Disrupt Yourself Podcast with Whitney Johnson

Confidence and curiosity make a powerful tandem. Individually, either could be a positive catalyst or, if misplaced, prove to be a distraction to meaningful progress. But as a combination, they often create a mindset where even failures become learning opportunities and stepping stones along the S Curve. Bain & Company Chairman Orit Gadiesh has these two traits in spades. From her early school days through her almost five decades at Bain, Orit's curiosity has never waned. Trained to always ask that extra question, she's a student of the world around her, whether the subject is business-related or religiously reading books from all the countries to which she's traveled. When Bain faced severe financial hardship in the late 1980s, it was Orit and Mitt Romney who reversed the company's course and steadied the ship. How? Through extreme confidence, often telling curious competitors, “We're better than you!” Today, Bain is considered one of the big three management consulting firms in the world. Orit has occupied the chairman's seat since 1993.  

Asheesh Advani isn't just the CEO of Junior Achievement Worldwide—he was also a participant. The program changed his life when he experienced it in middle school, and as CEO, he has guided the global NGO into more than 115 countries, involving more than 3,500 employees and 500,000 volunteers worldwide. Incredibly, JA annually serves more than 15 million young people. JA's disruptive ripple of entrepreneurship is staggering—certainly one reason why the organization has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for three straight years. Asheesh believes that those nominations have allowed JA to bring attention to the connection between the economic empowerment of youth and the overall peace and prosperity of their communities.  Listen in as he shares the philosophy behind JA's fixed, flexible and freestyle framework and why embracing your naive audacity at the beginning of a new S Curve can be the way to go.  

Imposter syndrome is something to which most of us can relate. The idea of doubting our own skills and abilities, even in the face of myriad accomplishments. It's a common human experience. It's easier to have faith in others than buy into ourselves. When Tina Vatanka Murphy was called into a meeting with her company's CEO and HR director to talk about filling the role of president for Global Healthcare Exchange's (GHX) European enterprise, she didn't realize they were asking her to take on that role. She had never envisioned herself in that type of leadership position. What's interesting and surprising and delightful is that –– while it's true that she hadn't seen herself in that role –– once she came to grips with this unexpected proposal, there wasn't imposter syndrome, her first thought was refreshing. Of course I can do this! “I'm going to go kill it.”  

It's often fascinating to pinpoint when someone received the first inkling of what their eventual career would be. For many, of course—thinking of all the kids who grew up wanting to be professional athletes, movie stars, astronauts, or firemen—their idealized career path often follows a long and winding road of self-discovery, full of detours and roadblocks that transport them to an eventual destination that was not on their original radar. But what if you could date your dream? Get some firsthand experience in your supposed career of choice? Would you remain totally enamored with the opportunity and steadily move toward further engagement? Or, would you, like Seinfeld's neurotic George Costanza, break things off with a nonchalant, “It's not you, it's me”? Today's guest, Jeanette Bennett, CEO and founding editor of Utah Valley Magazine and Bennett Communications, had that revelatory experience while working as a camera operator at an Idaho TV station when she was in high school. It turned out to trigger the first of many career reframes for this talented entrepreneur and storyteller.  

There's a reason we call it a mental rut – this deep groove in the mud.  It's a pattern of behavior that we've dug into our brains, and when we go down this road, it's where our mental wheels get stuck. When have you been stuck in a rut? Maybe it's coming back day after day to a job you hate. Maybe it's something small, like knowing you should eat lunch at home but finding yourself in line at the Sweetgreen every morning. Getting stuck is human. But so is shoving the wagon out of the rut and cutting a new path. On today's episode, we're here to talk about what that really looks like. Our guest is Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot. If you're a small or medium sized business, you're probably already familiar with HubSpot's value – helping entrepreneurs track customers, make sales and follow up on those relationships. But the real focus here is Yamini's journey to the top, from studying engineering in India, to taking her first step into the world of sales, and eventually – the C Suite. It's been a journey of rewiring herself, learning how to build new mental roads while staying true to her authentic self.   

The power of manifesting something into reality might seem… well, a bit silly at times. It's all over social media, for better or for worse. It can seem silly because we all know it's not as simple as saying it out loud, or creating a Pinterest board. Getting what you want, reaching mastery on a curve, it's hard, hard work. And yet it does start with saying it loud. If we want to turn our dreams into reality, then the first step is defining what you want. If you can't put that dream into words, then it's hard to put that on a timeline, and you risk others swooping in and defining that dream for you. Our guest today is an expert in manifesting what she wants. Tarsha Joyner is the owner and head treatmaker of Mrs. Joy's Absolutely Fabulous Treats, a bakery in Lynchburg, Virginia. Everything from cookies, to caramels and tailor-made cakes. And those cookies are award-winning – Tarsha has appeared on several Food Network competitions, winning the Christmas Cookie Challenge in 2015. It all started with a graphic design class, where Tarsha had to imagine a brand label for an imaginary company. She'll admit it herself – she was a terrible baker back then. But it came down to her confidence, her perseverance, her willingness to dream big – and – keep repeating that dream to herself until it was real.  

Do you know that feeling, when you've been on a roadtrip for however many hours – or even, days – and you just can't bring yourself to eat another bite of fast food? The food all looks the same, the landscape outside your window starts blending together, and you just crave something… different?  There's a part of us deep inside that searches out for the “different.” We want to leave our small town for the big city, start up that new project at work, or even something as small as freshening up a shelf on a bookcase. We want to experience life from many directions, not just one. Our guest today has made that multi-faceted mindset the focus of both her professional and personal life. Betty Lu is the CEO and founder of Confetti Snacks, everything from dried mandarin oranges to my personal favorite, shiitake mushroom chips. But it's more than just making sure the next generation of kids grows up eating broccoli, Confetti is dedicated to putting a dent in the world's food waste, partnering with organizations like the World Food Programme.  So what perspectives helped Betty build her brand – and build herself, too?  

What does it mean to turn a dream into a business plan? How do you take your vision of a better future, whatever that looks like, and translate that into a company? It's a difficult leap! This grand vision has to be broken down into steps, arranged on a timeline. Then your dream becomes tied to the bottom line profits, to your employees and your board.  We've had guests before that have made that leap, whether it's Austin Hillam's ZipString or Jennifer Smith's Scribe. But our guest today has a dream we haven't seen before on this show––revolutionizing how we treat broken bones. Nina Tandon is the co-founder and CEO of EpiBone, a biomedical engineering firm that brings together stem cells and 3D technology to grow bone grafts. Yes, you heard that right – Nina is growing bones. Her method's already been shown to work, but turning those studies into widespread adoption – now that's a big dream. So how does Nina balance her two selves – the researcher, and the CEO?  

In 2022, 46 percent of American teens said they were online almost constantly. Around 80 percent of high school seniors said they use social media nearly every day, but only 30 percent say they meet up with friends every day. Since 2010 – roughly the year touch-screen smartphones and social media apps blew up – the number of girls between 12 and 17 that reported a major depressive episode more than doubled, to 28 percent. Emergency room visits and hospitalizations for girls harming themselves skyrocketed too, along with the suicide rate amongst teenage boys.  Our guest today calls this a total rewiring of childhood, as smartphones and overprotective parenting warp those crucial formative years into a rollercoaster of anxiety and depression. Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the NYU Stern School of Business, and the author of several books – his latest is “The Anxious Generation – How The Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”  

CLICK HERE TO VOTE IN THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE PODCAST AWARDS: https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup We all have an idea of what we want our future to look like. Maybe it's very grounded, and concrete – or maybe it's just a vague idea of how we want to feel when we get there. But what happens when we're forced to adapt that vision? Something out of your control gets between you and your dream. How do we muster the strength to find another way through? In 2004, Melissa Stockwell had a clear vision for her future––a lieutenant in the U-S Army. But when a roadside bomb in Baghdad took her left leg, the door to that dream slammed shut.  Jumping ahead 20 years, on September 1st, 2024, Melissa will compete in Paris in her fourth paralympic triathlon. Her motivational speeches have inspired rooms full of people. And her non-profit, Dare2Tri, is giving other disabled athletes resources so they can run toward their dreams. What can we learn from Melissa, and her journey – from that Baghdad hospital, to the Paralympic podium?  

CLICK HERE TO VOTE IN THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE PODCAST AWARDS: https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup In your day-to-day, who counts on you? We're all interconnected in these webs of care, everyone leaning on someone else for support. Even Henry David Thoreau, who chose to live the hermit life at Walden Pond – asked his mother to help with laundry. We long to be cared for, and to care in return. How does being that steward feel, in your heart and in your head? What does genuine care mean to you? Our guest today has built his life and his career around discovering and implementing the best ways to care for another human being. Rob Allen is the CEO of Intermountain Health, a non-profit healthcare system with 33 hospitals across several states west of the Rockies. Rob's business is caring for patients, of course, but also caring for the caregivers – all 68 thousand of them within Intermountain. So how does he do it – and what can we take from that hospital setting, and bring into our own lives?  

Ask any comedian what the hardest part of their job is, and they'll probably tell you it's being the second act in a show where the person before you just brought the house down. Suddenly you're backstage, doubting your material, listening to this thunderous applause and wondering if you can even get close to that.   It's not just a comedian's dilemma – we all experience this follow-on problem at one point or another. How do you put your own stamp on things, and do so… with confidence? Our guest today has been through that ringer at one of the highest levels, as the second CEO after the company's co-founder and original leader. Matt Sharrers is the former CEO and current executive chairman of SBI, a B2B firm dedicated to, as Matt says, “helping you sell more stuff.”   And today, he's out with a new book, aptly titled “The Second CEO: Accelerating Scale When Following The Founder.” What can we learn from Matt's journey, not just in growing the business, but growing as a person, too?  

Risk is all around us. It's baked into everything we do, into every day of our lives, a feeling that danger – and loss – lurks around every corner. It's even baked into our brains, back when we were scanning every branch and every bush for something that wanted to eat us. So now that our world is much more than just the forest floor, how are we managing modern-day risk? This July 4th weekend, we're celebrating almost 250 years of America's history – and how often the country took on all kinds of risks, and came out on top. In that spirit, I wanted to bring back a conversation I had with one of our country's leading scholars on risk management. General Stanley McChrystal led special operations in Iraq during the 2000s. Later that decade he was put in charge of all forces in Afghanistan. When we spoke, the retired four-star general had just released his book “Risk: A User's Guide.” So how can we approach risk management in our own lives? How can we keep an eye out for danger, without letting the fear overwhelm us? Well, the general has some thoughts, and you'd be surprised who the real enemy is. It might just be… ourselves.   

In just about a month, on the 26th of July, 10 thousand athletes from all over the world will gather in Paris for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics.  Being an Olympian has a way of consuming a person's image. Olympians dedicate their body and their mind to the perfect backstroke, or the perfect arrow release, or this year – even the perfect breakdancing routine.  So when an Olympic athlete hangs up the towel… who are they? How do you leave behind the biggest S Curve of your life? Although he's better known for the Winter Olympics, Apolo Ohno has some ideas. The most decorated American in the Olympics' chillier half, Apolo is known the world over for his gold-medal talent at speed skating. I wanted to bring back my conversation with Apolo, in light of the Olympic Games on our doorstep, but also as a reminder this summer that although we should honor our past, we are never tied to it when it comes to trailblazing our future. What did retirement look like – what did slowing down look like – for the man who built his career around being the fastest athlete on the ice?  

How many times have you looked back across your whole life, looked at all those S Curves you've taken on and thought – wow. “I guess things do come together in the end,” even though, in the moment, those S Curves seemed so treacherous, and we felt so lost and afraid climbing them. There's an element of faith in that statement, sure, but just as strongly, there's an undercurrent of grit, determination, stick-to-it-ness. We appreciate the journey a lot more if we also can appreciate having felt lost and afraid – and then pushing through it. Our guest today has had an unusual trajectory, to say the least. Lisa Shalett started her career in 1990s Tokyo, producing those classic game shows – then she zig-zagged to the world of equities at Goldman Sachs, – zagging again to its compliance division – and then in charge of the bank's entire brand during a PR disaster. And today, she's the co-founder of Extraordinary Women On Boards, a community dedicated to supporting high-achieving women. So what can we learn from Lisa's journey?  

Is there a particular conversation you've had with someone, that keeps resurfacing as you grow and get older? In difficult moments, you find yourself traveling back to that day at the cafe or whatever it was, sitting down for a conversation you didn't know would shape you as much as it has.  For me, it's my talk with Brené Brown, all the way back in 2019.  In case new listeners need an introduction, she holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair as a research professor at the University of Houston. You might know her best as the writer of Daring Greatly, or The Gifts Of Imperfection, or as the speaker for one of the most popular TED Talks ever. When we spoke, she had just released her Netflix special, The Call To Courage, and it was a conversation that reminds me even today to appreciate the meaning that emerges from the human condition. I want to bring back that conversation today in light of her most recent book, Anatomy Of The Heart – all about the thousand different ways our body generates emotion. Like Emma McAdam says, stop trying to feel better, and get better at feeling – that's something I'm still working on today. Brené's work on the link between emotion and the meaning we make for ourselves is just as important today as it was in 2019.   

It's not a pretty truth of life, but we all argue with family, eventually. In fact, those arguments can be some of the most explosive moments of our lives. But why? Is it just that the folks closest to us know how to push our buttons? If so, how can we overcome that to grow? And grow alongside our family? Our guest today has a couple ideas. Cathy Carroll is the president and founder of Legacy Onward, a leadership coaching business dedicated to helping – you guessed it – family businesses. All those images I just conjured up, of fighting with your family: now add money, a lot of money, to the mix, and that's where Cathy operates. She even comes from a family business herself – rodeo equipment manufacturing. Today, Cathy's out with a new book, Hug of War, a real guide to navigating that tension between the good of the business and the good of the family. So what do we do when we're fighting with the people we love most? Is it possible, as Cathy claims, for both of us to be right? And if so… then what?  

Think of a relationship in your life that you'd describe as a true partnership. Why did that person come to mind? There are words and phrases that come easily when you're describing a partnership that works:  feeling supported, encouraged, the sense that when I have my back turned, you've still got my back. So where do those feelings come from, and how do we solidify them? How can we grow a new relationship into a partnership? How do you pick the people you can trust? Today we've got two guests that are partners on paper, at the private equity firm Brand Velocity Group, but as you'll hear, it goes much further than their roles. Steve Lebowitz is the founder and managing partner of BVG, and Eli Manning – well, you might recall his S Curve with the New York Giants, but this episode is all about a new S curve.  So how did the first overall draft pick in 2004 partner up with a revolutionary in private equity – and what do they do to make it work?  

Back in July, we tried something a little new for this show – episode 329 was all about hearing from the listeners of Disrupt Yourself. What was important to you while you were listening, what insights you wanted to bring back from older episodes and refresh. It was a lovely experiment, so today we're bringing you another roundtable. This time, we've got three coaches instead, all of whom are Smart Growth certified. We wanted to explore what that initial call to action was for all three of them, as well as what certification meant – practically – for their clients' success. Today we'll be joined by Sarah Glover, Jordan White and Rebecca Woodard, all independent coaches in the process of growing their practice.  

Self-fulfilling prophecies – and falling into their trap – are part and parcel of being human. From ancient Greek tragedies to television like Breaking Bad, they've popped up time and time again. We just can't escape our flaw of telling ourselves stories about the future, and then making them reality. But what if it… wasn't a flaw? What if there was a real power, a real gift in being about to tell yourself a story and see it through? You might know Steph Curry from his legacy at the Golden State Warriors, but would you believe he wasn't even scouted coming out of high school?  Our guest today is a big believer in turning the self-fulfilling prophecy stigma on its head. Nathan Tanner thought he finally had it all with a cushy investment gig at Lehman Brothers. The problem was, he joined up in 2008, right before Lehman went through the biggest bank collapse in history. To hear him say it, it would have been the easiest thing to write a personal story… of failure.  But since then, Nathan's worked through top positions at LinkedIn and DoorDash before settling into his own coaching practice. Today, he's out with a new book, suitably titled The Unconquerable Leader – Mastering the Internal and External Game. It's all about learning to show up for yourself so that you can properly show up for others.  

Today, we wanted to bring back a conversation I had with Michael Bungay Stanier back in 2018, where we explored what it really means to be a coach. His self-published book The Coaching Habit had only been out for two years, and it had already sold 300 thousand copies. Bringing the philosophy of coaching into our lives can be one of the most personally disruptive and rewarding projects we take on. It changes and strengthens how we support others in our lives, and the support we receive in return. Michael breaks this down in such an accessible way that we felt a re-air was more than worth it.  

So much of what we talk about on here is change – navigating change, embracing change, creating change. I think it's fair to say that if you're listening, change of some form is on your mind. We're no strangers when it comes to figuring out how to get from A to B. But what happens when we have to change… how we're changing? What happens when we plateau with our progress, and the old models of learning just aren't sticking anymore? What does jumping to that new S Curve look like? That's where our guest today comes in. Eduardo Briceno is the co-founder of Mindset Works, a firm dedicated to bringing Carol Dweck's growth mindset to workplaces world-wide. He's out now with The Performance Paradox, a book dedicated to that question of changing how you're changing. From Caracas, Venezuela to the Stanford Business School, Eduardo has navigated all kinds of change, even a fear of public speaking. So what do we have to learn from him?  

This week we've got a special episode, a longer one than we normally do. But when you have an opportunity, to talk to the person who built the Rotman School of Management into the powerhouse it is today, you have to use every minute you get.  Roger L. Martin was told that the Toronto's Rotman School wasn't worth his time, that it was a quote – cesspool of intrigue. Roger himself will say that he didn't do much in his 15 years as dean, just tinkering and prodding. He's a bit of an understated enigma, as you'll soon find out. But when Rotman's prestige today ranks up there with Stanford and Harvard, you can't really argue with his results.   There's so much to mine in this conversation, we thought it would be a shame to cut it down and fit it within our normal episode length. If you have the time, I'd love for you to give it more than just one listen.  

Ask a thousand people how to make a house a home, and you might get a thousand different answers. Some will say it's family; others say it's all in the interior decor – neighborhood pride, or a furry friend, maybe.  Regardless of how you answer the question, you can't just sit back and wait for it to become a home – everyone agrees that something needs to be done.  Our guest today is an expert on making that transition from house to home. Moving every 18 months or so, Ruth McKeaney raised five kids alongside her husband. Move into a fixer-upper, fix it up with the family's help, sell it, rinse and repeat. It was only a matter of time until Ruth's ability to structure her family's systems came to the attention of book publishers. Hungry for Home is Ruth's manual on building a home, everything from home restoration to frozen cookie dough.  

How many of us have mastered the skill of looking busy, at some point in our professional lives? It's an art, really – moving from one tab to another with lightspeed, peering at the screen and making that face that you think communicates determination, drive, intent.    Our guest today says that it's nothing to feel bad about. When a portion of the population moved from factories to cubicles, they still brought that factory-floor mentality with them. Look good in front of the boss, keep working, don't stop moving. Cal Newport calls this pseudo-productivity – the art of looking busy.   Cal says there's a way out, though. He calls it Slow Productivity – also the title of his new book, out now. How can we accomplish our dreams without the emotional and physical burnout that so many industries seem to take for granted?  

Many of us feel comfortable navigating a city. Whether it's New York or Kyoto, the rules remain mostly the same. Count the amount of blocks you've walked, remember that the E train runs express to Manhattan, if you see the Duane Reade, you've gone too far. We can get lost, for sure, but there's a joy in knowing that you have the freedom to get lost. A wrong turn could mean your new favorite Chinese spot, or a new friend. Now think about how you navigate the internet. We don't explore and get lost as much as we stay within one small neighborhood – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn.  Our guest today is fighting back against this centralization of our virtual city. Chris Dixon has been a partner at Andreessen Horowitz since 2012, most recently in charge of its crypto investing wing. From that birds-eye view, Chris has taken the charge on reimagining how we interact with the internet.  And now he's out with a new book, Read Write Own, all about the Web3 revolution on our doorstep. So – a lot of buzzwords, and a lot of metaphors. But what does it all mean for you?   

In this episode, we wanted to bring you a redux of a conversation I had back in 2022. As a new mom, Brooke Romney left behind her roots on Capitol Hill to move to a new community, new friend –– a new S Curve.    But instead of making new connections, a normally extroverted person, Brooke found herself withdrawing from the community. Why? Well, she was surrounded by successful people, and Brooke fell into one of the most human traps there is – comparing yourself to others, and feeling she was coming up short.   As the new spring rolls around, this is a perfect episode to remind us to stop comparing. That little voice in our head can convince us that we're coming up short, and only that little voice – your voice– can convince you that you are worthy, unique –– one of a kind.   

What makes a good story? Characters, plot, setting, sure – you can boil it down to those elements – but what makes a good story? Is it the moment where you're up all night burning the midnight oil, because you're dying to find out how it ends? Is a good story one you believe in? Our guest today believes in the power of stories. Donald Miller is the CEO of StoryBrand, a creative firm that specializes in clarifying a company's message. In other words, taking a good story and figuring out how to make it great – how to make it one customers can genuinely believe in. Now Donald's out with a new book, Coach Builder, all about how newly-minted coaches can write their professional story and succeed in the industry. Link to Coach Builder promo: www.coachbuilder.com/disrupt  

“True transformation, begins with a broken heart.” It's something you'll hear our guest today say a couple of times, this idea that a real crucible moment begins when something inside you breaks. When a force fundamental to you and your soul says – no more. Jerry Colonna has taken that message and run with it throughout his entire career, from the hallways of venture capital to his current venture in coaching. Today, he's out with a new book on healing that break, titled Reunion: Leadership, and the Longing to Belong. But how do you harness the power of a broken heart in the first place? How do you turn that into fuel for true transformation?

When's the last time you felt out of place? I'm sure a lot of us have sat with that feeling, whether that's professionally or personally. It can hit you just as easily in a boardroom meeting as when you're out with friends. So now that you feel like an alien that's crash-landed, what do you do? Our guest today has built his career around finding community for these so-called “black sheep.” Peter Sims is a former corporate investor who became disillusioned with the high-powered world of finance and left to form his own creative firm – appropriately named, Black Sheep. It's also the name of his new book, out in May, subtitled The Quest To Be Human In An Inhuman Time. What can we take away from Peter's journey, to help us better navigate those moments when you feel the need to find a new tribe?

At DA, we're all about discovering and harnessing disruption, but sometimes, disruption finds you. It's a fact of life – our car skids on ice we didn't see on the road up ahead. Your boat hits a reef at night. A business deal falls through out of nowhere, and there's nothing you can or could have done. Now that your car's in a snowbank, what's next? Our guest today has been there and back. After the company she worked for collapsed while she was on maternity leave, Carol Fishman Cohen decided to leave the workforce for 11 years to raise her children. Today, she's the CEO of her own company, iRelaunch. Carol's had to fight through the nitty-gritty of getting back into the office, remembering and trusting in her capabilities, and today her company helps others make the same jump. Her story is, quite literally, a case study in how people disrupt themselves in response to being disrupted.

When we talk about robots, machines, artificial intelligence, it's usually within the context of something theorists call the singularity. That's the moment when AI figures out how to upgrade itself, and leaves us in the dust. After all, it can learn a library in an instant – the AI doesn't need to stop for a snack and a nap.  In the world of the Terminator, it took Skynet a single day to become self-aware, destroy most of human life, and then send Arnold back in time to make sure no one could stop it. But in the end, The Terminator is one person's vision of the future – a vision that's also designed to sell well at the box office. Isn't it just as possible to write a different version? Our guest today is spending his time doing just that. Paul Allen, the co-founder and former CEO of Ancestry.com, is asking instead – what if we saw AI as an ally, not an arms race? With his new venture, Soar, Paul is writing a different story, one where the robots aren't sent back in time to strip away our humanity, but rather – they exemplify everything that's unique about being human.  

“If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” Famous words by Bruce Lee, sure, but when we've felt like a stone our whole lives, what does becoming water actually look like? How do we learn to be more malleable in difficult situations? And how can we be confident we're flowing in the right direction? Samantha Cooprider is the senior director of global leadership development at Meta – formerly Facebook. Today, Sam's shaping leaders at a corporate level, but her path to the top has been anything but straightforward. She's had to learn how to flow from a Midwestern childhood, through the non-profit world, and into the C-suites of Tesla, Meta and Google.  So how does Sam keep her mission top of mind when she's moving from one cup to another?  

After 49 days fasting under the Bodhi tree, Siddhartha Guatama was struck by an idea. We suffer because we are attached to things, to people, to desires. When we can't have it, we feel an emptiness. But what if we never wanted it in the first place? Guatama taught his philosophy for the next few decades, and centuries after that his followers would give him a new name – the Buddha. Total, complete elimination of your yearnings was called Nirvana. In our networked world, where we broadcast on social media what we want others to see of us, Nirvana can seem far away. But our guest today says that the yearning to belong shapes our behaviors in ways we're not often conscious of. Dr. Michael Gervais is host of the podcast Finding Mastery, where he pulls on his experience as a high-performance psychologist to draw out what makes these top athletes and board room professionals tick. He's out with a new book – The First Rule of Mastery, Stop Worrying About What Other People Think Of You.

When's the last time a customer service phone menu left you… genuinely angry? We build these systems to make things easier, layer systems on top of other systems, but who's doing the gardening and pruning – the upkeep? Our guest today calls this phenomenon friction. Robert Sutton has taught at Stanford since 1983, in that time covering everything from psychology to business management. Now he's out with his 8th book, The Friction Project. Bob and his co-writer Huggy Rao took on this idea of a maddeningly-frustrating phone menu to nail down where friction comes from – and how to treat it. But also, how can friction in our organizations actually be a force for good?

What does it take, day in and day out, to lead a group of people effectively? It's not easy, that's for sure. On a very granular level, leading is balancing a thousand decisions, huge and small, every day. So what guides your hand? Republican Governor of Utah Spencer Cox is an anomaly in a time of waning bipartisanship. His vice chair in the National Governor's Association is a Democrat – and a close friend at that. He's also been a bit of an anomaly in how he's charted his life, too, turning down Harvard and a cushy lawyer job for his family farm in Fairview. But Governor Cox is an anomaly we can learn from. How do you build a belief system as a leader – and strengthen it, when it seems like the political winds are blowing against you?   

We find ourselves compromising every day – it's how things get done in a society where we all want something else. But what's the root of compromise? Isn't it this idea that solving the issue, whatever it is, is more important than checking off everything we want? It can seem that those ideals have been left by the roadside in the past couple years, but the issue of honest compromise has crept into our boardrooms, too. Our guest today is working to instill that idea of meeting folks halfway back into our political culture. Keith Allred is the executive director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse, a DC non-profit dedicated to pushing through bipartisan legislation. What can we take from the House of Representatives into our own C-suite?

In middle school physics, we learned that an object at rest has potential energy – an amount of currency it has to spend, if it wants to move. When you pull back an arrow, the potential energy flows from your muscles, to the bow, to the string, and then the string pays all that money in one go to propel the arrow – turning potential into kinetic energy in a single motion. Our lives are organized around those same flows of energy, too. We dream, we store energy, and then we trade in potential for kinetic. Ashley Smith has made a career out of translating these flows of energy – and showing others how to do it, too. It's in her dance studio, turning emotion into movement. It's in her partnership with her husband, Ryan Smith, the executive chairman and co-founder of Qualtrics. And it's in her love for the state of Utah, flowing from Ashley's love for community, downstream, to ownership of the Utah Jazz basketball team with Ryan. How can we better understand the flows of energy in our own life, and in our bodies?

Do you know that feeling when you're cooking, and you've got all your ingredients chopped and ready to go, spices measured, oven pre-heated? All that's left is for you to spin your magic as a cook. In the kitchen, the French call it mise en place, everything in its place. In that same vein, to disrupt yourself, your strategy and support need to be in place. You need to give yourself the room to roam, so to speak, to realize your full potential.  Our guest today is all about creating spaces that let you realize that potential. Chip Conley is the former founder of Joie De Vivre, a boutique hotel chain. He's worked with AirBnB as a quote unquote modern elder, and now Chip's turning his attention to the potential of midlife – a word so laden with stigma, he's building regenerative horse ranches to change that. His new book, "Learning To Love Midlife", is out January 16th.  

Isn't it frustrating when we feel like a passenger to our own thoughts and actions? In Buddhist thought, we're supposed to watch our thoughts pass by like clouds in the sky… but that's the ideal, after all. It's a hard truth to swallow, that the human mind is much more mysterious than we'd hope it to be. So for today's episode, we wanted to bring back a conversation I had back in 2020 with the neuroscientist and author Dr. Tara Swart. She's spent her career tinkering with our brains, as both a doctor and an executive advisor, figuring out how we can harness this mysterious power we have. The machinery of our minds might be unknowable, but the way it adapts is not.  So what can we learn about not being a passenger to our own thoughts, about taking the wheel? I hope you enjoy.  

What does it mean to have a friend? What does it mean to be a friend? Someone you can rely on. Someone who understands you, not just the “you” that you project into the world. A friend is someone who knows they can rely on you, too.  How many times a week, a day, do you lean on your friends when you feel like you can't stand on your own? Our guest today has built his career on the power of those friends – and being a friend, too. Ken Woolley is the founder of Extra Space Storage, those ubiquitous blocky buildings you always see from the highway. He's managed airlines, developed apartments, even flipped vintage cars. But to hear him say it, none of it would be possible without that true spark of trust that comes from the friendships he's built.

When's the last time you got caught in the expectations others had for you? One person wants one thing, one version of you – another needs you to be someone else entirely… And who do you want to be? Do you even have time to think about that? The things people expect from us has a profound effect on how we act – we are social beings, after all. We aim, to please. Our guest today says that the burden of those expectations in the workplace fall unfairly onto women. Jennifer McCollum is the CEO of Linkage, devoted to advancing the real power of women leaders through leadership development. But how she got there has been a story of what Jennifer calls the double-bind of expectations on women. It's a story of what she's been called, too – a cupcake with a razor in it.  

There's an allure around the idea of sales. It's the same allure they packaged so neatly in the show Mad Men, all confidence and charisma. But take it from the other perspective – have you ever had such a pushy car salesman, that you just left the lot? Our guest today says that's because charisma isn't a sales strategy. There's no room for building trust in your solution when you're focused on the close. Scott Edinger is a sales consultant to Fortune 50 companies, including AT&T, and he's out with a new book – The Growth Leader. With such a disconnect from their company leaders, Scott says, sales teams are left to fend for themselves in their calls with clients. So how do you bridge the gap between the sales department and the C-suite?   

Growing your people to grow your organization – it makes sense, right? But what about approaching the problem from the other direction – growing your organization, to grow your people? When's the last time you looked at the state of your org chart? And how willing are you to experiment with it? Today, I want to bring back an old episode. In 2020, we spoke with Alex Osterwalder about his idea of an invincible company – one that is constantly reinventing itself to stay on the bleeding edge of disruption. Alex, along with his mentor Yves Pigneur, is one of the top-ranked management thinkers in the world – as of Thinkers50 2023, which just wrapped up, the duo is number 8 on that list. I hope you enjoy.  

Coaching often involves speaking a truth the other person doesn't really want to hear. Even when we're lost for direction, being pointed in the right way can feel like this indictment on being lost in the first place. But a lot of clients will describe this idea of the unlock – the a-ha – when that self-doubting voice fades, and the voice of the coach comes into focus.  How can we prime ourselves to receive these messages? Our guests today have a new book out on exactly that question. Jacquelyn Lane and Scott Osman are co-authors of Becoming Coachable, along with Marshall Goldsmith. The book was borne out of the 100 Coaches agency, which Scott co-founded with Marshall. So what does becoming coachable actually look like?

It's just the nature of our show that we often talk to folks in the mastery part of their professional S-Curve. It's easy to talk to a CEO about leadership. It's also another fact that our guests tend to be older – at least, out of college. But it is rare that we come across an entrepreneur in that very first launch point of their career. A person that put college on hold to pursue an idea, a person willing to put their dreams on hold for an hour to talk to us. Austin Hillam is the co-founder of ZipString, a handheld toy that keeps a string in constant motion.  It's easier to just watch than explain, here. And we've got Austin today for a rare look at the phase of professional life that a lot of our guests can only reflect on – starting that first business.   

If we're being honest, we've all felt the toll of going into a meeting on a couple hours sleep and a double espresso. The work can often come first, and the body comes second. But as leaders, we can't do our job effectively if we're jittery and wiped. We can't do our job if we've got the worry of heart disease lurking the back of your mind. What if we could take charge of our health before any of these things happen? Not just waiting for the symptoms, but… intecepting them? Dr. Bill Kapp realized that changing the paradigm of healthcare means taking on the Goliath in the room – the health insurance industry. A former US Air Force flight surgeon, Dr. Kapp is using his company Fountain Health to argue for a more holistic, preventative approach to living and aging, alongside Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis.    

The last time you had to navigate change – real, structural change – who did you turn to? When we're working from a place of ambiguity, when we're stuck inside our own head, another person can make all the difference. But let's be honest, sometimes, painfully… that person is no one at all. We can have this instinct, as leaders, that reaching out is weakness. We can see it as this flashing neon sign that, hey, I have no idea what I'm doing. Someone, please help. Melissa Werneck's spent her career fighting against that stigma. As the Chief Human Resources Officer for Kraft-Heinz, she's bringing her message of coaching as growth to an international company. Making sure everyone knows, it's okay to raise your hand, it's okay to feel a little lost – whether you're a new hire or the CEO.   

We throw around this term a lot in the management profession, in the coaching profession, really everywhere in business – top thinker.  But how often do we really interrogate that title? Because, really, wouldn't we all like to think of ourselves as top thinkers? In politics, it's the journalists that hold politicians to account. In the world of management, there are two former journalists who are holding these top thinkers to account as well. Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove used to write columns for The London Times, when they realized they could have a bigger impact connecting these thinkers directly. As the founders of Thinkers50, an organization that comes together every two years to celebrate the true top thinkers, Stuart and Des have brought their skills of commentary and curation from the front page to a much larger audience. So what makes a top thinker, truly?   

For all the credit Superman gets, for being the Man of Steel, do you think he ever cries? When he's Clark Kent, working at the paper, do you think Superman's ever broken down in a bathroom stall? When he's flying folks out of a burning building, it's easy to forget that his parents are dead, his home is dust and the only family he has wants him dead. All we see is the Man of Steel. For 45 years, James Dixon only showed others what they wanted to see. What they didn't see, was his prosthetic leg that he had kept hidden all that time. Until he decided to show them. Today, James is out with a book about his experience, titled Absolute Motivation. From team lead at General Motors to firing up Fortune 500 crowds, James is in the business of building people up. That's only after he learned to build himself up, too.  

When you're making decisions, professional or personal, what's your north star? How many people know your north star? How many of your colleagues know what you've built your life around? There's this idea, of leaving home at home and only bringing into work your work self. Can you really leave at home what fuels you and drives you? When Lori Winkler at the top of Johnson and Johnson's HR department, she was a high achiever, sure – but as you'll hear her say, no one really know who Lori Winkler was. They just knew what she did, and that she did it well. But that wasn't Lori. So who is Lori today, as the Chief Human Resources Officer for Zimmer Biomet? You'd be surprised how much Bruce Springsteen is involved.