Brian Levenson’s Reflections from the Aspen Ideas Festival

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different than a lot of our past episodes because it’s just going to be me on here. I’m going to share a lot of my observations, a lot of my notes, from a festival I recently attended called The Aspen Ideas Festival. It’s really a conference, but it’s much more than a conference. It’s where some of the best thought leaders gather to share what’s on their mind, to discuss, they have all kinds of experiences, they have debates, they have panels, they have interactive experiences. I figured I would capture the four days that I spent at the conference with all of you and share it in today’s episode. 

Here are some insights I’d like to share form today’s episode:

“[The festival] was a reminder of the power of education” (2:40).

“We don’t need to be formally in school to continue to grow and become educated, but we do need to seek out opportunities to learn” (2:45).

“We either evolve, or we die” (4:15).

“’And’ is more powerful than ‘or’” (5:15).

“If we aren’t healthy, nothing else really matters” (6:40).

“If you want to be a great manager, you need to understand that part of your job as a manager is to connect with human beings, and we connect with human beings on an emotional level” (9:30).

“We need to manage our emotions; we don’t need to eradicate them” (9:55).

“The people who are happiest actually dig rather than climb” (12:35).

“Fulfillment is what’s most key to happiness” (13:50).

“Sometimes we have to take a step back if we want to take a step forward” (16:30).

“Wealth is essentially your capacity to control your time” (18:20).

“The thing that makes you weird as a kid can make you great as an adult” (19:05).

“Following your passion is very limiting” (20:30).

“Maybe the passion will come from the doing rather than the doing coming from the passion” (21:00).

“Change does involve pain” (21:50).

“Emotions are radar, they give us information, they give us data” (22:30).

“Are we working hard, or are we overworking?” (23:40).

“Let’s look inward for the solution” (25:25).

“Parenting doesn’t stop once our children become adults” (25:50).

“Not knowing is the most intimate” (28:30).

“Our happiness is about looking out the window rather than at the mirror” (29:20).

“Where you believe you’re going matters” (34:00).

“Vision can inspire” (35:25).

“If you have clarity on the vision, then you can actually pass that down to the people in your organization who are actually connected to the customer” (36:20).

“You want to get as close to that customer experience as possible if you want to build a strong organization” (37:50).

“People don’t need to be punished; they need to be helped” (39:20).

“We assume that other people are thinking exactly like us” (41:20).

“We need to be aware of our biases” (42:20).

“Let’s not speculate; let’s explore” (44:05).

“Whether you’re a show or a business or a sports team, you’re trying to do something together” (47:00).

“Insecurities are what often drive us to feel threatened” (49:15).

“Each successive generation is staying at their jobs for less time” (55:10).

“When does capitalism go too far?” (57:40).

“As we become more and more segregated behind computer screens, we need to intentionally create space for us to be in person” (1:00:35).

“If you don’t change, you either aren’t paying attention or you don’t care” (1:04:15).

“We need to think about our education as a rising tide that can lift all boats” (1:07:15).

“Our world needs to come together to think about how they’re going to manage artificial intelligence” (1:10:50).

“America is America because we collaborate” (1:12:00).

“How can you be bold while still being responsible?” (1:13:55).

“AI really reveals our own biases and toxic behaviors and holds a mirror up to us” (1:16:50).

If you’d like to connect with me further directly about this episode or anything else, you can reach out to me via email (brian@strongskills.co).

Thanks for listening.