Art of the Possible

Rob and Dan catch up with Zeenat Rahman, Executive Director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago. Zeenat shares how she found her purpose and got into policy  - what is policy?! Then we dig into the American reaction to war in Ukraine versus war in the Middle East, and how to over come difference and make the world a better place.  Enjoy and learn more about Zeenat and the Institute of Politics at https://politics.uchicago.edu.

Rob geeks out with Michael Blakeney and Miles Phillips from Terazo (a software development firm) on how to build the possible, while Dan learns a ton... and gets very confused about Kubernetes. Great listen, especially as you consider whether to build or buy your software solution.

Rob and I are joined by Jesse Purewal, the Head of Brand at Qualtrics, who we define as a living example of Robert Frost's famous line - "the road less traveled." We intended to discuss the art of leadership, but instead fell into a fascinating conversation about the difference between being an entrepreneur and being entrepreneurial, and then shift into Jesse's wheelhouse - his quest to rid the world of bad experiences. For you customer experience strategy and design geeks, Jesse shares why behavioral data is not enough and needs sentiment data to unlock future experiences customers want... And listen through the end, Jesse drops some leadership/parenting wisdom inspired by Biff from Back to the Future II after he thought the mic was off. Enjoy!

David Siegel, CEO of Meetup, joins Art of the Possible to talk about what Meetup does when you can't meet up in person and how the organization transitioned from no online meetups to nearly all online meetups nearly overnight. In addition, we chat about curing the loneliness pandemic, playing (mini) golf, and Dan's melon colored shirt. Enjoy!

The latest episode is one of a several firsts - first from a camper, with a unicorn (of sorts), and without Rob. It was an absolute pleasure talking with Rosie von Lila during her trip across the US in a 1964 Chevy pickup truck with an attached camper. We discussed Burning Man culture, the world of private equity, and her up coming book on Human Flourishing - an amazing concept of how to live more fulfilling lives. Give it a listen!  And follow her cross country adventure on Twitter at @rosievonlila!

Rob and Dan are joined by digital anthropologist, futurist, author and awesome human, Brian Solis to explore technology, the customer experience, and where we are going as a society and species... and what impact it is having on us as human beings and how we need to be intentional with our technology to take care of ourselves. Give it a listen and then check out Brian's book Lifescale: How to live a more creative, productive, and happy life  for more. Enjoy!

Rob and Dan are joined by Neil Thompson, currently the VP of Digital at HMSHost.  No where was the art of the possible more evident than in the travel experience during the pandemic. Neil shares how HMSHost is redefining the airport experience, why grass skirts at Pizza Hut were (and were not) the answer,  and the art of stillness in baseball and management. Enjoy!

Rob goes rogue and has a solo conversation with Phil Windley whose fascinating career spans CIO of Utah, CTO/Founder of several startups, and BYU. They chat about small airplanes, startups, identity and more - awesome conversation, give it a listen.

For a topic near and dear to Rob and Dan's hearts, John Sechrest from Seattle Angel Conference joins to talk about startups and angel investing. While most of this episode was triggering for Rob and Dan, they carry on in the spirit of fail forward and test and learn. Give it a listen and forward to your friends toiling in coffee shops and shared workspaces around the world practicing the art of the possible to bring their start up dreams to life.

Rob and Dan are joined by Peter Dixon, Chief Creative Officer at Prophet, to about talk how brands use the art of the possible to build meaningful and relevant customer experiences. We also hear about Peter's fascinating journey from engineer to architect to designer to Chief Creative Officer, which was all inspired by a painting he stumbled upon in Paris. Listen, enjoy and share, thank you!

How do we learn the Art of the Possible? From our moms and dads. To celebrate Mother's Day, Kate Singletary, Dan's mom joins the show to talk about her path from high school teacher to labor lawyer to bed & breakfast owner to Obama campaign leader. Her advice on mastering the Art of the Possible - don't over plan it but when you commit, commit to the death! Enjoy and Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there - we love you and thank you!!!

Rob and Dan are joined by Jeff Perkins, the CMO & Head of Product at ParkMobile  and author of the upcoming book - How to Not Suck at Marketing.  Jeff shares how navigated his career from advertising to marketing leader and how ParkMobile is redefining how we all experience parking and mobility. And Rob actually asks some compelling questions. Enjoy! 

Rob and Dan are joined by Suzi Sosa, the founder of Verb (goverb.com),  who shares how she shifted Verb from a  business plan competition platform for socially innovative entrepreneurs  to a leadership development platform, and how she lives the art of the possible in their professional and personal lives. Suzi is amazing, enjoy!

Rob has been wanting to talk about APIs since we started the podcast. Dan has been saying it was a snoozer of a topic. Rob was right for once. Dan asks all the dumb questions about what is an API, why are they important, and why should non-developers care? Rob tries his best to answer and Dan translates for those of us that don't speak nerd. And for those of you who are not familiar with APIs, the title is an API signature. Enjoy!

Dan digs a little deeper into what makes Rob tick - don't worry, it is not as scary as it sounds. Rob is what is called a "software person." What's a software person? Are YOU a software person?! Give a listen.

Rob finally upholds his end of the partnership and invites a guest, the wonderful Jake Volcsko, Chief Digital Officer of Connecticut Public Broadcasting,  to continue our conversation about media and explore if local media is a potential solve for our fractured, entertainment-driven, mass media and can save the Republic. Spoiler, Rob isn't hopeful, but is that really a surprise?

Dan and Rob debrief from their conversation with Food Tank founder, Danielle Nierenberg about food and take a few left and right turns that lead to debates about regulation, the ability/inability of the market to solve the food crisis, and the tragedy of the commons, which causes Rob to abruptly end the podcast. Make sure you listen (or skip) to the end for an added section on audio quality and Sargent Slaughter.

Danielle Nierenberg, the founder and President of Food Tank, joins Rob and Dan to talk about the state of the food system, explore the human element and social justice issues related to food, debate if and how technology can be part of the solution, and share opportunities for developers to get involved in creating what's possible.Visit http://www.foodtank.com and the Refresh Working Group (RWG) to find ways to apply your developer skills to the food crisis.

Rob and Dan follow up on their conversation with author Michael Slaby and explore solutions for media and political polarization, discuss what it means to be an "American," and wonder if it is possible for hopeful visionaries like MLK, Gandhi, and JFK to exist in our current social media, 24/7 newstainment culture. Enjoy! (and if you do, subscribe and share, please.)

Rob and Dan have their first guest! Michael Slaby, author of the new book For All The People: Redeeming the Broken Promises of Modern Media and Reclaiming Our Civic Life, joins the fray and we discuss the state of media and social media, confirmation bias, personal responsibility, weapons of exclusion, how the pandemic is making us more susceptible to conspiracy theories, and what is possible as we try to come together as a nation. Enjoy and pick up Michael's book anywhere books are sold.

Rob and Dan conned Michael Slaby - former CTO/CIO for Obama of America, Head of Edelman's Digital Practice, Harvard Fellow, and too much other cool stuff to list - and now author of For All the People (releasing Feb 23) to join us in a conversation about media, society, politics and discuss what is possible as we try to come together as a people of America and the world. Here is a 5 min teaser. Full episode drops Wed Feb 24.If you want to pre-order Michael's book - here is the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1633310515/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ZRMX2DNJFXD977TKKABR

Co-hosts Rob Page and Dan Morrison debate whether or not brands should build or buy software and explore what that means. Dan tries to use big words. Rob accuses Dan of continuously marketing. And then they dig into Jeff Lawson's new book Ask Your Developer, the deneuterization and emancipation of developers, and get the nuance of when and why to build, buy, or rent software. Enjoy!

The next episode of Art of the Possible drops Wednesday, February 10th - get a sneak peek!

Co-hosts Rob Page and Dan Morrison kick off Art of the Possible and layout what this podcast is all about, which is the customer understanding, design thinking, and technology needed for creating and delivering winning customer experiences.