The Unmistakable Creative Podcast The Operating System of Transformation: Salim Ismail on Exponential Thinking, Leadership, and Inner Engineering
Sep 22, 2025
Salim Ismail, founding executive director of Singularity University and author of *Exponential Organizations*, dives into the intricacies of leadership in a rapidly changing world. He explores the frameworks behind exponential growth and the essential inner transformations leaders must undergo. Salim highlights tools like NLP and flow-state techniques that can reshape our personal and organizational dynamics. He also discusses the importance of creating edge startups and adapting education to keep pace with skill demands, encouraging listeners to think big and act boldly.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
From Mumbai To Singularity
- Salim moved from India to Canada, studied physics and computing, then built startups including PubSub before joining Yahoo and later Singularity University.
- His path shows repeated boundary-pushing and switching careers roughly every five years to pursue new challenges.
The Execution Gap After Learning
- Executives learn about accelerating tech but often return to companies that can't act on it.
- That gap between insight and organizational execution motivated Salim to study how companies must change.
Learn To Read And Moderate Groups
- Practice reading groups and moderating energy to improve social navigation skills as an adult.
- Use repeated exposure to group facilitation to build the ability to anticipate and mitigate conflicts.
