The Impossible Network: Recent Episodes
Fabrica Collective
The weekly podcast about the serendipitous stories of everyday people living extraordinary lives.
Learn, gain insights, and be inspired by how a diverse range of people have broken through obstacles, fearlessly exceeded the boundaries society sets, taken the chances, regardless of risk, that most fear, in pursuit of their ‘impossible’.
Each week, host Mark Fallows, explores how his guests' ‘impossible’ became possible? How their upbringing affected them; how creativity fueled them, how serendipity guided them. Each guest offers their insight and advice to others seeking to challenge and achieve their impossible.
Until the age of 38 Edward Molkenboer impacted people’s lives through the ads he created. Having launched his ad agency at the age of 18, and after 20 years of success Edward was hit by an existential realization that set him on a new path of impact; social not commercial. In this episode Edward recounts […]
Caroline Arditti Sunshine maker, and community builder shares her experience of initiating ‘Sunshine Hour’, a Zoom-based platform to connect and uplift a diverse range of people in light of quarantine worldwide. Beginning early during quarantine with a handful of participants from her personal network, ‘Sunshine Hour’ rapidly expanded to more than 500 people from over […]
Caroline Arditti In today’s episode, we speak with Caroline Arditti, a Paris-born creative force whose mission is to make the world more human and help people feel more alive. Caroline shared her journey from working in corporate communications and PR to founding Sunshine Makers, an experiential agency that’s creating positive momentum through community-building initiatives like […]
Power For All – CEO – Kristina Skierka TLDR If you’re short on time here are seven minutes of soundbites from difference maker Kristina Skierka – theSan Francisco based founder and CEO of Power For All, a global campaign to provide universal energy access by 2025 to the 85% of the 1.1 billion people residing […]
Kristina Skierka This week’s guest is Kristina Skierka, a genuine difference maker and true catalyst for change in the global energy sector. As the CEO and founder of the Power for All campaign Kristina has been instrumental in shaping a movement with a truly audacious vision and goal of: powering the 85% of the 1.1 […]
Ashley Usiskin Overview
How do we encourage more people to accept help when it’s offered, and ask for help when it's needed? That is the big question this week’s guest difference maker Ashley Usiskin is focused on answering.
With a successful career that spanned branding, marketing and start-ups across 4 countries, in early 2022 Ashley was diagnosed with lymphoma and a rare auto-immune hemolytic disease that required months of debilitating chemotherapy. This led to a life-changing and transformative experience; from being self-reliant and independent he was suddenly helpless requiring the help of others. This led to his realization that accepting help is a gift; since you give the chance for the help giver to experience joy, pride and the feel-good factor of supporting someone they care about.
Ashley is now on a mission to change our perceptions of asking for help; transforming help rejectors to help receivers. In doing so he aims to enable people to realize that accepting help has a life-changing impact not only on their own livelihood but also on those who offer them help.
He is now working to offer practical tools to change mindsets and motivate us all to ‘Help yourself by helping each other’.
TImecodes
00:00 Intro
02:10 Who is Ashley?
03:30 What made Ashley who he is?
07:10 Developing independence
08:30 His early creative ambitions
10:50 The value of Grey and BBH
13:35 What is Ashley working to achieve?
17:43 Recognizing the power of accepting help
18:55 His barriers to asking for help
21:16 Ashley’s mission to share his learnings
26:40 The Gift of help Podcast
29:10 Some tools explained
32:29 How serendipity led him to Simon Sinek
40:25 What ChatGPT says about barriers to asking for help
44:15 The evidence Ashley is witnessing
46:45 The impact on society in our meta crisis
50:00 The Japanese TV show
52:00 The changing corporate culture
53;10 Ashley’s ambition
55:27 The help Ashley is asking for?
57:58 Remaining resolute and resilient
59:57 Ashley’s gift or talent
01:02:46 The actions we can all take to create a help exchange
Social Links
Ashley’s Email Gift of Help Podcast Linkedin Instagram
Show Links
Bridge app Caroline Arditti Camerados Simon Sinek Nir Eyal
In today's bonus drop from food futurologist Dr. Morgaine Gaye, Morgaine discusses the question of why the fat-free fad of the 1980s made us fatter.
How does that work?
Today's Question
Why The Fat-Free Fad Of The 80's Made Us Fat?
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Today's Question
Do We Really Eat Insects?
As a break from the norm, this week I’m dropping a series of daily short bonus interviews with previous guest Dr. Morgaine Gaye the food futurologist.
Each day Morgaine will answer a question related to food and food trends.
Morgaine is a fount of food-related knowledge.
I hope you enjoy it.
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As a break from the norm, this week I’m dropping a series of daily short bonus interviews with previous guest Dr. Morgaine Gaye the food futurologist.
Each day Morgaine will answer a question related to food and food trends.
Morgaine is a fount of food-related knowledge.
I hope you enjoy it.
Today's Question
Why Smell Makes Us Buy What We Don't Want?
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TLDR
If you just want the top AI tips and techniques from Prompt Engineering Expert Dave Birss then here are 7 minutes of soundbites to spark some inspiration.
If you have time then do check out the whole episode as Dave has a wealth of knowledge that may well challenge how you currently view AI innovations.
Now my ask of you, If you're enjoying the show, please share it with someone you know, or follow us and like us on your favorite podcast player, and subscribe on our YouTube channel as it helps us grow the show.
About Dave Birss.
With over 30 years of experience in creativity, technology, and innovation Dave has become a highly respected and sought-after public speaker and trainer of creative minds.
Dave has taken everything he has learned over the past three decades to become a polymath who shares his insights into the worlds of creativity, technological innovation, and now A.I.
Currently, Dave is the most popular AI and prompt engineering instructor on LinkedIn Learning. His forward-thinking approach has put him at the forefront of the AI wave, allowing him to balance practical approaches with advancing technology. As he says ‘ In a world of myopic evangelists and apocalyptic naysayers, his guided, sensible approach helps embrace the AI future with our eyes wide open. By stripping away the BS of AI he’s an expert in explaining how it can really add value to an organization and individuals.
His award-winning books, including "How To Get To Great Ideas," "A User Guide To The Creative Mind," "Friction," and "Iconic Advantage," give readers insight into how great ideas can transform business. That is why the next book he is currently working on will explore the best ways to use AI in business
Timecodes
00:00 Intro
00: 31 Dave's role
01:02 The AI parallels to the development of photography
03:30 The CREATE framework
06:40 The MAD framework
Social Links
Dave Birss site Dave Birss Linkedin
Show notes
Logeriithms Conor Grennan Runway AI
My guest this week is Dave Birss, With over 30 years of experience in creativity, technology, and innovation Dave has become a highly respected and sought-after public speaker and trainer of creative minds.
Dave has taken everything he has learned over the past three decades to become a polymath who shares insights into the worlds of creativity, innovation, and now AI.
Currently, Dave is the most popular AI and prompt engineering instructor on LinkedIn Learning. His forward-thinking approach has put him at the forefront of the AI wave, allowing him to balance practical approaches with advancing technology. As he says ‘ In a world of myopic evangelists and apocalyptic naysayers, his guided, sensible approach helps embrace the AI future with our eyes wide open. By stripping away the BS of AI he’s an expert in explaining how it can really add value to an organization and individuals.
His award-winning books, including "How To Get To Great Ideas," "A User Guide To The Creative Mind," "Friction," and "Iconic Advantage," give readers insight into how great ideas can transform business. That is why the next book he is currently working on will explore the best ways to use AI in business.
Now over to Dave
Timecodes
00:00 Intro
01:54 Dave Harmonica intro
03:58 Discovering his love of innovation and creativity
06:14 Becoming an accidental Author
08:28 Overcoming barriers to creativity
10:14 Scratching the creative itch
11:40 Daves discusses his books
14:10 The IKEA effect
16:26 Becoming aware of AI’s power
18:35 Dave’s role to help others learn AI
20:22 Why AI is different from other technologies
23;50 Giving AI a creative brief
26:18 Input Output, curiosity, and creativity
33:02 The parallels to the invention of photography
37:26 Dave CREATE framework
42:00 Achieving more with GPT 4
43:54 MAD framework
46:30 The AI education imperative
53:38 Writing a textbook for teachers
57:52 What excites him today
Social Links
Dave Birss site Dave Birss Linkedin
Show notes
Logeriithms Conor Grennan Runway AI
If you're short in time but interested in the climate and sustainability challenges we face then here are seven minutes of sound bites from Jeremy Tamanini, founder of Dual Citizen and creator of the Global Green Economy Index™ (GGEI)
If you do have the time, you're on a run cycle or a drive, then do check out the full episode Jeremy’s doing vital work.
And just an ask from us. If you're enjoying the show, please share it with someone you know, or follow us and like us on your favorite podcast player, and subscribe on our YouTube channel as it helps us grow the show.
ABOUT JEREMY
For the past decade, Jeremy has collaborated on projects with governments, businesses, and international organizations at the intersection of data and sustainability. He has worked in over 30 markets, ranging from the government of Denmark to an NGO in the Pacific Islands. His goal is to empower his partners to better understand what sustainability means for them, and how data, communication, and new technology can accelerate progress.
The Global Green Economy Index™, created by Jeremy, covers 160 countries, and measures national sustainability performance across its 18 indicators, and tracks the degree of progress each country has made from 2005 to 2020, and its distance from globally established sustainability targets.
The GGEI is an ESG index that has gained widespread global recognition, with over 250,000 downloads, 100+ media and academic citations, and usage in 100+ governments, institutions, and private firms.
Jeremy holds a Master's degree in Foreign Policy from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service and a Bachelor's degree in Urban Studies and Economics from Columbia University. He was a Fulbright scholar in the United Arab Emirates and just finished a Bellagio residency through the Rockefeller Foundation, where he worked on writing and data collection related to the theme of “climate paradox,” which we discuss in this conversation. His recently published essay on the Climate Paradox and how we can solve it is Linked in the show notes.
Timecodes
00:00 Intro
00:34 The evolving environmental space
01:37 The serendipitos impact of his Grandfather
03:08 The Green Economy
04:12 Evolution of the Global Green Economy Index
06:06 The current state of progress?
06:54 The collective action problem
07:22 The Paradox
Social Links Jeremy on Linkedin Dual Citizen Twitter
Links in Show
Limits To Growth book Global Green Economy Index Climate Paradox - How to Solve It Climate Action Tracker The Breakthrough Effect Bob Ward LSE
Jeremy Tamanini is founder of Dual Citizen and creator of the Global Green Economy Index™ (GGEI).
For the past decade, Jeremy has collaborated on projects with governments, businesses, and international organizations at the intersection of data and sustainability. He has worked in over 30 markets, ranging from the government of Denmark to an NGO in the Pacific Islands. His goal is to empower his partners to better understand what sustainability means for them, and how data, communication, and new technology can accelerate progress.
The Global Green Economy Index™, created by Jeremy, covers 160 countries, and measures national sustainability performance across its 18 indicators, and tracks the degree of progress each country has made from 2005 to 2020, and its distance from globally established sustainability targets.
The GGEI is an ESG index that has gained widespread global recognition, with over 250,000 downloads, 100+ media and academic citations, and usage in 100+ governments, institutions, and private firms.
Jeremy holds a Master's degree in Foreign Policy from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service and a Bachelor's degree in Urban Studies and Economics from Columbia University. He was a Fulbright scholar in the United Arab Emirates and just finished a Bellagio residency through the Rockefeller Foundation, where he worked on writing and data collection related to the theme of “climate paradox,” which we discuss in this conversation. His recently published essay on the Climate Paradox and how we can solve it is Linked in the show notes.
Now over to Jeremy
Timecodes
00:00 Intro
03:15 Who is Jeramy?
09:25 Who or What Made Jeremy?
18:27 How his early career impacted him?
19:47 What is Jeremy working to achieve?
23:05 The beginnings of the Global Green Economy Index
25:44 The dimensions of the Index
28:01 Where do we stand in relation to the global goal targets?
31:32: Where are we making progress?
34:42 The truth about emission data
37.38 The climate paradox and feedback
44:00 How to ensure ideas are adopted or implemented
47:10 Implementing new ideas and initiatives
49:53 What action can individuals and businesses take?
52:20 The 80:20 rule on climate impact
53:32 Identifying contributors to emissions
54:030 The Breakthrough Effect
58:45 Do we need new institutions?
01:01:10 The impact of the military
01:03:30 The question of skeptics
01:06:00 Paradoxical subsidies
01:08:44 The actions needed?
01:12:30 What is still needed to acknowledge the reality?
01:17:00 Remaining resolute?
01:20:30 Natural gifts?
Social Links Jeremy on Linkedin Dual Citizen Twitter
Links in Show
Limits To Growth book Global Green Economy Index Climate Paradox - How to Solve It Climate Action Tracker The Breakthrough Effect Bob Ward LSE
My guest this week is Jon Alexander, the author of "CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us," and the co-founder of the New Citizenship Project; a strategy and innovation consultancy with a mission to catalyze a shift to a more participatory, citizen-led society and driven by a belief that, given the right opportunity, people can and will shape the things that matter to them for the better.
Here are seven minutes of soundbites.
About Jon
Jon began his career in advertising, working at agencies including BBDO and Fallon, making ads for some of the world's biggest brands. However, Jon became disillusioned with the industry and realized he was caught up in a story he didn't believe in: the consumer story.
Through his book and his organization, Jon advocates for a new way of thinking, shifting the dominant story of the individual in society from consumer to citizen; reframing the moment in which we're living as a time of huge civic opportunity, emphasizing the world of possibility for countries, cities, organizations if they embrace the Citizen Story
Jon’s book may be the most important book I’ve read in years and I am convinced the story shift he’s advocating and fighting for will be pivotal if we are to overcome the meta-crisis we are facing as humans and as a planet.
Social Links
Jon’s Linkedin Jon’s Twitter NCP Twitter
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
0:34 The Meta Crisis
02:10 The Collapsing Consumer Story
03:42 The steps we can all take
04:58 How to do Marketing in a different way
06:46 The 3 P's of the Citizen story
07:46 Looking at AI
Links in the show
Citizens Book New Citizen Project Audrey Tang PFG Doncaster Berkana Institute Citizen University How to Citizen Brian Eno Marshall McLuhan Sand Talk - How indigenous thinking can save the world
Democracy Next Braver Angles Make America Dinner Again Ted Talk First Leader
My guest this week is Jon Alexander, the author of "CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us," and the co-founder of the New Citizenship Project; a strategy and innovation consultancy with a mission to catalyze a shift to a more participatory, citizen-led society and driven by a belief that, given the right opportunity, people can and will shape the things that matter to them for the better.
Here are seven minutes of soundbites.
About Jon
Jon began his career in advertising, working at agencies including BBDO and Fallon, making ads for some of the world's biggest brands. However, Jon became disillusioned with the industry and realized he was caught up in a story he didn't believe in: the consumer story.
Through his book and his organization, Jon advocates for a new way of thinking, shifting the dominant story of the individual in society from consumer to citizen; reframing the moment in which we're living as a time of huge civic opportunity, emphasizing the world of possibility for countries, cities, organizations if they embrace the Citizen Story
Jon’s book may be the most important book I’ve read in years and I am convinced the story shift he’s advocating and fighting for will be pivotal if we are to overcome the meta-crisis we are facing as humans and as a planet.
Social Links
Jon’s Linkedin Jon’s Twitter NCP Twitter
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
0:34 The Meta Crisis
02:10 The Collapsing Consumer Story
03:42 The steps we can all take
04:58 How to do Marketing in a different way
06:46 The 3 P's of the Citizen story
07:46 Looking at AI
Links in the show
Citizens Book New Citizen Project Audrey Tang PFG Doncaster Berkana Institute Citizen University How to Citizen Brian Eno Marshall McLuhan Sand Talk - How indigenous thinking can save the world
Democracy Next Braver Angles Make America Dinner Again Ted Talk First Leader
My guest this week is Jon Alexander, the author of "CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us," and the co-founder of the New Citizenship Project; a strategy and innovation consultancy with a mission to catalyze a shift to a more participatory, citizen-led society and driven by a belief that, given the right opportunity, people can and will shape the things that matter to them for the better.
Jon began his career in advertising, working at agencies including BBDO and Fallon, making ads for some of the world's biggest brands. However, Jon became disillusioned with the industry and realized he was caught up in a story he didn't believe in: the consumer story.
Through his book and his organization, Jon advocates for a new way of thinking, shifting the dominant story of the individual in society from consumer to citizen; reframing the moment in which we're living as a time of huge civic opportunity, emphasizing the world of possibility for countries, cities, organizations if they embrace the Citizen Story
Jon’s book may be the most important book I’ve read in years and I am convinced the story shift he’s advocating and fighting for will be pivotal if we are to overcome the meta-crisis we are facing as humans and as a planet.
Now over to Jon
Social Links
Jon’s Linkedin Jon’s Twitter NCP Twitter
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
02:30 Who is Jon?
06:30 Who or what made Jon?
13:45 What Jon is working to achieve with Citizens Story
16:30 The subject story
17:40 Jon’s role
20:00 Examples of the Citizen story is emerging
28:28 Discoverability of initiatives
30:35 Three key phases - naming, connecting and illustrating
33:30 The Taiwan example
36:30 The Steps people can take
40:00 Other examples of Citizen story emerging
42:30 The Tower Analogy
43:55 The Citizen Index
48:30 Spreading the message
49:30 Growth and the Citizen story
53:00 How to Market differently and consider growth
56:45 Growing Citizen agency
1:00:20 The 3 P’s - Purpose, Platform, Prototype
1:02:30 Jon on AI
1:04:30 Designing AI from within the Citixen story
1:08:30 Citizen Story in the USA
1:13:00 Cooperatives role
1:15:00 Emergence of Citizen story
Links in the show
Citizens Book New Citizen Project Audrey Tang PFG Doncaster Berkana Institute Citizen University How to Citizen Brian Eno Marshall McLuhan Sand Talk - How indigenous thinking can save the world
Democracy Next Braver Angles Make America Dinner Again Ted Talk First Leader
This week, I offer a brief reflection. Sitting at JFK, drafting these words while Descript’s AI creates an overdub of my voice, I prepare for a sorrowful journey. I'm on my way back to the UK to bid farewell to my beloved Mother who passed last week.
My mother's journey spanned a robust 92 years - a life well lived and genuinely cherished. Although departed her memories remain,
her words can still be heard and her sage advice resonates inside of me. However, her death has undoubtedly brought me face-to-face with the unyielding march of time, revealing how quickly the sands of our lives slip into the bottom bulb of existence.
Roman philosopher Seneca once said, " It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested."
Unsurprisingly the coming days I will take time to pause and reflect on my own life, the time I’ve spent to date, and how I intend to utilize the time with which I’m still blessed.
Tim Urban in his timeless post The Tail End movingly depicted the limited time we have with our parents once we leave home. For me those times have passed and now I must reassess the valuable but unknown time that remains in my life.
The seventeenth-century preacher Jonathan Edwards in his sermon "The Preciousness of Time and the Importance of Redeeming It"
urged his congregation to be mindful of how they spent their time, to focus on their spiritual lives, and to strive to make their actions meaningful in the eyes of God, because once time has passed, it cannot be regained.
Regardless of faith or beliefs, this is indeed timeless wisdom and a reminder not to simply chase joy but seek purposeful endeavors. the time is always right, to do what is right.
Therefore It’s in these times of mournful reflection that one takes time to think more deeply about time.
Psychologist Philip Zimbardo proposed an Optimal Temporal Mix that blends a positive past view with a future-oriented life goal and a joyful present perspective. The mental agility to shift between these views is vital to success.
My friend and recent guest Don Smith would probably describe it as simply as living in a process of emergence.
For most of ‘ my process of emergence’ I pursued a career in advertising.
Although I worked with fantastically talented colleagues and clients it’s not a career that could be described as socially purposeful or meaningful. or counting for much more than building brands, trading attention that drives purchase intent to keep the wheels of our global consumer-driven economy running.
In the 10 years since a new CEO in McCann NYC decided to release me and my digital team from plying our trade, I’ve striven to deliver more value in the work I do, the network I’ve built, and the stories i share through the podcast I produce.
It’s in these stories I take comfort. They represent a constant weekly reminder that we have agency to positively impact those around us and the world we inhabit.
Each guest an exemplar of someone who has embraced their allotted time on this mortal coil. They all respect the power, scarcity, and significance of their ‘moments’, maintain their values and principles, and take the actions needed to effect positive change and build a better world.
They are ordinary people just living extraordinary lives. Their impact has made me reconsider the application of time. My past is set, but it's encouraged a sharper focus on intentional future time investment.
And as I strive to live a more meaningful life, the words my mother learned as a 13 year old girl in war time Britain still resonate, as she quoted Shakespeare to me:
‘This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.’
Goodbye Mum. Rest In Peace.
This week in light of the ongoing debates and discussion over the impact of Generative AI on work, society, and humanity I am publishing a re-edit of an interview from 2019 with John C Havens, the Executive Director of The IEEE Global Initiative on AI Ethics and their Sustainability Practice Lead
John is a highly respected thought leader on artificial intelligence and ethics and the author of Heartificial Intelligence and Hacking Happiness. Long before AI entered our mainstream discourse John was working on the big ethical questions around AI.
Although recorded in 2019 the issues we discuss are more pertinent today than they were then, including the negative externalities of technology; what we define as metrics of success for AI; the limits of exponential growth and innovation; finding a more human alternative to GDP; prioritizing human and ecological wellbeing; personal data monetization, control, and privacy; changing economic paradigm in the purpose-driven world; and John’s vision for a more sustainable future society.
Now over to John
What We Discuss
00:00 Intro
01:14 John’s serendipitous journey becoming an expert in AI Ethics
06:00 John’s perspective on AI and Robots and metrics of success
08:30 Challenge of exponential growth
11:10 Moore’s Law impact on society
16:00 Value of our personal data
18:40 Creating our personal terms and conditions for data exchange
25:00 Ethics and user-centric design for AI
28:00 Ethically Aligned Design
31:40 Discussing societal progress
34:40 Evolving economic priorities and general progress indicators
40:50 John’s principles and quick fire questions
Social Links
Linkedin Twitter
Links in Show
Heartificial Intelligence Martin Seligman Rise of the robots Moore’s Law Fabrice Grinda IEEE standards Working Group Doc Searls Ethically Aligned Design Council on Extended Intelligence Joi Ito Technology and the virtues Twain Liu Theory of You
TL:DR If you're short on time, here are seven minutes of soundbites from Omar Friella - the Bronx-based social entrepreneur, movement builder, and founder of Collective Diaspora, the growing global community of Black cooperatives & Black-led cooperative support organizations.
If you do have the time, on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode, it is evident that desire, belief, and action we all have the power of self-determination.
If you enjoy the show, please share, follow us, like us on your podcast player, and subscribe on YouTube as it helps us grow our audience. Thanks to Marianna Koval for the connection
ABOUT OMAR
Omar Freilla is co-founder and steering committee member of Collective Diaspora, a global community of Black cooperatives & Black-led cooperative support organizations.
Omar is a serial trailblazer, social entrepreneur, and movement builder dedicated to community self-determination and regenerative economies.
Drawing from his experiences growing up in the South Bronx and witnessing struggles for community empowerment, he has dedicated himself to creating just and regenerative economic systems.
Omar's time with the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance and Sustainable South Bronx inspired him to utilize cooperatives as a vehicle for transformative economic development.
He established Green Worker Cooperatives and launched the first worker cooperative business accelerator in the United States, pioneering innovative approaches to cooperative development. Omar co-founded several local and national cooperative support organizations, including the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the Democracy At Work Institute, and the NYC Network of Worker Cooperatives.
Omar is also an adjunct lecturer at the City College of New York, serves on the City of New York's Environmental Justice Advisory Board, and is a member of New York State's Just Transition Working Group.
This interview opened my eyes to the potential of new worker-led economic models for historically marginalized and economically exploited communities. It also made me re-evaluate the privileges I’ve experienced.
What We Discuss
00:00 Intro
00:36 Early realization of inequity
03:54 The case for a solidarity economy
07:19 Omars goal for 2o30
Social Links
Linkedin Twitter Collective Diaspora
Links
The Bronx Black Panther party Young Lords Green Worker Cooperatives U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Marcus Garvey Malcom X Seed Commons
TL:DR If you're short on time, here are seven minutes of soundbites from Omar Friella - the Bronx-based social entrepreneur, movement builder, and founder of Collective Diaspora, the growing global community of Black cooperatives & Black-led cooperative support organizations.
If you do have the time, on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode, it is evident that desire, belief, and action we all have the power of self-determination.
If you enjoy the show please share, follow us, like us on your podcast player, and subscribe on YouTube as it helps us grow our audience. Thanks to Marianna Koval for the connection
ABOUT OMAR
Omar Freilla is co-founder and steering committee member of Collective Diaspora, a global community of Black cooperatives & Black-led cooperative support organizations.
Omar is a serial trailblazer, social entrepreneur, and movement builder dedicated to community self-determination and regenerative economies.
Drawing from his experiences growing up in the South Bronx and witnessing struggles for community empowerment, he has dedicated himself to creating just and regenerative economic systems.
Omar's time with the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance and Sustainable South Bronx inspired him to utilize cooperatives as a vehicle for transformative economic development.
He established Green Worker Cooperatives and launched the first worker cooperative business accelerator in the United States, pioneering innovative approaches to cooperative development. Omar co-founded several local and national cooperative support organizations, including the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the Democracy At Work Institute, and the NYC Network of Worker Cooperatives.
Omar is also an adjunct lecturer at the City College of New York, serves on the City of New York's Environmental Justice Advisory Board, and is a member of New York State's Just Transition Working Group.
This interview opened my eyes to the potential of new worker-led economic models for historically marginalized and economically exploited communities. It also made me re-evaluate the privileges I’ve experienced.
What We Discuss
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
00:35 A defining memory that affected his life direction
03:54 What Omar is working to achieve with Collective Diaspora
Social Links
Linkedin Twitter Collective Diaspora
Links
The Bronx Black Panther party Young Lords Green Worker Cooperatives U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Marcus Garvey Malcom X Seed Commons
Omar Freilla is co-founder and steering committee member of Collective Diaspora, a global community of Black cooperatives & Black-led cooperative support organizations.
Omar is a serial trailblazer, social entrepreneur, and movement builder dedicated to community self-determination and regenerative economies.
Drawing from his experiences growing up in the South Bronx and witnessing struggles for community empowerment, he has dedicated himself to creating just and regenerative economic systems.
Omar's time with the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance and Sustainable South Bronx inspired him to utilize cooperatives as a vehicle for transformative economic development.
He established Green Worker Cooperatives and launched the first worker cooperative business accelerator in the United States, pioneering innovative approaches to cooperative development. Omar co-founded several local and national cooperative support organizations, including the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the Democracy At Work Institute, and the NYC Network of Worker Cooperatives.
Omar is also an adjunct lecturer at the City College of New York, serves on the City of New York's Environmental Justice Advisory Board, and is a member of New York State's Just Transition Working Group.
This interview opened my eyes to the potential of new worker-led economic models for historically marginalized and economically exploited communities. It also made me re-evaluate the privileges I’ve experienced.
What We Discuss
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
02:50 Who is Omar?
03:50 Who or what made him?
06:50 The impact of neoliberalism on marginalized Communities
08:50 A defining memory that affected his life direction
17:50 Nature or nurture impact on his development
21:30 Early activism against apartheid
25:20 Early ambitions
27:30 Becoming environmentally conscious
30:50 Activism triggered by the Rodney King beating
34:35 Seeking out new economic alternatives in Cooperatives
40:50 The lack of Venture funding for cooperatives
43:40 Creating new Benchmarks for Return on Investment
45:10 What Omar is working to achieve with Collective Diaspora
49:45 Forming a Cooperative Business
54:00 Becoming a Fellow of Echoing Green
1:00:30 Imperative for Black and Latin Cooperatives
1:07:54 Omar’s ambitions for 2030
1:10:00 Raising funding
1:16:00 How to become part of the Collective Diaspora
1:18:00 Remaining resolute
1:19:45 Omar’s gifts
1:20:40 What he’s complimented for
1:22:00 Omar’s advice for anyone wanting to support
Social Links
Linkedin Twitter Collective Diaspora
Links
The Bronx Black Panther party Young Lords Green Worker Cooperatives U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Marcus Garvey Malcom X Seed Commons
TL:DR If you're short on time and want to be inspired and uplifted, here are seven minutes of soundbites from Camerados founder Maff Potts.
If you do have the time, on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode. It refreshingly good
If you are enjoying the show please share, follow us, like us on your podcast player, and subscribe on YouTube as it helps us grow our audience.
About Maff
Maff Potts, is the pioneering force behind Camerados, an ever-expanding global social movement centered around one simple yet powerful concept: Public Living Rooms. Designed to foster a sense of togetherness within our communities, these spaces provide a welcoming environment where people can come together, share a cup of tea or coffee, engage in conversation, and experience the transformative power of human connection - all without any expectations or agenda.
Before launching Camerados, Maff served as CEO for various charities, witnessing firsthand how traditional approaches to tackling social issues like homelessness, domestic abuse, and social isolation often fell short by merely addressing the symptoms rather than the root causes. This revelation led him to the realization that the two fundamental needs every individual requires are "friends and purpose."
By stepping outside conventional frameworks, Maff has harnessed the potential of Public Living Rooms to alleviate the symptoms of numerous social issues and address their underlying causes. As a genuine difference maker, Maff has successfully established over 170 Public Living Rooms across five countries.
If you're feeling disheartened by the current state of our societies and the erosion of social connection in the wake of the pandemic, this episode will inspire and uplift you. To join Maff's mission, become a Camerados, and create your own local Public Living Room, simply follow the link in the show notes
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
00:27 Discovering what matters in life?
02:02 Issue with existing Charity models
03:49 Ingredients for a happy life
05:17 Reality of life
05:50 Taxes, Death and Trouble
06:26 Why Maslow's Hierarchy is wrong?
07:17 How the Public Living Rooms work
Social Links
Camerados Maff on Linkedin Youtube Instagram
Links
Oscar Peterson Noah and The Loners Winners Take All book Citizens Jon Alexander Cooperation Town London
This week's guest, Maff Potts, is the pioneering force behind Camerados, an ever-expanding global social movement centered around one simple yet powerful concept: Public Living Rooms. Designed to foster a sense of togetherness within our communities, these spaces provide a welcoming environment where people can come together, share a cup of tea or coffee, engage in conversation, and experience the transformative power of human connection - all without any expectations or agenda.
Before launching Camerados, Maff served as CEO for various charities, witnessing firsthand how traditional approaches to tackling social issues like homelessness, domestic abuse, and social isolation often fell short by merely addressing the symptoms rather than the root causes. This revelation led him to the realization that the two fundamental needs every individual requires are "friends and purpose."
By stepping outside conventional frameworks, Maff has harnessed the potential of Public Living Rooms to alleviate the symptoms of numerous social issues and address their underlying causes. As a genuine difference maker, Maff has successfully established over 170 Public Living Rooms across five countries.
If you're feeling disheartened by the current state of our societies and the erosion of social connection in the wake of the pandemic, this episode will inspire and uplift you. To join Maff's mission, become a Camerados, and create your own local Public Living Room, simply follow the link in the show notes.
Now, let's hear from Maff Potts himself.
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
03:00 Who is Maff Potts?
04:10 What made Maff?
06:15 The values instilled in him
09:41 His love of Jazz and music
13:30 Seven days that changes his life
18:00 What he is working to achieve?
22:00 His experiences in running homeless charities
25:20 The problem with the charity model
30:45 The emergence of Camerados as an idea
36:10 Witnessing death caused by isolation
38:30 The value and Impact of Camerados
42:50 Mutal Aid as a model
46:00 Maff explains the Public Living Room concept and principles
50:00 How it works in practice
51:50 My Camerados commitment
53:00 Taking Camerados on the road in the UK
57:00 The origins of the name
58:20 Where Maff want to be by 2030
59:30 Can brands play a role?
01:02:00 The actions people can take
01:05:00 Dealing with doubt
01:07:25 On failure and emergence
01:10:00 His talents
Social Links
Camerados Maff on Linkedin Youtube Instagram
Links
Oscar Peterson Noah and The Loners Winners Take All book Citizens Jon Alexander Cooperation Town London
If you're short on time and want some hear some of Food Futurologist Dr. Morgaine Gaye’s trend insights then here are 7 minutes of soundbites.
If you do have the time, on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode. It's a shorter than normal 42 min episode
Morgaine explores food and eating from a social, cultural, economic, branding, and geo-political perspective. She also consults food companies, developing new products and ideas, writing trend reports for forecasting sites to PR and ad agencies.
Morgaine was staying with me during this year's SXSW, where she was presenting Trend to Table, her latest trends presentation, and the title of her upcoming book. Therefore I used the opportunity to have her share some of the trends she’s witnessing..
What We Discuss
00:00 Intro
00:30 Morgaine discusses her SXSW trends presentation and the subject of her new book.
01:30 What it means to be human post-Covid in the AI world?
03:00 3D printed food and the use of ‘air protein’ in food.
05:02 Nourishment
05:30 Why she wrote her book
06:00 The Dirty dozen and the Clean Fifteen from the Environmental Working Group
07:02 Morgaine’s hope for the future
Social Links Instagram Facebook Linkedin Email Links Show The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen from the Environmental Working Group
This week's interview is a wee bit different from normal as I welcome back a previous guest Food Futurologist and director of Bellwether Food Trends, Dr. Morgaine Gaye.
Morgaine explores food and eating from a social, cultural, economic, branding, and geo-political perspective. She also consults food companies, developing new products and ideas; writing trend reports for forecasting sites to PR and ad agencies.
Morgaine was staying with me during this year's SXSW where she was presenting Trend to Table, her latest trends presentation, and the title of her upcoming book. Therefore I used the opportunity to have her share some of the trends she’s witnessing.
Besides discussing some of these macro trends we also discuss when we first met back in 2008 when I was running a digital team at McCann London. We reflect on how we developed an edible beauty product and brand prototype which was ahead of its time and how life choices set us on different paths and led us to miss the opportunity to build what would have been a groundbreaking product.
This conversation was somewhat cathartic for me and hopefully provides some encouragement to anyone working to bring execute an idea to persist, take action, and test it in-market.
What We Discuss
00:00 Intro
03.15 Mark asks Morgaine to discuss the raw cacao collaboration from 2009.
05:15 Morgaine explains the health benefits of raw cacao.
07:45 Mark explains how he formed a skunkworks team internally at McCann.
09:00 How the idea of positioning cacao chocolate as an edible beauty product emerged.
14:00 Why the idea remained no more than a prototype?
17:00 Lessons learned from the project.
18:40 Morgaine discusses her SXSW trends presentation and subject of her new book.
20:20 Examples of the big trends such as what it means to be human?
24:00 The changing role of ‘the table’ at home and the unraveling.
27:00 Other changing food trends such as the use of ‘air’ in food.
30:35 The use of ‘air protein’ in food.
34:50 Why she wrote her book
35:30 The Dirty dozen and the Clean Fifteen from the Environmental Working Group
38:00 Permaculture
38:50 Morgaine’s hope for the future
Social Links Instagram Facebook Linkedin Email Links Show The Dirty dozen and the Clean Fifteen from the Environmental Working Group
Seven minutes of snippets from my conversation with Simon Boyle, the London-based change-maker and visionary behind the Beyond Food Foundation and Brigade Bar+Kitchen. In 2004, Simon began transforming the lives of London's homeless population through food and cooking. 🍽️ In 2010 Simon's partnered with PwC to launch Brigade Bar+Kitchen in London Bridge, now a hub for unique training programs uplifting those less fortunate. During the Covid pandemic, Simon's Ecolab expanded its mission with his transformative FreshLife program to provide direction, support, and work experience to individuals whose lives have unraveled.
Shout out to Melanie van de Velde for the connection.
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
0:30 Simon Boyle on societal trauma
01:50 Freshlife explained?
05:30 Why he loves Corporates
06:15 His advice and ask to corporates
07:19 Purpose and resilience
Social Links
Linkedin Instagram Noah and The Loners
Links in the Show
Beyond Food Foundation Brigade Bar and Kitchen Savoy Hotel Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Brian Turner Burnt Chef Project 2004 Tsunami PwC
Seven minutes of snippets from my conversation with Simon Boyle, the London-based change-maker and visionary behind the Beyond Food Foundation and Brigade Bar+Kitchen. In 2004, Simon began transforming the lives of London's homeless population through food and cooking. 🍽️ In 2010 Simon's partnered with PwC to launch Brigade Bar+Kitchen in London Bridge, now a hub for unique training programs uplifting those less fortunate. During the Covid pandemic, Simon's Ecolab expanded its mission with his transformative FreshLife program to provide direction, support, and work experience to individuals whose lives have unraveled.
Shout out to Melanie van de Velde for the connection.
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
0:30 Who is Simon Boyle?
01:10 Simon on the education system.
01:50 Helping youth?
02:30 Getting a break at the Savoy
03:18 How the 2004 Tsunami led him to his focus on social impact.
04:40 Dragons Den experience,
06:28 Opening Brigade Bar & Kitchen.
06:51 The PWC partnership prototype helps address societal trauma.
Social Links
Linkedin Instagram Noah and The Loners
Links in the Show
Beyond Food Foundation Brigade Bar and Kitchen Savoy Hotel Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Brian Turner Burnt Chef Project 2004 Tsunami PwC
This week's guest is Simon Boyle, a London-based difference-maker and driving force behind the Beyond Food Foundation and Brigade Bar+Kitchen. Since 2004, he has devoted his energy to helping London's homeless population rebuild their lives, sharing his passion, expertise, and knowledge of food and cooking.
In 2010, Simon partnered with PwC, De Vere Venues, and the Homes and Communities Agency to launch Brigade restaurant in London Bridge. This innovative space soon became the hub for distinctive training programs designed to uplift those affected by homelessness. Amidst the Covid pandemic, his Ecolab broadened its mission through a collection of transformative, interactive workshops that leverage the power of food to motivate and inspire individuals whose lives have unraveled, providing crucial support and encouragement to help them re-knot the fabric of their lives.
Simon has always been passionate about harnessing the potential of food for social change. As a highly sought-after consultant, his in-depth understanding of the social enterprise sector has made him an invaluable resource for companies pursuing social initiatives. As the first-ever Culinary Ambassador for Unilever, Simon has lent his exceptional expertise to high-profile businesses, from Nandos to Nike, advising on everything from brand development to product design.
Renowned for his ability to conceptualize new products from the ground up and his experience with gold standard benchmarking, Simon has earned a reputation for revitalizing the brands he collaborates with, which include Ben & Jerry’s, Knorr, Marriott, and many more.
This fascinating conversation was recorded in Austin during SXSW, where Simon's son Joseph’s band, Noah and the Loners, was performing.
Shout out to Melanie van de Velde for the connection.
What we discuss
00:00 Intro
03:53 Who is Simon Boyle?
08:20 Being let down by the education system.
09:45 Who made Simon the person he is?
15:25 Simon discusses how to deal with mental health in hospitality
17:40 Simon’s intentional path to explore many genres of cooking and hospitality.
22:25 How the 2004 Tsunami led him to his focus on social impact.
26:30 His focus on creating social enterprise through food and events.
32:00 How after a Dragons Den experience, serendipity led him to find an investor and form his PWC partnership, and opening Brigade Bar & Kitchen.
37:50 The urgency to address human unravelling.
41:00 The PWC partnership prototype helps address societal trauma.
45:45 Simon describes his Freshlife program.
51:13 The change he has witnessed in Corporates' social mindedness and willingness to engage with his cohorts.
54:25 Simon's view on scaling his impact with Beyond Food.
59:00 His 2030 vision.
01:00:00 What is his superpower?
01:02:00 Advice to brands on how to take action.
01:07:40 Remaining resilient.
01:17:40 We discuss how Simon’s building a community lunch event in London
Social Links
Linkedin Instagram Noah and The Loners
Links in the Show
Beyond Food Foundation Brigade Bar and Kitchen Savoy Hotel Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Brian Turner Burnt Chef Project 2004 Tsunami PwC
TL:DR - If you're short on time and want some hear how Logitech CEO Bracken Darrell is transforming forward to build a more sustainable carbon-positive business and hear some of his wisdom then here are 7 minutes of key soundbites.
If you do have the time, on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode.
If you enjoy the show please follow us, like us on your podcast player, and subscribe on YouTube as it helps us grow our audience.
Now over to Bracken.
ABOUT BRACKEN
Hailing from Owensboro, Kentucky, Bracken pursued English in Arkansas and later graduated with a degree in Accountancy in Texas. He started his career as a public accountant at Arthur Andersen, then earned his MBA at Harvard, which propelled him into brand management at P&G. Eventually, Bracken transitioned to General Management at GE, paving the way for his appointment as Logitech's CEO in 2012.
While his career may appear impeccably linear on paper, Bracken has navigated and triumphed over imposter syndrome. He has been intentional with his goals, learned from mistakes, acknowledged successes, and remained humble and focused on the journey ahead—all the hallmarks of engineering serendipity.
Under Bracken's leadership, Logitech has seen remarkable growth. After a decade at the helm, driving innovation, digital transformation, and nurturing a design-led culture, Bracken is now dedicated to "transforming forward" and amplifying Logitech's impact beyond mere profit, ultimately benefiting both people and the planet.
Thanks to Katz Keily for the connection.
Social Links
Bracken on Linkedin
Links Mentioned
Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar Testament of a Furniture Dealer Logitech Don Smith on Emergence Tony Fadell Build
And Josie Naughton Choose Love CEO, and Negar Tayyar, Co-founder of the Global Wholebeing Fund, have recently returned from Turkey and Syria. There, they witnessed the ongoing crisis and urgent needs of people affected by the February Earthquakes.
Although the crisis might not be in the news, help is still critically needed. Rebuilding towns, schools, homes, and lives takes time. Please listen to their story and help in any way you can. Even small donations go directly to those in need.
In the show notes, you'll find links to the fundraiser and Choose Love's store. Here, you can buy real items like food, clothing bundles, or even life-changing support for those who need it most.
Choose Love is a UK charity, and Choose Love, Inc. is a US non-profit. They provide refugees and displaced people with essentials like tents, rescue boats, food, clothes, and legal help. Under Josie's leadership, a passionate team has helped one million people and raised millions for nearly 150 organizations.
You might remember my interview with Negar last year. She co-founded the Global Wholebeing Fund, which supports the needs of displaced people, often called refugees by the media.
Now, without further ado, let's hear from Josie and Negar.
Links
This is the link to the earthquake fundraiser
Here is the link to the Choose Love shop
And a link to a powerful article about the disinformation campaign again The White Helmets
Here is the link to a powerful article about aid and corruption in regime areas of Syria (apologies this is behind a pay wall)
00:00 Intro
00:03:50 Negar and Josie overview
00:05:46 Josie describes the on-the-ground assessment of the need.
00:11:45 The ongoing Syrian conflict
00:14:04 Explaining why funding sometimes does not reach people.
00:19:00 Providing transparency of where donations go
00:22:05 Why donations matter now, no matter size.
00:24:06 Elevate human dignity.
00:29:00 Building a movement of global citizens that make a change.
00:33:00 The impact of the White Helmets and the damage of misinformation
00:38:45 The scale of damage and the rebuild will take years.
00:40:08 Support is still needed in Syria.
00:45:38 Help people in need.
00:56:05 Global solidarity is needed.
00:57:13 Take action and spread hope.
This week, we're thrilled to welcome Bracken Darrell, CEO of Logitech, to the podcast.
In this concise episode, Bracken, a distinguished industry leader, difference maker, and captivating storyteller, offers his insights on life, leadership, learning, the significance of design thinking, Logitech's commitment to sustainability, maintaining agility, and cultivating values of hunger and humility.
Hailing from Owensboro, Kentucky, Bracken pursued English in Arkansas and later graduated with a degree in Accountancy in Texas. He started his career as a public accountant at Arthur Andersen, then earned his MBA at Harvard, which propelled him into brand management at P&G. Eventually, Bracken transitioned to General Management at GE, paving the way for his appointment as Logitech's CEO in 2012.
While his career may appear impeccably linear on paper, Bracken has navigated and triumphed over imposter syndrome. He has been intentional with his goals, learned from mistakes, acknowledged successes, and remained humble and focused on the journey ahead—all the hallmarks of engineering serendipity.
Under Bracken's leadership, Logitech has seen remarkable growth. After a decade at the helm, driving innovation, digital transformation, and nurturing a design-led culture, Bracken is now dedicated to "transforming forward" and amplifying Logitech's impact beyond mere profit, ultimately benefiting both people and the planet.
Thanks to Katz Keily for the connection.
Time Codes
00:00 Intro
02:44 Who is Bracken?
03:35 Who or what made him?
06:30 The impact and value of his siblings
08:50 Brakcen’s view on his role as a leader and taking a stand
11:50 The role and opportunity for Companies to take a moral position
14:30 Influencing other companies on sustainability by leading through example and the need for industry standards
17:50 Bracken describes three core areas important for design thinking
20:00 Bracken discusses his design principles
22:00 I ask Bracken about his perspective on success and failures and how he applies a learning and experimentation lens
25:30 Meeting and learning from start-up founders
28:00 Bracken explains his view on being transparent and his growth as a leader
30:44 His sense of urgency on the need to take action on sustainability
33:15 The organizational values of humility and hunger and learning.
34:30 Bracken on competition, the love of the practice, and the process of learning
36:00 Is there a book coming?
37:00 Pulling off the three levels of design
38:45 Confronting barriers and doubt
39:50 Brackens natural gifts?
40:40 What he’s complemented for?
Social Links
Bracken on Linkedin
Links Mentioned
Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar Testament of a Furniture Dealer Logitech Don Smith on Emergence Tony Fadell Build
On this week's podcast, I’m delighted to welcome Nima Mirpourian, the multifaceted founder of Will Be Live, a personal branding and talent management firm that assists a diverse clientele of CEOs, creators, and entrepreneurs in enhancing their social presence and establishing new ventures.
Hailing from Tehran, Iran, Nima's remarkable journey began with studying Science at university and delving into cell biology before achieving success in corporate consulting. However, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic led him to a serendipitous new direction, culminating in the launch of his start-up, Will Be Live.
Upon my arrival in Austin, I had the pleasure of meeting Nima, where I was immediately captivated by his personal story, profound connection to nature, and compassionate, generous spirit. A knowledgeable and enthusiastic expert in social strategies, Nima has graciously shared valuable insights that have benefited my podcast branding.
As we sat down for a face-to-face conversation just prior to the kickoff of SXSW 2023, we explored the nuances of personal branding and social storytelling. For anyone seeking to elevate their LinkedIn profile or personal brand, Nima offers invaluable resources and is undoubtedly a worthwhile connection.
Time codes
00:00 Intro
02:45 Who is Nima?
04:22 What made Nima, Nima?
08:00 Nima discusses his early career path
11:00 How his value of service was formed
13:45 Nima describes how his dinner party concept emerged
19:00 The impact and value of his ‘thank you’ dinner party series
23:00 Easy laughers!
25:00 The longer-term impact of his dinner party series
27:45 The back story to launching Will Be Live
32:30 Why he called it Will be Live
33:30 How he works with executives to raise their authentic voices and the process
35:30 Will Be Live’s difference to Corporate PR and
38:27 The two aspects of the business
40:30 Nima explains the role of talent management
42:00 The type of talent Nima engages
45:00 The industries Will Be Live focuses on
46:40 Perspective on Value, Community, and Audiences
48:40 On the anchor of climbing and nature
Links
Linkedin Will Be Live Resources
Links
Gill Scott Heron Free Solo 180 South Let my people go surfing
Brand Strategist - Phil Adams - TL:DR - If you're short on time and want some hear Phil Adams's life lessons and the work he is doing to reimagine democracy, then here are 7 minutes of soundbites. If you have time on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the entire episode. I promise this will be time well spent. Now here's my ask of you. If you enjoy the show, please follow us, like us on your fav podcast player, and subscribe on YouTube as it helps us grow our audience. Now over to Phil
Overview
My guest this week is Phil Adams. Phil is an Edinburgh-based independent brand strategist, consultant, writer, and documentary filmmaker.
I briefly crossed paths with Phil in the mid-90s at the legendary Edinburgh ad agency Leith.
Phil is not your average ad guy. The fusion of his engineering first principle problem-solving ability with high emotional intelligence and an intuitive ability to simplify complex makes him a masterful storyteller. This manifests in his day job by helping businesses get their story straight to ensure their brand does justice to their vision and their culture and outside of his day job through his documentary filmmaking, where he’s delivering powerful stories of radical democracy in action to inspire belief that we can as citizens deliver excellent outcomes on even the most complex political issues.
We cover a lot of ground in this episode, from his insights into strategy, creative ideas, the type of people to hire, and cultivating opportunity, to his perspective on AI, his views on democracy and how we reimagine capitalism as well as the Shakespearean power of Freddie Mercuties lyrics.
I doubt anyone listening to this episode will not walk away feeling uplifted and with a broader perspective on the world.
Now over to Phil.
Social Links
Links in Show
Gordonstoun School Motto ‘Plus est en Vous’ Ewan Paterson Marketoonist Ikagi Marshall McLuhan Firestarters Neil Perkin A Longing Look Hermogenes On Types of Sttyle Fraudcast News book All Hands On Constituency Development Funds Rutger Bregman Audry Tang Robert Heath -The Hidden Power of Advertising: How Low Involvement Processing Influences the Way We Choose Brands John Alexander Citizens My Dinner with Andre
Overview
My guest this week is Phil Adams. Phil is an Edinburgh-based independent brand strategist, consultant, writer, and documentary filmmaker.
I briefly crossed paths with Phil in the mid-90s at the legendary Edinburgh ad agency Leith.
Phil is not your average ad guy. The fusion of his engineering first principle problem-solving ability with high emotional intelligence and an intuitive ability to simplify complex makes him a masterful storyteller. This manifests in his day job by helping businesses get their story straight to ensure their brand does justice to their vision and their culture and outside of his day job through his documentary filmmaking, where he’s delivering powerful stories of radical democracy in action to inspire belief that we can as citizens deliver excellent outcomes on even the most complex political issues.
We cover a lot of ground in this episode, from his insights into strategy, creative ideas, the type of people to hire, and cultivating opportunity, to his perspective on AI, his views on democracy and how we reimagine capitalism as well as the Shakespearean power of Freddie Mercuties lyrics.
I doubt anyone listening to this episode will not walk away feeling uplifted and with a broader perspective on the world.
Now over to Phil.
What We Discuss in the full episode
00:00 Intro
01:50 Who is Phil Adams?
05:45 Who or what made Phil who he is, and how his curiosity and love of books were nurtured?
08:30 The serendipitous event that changed his trajectory and broadened his horizons.
13:15 His values of adventure and opportunism, Phil explains the importance of taking opportunities when they emerge.
15:45 Phil discusses having an act of faith and a strategy of life when dealing with uncertainty.
18:00 Phil discusses his youthful recklessness and rebellion.
21:00 The serendipity that led him to pivot from a path of engineering to life in advertising and the actions taken to create opportunity.
25:45 Phil explains his pragmatic and focused approach to the direction he took.
27:00 I ask Phil about his superpowers or talents.
30:15 The underrated talent of post-rationalizing a creative idea as a problem-solving solution to win pitches.
33:55 Phil explains his perspective on how the best creative minds combine logic and magic to render a brand in surprising ways and the role of planners to identify the essence of an idea and then express the campaign value.
38:20 What Phil values others professionally and why hiring people better than you is important.
41:20 The importance of ‘trust’ with friends and when building teams.
42:30 What is he complimented for; his ability to understand a client's business and culture and his clarity and ability to simplify.
47:30 Phil describes how his engineering first principle problem-solving ability led him to strategic planning.
50:00 I ask Phil for his insights on being an entrepreneur
51:45 What is Phil working to achieve in life?
54:10 How he deals with uncertainty through faith, effort, and curiosity and his advice to others.
57:10 We discuss AI, its impact, and risks, and Phil cites Marshall McLuhan.
01:03:15 I ask Phil to explain why he writes love letters to lyrics.
01:06:00 Phil explains the power and Shakespearean quality of Freddie Mercurys We Are The Champions and links it to Greek Philosopher Hermogenes insights on writing
01:09:15 We discuss Jim Steinman.
01:10:50 Phil talks about the origins of his documentary-making NGO All Hands On and its work to educate people about better paths to democracy and be more hands-on with political issues.
01:16:00 Phil describes the films they have made from London to Athens to Milawi on citizen assemblies and the drive to more democratic governance.
01:28:50 I ask Phil to reflect on the role and power of the Ad industry to imagine and affect a more positive and impactful capitalist economy and system.
01:34:45 Phil describes platforms for more deliberative democracy.
01:36:15 - Phil describes who has had the most impact on his journey and the value it delivered on his ability to understand neuroscience and the power of branding and advertising.
01:39:40 Phil’s life lessons.
01:41:00 The principle of the asymmetry of favors.
01:45:00 We wrap up discussing who I interview next and the power of reframing our consumer story to a citizen story.
Social Links
Links in Show
Gordonstoun School Motto ‘Plus est en Vous’ Ewan Paterson Marketoonist Ikagi Marshall McLuhan Firestarters Neil Perkin A Longing Look Hermogenes On Types of Sttyle Fraudcast News book All Hands On Constituency Development Funds Rutger Bregman Audry Tang Robert Heath -The Hidden Power of Advertising: How Low Involvement Processing Influences the Way We Choose Brands John Alexander Citizens My Dinner with Andre
Overview
My guest this week is Phil Adams. Phil is an Edinburgh-based independent brand strategist, consultant, writer, and documentary filmmaker.
I briefly crossed paths with Phil in the mid-90s at the legendary Edinburgh ad agency, Leith.
Phil is not your average ad guy. The fusion of his engineering-first-principle problem-solving ability, high emotional intelligence, and an intuitive ability to simplify complex issues make him a masterful storyteller. This manifests in his day job by helping businesses get their story straight to ensure their brand does justice to their vision and culture, and outside of his day job through his documentary filmmaking, where he delivers powerful stories of radical democracy in action to inspire belief that we, as citizens, can achieve excellent outcomes on even the most complex political issues.
We cover a lot of ground in this episode, from his insights into strategy, creative ideas, the type of people to hire, and cultivating opportunity, to his perspective on AI, his views on democracy, how we reimagine capitalism, and the Shakespearean power of Freddie Mercury's lyrics.
I doubt anyone listening to this episode will walk away without feeling uplifted and gaining a broader perspective on the world.
Now, over to Phil.
What We Discuss
00:00 Intro
01:50 Who is Phil Adams?
05:45 Who or what made Phil who he is, and how his curiosity and love of books were nurtured?
08:30 The serendipitous event that changed his trajectory and broadened his horizons.
13:15 His values of adventure and opportunism, Phil explains the importance of taking opportunities when they emerge.
15:45 Phil discusses having an act of faith and a strategy of life when dealing with uncertainty.
18:00 Phil discusses his youthful recklessness and rebellion.
21:00 The serendipity that led him to pivot from a path of engineering to life in advertising and the actions taken to create opportunity.
25:45 Phil explains his pragmatic and focused approach to the direction he took.
27:00 I ask Phil about his superpowers or talents.
30:15 The underrated talent of post-rationalizing a creative idea as a problem-solving solution to win pitches.
33:55 Phil explains his perspective on how the best creative minds combine logic and magic to render a brand in surprising ways and the role of planners to identify the essence of an idea and then express the campaign value.
38:20 What Phil values others professionally and why hiring people better than you is important.
41:20 The importance of ‘trust’ with friends and when building teams.
42:30 What is he complimented for; his ability to understand a client's business and culture and his clarity and ability to simplify.
47:30 Phil describes how his engineering first principle problem-solving ability led him to strategic planning.
50:00 I ask Phil for his insights on being an entrepreneur
51:45 What is Phil working to achieve in life?
54:10 How he deals with uncertainty through faith, effort, and curiosity and his advice to others.
57:10 We discuss AI, its impact, and risks, and Phil cites Marshall McLuhan.
01:03:15 I ask Phil to explain why he writes love letters to lyrics.
01:06:00 Phil explains the power and Shakespearean quality of Freddie Mercurys We Are The Champions and links it to Greek Philosopher Hermogenes' insights on writing
01:09:15 We discuss Jim Steinman.
01:10:50 Phil talks about the origins of his documentary-making NGO All Hands On and its work to educate people about better paths to democracy and be more hands-on with political issues.
01:16:00 Phil describes the films they have made from London to Athens to Milawi on citizen assemblies and the drive to more democratic governance.
01:28:50 I ask Phil to reflect on the role and power of the Ad industry to imagine and affect a more positive and impactful capitalist economy and system.
01:34:45 Phil describes platforms for more deliberative democracy.
01:36:15 - Phil describes who has had the most impact on his journey and the value it delivered on his ability to understand neuroscience and the power of branding and advertising.
01:39:40 Phil’s life lessons.
01:41:00 The principle of the asymmetry of favors.
01:45:00 We wrap up discussing who I interview next and the power of reframing our consumer story to a citizen story.
Social Links
Links in Show
Gordonstoun School Motto ‘Plus est en Vous’ Ewan Paterson Marketoonist Ikagi Marshall McLuhan Firestarters Neil Perkin A Longing Look Hermogenes On Types of Sttyle Fraudcast News book All Hands On Constituency Development Funds Rutger Bregman Audry Tang Robert Heath -The Hidden Power of Advertising: How Low Involvement Processing Influences the Way We Choose Brands John Alexander Citizens My Dinner with Andre
If you're short on time and want to hear how Lenore Anderson is advocating for Smart Justice Policy Reform and Creating Safer Communities to break the cycle of victim trauma, then here are 7 minutes of key soundbites.
If you do have the time, on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode. The time has come for the changes Lenore is fighting for.
If you enjoy the show, please follow us, like us on your podcast player, and subscribe on YouTube as it helps us grow our audience.
About Lenore.
This week's guest is Lenore Anderson. Lenore is Co-founder and President of Alliance for Safety and Justice, one of the largest reform advocacy organizations in the US, that combines smart policy reform with grassroots organizing to replace reliance on incarceration with more effective public safety solutions.
With deep domain experience in law, policy, and justice reform, Lenore has recently published In Their Names - a book that not only provides historical insight into and indictment of how the victims’ rights movement warped the American justice system but created a cycle of trauma. However, Lenore also provides a roadmap to breaking this cycle of trauma and a future vision for justice, healing, and creating safer communities and society. Thanks to David Risley for the connection
Social Links
Linkedin Twitter Wikipedia
Links in the show
In Their Names Alliance for Safety and Justice Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice Time Done The Guardian Article about Lenore National Coalition for Shared Safety
Lenore Anderson
This week's guest is Lenore Anderson. Lenore is Co-founder and President of Alliance for Safety and Justice, one of the largest reform advocacy organizations in the US, that combines smart policy reform with grassroots organizing to replace reliance on incarceration with more effective public safety solutions.
With deep domain experience in law, policy, and justice reform, Lenore has recently published In Their Names - a book that not only provides historical insight into and indictment of how the victims’ rights movement warped the American justice system but created a cycle of trauma. However, Lenore also provides a roadmap to breaking this cycle of trauma and a future vision for justice, healing, and creating safer communities and society. Thanks to David Risley for the connection
What We Discuss
00:00 Intro
02:05 Who is Lenore as a human?
05:00 What made Lenore who she is?
07:20 Her teenage years of troublemaking and second chances.
13:00 Her rejection of societal conventions.
15:00 Her purpose and commitment to creating a more just world.
17:25 Dealing with fragility, doubt, and loss.
21:10 Her gifts and superpowers.
22:40 What she is complimented for.
23:40 Lenore describes how the Alliance for Safety and Justice operates.
27:40 The historical context of the tough-on-crime movement.
31:00 The negative externalities of mass incarceration.
32:00 The impact on victims.
35:24 The three reasons why tough justice hurt victims.
38:10 The political myth of victimization and cycle of violence.
38:40 Why the toxic culture of prisons reinforces trauma?
40:00 The Hierarchy of Harm and examples in New Orleans.
45:20 The bias against victims and the long-term damage.
48:23 The negative impact war on drugs and surveillance policing.
51:20 Reimagining community-based public safety.
54:40 The importance of policy and partnering with communities.
56:30 What victims really want.
59:00 Alternative systems.
1:01:30 A new approach to public safety.
1:07:00 Coalitions and partnerships to drive change.
1:13:00 The commonality between Lenore’s and David Risley’s work
Social Links
Linkedin Twitter Wikipedia
Links in the show
In Their Names Alliance for Safety and Justice Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice Time Done The Guardian Article about Lenore National Coalition for Shared Safety
Leading Like A Genius
TL:DR - If you're short on time and want some topline insight into the thinking and work of Melanie Van De Velde, then here are 7 minutes of key soundbites.
If you do have the time on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode. Now over to Melanie. She is doing important work.
About Dr. Melanie van De Velde.
Melanie wholeheartedly believes that we can make this world a way better place. As Founder of Big Tree Global, Melanie and her team support business leaders and MBA students from around the world with insights and tools to help them create a positive impact on key global issues grounded in the SDGs while helping them boost business growth authentically. The insights Melanie applies in her IMPACT workshops, Masterclass, and inspiration trips are based on her research, for which she was awarded the Adam Smith Prize for Ph.D. Excellence, and nominated by Cambridge University.
Melanie is also the author of LEAD LIKE A GENIUS: 12 Ways to ace sustainability and transform our world (due Oct 23) and LOVE YOUR LEGACY: Five secrets of leading businesses that build a better world.
As a domain expert and difference maker, I am so excited to talk with Melanie and learn more about how she is helping businesses to empower people, deliver just payments, and create a positive impact on the planet as well as human health and well-being.
Social Links
Big Tree Global Linkedin
Links in Show
Grassroutes Journies Kibera Joseph Stiglitz The Price of Inequality Theory of Moral Sentiment Tonys Chocolonys Toms Shoes Soul Rebels
This week's guest is Dr. Melanie Van De Velde.
Melanie wholeheartedly believes that we can make this world a way better place. As Founder of Big Tree Global, Melanie and her team support business leaders and MBA students from around the world with insights and tools to help them create a positive impact on key global issues grounded in the SDGs while helping them boost business growth authentically. The insights Melanie applies in her IMPACT workshops, Masterclass, and inspiration trips are based on her research, for which she was awarded the Adam Smith Prize for Ph.D. Excellence, and nominated by Cambridge University.
Melanie is also the author of LEAD LIKE A GENIUS: 12 Ways to ace sustainability and transform our world (due Oct 23) and LOVE YOUR LEGACY: Five secrets of leading businesses that build a better world.
As a domain expert and difference maker, I am so excited to talk with Melanie and learn more about how she is helping businesses to empower people, deliver just payments, and create a positive impact on the planet as well as human health and well-being.
What we Discuss
00:00 Intro
02:00 Who is Melanie, the human being
05:45 What made her who she is
10:30 What Mel is working to impact before she dies
15:40 How Melanie's eyes were opened to the role of business in creating an impact
20:30 The urgency to act on climate, poverty, and inequality
25:40 The Flaw in the machine of capitalism and the issue of injustice
30:00 Melanie describes her impact wheel
35:30 Melanie provides examples of businesses using Impact Wheel
40:00 Melanie discusses the progress being made by corporates and multinationals
43:00 The need for more justice
45:45 The need for legislation and increased public awareness
49:00 Melanie describes Tony’s Chocolony impact story
54:00 The role of education
55:30 The role of B Corps
56:20 Lighting as a service
59:40 Melanie describes her new book
1:01:00 Remaining resolute
1:08:00 Her hopes for 2030
1:09:15 What actions can businesses take
Social Links
Big Tree Global Linkedin
Links in Show
Grassroutes Journies Kibera Joseph Stiglitz The Price of Inequality Theory of Moral Sentiment Tonys Chocolonys Toms Shoes Soul Rebels
Invest NYC
TL:DR - If you're short on time and want some topline insight into the work of Marianna Koval in bringing transportation equity and economic opportunity to New York’s Bronx neighborhood by enabling increased e-bike access through The Equitable Commute Project, then here’s 7 minutes of key soundbites.
If you do have the time on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode. Now over to Marianna.
Marianna is the Director of Invest NYC, SDG at the NYU Stern Center For Sustainable Business. Invest NYC SDG is a multi-year initiative that aims to build a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient economy in New York City by using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a framework to drive private sector engagement and financing in six primary areas. Those areas are sustainable mobility, the built environment, climate resilience, renewable energy, food and health, waste, and circular economy.
In the full episode, Mariana discusses how she and her team are creating transportation equity and economic opportunity through the Equitable Commute Project, an e-mobility access program in New York’s Bronx neighborhood.
Social Links
Show links
New York - A Documentary Spring Bank Hope program NYU Stern Center For Sustainable Business Canna Bronx
Guest Overview
This week's guest is Marianna Koval. Marianna is the Director of Invest NYC, SDG at the NYU Stern Center For Sustainable Business. Invest NYC SDG is a multi-year initiative that aims to build a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient economy in New York City by using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, as a framework to drive private sector engagement and financing in six primary areas. Those areas are sustainable mobility, the built environment, climate resilience, renewable energy, food and health, waste, and circular economy.
Mariana's accomplished 25-year career has spanned nonprofits, government and Law.
As an experienced political, organizational, and policy strategist, Mariana has built deep domain expertise in sustainability, open space development, and green infrastructure. She has a track record of bringing multiple stakeholders together to create complex urban projects such as the phenomenal Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City.
If anyone's been there over the last 10 or 15 years, you would've seen the huge transformation in that green space. Today we talk about how she's delivering transportation equity and to disadvantaged communities in New York through an innovative micro-mobility and e-bike strategy.
And this follows on from my recent interview with Karl Popham, who runs the transportation electrification program in Austin, Texas. And given this is one of the areas of focus for the podcast, I'm excited to welcome Marianna.
What we discuss * 00:00 Intro * 03:40 Marianna recounts her upbringing in the 60s and the influences on her * 05:20 Her political awakening and volunteering as a 13-year-old * 06:30 Being a page in the Senate * 09:00 Attending Princetown in a time of huge social change and Chairing the Academic Committee. * 11:00 How she sought our change and felt out of place. * 13:00 Becoming a ligator in an NYC law firm and hating it. * 16:30 Marianna’s perspective on New York, its resilience and her memory of 9/11 * 23:00 Marianna explains the work she does in New York to embrace the UN SDGs and create a city strategy. * 27:00 Her insights and lessons on operationalizing strategies * 29:30 Marianna describes the background the Equitable Commute Project * 31:00 Implementing the project in The Bronx and the challenges of doing to during Covid. * 35:00 Marianna describes three key pillars of the strategy to deliver access, jobs and an accelerator program. * 40:20 The challenges to scaling in NYC and the need for a US-based E-bike manufacturing. * 42:00 The role of employers. * 44:00 Marianna’s expectations for NYC sustainability in 2030. * 46:15 The role of education. * 50:10 Marianna discusses other local NYC initiatives and ensuring all parties and organizations are at the table and take responsibility for the goals * 54:00 The need for political leadership * 56:00 Marianna discusses her work to develop Brooklyn Bridge Park and build coalitions. * 1:02:30 Marianna’s hopes for the future of New York. * 1:06:00 Urban Agriculture
Social Links
Show links
New York - A Documentary Spring Bank Hope program NYU Stern Center For Sustainable Business Canna Bronx
TL:DR - If you're short on time and want to hear some of Barbara’s wisdom and insights into how we affect change in our lives, unleash your creativity, unlock the power of the unconscious mind, achieve one's goals, and develop a growth mindset, then here’s 7 minutes of key soundbites from Barbara Doust.
If you do have the time on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode.
This week's guest Barbara Daoust has lived a transformational life. From acting, directing, and storytelling, she is now an internationally respected Author, Speaker, Success Coach, and Business Growth Accelerator.
Barbara understands how our minds are coded and how to unlock the changes people desire, to unleash their creative potential and imagination to change their personal reality.
As Barbara says, she helps people get out of their own way, break up with procrastination, say goodbye to perfectionism, and stop postponing the life of their dreams.’
Barbara Daoust is this week's guest. She has lived a transformational life. From acting, directing, and storytelling, she is now an internationally respected Author, Speaker Success Coach, and Business Growth Accelerator.
For me, Barbara understands how our minds are coded and how to unlock the changes people desire, to unleash their creative potential and imagination to change their personal reality.
As Barbara says, she helps people get out of their own way, break up with procrastination, say goodbye to perfectionism, and stop postponing the life of their dreams.’
Now over to Barbara
What we discuss
00:00 Intro 02:00 Barbara discusses her early memories of wanting to be an actor 04:00 On being the black sheep and being called ‘stupid.’ 23:00 Going to UCLA and focusing on making mistakes 25:40 Being unconsciously competent 27:00 Barbara's views on Seeking discomfort and Safety 31:00 The subconscious mind 34:00 The life trauma that changed her life 44:00 Barbara explains paradigms and the ego mind 46:00 The anxiety pandemic and the inner voice 50:20 The power of parenting 53:00 How change happens in people and accessing dreams 59:10 Barbara on Goal Setting 1:12:00 The Neuroscience of the emotional mind 1:17:00 How affirmations work 1:21:00 The science of the brain 1:26:00 The journey of awareness 1:30:15 Her natural gifts 1:31:20 Navigating leadership 1:34:00 Problem-solving in education
Social
Barbaras Site Linkedin Facebook True Love True Self Instagram
Links
Barbara's book True Love True Self Bob Proctor
Thanks to Jennifer Hutchins
TL:DR - If you're short on time and want to hear some of the gems of wisdom, life philosophy, and his transformation journey from ad creative to the inventor, here are 7 minutes of critical soundbites from Don Smith. If you have time on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the entire episode. Now over to Don.
Don is an inspiring example of how transformation can occur in one’s life if you set your mind to it, take bold actions, and seek help and advice from experts.
From a career as an advertising creative, Don is now the inventor of 1nhaler, a single-dose, dry-powder, and pulmonary inhaler, and is also in development with KELP Systems, a revolutionary marine energy delivery system.
I learn a lot from my guests, but Don has made me reframe my view of success and failure after hearing him explain the concept of Emergence.
Don is not only a master storyteller, but he’s also a domain expert in branding and is on track to make a difference in people's lives through his 1nhaler invention.
Don Smith is this week’s guest. I won’t say much about Don other than he is an inspiring example of how transformation can occur in one’s life if you set your mind to it, take bold actions, and seek help and advice from experts.
From a career as an advertising creative, Don is now the inventor of 1nhaler, a single-dose, dry-powder, and pulmonary inhaler, and is also in development with KELP Systems, a revolutionary marine energy delivery system.
I learn a lot from my guests, but Don has made me reframe my view of success and failure after hearing him explain the concept of Emergence.
Don is not only a master storyteller, he’s a domain expert in branding and is on track to be a difference maker in people's lives through his 1nhaler invention.
What we discuss * Don explains his fluid view of who he is (4.00 - 6.00) * I ask Don about what and who made him and his principles and ethics and references the OCEAN framework, Nietzsche, and the impact of being a father(7.50 - 13.10) * Don explains the impact of his recently deceased Father and being a man of action(14.00 - 25.30) * Don discusses the serendipitous impact of his Mother’s tenacity, which opened up a work placement in an ad agency that set him on his career path. (26.30 - 30.00) * Finding his Mentor and second father (32.00 - 30.00) * Don reflects on serendipity his curious, rebellious non-conformist characteristics, (34.00 - 36.00) * His natural talent - his empathy enables him to create ideas or products of value(36.00 - 37.30) * What people compliment him for - conscientiousness, and hard work ethic (38.00 - 39.30) * Don discusses his relationship with creative partner and artist Alex Paton 39.30- 40.25 * Don explains the emergence of his 1Haler Invention, developing the idea and realization of his limited executional knowledge (41.40 - 46.30) * He then breakdown the impact and importance of asking experts and building a network support system and finding his commercial partner to bring his product to market (47.00 - 49.50) * Don demonstrates how the 1nhaler works ( you can watch on YouTube (50.00 - 51.30) * I ask Don about the importance of being unreasonable and not accepting the status quo (53.35 - 56.00) * Don explains how his belief in the theory of emergence enables him to deal with success and failures (56.30 - 60.00) * We discuss the role and impact of AI on the current education system and the importance of psychology and philosophy as skills for children to develop - referring to his son (1.01:17 - 1.02:00) * The importance of discipline (1.02:00 - 1.04:30) * The role of family (1.05:00 - 1.06:00) * Speaking to the dead…and what we would have asked Alan Watts and Milton Glazer (1.06:30 - 1.07:30) * The impact of Charlie Robertson (1.09:20 - 1.13:30) * Don discusses KELP Systems (1.14.20 - 1.16.00) * Don’s hope that other creatives 1.17:45 - 1.19:55 * My challenge to Don 1.19.30
Social Links
KELP Systems Don’s Site Don’s TEDx Talk Interview With Don Linkedin
Links
OCEAN personality Epictetus Nietzsche ubermensch Kevin Keegan Joseph Campell Second Father Applied Empathy Alex Paton George Bernard Shaw Emergence Theory Ludwig von Bertalanffy Buckminster Fuller
TL:DR - If you're short on time and want to hear some of the insights, ideas, and practical solutions to the current US Criminal Justice System then here’s 7 minutes of key soundbites, from criminal justice expert, thought leader and advocate, David E Risley.
If you do have the time on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode.
David E Risley is a storyteller and domain expert. He is the host of Justice Voices, the podcast that delivers eye-opening stories about criminal justice, healing, and building safer communities.
For 32 years, yes, 32 years, David was also a federal prosecutor for the Central District of Illinois, where he led counter-terrorism prosecutions, and was the lead attorney on multi-jurisdictional drug distribution conspiracies for the organized-crime, drug enforcement task force. Safe to say he knows a bit or two.
We discuss a lot about the need for reform and redesign in the criminal justice system. It’s meaty. Enjoy.
Listen now on your fav Pod Player
David also served as an attorney advisor for the Iraqi High Tribunal, where he helped investigate crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes committed by Saddam Hussein and high-ranking members of his former regime.
David also provided bilateral mutual legal assistance and diplomatic liaison, as well as capacity-building programs for the Egyptian legal and judicial system.
From criminal justice policy reform, anti-violence strategy, investigating and prosecuting complex multi-jurisdictional crime and criminal organizations, anti-terrorism and national security law to international criminal justice, international humanitarian law, and Egyptian law, David’s expertise is vast.
With Justice Voices, David has now got a vision and mission to build a strategic action platform to redesign the US criminal justice system. a pretty seismic task indeed to redirect resources to more cost-effective solutions and reform the delivery of justice for all. Wow.
David E Risley is the host of Justice Voices, the podcast that delivers eye-opening stories and commentary about criminal justice, healing, and safer communities.
For 32 years...yes, 32 years David was a federal prosecutor for the Central District of Illinois, where he led counter-terrorism prosecutions, and was the lead attorney on multi-jurisdictional drug distribution conspiracies for the organized-crime, drug enforcement task force.
David also served as an attorney advisor for the Iraqi High Tribunal, where he helped investigate crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes committed by Saddam Hussein and high-ranking members of his former regime.
David also provided bilateral mutual legal assistance and diplomatic liaison, as well as capacity-building programs for the Egyptian legal and judicial system.
From criminal justice policy reform, anti-violence strategy, investigating and prosecuting complex multi-jurisdictional crime and criminal organizations, anti-terrorism and national security law to international criminal justice, international humanitarian law, and Egyptian law, David’s expertise is vast.
With Justice Voices, David has a vision and mission to build a strategic action platform to redesign the US criminal justice system. a pretty seismic task indeed to redirect resources to more cost-effective solutions and reform the delivery of justice for all. Wow.
What we discuss * David discusses who he is and what shaped him (5.00 - 11.00) * We discuss faith and spiritual connections in people (11.00 - 14.00) * Discusses spiritual harmony and harmony in Justice (14.30-16.00) * David discusses other influences in shaping him (16.00- 20.00) * His early decision to focus on solving human problems through law (21.00 - 23.00) * His ability to see both sides of an argument (24.30- 26.30) * Being comfortable in ambiguity (27.30 - 29.00) * Why he was drawn to criminal justice (30.30 - 32.00) * The responsibility of a prosecutor (32.00- 35.00) * His desire to address the issues in the Criminal Justice System and launch Justice Voices podcast (35.30 - 38.00) * The problem with the current punishment paradigm and restorative justice (39. 00 - 43.20) * Resolving the addiction to the punishment paradigm and the cost to society (45.00 -53.00) * Cost of Recidivism (53.00 - 54.30) * David and I discuss alternatives to the current system, aligning incentives and desired outcomes, and the role of CBT (56.00 - 1.01.45) * Injecting innovation to the current system (1.02.00 - 1.06.15) * Davids Justice Visions strategy to reform the system through design thinking ( 1.08.00 - 1.01.00) * Davids explains the innovative work being done in Bronzville, Chicago, on addressing violent-ization and trauma-informed services (1.11.30 -1.15.00) * Problem-solving in schools and unlocking human talent(1.17.00 - 1.24.30) * David describes the work of Readi Chicago in using data to create early interventions (1.27.30 - 1.30.00)
Social Links
David on Linkedin Justice Voices God Unites Youtube
Links
Justice Voices.org Readi Chicago Norman Rockwell Church Of Jesus Christ and Later Day Saints SPAC - Sentencing Policy Advisory Council The Innovators Dilemma Young Chances Foundation Tyrique Glasgow
TLDR - If you're short on time and still want to hear some of the perspectives, life experiences, and practical advice from French Ad Agency Strategist and leader Christian Baujard then here are 7 minutes of his soundbites.
If you do have the time, on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode. Now over to Monsuier Baujard.
As my second Storyteller guest, his story intersects with mine back in the late 90s and early 2000s when we worked together in London at an Ad agency called EURO RSCG Wnek Gosper.
During this period working on the Microsoft account, I grew to respect Christian for his laconic and irreverent humor, self-depreciation, tech, and internet savvy-ness, before many know what it was, oh and let’s not forget his encyclopedic knowledge of film…He was also a willing and able accomplice on my many debauched nights of drinking in the darkened basement bars of London advertisings’ then heartland - Soho
Christian has since ascended the career ladder to now running boutique Paris Agency Les Presidents, where agility is a given, hierarchy is shunned, and egos banished.
As I move forward with this experiment in interviewing and connecting storytellers, difference makers, and domain experts, Christian’s fresh perspective on problems, lateral strategic thinking, and disarming humor will certainly open up some new paths for action.
Just to note we had some slight issues with the sound, but thanks to sound engineer SoundZ and fellow Podcaster David Risley, these have been addressed.
Now over to Christian
Christian Baujard, President of the French Ad Agency Les Présidents is this week's guest.
As my second Storyteller guest, his story intersects with mine back in the late 90’s and early 2000s when we worked together in London at an Ad agency called EURO RSCG Wnek Gosper.
During this period working on the Microsoft account, I grew to respect Christian for his laconic and irreverent humor, self-depreciation, tech, and internet savvy-ness, before many know what it was, oh and let’s not forget his encyclopedic knowledge of film…He was also a willing and able accomplice on my many debauched nights of drinking in the darkened basement bars of London advertisings’ then heartland - Soho
Christian has since ascended the career ladder to now running boutique Paris Agency Les Presidents where agility is a given, hierarchy is shunned, and egos banished.
As I move forward with this experiment in interviewing and connecting storytellers, difference makers, and domain experts, Christian’s fresh perspective on problems, lateral strategic thinking, and disarming humor will certainly open up some new paths for action.
Just to note we had some slight issues with the sound but thanks to sound engineer SoundZ and fellow Podcaster David Risley, these have been addressed.
Now over to Christian
What We Discuss * Who he is and living in the shadows (4.00- 5.30) * Who made him - personally and professionally? (5.45 - 11.31) * The nurturing and role of his humor 12.00 - 13.45 * What he is working to achieve (14.30- 16.00) * Stress and managing it (17.00 - 19.00) * Developing his curiosity, the role of books, and questions - how does it work and where is it? (19.30- 23.00) * Distraction and the loss of curiosity in today's youth (24.00- 26.00) * His natural talents and lateral view of the world (26.30-31.00 * The issues on his mind in 2023 (32.00 - 33.00) * Can agencies be a force for good and the role of brand purpose? (33.30- 38.00) * The need for more inclusion in agencies in France (39.00- 43.10) * AI’s threat or opportunity? And my challenge to Christian(43.15 - 47.00) * His ask of The Impossible Network ( 48.00 -51.00)
Social Links
Linkedin Instagram
Links In Show
Les Presidents SoundZ Sound Engineer Ehrenberg Bass Byron Sharp ChatGPT Dogma genre BMW Shaken not stirred Diesel Studid Campaign
Solve For Happy Jeremy Bullmore Post.news
Austin Energy EV lead Karl Popham -
TLDR edition - If you're short on time and still want to hear some of the strategies, insights, and actions being implanted by Karl Pophams transportation electrification team then here are 7-minutes of soundbites
If you do have the time, on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode.
About Karl
I would describe Karl as a domain expert in change management. Karl leads the EV and Emerging Technologies team at Austin Energy and is making significant progress in the transition away from fossil fuel dependency through a holistic transportation electrification strategy.
I was keen to speak to Karl and learn more about the hyper-local strategies he’s implementing to drive change and how these can be scaled to other cities and countries.
The urgency to decarbonize growing. The creator of the Global Green Economy Index, Jeremy Tamanini, told me recently that we face a climate paradox: while people, products, and policies are building momentum to address the climate crisis, GHG emissions, social equity, and environmental health worsen.
So gaining and sharing insights into the strategies and tactics employed by Karl and his team is an imperative that can’t be overstated.
Social Links
Karl’s Linkedin
Links
EV Buyers Guide General Motors Mary Barra Ford F150 Zappy Ride Chargeway Austin Forum For Technology Smart Mobility Roadmap Tony Fadell
Karl Popham is a domain expert in change management. Karl leads the EV and Emerging Technologies team at Austin Energy and is making significant progress in transitioning from fossil fuel dependency through a holistic transportation electrification strategy.
Karl’s Electric Vehicles & Emerging Technologies Team was founded in 2011. Through a combination of high-impact programs, projects, policy, and partnerships, Austin Energy has been recognized as “Drive Electric Utility of the Year” by Plugin America and Austin, the “EVisionary City of North America” by the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA).
I saw Karl present at Electrify Expo here in Austin last November and am so excited to be able to sit down and hear more about the transformational work he and his team doing, the hyper-local strategies he’s implementing to drive change, and how these can be scaled to other cities and countries.
The urgency to decarbonize growing. The creator of the Global Green Economy Index, Jeremy Tamanini, told me recently that we face a climate paradox: while people, products, and policies are building momentum to address the climate crisis, GHG emissions, social equity, and environmental health worsen.
So gaining and sharing insights into the strategies and tactics employed by Karl and his team is an imperative that can’t be overstated.
What We Discuss * Karl’s early journey in life ( 2.00 - 4.00) * His Education and joining the military (4.00 - 7.00) * Developing an early interest in Internet technology (7.30 - 9.30) * We discuss Karl’s insights on affecting behavior change and change management (12.20- 15.00) * Karl discusses developing his interest in electric vehicles and emerging technologies (18.00 - 22.30) * Why Austin is embracing electrification and adopting a startup culture (23.00 - 25.30 ) * Creating the EV buyers Guide and working with Dealers and addressing barriers to adoption (26.00 - 35.20) * Karl explains how he and his team are driving electrification * Bad EV marketing examples and consumer behavior (37-00- 41.00) * I ask Karl to break down his Future of Electric Bow Tie of the growth drivers 42.00 - 51.00) * Karl explains the reality of Crypto mining on the demand for Electricity and discusses the societal impact vs value (51.00 - 60.00) * We then discuss desired outcomes and innovations driving transformation (1.02.00 - 1.06.00) * We discuss decentralized power and vehicle-to-grid (1.06.30 -1.09.00) * We discuss advances in battery technology and the benefits of EV’s (1.10.00-1.15.00) * Karl explains his 5 Pillar strategy in detail and scaling to other cities and partners (1.15.30- 1.30.00)
Social Links
Karl’s Linkedin
Links
EV Buyers Guide General Motors Mary Barra Ford F150 Zappy Ride Chargeway Austin Forum For Technology Smart Mobility Roadmap Tony Fadell Dina Lovinsky Electrify Expo Austin Climate Equity Plan Global Green Economy Index
Katz Kiely Seven Minute Soundbites
TLDR alert - If you're short on time and still want to hear some of the gems of wisdom and inspiring actions of female powerhouse Katz Kiely then here is 7-minutes of soundbites
If you do have the time, on a run, cycle, or drive, check out the full episode.
Katz is the first in my Difference Maker series of interviews, my guest is Katz Kiely - a woman of conviction and determination who has been working to change the world for the better since a child. I describe what Katz does at the start of the interview before inviting her to reveal who she really is as a human and…. what and who made her… a woman of indomitable spirit.
From 29 minutes in, we dive into the work she has been doing to make a difference in the world, her current impact project Frontline.Live before we discuss her vision and platform, code-named BEEP, to help leaders and organizations nurture work cultures where humans thrive….so their businesses thrive.
Katz is a human Action Engine obsessed with helping people connect.
collaborate, and co-create. Be inspired.
About KatzKatz is an award-winning digital pioneer, transformation leader, and systems thinker. She has a proven track record of delivering strategic cultural and operational programs that have led to measurable improvements in Employee Experience, employer brand, and operational efficiency. She has supported some of the world's traditional organizations through change, including the first Open Innovation Platform with HP Labs, rearchitecting the way the UN does business, and designing a city-scale behavior change platform with Intel and the GLA. She is passionate about using design thinking and digital tech to unlock the full potential of people, judges for digital awards writes for b2b publications, and regularly shares her vision of a more human-centered Future of Work at conferences, including twice at TEDx She believes that doing good is good business, is the Founder, Chair of Trustees for Frontline.Live and a proud ambassador of the Burning Man Foundation.
Social Links
Katz's Site Katz TedX Talk Frontline.Live Ukraine Frontline Live map Twitter Linkedin Show Links Sky Manifest Mira Microsoft What three words Giles Rhys Jones Bracken Darrel
Jen Hutchins - Guest Overview
Here are seven minutes of soundbites from storyteller Jennifer Hutchins - the award-winning Hollywood TV and film producer and now Austin-based Founder of All Entertainment Business, the fast-growing entertainment industry networking event series.
If you're short on time and still want to hear some of the gems of wisdom from founder and film producer Jennifer Hutchins then here are 7-minutes of soundbites
If you do have the time check out the full episode. Now over to Jen.
Social Links
Austin Entertainment Business Jennifer Hutchins site Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook
Links in the show
Robert Rodriguez Richard Linklater Suzanne Lyons Barbara Doust Michael Blum Dr. Merritt Moore Hopefully Sow Steve Jobs - The Man Who Thought Different Neeva Descript - Our edit tool for the podcast
Jennifer Hutchins - Guest Overview
Hey, hey, welcome back, this is the first interview in my new format, where I will interview Storytellers, Difference Makers, and Domain Experts to tell their stories, invite them to connect with each other, and challenge them to take action on issues and problems they care about, the problems that need solving. Think about it as a live experiment as I work to build action engines for progress…why? Actions matter - we have enough think tanks.
So for the first in my storyteller series of interviews, my guest is Jennifer Hutchins - award-winning Hollywood TV and film producer and now Austin-based Founder of All Entertainment Business, the fast-growing entertainment industry networking event series.
In the first 45 minutes of this interview, we understand who Jennifer really is and what made her who she is. She recounts her journey and path to success in Hollywood, shares her wisdom of what works, dealing with fear and doubt, and the rollercoaster ride of a producer's life in LA.
In the second 45 minutes, Jennifer shares her vision for her All Entertainment Business networking event series, shares her wisdom on how to open doors and create opportunity(applicable to any career at any stage of life) how it resulted in her working with critically acclaimed writer-director Richard Linklater, and her three pieces of advice for anyone seeking a successful career.
As we wrap up, I challenge Jennifer to connect and collide with some of my other Difference Maker and Domain Expert guests, and we agree to a follow-up to discuss the outcome. Let’s get started.
Show Breakdown
We cover a lot in this episode: * Jennifer’s reason for pivoting from Journalism to Hollywood to tell stories * Her circuitous journey to success in Hollywood * The impotence of giving first and its role in her success * The rollercoaster ride of working and competing in Hollywood, * Breaking her neck and ribs in a car accident - 28.40 * Finding herself working 20 hours plus on Dr. Phil while pregnant, knowing something was not right * As a single mother being drawn to Austin and the realization that Austin was calling her (39.30) * The genesis of the Austin Entertainment Business and how Jennifer grew the network to over 10,000 by cultivating a culture of abundance and building the event she always wanted (43.00- 52.00) * The serendipity of events that led her to achieve her goal of working with Richard Linklater and Bill Guttentag * How she pivoted the event during Covid to All Entertainment Business by embracing Zoom and opening it to the world (57.00) * Her global mission and ambition for All Entertainment Business and to discover and support the underrepresented 59.00-1.05 * Jennifer describes her natural gifts as an example of her ability and tenacity to bring ideas to life (1.08.00) * Dealing with fragility and doubt (1.11.30) * The importance of dependability 1.13.00 * Jennifer's three pieces of advice (1.15.30-1.17.30) * The power of affirmations (1.18.00) * The importance of belief, desire, and taking action * Her advice on people wanting to get into the industry 1.22.00 * The change she would like to see in the world 1.28.20 * Her perspective on AI 1.31.20 * Jennifer asks for a financial partner to support her and allow her to grow her global team. 1.34.00
Social Links
Austin Entertainment Business Jennifer Hutchins site Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook
Links in the show
Robert Rodriguez Richard Linklater Suzanne Lyons Barbara Doust Michael Blum Dr. Merritt Moore Hopefully Sow Steve Jobs - The Man Who Thought Different Neeva Descript - Our edit tool for the podcast
Mark Fallows welcomes you back to THE IMPOSSIBLE NETWORK
It’s been 7 months since our last drop and four years since I began the podcast. So before season 5 kicks off, I wanted to explain the changes to the type of guests we will interview and the outcomes we are hoping to effect.
Back in July last year, I paused the podcast, and during this hiatus, I worked with creative elder, coach, mentor, and award-winning ex-ad guy, Paul ‘Nobby’ Davies on my underlying mission and vision for the Impossible Network.
During one of my Creative Coaching calls, I recounted how a previous pod guest Jeremy Hymans in his book New Power, co-authored with Henry Timms, stated that the event series TED had cornered ideas worth spreading. But what we need in the world are people focused on the problems that need solving. Now, if there is one thing I have learned over the years is that when all great problems were solved, serendipity played a part.
This got me thinking, let’s make the podcast a genuine serendipity experiment.
So I started with this question. If we have all these problems that need solving, instead of think tanks publishing papers on possible solutions, surely we should have Action Engines doing real work to solve the problem? And could the Impossible Network Podcast play its part and be a catalyst for creating Action Engines to accelerate problem-solving and progress?
Why not try?
So here’s what we’ll do.
We will interview three types of people - what we are calling
The Difference Makers - Those on the ground change agents working to make an impact on a particular social problem
The Domain Experts - respected people of authority with specialist knowledge or skills whose ideas could have value in finding solutions to problems.
Finally, The Storytellers - creative folk, those able to shape or change attitudes and behavior through the compelling or emotive stories they tell, committed to improving the world in which we live.
Then every two to three months, we will create Action Engine events where we will challenge these guests to collide with each other, those with different perspectives, skills, and experiences in what we are calling Random Collision interviews and participate in structured design thinking workshops where we will explore alternative ways to solve the problems they care about. For example, educational innovation, criminal justice reform, mental health, decarbonization, transportation, electrification, food insecurity, homelessness, artificial intelligence risks, or building sustainable cities.
And finally, we will build an Action Engine community and database. A place to easily discover and connect with change-makers, domain experts, and storytellers, filterable by experience, skills, and areas of focus.
It might sound like a crazy experiment, but I think it’s going to be a blast.
Ok. Let’s get started.
Dina Lovinsky is a Russian-born, SF-based writer. She is also the ghostwriter of the recent NYT and WSJ bestseller Tony Fadell’s Build - An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making.
This is a fun episode.
We cover Dina’s upbringing, and she shares some of her parent's backstory from being refusniks in Soviet Russia, escaping and arriving in the US., and how they instilled her sense of her of invincibility and cultivated her curiosity.
We discussed her unconventional path to copywriting that eventually led her to work with our previous guest Matteo Vianello, a part of the creative team that helped Tony Fadell build Nest. Dina not only defined the Nest voice, she wrote copy for the website, packaging, ads and videos, the app, blog posts, and instruction manuals.
So it's no surprise that Tony called on Dina to help him turn his 115-line spreadsheet of advice, tips, life lessons, stories, and insights into his best-selling book.
Dina describes how she wrote the proposal, organized the content, figured out the structure, interviewed Tony, argued with Tony, reworked, revised, wrote, and rewrote every word. If you want to go straight to that section, it's at 41 min in.
Tony describes Dina as young, brash, bold, and brilliant. She’s also witty, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining. Enjoy getting to know Dina Lovinsky.
We discuss * Dina discusses being born in St Petersburg, Russia before moving to the US and growing up in Boston. * Being conditioned by her parents with a sense of invincibility. * She discusses her parent's experience of being Refusniks in Soviet-period Russia. * Her father's experience working for the Mafia. * She describes her Star Trek life lesson and developing her superpower to never blame others for how she feels. * We discuss how two scientists produced a child with a talent for the arts and English. * Dina explains how she developed her love of reading and developing her curiosity. * She discusses her school life and not working hard. * Dina explains how her path led her to San Francisco to a job in publishing before moving into product management in tech startups. * She explains how her focus shifted to writing all content for the companies she worked. * We discussed how she developed her copywriting skills. * Dina explains her approach to writing, her disorganization, and procrastination. * Dina describes her work with Tony Fadell and how she came to ghost-write his book Build, * She explains how she and Tony arrived at the structure and wrote the book during the pandemic. * Dina describes how people can use the book as a mentor in a box. * We discuss the emergence of AI and the impact and threat to writers * Dina describes her hopes for the next ten years * She answers the quick-fire questions
Social Links
Links
Build - An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making. Star Trek Refusniks Tenth of December George Saunders Swim In The Pond In The Rain Kurt Vonnegut Gary Shteyngart Super Sad True love Story GPT3 Jasper AI Severance Radio Lab
Negar Tayyar is a philanthropic refugee rights advocate, life coach, and co-founder and director of the Global Whole Being Fund (GWBF), an international fund supporting the humanitarian and long-term needs of forcibly displaced people.
We cover a lot in this episode from Negar’s early memories of growing up in Iran, her parents being civil rights activists, which resulted in them fleeing Iran, moving from country to country, and relying on the kindness of strangers before arriving and settling in Germany and the challenges she and her parents experienced in an alien culture.
Negar discusses in detail the global scale of the refugee response crisis, the vision and mission of GWBF, and how its focus on grassroots ecosystems and holistic approach enables more equitable solutions and empowers displaced people to claim their voice.
Negar is not only a powerful advocate of the rights and well-being of displaced people, but she is also reframing the narrative and mechanisms of how philanthropic grants work and changing operational control to encourage refugee-led organizations to flourish.
While our news feed may be filled with stories of despondency and desperation, hearing Negar’s vision and vitality is a timely antidote and much-needed boost of optimism. Please Enjoy.
Thanks to Sana Mustafa for the recommendation.
We cover * The challenging experience of seeking safety by crossing many borders. * Arriving and settling into Germany and witnessing the toll it took on her parents, who shaped her worldview and sense of self. * We cover the transitional fabric of German society and the impact of migrants. * Her childhood memories and the precious generosity of people.
- We discuss the work of the Global Whole Being Fund (GWBF), its focus on local ecosystems, and asset-based grant-making.
- Negar touches on the Ukraine refugee crisis highlighting Choose Love’s Ukraine Campaign supporting people seeking safety.
- She explains the imperative to prioritize resourcing dignified approaches to support people seeking safety as we face more displacement in the years ahead.
Links in the Show
Global Whole Being Fund Choose Love Resonance Coaching Mo Gowdat Fast Forward Asylum Seekers Advocacy Project MaKenzie Scott Mans Search For Meaning Myriad Intimacies Lata Mani Stewarding The Earth
Rarely do my guest's serendipitous recommendations as to who I interview next lead me to someone from the same industry in which I work. This is one of those rare weeks.
Born and raised in Venice Italy, Matteo Vianello is a Creative and Design leader who has led an extraordinary and varied life channeling his curiosity and expressing his rich creative talent building brands, launching products, and designing high-performing teams, from design companies to global ads agencies to silicon valley start-ups.
Matteo discusses his parent's influence on his creativity, his diverse education, and how serendipity led him from a focus on Math and Industrial Design to landing a role at the iconic Benetton in-house creative studio Fabrica before heading to the US to work in a stunning array of creative businesses.
Matteo explains to me the origins and impact of the iconic and controversial United Colors of Benetton ads( images in show notes.)
He reflects on the changing ebbs and flows of creativity in business, the current talent landscape, the curse of competency, and the merits of in-house creative studios and creative consultancies.
Matteo also discusses the alternative approaches to creative problem solving, his perspective of in-person and virtual working, the enduring power of storytelling, solving societal problems, and the focus of Matteo's work with this new design studio Squero.
Also, Matteo provides the best answer I’ve ever had to the question about advising someone being told their dream is impossible.
I think you will be engaged and entertained by the infectious humor, insights, and wisdom of Matteo Vianello.
Key discussion points: * Matteo discusses the impact of growing up surrounded by art in Venice
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The expectations his parents placed on him to be happy
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His Father’s impact on his worldview and his creative identity
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Matteo discusses curiosity and the generative nature of creativity
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We discuss his traditional early education and his Math focused secondary education
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How he entered graphic design via a connection with David Carson
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Matteo discusses his growing interest in graphic design
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Hustling his way into Fabrica Benettons in-house design agency
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The serendipitous experiences resulting from opening all doors
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Matteo discusses Benetton's creative output under Olivero Toscani
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The changing nature of creativity
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The strategic competency of design
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The curse of competency
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The synergistic impact on inhouse creative departments
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The need for more design thinking to solve world-scale challenges
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The evolution of agencies and agility
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His new agency Squero
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His answers to the quick-fire questions
Social Links
Linkedin Squero Studio Instagram Art site
Links in show
Raygun Wired Tadao Ando Bruno Munari Gilla Dorfles Creative oscillations
Minjin Lee Pachinko Oliviero Toscani Tony Fadell Dina Lovinsky Build By Tony Fadell - cover design by Matteo
Cover of Build
Matteo's homage to David Carson
Benetton ads
Chris Debiec is an award-winning writer/producer/executive with a thirty-plus-year track record of producing film and tv series, working with icons across all aspects of the entertainment industry.
Chris recently moved from LA to Austin, and as a result of a serendipitous connection, we sat down to discuss his insights and experiences across his inspiring career.
We cover a lot of ground in this interview. But what stood out to me was the combination of his willingness to take risks, to trust in his instinct, his fastidious attention to detail, a hard work ethic, and his brutal candor.
These characteristics come across as Chris describes his early start working as a management trainee at Disney and the six years spent building production skills with Disney before moving to LA, where he expanded his experience, broadened his connections, and established a trusted reputation that led him to work with Academy Award-winning director James Cameron on the awe-inspiring series of underwater documentaries, Last Mysteries of Titanic and the groundbreaking documentary Expedition: Bismarck, as well as Aliens of the Deep, and Ghosts of the Abyss.
Hearing Chris deconstruct what producers actually do, it’s no surprise that in 2020, as Covid turned the world upside down, Chris partnered with James Cameron’s brother JOhn to pivot his Human Health Organization into a Covid-19 PPE and testing company. Where Chris oversaw all testing and PPE protocols, testing over 1500 productions, including A-list actors, Film and TV Studios, and streaming companies.
I hope you are entertained by the standards and stories of Chris Debiec.
Thanks to Colby Gaines for the use of the studio
We discuss: * Securing a place in Disney’s Management Training program.
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How his free-thinking led to his removal from the program.
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Chris explains how his brutal candor, combined with his hard work ethic, secured a position in Disney Film and Tape and craft service.
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The serendipitous encounter with Martin Baker that set his future path through film and TV.
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Discussing why production is a combination of economics and creativity.
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The trauma of working on the set of The Crow when Brandon Lee was killed.
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Chris describes why he left Disney to build a career in Hollywood.
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Chris explains the work he did working with James and John Cameron on Cameron’s underwater adventure films.
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We discussed the pivot during Covid when he and John Cameron supplied the film industry with PPE and protocols to enable production to occur.
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We discuss the importance of curiosity and creativity for producers.
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Where we will be in 10 years.
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His principles.
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His advice to ambitious wannabe producers.
Social Links
Linkedin Instagram
Show Links
Lou Wasserman Disney MGM studios Michael Eisner Jim Henson Screen Actors Guild James Cameron Human Health Organization Civilized Entertainment
This week's guest is Michael Plitkins, co-founder and Co-Der of Spatial Inc - the Immersive Audio start-up that redefines the human experience by creating virtual soundscapes where you work, where you play, and where you stay.
In this interview, Michael takes us on a serendipitous journey through his life; a life defined by his willingness to embrace challenges, the courage to confront uncertainty, and trust in his ferocious independence.
We discuss the trajectory of his fascinating career in Software Engineering, his appreciation for, and experience in design, how that opened the doors to his first role as an engineer, working across some groundbreaking technologies in VR and voice space, at iconic companies from Netscape to Nest.
At 27 min Michael discusses the genesis of his idea for creating Spatial when he discovered no immersive audio solution existed to deliver the experience he sought.
Micheal describes how he and his team are breaking down traditional audio barriers, taking audio to a new level, and allowing a community of creators to use Spatial tools to unleash their creative soundscapes as part of their designs, Michael and his team are poised to reimagine immersive audio that will change how we experience community spaces like retail, hospitals, entertainment spaces and even the office.
Thanks to past guest Walter Werzowa for the recommendation * His early years and expanding world view from living in the UK and traveling Europe in his youth.
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The influence of his father and mother
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The serendipitous impact of discovering the Apple2 computer
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Having the confidence to carve his own path without the traditional education trajectory
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Early career path
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Discovering the need to build immersive audio to scratch his own itch.
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The commercial applications of Spatial
- His quick-fire answers
Social Links
Spatial Inc Instagram Twitter Linkedin
Links in the show
IBM Paper Software Apple II Netscape Tony Fadell Silicon Graphics Tell-Me Networks
About Spatial
Founded in 2017, Spatial unlocks the full potential of immersive technology to enhance the human experience in real-world environments. From retail stores to offices to hospitals, Spatial’s audio design and deployment software platform breaks down traditional audio barriers and offers new creative possibilities to enhance environments for meaningful engagement, powerful entertainment, and optimum well-being. Spatial's team and demo locations are located in Emeryville, CA, and Scottsdale, AZ. Led by experienced leaders from Apple, Nest, LucasArts, and Disney and backed by DBL Partners, BITKRAFT Ventures, National Geographic Society, The Kraft Group, Marquee Sports Holdings, WS Development, and others, Spatial is poised to reimagine immersive human experiences.
This week we have a follow-up to our recent interview with Sana Mustafa. When I interviewed Sana back in November 2021, we could not have imagined the Ukrainian refugee crisis. So I wanted to hear Sana’s perspective as Director of Partnership and Engagement at Asylum Access, on the mass migration from Ukraine that has resulted from the Russian invasion and to understand the broader impactions on how the world will deal with future mass migrations as climate change forces people North.
This is a shorter than normal episode but Sana’s insight and experience make this well worth a listen.
Sana's perspective on the crisis The impact on the host nations The new standard set for welcoming the displaced The institutional racism and bigotry that exists in the system
Walter Werzowa is this week's guest.
Water has lived an extraordinary life. From his inspiring film scores, and globally recognized audio branding to creating music as medicine, creativity through sound has powered Walter’s life journey.
I met Walter in March here in Austin, at SXSW 2022, through an old colleague from McCann NYC, on heading his inspiring story I had to interview him, Walter kindly agreed but we had to wait until he was back in Austria.
In the interview, Walter recounts the early influence of his parents and how from childhood music has defined his identity and life arc. And serendipity has certainly played its part. From a purchase of a keyboard in Vienna to arriving in LA to study Film Scoring, serendipity has created paths to finding mentors, composing for Disney, making connections that led him to create the legendary Intel Inside Audio mnemonic, building a successful audio agency, to ultimately applying his expertise to create his Health Tunes startup.
Across this interview, Walter’s story is one powered by his curiosity, creativity, and unwavering persistence. He also provides much inspiration and advice to others on striving for balance, the importance of focusing on the present, and the power of embracing your difference ( ref Ep 53 Emily Oberman.)
I think you’ll be inspired by the musical journey of Walter Werzowa
Show Summary * Walter describes the impact of hearing rock-n-roll for the first time
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The serendipitous cycle of events from purchasing a keyboard to composing to Falco.
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The serendipity of landing a role composing music for Disney movie trailers and the schooling it gave him.
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Walter recounts early experiences of composing for films like the Terminator, working with RGA, and the joy and gratification of the creative process.
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The genesis of the Intel Inside audio pneumonic and how his idea emerged and the months of sound design work to create the final approved version.
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Walter explains to me the technical reasons for why the quality of the music sound file is important to our health and well-being.
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Walter Werzowadescribes the Audio start-up he launched called Health Tunes and explains the therapeutic impact it is having on different medical conditions.
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Walter describes the in-the-field work being done in over 300 hospitals with supplementary music therapy.
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We discuss the corporate application of music therapy.
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Walter recounts the events that led to him working on the completion of Beethoven’s 10th Unfinished Symphony which combines AI and creativity to complete the work
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We also get some great answers from the quick-fire questions.
Social Links
Linkedin Health Tunes Musikvergnuegan Twitter
Show Links
Otto M Zykan Kyle Cooper Garson Yu Giorgio Moroder Falco The Creativity Code Michael Hanchett Hanson
Sana Mustafa is this week's guest.
We’re back. I had a nasty Scotter accident back in Nov 2021, and as a result, had to take four-month hiatus to recover. Bones are all healed so here we go
We recorded this interview just before the accident but given the recent geopolitical events and let's call it what it is, the unjust invasion of Ukraine, the plight of millions of refugees, or forcibly displaced people have been brought back into the global spotlight.
Although Sana’s moving story is bound up in the Syrian conflict, her journey, courage, fortitude, and the work she is doing in her role as Director of Partnership and Engagement at Asylum Access, force us to confront what is an anachronistic approach to dealing with displaced peoples, Sana is focused empower them with agency and help them retain their dignity. In this moving interview, Sana recounts her upbringing under the Assad dictatorship, the jubilation of the Arab spring, the trauma of being thrust into civil war, and being forcibly displaced at age 22. However, Sana’s story is one of resilience, inner belief, the power of community, and the kindness of strangers.
As an activist, she has spoken at the United Nations HQ in New York, delivered a TED talk, and spoken at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C, Carnegie Endowment, the White House, Harvard Law School, Stanford, and at numerous other respected venues.
Mustafa is a founding member of The Global Refugee-Led Network, a refugees-led coalition working to increase refugees’ engagement with the international community to pursue inclusive, sustainable, and effective refugee and immigration policy, something many nations must confront as they integrate millions of displaced Ukrainian citizens. * The historical context of Syria’s ethnic-cultural makeup. * Sana Mustafa describes the foundational impact of her father and mother. * Her Father’s willingness to be an active decenter to the regime. * Her memories of the indoctrination of the Soviet-influenced Syrian education system. * The influence of the intifada and the broader political make-up of the middle east. * Living under the oppressive surveillance of the regime. * Sana Mustafa recounts the experience of living through the Arab Spring, explaining the historical events that precipitated the uprising, and her gratitude for being able to witness that moment in history. * She describes the danger of protesting and the violence, detention, and murder inflicted by the regime’s ‘thugs’. * We discuss Sana’s experience of being thrust into the center of the resulting multilayered conflict that emerged from the people's revolution, that ultimately led to the complex civil war with the influence of external actors to create a proxy ‘global’ war. * Sana explains the detention of her father and the human rights violations occurring. * Giving voice to the voiceless refugees and conviction to be part of a collective effort and action. * She describes escaping Syrian, her journey, arriving in the US with nothing other than her values, the kindness of strangers, and studying political science to establish herself as Director of Partnership at Asylum Access. * Finally, Sana discusses the broader issues facing dealing with funding a refugee-run organization, her vision, and her work to create refugee rights and build agency for refugees around the world. * Her hopes for Syria. * Her quickfire answers.
Thanks to Natasha Friedus for the connection
Social Links
Links
Ismaili Asylum Access The Network For Refugee Voices Larsen Lam Impact Award Pose White Tears Brown Scars
Kathryn Finney defies norms, conventions, and stereotypes. For this powerhouse of a human, there is no glass ceiling. From epidemiologist to entrepreneur, to investor, author, and mentor, Kathryn is changing what is considered possible for a generation of marginalized and underrepresented Black and LatinX entrepreneurs.
We cover a lot in this episode as Kathryn charts her journey from growing up in Minneapolis to building and eventually selling her award-winning blog Budget Fashionista, to her transition to a social impact entrepreneur and investor.
Kathryn’s journey is a testament to hard work, persistence, resilience in the face of prejudice and racism, self-belief, and the role of family. Kathryn’s awards, recognitions, and honors are many, but her journey and impact are only beginning as she continues to inspire, fund, and guide underrepresented entrepreneurs, on her mission to create a more equitable world.
Thanks to Susan McPherson for the connection
In this episode, recorded in two parts, we cover * The impact of her parents and extended family * Her father’s life pivot from brewing to coding in his 30’s which led her at aged eight to move from Milwaukee to Minneapolis. * The early experiences of racism. * Her grandmother's role in nurturing her entrepreneurial spirit and exposure to fashion. * Kathryn Finney on her educational journey and impact * The serendipity of illness in Ghana that led her to epidemiology at Yale * The life transition in her mid-twenties and setting up her fashion blog Budget Fashionista in 2004 * Being the first blogger invited to New York fashion week * How her blogging opened the path to her first book deal * Becoming a correspondent for the Today Show. * The shift that occurred in fashion blogging as the category grew in 2008/9. * Joining an incubator program and confronting racial prejudice. * Creating a Women’s Entrepreneurs Event Focus 100 * Exiting her business in 2013. * Creating the Project Diane a database of Black and LatinX women startups * The genesis of her Digital Undivided * How Covid accelerated a life transition and the creation of her micro grant Doonie Fund * Receiving funding from Pivotal Ventures for the creation of Genius Guild * Building a coalition of like-minded change agents * Creating her Podcast and Book Build The Damn Thing, her ‘a battle-tested guide for every entrepreneur who the establishment has excluded’ * Her 2030 vision * Who we interview next?
Social Links
Instagram Linkedin Twitter Podcast
Show Links
DEC Digital Equipment Corp Andreessen Horowitz Blogher Ogilvy Issa Rae Crunchbase Pivotal ventures Donor-Advised Funds Genius Guild Doonie Fund Digital Undivided Project Diane Build the Damn Thing - How to start a successful business if you are not a rich white guy
Sebastian Martin is a young social entrepreneur driven by self-less desire to change the lives of those less fortunate for the better.
If you ever need to appreciate the positive influence and impact parents have on a child’s worldview and sense of self, look no further than this week's guest, social entrepreneur, Sebastián Martín.
In the first part of this interview, Sebastian discusses being born in Washington DC as the child of Chilean - Bolivian immigrant parents, growing up in the Bush era, in the wake of 9/11 and forming his socio-political conscience through his expansive education and international travel experiences.
At 30 min in Sebastian explains the genesis of his social-entrepreneurial journey, how serendipity combined with his educational curiosity led him to shanghai China to form his social impact business Cambio Coffee, sourcing his coffee directly from farmers in Bolivia, managing the whole supply chain, and sharing in the profits with the farmers.
Sebastian then discusses how, since returning to New York, innovating education has become his central life focus and how his new venture Cambio Labs is confronting inequality in education By creating pathways through STEM programs targeting children and youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods, Sebastian describes his, gamified Ed-tech platform, Journey and his ambitions to scale it beyond the US. As a nonprofit that creates educational tech and curricular programs he aims to transform students into social entrepreneurs, designers for impact, and community activists.
Sebastian combines an expansive vision, with a deep social conscience and applies creativity with design thinking to reimagine educational opportunities.
I challenge you not to be inspired by the passion and purpose of Sebastian Martin.
Thanks to Abby Lehman for the connection.
Social Links
Instagram Linkedin
Link in the show
Cambio Labs Eric Holthaus Future Earth NYCHA New York Naomi Klein On Fire History of the US Oliver Stone
Natasha Freidus is a social entrepreneur with an unusual story. Sometimes circumstances beyond our control set us on a path we could never have conceived. This was the case for this week’s guest, social entrepreneur Natasha Freidus when during the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, she witnessed the chaos of crisis response first hand. While most donate money and time, Natasha instead formed a tech start-up to match those in need with those able to give and deliver goods and supplies locally through an online marketplace, initially hacked together using Wedding registry software.
Now almost six years on Natasha’s startup NeedsList is bringing efficiency and intelligence to the NGO and philanthropic sector and in doing so is delivering more accountability and transparency.
In this interview, Natasha describes her backstory, the vital steps along her life path that prepared her to be able to execute and lead such a start-up, the innovations she is now driving, and her vision to leverage AI and huge data sets to enable better preparation for relief before a crisis even hits.
I hope Natasha’s story will inspire someone else to take on what others' may consider impossible.
thanks to Abby Lehman for the connection
Social Links
Instagram Facebook Twitter
Links in the Show
Needslist Brown ESL Paulo Freire Saul Alinsky Creative Narrations Decathlon Public Benefit Corp IRC David Milliband Fema Fabrice Grinda Winners Take All Only Murders In the Building
Lucia N DeRespinis is this week's guest. It marks the return of one of our favorite and most popular guests, industrial designer Lucia DeRespinis.
With a career spanning seven decades, Lucia retired last year at the age of ninety-three. Now ninety-four Lucia was recently recognized for her outstanding contributions to Industrial design by the IDSA - Industrial Designers Society of America. Therefore we felt we needed to hear from Lucia about the accolade but also have Lucia reflect on her stellar career.
In what was a novel interview we met Lucia in the marvelous secret gardens of her iconic Manhattan apartment complex where she’s lived since the 1960s.
We ask Lucia to pass on her advice for the upcoming generation of Industrial designers to prepare them for the world they are entering.
Lucia and I discuss the standards of Industrial Design today, the public's awareness of design, and where design standards have fallen, as she shares her perspective on the role of industrial designers in organizations today.
Lucia reflects on the enduring memories of her career, her life lessons, and the traits she respects and deplores in herself and others. And we discuss her favorite New York design icon and the designer she wishes she’d worked with but didn’t and what she’d study if she was starting out today.
Her body of work, lifetime achievements, and career in teaching cement her legacy as not only a torchbearer for women in Industrial Design but as one of America’s most iconic industrial designers.
If you listen to her first interview, you’ll learn Lucia’s successful life was full of struggle and sacrifice.
At 94 Lucia’s physical endurance, alacrity, wit, and grace should serve as an inspiration to anyone struggling with life and its challenges.
Please enjoy this hour-long interview with Lucia N DeRespinis.
Links in show
Pratt Institute George Nelson Dunkin Donuts Logo Corey Cambridge Silent Giants Lucia’s Designs
This week's guest is native New Yorker Abby Lehman, a natural storyteller, connector, and social entrepreneur working at the intersection of community, government, and business. As a fourth-generation New Yorker, from a family of East European migrants, Abby is living evidence of the value and impact of immigration on a city and nation's success.
Abby explains how her social impact NGO, Photo Start, uses photography as a gateway for under-privileged youth in Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and the United States, to open up educational, vocational, or professional pathways so as to equip them with problem-solving, entrepreneurial, and financial skills necessary to create transformative economic opportunities for them as individuals, for their families and their communities.
We discuss the transformative impact of her new rural and urban regeneration innovation program, Syzygy Cities, which aligns community needs with Government initiatives and business interests to stimulate economic and social development. Abby breaks down her current live initiative, Invest Southwest, working with the city of Chicago, national and local commercial partners, and local NGOs to provide the infrastructure, services, and solutions to create more economically and socially resilient communities.
Abby is an inspirational female leader, a driving force for positive socio-economic change, forged through her clarity of strategic thought, collaborative spirit, and forceful and eloquent voice.
I hope you feel uplifted by the power and passion of Abby Lehman
Social Links ABOUT PHOTO START
Photo Start teaches life, leadership and mentorship skills to young people through learning the art and business of photography.
As students move through Photo Start's four pillars of Education, Equipment, Experiences, and Exhibitions, they learn to create, produce, distribute, and commercialize their work. Along the way, students develop valuable 21st century skills (social-emotional, critical thinking, creative problem solving skills) that help them pursue previously unavailable educational, vocational or professional pathways.
LEARN MORE
About Photo Start - Site
PS In Focus- The Who, What, Where, When, Why, How
Success Stories- Case Studies and Successes
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SYZYGY CITIES
Site: https://www.syzygycities.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/syzygycities/
Show Links
Ashkenazi Jews L2 Photostart Brighton Beach The Tenement Museum Garment District Princeton University STEAM STEM This is Eighteen Photoville Akili Dada Syzygy 548 Coalition Peggy Lee Fever Hail Satan? Mans Search For Meaning
This week's guest Michael McElroy is an actor, singer, musical director, educator, and founder of the Tony award-winning Broadway Inspirational Voices, the multi-racial gospel choir, 'united in changing lives through the power of music and service.’'
In this shorter than normal interview, Michael explains how being immersed in the fusion of gospel music, musical theatre, and R&B as a child developed his love and appreciation of music. He also discusses how his Grandmother instilled in him a lifelong commitment to service and giving back.
Although acutely aware of racism, Michael felt insulted; being surrounded by black excellence helped him develop a personal sense of limitless possibilities for anything if prepared to invest in the work.
Michael discusses his journey through education, developing his sense of identity, and how he resolved to overcome the barriers he encountered, to reinforce his self-belief, and conviction to succeed.
We discuss how serendipity played a pivotal part in landing his first Broadway role in Miss Saigon.
Michael explains what led him to create the social impact organization, Broadway Inspirational Voices, to create an impact and welcoming space that has evolved over 25 years to become a platform where artists change lives through the power of music.
Michael also discusses how he and his fellow artists responded to the pandemic's lockdown and the murders of George Floyd and other victims of race crimes by creating virtual outreach programs for Broadway inspirational Voices and Covenant House.
Michael discusses how Broadway has been responding to the last eighteen months, addressing its institutional inequities to become more inclusive, diverse, and accessible by embracing New Deal proposed through Musicians United For Social Equity and Black Theatre United.
Finally, Michael describes the steps he is taking to empower faculty and students in DE&I and create systemic change through his new role as Chair at the University of Michigan's Department of Musical Theatre.
Thanks to Tom Kitt for the connection.
Social Links
Wikipedia Instagram Show Links
BIV - About Michael Carnegie Mellon Porgy and Bess Major Work Program Minskoff Shakespeare in the Park Miss Saigon Richard III Sarafina Broadway Inspirational Voices Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids Covenant House University of Michigan Musicians United for Social Equity Black Theatre United Little Island Lovecraft Country Motherland Great Performances Summer of Soul Schele Williams
We’ve had to take an extended break in recent weeks due to moving home from New York to Austin, Texas. However, we’re back now with Season 4 and some fabulous guests lined up in the coming weeks.
We kick off this season with an interview I did just before leaving NYC with fellow Brooklyn resident, Geof Rochester, a highly successful entrepreneur and respected thought leader and strategic advisor on corporate sustainability and responsibility, NGOs, philanthropy, and social entrepreneurship. Geof is a trusted advisor to some of the world’s leading conservation NGOs, media companies, and consumer goods brands.
Born in Barbados and raised in Brooklyn the cultural diversity of his upbringing defined his worldview. His Diplomat Father and an empowering mother ingrained in him the importance of having empathy for the plight of others, a ‘Lead, Follow or get out of the way’ mentality, and a strong work ethic.
Taking the lead and embracing early leadership roles at School helped him develop a sense of responsibility and accountability and the ability to execute a vision at an early age.
Discovering the importance of branding and marketing at an early age, set Geof on a path to a stellar career in marketing working for both challenger and champion brands, including CMO at Nature Conservancy and senior marketing roles at Showtime, WWE, Comcast, and Radisson. Geof is also the founder of GRC Advising, a consulting firm that provides clients with comprehensive strategies to integrate sustainability and social purpose.
Geof and I have a lively discussion about his motivations, mindset, and marketing mentality, dealing with the fear of failure, curiosity, confronting conventions, and his theory of change on climate and sustainability. Geof also provides his perspective on food insecurity and innovations in preventative healthcare and why he is hopeful about prospects for climate innovation. Thanks to John Farnham for the recommendation.
I hope you enjoy the pragmatic leadership thinking and passion of Geof Rochester.
Social Links
Linkedin GRC Consulting
Show Notes
Caricom Mayor Lindsey Flatbush Georgetown Coach Thompson Georgetown Wharton ROTC WWE Nature Conservancy Showtime Project Drawdown Sustainable Ocean Alliance Eric Adams The Courier Barstool sports Rich Dad Poor Dad 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
We live at a moment in time where technology has connected the world yet for many people experience a rising sense of disconnection and research confirms feelings of isolation are increasing. This week’s guest Susan McPherson, provides an antidote.
As author of the Lost Art of Connecting, Susan’s book provides a valuable methodology for connecting and building more meaningful relationships. Whether at events, at work, as a manager or leader, a parent or a politician, Susan provides simple guidance on how to rekindle the core human skills many have somehow left behind.
As a serial connector Susan is also an angel investor, corporate responsibility expert and founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is also a contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes.
Susan opens up about her early journey in life, developing her thirst for adventure, the huge role her mother and father had in nurturing her deep sense of curiosity and willingness to embrace risk, the values they instilled, and impact that the tragic death of her mother had on the direction Susan’s taken in life, and the serendipitous connections that led her to a career in journalism.
Susan discusses how she became an accidental entrepreneur in her late 40’s and we talk about her perspectives on the role of corporations in helping combat our climate challenges and social inequities, and the optimism she has from witnessing the changes and commitments from her corporate clients to address the environmental challenges.
Susan also deconstructs the three core steps to her Art of Connecting ‘Gather, Ask and Do’ methodology, and discusses its application and value to individuals, managers, leaders, parents and event organizers.
I hope you’re inspired by the optimism, compassion, and generosity of spirit of Susan McPherson.
Thanks to Maryam Banikarim for the connection
Social Links
The Lost Art of Connecting book Instagram Facebook Linkedin Twitter MCPStrategies
Links in the show
Ted Kennedy Boston Herald Traveller Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire USA Today Gannett Emily Ramshaw 19th News Brant Anderson Refugee Care Paris climate Accord IPCC SDG’s Kindred Sir Ranulph Fiennes Beth Comstock Girls Rising Nation Swell Stacy Marie Ishmael Yael Eisenstat The Daughters of Kobani Babylon Berlin Kathryn Finney
A Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Tony awards, and a Grammy for a best musical theater album are just some of the accomplishments of this week's guest - New York-based musician, composer, conductor, and orchestrator, Tom Kitt.
Born and raised in New York State, Tom’s musical talent was recognized by a music teacher at age four.
Lovingly Raised, his mother and father guided and encouraged him, and when needed, drove him to practice and remain focused on his musical dreams and ambitions to become a singer-songwriter.
Tom describes how an economics degree at Columbia University, meeting his now wife Rita Pietropinto, and a serendipitous connection to Brian Yorky set him on his journey to writing for musical theatre and an award-winning Broadway career.
Tom explains the important role that an economics degree played in developing his work ethic, organizational skills, and appreciation of opportunity costs that ultimately resulted in his discipline, rigor, and attention to detail.
Tom shares how as a parent, he passes on his learnings to his children, and how they inspire him, and the courage they have instilled in him during the pandemic.
Tom describes how the pandemic led him to write, collaborate and record his new album Reflect that is released on August 13th, 2021.
Tom’s attitude to life is edifying. He has an ego-free recognition of the important role of collaboration, a refreshing acknowledgment of the power of his partner, Rita’s love and support, and an enlightening perspective on failure.
We discuss the resultant mental health impact of the pandemic on Broadway, as well as the essential role theatre, the arts, and the role creatives play in the economic and mental wellbeing of the city.
We discuss Tom’s uplifting anthem of hope Oh Columbia for Columbia’s class of 2020 performed by Ben Platt, the opportunities that have resulted from the pandemic, the resurgence he’s experiencing, his collaboration on NYC Next, upcoming work with Cameron Crowe on the stage adaptation of Almost Famous as well as his hopes for 2030.
I hope you enjoy the deeply charismatic, creative, caring, and compassionate Tom Kitt.
Social Links
Tom Kit Reflect Instagram Facebook
Links in the show
Gloria Huke Camp Alton Peter Guralnick Billy Joel MTV Columbia uni Oh Columbia - Ben Platt Next To Normal Jagged Little Pill 21st Century Breakdown BMI musical workshop Superhero show Flying Over Sunset Cameron Crowe Almost Famous Billy Porter Kiss Prince Ted Lasso The Premonition Michael Lewis Thanks to Maryam Banikarim
John Farnam lives every single day, in all his interactions focusing on making what seems impossible possible, viewing everything through the lens of yes.
His life values, principles and work ethic were developed from growing up in a loving family environment in Helena Montana, USA. Given up for adoption by his fourteen year old birth mother, John was blessed with deeply caring adoptive parents and siblings.
John’s path has been defined by his desire to live a life in service to others, following his personal maxim - do what sings to your heart.
In the first half of the interview John takes openly and passionately about upbringing and
From around 50 min in, John talks about disruptive innovation he is driving in philanthropy and transforming communities in his role as Deputy Disruptor and Chief of Staff at the Morgridge Family Foundation under Chief Disruptor Carrie Morgridge
John breaks down how they bring people and organizations together to solve the complex problems applying what he describes as a venture philanthropy model. From social and educational inequities, food insecurity to infant mortality afflicting minority communities they are leveraging their network to alleviate the issues.
John then breaks down the Morgridge model and theory of change and explains their four pillars of disruption.
John also discusses the innovative approach they are taking to educate the next generation of philanthropists and their approach to environmental philanthropy.
John’s a deeply thoughtful, spiritual, kind-hearted and community driven individual that provides evidence that amidst the strife and suffering we have been witnessing, there are people, under the radar, making the life of those less fortunate, better.
A massive thank you to Kelly Lauth Founder CEO of MindSpark for recommending we interview John Farnam next. Another wonderful serendipitous connection.
Social Links Linkedin Twitter
Links in the Show
Morgridge Family Foundation Think MFF Sparks and Honey Winners Take All American Enterprise Institute Latter Day Saints Saging Northern Colorado Aids Project Goodwill Francis Weisberg Jacobs MLK Ceasar Chavez Harvey Milk Delta Dawn Halston Waste free Kitchen
Romany Romany - Guest overview
There is no simple explanation for this week's guest. I have struggled with how to do justice to her incredible journey. Romany Romany - aka ‘Romany The Diva of Magic’ is living evidence that when one sets their mind to something and takes action, anything is possible..in time...for there is no overnight success where skill is required. Especially magic, where countless hours of training are required to make an attentive audience believe the magic they witness.
For anyone struggling with life, unsure of direction, or feeling a pull to a place or life, alien to where you are now, Romany’s story will empower you to take action to create your own life arc.
Romany was born and raised in England, was driven by a visceral early ambition to perform, was pulled off course by Corporate life that led to a breakdown and bulimia, which in turn opened the pathway to her steller life in Magic.
Having performed for Queen Elizabeth at her 80th, won the prestigious Las Vegas World of Magic Awards, and wowed audiences around the world, she has recently written a book called Spun Into Gold to recount her life story and impart her wisdom. However her journey is anything less than plain sailing as she describes in the podcast,
Her story is defined by the patience and persistence to pursue her bigger dreams, but as many of us find, ambitions change, leaving us to reassess our priorities.
I hope you enjoy the vivacious, loquacious, and flamboyant Romany Romany. Thanks to Alan Digweed for the recommendation
Social Links
Book - Spun Into Gold -The Secret Life of a Female Magician
(UK Amazon)
Book - Spun Into Gold - The Secret Life of a Female Magician
USA Amazon Website Spun Into Gold on Audible Instagram Linkedin
Links In the Show
Florence Scovel Shinn Solve for Happy The Artist Way Julia Cameron Carousel - Rogers and Hammerstein Caroline Myss Cobble comedy company. Liz Gilbert Big Magic Paul Kieve Amy Purdy Louise Hay Dr Wayne Dyer Buddhist millionaire Matt Jardine
Maryam Banikarim does not see barriers, obstacles, or problems other than to seek out ways to remove or overcome or solve them.
This week's guest was born in Iran but raised in the US Maryam’s innately curious and inquisitive mind has enabled her to navigate every challenge that life has dealt her and set her on a diverse path of career success.
Regularly Acknowledged in the ” most creative people" or "most powerful women in business" lists, Maryam devours challenges that can be summed up by the phrase she used in the interview “I love a good No”
How Global CMO for Next Door, Maryam kindly agreed to share her perspective on life, work, and communities.
Her lens on life is based on a desire to help others and through that she discovers purpose. Her work at Next Door and her pandemic initiative, New York City Next, Maryam’s work is bringing people together, building strong communities and connections, and cultivating neighborly kindness.
In this interview, Maryam shares her perspective on life, work, and community and how we build stronger, more equitable, and resilient Neighborhoods, and Cities as we move beyond the pandemic.
Maryam’s positive problem-solving mentality, curiosity, and vitality are uplifting and her infectious spirit of the possible will surely provide inspiration to all that encounter her.
A shout out to Ben Hartley for recommending we interview Maryam
Social Links
Twitter Linkedin Instagram Linkedin Maryam IG Maryam Maryam Twitter
Links in the show
Billie Jean king John Leguizamo Next Door NYC Next Daily Provisions Middle Ring research ShopinNYC Bob Putnams The Upswing book The Bridge Marie’s Crisis Tiger Woods documentary Susan McPherson the Lost Art of Connecting Tom Kitt Ming Jong Lee The Rubin’s Ava duVerney Smith
Maysoon Zayid is this weeks guest.
Imagine being born with Cerebral Palsy, to Palestinian immigrant parents, growing up being the only disabled Muslim in a Christian New Jersey town.
Yet, blessed with her father's comic genes, her mother’s driving ambition, hard work ethic, and large family support network, Maysoon Zayid is an inspiring example of what is possible when self-limiting beliefs are cast asunder.
Maysoon describes being defined by being Palestinian, not by her Cerebral Palsy.
She discusses how she developed her humor and Can Can attitude from her father, her storytelling ability from her aunts, and how her mothers tiger-like attitude to achievement drove her and her sisters educationally.
Maysoon Zayid has blazed a trail through life as a writer, actor, stand-up comedian, educator, and activist. In 2014 her TED Talk 'I have 99 problems, Palsy is just one' went viral.
In this broad-ranging interview, we cover, Maysoon’s early life experiences, setting her sights age 5 on being an actor in US soap opera, General Hospital, the defining moment of her childhood, aged 12, dancing on Broadway, on route to becoming a standup comedian. Maysoon provides an enlightening perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, discusses being a female Muslim comedian, post 9/11 and what changed under the Trump administration, and how things have changed in recent months. And of course, we discuss comedy, her inspirations, and her successful annual Arab American Comedy Festival.
I think you will find this wide-ranging conversation inspiring, uplifting, and educational.
Thanks to Sarah Abdallah for the recco.
Social Links
Maysoon’s Website Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube
Links in the show
Gotham Comedy Club Richard Pryor Comic Strip Mitch Hedberg Carol Burnett Tiffany Haddish Mo’Nique Aquafina Dave Chappelle 8.48 Jim Belushi Martin Short Riverdance Arab American Comedy Festival
Mark Fallows Podcast Inspiration. Okay folks this week, it's just a solo episode. I'm often asked about why I started this podcast and what it takes to keep going. We have to week, month after month now, two and a half years into this, I thought I would take some time just to step back and reflect on it and answer those questions as to what led to starting this podcast and carrying on.
For most of my life, I've worked in advertising and been very interested in the power of curiosity as a characteristic, but also in the power and value of networks. And thirdly, I've always been interested in the concept of serendipity and what it is and the role it plays in people's lives. So when I started thinking about the podcast back in 2013, I did nothing about it. Two years later, I did something about it and created The Impossible Network and recorded a couple of episodes, and then did nothing with it. Procrastination really kicked in. I'll come and talk a bit about procrastination in more detail and the value it has, but it wasn't until 2018 when I really sat down and thought, what I want this podcast to be about? And that's when I really stepped back and thought about, networks, serendipity, and curiosity. It was a convergence of these three things that led to launching the Impossible Network.
I had a simple thought, what if I interview three people that I know, two of them being clients, and asked them about their life journey, ask them about the impact of their upbringing, the role of curiosity in their life, their attitude to risk, their perception of fear and failure, and what's really fueled them and spurred them on to achieve what they would personally make their impossible, possible.
But the key thing in these interviews is really to ask them who they recommend that I interview next, leaving the guests that we interviewed down to serendipity. And that has resulted in me interviewing over 90 guests now and rising some of the most extraordinary, unexpected people; people I would never, otherwise encountered or be connected with, and who now form part of the Impossible Network.
I discuss the life insights and lessons from my guests like Hunter Johanssen, Debbie Millman, Beth Comstock, Dr Courtney Rennicke and Shantell Martin
Alan Digweed aka Tweedy The Clown, is this week's guest.
In this fascinating interview we discuss Alan’s early life and the serendipitous moment he announced to his parents his intention to build his career in clowning. Alan explains the appeal of clowning, the influence and inspiration of clowning genius due Laurel and Hardy, as well as the great like Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon.
He explains how he made his start pre internet days at British Summer Holiday camp Butlin's before pursuing opportunities in Circus to hone his craft and refine his clown character.
Alan describes how everyone has a clown character, aligned to our inner child, why the core characteristics tend to be based on different personalities, and why all good clowning is based on solving problems. We discuss how Alan met American clown genius Bill Irwin at the famous Grimaldi Church service in London to honor the king of clowns Joseph Grimaldi where clowns attend in full costume. This encounter led him to develop his skills through one on one sessions with Bill.
Alan explains the impact of the pandemic on his work and how he pivoted to creating a children's show online and the different experience of not having a live audience. We also discuss how his performance will have to evolve while social distancing remains in place.
We also discuss the evolution of a circus and clowning such as Archaos, and Avner the Eccentric and Typeface.
Finally we cover where Alan thinks he will be in 2030 and all the quick fire questions.
I hope you will be uplifted by the joy, optimism, deeply thoughtful Tweedy The Clown.
Thanks to Rowan Leslie for the recommendation.
Social Links
Website Twitter Instagram Facebook Youtube
Links in Show
Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton Harry Langdon Norman Wisdom Laurel and Hardy Giffords Circus Butlins Cirque Du Soleil Bill Irwin Grimaldi Church Service Benny Hill Johnny Hutch Archaos Jim Rose Circus Typeface Chaplin Dictator Speech All Quiet on the Home Front Mandelorian
Functional Creative Design Founder - Sarah A. Abdallah is this week's guest.
As a polymath, innovator, and founder of New York-based bespoke Architecture & Design Studio - Functional Creative Design, we deep dive into Sarah’s journey prior to starting her design studio Functional Creative Design, working with Rockwell Group, Tony Chi & Associates, Perkins and Eastman, and Grand Hotels, and her vision and focus which led her to start her studio.
Sarah describes her desire to add an additional layer to design and space planning. She discusses the importance of listening, fusing all input, using her functional skills and knowledge base, to meet a client's vision.
We discuss sustainability in the industry, the need to take a 360 view, the impact of Covid, and the battle that many firms have to stay in business.
Sarah explains her principles underpinning Functional Creative Design, how design will change in a post-Covid world, the power and value of our connectivity, how intimacy can be created through technology, physical spaces that incorporate the outdoors indoors, and the need to deliver improved accessibility and social justice, across all socio-economic groups.
Anyone considering leaving their corporate job, Sarah’s story will provide inspiration of what is possible when you reimagine and add value to a category.
In Part One we explore Sarah’s experience of being born a bi-racial child to Egyptian immigrant parents, growing up in New York, with two younger siblings and Immersed in a culture that nurtured her natural curiosity. Her parents instilled in her the foundational values of human kindness, the importance of education, and a respect and understanding of other faiths that helped her develop an appreciation and love of the environment, a deep spirituality, to question conventional wisdom, and reject parental pressures to conform.
Social Links
Functional Creative Design LinkedIn Twitter Instagram
Links in the show
Naomi Levine Parsons School of Design NYU Clubhouse Rockwell Group Perkins and Eastman Tony Chi Associates To Good To Go Chef Chloe Back The Neighborhood Robin Sharma - Monk Who Sold His Ferrari New York State of Mind Bridgerton
Sarah A Abdallah - Female Thought Leader and Entrepreneur, polymath, innovator, and founder of New York-based bespoke Architecture & Design Studio - Functional Creative Design, is this week's guest.
In this two-parter we spend the first hour exploring Sarah’s experience of being born a bi-racial child to Egyptian immigrant parents, growing up in New York, with two younger siblings.
Immersing her in a culture that nurtured her natural curiosity, her parents instilled in her the foundational values of human kindness, the importance of education, and respect and understanding of other faiths.
Sarah discusses how she developed an appreciation and love of the environment, her deep spirituality, questioning conventional wisdom, and rejecting parental pressures to conform.
Sarah recounts overcoming the limitations of dyslexia, how her childhood curiosity of after-school clubs helped shape her into the thought leader and Entrepreneur she is today, and her prolific educational journey through psychology, art therapy, higher education, and interior design. Sarah also discusses how serendipity led her, at 21, a First Generation Muslim Egyptian American to live with the then 70-year-old, iconic lawyer, Jewish civil rights activist, and philanthropic fundraiser for NYU, Naomi Levine.
In part two we deep dive into Sarah’s journey prior to starting her design studio Functional Creative Design, working with Rockwell Group, Tony Chi & Associates, Perkins and Eastman, and Grand Hotels, and her vision and focus which lead her to start her studio.
For anyone with children, hearing Sarah’s journey and experience will provide valuable insights into encouraging young children’s curiosity and appreciation of other cultures and backgrounds and the value of education.
In part two Sarah A Abdallah describes the experience of working with Tony Chi Associates, Rockwell Group, Perkins and Eastman, and Grand Hotels and her desire to add an additional layer to design and space planning. She discusses the importance of listening, fusing all input, using functional skills and knowledge base to meet a client's vision.
We discuss sustainability in the industry, the need to take a 360 view of sustainability, the impact of Covid, and the battle that many firms have to stay in business.
Sarah explains her principles underpinning Functional Creative Design, how design will change in a post-Covid world, and how intimacy can be created through technology, physical spaces that incorporate the outdoors indoors, and the need to deliver improved accessibility across socio-economic groups.
Social Links
Functional Creative Design LinkedIn Twitter Instagram
Links in the show
Naomi Levine Parsons School of Design NYU Clubhouse Rockwell Group Perkins and Eastman Tony Chi Associates Too Good To Go Chef Chloe
Guest Overview This week we welcome Mother and daughter team Barbara Anderson and Jackie Graham, Founders of Art on the Ave. This New York-based social impact initiative spotlights the work of under-represented artists and turns storefronts into exhibition spaces and streets into open-air galleries. In the first part of this interview, we ask Barbara about Jackie as a child and explore the impact of her mother and father on her life and career direction and work ethic. Jackie discusses her international upbringing and its influence on her sense of self and feeling of being a global citizen. We discuss how Jackie's character and organizational skills were evident at an early age and how curiosity was cultivated. Jackie discusses education and her focus on the art business and how a serendipitous summer internship opened her eyes to the value of accessibility to the arts, ultimately preparing her for the work she and Barbara are doing with Art on the Avenue. We talk about the role of art in teaching children about socio-cultural moments in history. Then we dive into their work with Art on the Ave, launching it as a response to the pandemic, the shuttered stores, barren windows, and deserted neighborhoods in New York's upper west side, with the aim of supporting local artists and bringing life back to the streets.
Turning New York's Columbus Avenue's empty storefronts into a gallery space, Art on the Ave has reimagined street art and democratizes art spaces and community art access.
Their second exhibition launches in the West Village and runs from April 15th through May.
After over 150 submissions to their latest exhibition, their curated works will be displayed along Bleecker Street, Christopher Street, and Hudson Street, creating what Barbara calls the West Village wander.
Through organizations like Art on the Ave are reimagining the role of art in communities, its impact on what a neighborhood is, while creating new commercial opportunities for artists. If you want to learn more, we have added links to Art on the Ave in the show notes. But for now, be engaged, entertain, and educated by the marvelous mother and daughter team of Barbara Anderson and Jackie Graham.
Social Links
Art on the Ave Instagram Twitter
Links in the show
A Prayer for Owen Meany A Little Life The Outsiders SE Hilton It’s A Sin
Kellie Lauth is this week's guest - a woman on a mission to re-engineer education and prepare children for the world of 2030, and mobilize a workforce capable of tackling the complex problems we are sure to face when the calendar turns to 2030. In this extended episode, we cover Kellie’s upbringing, developing a hard work ethic at an early age, the guiding influence of her mother and father in developing her foundational life values during what she describes as a magical childhood. Kellie describes how her mother and father nurtured and cultivated her curiosity and exposed her to the realities of social inequity at a young age. We explore her education experience, her focus on science and math and the lack of gender diversity that drove her desire and intentionality to help young girls and underrepresented students through education and access. Kellie discusses her willingness to lean into discomfort and confront failure, following the path of education and the serendipity of a tragic event made her more resolute to make the most of her opportunity in life. Her response was to build a STEM, problem-based learning system that integrated local business partnerships that created a pathway to employment for children. Kellie Lauth describes the more significant impact of the system on the children’s perspective on possibility and life transformation. Now scaling the system nationally, Kellie describes transforming from the inside out and investing in teachers to drive the transformation needed. Kellie discusses the imperative of now and how she’s forming partnerships with local and nationals organizations to help them leverage the Mindspark strategy.
Finally, we discuss the importance of diversity, playfulness, and innovation. We finish with Kellie’s principles, her hard choices, her advice on confronting the impossible, and the other quick-fire questions. Like other innovators in education we have interviewed, I think you’ll be uplifted, inspired, and energized by the gentle determination and disruptive spirit of Kellie Lauth.
Social Links
MindSpark LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram
Links in the show
CU Boulder Title one schools IBM Rutger Bergman Lupin Adam Grant
Guest Overview
This week we interviewed the co-hosts of the podcast The Furious Curious - Charlie Quirk and Britton Rice. In the first 20 minutes of the interview, Chas and Brit explore the impact of their parents and upbringing on their values, cultivating curiosity and the life attributes that have prepared them for their life in advertising and for hosting a show that describes itself as a 'podcast that unpacks the weird and wonderful of modern cultural phenomena’
Charlie discusses his fiendish focus on things that interest him, and how it prepared him for a career in strategy in advertising and branding,
Brit discusses his dyslexia and how his commitment to working harder enabled him to navigate school, the importance of sport and music in building relationships and empathy.
We cover a lot of ground here.
We explore the serendipity of their first meeting and the resonating connection that's endured..
We explore what drew them to advertising and their favorite ads. They deconstruct the organizational structure of agencies and changing complexion of the business as well as discussing the evolving role of brand purpose.
For any listeners to The Furious Curious, you will want to hear the genesis of the show and how the pair apply their intellectual rigor to delivering a weekly dose of cultural insight and entertainment in a highly engaging manner.
We discuss the future of the show and whether a video version is something they have considered.
The quick-fire questions also provide a deeper insight into what makes this podcast duo tick.
I hope you are engaged, entertained, and enlightened by the wit and wisdom of Charlie Quirk and Britton Rice.
The also interviewed Mark, recently.
Social Links
Charlie’s Website Britton’s Website Instagram Twitter
Links in the show
Cheap Trick Surrender Ghost World Brian Eno Oblique Strategies Cards Atomic Habits James Clear Re-work book Ted Lasso Pepsi Crystal Pepsi Reebok Emmet Smith Mad Men Nike Instant Karma
Guest Overview This week we interview our first musician, Glasgow-based, Irish born, Fiddle player, teacher, and composer, Rowan C Leslie. ( shout out to Scott Duncan for recommending)
Rowan began playing the fiddle when his mother joined him in learning to play at age seven.
Rowan recounts the experience of growing up in a small village of Broughshane, Northern Ireland, his supportive parents encouraging his sporting, musical and his academic pursuits.
We discuss growing up with English parents, attending an integrated school in a country historically defined by its religious divide.
Rowan explains the draw to fiddle and traditional music, how it defined his sense of identity, the influential role of his charismatic musical mentor on his journey and the abundant experience of building his musical network.
Rowan describes his educational experiences, the differences across the traditional music spectrum, the global cultural influence of Irish traditional music and his traditional music influences.
We discuss the resurgence of interest in traditional music, the impact of the pandemic on himself and other musicians, and expanding his teaching to a global network of students.
Rowan describes creating his first album in lockdown, Escaping the Dawn, releasing a book called Contemporary Fiddle Tunes from The North East of Ireland, and his hopes of returning to touring in 2021.
We get into the evolution of traditional music, the differences in classical and traditional, the impact of AI and technology on music, and the role of serendipity on his journey.
Rowan ends the interview playing a short excerpt of one of his tracks from his new album.
I hope you enjoy this insight into the world of traditional music with Rowan C Leslie.
Social Links
Website Spotify Bandcamp Instagram Facebook
Links in Show
Riverdance Clannad Martin Hayes Braid Driver Violins Frankie Gavin Liz Docherty Sum41 Elephant Sessions Contemporary Fiddle Tunes from The North East of Ireland Wonderwall Soul Disney+ Vikram Seth - An Equal Music
Guest Overview
This week I welcome two guests - NYC-based Clinical Psychologist Dr. Tara Emrani and Corporate Lawyer Mehdi Ansari. Tara and Mehdi were born and raised in Tehran, Iran, before moving to the US.
Given the time challenges of having two guests, we didn’t spend much time on their backstories or upbringing.
Meeting while both studying at UC Berkeley, Tara and Mehdi describe their journeys to Psychology and Law.
I ask Tara to explain her humanistic, multidimensional approach to treatment and the differences to the new talk therapy platforms like Talk Space or Better Help.
Tara discusses the mental health challenges that have emerged since the onset of the pandemic and how she helps her patients deal with them, and the underlying stresses, sadness, anxiety, and depression. She describes pivoting to online therapy and the differences to in-person treatment.
Mehdi describes the pandemic impact on his firm’s staff, work practices, and relationships. Mehdi discusses why he is trying to drive the firm's mental health narrative and across the legal industry.
He discusses how different structural approaches firms are taking as we snap back and the many unexpected impacts on training, teamwork, and career progression. He also explains the value of serendipitous water cooler moments and why those are lost on Zoom or Teams,, and the increased associated transaction costs.
Both Tara and Mehdi discuss the future role of therapy inside organizations, the resultant positive impact on the bottom line, staff retention, and a happier, more productive environment. Mehdi reflects on the paradigm shift needed for mental health and mindfulness training to be taught in Universities.
Mehdi and Tara discuss parents' role to prepare children for an AI future and the displacement AI will have on today's simple transactional processes.
Finally, they both reflect on the impact of serendipity on their journey.
If you’re a parent or have been affected by mental health personality or while in a work environment, I think you’ll be uplifted by the clarity and commitment of Tara and Mehdi to changing the narrative around mental health.
Social Links
Dr Tara Emrani Website Instagram
Links in the show
Tehran Talk space Better Help Carl Rogers Sullivan and Cromwell Billions TI86 1984 Book I Will Survive John Adams Audrey Hepburn Keynes Gandhi Lord of the Rings Sopranos The Vow Ego is the Enemy
Guest Overview
This week's guest is Sydney-born, New York-based Ben Hartley – Executive Director of The National Arts Club – what he describes as a 122-year-old startup.
Ben recently invited us into the spectacular Gramercy Square location to record this fascinating interview.
Ben recounts his early years and his parents' positive influence, his adventurous and analytical father, and his strong and emotionally engaged mother.
Ben describes how his world view was expanded, and curiosity sparked as a result of being taken on a grand European canal boating tour when aged seven.
Ben describes his embrace of discomfort as a means of pushing one's capabilities and his approach to seeking out serendipity.
At 12 minutes – Ben describes his educational experience, how it opened a window to the world, the value of studying for a semester in Trenton, New Jersey, a decision that ultimately led him to return to NYC to study his Masters in Arts management.
At 23 minutes – we discuss the common threads running through the career path he has taken. We discuss his journey to the National Arts Club and his experience of leading the international rollout of the Guggenheim to Bilbao and beyond.
At 29 minutes – Ben explains the mission and structure of The National Arts Club. He provides a concise overview of The National Arts Club's history, being the first club to welcome women as members, events from its colorful history, the characters that defied this unique institution, and the recipients of its famed Medal of Honor.
Ben describes how COVID has enabled him to apply his creativity to innovate and pivot the club's service, develop and vibrant digital program, and build community and connectivity.
He describes the recent exhibitions curated in partnership with new art collectives that have emerged in New York during the Black Lives Matter protests displayed alongside the work of photographer Graham Macindoe
We discuss the provocative role of art in today's society, the changing nature of distribution, the future role of The National Arts Club in the city and country's culture, and the innovative programs he has initiated connecting communities beyond the arts.
Ben's refreshing perspectives will undoubtedly provide inspiration and provoke new ideas for anyone struggling to reimagine and reinvent their business or brand or deal with personal challenges in these changing times.
Social Links
The National Arts Club website Instagram Twitter Facebook
Links
Roger Pilkington Tom Crenz Guggenheim Bilbao Richard Serra Frank Gehry Charles DeKay Soho Renaissance Factory Art to Heart Graham Macindoe CJ Henry Jose Saramago Blindness
Our host Mark Fallows was recently invited to be a guest on another podcast, the entertaining and educational - The Furious Curious.
Hosts, Charlie Quirk and Britton Rice asked Mark to join them and discuss the urban regeneration project, Back The Neighborhood that he, Elaine Castillo Keller, and Vanessa Barboni Hallik are working on, as well as the genesis of The Impossible Network and Fabrica Collective
If you enjoy this we encourage you to subscribe to The Furious Curious and follow @backtheneighborhood on Instagram.
LINKS:
Fabrica https://fabricacollective.com,
The Impossible Network https://backthenighborhood.com
© Charlie Quirk, Britton Rice
Scott Duncan - Guest Overview
This week's guest is meteorologist, Scottish Highlander, Gaelic speaker, and bag-piper Scott Duncan. Now London-based Scott grew up in the wilds of northern Scotland. Inspired by Scotland's dramatic natural habitat he developed a love for nature and especially climate. That led him to study meteorology at Reading Uni and Oklahoma University and propelled him to be one of the most talked-about climate communicators, resulting from his imaginative and creative application of climate pattern data visualization on Instagram and his own website.
In this episode,
Scott recounts his early years, the role of family, and the impact of growing up in such an inspiring environment.
Developing an expansive world view of climate at a young age, Scott discusses his path to becoming a climate communicator, his intuitive interest and appreciation for the power of storytelling, and how this has transformed how he tells the story of climate.
Scott provides a refreshingly simple explanation of the issues our planet faces, at the poles and beyond, he explains how he deals with activists, deniers, and trolls, and why he focuses on reputable data sources to navigate the politically charged field of climate communications.
We discuss the decade of action, the expectations of the upcoming COP26 in Glasgow in November and Scott provides insight into what the target numbers mean. He also provides examples of the extreme weather patterns we are experiencing.
I think you will leave this episode more grounded, informed, and inspired.
Social Links
Website Instagram Twitter LInkedin
Links in the Show
Gaelic Berkley Earth Drawdown Kiss the Ground Mike Hudema Zachery Labe Kate Rawworth Ed Hawkins Guy Callendar 500 Miles Tubthumping Casa De Papel My Family and Other Animals
Human rights are inextricably linked to identity. We all strive for our basic inalienable rights as human beings, regardless of race, religion, language, ethnicity or gender. This week we welcome one of the most vital thinkers in academia and advocates for LGBT human rights, Graeme Reid.
Graeme is the Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, a respected expert and lecturer at Yale.
Born in Johannesburg in Apartheid South Africa, raised in a politically liberal home, Graham’s demonstrated his individual will at an early age courageously confronting the conventional thinking of white South African establishment.
Having studied Anthropology at University, Graeme’s ground-breaking Masters; ‘an ethnographic study of a black Pentecostal church on how a church community created the possibility for an integrated cultural identity for gay and lesbian Christians’ followed by his PhD thesis “How to be a’real-gay’ emerging gay spaces in small town South Africa” …established him as both a creative and leading thinker on gender identity.
In this shorter than usual episode Graeme shares his personal story, his wisdom and perspective on where we find ourselves in today’s politically charged environment and what might be an inflection point in history.
Enjoy the courage, heart and humanity of Graeme Reid.
Social Links
Graeme HRW Twitter
Links in The Show
Gayle Rubin Gay activist Simon Nkoli
Graeme’s books:
How To Be A Real Gay: Above the Skyline: LGBT Rights Yale Human Rights Watch Fleabag Havelock Ellis Olive Schreiner: Eleanor Marx: Anna Freud: Shaggy Bain - Beyond All Imagining
Guest Overview - Vanessa Barboni Hallik What does it take to walk away from a successful career in Investment banking to form a woman's sustainable fashion startup, committed from the outset to sourcing responsibly grown, ethically manufactured materials, blending classic design with leading edge technologies, while building a platform for education, and advocacy?
Well, by confronting fear, embracing uncertainty, accepting failure, trusting in serendipity while remaining resilient, steadfast, and focused on the bigger mission are the characteristics that enabled this week's guest, Vanessa Barboni Hallik, to launch Another Tomorrow - what New York Times described as a 'Brand as Ethically Minded as It Is Refined'.
In this fascinating and broad-ranging interview Midwest born, Vanessa Barboni Hallik covers everything from her early life, and architectural ambitions, to her journey to an investment banking career and why she changed course to launch her ground-breaking sustainable women's fashion brand.
Vanessa describes the impact of her free spirit artist mother and sociology professor 'wanna be hippie' father in cultivating her curiosity and the creative environment of constructive play that built her belief in the sense of the possible.
Vanessa explains the circuitous path she took through education, the life-altering impact of her mother's tragic death when Vanessa was 19, and how the event that set her on a path to banking, the inner conflict she experienced having been raised in an environment of conscious capitalism, and how after quitting three times she finally found purpose in her entrepreneurial endeavor,
She eloquently explains fundamental shifts in banking and finance and the increasing emphasis on environmental and social, and governance factors and the further shifts and regulatory changes she expects, will come post covid. We dive deep into what led
At 35 minutes in, we dive deep into Another Tomorrow and why Vanessa focused on sustainable fashion. She covers the challenges she faced and why she's built her business grounded in animal, environmental and human welfare; using technology to deliver supply chain transparency; her commitment to resale, and creating a circular economy as a catalytic force on traditional fashion brands.
I think you will be inspired by the clarity of vision and values of Vanessa Barboni Hallik.
Social Links Another Tomorrow website Instagram Twitter Facebook
Links
Mariana Mazzucato book Value of Everything ESG’s Patagonia Constellation of Vital Phenomena - Anthony Marra
Guest Overview
This week's guests are Graham MacIndoe and Susan Stellin.
Graham, a photographer and associate professor at Parsons School of Design in New York City, has been in recovery from addiction since 2010.
Graham and his wife Susan -- a writer, researcher, and adjunct professor at The New School -- have been open about Graham's past struggle with drugs, his ten-year journey to coming clean, which began with nine months of incarceration because of a misdemeanor drug possession conviction.
They've published and exhibited the self-portraits Graham took during his years of addiction, written a dual memoir called Chancers, and given many talks about the trajectory that upended Graham's photography career, isolated him from family and friends, and eventually landed him in jail. (I'll add links to the images that appeared in the Guardian and New York Mag coverage in the show notes, the book, and their talks in the show notes. )
Lately, they've shifted their focus to highlighting what it takes to recover from addiction -- a process millions of Americans have been through but is far less discussed both in private and in public settings. They're part of a growing movement of people trying to reframe the narrative more toward solutions and opening a dialogue about ways to help more people succeed with recovery.
Graham and Susan recap their journey. We cover why Graham documented his addiction and why he and Susan are now documenting recovery stories across the US. We discuss why many people can't publicly acknowledge their past because of stigma, the consequences of admitting illegal drug use, and why they are part of a growing movement working to provide examples of success and hope to those still struggling with addiction. Their latest exhibit Beyond Addiction, Reframing Recovery demonstrates that recovery is possible and highlights some of the ways people have rebuilt their lives.
We discuss the enduring stigma and cultural projection of drug addiction, the enduring War of Drugs, the racial injustice of drug policies, the need for reform, and we discuss decriminalization and legalization.
Graham and Susan provide an enlightening perspective on the ongoing challenges, the Pandemic's impact, and Graham talks about how he has navigated his recovery.
If you know someone struggling with recovery or a family member trying to support a loved one, please share this important episode or some of the resources in the show notes.
I hope you are inspired by the courage, clarity, and candor of Graham MacIndoe and Susan Stellin.
Social Links
Graham’s Website Susan’s Website Beyond Addiction Reframing Recovery Graham’s Instagram
Links in the show
Graham and Susan's TED X Talk Graham In New York Mag Graham in The Guardian Portugal Drug Policy War of Drugs Rikers Island Chancers Book Michelle Obama Book Jim Devine Lost Tornado book
Gillian Burke is this week's guest. Biologist, TV producer, presenter, public speaker, voiceover artist, writer, and mother, Gillian Burke, is second generation Kenyan, has lived a life transition - or as she refers to as a state of liminality.
In this broad-ranging interview, Gillian deconstructs the complexity of her racially ambiguous 'creole' identity. Part West Indian, part Sri Lankan Gillian was born in Kenya, grew up in Vienna, and studied and settled in the UK, where she has built a successful career in broadcasting with the BBC.
Gillian recounts her early memories of always feeling like an outsider, navigating change and uncertainty both in Kenya and Austria. She describes how her love of the outdoors developed, being comfortable in nature, and developing her environmental consciousness. She explains why the experience of growing up in the global south and the lack of buffer between environmental issues and the impact of home life, as well as witnessing the exploitation of nature, the environment and marginalized populations led her to develop her thirst for social justice and building a career in nature and environmental broadcasting.
Gillian describes her path to the UK, her education in an international Baccalaureate school, developing a love of performing arts and ending up studying biology at Bristol University in the UK in 1992 and landing a job in the Natural History unit at the BBC.
From 40 min in, Gillian explains why she feels we in many developed nations lack humility as we face the humbling impact of the Covid virus. We discuss how our path to progress is unsustainable, the climate crisis, the urgency to act, and the importance of looking to natural solutions and our interconnectedness to nature's matrix. Gillian discusses the regenerative power of the soil, indigenous knowledge, wisdom, and solutions that could pull us back from climate calamity. Finally, Gillian explains why she is focused on connecting the big existential issues facing us to what we do in our homes and how we live.
I hope you are inspired to follow the environmental passion and purpose of Gillian Burke.
SOCIAL LINKS
Website Instagram Blog
LINKS IN THE SHOW
Liminality Water Bear Dan McDougall Baccalaureate school BBC Natural History Unit Kimberly Latrice Jones Wangari Maathai Young Chances Foundation Project Drawdown Kiss the Ground Mike Tyson Biography
The Raw Hospitality Show founder our previous guest, Robert Marchetti the New York-based, Australian hospitality veteran is back for more.
Robert recently launched his own podcast The Raw Hospitality Show, where he interviews industry icons and what he describes as boots on the ground 'hospo peeps' (that an Aussie term) those unseen folk whose voices are seldom heard.
Robert’s aim with the new show to inspire, motivate, and entertain the 16 million+ hospitality folks in the USA, and 50 million+ globally.
With Covid-19 continuing to decimate the industry, Robert hopes that by interviewing industry veterans and on the ground game-changers, their views and insights into what’s next will inspire a generation of hospitality workers to remain resolute and resilient through these challenging times.
In this fast-paced episode, Robert also covers how he embraced the challenges of Covid19 with a positive attitude and a radical acceptance that he may well lose his Soho restaurant and bar Gran Tivoli and Peppi's cellar. He explains the need to pivot, how he’s used this time to reorientate his business and goes on to explain the work he is now doing with Creative community workspace Neuehouse.
Robert is more than resilient, he radiates practical positivity with a grounded sense of humor that is uplifting in these strangest of times.
I hope you agree.
Social Links Robert Marchetti Hospitality The Raw Hospitality ShowInstagram Youtube
Link in the Show Neuehouse Shep Gordon
Jessica Carson, creator, teacher, and author of Wired This Way, a book about Finding Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Spiritual Well-being as a Creator, is this week's guest.
In this wide-ranging episode, we cover Jessica’s early life and development being the perfect combination of her right and left-brained parents.
Jessica refers to Jungian psychology as a reference point to her adolescent development, and her innate passion and self-imposed pressures and character polarities and the impact that had on friendships and relationships
She discusses the transformational time of her life working as a social director at a start-up discovering her social fluidity and her empath character.
Jessica discusses the common characteristics of the empath, the value, and the downsides and need for protection. She explains how this led her to study neuroscience at Georgetown.
From around 30 min we get into creativity and serendipity.
We discuss Jessica’s experiences of serendipity, describing herself as a ‘Serendipitor’ and by embracing the synchronicity of life she overcame her dis-ease, distress, and angst.
Jessica explains the different creative archetypes she has mapped in her book Wired this Way, which discusses the light and dark sides of different creators and she then explains the shared ten dimensions of a creator.
Jessica Carson discusses the dance between creativity and productivity and the deficit of creativity in our ‘hustle culture and the need for creative self-discovery.
Jessica makes historic references and provides an overview of her six muses she uses as a framework and as a creative and customizable approach to the journey of self-discovery, a tapestry to understand what archetype a person is.
We discuss happiness, creativity, self-discovery, procrastination, and creative incubation, and creative rebirth in the context of the times we live.
We also cover education and mental health, innovation, and the importance of diversity in the innovation process. We end by discussing fear and failure.
I hope you are stimulated by the creative explorations and archetypes of Jessica Carson.
Social Links
Instagram Website
Links in Show
Wired This Way Sophie’s World Jung Witness Movie The Empaths Survival Guide Scott Barry Kauffman -Transcend: The New Science of Self Actualization
Michael Hanchett Hanson
This week we re-publish our first ever episode, recorded on a cold day in late 2018 on the streets of South Philadelphia with Tyrique Glasgow.
Tyrique Glasgow is the Founder of the Young Chances Foundation, an organization providing after-school support, sports programs, and mentoring for South Philadelphia’s youth.
Besides running the foundation, Tyrique works with the District Attorney's Office on its Focused Deterrence initiative, an effort that targets South Philly gang members, to offer an exit route from street life through job training and other services.
Tyrique founded The Young Chances Foundation (YCF) is a 501(c)3 organization in 2012 as a second chance opportunity to make better opportunities for himself, his family, and his South Philadelphia – Grays Ferry community.
Tyrique's personal story is one of radical transformation from dealing drugs to delivering hope and opportunity.
Tyrique's lowest point in life was the night in 2004 that it almost ended, as he lay unconscious on the cold ground of his South Philadelphia neighborhood, shot 11 times in the head, back, legs and arms. Surviving this life-altering trauma he then had to serve five years in prison before returning to the Grays Ferry community as a reformed citizen, with an unstoppable passion to ‘save the children of Grays Ferry from following a similar path.
In 2012 Young Chances Foundation’s Mission was born:
I met Tyrique at a fundraising event in New York in mid-2018 and went to interview him later that year on the street Corner he used to run.
Interviewing Tyrique was humbling, uplifting, and inspiring - a beacon of possibility and the shining example of the potential that one human’s courage and commitment can have.
Schuyler Moore is Director of Science and Technology at the Defense Innovation Board, in the US Department of Defense, by day. At night she is a competitive Hip Hop Dancer by night. She is sister to our previous guest Dr. Merritt Moore(Episode No14).
Everything Schuyler shares in this episode is her personal view and perspective. She only speaks herself and does not speak for the Department of Defense or the Defense Innovation Board.
LA born, of a Korean mother and American father, Schuyler’s upbringing equipped her with a deep curiosity, an independent world-view, and valuable problem-solving skills.
Her unconventional mindset enabled her to defy convention, shed her comfort zone and traveling to teach school girls in Afghanistan in 2013 age, this boundary breaking attitude led her to and become director of science and technology at the DoD only six years later.
In this expansive and informative episode, Schuyler shares the value and impact of her parents on her life focus, how her interest in National Security emerged while teaching in Afghanistan, and shares her personal perspectives, knowledge, and insights on agile living and the imperative of how to consider and manage risk in an uncertain and unpredictable world. She explains how she applies this to build confidence, solve problems, maintain humility, and remain calm in the face of chaos. We also discuss gut instinct and innovation and her view on serendipity.
Schuyler shares her advice to parents on how to guide their young daughters to thrive in STEM or Steam and her advice to women in the workforce.
At 45 minutes in we also dive deep into A.I. as I ask Schuyler to define in simple terms what A.I. is, before we get into ethics, standards and traceability, the A.I. arms race and the value to humanity.
I also ask Schuyler about Cyber warfare threats, defending it using zero trust architecture, and how we as nations and businesses think about our network security.
Schuyler shares her recommendations on changes to education to prepare us for the future and hirIng for Creativity and finally we discuss the role of Diversity in innovation.
I hope you enjoy this expansive educational exploration of agile living, risk, AI, Cyber warfare and so much more.
Social Links
Linkedin Website
Links in the show
SOLA Open Ai GPT3 Department of Defense Defense Innovation Board Zucked book
Social Dilemma Merritt Moore
AI Books
Ray Kurswell Center for Security and Emerging Technology T Minus AI Mike Kanan CHINAI Newsletter How to Be An Anti Racist The Immortalists The Pixar Story
Serendipity Mindset Author and this week’s guest, Dr Christian Basch, describes himself as a practical philosopher.
In this absorbing interview author of the new book the Serendipity Mindset, and Director of NYU’s Global Economy program, Christian describes his upbringing in Germany to a cerebral intellectual father and empathetic and loving mother and explains how his supportive parents instilled a sense of belief that whatever his focus in life, everything was possible.
Christian discusses his wayward upbringing, his search for where to channel his energies and the life defining car crash that made him re-evaluate his attitude to life and set him on the path to writing the Serendipity Mindset.
He maps out how In 2008 in London he formed his innovative global Sandbox network and describes the community they build as a serendipity accelerator.
We cover purpose and social entrepreneurship and how he has worked with many of the top CEO’s to focus on how their companies can link their purpose to the sustainable development goals.
If you want to jump forward to where we get into the specifics of the Serendipity Mindset head to AROUND 40 MIN min.
Christian explains how the Serendipity Mindset is grounded in creating the structures and mindsets that enable people to create their own luck and I ask Christian to explain the role of procrastination in serendipity and what he calls productive procrastination.
He sets out why spotting something unexpected and connecting dots when you see them is key to a serendipity mindset. He explains why sagacity and tenacity are the core elements to unlocking serendipity and why we need to avoid seeing life linear and more a series of random twisting lines and being prepared to see failure as an opportunity.
Christian covers fear of failure, loss and overcoming self limiting beliefs and worthiness.
I ask Christian about the role of his work to affect change in organizational behavior, and how brand values can define meeting agendas, and examining and learning from failure to solve large problems.
We also discuss polarization, diversity, inclusion and seeking common denominators to solve our contemporary challenges.
Finally we cover serendipity scores and the value to reframing behaviors. Christian describes how as a daily habit and a life philosophy it can transform how we view uncertainty and the unexpected from a threat to an ally.
I hope you are empowered by the mind altering playbook of Dr Christian Busch.
Social Links
LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Website
Show Links and Notes
The Serendipity Mindset
Goethe Quote - If you take someone as they are you make them worse
But if you take them as what they could be you make them capable of becoming what they can be
Sandbox Million Peacemakers
There is no planet B
This week I want to make a change to our usual interview format.
Instead, I want to talk about the issue of climate change. Whatever your perspective on the causes few will deny that dramatic and potentially irreversible changes are occurring that threaten humanity’s existence on the planet.
We're now well into the fourth quarter of this tumultuous year. With news around our tiny unseen enemy still in abundance, and as we focus on addressing the immediate Covid-19 pandemic, we must not lose sight of the more significant existential threat: our climate crisis.
The urgency to build on the much-cited 'We're all in this together' sentiment cannot be overstated. If we are to avert a climate collapse, now is the time to start a new contagion, one that spreads a radical and positive change in consumer and corporate behaviors.
Behavior change is hard, but we should take inspiration from positive societal shifts that have emerged in recent months: 1. Covid-19 and our sheltering in place demonstrate that most people can, individually and collectively, on a global scale, radically change our way of life, sacrificing what once seemed sacrosanct. 2. The collective spirit of resistance and rage, ignited by the death of George Floyd and spate of other racial injustices, demonstrates the power of people to unite and confront the status quo. 3. The rapid collective action by some corporations, businesses, and brands in changing their marketing, operations, and supply chains to battle the pandemic prove business can be on the right side of race history.
However, Covid-19 has not only exposed the deep and systemic social, economic, educational, racial, and technological inequity; it's also directly impacted our progress to achieve the UN's seventeen sustainable development goals (SDG's). As UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently stated:
"As Member States recognized at the SDG Summit held last September, global efforts to date have been insufficient to deliver the change we need, jeopardizing the Agenda's promise to current and future generations. Now, due to COVID-19, unprecedented health, economic, and social crisis is threatening lives and livelihoods, making the achievement of Goals even more challenging."
The climate target adopted at the 2015 Paris Agreement was to keep global temperature rise this century to less than 2 degrees Celsius, above pre-industrial levels, but set a 2030 target to limit the rise to +1.5°C.
While Covid-19 may have paused the global economy, it's estimated to only reduce 2020 Carbon emissions by 6%, significantly below the required 50% annual reduction we need in this coming decade to avoid a climate abyss - the point at which there may be no way back.
So what if we consider Covid-19 a wake-up call to our global fragility, a kickstarter to elicit unified action to avoid climate calamity. With 2019 being the second warmest year on record, coming at the end of the warmest decade on record, we are currently "way off track meeting either the 1.5°C or 2°C targets", according to Guterres.
With the world's average surface temperature projected to surpass 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, our children, and their children will experience melting ice caps, rising sea levels, flooded coastal capitals, mass migration north, food and water shortages, and mass social unrest, economic breakdown, and war.
We have a simple choice. To act or not to act.
As individuals, if we choose to act, we can start living more sustainable lives. As consumers, employees, or investors, we have the leverage to demand accelerated action from the corporations and brands that form the fabric of the carbon economy.
We have individual role models; Bea Johnson and Joshua Spodek are examples of positive environmental behavior leaders. Two recent books, The Future We Choose and The Is No Planet B, also guide us on how to make necessary behavior shifts.
For businesses and brands, this is an opportunity to take a genuine stand, not with words but with actions. This is the time to shed the all too common corporate crutch of claiming brand purpose. Instead, businesses and brands must re-engineer, drive the wholesale operational transformation to activate radical regenerative change.
We need Collective Abortive Activism
With insufficient governmental action, and splintered political will to decarbonize the global economy, collective networks of influence are forming to fill the moral leadership void, agitate for systemic change and build an economic system beyond carbon capitalism and consign Milton Friedman's model of Shareholder primacy to history; * SalesForce's CEO, Marc Benioff stated, 'Capitalism as we know it is dead' and that a new model for Capitalism is overdue. * The WEF's revolutionary spirited 'Davos Manifesto' For the Fourth Industrial Revolution asserted that a company must 'act as a steward of the environmental and material universe for future generations. It consciously protects our biosphere and champions a circular, shared, and regenerative economy.' * In May this year, a letter was signed by 155 companies with a combined market capitalization of over US$ 2.4 trillion and representing over 5 million employees, urging governments around the world to align their COVID-19 economic aid and recovery efforts with the latest climate science. The companies, including IKEA, Burberry, Nestle, Pernod Ricard, and Unilever, are part of the Science-Based Targets initiative and the UN's Global Compact.
As the shoots of a more sustainable corporate philosophy and behavior emerge we will see increased affirmative climate action as the 2020's progress.
Imperative 21 a business-led, network of coalitions was recently formed to drive wholesale economic system change. The combined coalitions harness the power of culture to demand an economic system that delivers shared well being on a healthy planet. They are working to transform finance to manage systemic risk and are stewarding a global process to co-create a set of 'Imperatives for Economic System Change' that gives their community of allies greater coherence and power.
Expect to hear more from Imperative 21 as they make a collective call for change and agitate for a more regenerative economic system. The coalition comprises over 72,000 businesses, across 80 countries and 150 industries, employing over 18 million people, with $6.6 Trillion in revenue and with over $15 Trillion assets under management.
As committed corporations work toward net-zero emissions, and as more organizations align their business practices around the global goals (the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals), their actions must extend beyond CSR initiatives. They must embrace operational activities, employee engagement, investor relations, lobbying strategy, and customer relationship management. This will require new levels of internal organizational alignment to track progress. The SDG Action Manager is a tool launched by the UN and B Lab to help businesses commit and track
To live through the 2030s and beyond, we must take purposeful abortive action and apply our personal and collective persuasive powers to encourage corporate behavior change.
Here are Five Steps I think we can all take as concerned citizens of the planet to accelerate impact during this decade of action.
One: Create an SDG Alignment
Encourage your organization to align its business and sustainability strategy with one of the SDGs core pillars of people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. Start by identifying which of the global goals your customers or clients care about and then embedding that goal into the core business and brand strategy. Alignment is not a quick, purpose-washing, cosmetic fix. It’s likely to necessitate systemic business realignment requiring courageous leadership, investment, and involve all stakeholders. You can track progress using the SDG Action Manager.
Two: Start SDG Impact Funds
According to the Giving USA Foundation, in 2019, America donated over $449 billion. Of that, individual donors contributed 70% — $309.66 billion, while corporations gave $21.09bn or 4.6% of that total.
Given the urgency of hitting the 2030 climate target, encourage your organization’s leadership to pool corporate philanthropy, CSR budgets, and marketing-driven social impact investments into an SDG impact fund. Invest in sustainable value creation, internal operational improvements, and on-the-ground social impact programs, in partnership with high impact NGOs.
Three: Form SDG focused NGO partnerships
In 2019 I consulted for a Global NGO and concluded that the scope for innovation in NGO - Corporate partnerships is a vast untapped well.
NGOs can be the perfect partner for businesses to amplify SDG social impact investments. NGOs are in a unique position to identify where funds are most needed and how to maximize impact. Make unrestricted grants. Let the NGO direct funds across their on-the-ground programs, but require regular monitoring and feedback.
Start the conversation inside your company. Use Give Well to identify those NGOs, adhering to good governance, and addressing the global goals with which your brand or business wishes to align.
Four: Advocate for Offsetting Action
We can’t undo legacy Corporate environmental damage, supply chain malpractices, or child labor violations, committed in the pursuit of profit.
However, as more business leaders acknowledge or commit to abandoning the damaging concept of ‘shareholder primacy,’ now is the time to advocate that your organization embraces a triple bottom line framework.
Start an internal movement to catalyze a shift in corporate culture and encourage leadership to pledge to become a B Corp or a B Movement Builder.
You may have heard about Imperative 21, a business-led, recently formed network of coalitions to drive wholesale economic system change. Take their lead. Be on the right side of history.
Five: Fight to Flip Lobbying
Corporate lobbying may have become the most powerful yet environmentally damaging force in determining Government policy shifts.
In October 2019, eleven leading environmental and sustainable business organizations published an open letter in the New York Times, urging the CEOs of Corporate America to step up and adopt a science-based climate policy agenda aligned with the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This letter was a call to action for businesses to make a genuine commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. It called on them to lobby governments to implement the necessary policies at the national, subnational, and sectoral levels; and to align and allocate their trade associations’ climate policy spending to advance climate policies, not obstruct them.
Start this conversation in your business and share information about organizations like Citizens Climate Lobby, 350.org Rising Up, and Extinction Rebellion, lobbying platforms for broader community activism.
Be a mighty butterfly.
Our climate targets are daunting, but we have the technologies, tools, and networks where small actions can start a massive societal shift.
Greta Thunberg has proved one person can activate an army of environmentally-conscious agitators. It’s time for us to become cohorts, force multipliers to accelerate corporate environmental, and, hopefully, governmental climate action.
We can change course and spare our children a climate future they don’t deserve, a future we are creating.
It’s a purpose worth living for, and, yes, we are all in this together.
Diversity and Inclusion expert and advocate, Jennifer L. Williams is this week's guest and our first guest of Series 3. Jennifer is a leading thinker and advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
During this open, honest, and expansive discussion Jennifer discusses why diversity, equity, and inclusion must be foundational to reimagining how we work and how we build teams and move toward a more equitable society.
In part one Jennifer discusses growing up as an only child in DC with her loving but overprotective, successful Panamanian immigrant mother, she navigated the highly controlled home environment by immersing herself in writing and books. This ignited her inner creativity and set her on a path to focusing on becoming her best self.
In part two dive into Jennifer’s career and journey to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Jennifer deconstructs how working in HR inside ad agency Saatchi led her to be a vocal proponent of changing the narrative around diversity and respect, set her on the path to her current life focus consulting on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
For anyone that wants to appreciate the nuances of the Diversity and Inclusion, Jennifer delivers an explanation with simplicity and clarity and frames it in the context COVID, George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.
We discuss how and when the systemic change will emerge and Jennifer explains her approach in consulting businesses in the process of transformation and the dynamics of the radical changes underway
Jennifer provides a clear explanation around the lexicon and wordplay between Black, Latino, and People of Color. I for one certainly learned a lot from this episode
I hope you enjoy the vitality and vigor of Jennifer L. Williams.
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New York. A Documentary Landmark Course Bob Wiesner The JL Solution Scroobius Pip episode with Dane Baptiste
Jennifer L Williams is this week's guest and our first guest of Series 3. Jennifer is a leading thinker and advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
During this open, honest, and expansive discussion Jennifer discusses why diversity, equity, and inclusion must be foundational to reimagining how we work and how we build teams and move toward a more equitable society.
In part one Jennifer discusses growing up as an only child in DC with her loving but overprotective, successful Panamanian immigrant mother, she navigated the highly controlled home environment by immersing herself in writing and books. This ignited her inner creativity and set her on a path to focusing on becoming her best self.
In part two dive into Jennifer’s career and journey to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Jennifer deconstructs how working in HR inside ad agency Saatchi led her to be a vocal proponent of changing the narrative around diversity and respect, set her on the path to her current life focus consulting on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
For anyone that wants to appreciate the nuances of the Diversity and Inclusion, Jennifer delivers an explanation with simplicity and clarity and frames it in the context COVID, George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.
We discuss how and when the systemic change will emerge and Jennifer explains her approach in consulting businesses in the process of transformation and the dynamics of the radical changes underway
Jennifer provides a clear explanation around the lexicon and wordplay between Black, Latino, and People of Color. I for one certainly learned a lot from this episode
I hope you enjoy the vitality and vigor of Jennifer L. Williams.
Social Links
Links in the show
New York. A Documentary Landmark Course Bob Wiesner The JL Solution Scroobius Pip episode with Dane Baptiste
Jennifer L Williams is this week's guest and our first guest of Series 3. Jennifer is a leading thinker and advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
During this open, honest and expansive discussion Jennifer discusses why diversity, equity, and inclusion must be foundational to reimagining how we work and how we build teams, and move toward a more equitable society.
In part one Jennifer discusses growing up as an only child in DC with her loving but over protective, successful Panamanian immigrant mother, she navigated the highly controlled home environment by immersing herself in writing and books. This ignited her inner creativity and set her on a path to focusing on becoming her best self.
Jennifer reflects on the other foundational influences and people growing up, gratitude, anger and being responsible for one's own happiness and the second chances life gives us We also discuss immigration and inclusivity.
She explains the transformational impact of attending a Landmark Forum course.
Jennifer eloquently expresses the experience of establishing herself as a young black woman in corporate New York recounting her mother's sage words ‘you have to be twice as good to be considered half as competent.'
We end part one as Jennifer discusses her experience of moving to New York and the caring safe environment she was welcomed into.
In part two dive into Jennifer’s career and journey to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
I hope you enjoy the vitality and vigor of Jennifer L Williams.
Social Links
Links in the show
New York. A Documentary Landmark Course Bob Wiesner The JL Solution Scroobius Pip episode with Dane Baptiste
Debbie Millman Guest Overview
This week we go back to Episode 30 with Co-founder of the Masters in Branding program at New York’s School of Visual Arts and host of one of the most popular and longest-running podcasts, Design Matters, Debbie Millman.
We pick up the interview at 20 min where Debbie discusses the serendipitous events that have effects her path in life and we go from there.
If you missed this one last year, Debbie’s great strength is her candor and vulnerability. Be inspired by this short insight into the life design of Debbie Millman.
What We Discuss
Debbie’s innate curiosity
How she interviews for attitude
The transformative impact of coming out in her 50’s
Her perspective on courage
We discuss Debbie’s periods of depression and despair
We cover her principles
Her views on failure
The hard choices she has made
Her answer to our impossible question
Who we interview next
If you want to hear more and listen to the full interview you can here where we also cover:
Her upbringing in New York
The emotional impact and stigma of her parent's divorce aged eight
The impact of the abuse she experienced from her stepfather
A drawing she created as a child that became a visual representation her future life
Why Manhattan became what she called her ‘non-negotiable’
The impact and experience of 9/11
Her life-long struggle with a lack of self-belief
Resilience, hope, and shame
The validation she received from teachers for her
The empowering effect from one professor's encouragement
Her creativity as a child
The liberating experience of being single in 2017
On Social
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Debbie Millman Milton Glaser School of Visual Arts One of Us movie SUNY Albany Professor Helen Regueiro Elam Speak Up Blog Hacking the American Mind Robert Lustig
AIGA Print Magazine
Guest Overview
B Corp evangelist Lorna Davis is a transformational thinker, leader, and visionary for why and how organizations can combine social, and environmental priorities with their financial imperatives to deliver improved business performance. As a highly respected coach, international speaker Lorna also serves on a number of boards to help them embrace meaning and purpose.
Born in South Africa in the age of Apartheid, her education, parental guidance, curiosity, and worldly ambitions set her on the path to a stellar career in international business and marketing and finally leading Danone to become the first billion-dollar entity to become a public benefit corporation - welcome this week’s guest Lorna Davis.
In this short bonus episode we discuss serendipity, education, diversity, divine intelligence, the joy of being human and how she uses curiosity as an antidote to pain, and her perspective on how humanity works....and the quick-fire questions.
I hope you’re inspired by the leadership values, heart, the humanity of Lorna Davis.
Guest Overview Cristina Jiménez
Ecuadorian born, she became an undocumented migrant at 13, founded United We Dream, the largest youth-led US organization, fighting to protect and defend the rights of undocumented immigrants at 23, a MacArthur Fellow at 33, welcome this week/s guest, social justice activist Cristina Jiménez.
In this double length episode, Cristina recounts the story of her upbringing, being born in Ecuador, her early memories of living through the political and economic turmoil of Ecuador in the 90’s.
She describes her father’s athleticism and how his mental fortitude instilled resilience and determination at an early age and how her mothers empathy became a characteristic she embraced. She reflects growing up with an abundance of love and being unaware of the economic challenges her parents faced.
Cristina discusses arriving in Queens New York as an undocumented migrant child unable to speak English in the summer of 1998. Early on she experienced the shame, discrimination and exploitation immigrants encounter and we discuss the anxiety and fear that exist for immigrants with no status.
She discusses the added pressure and racial profiling she experienced following 9/11 and the hatred and discrimination that ensued.
Cristina sets out how the narrative shifts and changes in the policy and politics of immigration led her to begin her social justice fight.
She also describes the challenges she faced accessing further education, how her advocacy began using her pseudonym Sandra and how this experience gave her a taste of the power of community action.
At 1 hour into the interview, Cristina begins to discuss the beginning of her United We Dream movement and it’s interconnectedness with other movements like Black Lives Matter. She discusses congressional inaction, detention camps, the lack of progress to create pathways to fix immigration status and why both parties are responsible for the impasse.
. She discusses how she and her teams campaigning and public shaming of the Obama administration led to Obama to sign an executive order to protect dreamers in 2012.
We then cover the damaging effect of Covid19 on the indigenous, black, brown and immigrant communities, why they have been impacted more, the systems of discrimination and Cristina uses the example of Elmhurst hospital in Queens to emphasize the inequity and injustice facing minority communities.
Cristina discusses why her fight is a battle for the soul of the country, the possibility of change, her hopes for undocumented immigrants, her evolving role, and the future of democracy.
We end with all our quick fire questions.
I hope you are uplifted by the vitality, vision and courage of Cristina Jiménez
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United We Dream Homeland Security 9/11 Elmhurst Hospital A house of my Own Sandra Cisneros Bon Jovi When they see us Greisa Martinez
Guest Overview - Investing In Diversity
Whether a startup founder, someone with a good idea that can’t get taken seriously due to gender, sex, or race, or if you're feeling jaded by the lack of passion and purpose in business; you’ll be uplifted by this weeks interview with Mark Gilmour, Allyn Shaw, and John Basnage.
John, Allyn, and Mark recently joined forces to launch a new purpose-driven investment firm and fuse their diverse skills in Marketing and Branding, Corporate Finance, Law, and Technology.
In Part One of the joint discussion, we cover their collective yet wildly diverse upbringings on their path to purpose.
All three guests discuss their first memories of their emerging sexual identities, their self-awareness and discovery, early ambitions, influences, motivations, goals, and the serendipity or happenstance that set them on their life journeys.
In Part Two, Mark, Allyn and John dive deep into their path to purpose with their new venture, focused on recognizing, celebrating, embracing, difference through investing in the under-invested and under-represented minorities. They discuss the alchemy and untapped power of difference, why true innovation will be born from diversity, and why they are reimagining the very core of their business model to break the traditional corporate structure.
Mark discusses investing in purpose-driven businesses, common unity delivering for the three P’s of people, planet, and profit.
Mark, Allyn, and John discuss the exciting opportunity to invest in new business ideas that will emerge post-Covid to solve the problems that have emerged, how new networks and communities will emerge.
We also discuss the positive value of procrastination, their life mottos and we cover all our quick-fire questions
I hope you enjoy the ego-free honesty, passion, and purpose and common unity of Mark Gilmour, Allyn Shaw, and John Basnage.
Social Links
Mark’s Linkedin John’s Linkedin Allyn’s Linkedin Allyn’s Twitter
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Guest Overview - Paths to Purpose.
Whether a startup founder, someone with a good idea that can’t get taken seriously due to gender, sex, or race, or if you're feeling jaded by the lack of passion and purpose in business; you’ll be uplifted by this weeks interview with Mark Gilmour, Allyn Shaw, and John Basnage.
John, Allyn, and Mark recently joined forces to launch a new purpose-driven investment firm and fuse their diverse skills in Marketing and Branding, Corporate Finance, Law, and Technology.
In Part one the joint discussion, we cover their collective yet wildly diverse upbringings on their path to purpose.
Allyn was born in the notorious Compton neighborhood of LA, grew up in a poor but loving family who nurtured and guided him to an education that enabled him to escape being another statistic.
Mark describes being born in Canada as a ‘welcome baby’. Moving to the UK at an early age, growing up in the private schooling system, his volatile and loud home environment conditioned him to ensure his voice was heard and prepared him to thrive in chaotic volatile work environments.
John discusses being born into a loving quirky family and describes his upbringing as a container of abundance, scarcity, and boredom and how his early interest in academia.
All three guests discuss their first memories of their emerging sexual identities, their self-awareness and discovery, early ambitions, influences, motivations, goals and the serendipity or happenstance that set them on their life journeys.
In Part Two, Mark, Allyn and John dive deep into their path to purpose with their new venture, focused on recognizing, celebrating, embracing, difference through investing in the under-invested and under-represented minorities.
They discuss the alchemy and untapped power of difference, why true innovation will be born from diversity, and why they are reimagining the very core of their business model to break the traditional corporate structure.
Mark discusses investing in purpose-driven businesses, common unity delivering for the three P’s of people, planet, and profit.
Mark, Allyn, and John discuss the exciting opportunity to invest in new business ideas that will emerge post-Covid to solve the problems that have emerged, how new networks and communities will emerge.
We also discuss the positive value of procrastination, their life mottos and we cover all our quick-fire questions
I hope you enjoy the ego-free honesty, passion, and purpose and common unity of Mark Gilmour, Allyn Shaw, and John Basnage.
Social Links
Mark’s Linkedin John’s Linkedin Allyn’s Linkedin Allyn’s Twitter
Links In Show
British Airways Heathers Zoom PBS Hob-nobs Maya Angelou
Simon Wheatcroft's future vision for the visually impaired grew out a quest to overcome his own visual impairment and to run marathons unaided. Now he's focused on helping give equal opportunity to a generation of under-represented blind children.
Guest Overview.
Simon Wheatcroft is living proof that resilience is born from adversity, accepting that things will go wrong, not go to plan, and being prepared to embrace failure without fear. This is his playbook for making his impossible, possible.
Having lost his sight at an early age Simon used running solo as his foundation to building an abundant life as a runner, motivational speaker, and now teacher.
In part one Simon discusses the impact of growing up in the 80’s, in a small coal-mining town in the North of England, and the devastating social and economic impact of the coal mine closures. He then takes us through his early life and journey to where he met the founders of Haptic Technology company Wear Works.
In this episode Simon explains how he discovered the Haptic technology company Wear Works and how the combination of sensors enabled him to run races and sense people around him
We discuss the future advances using Lidar technology to create 3 depth maps of spaces and object recognition technology that will transform the lives of people with visual impairments
Simon explains the serendipitous moments that enabled him to study clinical psychology, computational neuroscience, and AI in later life and led him onto the motivational-speaking stage.
Simon covers resilience, dealing with adversity, fear, failure, and managing pain.
Simon discusses the appalling and enduring employment discrimination against blind or partially blind people and reveals why he is changing his career to teaching and explains his passion to provide visually impaired children with computer science skills to live an equal opportunity life.
Simon and I discuss accessibility and how web page metadata and hierarchies work.
Simon also reflects on his wife’s enduring support.
And of course all our quick-fire questions
I am sure you will feel uplifted, inspired and energized by the life story of Simon Wheatcroft.
Social Links
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Runkeeper The voice of Runkeeper Mind Hacks Book Tom Stafford Lidar technology RNIB Employment Report Ghost in the Wires
Guest Overview
Simon Wheatcroft is living proof that resilience is born from adversity, accepting that things will go wrong, not go to plan, and being prepared to embrace failure without fear.
Having lost his sight at an early age Simon used running solo as his foundation to building an abundant life as a runner, motivational speaker, and now teacher.
In part one Simon discusses the impact of growing up in the 80’s, in a small coal-mining town in the North of England, and the devastating social and economic impact of the coal mine closures
Simon recounts the experience of growing up suffering from a degenerative eye disorder that ultimately resulted in his loss of sight by his late teens.
Simon discusses how this impacted his ambitions, his education but how the degeneration of his site did help him develop spatial, memory, and mental acuity skills that prepared him to confront the challenges of living without sight.
Having lived many years in a state of denial, Simon explains the pivotal point in his life when he accepted his condition and embraced running as a means of creating a new pathway in the world.
We discuss the many challenges he faced in those early days, the value of the voice direction of the Runkeeper app, and his ability to sense what was underfoot. He discusses the daily challenge and stress of running solo without site, confronting the fear of not seeing oncoming obstacles or cars.
We then cover his boundary-pushing attitude, that led him to the US and running 200 miles from Boston to New York to line up for his first New York marathon.
Simon explains the serendipitous moment he met the voice of the Runkeeper app in a running store in Boston and the power her voice had in giving him the belief he could run solo.
In part two Simon explains how he discovered the Haptic technology company Wear Works and how the combination of sensors enabled him to run races and sense people around him
We discuss the future advances using Lidar technology to create 3 depth maps of spaces and object recognition technology that will transform the lives of people with visual impairments
Simon explains the serendipitous moments in life that enabled him to study clinical psychology, computational neuroscience, and AI and led him onto the motivational public-speaking stage.
Simon discusses resilience, dealing with adversity, fear, failure, and managing pain.
Simon reveals why he is changing his career to teaching and explains his passion to provide visually impaired children with computer science skills to live an equal opportunity life.
Simon and I discuss accessibility and how web page metadata and hierarchies work.
Simon also reflects on his wife’s enduring support.
And of course all our quick-fire questions
I am sure you will feel uplifted, inspired and energized by the life story of Simon Wheatcroft
Social Links
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Links in the show
Runkeeper The voice of Runkeeper Mind Hacks Book Tom Stafford Lidar technology Ghost in the Wires
Guest Overview - Yana Buhrer Tavanier
This week's guest was named as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, was featured in WIRED's Smart List and Founder of Fine Acts a global creative activist platform. Welcome Yana Buhrer Tavanier. We cover a lot of ground in this episode.
Yana discusses the impact of being born in Communist Bulgaria, being driven at an early age to confront injustice using words and recounts the influence and inspiration of her Aunt who resisted the regime through art and humor but was tortured by the and imprisoned in a mental institution leading her to ultimately to take her own life at 37.
Yana describes how her family conditioned her to live by values and not by the rules imposed by the state and how this led her to investigative journalism exposing social and human rights abuses, using her writing as a weapon against injustice.
Yana explains how her work to expose the inhumane and degrading treatment in mental institutions resulted in her being nominated as a World Economic Forum Young Global leader
Yana explains why she evolved from journalism to activism. She recounts her early collaborations with artists to use art as a powerful communication tool to generate empathy. She explains how this led to her forming her activism organization Fine Acts, a non profit creative studio for social impact that leverages the power of play in the process of creating their campaigns.
Yana describes her team fuse this with Hope-Based Communication and the shifts that are taking place in campaigning for human rights.
Yana discusses the latest thinking and how neuroscience insights are changing the way activists operate and why they are releasing their artworks as open source.
I ask Yana to reflect on the state of political leadership and the evolution of leadership around the world.
We also discuss education, curiosity, creativity and procrastination before we jump into our quick-fire questions.
There's a lot of inspiration in this episode but I was struck by how lack of experience never stopped Yana, how persistence and acceptance of failure spurred her one to achieve extraordinary impact.
I hope you enjoy the heart, humanity and humility of Yana Tavanier.
Social Links
Instagram Twitter Facebook Beat – her creative social experiment, exploring the ominous silence surrounding domestic violence.
Fakery – Yana’s project fighting fake news through beautiful but horribly tasting cupcakes.
Labs - their open format bridging art and tech in support of human rights.
Spring of Hope – their campaign on hope during the pandemic, where we collaborated with 80 artists from 30 countries to create over 100 free to use and adapt uplifting illustrations.
12 Black artists / 24 protest posters – recently, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Yana teamed up with 12 Black typographers and lettering artists from around the world on an open pack of 24 protest posters – all free to print and share, and ready to be used in action
Surviving Blackness – our current campaign, where she collaborated with Lee Mokobe – an award-winning Black trans slam poet – on a spoken word poem on systemic racism towards Black people.
Her TED Talk on Playtivism.
Links in the show
Time Heroes Bulgarian Helsinki Committee World Economic Forum Fine Acts Dr Stuart Brown Hope based communications Thomas Coomes Fulbright Scholar Amplifier Shepard Fairy AfterLife Ricky Gervais Figuring Maria Popova Brainpickings
Guest Overview - Lights On is the brainchild of Julia Black.
Julia is at the forefront of innovation in education, designing an educational approach that unleashes the talent, and unlocks the passion and true potential of every child.
As the founder and CEO of Explorium, Julia’s 'Lights On' methodology is changing the way we think about education.
In Part One we cover Julia's journey to social impact.
In Part Two, Julia explains that when becoming a mother, the values of her own mother, and her first daughter starting school created an inner conflict that led her to pivot away from film-making to focus on education reform.
She discusses how the serendipity of creating a circus as a school fund-raiser opened her eyes to the potential in children, unleashed her boldness to confront the educational status quo, research innovations in education to create a vision to disrupt educational norms. Starting with a creative learning center in a pub, Julia describers why having a clear vision enables her to thrive on risk-taking, ambiguity and trusting that events will fall into place.
Julia explains how she partnered with her father to transform her future vision into a social business reality. Julia breaks down the methodology and the impact Lights On is having on children and parents alike. Julia also reflects on why in the time of Covid parents can now witness their children’s disconnection from learning its mental health impact, and why Light’s On provides the path forward for education.
I hope you enjoy the vision, vitality and unfolding story of Julia Black.
Social Links
Explorium Facebook Instagram
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Marie Stopes Channel4 BAFTA Neurohacking Ministry of Sound
Guest Overview Julia Black
Over the course of the series, we have often asked our guests about what they would change to education to equip a generation of children with the skills they need to survive and thrive in our AI-driven future.
This week’s guest Julia Black is at the forefront of innovation in education, designing an educational approach that unleashes the talent, and unlocks the passion and true potential of every child.
As the founder and CEO of Explorium, Julia’s Lights On methodology is changing the way we think about education.
In part one we discuss how finding her purpose in life was always on her mind.
Julia discusses the huge impact of her parents; her father’s influence in her seeking a life in social impact, believing anything you set your mind to was possible, and being true to your authentic self. Julia also reflects how her fathers adventurous spirit was balanced by her mother’s more cautious influence in creating a stable and secure home environment.
Julia explains her father’s story, being written off as a dyslexic, neuro-diverse child to becoming a doctor and being one of the UK’s first social entrepreneurs forming the Maria Stopes foundation for female reproductive rights.
Julia recounts how her father pushed her to confront fear, live outside her comfort zone, and embrace failure and its enduring value.
We also cover her own educational experience, seeking out her purpose in early life. Discovering the power of storytelling to create a social impact during a year in South America, returning to the UK, persisting in pitching ideas to the UK broadcast Channel 4 that led her to become an award-winning documentary filmmaker.
In part two we focus on Julia discovering her true purpose in her 40’s, her immersion in education reform, creating her Lights On platform, serendipity, and how the pandemic is providing the opportunity to scale the platform globally.
I hope you enjoy the vision, vitality and unfolding story of Julia Black.
Social Links
Explorium Facebook Instagram
Links in the Show
Marie Stopes Channel4 BAFTA Neurohacking Ministry of Sound Dr Tim Black
Guest Overview
Marcus G Miller has written some thought provoking and expansive reflections on Covid19, about the death of George Floyd and the impact on the Black Lives Matter movement. Last week I caught up with our guest from Episode No 56, the deep thinking, mathematician and musician, Marcus G Miller.
As one of the most well read and thoughtful guests we have had I was keen to hear Marcus’s perspective on our current world reality and how the future might play out.
I seek Marcus’s advice on what white folk can do to support the drive for racial justice. We discuss his perspective on the need for moral consciousness, and imagination. Marcus reflects on the media’s reporting of the death of black men by the police and the broader underreported killings across the country, the media’s handling of this and how the left and right react. Marcus recommends the books we should read to build our insight and knowledge on the nature of racism. Toward the end of the discussion I seek Marcus’s perspective on meditation and the unifying principle of physics as he shares the latest thinking on the topic.
I hope you enjoy the thoughts, reflections and expansive imagination of Marcus G Miller.
Links to Social
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Toni Morrison Wolfram Theory of Everything Zero Point Field Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle James Baldwin Robin Diangelo Sam Harris Trevor Noah Dr Philip Atiba Goff Center For Policing Equity Insight Timer The Shack Three Body Problem Crispr Dr Merrit Moore Jean Baptiste
Guest Overview
As a football fan since a boy and a believer that sport and football have the power to create social impact, I am so privileged to have the opportunity to interview this week’s guest Jürgen Griesbeck, Co-Founder of the game-changing organization Common Goal.
Thank you, Ben Miller for the connection.
In part two, we dive deep into Common Goal, and the incredible work Jürgen and his team are doing to inject social impact into the DNA of football.
Jürgen explains the incubation of Common Goal. Leaving aside the CSR model, believing that it would never create sustainable and systemic impact, Jurgen and his team set up Common Goal as a movement where players commit 1% of their earnings to Common Goal's central fund. Together, they allocate and fund high-impact social organizations that harness football's power to advance the United Nations Global Goals
Beginning with Juan Mata from Manchester United and Spain, Common Goal now has over 150 players including, Mats Hummels, Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Shinji Kagawa, Giorgio Chiellini, and Liverpool F.C. manager Jurgen Klopp.
Jürgen explains his long term vision for Common Goal, and the potential impact it can as an enabling force for good.
Based on an ambition to build a culture where a better person is a better player, and that every person's contribution counts, Common Goal is now being adopted by younger players, managers, clubs, businesses and even supporters.
Jürgen also discusses the organization's role in supporting the UN's Global Goals and using football to galvanize the global population around the goals.
And Jürgen also answers our quick-fire questions.
There is a lot to take out of this episode; the importance of avoiding the easy option, the value of collective responsibility, the power of teamwork, being prepared to take risks and trust in your gut and imagination.
I hope you enjoy the wit, wisdom, and social impact of Jürgen Griesbeck.
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Links In the Show
Common Goal Street Football World Andres Escobar Pablo Escobar Medellin Ashoka FIFA UEFA Glasgow Celtic UNICEF Juan Mata Manchester United Megan Rapinoe Alex Morgan Jurgen Klopp FC Northyallan Money Heist Handmaids Tale Between The World and Me Mandela Long Walk to Freedom
Guest Overview Jürgen Griesbeck
As a football fan since a boy and a believer that sport and football have the power to create social impact, I am so privileged to have the opportunity to interview this week's guest Jürgen Griesbeck, Co-Founder of the game-changing organization Common Goal.
Thank you Ben Miller for the connection.
In Part One we cover Jürgen’s early path to purpose.
German-born, Jürgen’s journey began in the Black Forest. Growing up in Stuttgart with a mother who worked as a lawyer's assistant and a football-playing hospital administrator father Jurgen’s childhood provided little evidence that a life of social impact lay ahead.
Studying sports science, travels through Mexico and Costa Rica, developing a love of Latin America and meeting his now wife all contributed to him taking a scholarship in Medellin Colombia three months after the death of drug cartel leader Carlos Escobar.
In this dangerous and unpredictable environment, Jurgen witnessed first hand how football had the power to create unity when he saw two rival gangs set aside their weapons and participate in a football match.
In this serendipitous moment, his idea for Football for Peace was born. Engaging the gang leaders he designed a novel accessible approach to football match rules that helped players develop conflict resolution skills, empathy, respect for women, and collective responsibility.
The transformative impact in the city led to him being invited back to replicate the model to help address extremism in unified Germany and create Street Football for Tolerance.
Soon he recognized the need and the opportunity to create a platform where resources and experiences could be shared. His Street Football World now has a presence in 135 countries, a network of social impact community organizations using football as a mechanism to address social inequity for underserved youth.
Jürgen ends part one discussing why the global and regional football organizations like Fifa and Uefa have not embraced social impact at the core of their work.
In part two we dive deep into Common Goal and incredible work Jurgen and his team are doing to inject social impact into the DNA of football.
This episode is evidence that finding one's purpose is not a linear path. It takes time, trust, and faith that circumstances and life events have a unique value in the process of discovering one's purpose in life.
I hope you enjoy the wit, wisdom, and social impact of Jürgen Griesbeck.
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Common Goal Street Football World Andres Escobar Pablo Escobar Medellin Ashoka FIFA UEFA Glasgow Celtic UNICEF
Guest Overview
Bill Dowzer is a Principal of Australian Architectural practice BVN; he has been involved in the design and direction of numerous award-winning projects ranging from public, educational and cultural buildings to commercial work environments.
Re-ply is his latest endeavor, the idea from Re-Ply came as NYC communities have experienced a spring of discontent.
The COVID-19 virus, the murder of George Floyd, the resulting protests and then mass looting resulted in thousands of plywood panels being put in place to protect businesses. Soon they were covered in Graffiti and then street are.
Now coming down, they would ordinarily have ended up in landfills—an unfortunate waste of resources. But Bill has assembled a team to Up-cycle the plywood barricades into a street furniture kits. He will help local restaurants recover after COVID-19 with part of the proceeds are being donated to Children of Promise a NY charity to support children of incarcerated parents & empower them to break the cycle of intergenerational involvement in the criminal justice system.
We discuss the crisis, his social enterprise, and his expectations of how work and society will change coming out of this crisis.
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This week's guests Keith Kirkland, and Kevin Yoo, are co-founders of Wearable tech start up Wear Works.
In part one we covered the challenges they both overcame growing up and their journey to entrepreneurship.
In part two we discuss the evolution of Wear Works. Keith explains how his interests in design, movement, and technology fused led him to a realization that he could use technology to teach movement. As a Matrix lover he asked himself the question, ‘can I create a suit that teaches me Kung Fu’. Setting out to answer this question he and Kevin set out to create a new language based on touch. Called Haptic technology, their first experiment in this technology was to create a haptic device that could assist a blind runner to complete the New York Marathon unaided. Kevin explains the journey and the wave they are riding in building this new language and the complex interdependencies.
We also discuss the reality of funding that most startups face, the challenges of finding the right investors, Keith discusses the importance of impact, purpose, sustainability and why they created the company to be remote from the start.
He also discusses their roadmap and how their technology will evolve. Kevin unpacks the importance of inclusive design and the value of incorporating that with touch and the power of touch as an educational or instructional tool and where this goes when it intersects with Augmented reality.
They also explain their guiding principles and their relationship as founders.
I think this episode provides much insight into the reality of what running a startup involves, dealing with failure, uncertainty, persistence, and the importance of character and relationships.
I hope you enjoy the vision, candor, and resilience of Kevin and Keith.
Social links
Kevin’s Linkedin Keith’s Linkedin
Links in the show
Wear Works FIT Pratt
Guest overview
This week's guests Keith Kirkland and Kevin Yoo are co-founders of Wearable tech start up Wear Works.
In part one we cover the challenges they both overcame growing up.
Keith was born into a loving family but faced growing up in one the most violent towns in the US, Camden, New Jersey.
Always feeling an outsider, and a high performer he saw education as his way to escape the streets of Camden and avoid becoming just another statistic in the list of black male deaths under the age of 26
Kevin was born in South Korea but faced the culture shock of moving to the US age 10 and navigating his way through school during a time his family was in survival mode.
While both Kevin and Keith grew up with economic scarcity each enjoyed an abundance of support and love.
We cover their parallel paths to studying Industrial design at New York’s Pratt school.
Keith explains how his a love of art, talent for math as well as some soul searching questions from a Professor set him on a path to Industrial Design.
Keith unpacks his circuitous path from art, engineering, to selling shoes to show and handbag design to studying Industrial design at Pratt.
I think this show demonstrates how persistence, hard work and willpower, wins in the end. I hope you enjoy the early insights on Keith Kirkland and Kevin Yoo.
In part two we dive deep into their experience as start up founders, the challenges they have faced and overcome and their vision for the future of haptic technology.
Social links
Kevin’s Linkedin Keith’s Linkedin
Links in the show
Wear Works FIT Pratt
Guest overview Priscilla Pemu was born in Nigeria into a family of seven children. With her Nigerian first name that translates to ‘I am what God has said’ her sense of purpose in life was conditioned at an early age.
Brought up in a playful and abundant family environment, her education set her on a course to a career in medicine and a world view conditioned by British and American culture led her to life in the US.
Married at 27, she studied medicine at Benin University - and gained her fellowship in Anesthesia. In the face of a turbulent political environment in Nigeria, her older sister persuaded her to move to the US. Landing in Atlanta Georgia Priscilla has built a successful medical career at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta Georgia.
By 2003 she realized that educating patients about lifestyle behaviors, daily actions and choices around health goals was the approach to addressing long-term chronic illness.
Starting out with a Microsoft grant to build an early online health platform - she scaled the platform to build a community of coaches in clinics and churches to educate patients on their lifestyle behaviors.
Calling this Culturally Congruent Coaching Priscilla has developed a highly effective platform for addressing peoples inadequate nutritional knowledge, confronting their inactivity, and to reduce the incidents of smoking, it is now ready to scale beyond the successes of Atlanta.
Having had her TED talk translated into multiple languages, her value based care program is gaining global coverage.
Toward the end of this interview Priscilla reflects on the issue of race in the US, the different cultural context of arriving as an immigrant Nigerian in 1996 versus the challenges her children have growing up in the US, code switching and dealing with racism and becoming resilient adults.
This is a shorter interview than normal but I hope you are inspired by the vision, empathy and purpose of Dr. Priscilla Pemu.
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Benin University Morehouse Hospital Atlanta Priscilla’s TED TALK Dare to Lead Brenee Brown
In a follow up from last year's interview with Your Mom Cares Founder Sharon Feldstein, Sharon provides an update on the amazing work she and her team of celebrity moms have been doing to support kids during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sharon reference supporting the Children'sHealth Fund in LA to create a unique group therapy program for kids living on the streets, to build their toolbox for dealing with mental health issues.
Sharon also updates us on the mental health app being developed by the University of Pittsburgh, a mental health early diagnostic app to identify children at risk and connect them with a counselor, social worker, or therapist. She discusses its value as we face a Tsunami of mental health issues following the pandemic.
Sharon reflects on their mega mom program to help other moms seeking support in dealing with their kid's mental health challenges.
Finally, Sharon discusses how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted her life.
If you want to support or donate or have an idea for YourMomCares go to YMC.org or email them at moms@yourmomcares.org or follow on Instagram @youmomcares.
Links in Show
Children's Health Fund TryFrame Your Mom Cares
Guest overview
Dr. Morgaine Gaye’s path to being a leading thinker in Food Futurology was any but predictable.
As an only child with a partying, Butcher for a mother and an ex-pat bodybuilding construction worker for a father, she grew up in a home with little money, love, attention, and direction. Self-parenting was her only option as she immersed herself in art, books, and a fantasy world.
Leaving school at sixteen, she traveled to the middle east, spent a year at university in Wisconsin, and by 19 was working as a ‘weather girl’ on Hong Kong TV.
She discusses drifting through life until finding herself in the game-changing spiritual community at Findhorn and how serendipity led her to discover Quantum Philosophy and starting her PhD.
Upon discovering she had always been seeking connection, she was drawn to the universal connector - food.
Morgaine breaks down why she focuses on the future of food and we cover how we first met in 2007 working on the development of a raw chocolate bar.
Morgaine explains the disruptive decade we have been living through and why we are moving from a phase of life ‘Having’ to a phase of ‘knowing’ and the seminal shifts that will occur in society, as we become more nature-focused, on an eco-future of biophilia, rewilding and experience the rise of hyper-local communities, and why our global economy will evolve, she observes how fast countries closed borders.
Morgaine discusses her experience of suffering from Covid-19 and losing her sense of smell, which has been her superpower.
We discuss her principles, her hard choices, how 9/11 led her to launch her own brand of superfood and her perspectives on diets, DNA, and genetics.
I hope you enjoy the artistry, vision, and philosophy of Dr. Morgaine Gaye.
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Links Show
Keith Critchlow Unorthodox Netflix Rich Food Poor Food Food a Love Story - Jim Gaffigan A Good Life Leo Hickman Edible-Love.com
James Bradley was born in Glasgow, brought up in England by a surgeon father and research science mother. In a supportive home environment, he grew and developed his interest in Geo-biology.
With a curiosity for outdoors and travel, and an explorer gene, his adventurous and inspiring geography teacher encouraged him to pursue an education in environmental science and geography.
In Part One we discuss James’s upbringing, education, and journey to a life in exploration and geo-biology and climate research.
In Part two we dive deeper into the climate crisis and James discusses the shifting focus to sustainable renewable energy sources, the challenges of electric vehicles, and battery technologies.
James provides his perspective of working in extreme and remote parts of the planet and the climate impact he’s witnessed. He reflects on why big industry needs to take responsibility and stop placing responsibility on individuals.
James provides his considered perspective on the climate crisis, the timeline to existential disaster, the current modeling, and the uncertainty of how we humans react to the data we have.
James discusses his upcoming research during the arctic winter and the experience of working in such extreme environments.
We cover how he balances his work and personal life, how serendipity has guided his path, embracing ambiguity and the role of curiosity and creativity in his work.
James discusses his principles, the hard choices he has made, the one problem worth solving, the question no one asks him, who has made him re-evaluate himself, and his impossible advice.
I hope you are uplifted by the balanced perspective and curious scientific mind of Dr. James Bradley.
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James Site Twitter
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Duke of Edinburgh Award Bloc party Project Drawdown Trillion trees Initiative Sir Ranulph Fiennes Albedo levels The Guardian Article on Algae Queen Mary University London Climate Countdown Clock Irvine Welsh Marabou Stork Nightmares
Dr. James Bradley was born in Glasgow, brought up in England by a surgeon father and research science mother. In a supportive home environment, he grew and developed his interest in geobiology.
With a curiosity for outdoors and travel, and an explorer gene, his adventurous and inspiring geography teacher encouraged him to pursue an education in environmental science and geography.
In part one we discuss James’s education at Bristol University where he began climate modeling to simulate the effect of the impact of forestation levels and the reflectivity of the earth's surface on climate and carbon levels. James also breaks down the complexity of the biosphere.
He discusses his first job out of University, and why finance at an international bank did not enrich him, that led him to wish away his week and realizing that his yearning to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge.
Returning to the education he completed his master and is now As an Assistant professor at Queen Mary University in London where he runs his geobiology lab and working to understand the coevolution of life and the environment.
James explains the practical fieldwork he is doing on the Greenland ice sheets to understand why it’s darkening and shrinking and reducing the earth's reflectivity which keeps the planet's temperature in check.
He explains the difference between positive feedback and negative feedback loops and his modeling of the pigment of the microorganisms that colonize these massive ice shelves and the impact of their nutrient cycles
The exponential effect on climate
We also cover the impact of deep ocean mining on microbial life the ocean ecosystem
We end part one James and I discuss the politicization of climate, the media’s reporting and the impact of humanity on climate, and his perspective on the positive impact on carbon emissions from the global pandemic.
Social Links
James Site Twitter
Links in the Show
Duke of Edinburgh Award Bloc party
Project Drawdown Trillion trees Initiative Sir Ranulph Fiennes Albedo levels Queen Mary University London
Guest Overview
Moore Philanthropy founder Yvonne Moore was born in St Louis and brought up in Dallas Texas by her doctor father and teacher mother, in an environment that nurtured her generosity of spirit and set her on her path to a life of philanthropy.
Influenced by paternal grandmothers, success focused parents and competitive siblings, a college education was always expected.
In Part One we cover how her mother imbued her service driven principles, sharing time, talent and treasure, her first experience of racism in college in West Texas and the broader historic, socio-cultural context of racism, America’s original sin and its connection to the current US electoral system.
We discuss the challenges faced as an African American in the South, the social injustice, poll taxes and voting rights acts. The social skewed injustice of the Covid Pandemic.
Yvonne opens up about living with fear, the unknown and using therapy to overcome it.
We then chart her serendipitous path to a career in philanthropy, navigating policy changes to improve society, and breakdown the structure of the philanthropic sector.
In part two we dive deep into Yvonne’s amazing work in philanthropic sector representing family foundations like Klingenstein’s focus on mental health, Abigail Disney’s Pierre Hauser’s Daphne Foundation and the Police Foundation
We discuss the challenges faced since the last election, how Harry Potter saved her as she dealt with depression, the importance of the process of therapy and being comfortable in her own authority.
Yvonne explains why you can hack trust, finding the right match between grantees for social organizations. And why problems are not solved with money but more by public will and political will.
We discuss wealth and happiness, the role of the philanthropic sector and role of government in solving problems and the need to get out of its own way and why the agility of the sector is its untapped power and issues leadership needs to grapple with.
Yvonne reflects on Covid19, mental health, the stigma, and the lack of leadership on the issue. She compares this to the Ebola experience and her anger that we are not taking this seriously.
I ask Yvonne on education, serendipity and she discusses listening, fear, faith, and trust.
And there are all her quick fire answers.
I hope you are inspired by the generous spirit, social conscience and philanthropic heart of Yvonne Moore.
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Brennen Centre for Justice Sound of Music Texas Tech The electoral college Gerrymandering CASA program Schoolhouse Rock The New School Ebola Elizabeth Day Podcast Anahita Moghadam Abigail Disney Daphne Foundation Winners Take All Do What You Are Book Solve For Happy Mo Gowdat Bodyguard Netflix The One About Love Bell Hooks
Guest Overview
Yvonne Moore was born in St Louis and brought up in Dallas Texas, by her doctor father and teacher mother, in an environment that nurtured her generosity of spirit and set her on her path to a life of philanthropy.
Influenced by paternal grandmothers, success focused parents and competitive siblings, a college education was always expected.
In Part One we cover how her mother imbued her service driven principles, sharing time, talent and treasure, her first experience of racism in college in West Texas and the broader historic, socio-cultural context of racism, America’s original sin and its connection to the current US electoral system.
We discuss the challenges faced as an African American in the South, the social injustice, poll taxes and voting rights acts. The social skewed injustice of the Covid Pandemic.
Yvonne opens up about living with fear, the unknown and using therapy to overcome it.
We then chart her serendipitous path to a career in philanthropy, navigating policy changes to improve society, and breakdown the structure of the philanthropic sector.
In part two we dive deep into Yvonne’s amazing work in philanthropic sector representing family foundations like Klingenstein’s focus on mental health, Abigail Disney’s Pierre Hauser’s Daphne Foundation and the Police Foundation.
I hope you are inspired by the generous spirit, social conscience and philanthropic heart of Yvonne Moore.
Social Links
Facebook Twitter Linkedin Personal Linkedin
Links in the show
Brennen Centre for Justice Sound of Music Texas Tech The electoral college Gerrymandering CASA program Schoolhouse Rock The New School
Clear Health Costs Founder Jeanne Pinder dives deep into what led her to create her journalism meets healthcare start-up.
She explains its genesis from winning a “SharkTank” like pitch to inform people about healthcare costs by combining crowdsourcing and data.
Working in partnership with local and national media Clear Health Costs brings cost transparency to the US healthcare system and addresses the inequity in the healthcare system. We discuss the impact and motivation of the big tech companies in healthcare and the opportunity Jeanne’s team has to disrupt the healthcare sector and solve consumer problems.
Now focusing totally on Covid-19 we discuss Jeanne’s perspectives on the current health crisis.
She discusses the issues with the current Covid-19 testing and treatment strategies and broader public health policy. She also discusses federal issues, the regional coalitions, vaccines and the second wave.
We discuss the mental health impact of the virus and the upsurge on domestic, spousal and child abuse and the positive knock on effect of Telehealth.
Jeanne explains the market impact of the Clear Health Costs and explains how the app works and how it's empowering people to combat the inequity of the system and save money.
Jeanne also discusses confronting gender and age stereotypes as a female founder. We cover serendipity and the curiosity that drives her journalistic fervor and all her quick fire answers.
I hope you enjoy disruptive countercultural character and drive of Jeanne Pinder
Social Links
Linkedin TED Talk Twitter
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Clear Health Costs New York Times Des Moines Herald Grinnell Herald Leningrad The Gothamist WNYC CBS national News Parable of the Sowers Octavia Butler Bea Arthur
Guest Overview
Jeanne Pinder was born in Grinnell Iowa. Her journalist parents, her education in Slavic Studies and Russian Affairs, and her career at the New York Times prepared her to launch her disruptive health care start-up Clear Health Costs.
In Part One we cover Jeanne’s upbringing in a loud, challenging home environment with five siblings, and the experience of being part of the families local newspaper the Grinnell Herald, Jeanne discusses the high expectations of her parents, and how this conditioned her to be comfortable with chaos. In an environment of emotional abundance and material scarcity
Jeanne discusses how her world view was expanded by exposure to foreign dignitaries from her father's work with the state department. Jeanne covers her experience of being part of the counterculture movement during the Vietnam War. Her interest in international affairs led her to Indiana University to Study Slavic Studies and Russian Affairs, which resulted in her studying in Leningrad (St Petersburg) in Russia in the 1970’s and 80’s.
We discuss that experience and the current state of Russian power and politics and their influence on current US politics.
Jeanne explains how working at the Des Moines Register led her to a job as a copy editor at the New York Times during the 1980’s and the joy of working in journalism at a seminal time in world history.
Finally, we discuss the current state of national and local journalism and the power of the community to affect genuine change
In Part two we dive deep into what led Jeanne to create her journalism meets healthcare start-up Clear Health Costs, her perspectives on Covid-19 and a whole lot more.
She explains its genesis from winning a “SharkTank” like pitch to inform people about healthcare costs by combining crowdsourcing and data.
Working in partnership with local and national media Clear Health Costs brings cost transparency to the US healthcare system and addresses the inequity in the healthcare system. We discuss the impact and motivation of the big tech companies in healthcare and the opportunity Jeanne’s team has to disrupt the healthcare sector and solve consumer problems.
Now focusing totally on Covid-19 we discuss Jeanne’s perspectives on the current health crisis.
She discusses the issues with the current Covid-19 testing and treatment strategies and broader public health policy. She also discusses federal issues, the regional coalitions, vaccines and the second wave.
We discuss the mental health impact of the virus and the upsurge on domestic, spousal and child abuse and the positive knock on effect of Telehealth.
Jeanne explains the market impact of the Clear Health Costs and explains how the app works and how it’s empowering people to combat the inequity of the system and save money.
Jeanne also discusses confronting gender and age stereotypes as a female founder. We cover serendipity and the curiosity that drives her journalistic fervor and all her quick fire answers.
I hope you enjoy disruptive countercultural character and drive of Jeanne Pinder
Social Links
Linkedin TED Talk Twitter
Links in the Show
Clear Health Costs New York Times Des Moines Herald Grinnell Herald Leningrad The Gothamist WNYC CBS national News Parable of the Sowers Octavia Butler Bea Arthur
Guest Overview
Futurist and humanist Caroline Chubb Calderon thinks a lot about what it will mean to be human in the age of intelligent machines, genomic and robotics, and why we must reimagine the future of humanity.
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, her perspective is vital if we are to understand the future role of economies, work, leadership and humanity, and to prepare ourselves for a world of exponential disruption and uncertainty.
This might be the most important interview we have conducted so far. Please share.
What we discuss
Caroline discusses what the virus is telling us about the future of work, and the economy, and how to reprioritize human wellbeing.
She discusses the parallels with what AI is challenging us to do.
Caroline explains the change cycles we are in. Moving from the ‘big squeeze’ into ‘the reckoning phase’ and the new reality for leaders to lead the emotions of teams, let feelings of discomfort guide us through the core human emotions of fear, anxiety, trust, and love.
Caroline explains why the future needs courageous leaders and why courage requires vulnerability ( defined as uncertainly, risk, and emotional exposure).
She discusses why we must all focus on developing our uniquely human capabilities of compassion and social-emotional intelligence and creativity.
Caroline then discusses the big shifts that are at play 1. How might we imagine the future of economies 2. The acceleration of AI genomics and robotics - How we make them ethical. And the worm needs to be done by leaders and questions whether this work is being done.-She argues that the humbling nature of the virus creates an opportunity for a global conversation 3. The shift away from globalization to more local economies from supply chains and farming 4. The emphasis on human wellbeing on leaders agendas 5. Greater emphasis on existential crisis mitigation
This is an important discussion so please share with whoever you can.
Guest overview Chef Robert Marchetti is an Australian born celebrity chef and now New York based restaurateur and co-founder of Gran Tivoli and Peppi’s Cellar.
As founder and CEO of Marchettico, his hospitality lifestyle company, he delivers creative solutions that include Interior Design, Architectural, Food & Beverage, Concept Creation and Design.
Listen to Part One here.
In Part Two Robert discusses his vision for his NYC restaurant Gran Tivoli and why he is self funded. He reflects on the economic impact of Covid19 on New York restaurants and bars, the business environment, supporting his staff and how as humans we can use this period as a time to grow stronger and sharpen our tools. He discusses why vulnerability is a strength and how he has learned to thrive through failure and his perspective on organic food and the industrial food supply chain. The hard decision he had to make when he was at the top of his game.
Robert discusses his love of history books, the imperative to solve homelessness and the rest of his quick-fire questions.
I hope you enjoy the honesty, passion, curiosity Robert Marchetti \
What We Discuss
In Part One.
Robert discusses the influence of his German mother and Italian father and how they arrived in Australia after WWII.
In part one Chef Robert discusses how the desire to have an early computer, the Commodore 64, drove him to find his first job in a restaurant washing dishes. This was an early sign of the power of his persistence as he learned to cook at culinary school. With no interest in school he travelled across the country to work for his brother in his restaurant as an apprentice. With no favoritism he was pushed into the drug and alcohol fueled kitchen environments of the 80’s and 90’s which gave him his first insight into the dark side of the industry.
He discusses how his Mother taught him to make something out of nothing and how his father taught him never to let anyone touch him or abuse him.
Chef Robert portrays the reasons for the dysfunctional environments and the pressures on chefs and their reliance on addiction and alcohol that existed in the 80’s and 90’s.
He discusses why food that is true to family roots and storytelling is better and encouraging his staff to bring their culture to his menu.
We cover the importance of being self taught and lifelong learning. Robert discusses
Transcendental meditation, Wim Hoff’s training and managing his anxiety and temperament and applying all that knowledge to his work as he continuously learns.
In Part Two we discuss the impact of Covid-19 on New York and the restaurant and business environment. Robert discusses why vulnerability is a strength and focuses on what he can take out of this to grow stronger, sharpen his tools and use as a positive experiment.
We discuss the reshaping process and once we get back to normal. Robert discusses why people come to New York for the community, the sacrifices people have made to be in New York but with Covid-19 they are now lacking that community.
We cover the impact on his and Jason's business. Having empathy for others in worse situations and struggling. Chef Robert explains thriving with failure and preparing for it. He discusses the future of the hospitality industry and the reshaping of it but that people will get back to normal behavior, and the likelihood of corporate takeovers.
He covers the impact on commercial property rents and the changing dynamics of how bars and restaurants will operate. Robert discusses the economic imperative to reinvigorate industry, the impact and limitations on peoples credit, but why people will always want to eat and drink together.
Robert covers reading history books, the difficult decisions his had to make, solving homelessness and discusses sustainable food and the challenges of people not understanding where their food comes from.
Social Links
Instagram Gran Tivoli Roberts Instagram Gran Tivoli Website Facebook
Show Links
The Surrender experiment Jason Scott Danny Myers and ShakeShack David Thomson Thai Cook Walkers Tavern 9/11 Elon Musk Andrew Cuomo Bill Gates Change Please Animals Australia Bosch Sweet Child of Mine The Gift of Fear
Guest overview
Robert Marchetti is an Australian born celebrity chef and now New York based restaurateur and co-founder of Gran Tivoli and Peppi’s Cellar.
As founder and CEO of Marchettico, his hospitality lifestyle company, he delivers creative solutions that include Interior Design, Architectural, Food & Beverage, Concept Creation and Design.
In Part One of this wide ranging discussion Robert tells the story of his upbringing in Australia to an Italian father and German mother, how his youthful persistence led him to his first experience of the restaurant industry age thirteen, being hired at fifteen by his older brother in his iconic Italian restaurant, and honing his skills on his journey through the dysfunctional high pressured restaurant kitchen environments of the 80’s and 90’s and navigating a path through a culture of abuse and staff reliance on drugs and alcohol. Robert also discusses how he developed his leadership style, being self taught, mentoring and the importance of lifelong learning.
In Part Two Robert discusses his vision for his NYC restaurant Gran Tivoli and why he is self funded. He reflects on the economic impact of Covid19 on New York restaurants and bars, the business environment, supporting his staff and how as humans we can use this period as a time to grow stronger and sharpen our tools. He discusses why vulnerability is a strength and how he has learned to thrive through failure and his perspective on organic food and the industrial food supply chain. The hard decision he had to make when he was at the top of his game.
Robert discusses his love of history books, the imperative to solve homelessness and the rest of his quick-fire answers.
What We Discuss
Robert discusses the influence of his German mother and Italian father. Robert explains how they arrived in Australia after WWII.
In part one Robert discusses how the desire to have an early computer, the Commodore 64, drove him to find his first job in a restaurant washing dishes. Therefore, this was an early sign of the power of his persistence as he learned to cook at culinary school. Therefore, with no interest in school he travelled across the country to work for his brother in his restaurant as an apprentice. As a result he was faced with no favoritism he was pushed into the drug and alcohol fueled kitchen environments of the 80’s and 90’s. As a result this gave him his first insight into the dark side of the industry.
Robert discusses how his Mother taught him to make something out of nothing and how his father taught him never to let anyone touch him or abuse him.
Robert portrays the reasons for the dysfunctional environments and the pressures on chefs and their reliance on addiction and alcohol that existed in the 80’s and 90’s.
He discusses why food that is true to family roots and storytelling is better and encouraging his staff to bring their culture to his menu.
We cover the importance of being self taught and lifelong learning. Robert discusses Transcendental meditation, Wim Hoff’s training and managing his anxiety and temperament and applying all that knowledge to his work as he continuously learns.
Social Links
Instagram Gran Tivoli Roberts Instagram Gran Tivoli Website Facebook
Show Links
The Surrender experiment Jason Scott Danny Myers and ShakeShack David Thomson Thai Cook Walkers Tavern
Guest Overview
Post Covid19 Nita Baum is on a mission. She is an entrepreneur, co-creator, facilitator, mentor-coach, and community-builder. She is also board lead for Solar responders - the NGO from previous guest Hunter Johansson - so thanks to Hunter for making this happen.
Born in New York to an inspiring cancer scientist mother and a philosophical pharmacist father, her parents’ influenced her curiosity, appreciation for creation, and her right brain - left brain development.
In Part One of this two-parter, we cover Nita’s early story.
In Part Two we discuss her perspectives on the broader impact of Covid19 and cover what led Nita to form her business Bfree to partners with organizations to help them to activate individual, team, and organizational potential. Nita questions purpose role of work in light of the crisis and our growing realization of what can be achieved so easily and quickly
We discuss the transformative moment of now and how people are reacting and the opportunity for consciousness-raising, the reorientation of human capital and the transformative capacity in all of us.
I hope you are inspired by the vision, values and life philosophy of Nita Baum
What we discuss:
Nita's mother's wonder and awe and love of science
Her father’s broad expansive thinking and his concern for what it means to be human and our collective interdependence.
How Nita grew up to understand about food as a healing agent
Her Mother’s respect for science
A growing appreciation for art and science, and the process of creation
Nita's memories of her conversations with her father about MLK and JFK and her rebellious side
She discusses her sister's influence and their relationship
Playing games of the imagination
The love of school and the challenges she faced
Her love of reading and art and literature
Nita's growing social and political consciousness of local and global events
Being drawn to Education
Studying art history and East Asian studies
Traveling to China, Japan and Korea and becoming interested in the philosophy and spirituality
Studying in Japan after college.
The combination of abundance and scarcity and how her parents taught them about value and gratitude.
Witnessing the social inequity in education
The exposure to black culture by being invited to a gifted child's education program
Her emotional maturity
The realization that power of systems and her misalignment
In Part two
The impact of Covid19
Humanities interdependency and being wired for survival
What might emerge from Covid19
What is the purpose of work
Our realization of what can be achieved so easily and quickly
The transformative moment of now
How people are reacting and the opportunity for consciousness-raising
We discuss Bfree and its vision
The transformative power of leaving the workforce
The philosophy of Bfree
The reorientation of Human Capital
The transformative capacity in all of us
The potential of self, teams, and our larger human collective
Processing our grief through institutionalized fear vs building from love
Principles - Presume we all come free. Gifted, equal in power, and grounded.
Nita's impossible advice
Links to Social
Website LinkedIn Twitter Solar Responders Yak Collective
Links in show
Jiro Dreams of Sushi Americorp George Washington University NetImpact Black National Anthem The Tail End Rosa Parks I Will Survive Book When Things Fall Apart FocusMates
Guest Overview
Nita Baum is an entrepreneur, co-creator, facilitator, mentor-coach, and community-builder. She is also board lead for Solar responders - the NGO from previous guest Hunter Johansson - so thanks to Hunter for making this happen.
Born in New York to an inspiring cancer scientist mother and a philosophical pharmacist father, her parents’ influenced her curiosity, appreciation for creation, and her right brain - left brain development.
In Part One of this two-parter we cover Nita’s early influences, her love of school and education, sisters' influence, playing games of the imagination and growing up in an environment of scarcity and abundance.
Nita discusses experiencing the social inequity in education, developing a social and political consciousness of local and global events, traveling to China, Japan, and Korea and becoming interested in philosophy and spirituality.
Studying in Japan after college.
In Part Two we discuss her perspectives on the broader impact of Covid19
cover what led Nita to form her business Bfree to partners with organizations to help them to activate individual, team, and organizational potential. Nita questions purpose role of work in light of the crisis and our growing realization of what can be achieved so easily and quickly
We discuss the transformative moment of now and how people are reacting and the opportunity for consciousness-raising, the reorientation.
n of human capital and the transformative capacity in all of us.
I hope you are inspired by the vision, values and life philosophy of Nita Baum
What we discuss:
Nita's mother's wonder and awe and love of science
Her father’s broad expansive thinking and his concern for what it means to be human and our collective interdependence.
How Nita grew up to understand about food as a healing agent
Her Mother’s respect for science
A growing appreciation for art and science, and the process of creation
Nita's memories of her conversations with her father about MLK and JFK and her rebellious side
She discusses her sister's influence and their relationship
Playing games of the imagination
The love of school and the challenges she faced
Her love of reading and art and literature
Nita's growing social and political consciousness of local and global events
Being drawn to Education
Studying art history and east Asian studies
Traveling to China, Japan and Korea and becoming interested in the philosophy and spirituality
Studying in Japan after college.
The combination of abundance and scarcity and how her parents taught them about value and gratitude.
Witnessing the social inequity in education
The exposure to black culture by being invited to a gifted child's education program
Her emotional maturity
The realization that power of systems and her misalignment
In Part two
The impact of Covid19
Humanities interdependency and being wired for survival
What might emerge from Covid19
What is the purpose of work
Our realization of what can be achieved so easily and quickly
The transformative moment of now
How people are reacting and the opportunity for consciousness-raising
We discuss Bfree and its vision
The transformative power of leaving the workforce
The philosophy of BFree
The reorientation of Human Capital
The transformative capacity in all of us
The potential of self, teams, and our larger human collective
Processing our grief through institutionalized fear vs building from love
Principles - Presume we all come free. Gifted, equal in power and grounded.
Nita's impossible advice
Links to Social
Website LinkedIn Twitter Solar Responders Yak Collective
Links in show
Jiro Dreams of Sushi Americorp George Washington University NetImpact Black National Anthem The Tail End Rosa Parks I Will Survive Book When Things Fall Apart FocusMates
Guest overviews
The Migrant Kitchen is a special Covid19 episode.
Recorded over Zoom, I interview Nasser Jaber, the co-founder of The Migrant Kitchen who’s team is currently delivering 50 thousand free meals a day in NY and NJ to feed the families of those impacted by the Covid-19 crisis, including local healthcare workers on the front line in and around the city.
Joining us is Israa Nasir - a clinically trained psychotherapist with experience of working with minority communities in NYC and treating their cultural and immigration-based challenges, anxiety issues, traumas, and the stresses people are suffering as this crisis unfolds.
We cover the amazing work Nas is doing, the logistical challenges they face daily, in this disaster relief program, the complexity of sourcing, preparing, cooking, and delivering under CDC guidance and social distancing standards, and his go fund me campaign,
We also cover the issues facing the food insecure communities, and the social injustice of the current food supply chain and the broader social issues this virus has exposed.
and his personal experience of dealing with and overcoming his own mental health challenges growing up in occupied Palestine.
Israa discusses the work she is doing to confront the stigma in Asian communities and some of the mental health challenges they face, how the virus has equalized the calls for help, and the impact on frontline workers. She also expands upon cultural and generational taboos around mental health and anxiety and the changes underway.
We also discuss the mental health issues facing people working in restaurants and kitchens and the exploitation of people of color, undocumented workers and gender-based bias
Due to some connection issues at around the halfway, there are some sound glitches for a minute or two but we have left them in as the sound returns to normal just after.
I hope you are inspired and moved to support the great work of Nas Jaber and Israa Nasir.
They discuss the positive changes in mental health literacy and changing attitudes resulting from the Virus,
Social Links
Migrant Kitchen NasJab83 Instagram - The Migrant Kitchen Facebook Instagram Well.guide Israa’s Linkedin
Links In the Show
The Migrant Kitchen Gofundme World Central Kitchen Jean George Door Dash Chelsea Rental NYU IC Crisis Textline
Guest Overview
The evolution of education is Maria Dantos's mission. She was born to a gregarious Greek immigrant father and ‘Mayflower compact’ mother. She grew up in her family-run haunted hotel in Vermont, with safety and freedom to play and explore her imagination. Immersed in abundant love she developed a world view of social justice and the importance of removing the inequity in education.
Maria is an educator to her core; with 15 years of teaching, administration and educational reform experience. She has worked with people of diverse backgrounds and to advocate for justice in education as a means of upward social mobility for minority, female or otherwise less advantaged people. Her work reflects the importance of lifelong education and encouraging curiosity.
She founded, and led multiple daycare and pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) education programs and schools of up to 100 students.
Driven by her conviction that every child deserves to have access to quality education led her to launch her non-profit organization, Philox to provide humanitarian relief and education to underserved at-risk children in humanitarian areas of concern. Maria is also seeking to collaborate with educators, healthcare workers, community organizers and artists to provide solutions for at-risk children in this time of crisis.
Applying her organizational, management and creative skills together Maria has worked as producer for several live events, short films, documentaries and one feature length film. She has also collaborated with members of Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Lincoln Center, and with Bank Street College at Columbia University.
In Part One we cover Maria's early years.
In Part Two we cover her work in educational development and perspectives on the future impact of Covid19 on education and child development.
I hope you enjoy the caring compassion and commitment of Maria Dantos.
What we discuss
Growing up in a playful outdoor environment she discusses her making her own adventures.
Maria reflects on the influence of her Greek roots, and her curiosity about ‘otherness’ in a non greek community. We discuss the abundance of love but changing material scarcity.
Maria explains how her education piqued her curiosity and broadened her worldview and led her to winning a scholarship to Japan aged fourteen and learning what was an alien culture but forged lifelong connections.
Maria explains how serendipity set her on a path to a career in education as a result of 9/11 that led her to signing up to a Masters program at University of Pennsylvania.
She discusses the impact of living with the Navajo Nation and the influence of living with a Navajo Indian elder and revolutionary Catherine Smith and how this opened her eyes to systematic social injustice, poverty, addiction, malnutrition, lack of human rights and dignity .
We cover her first experience in teaching in New York working between two economically diverse schools
Maria tells the story of the serendipity of one set of parents who decided to fund her school start up.
Maria discusses early childhood education curriculum strategies and her hope for the future of education and the relationships and discussions she is having to address the changes we need in education.
We cover behavioral and neural changes in children due to the impact of technology and the lack of human interaction that is affecting child and interpersonal developments.
We dive into the importance of quality content for children.
Maria describes her collaborations with Columbia and Yo Yo Ma create new educational experiences
I ask Maria to describe her educational NGO Philox Project and how its creating access to education to children and the community and protection.
We discuss this in relation to Covid 19 and where the education system will change and how she hopes that more value will be focused on education.
She names her principles of justice and Integrity
Social Links
Linkedin Instagram Vimeo Maria’s Work Philox Project
Links In Show
Dartmouth College Professor Rassius Pomfret School UPenn BIA Navajo Nation Katherine Smith Navajo Excelsior Fellowship Robert Wood Johnson foundation The Tao Book Grand Tivoli
Guest Overview
A serendipitous path to educational reform led Maria Dantos to become an educator, teacher administrator and educational reformer.
Maria was born to a gregarious Greek immigrant father and ‘Mayflower compact’ mother. She grew up in her family-run haunted hotel in Vermont, with safety and freedom to play and explore her imagination. Immersed in abundant love she developed a world view of social justice and the importance of removing the inequity in education.
Maria is an educator to her core; with 15 years of teaching, administration and educational reform experience. She has worked with people of diverse backgrounds and to advocate for justice in education as a means of upward social mobility for minority, female or otherwise less advantaged people. Her work reflects the importance of lifelong education and encouraging curiosity.
She founded, and led multiple daycare and pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) education programs and schools of up to 100 students.
Driven by her conviction that every child deserves to have access to quality education led her to launch her non-profit organization, Philox to provide humanitarian relief and education to underserved at-risk children in humanitarian areas of concern. Maria is also seeking to collaborate with educators, healthcare workers, community organizers and artists to provide solutions for at-risk children in this time of crisis.
Applying her organizational, management and creative skills together Maria has worked as producer for several live events, short films, documentaries and one feature length film. She has also collaborated with members of Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Lincoln Center, and with Bank Street College at Columbia University.
In Part One we cover Maria’s early years.
In Part two we cover her work in educational development and perspectives on the future impact of Covid19 on education and child development.
I hope you enjoy the caring compassion and commitment of Maria Dantos.
Thank you James Clark
What we discuss
Growing up in a playful outdoor environment she discusses her making her own adventures.
Maria reflects on the influence of her Greek roots, and her curiosity about ‘otherness’ in a non greek community. We discuss the abundance of love but changing material scarcity.
Maria explains how her education piqued her curiosity and broadened her worldview and led her to winning a scholarship to Japan aged fourteen and learning what was an alien culture but forged lifelong connections.
Maria explains how serendipity set her on a path to a career in education as a result of 9/11 that led her to signing up to a Masters program at University of Pennsylvania.
She discusses the impact of living with the Navajo Nation and the influence of living with a Navajo Indian elder and revolutionary Catherine Smith and how this opened her eyes to systematic social injustice, poverty, addiction, malnutrition, lack of human rights and dignity .
We cover her first experience in teaching in New York working between two economically diverse schools
Maria tells the story of the serendipity of one set of parents who decided to fund her school start up.
Maria discusses early childhood education curriculum strategies and her hope for the future of education and the relationships and discussions she is having to address the changes we need in education.
We cover behavioral and neural changes in children due to the impact of technology and the lack of human interaction that is affecting child and interpersonal developments.
We dive into the importance of quality content for children.
Maria describes her collaborations with Columbia and Yo Yo Ma create new educational experiences
I ask Maria to describe her educational NGO Philox and how its creating access to education to children and the community and protection.
We discuss this in relation to Covid 19 and where the education system will change and how she hopes that more value will be focused on education.
She names her principles of justice and Integrity
Social Links
Linkedin Instagram Vimeo Maria’s Work Philox Project
Links In Show
Dartmouth College Professor Rassius Pomfret School UPenn BIA Navajo Nation Katherine Smith Navajo Excelsior Fellowship Robert Wood Johnson foundation The Tao Book Grand Tivoli
Cancel Corona is the new initiative from philanthropic giving app, Momentum. We just interviewed our past guest Nick Fitz on his team's amazing Cancel Corona initiative.
Nick explains how he and his team have quickly pivoted to build out the web app to enable anyone or any brand to use the platform to generate purposeful Covid donations based on what people are not spending during Covid19.
'Millions are losing work, kids are going hungry, and coronavirus cases are rising. At the same time, we’re collectively spending billions less by not commuting, not eating out, and not going to bars and canceled events. Let’s put that extra cash to work.
See how much you’re saving, then easily donate to help those most affected by Corona.'
Link to Cancel Corona
About Nick and Momentum - Learn more on our first interview
Momentum app co-founder and CEO Nick Fitz is disrupting charitable giving. Born in Washington DC, raised in a reform household, to socially conscious parents, Nick learned values “around justice and giving back” from an early age.
Serendipity brought him together with his founding partners Ari Kagan and Ivan Dimitrov, to develop the Momentum app. It was the moment they realized there was no simple way to bridge the gap between people’s willingness to donate and their actual ability to make a contribution.
Nick and I discuss the genesis of the app, how it’s disrupting the philanthropic giving sector, empowering users to give in a simple, frictionless manner and overcoming the barriers most people face when wanting to give by enabling good intentions to result in giving actions and behaviors. The app lets you arrange automated small-dollar donations that are triggered by ordinary moments or events that relate to how you live your life.
Nick discusses how the app could develop, and we cover the broader challenges facing the $400+ billion philanthropic sector ( US ), the systemic societal challenges, and the need for wholesale tax reform. Nick discusses advocacy, optimism, the evidence-based social good movement, and the value that NGO’s add, in ways that the government can’t. The importance of supporting independent organizations that can influence changes in government policy.
The Serendipity of Tori Chickering O'Connell was born in New Jersey to parents that cultivated a loving, safe, and creative home environment where comedy, music, and dance were a central part of the daily furniture of growing up.
There is no question that this nurturing environment set her on a path to a creative career of being a journalist, producer, documentary filmmaker, comedy writer and published author of two books Nookie Town and Family Values.
In this vibrant two-parter, we cover Tori's upbringing and the influence of her parents, infusing the importance of having fun and not giving a damn.
Tori's discusses the importance of gratitude, having a 'why not me' attitude, and how in her early career, this attitude landed her a job at MTV, as she applied her creativity and embraced life's uncertainty and ambiguity with gusto. Tori reflects on using this attitude in the time of Covid19, and we discuss how new models are emerging in comedy, music and the arts during the lockdown.
We cover her extraordinary experience of making a documentary of some of today's most lauded comedians 20 years ago before they were famous.
And we dive deep into how the serendipitous personal experience of becoming a divorcee in Jersey led to the idea for her first novel, NookieTown, and covers her second book, Twisted Family Values.
I hope you enjoy the fun, frivolity, and freedom of not giving a damn with Tori Chickering
What We Discuss
Tori's parental impact
Glitter balls and dancing on Saturdays
The experience of her youth
Art Therapy
The importance of fun
The impact of her grandparents
Living in a household of love
Freedom and life force of not give a damn
Being outspoken and out there and the bullying that resulted
The importance of Halloween costumes
The connection of dis-ease to disease
Her 'let's do it' attitude
An early love of song and dance
Having a sellout show at the Edinburgh festival with New York, Sex, Killing and Shopping
Having start over attitude
You Can Do it attitude
Great Day in Harlem
The evolution of NookieTown
The idea behind Twisted Family Values
Her upcoming novel
Fun, accountability and social risk
Social Links
VC Chickering - author's site (with loads of fun links to buy books and procrastinate)
@vcchickering - author's Instagram
Tori Erstwhile & The Montys - author's band's YouTube channel
Links in the Show
Nookie Town Twisted Family Values Tori Erstwhile and the Montys St Martin's Press Rocky Horror Picture Show Mike Birbiglia Tip Your Wait staff Mahler Chamber Orchestra International Opera Choir Nabucco Opera Hamilton on Zoom Stuck in the Middle Fallon CBGB's Bust Joan Jet Hurricane Sandy Great Day in Harlem VEEP Flight of the Conchords Sex Education
Tori Chickering O'Connell was born in New Jersey to parents that cultivated a loving, safe, and creative home environment where comedy, music, and dance were a central part of the daily furniture of growing up.
There is no question that this nurturing environment set her on a path to a creative career of being a journalist, producer, documentary filmmaker, comedy writer and published author of two books Nookie Town and Family Values.
In this vibrant two-parter, we cover Tori's upbringing and the influence of her parents, infusing the importance of having fun and not giving a damn.
Tori's discusses the importance of gratitude, having a 'why not me' attitude, and how in her early career, this attitude landed her a job at MTV, as she applied her creativity and embraced life's uncertainty and ambiguity with gusto. Tori reflects on using this attitude in the time of Covid19, and we discuss how new models are emerging in comedy, music and the arts during the lockdown.
We cover her extraordinary experience of making a documentary of some of today's most lauded comedians 20 years ago before they were famous.
And we dive deep into how the serendipitous personal experience of becoming a divorcee in Jersey led to the idea for her first novel, NookieTown, and covers her second book, Twisted Family Values.
I hope you enjoy the fun, frivolity, and freedom of not giving a damn with Tori Chickering
What We Discuss
Tori's parental impact
Glitter balls and dancing on Saturdays
The experience of her youth
Art Therapy
The importance of fun
The impact of her grandparents
Living in a household of love
Freedom and life force of not give a damn
Being outspoken and out there and the bullying that resulted
The importance of Halloween costumes
The connection of dis-ease to disease
Her 'let's do it' attitude
An early love of song and dance
Having a sellout show at the Edinburgh festival with New York, Sex, Killing and Shopping
Having start over attitude
You Can Do it attitude
Great Day in Harlem
The evolution of NookieTown
The idea behind Twisted Family Values
Her upcoming novel
Fun, accountability and social risk
Social Links
VC Chickering - author's site (with loads of fun links to buy books and procrastinate)
@vcchickering - author's Instagram
Tori Erstwhile & The Montys - author's band's YouTube channel
Links in the Show
Nookie Town Twisted Family Values Tori Erstwhile and the Montys St Martin's Press Rocky Horror Picture Show Mike Birbiglia Tip Your Wait staff Mahler Chamber Orchestra International Opera Choir Nabucco Opera Hamilton on Zoom Stuck in the Middle Fallon CBGB's Bust Joan Jet Hurricane Sandy Great Day in Harlem VEEP Flight of the Conchords Sex Education
We recorded this bonus episode with an early guest Dr. Courtney Rennicke on her advice on building resiliency in the time of Covid19. Courtney discusses Covid10 and resiliency in relation to our baseline nervous system's reactions to stress, tangible examples dealing with it, relates it to the Polyvagal theory and draws on similarities to her resiliency work during 9/11.
Dr. Courtney Rennicke New York-based clinical psychologist who runs her practice Rennicke & Associates in the vibrant Tribeca neighborhood of downtown Manhattan.
Guest Overview
Chloe Valdary was born in New Orleans, to a homemaking mother and banker father, and grew up in an environment of inquiry and orthodoxy that led her to opening a Pandora's box of curiosity.
Through curiosity, talent and education Chloe developed a love of art, music and English literature that expanded her world view and set her on a journey to develop the skills and insights needed to create her Theory of Enchantment educational program. The course is designed to use storytelling and pop-culture to equip students with the skills necessary to develop a healthy sense of personal empowerment and social wellbeing. It’s also the name of her podcast.
In part one of this two-parter Chloe discusses her upbringing, growing up with abundance and scarcity, the fusion of inquiry and orthodoxy, the impact of religion and her education, her love of, and desire to explore art, English literature, and film. We also cover her insider-outsider dynamic how her worldview developed and how she ended up with a scholarship at the Wall Street Journal
Part Two Chloe expands on the psychological and spiritual power and value of her curriculum in addressing the inability to see the other in identity politics.
We discuss the chaos of Covid19 and the broader issues underlying the moment, the opportunity of creating meaning out of disorder and chaos, less social distancing in our virtual lives and the role and power of storytelling and the power of Mumford and Sons Sigh No More
Maintaining discipline to continue learning, the role of A minor and developing and making meaning in the world
Of course, we discuss serendipity, curiosity, education, change, principles, and her quick-fire answers.
I hope you enjoy the enquiring mind, the redemptive spirit and, the educational storytelling of Chloe Valdary.
What We Discuss
Her Banker Father and homemaking Mother
Chloe’s English Literature mentors
The important role and intellectual impact of Churchgoing
How the past always loomed large in growing up
Abundance and scarcity in her upbringing
The impact of her School and its academic rigor
Civically minded classmates
Developing values of Honor, Service Justice, and Wisdom
Forming Theory of Enchantment
Her love of art and English literature
Majoring in film and screenwriting
Getting a Barclay Fellowship and Tikvah Scholarship Fund for The Wall Street Journal
Bret Stevens NYT
Her post that went viral https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/students-justice-palestine
Learning how to love and the science and psychology of love
Her focus on pop culture
Power of story and our human potential
Redemptive storytelling
How a liberal professor shattered her world view
Explaining the principles of the Theory of Enchantment
Enchantment thesis explained
The impact of reading Literature vs polemical works
Teaching her theory
The role of dance in her life
Chaos of Covid19 and the broader issues underlying the moment
Using the program to address societal issues
Creating meaning out of disorder and chaos
Mumford and Sons Sigh No More and the book she is writing
Her process for learning and discipline
Remaining Optimistic
Redemptive archetype
The note A minor
Social Links
Theory of Enchantment Theory of Enchantment Discount Offer Theory of Enchantment Podcast Instagram
Links In The Show
Benjamin Franklin High School Wall Street Journal Tikvah Fund Bret Stevens Students for Justice in Palestine A Letter From an Angry Black Woman Rosa Parks Martin Luther King Jesus Camp Doc Cognitive dissonance https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-theory-of-enchantment/id1439470479 Maya Angelou Chloe’s Article that went Viral Marcus Arilias and Stoicism YPO Mumford and Sons Dominion - How the Christian Revolution Changed the World Unorthodox Netflix Tasha Blank Leonard Cohen Terrance Malik Hidden Life Book - East of Eden Jonathan Haidt NYU
Guest Overview
Chloe Valdary was born in New Orleans, to a homemaking mother and banker father, and grew up in an environment of inquiry and orthodoxy that led her to open a Pandora's box of curiosity.
Through curiosity, talent and education Chloe developed a love of art, music and English literature that expanded her world view and set her on a journey to develop the skills and insights needed to create her Theory of Enchantment educational program. The course is designed to use storytelling and pop-culture to equip students with the skills necessary to develop a healthy sense of personal empowerment and social wellbeing. It’s also the name of her podcast.
In part one of this two-parter Chloe discusses her upbringing, growing up with abundance and scarcity, the fusion of inquiry and orthodoxy, the impact of religion and her education, her love of, and desire to explore art, English literature, and film. We also cover her insider-outsider dynamic how her worldview developed and how she ended up with a scholarship at the Wall Street Journal
Part Two Chloe expands on the psychological and spiritual power and value of her curriculum in addressing the inability to see the other in identity politics.
We discuss the chaos of Covid19 and the broader issues underlying the moment, the opportunity of Creating meaning out of disorder and chaos, less social distancing in our virtual lives and the role and power of storytelling and the power of Mumford and Sons Sigh No More
Maintaining discipline to continue learning, the role of A minor and developing and making meaning in the world
Of course, we discuss serendipity, curiosity, education, change, principles, and her quick-fire answers.
I hope you enjoy the enquiring mind, the redemptive spirit and, the educational storytelling of Chloe Valdary.
What We Discuss
Her Banker Father and homemaking Mother
Chloe’s English Literature mentors
The important role and intellectual impact of Churchgoing
How the past always loomed large in growing up
Abundance and scarcity in her upbringing
The impact of her School and its academic rigor
Civically minded classmates
Developing values of Honor, Service Justice, and Wisdom
Forming Theory of Enchantment
Her love of art and English literature
Majoring in film and screenwriting
Getting a Barclay Fellowship and Tikvah Scholarship Fund for The Wall Street Journal
Bret Stevens NYT
Her post that went viral https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/students-justice-palestine
Learning how to love and the science and psychology of love
Her focus on pop culture
Power of story and our human potential
Redemptive storytelling
How a liberal professor shattered her world view
Explaining the principles of the Theory of Enchantment
Enchantment thesis explained
The impact of reading Literature vs polemical works
Teaching her theory
The role of dance in her life
Chaos of Covid19 and the broader issues underlying the moment
Using the program to address societal issues
Creating meaning out of disorder and chaos
Mumford and Sons Sigh No More and the book she is writing
Her process for learning and discipline
Remaining Optimistic
Redemptive archetype
The note A minor
Social Links
Theory of Enchantment Theory of Enchantment Discount Offer Theory of Enchantment Podcast Instagram
Links In The Show
Benjamin Franklin High School Wall Street Journal Tikvah Fund Bret Stevens Students for Justice in Palestine A Letter From an Angry Black Woman Rosa Parks Martin Luther King Jesus Camp Doc Cognitive dissonance https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-theory-of-enchantment/id1439470479 Maya Angelou Chloe’s Article that went Viral Marcus Arilias and Stoicism YPO Mumford and Sons Dominion - How the Christian Revolution Changed the World Unorthodox Netflix Tasha Blank Leonard Cohen Terrance Malik Hidden Life Book - East of Eden Jonathan Haidt NYU
We are late with this week's digest, but we are living through unusual times.
As we enter what, we are being told in the US, will be our Pearl Harbor moment, we are sharing some thought-provoking articles we’ve read and some uplifting, amusing videos that we found and some public service ads we are working with a London based creative duo.
As we enter the
Ignore The Productivity Pressure
‘Global catastrophes change the world, and this pandemic is very much akin to a major war. Even if we contain the Covid-19 crisis within a few months, the legacy of this pandemic will live with us for years, perhaps decades to come. It will change the way we move, build, learn, and connect. There is simply no way that our lives will resume as if this had never happened.” This excellent article in The Chronicle Aisha Ahmed shares her experiences of adapting to conditions of crisis.
The Moral Meaning of the Plague
An essential piece in the NY Times reflects on the fact that we all have the power to decide how we react to this viral crisis. Referencing Victor Frankl Man’s Search for Meaning and his experience from the Holocaust reminds us that we don’t get to choose our difficulties. Still, we do have the freedom to select our responses, and in situations like this, meaning is a vital medication for the soul.
Mental Health in The Time of Coronavirus
This article asks - would you be willing to describe how the coronavirus is affecting your mental health? Is the combination of isolation and existential stress making you feel more depressed and anxious? Or is the family togetherness and the pause from normal life, giving you a greater sense of belonging and equilibrium? You can log your thoughts at the end of the article.
Don’t Try and Fix Anything Right Now
This post in Medium makes the case that in times of crisis, the best thing you can do for yourself is learning to live with uncertainty. Cognitive flexibility is perhaps one of the most excellent tools to have in a time of uncertainty. There are two components to cognitive flexibility: one, being able to change how you think about a problem, and two, being able to let go of solutions that aren’t working.
If you know of anyone in need in New York check out:
No Neighbors in Need NYC
NYC This is a guide for New Yorkers to i) contribute to the fight against the Coronavirus and; ii) ensure that no neighbors remain in need in NYC during this crisis and iii) recommend ideas to policy-makers/civic leaders (pg 8). Crowdsourced initially from a small group of City and nonprofit employees, this resource needs your help to be kept up to date. Thank you for contributing your time, effort, and financial resources where possible. And please share widely! If there are any questions, email carol.meiyan@gmail.com.
It's a time to help others and we are sharing our client's donation page to:
Offering Support For World Central Kitchen
Our NYC psychotherapist practice Rennicke & Associates started a fundraiser for support warm meals for our friends and neighbors in NYC through Chef Jose Andres and World Central Kitchen (WCK) They are in Harlem, the Bronx, and Queens, making sure that our neighbors in New York City are fed and cared for during this public health and financial crisis. Help Rennicke & Associates offer community support for World Central Kitchen (WCK) by raising $5000 families and children around the city most in need.
Reading Inspiration
The Impact on Feminism
A great piece from the Atlantic. The virus may be hitting men harder but what will the legacy of this virus be on women’s lives, rights and opportunities as we emerge from this pandemic?
Online events
TED Connects Community and Hope
Hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson TED Connects: Community and Hope is a free, live, regular conversation series starting at 12pm EST featuring experts whose ideas can help us reflect and work through this crisis and broaden our perspectives. Elizabeth Gilbert's talk - It’s ok to feel overwhelmed, linked here is an uplifting talk.
Navigating Uncertain Times Podcast
This special episode of A Life of Greatness has been created to provide you with the wisdom and resources you need to embrace these uncertain times. Direct from the world’s best thought leaders, entertainers and NYT bestselling authors, learn how to navigate the unknown, find compassion and love instead of fear and become conscious of negative thought patterns. This episode will nourish your mind, body, and soul.
Inspiration for Parents
Amazon Future Engineer offers free and creative coding coursework
Free Computer science learning opportunities available for U.S. students, teachers, and parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Resources for parents struggling with kids
Navigate social distancing and school closures with quality media and at-home learning opportunities for your kids from CommonSense Media.
Supercharged Learning
To help all affected by coronavirus school closures, Century Learning are offering English, Maths and Science resources for free.
CENTURY is the tried and tested intelligent intervention tool that combines learning science, AI, and neuroscience.
Finally, check out Shirley Serban’s videos recreation of the iconic anthem from the 1965 musical Sound of Music. Song parodies have become popular online, but none of them can equal Julie Andrews teaching children how to avoid Covid19 infection with the sound of music.
If you missed last week’s podcast
Rodney Durso is founder of Artbridge, a New York a nonprofit that empowers emerging artists to transform New York’s ubiquitous construction scaffolding into large scale art exhibits
In part one of this two-parter we cover growing up in Long Island to a creative and artistic mother and a father who came from the wrong side of the tracks, feeling materially abundant while living in a landscape of emotional scarcity.
We cover growing up as an Italian in a predominantly Jewish Long Island culture, his educational experiences and his early entrepreneurial ventures.
We discuss his musical influences and ambitions, transitioning his focus to advertising, film production before being drawn to design and learning from design icon Milton Glaser,
and forming his own design agency in NYC in 1999 with a holistic 360 approach before integration was a common term.
In part two we focus on Rodney’s second life, as an artist and social entrepreneur forming Artbridge in 2009 to give emerging artists unprecedented exposure by exhibiting their work on construction scaffolding and fencing across the city. Rodney discusses his mission and the impact this innovative initiative has had on the lives of underrepresented artists and how serendipity led to its scaling internationally. We also discuss art as therapy, procrastination, curiosity and his process of creation. And much much more.
I hope you enjoy the candor, generosity of spirit and artistic social enterprise of Rodney Durso.
https://waroncovid19.co.uk/- check the work we managed to get posted on out of home poster sites in London. Created by Jason Keet and James Hodson - if you can help get free media in the US or internationally email mark@theimpossiblenetwork.com and we will adapt to your local needs.
Guest Overview
Rodney Durso is founder of ArtBridge, a New York a non-profit that empowers emerging artists to transform New York’s ubiquitous construction scaffolding into large scale art exhibits
In part two we focus on Rodney’s second life, as an artist and social entrepreneur forming ArtBridge in 2009 to give emerging artists unprecedented exposure by exhibiting their work on construction scaffolding and fencing across the city.
Rodney discusses his mission and the impact this innovative initiative has had on the lives of underrepresented artists and how serendipity led to its scaling internationally. We also discuss art as therapy, procrastination, curiosity and his process of creation. And much much more.
I hope you enjoy the candor, generosity of spirit, and artistic social enterprise of Rodney Durso.
What we discuss:
His artistic mother's influence
His father coming from the wrong side of the track
Rodneys Landscaper father
The influence of his older brother
His love of music and being in a rock band in his teens
And his escape into music and art
His ambition to be a rock star
1/4th between an A and C
Interest in abstraction
The dark side of his upbringing and the emotional scarcity
Having an antenna and the power of listening
School life and mentor
Growing up as an Italian in a Jewish Long Island culture
Captain Quick food delivery and his early entrepreneurial venture
His evolution through advertising and film production into design
Having Chronic Fatigue syndrome and his Chinese Tea venture
Planet Organic Tea company and the lessons in business
Setting up Storm house Partners Design Agency
Burning out from the agency experience
Migrating to art as therapy
Seeking abstraction and dissonance in his work to create visceral work, working fast and messy
Dealing with procrastination
ArtBridge and getting work into a gallery
Curating 26 artists and wrapping a building
Working with Google and Facebook
Taking the program to Italy post the Earthquake- Offsite Art
Scaling the program
How the program finds artists
Serendipity and the Highline open studio
Risk-taking
Monetizing Self Esteem - Facebook’s legacy
Amy Brown
Links to Social
Website Facebook Twitter Rodney’s Instagram
Links in show
Artbridge CB radios AdLab Emerson Lake and Palmer Yes Stormhouse Partners Three tarts in Chelsea University of Rhode Island Mononucleosis Michael Hanchett Hanson Whitney Biennial Offsite Art
Guest Overview
Rodney Durso is founder of Artbridge, a New York a non-profit that empowers emerging artists to transform New York’s ubiquitous construction scaffolding into large scale art exhibits
In part one of this two-parter, we cover growing up in Long Island to a creative and artistic mother and a father who came from the wrong side of the tracks, feeling materially abundant while living in a landscape of emotional scarcity.
We cover growing up as an Italian in a predominantly Jewish Long Island culture, his educational experiences, and his early entrepreneurial ventures.
We discuss his musical influences and ambitions, transitioning his focus to advertising, film production before being drawn to design and learning from design icon Milton Glaser. Forming his design agency in NYC in 1999 with a holistic 360 approach before integration was a common term.
In part two we focus on Rodney’s second life, as an artist and social entrepreneur forming Artbridge in 2009 to give emerging artists unprecedented exposure by exhibiting their work on construction scaffolding and fencing across the city.
Rodney discusses his mission and the impact this innovative initiative has had on the lives of underrepresented artists and how serendipity led to its scaling internationally. We also discuss art as therapy, procrastination, curiosity and his process of creation. And much much more.
I hope you enjoy the candor, generosity of spirit, and artistic social enterprise of Rodney Durso.
What we discuss:
His artistic mother's influence
His father coming from the wrong side of the track
Rodneys Landscaper father
The influence of his older brother
His love of music and being in a rock band in his teens
And his escape into music and art
His ambition to be a rock star
1/4th between an A and C
Interest in abstraction
The dark side of his upbringing and the emotional scarcity
Having an antenna and the power of listening
School life and mentor
Growing up as an Italian in a Jewish Long Island culture
Captain Quick food delivery and his early entrepreneurial venture
His evolution through advertising and film production into design
Having Chronic Fatigue syndrome and his Chinese Tea venture
Planet Organic Tea company and the lessons in business
Setting up Stormhouse Partners Design Agency
Burning out from the agency experience
Migrating to art as therapy
Seeking abstraction and dissonance in his work to create visceral work, working fast and messy
Dealing with procrastination
Artbridge and getting work into a gallery
Curating 26 artists and wrapping a building
Working with Google and Facebook
Taking the program to Italy post the Earthquake- Offsite Art
Scaling the program
How the program finds artists
Serendipity and the Highline open studio
Risk-taking
Monetizing Self Esteem - Facebook’s legacy
Amy Brown
Links to Social
Website Facebook Twitter Rodney’s Instagram
Links in show
Artbridge CB radios AdLab Emerson Lake and Palmer Yes Stormhouse Partners Three tarts in Chelsea University of Rhode Island Mononucleosis Michael Hanchett Hanson Whitney Biennial Offsite Art
As the frenzy of the Covid19 crisis engulfs us, we feel inspired, that everyone we talk to (on Zoom!) is each doing their bit to help alleviate the physical isolation, reduce suffering, or to offer support. Humanity is pulling together.
We are going to stay focused on content related to the Virus.
Podcast
Everything You Need To Know For Antivirus & Immune System Enhancement: A Special One-Two Podcast Episode where Ben Greenfield interviews Drs. Matthew Cook and Matthew Dawson, true experts in the realms of functional and precision medicine, offer their advice when it comes to boosting immunity and fighting viruses. There is a lot more to this but it’s worth a listen in light of our reality.
Posts and Articles
Yuval Noah Harari’s FT post last weekend has been shared a lot so you might have read this one. If not, His op-ed reflects on how ‘the choices we make today could change our lives for years to come’ in particular given that the decisions and policies governments make during times of crisis have a tendency to remain in place. He also makes the point that another key choice we must confront is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity. Global problems require global collaboration, but how things play out may not be what we expect. Harari's perspectives are thought-provoking.
So if now is the time for these debates to be had and not to wait and look back with regret, an article shared by our friend and award-winning journalist Dan McDougall from Foreign Policy on How the World Will Look After the Coronavirus Pandemic builds on Harari's post.
Aside from the immediate loss of life, crashing markets, and policymaking indecision - this chapter of humanity will lead to permanent shifts in political and socio-economic power in ways that may not imagine.
Foreign Policy asked 12 leading thinkers from around the world to weigh in with their predictions for the global order after the pandemic and to help make sense of the ground shifting beneath our feet as this crisis unfolds. Lots of food for thought here
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/20/world-order-after-coroanvirus-pandemic/
Next, we want to share a moving and beautifully written article by Dan McDougall called Finding purpose and perspective in a crisis - you will feel uplifted after reading this.
I will end with some resources - we helped our client, Rennicke Associates, a psychotherapy practice here in Manhattan create this dedicated Covid19 Resource Page on their site Rennicke & Associates. The page is full of mental health resources and support for those seeking and those willing to give nourishment. Courtney Rennicke, the founder, has also curated a wealth of resources for those needing to make their isolation time more productive and to offer parents and carers useful tool kits of activities.
It is quiet US /NY Centric but many resources are useful regardless of geographic location.
Stay strong everyone and let's focus on helping build a better future.
Guest Overview
Tina Kelley describes herself as a cheerful optimist with a morbid streak. She is the author of Abloom and Awry, Precise, and The Gospel of Galore, and co-authored Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope, and she reported for the New York Times for 10 years, sharing a staff Pulitzer Prize for 9/11 coverage.
Tina Kelley grew up in New Jersey to caring loving adoptive parents, her early love poetry. Tina describes growing up in small-town America, the influence of her poetic father, developing her love of poetry, reading, and writing that set her on a path to Yale and beyond as a journalist, poet and author via a detour through the world of NGO’s and Think Tanks.
Tina quotes Thomas Jefferson “If I had to choose between a well-functioning government and a well-functioning press I‘d choose the latter, sunshine is the best disinfectant” to frame her perspective on the decimation of local news media and print journalism, the impact of losing a generation of people asking hard questions of public officials or as she says leaving the pigs at the trough with no one watching.
Tina discusses quality investigative journalism in the world of fake news and voting for optimism and the importance of the hyper-local journalistic model.
We discuss the resurgence and importance of local communities, her mixed views of Facebook, and the innovation of the Clear Health Costs startup and how it is disrupting the inequities of the pricing in the US health system.
We also discuss her process for finding inspiration in everyday life, her journaling process and the purpose and role of poetry in today's society
Tina discusses her vision for a world-changing educational model in the 21st Century and she answers all our quick-fire questions.
I hope you enjoy the artistic advice, poetic perspectives and journalistic principles of Tina Kelley.
Thank you Caroline Chubb Calderon
What we discuss:
Growing up in as a single adoptive child in a loving home in New Jersey
Her auditor father and home-keeping mother
Discovering being adopted age three
Her self belief and feeling special age eight
Discovering poetry age eight
Being an extrovert
The influence of the Church on language and music
Mixed diversity at School
The impact of her music teachers and playing Sax
Her path to journalism
Journalism and learning for a living
Problem-solving through journalism
Her perspective on the decimation of journalism
Her Optimism
The future of local journalism and the power of community
We discuss Covenant House and her work as a staff writer and the life transformation work for adoptive kids
Her process for capturing ideas
Future of Education PTech Pathways in Technology, Early College and High school
Corp, Schools and Community colleges
Links to Social
Tina’s blog Linkedin Twitter
Links in show
Yale Clear health costs IBM Covenant House Almost Home book Abloom and Awry Gospel of Galore Thomas Jefferson Bill Gates Mind Fraud The Game James Agee
Hi everyone
We are late with this week’s digest but it’s been a week of rapid changes as we witness the accelerated spread of the Covid19 virus. Today in New York the reported infections reached over 5000.
So as we all start to inhabit the virtual world, I attended the Singularity University’s Covid19 virtual summit. Rather than follow our usual format I thought it best to share some of the great insights, information, and future visions. Links to the videos are in show notes.
Here are some key takeaways from the key speakers:
Christina Gerakiteys From her talk - How you can take action during times of uncertainty
‘Our best work comes when the values of humanity intersect with the value of technology’
‘Humanivate - consider Humanity first in the process of innovation’
This was a truly inspiring and uplifting presentation.
A more sobering and immediate talk was The Coronavirus Pandemic and the New Normal with Jamie Metzl
“We are seeing the convergence of the world of science and biology with the world of geopolitics. And as this plays out geopolitical implications are going to be much greater and reflect deeply on the nature of this moment.
This is not a 2001 moment, this is a 1941 moment! “
James uses the seismic geopolitical changes from the past to make the case of why we are at a pivotal moment where we must collectively decide how the world will play out over the rest of the century.
To frame his talk he Quotes 1930’s Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci
“The old world is dying, and the new world has not yet emerged, and in the twilight rise up monsters”
I think we can all sense this.
This next talk was more about the steps we can all take to remain safe. Nell Watson’s talk How to stay healthy during Covid19 is full of useful tips and tools. As she says “Today the world is united against a common foe. We need to show up and do our bit” - Nell Watson
As the future unfolds we need to rethink where and how we live. James Ehrlich in his talk
The Future of Safe Living in Self-Reliant Neighborhoods Sets out a sustainable vision
“There is a master plan that enables a software stack to create the neighborhoods of the future around clean food, clean water, and clean energy and circular waste to resource systems.
This kind of decentralized living is what we used to have up to 1950 when most of the planet lived in small self-sustaining regenerative communities, having agency and access to your own food supply, grown at your doorstep.
We would argue that farming practices of Bioorganic regenerative farming allows for greater bioavailability of nutrition and absolute food security”
Watch this and feel uplifted.
And finally, checkout Why Authoritarianism is Bad for Public Health with Alex Gladstein
Alex covers how different nations have used power and authority to deal with this virus
Based on two axis - the openness of society and the other axis - the competency of the government.
Citing examples of incompetence to competency and their levels societal openness by countries - US ( Incompetent / Closed), Singapore China ( Competent / Closed) and Iran (Incompetent / Closed) and Taiwan ( Competent /Open)
He also discusses why keeping a free press and free expression is paramount and retaining control of our privacy and remaining vigilant as governments will use opportunities to slip in new legislation to create laws that undermine and erode privacy. As Alex says "Don't let them take your privacy and rights away from you. It's not necessary. You don't need a police state to fight the virus. "
All the Summits Videos are available here on the Singularity University YouTube Channel
Stay safe everyone. And please share anything you find that you would like us to share.
Guest Overview
B Corp evangelist Lorna Davis is a transformational thinker, leader, and visionary for why and how organizations can combine social, and environmental priorities with their financial imperatives to deliver improved business performance. As a highly respected coach, international speaker Lorna also serves on a number of boards to help them embrace meaning and purpose.
Born in South Africa in the age of Apartheid, her education, parental guidance, curiosity, and worldly ambitions set her on the path to a stellar career in international business and marketing and finally leading Danone to become the first billion-dollar entity to become a public benefit corporation - welcome this week’s guest Lorna Davis.
In Part One of this two-parter, we cover Lorna’s early life in South Africa, her parent’s influence, how her education and her pollyannaish optimistic view of the world helped carve a successful career. We discuss Lorna’s social purpose epiphany when working in China in 2006. Lorna explains how she left China changed, and ultimately returned to Danone with a mission to help them become a purpose-driven company. Lorna recounts the practical realities of Danone’s evolution to a BCorp under her leadership in the US as Chief Manifesto Catalyst.
In Part Two we discuss Lorna’s transition to a BCorp Evangelist. She unpacks the steps companies should take to start their journey to becoming BCorp certified, the importance of having visionary CEO, engaging and empowering youthful activists to lead the transformation process, and bypassing senior and mid-management
We talk about the practical leverage of bottom-up, and outside-in methodologies, inviting an inclusive range of expert advisors and investors to accelerate the process of change, to overcoming short-termism, achieving triple bottom line, and the role of big banks
We cover the need to connect with our humanity, embrace ambiguity as Lorna explains her perspective on life being a dance of love and power.
Lorna also discusses the UN New SDG Action Navigator tool to help businesses measure progress against the SDG’s and projects forward the future structure of corporate boards that cover ESG’s.
Finally, we discuss serendipity, education, diversity, divine intelligence, the joy of being human and how she uses curiosity as an antidote to pain, and her perspective on how humanity works.
I hope you’re inspired by the leadership values, heart, the humanity of Lorna Davis.
Thanks to Joshua Spodek for the connection.
What We Discuss
Her parental impact
We discuss her upbringing in apartheid South Africa
Lorna’s sense of abundance the opportunity the world offered
Her single-sex high school
Her sports focus
Learning routine discipline and order working for her at school
Studying psychology and anthropology
Breaking into Unilever
Her social purpose epiphany in China
Understanding that she could not continue to walk away from her responsibilities as a leader
Being lured back to Danone
Coming to the US
Taking on the BCorp Challenge
Managing shareholder expectations
Becoming a BCorp Evangelist
Lorna’s pragmatic perspective on our ability to address climate challenges
Where to spend our time and energy - wherever your heart breaks are where you spend your time and energy
Managing change - Inside and down vs Outside and Bottom-up thinking
Driving Supply-side change
Need to make Meetings inclusive and diverse
Role for investors
The dance between short term and long term
The separation of self in business and discomfort with ambiguity
Power and Love
RAM Das Quote
How Lorna creates systems change
The power of listening
Social Links
Linkedin Website
Email - lornadavisuk@yahoo.com Twitter
Links In The Show
Ester Perel To Thine Own Self be true Martin Luther King Quote Christiana Figueres Glenen Doyle Ramdas Lorna’s TED Talk Geography of Thought Erin Myer Sapiens Culture Map Patagonia Buckminster Fuller Anand Giridharadas Danone Apartheid BCorp B Lab B Impact Assessment White Wave Emmanuel Faber
Guest Overview
Lorna Davis was born in South Africa in the age of Apartheid, her education, parental guidance, curiosity, and worldly ambitions set her on the path to a stellar career in international business and marketing and finally leading Danone to become the first billion-dollar entity to become a public benefit corporation. Welcome to this week’s guest, Lorna Davis.
Lorna Davis is a transformational thinker, leader, and visionary for why and how organizations can combine social, and environmental priorities with their financial imperatives to deliver improved business performance. As a highly respected coach, international speaker Lorna also serves on a number of boards to help them embrace meaning and purpose.
In Part One of this two-parter, we cover Lorna’s early life in South Africa, her parent’s influence, how her education and her Pollyanna-ish optimistic view of the world helped carve a successful career. We discuss Lorna’s social purpose epiphany when working in China in 2006. Lorna explains how she left China changed, and ultimately returned to Danone with a mission to help them become a purpose-driven company. Lorna recounts the practical realities of Danone’s evolution to a B Corp under her leadership in the US as Chief Manifesto Catalyst.
We also discuss how Lorna became an evangelist for the B Corp movement, the tools available for all businesses and her advisory role with organizations on their sustainability strategies.
I hope you’re inspired by the leadership values and vision of Lorna Davis.
Thanks to Josh Spodek for the introduction.
What We Discuss
The parental impact of Lorna Davis's parents
We discuss her upbringing in apartheid South Africa
Lorna Davis and her sense of abundance the opportunity the world offered
Her single-sex high school
Her sports focus
Learning routine discipline and order working for her at school
Studying psychology and anthropology
Breaking into Unilever
Lorna and her social purpose epiphany in China
Understanding that she could not continue to walk away from her responsibilities as a leader
Being lured back to Danone
Coming to the US
Taking on the B Corp Challenge
Managing shareholder expectations
Social Links
Linkedin Website
Email - lornadavisuk@yahoo.com Twitter
Links In The Show
Patagonia Buckminster Fuller Anand Giridharadas Danone Apartheid B Corp B Lab B Impact Assessment White Wave Emmanuel Faber
In light of the severity and global impact of Covid19, we thought that this week we should share information that could provide you with additional useful information as well as to take some pause for reflection and refuel your optimism.
Podcast worth a listen In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Amesh Adalja from John Hopkins University, about the spreading coronavirus pandemic. They discuss the contagiousness of the virus and the severity of the resultant illness, the mortality rate, and risk factors, vectors of transmission, how long coronavirus can live on surfaces, the importance of social distancing, possible anti-viral treatments, the timeline for a vaccine, the importance of pandemic preparedness, and other topics.
Recommended to Us
As events change daily and with the US just declaring a National Emergency due to Coronavirus, there still seems to be a gulf in opinions on how bad this will get and how we should act individually and collectively. Should you wait for more information? Do something today? What else?
In this article by Tomas Pueyo you’ll find well-sourced charts, data, and models that provide unambiguous information on the impact, scale, and speed of this virus.
It provides individuals, parents, community leaders or business leaders with the data and confidence to prevent this, if we have the responsibility to act.
We read this on What’s App I was recently invited to join an extraordinary What’s App group called Difference Makers. Humbling to be part of a group of thinkers and do-ers that inspire me daily.
Today, I quote one member Graham Boyd.
“This is my perspective: For decades it's been sufficiently clear that climate change, pollution impacts, 17SDG will impact everyone, and worst case could lead to the death of over 90% of humans. Today the global reactions to those threats are insipid vs. the Covid reactions. The two big differences I see are: Covid might kill me, and now; whereas the climate emergency kills in 10, 50, 100 years time - and someone else. I wish we had a way of creating the feeling now for a threat that materializes in the future.” Wise words indeed.
Mulling on this When we face existential events, whether viral or climate-based, we should not forget that we all have agency, the power to choose what we imagine, to desire, believe and act toward the future seek. In times when the media makes us feel powerless, it’s worth remembering how powerful we are, as mediums of change.
Last Week’s Podcast
Social impact gaming entrepreneur and Co-Founder of One Earth Rising has a mission to harvest and harness the power of philanthropy through interactive experiences, providing a playful path to social impact.
Jan Roessner was born in Germany to a creative father and a loving but disciplinarian mother. After a fifteen-year career in the German military leading operations in a helicopter squadron and as a drone pilot in Afghanistan, Jan transitioned to the creative industry opening a marketing firm, sagency in Berlin in 2012. Serendipity led him to New York, where he met his current business partner and pivoted to social impact gaming and launching One Earth Rising.
In Part One of this two-parter, Jan discussed his childhood, his education, his early influences, and desiring a life of impact. We cover what set him on a path to the military, discuss his experiences of serving in Afghanistan, before transitioning through education to political lobbying and finally taking the entrepreneurial way and opening his agency in Berlin.
In Part Two we dive deep into Jan’s journey to social impact gaming, examples of his early successes with Animal Rights Organization PETA, the power of game-based storytelling to educate people on social issues, the philanthropic value of gaming to NGO’s, and the benefits open to brands and the market potential.
Jan discusses the business model, the evolution of the sector, and the impact AI will have on gaming. He also reflects on stoicism, managing fear, failure exercise, curiosity, and serendipity.
I hope you are inspired by the integrity, playful passion, and social impact focus of Jan Roessner.
Guest Overview
Born in SF, adopted and raised in NYC, by an author and illustrator mother and an ethical Wall Street banker, father, James (Jim) Clark grew up with abundance and privilege and a deep sense of love. Jim’s mother would wake him each day with an exercise that conditioned him to consider every day as a blank sheet of paper.
In Part One of this two-parter, Jim discusses growing up in a highly creative home, developing a love of the environment, embracing academic challenges, managing his procrastination and always believing in his own agency. Jim recounts the serendipity and a life-affirming experience of meeting Buckminster Fuller, that set him on this path to his first entrepreneurial venture at University by leveraging the power of networks and subsequently building a second networking venture in 94’ that partnered with a little known start-up called AOL.
In Part Two Jim discusses how he envisioned the future value of technology in the 21st century and forming the World technology network - a global community of peer vetted technology experts and visionaries and an annual awards series under the banner of encouraging serendipity.
Jim also discusses his perspective on the power and value of curiosity and serendipity.
How he looks for patterns in history and why remaining open to the fluidity of outcomes, creates better outcomes.
We discuss his new initiative the world congress for a new civilization, the existential challenges we face and why he’s creating a new global representation of all humanity. And there is much much more.
I hope you enjoy the expansive thinking, inspirational insights and fluid life analysis of Jim Clark
What we discuss:
In Part One
His upbringing in a home of abundance and affluence.
His ethical Wall Street Banking Father.
His free-spirited, creative book writing Mother and her morning exercise to instill creativity in him
The creative environment in which he grew up.
How life felt like an adventure.
Jim reflects on creativity and technology in children’s upbringing today and in past generations.
Hypocrisy filters in today/s youth.
Tidal pools and developing a love for the environment.
School life.
Attending Wesleyan University and Cambridge,
The turning point of Discovering nonprofit organizations at a young age.
And starting his first nonprofit at University.
His rationale and logic for carving his path in life.
Arriving at leveraging the power of networks.
Meeting Buckminster Fuller and life affirmation.
The power of trim tabs.
Forming Access Networking in the Public interest to find a clearinghouse for Non Profit jobs.
Working on Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Witnessing the emergence of the Internet, he recognized the potential of the internet to have a social and economic impact.
Forming Access point in 93 to help nonprofits access the internet he partnered with a small but fast-growing startup called AOL.
Building a reputation of one of the early leaders in what at the time was called “New Media”.
Moving to London in 1997.
In Part Two
Creating the World Technology Network
Forming The World Technology Network Awards to create a vetting mechanism
Why he adopted the moniker Encouraging Serendipity
Looking for patterns in history
Serendipity in historic inventions
Time, change and evolution
Openness to change and outcomes
Fluidly surfing waves of possibility and the tension of avoiding failure
Impact eliminating risk and ambiguity
Shame, tribalism and not being your true self
Jim discusses his key existential questions- * ‘What do I believe it right?’ asked with an open heart * ‘What do I think it necessary?’ * ‘The answer is what you should do.’
Being open to a new experience
Jim explains why he considers civilization as unsustainable and morally indefensible being a consequence of us all not asking the above questions
Getting to a courageous civilization
Creating the 5013c World Congress for a New Civilization
Creating the fourth leg of a table to balance * Political and Governmental Realm - UN * Economic Realm - WEF * Cultural realm -TED
Jim explains how the WCNC will operate
Creating a declaration document
Jim discusses global governance and AI
All the quick-fire questions and answers
Links to Social
LinkedIn Facebook
Links in show
The Maggie B book John Lilly Dolphin Researcher Altered States Buckminster Fuller ArpaNet Al Gore AOL Bill Clinton World Technology Network John Cleese Creativity talk James Burke Connections World Congress For A New Civilization Michael Møller Wendel Wallach Trim tabs
Guest Overview
James Clark was born in SF, adopted and raised in NYC, by an author and illustrator mother and an ethical Wall Street banker father. James (Jim) Clark grew up with abundance and privilege and a deep sense of love. Jim’s mother would wake him each day with an exercise that conditioned him to consider every day as a blank sheet of paper.
In Part One of this two-parter, Jim discusses growing up in a highly creative home, developing a love of the environment, embracing academic challenges, managing his procrastination and always believing in his own agency. Jim recounts the serendipity and a life-affirming experience of meeting Buckminster Fuller, that set him on this path to his first entrepreneurial venture at University by leveraging the power of networks and subsequently building a second networking venture in 94’ that partnered with a little known start-up called AOL.
In Part Two Jim discusses how he envisioned the future value of technology in the 21st century and forming the World technology network - a global community of peer vetted technology experts and visionaries and an annual awards series under the banner of encouraging serendipity.
Jim also discusses his perspective on the power and value of curiosity and serendipity.
How he looks for patterns in history and why remaining open to the fluidity of outcomes, creates better outcomes.
We discuss his new initiative the world congress for a new civilization, the existential challenges we face and why he’s creating a new global representation of all humanity. And there is much much more.
I hope you enjoy the expansive thinking, inspirational insights and fluid life analysis of James Clark.
What we discuss:
His upbringing in a home of abundance and affluence.
His ethical Wall Street Banking Father.
His free-spirited, creative book writing Mother and her morning exercise to instill creativity in him
The creative environment in which James Clark grew up.
How life felt like an adventure.
Jim reflects on creativity and technology in children’s upbringing today and in past generations.
Hypocrisy filters in today/s youth.
Tidal pools and developing a love for the environment.
School life.
Attending Wesleyan University and Cambridge,
The turning point of Discovering nonprofit organizations at a young age.
And starting his first nonprofit at University.
I ask James Clark his rationale and logic for carving his path in life.
Arriving at leveraging the power of networks.
Meeting Buckminster Fuller and life affirmation.
The power of trim tabs.
Forming Access Networking in the Public interest to find a clearinghouse for Non Profit jobs.
Working on Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Witnessing the emergence of the Internet, he recognized the potential of the internet to have a social and economic impact.
Forming Access point in 93 to help nonprofits access the internet he partnered with a small but fast-growing startup called AOL.
Building a reputation of one of the early leaders in what at the time was called “New Media”.
Moving to London in 1997.
Links to Social
LinkedIn Facebook
Links in show
The Maggie B book John Lilly Dolphin Researcher Altered States Buckminster Fuller ArpaNet Al Gore AOL Bill Clinton
Guest Overview
Social impact gaming entrepreneur and Co-Founder of One Earth Rising has a mission to harvest and harness the power of philanthropy through interactive experiences, providing a playful path to social impact.
Jan Roessner was born in Germany to a creative father and a loving but disciplinarian mother. After a fifteen-year career in the German military leading operations in a helicopter squadron and as a drone pilot in Afghanistan, Jan transitioned to the creative industry opening a marketing firm, sagency in Berlin in 2012. Serendipity led him to New York, where he met his current business partner and pivoted to social impact gaming and launching One Earth Rising.
In Part One of this two-parter, Jan discussed his childhood, his education, his early influences, and desiring a life of impact. We cover what set him on a path to the military, discuss his experiences of serving in Afghanistan, before transitioning through education to political lobbying and finally taking the entrepreneurial way and opening his agency in Berlin.
In Part Two we dive deep into Jan’s journey to social impact gaming, examples of his early successes with Animal Rights Organization PETA, the power of game-based storytelling to educate people on social issues, the philanthropic value of gaming to NGO’s, and the benefits open to brands and the market potential.
Jan discusses the business model, the evolution of the sector, and the impact AI will have on gaming. He also reflects on stoicism, managing fear, failure exercise, curiosity, and serendipity.
I hope you are inspired by the integrity, playful passion, and social impact focus of Jan Roessner.
What We Discuss
In Part Two we cover the serendipitous opportunity that led him to New York.
His transition to a focus on gaming as a tool for storytelling and social impact.
Meeting Luc Barnard.
Having their first break with Kitten Squad for Peta.
Jan discusses the value and mechanics of social gaming.
Measuring impact for the NGO’s.
The business model from in-game purchases.
The value to NGOs to educate people on social issues.
Sector $137 bn gaming industry and 155 m people playing in the US alone.
Launching Paresio Island for All Hands and Hearts got Hurricane Relief.
His mission to harvest, harness the power of philanthropy through interactive experiences.
The need for innovation in digital fundraising.
Dealing with fear and his stoic mindset to manage stress.
The importance of exercise.
Building belief in investors through his passion.
Impact on the global goals and SDG’s.
AI and gaming.
The serendipitous events of meeting Luc.
The value of his curiosity and being open to others.
The value of Mentors.
Quickfire answers
Social Links
One Earth Rising Paresio Island.com Linkedin Instagram Twitter
Links
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Guest Overview
North Brooklyn Farm was founded by Ryan Watson and Henry Sweets. Serendipity brought them together, unified by their vision of the power of urban farming to improve the health of local communities, they spent seven years nurturing and building North Brooklyn Farm, on the banks of the East River in Brooklyn, nestled under the Williamsburg Bridge.
This extraordinary Oasis, a gathering place for the local community amid the New York metropolis, recently closed due to the real-estate development. However, in this two-part episode, we discover that Ryan’s vision remains evident in the role and need for urban farming.
In Part One, we discuss Ryan’s upbringing, education, and what influenced him to walk away from a career in Corporate Law to pursue his love or agriculture and farming, and the genesis of North Brooklyn Farm and its growth.
In part two, Ryan and I discuss his experience and learnings from running an urban farm and community gathering space for seven years and the impact North Brooklyn Farm had on the community in Brooklyn. We discuss his current rural farming adventure at Wild Russet Farms in the Catskills of NY State, how a new generation of millennial farmers could create a more sustainable future beyond industrial agriculture.
In this honest and wide-ranging discussion, we also cover his views on Education, technology, curiosity, risk-taking, failure, persistence, work ethic, values, and the future.
I hope you enjoy the contemplative perspectives social impact, and community-minded spirit of Ryan Watson.
What we discuss:
Growing up in Venice Beach California as a single child in a part Jewish and Catholic household.
The differing roles of his parents and the influences.
His fathers affect his work ethic, leadership skills and being in the Zone.
The diversity and world view that developed from his Jewish and Catholic parents and befriending Cuban and Mexican friends.
Studying political science at UCLA.
Taking a Year out to travel.
Working at an office at UCLA and not resonating with office work.
Joining the campaigning team for the Obama campaign in 2008.
Teaching in Korea.
His discovery of his love of growing vegetables and peace and splice on gardening.
After traveling he returned to New York amidst the financial crisis to study law and his LSAT’s and finally to hit a breaking point.
The value of having legal training.
The realization of the burden of having a student debt and how that would tie him down.
Getting the book the $100 start-up to focus on his venture and his uncle's support for his ambition.
New York’s culture for community gardening and taking over vacant lots and community activism especially in Greenpoint.
His early experience of working in community agriculture in Greenpoint.
Quoting his job in 2012 to start his agriculture journey and getting invaluable training at Battery Park Urban Garden.
The serendipity of meeting Henry Sweets and having a joint vision for what a farm in the community should be as part of the social fabric of a city.
The Two Trees RFP and being selected.
The experience of running North Brooklyn Farm and the impact on the community.
North Brooklyn Farm and the future location?
The future of Wild Russet Farm
Links to Social
Instagram Ryan’s Instagram
Links in show
North Brooklyn Farm Two Trees Wild Russet Farm $100 Start Up GWAPP Getting Things Done Book
Last Week's Podcast
Last week's guest was Nick Fitz, founder, and CEO of the new charitable giving app, Give Momentum, Born in Washington DC, raised in a reform household, to socially conscious parents, Nick learned values "around justice and giving back" from an early age.
Serendipity brought him together with his founding partners Ari Kagan and Ivan Dimitrov, to develop the Momentum app. It was the moment they realized there was no simple way to bridge the gap between people's willingness to donate and their actual ability to contribute.
Nick and I discuss the genesis of the app, how it's disrupting the philanthropic giving sector, empowering users to give in a simple, frictionless manner and overcoming the barriers most people face when wanting to give by enabling good intentions to result in giving actions and behaviors. The app lets you arrange automated small-dollar donations that are triggered by ordinary moments or events that relate to how you live your life.
Nick discusses how the app could develop, and we cover the broader challenges facing the $400+ billion philanthropic sector (U.S.), the systemic societal challenges, and the need for wholesale tax reform. Nick discusses advocacy, optimism, the evidence-based social good movement, and the value that NGO's add, in ways that the government can't. The importance of supporting independent organizations that can influence changes in government policy.
Of course, we discuss serendipity, curiosity, and his perspective on risk and fear.
I hope you enjoy this stimulating discussion and the insights, ideas, and social innovations of Nick Fitz.
First the Podcast, we loved.
Daryl Davis on The Joe Rogan Experience
Daryl Davis is an African American musician who's played with many of the greats such as Chuck Berry, BB King, and Jerry Lee Lewis. But his notoriety comes from another passion, befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan and de-robbing them and transforming their lives.
We were introduced to Daryl by our recent guest Arno Michaelis, and we hope to interview him soon. But Joe Rogan got to him first.
Give this extensive interview a listen, and hear Daryl's extraordinary story on confronting racist hatred with kindness.
Black (Live) by Dave stuns the Brit Awards
The entertainment industry awards on both sides of the Atlantic have been rightly accused of institutional exclusion of people of color or paying lip service with cursory awards but in the main continuing the status quo of predictability when awarding gongs.
Not anymore. This week at the Annual Music Industry Brit Awards, the audience and the country were blown away by the grime star Dave as he performed an extended version of his song Black in what must go down as the most exceptional performance ever at the Brits. This mesmeric, thought-provoking, poetic, and politically-charged performance is a must-watch.
Recommended to Us
Our friend and previous guest, Alex Armillotta, recommended and shared access to Professor Scott Galloway's 2020 predictions video.
Galloway intelligent, rigorously researched, humorous, and self-deprecating presentations make them invaluable viewing.
We have added it to our YouTube Channel.
As Prof G says, "why make predictions? Eisenhower said, "Plans are worthless, but planning is indispensable." The same is true for predictions — they matter for the strategy and data behind them. Predictions are useless, but scenario planning is invaluable."
Mulling On This
As the ad industry struggles to maintain its margins, attract and retain talent and find its purpose in a world of media manipulation and messaging misinformation, along comes a work worthy of any of the ad industry greats.
Burger King's Moldy Whopper is bravery and genius giving birth to perfectly formed spot
A product truth delivered perfectly wrapped in a simple idea, executed with pure, unadulterated brilliance, and let's not forget the perfect musical accompaniment.
Well done to Burger King CMO Fernando Machado and the three agencies who helped craft the moldy magic.
Guest Overview
The Digital Critical Edition is Professor Pamela H Smith's latest output from Columbia University and the Center for Science and Societies Making and Knowing Research Project.
Pamela was born and raised in a small isolated California town, influenced by what she describes as a ‘consistent, persistent, and gentle’ math teacher father and the ‘artistic and creative’ mother, serendipity led her to discover her love of the history of science in Woolongong University in Australia and then commit her life to be a historian of science - is this weeks guest Pamela H Smith.
We discuss how Pamela established the Making and Knowing Research Project, its purpose and we discuss the origins of her most recent launch - The Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France. A Digital Critical Edition and it’s English Translation. That might sound dry to many but this is a remarkable sixteenth-century manuscript that contains over 900 recipes for making art objects, medical remedies, and materials for the household and workshop.
Pamela explains how the craft workshop practices record extensive first-hand experimentation with natural materials and provide unique insights into the material, technical, and intellectual world of the late sixteenth century and bring a better understanding of how and why nature was investigated, collected, and used in art in early modern Europe. It sheds light on the origins of the natural sciences in the creative labors of Renaissance artists and artisans’ workshops.
The digital critical edition is an open-source resource is available for anyone to experiment and follow the recipes and directions.
We also cover her views of education, failure, persistence and the need to create a more evolved and sustainable economic model.
Please enjoy and share this extensive exploration and mind-expanding journey through the history of science with Pamela H Smith.
What we discuss:
Pamela explains the Making and Knowing project and the fusion of disciplines to study the connection between craft and science
The emergence of the Royal Society and the first project of interviewing artisans to identify general principles
Active Science vs Certain Science
The parallels to the creative class of today
I ask Pamela about her thoughts in imitation and she explains the development of Intellectual property and propriety forms and the nature of our economy.
We discuss theory and practice and persistence and the culture of fearing failure.
Pamela describes the development of The Digital Critical Edition the verbatim translation of the French Manuscript of over 400 pages of artisanal recipes and makes this open-source and available for the public and artisans.
The recreation of the objects that have been created by her students.
Interest in the human hand and it's capacity in nature.
We discuss the aims of Pamela to facilitate and create a new maker sensibility in today's world and how this could create a new economic and sustainable model based on handwork and craft. Pamela cites examples from India.
We also discuss the imperative of embracing new economic models, the need to celebrate diversity, the importance of persistence.
Social Links
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Links In the Show
Digital Critical Edition Columbia University Wollongong University Buckminster Fuller Frank Lloyd Wright National Science Foundation Manhattan Project Royal Society in London Francis Bacon Academie Des Sciences Aristotle Bernard Pallisy on Theory and Practice Bryan Stevenson True Justice Elizabeth King Radical Small