadership.
Weekly interviews with new professionals, mid-level journeymen, high profile stars and anyone in between. Interviews are research for a new book on Leadership and Social Networks, and encompass a wide range of professions and career stages.
Doctor Christopher Jones is Orthopedic Surgeon and Associate Medical Director of Perioperative and Procedural Care Operations and Outside Medical at Kaiser Permanentee. Talking with Chris provided a great opportunity - Chris has experience and stories to share about cultivating collaboration as a leader of major business initiative for his company. We talk about that, along with the value of admitting out loud that you need help and possibly the most heartwarming long-dormant connection story I have ever heard.
Ryan Ozawa is a native Hawaiian, journalist, technologist, , community builder and owner of the @hawaii handle on multiple social networks.
We discussed the similarities and differences between an island network and an online network, how is network helped him spin up an organization to build respirators during COVID, and the best question he has been asked at a networking event.
Michelle Hoover is the principle at Baem Leadership.
Michelle is an expert in First Generation Professionals and we spoke about the intersection of FGP's and social networks - the challenges and opportunities they have in mentoring, connecting at work and advancing in their careers.
Bryce Castillo is "technically in charge of media stuff" for Bizarre Magic INC. In that role he works on youtube shows and audio podcasts including The Modern Rogue, Scam Nation, and Great Night.
Bryce's ambiguity about his title is connected to working and collaborating in a small organization. That context shapes most of our conversation: we discuss the merit of knowing the people you are working with and the upside of being together a long time, The Power of making space - sometimes literally - for collaboration and the challenges of balancing solo work and collaborative outcomes in content creation.
Today I am talking to Doctor Dean Taylor, Professor of Surgery in the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Director of the Duke Sports Medicine Fellowship Program, Team Physician for Duke Athletics and Chair of the Feagin Leadership Program. Dean and I discuss collaboration in the operating room, how collaboration in medicine is strengthened by patient centeredness and how his experiences as a West Point cadet shape his collaboration.
Today I am talking with Caricia Catalani, a designer in the public health field, about collaboration in design. Caricia shared how human centered design is collaboration with the ultimate audience of your design, the challenges that happen in distributed design, and a practice to overcome collaboration challenges.
Jim LaPage is a content creator and member of the Spike Feeders, a Magic the Gathering YouTube page. Magic the Gathering is a collectible card game and Jim and I we spent a lot of our time today talking about a concept in Magic called "Rule Zero" where players discuss how the group will play the game. I am exploring Rule Zero as a metaphor for ground rules in collaborative groups and we talk about how collaboration and competition co-exist in the game of Magic. Don't worry if you don't know about Magic, Jim does a great job of explaining the game. We also spend some time talking about the collaboration required in creating content while playing a game and how the Spikefeeders handle that process.
Find Show notes at
www.thenetworkedleader.com/podcast/mtg
Matt Williamson is the a serial entrepreneur who has founded or been an early stage employee at three different companies. Matt and I discussed co-ownership of homes as collaboration, the challenges it creates and how his company Plum makes co-owning a home easier. He also shared his most desired trait in a co-collaborator as a serial entrepreneur and the role collaboration takes in starting a successful business.
Find show notes at www.thenetworkedleader.com/podcast/williamson
Dani Fernandez is an actress and writer, her writing credits include shows on Netflix, and HBO Max as well as a comics for DC comics.
We talk about how different levels of responsibility shapes how she experiences collaboration, the benefits of being collaborative when you are in a tightly-knit industry, and her experience writing a story about Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy for DC comics
Alex Sheldon is the Lead Character Designer and a founding member of the Wallis Studio Ensemble.
We discuss how being an introvert effects collaboration, how collaborating with the audience influences immersive theater and how a script provides a blueprint to collaborate.
Jason Inman, writer and podcaster, co-Host of Geek History Lesson, author of multiple comics and the book "Super Soldiers" a book about super heroes and villains who are veterans.
Jason and I spoke about his collaborations on the early days of YouTube, a tactic he uses to see if people are ready to collaborate and how when you are creating something, your first fan has to you.
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Anthony Veneziale is the Tony Award winning co-founder of Freestyle Love Supreme and the CEO of FLS+, a corporate education company that brings play and improvisation and musicality to organizations.
Anthony and I talked about how to fail collaboratively, the brain science behind FLS+ work and some education design principles.
Show Notes
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Ashley Victoria Robinson is an actress, comic book author and podcaster. Co-Host of Geek History Lesson, Ashley's comic Jupiter Jet has been nominated for the Ringo Award.
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Show Notes
WE revisit my 2019 interview with Sanyin Siang, the Executive Director of the Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics (COLE) at Duke University.
Since the interview, Sanyin has been honored as the top Executive Coach in the world two times over.
In our interview, we talk about how she grew the COLEthrough a collaborative process and how Sanyin thinks of collaboration as a way to help others grow.
This is a rebroadcast of my interview with Brian Brushwood from 2017.
Highlights on collaboration include Brian's switch from one-man-show to constantly collaborating and Brian's new goal for how he fits in on his own production teams.
Jennie Josephson is the co-founder and an Executive Producer at Infinite Gains Studios. She helps people make excellent audio content, and has worked with Daily Tech News Show, Brave, Not Perfect, Talking Feds among others.
Jennie and I spoke about her experience founding a networked company, running a purpose-driven organization and how she built her personal board of advisors.
Tom Merrit is a podcaster extraordinaire. He currently hosts several shows including a Daily Tech News Show, Current Geek, Cord Killers, Let’s Talk About Star Wars and It’s A Thing.
Tom was one of the first podcasters as a host on the host of CNET’s Buzz Out Loud. We spoke about his experi necessary in the early stages of this field and the relationships he built along the way. We specifically addressed the qualities of the relationships that have lasted throughout the years.
Sanyin Siang is the Executive Director of Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics, Duke University, a Professor in the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke, an executive coach and author.
Sanyin and I spoke about a mutual dislike of the term 'reverse mentor', the message sent by the questions you ask when getting to know someone, and her experience building an organization in a networked world over the last fifteen years.
Scott Johnson is the founder of the Frogpants Podcast Network and a host of 9 podcasts including The Morning Stream, the Instance, Current Geek and Filmsack.
Scott has won multiple awards for his podcasts and was inducted into the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame in 2018.
Scott and I talked about his intuitive process for bringing people into his network and his idea that 'you get the chat room you deserve' We also spoke about how he built an event to help build community - Nerdtacular.
Edwin Reyes is a Coastal Management Administrator on the island of Guam. We speak about working in a job that is networked by design, the ups and downs of networks on a small island, and ways that he is an energizer in his own work networks.
This is a new kind of eposide - instead of an interview, it is a practicum on what to do during Mandatory Cocktail Hours in real life.
It is inspired by a linkedin post I published a few years ago:
http://www.thenetworkedleader.com/blog/2016/2/4/uncommonalities-your-secret-to-surviving-mandatory-social-hour
David Graham is a writer for The Atlantic Magazine. I speak with him about the unique nature of career progress in journalism,the realities of Washington DC cocktail parties and the power of finding good mentors.
Hayes is a North Carolina sports media personality: Lead Anchor at Sports Channel 8, North Carolina's only all-internet sports station; Announcer for the Carolina Mudcats Minor League Baseball Team and general Raleigh/Durham advocate.
Hayes and I talked about the power of diverse networks at a young age, how he handles people that only want to talk sports, how he learned to ask for things when he was a radio show booker and more.
Brian Brushwood is the co-host of The Modern Rogue, half of the Billboard #1 "Night Attack" comedy album team, and according to his website, "Some kind of Wizard"
Brian and I talk about how he creates a culture of collaboration and excellence in his company, his philosophy for when to connect with dormant ties, how old competitors can become partners and more.
Charlie Green is a speaker, consultant and the author of The Trusted Advisor. Charlie and I talk about trust in network connections, curious members of his support network, the network of trusted advisors and more.
Kathleen Minogue is the Founder and CEO of Crowdfund Better, a firm that advises people and organizations on their crowdfunding efforts on sights like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Kathleen and I talked about how the network in crowdfunding is about connections and not a contact list, how mentors shaped her career, and the importance of trust in crowdfunding.
Todd Etter is the Chief Collaboration Officer at The Motley Fool. We discuss collaboration and connection, and some of the techniques 'The Fool' uses to enhance that, including playing together and mobile desks. We also discuss how being in an organization for almost 2 decades affects your network, positively and negatively.
Rob Foster is the founder and owner of RBF Fitness in Cranston, Rhode Island. We talk about the power of asking for help, how is network influenced his entrepreneurial journey, and learning and teaching in a community.
Anna Hickabee Tull is a life coach and custom song crafter. WE talk about connecting, hedging who you are, and authenticity.
For more info, go to www.thenetworkedleader.com
Sheila Heen is cofounder of Triad Consulting Group, Lecturer at Harvard Law School and coauthor of Difficult Conversations and Thanks for the Feedback.
Doug Stone talks about the difficult conversations in our networks, and how friendship and work sometimes go together and sometimes don't.
Go to thenetworkedleader.com for more info.
Debbie Goldstein is Principal and Managing Director at Triad Consulting Group. She teaches communication and conflict resolution all over the world for top organizations.
Debbie and I spoke a lot about friendship and its influence on our networks, including how she started her job at Triad. Enjoy!
Cathy Salit, Co-Founder of Performance of a Lifetime, author of Breakthrough Performance, talks about improvising your way into connections.
Networking
Improvising
Leadership
Performance
An overview of Mandatory Cocktail Hour: the companion podcast to The Networked Letter and The Networked Leader book (in progress)
This is a series of interviews with interesting people at various stages of their careers, examining their experiences with cultivating networks and how those experiences link to the science of social networks. Interviews are exploratory, and conversations range widely. To learn more, go to www.thenetworkedleader.com and sign up for the newsletter