The Evolving Leader

When you face a difficult situation, how often have you heard someone say, ‘just use your head’? This week on the Evolving Leader podcast, Jean and Scott talk to acclaimed science writer Annie Murphy Paul who turns that around and says that in fact we ‘think outside the brain’, suggesting that the people, things and space around us have a profound effect on how we think, feel and develop.  Published in 2021, her book ‘The Extended Mind, The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain’ has been awarded the New York Times Editors Choice and Washington Post Best Nonfiction Book of 2021. 0.00 Introduction2.26 Can we start with your background, and how you became interested in the biological and social sciences.4.46 Can we look at what the components are of the extended mind and could you give us some examples of the research that you have uncovered when talking to neuroscientists and psychologists that bring this to life.10.17 Can you tell us a little about how ‘the body knows before the mind’.13.35 What other thoughts and ideas could you share about how we could build greater awareness of our interoceptive processes?15.49  Could you talk to us about emotional reappraisal?19.30 What happens to our thinking when we are moving and what is the ideal amount of movement?24.02 How do gestures impact our thinking?27.14 Can we move to thinking about how extending the intelligence out of the mind to our surroundings29.47 What has been most surprising in all of this for you?  31.47 How has it changed you?33.36 Thinking about the challenges that are facing leaders, particularly around Covid and the decision to bring people back, when to work at home and when to work in a collaborative physical space. What are your insights there?35.50 What’s next for you?37.34 Is there anything else that you would leave us with today? Social:Instagram           @evolvingleaderLinkedIn             The Evolving Leader PodcastTwitter               @Evolving_Leader The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, Jean and Scott talk to Gerard Puccio, author, creativity researcher, TEDx presenter and Chair and Professor at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, Buffalo State. Gerard helps individuals, teams, and organizations reach their greatest potential by tapping into and expanding their capacity to imagine new possibilities and to creatively address complex problems. He states that in a world defined by complexity and change, creative thinking has become the number one survival skill and on the back of that his mission is to help individuals, teams and organizations ignite and fully maximize their creative potential – not just to survive, but to thrive. 0.00 Introduction2.33 Please start by giving us a sense of your research into creativity and areas that currently most excite you5.18 In a much cited piece of research published by IBM as far back as 2010, creativity was selected as the most crucial factor for future success. In 2022, why are so many businesses still prioritising what they have now with a focus on ways to prevent risk and deviation?14.48 In an organisation where there are a lot of good ideas at the top, but they repeatedly fail to become commercial realities (in other words creativity breaks down), what needs be developed in the team so they are able to take the ideas through to becoming a reality. 18.45 Tell us a little about the FourSight tool26.29 Do you have a view on the best ideation techniques29.15 What have you learnt about yourself in terms of being in a social environment and generating ideas?34.38 How do you prevent yourself from falling in love with an idea and potentially stalling when in fact you should be detaching yourself from that originally idea allowing yourself to create more and more alternatives?38.49 Who is doing well in the creativity space?42.01 Do you share the view that there is a problem nurturing creativity in education? Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Evolving_Leader The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

This week on the Evolving Leader podcast, Jean and Scott talk to author, educator, and consultant Jeffrey Hull PhD. In addition to his writing and consultancy, Jeffrey is a clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School and an adjunct professor of leadership at New York University.Flex, The Art and Science of Leadership in a Changing World Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Evolving_Leader The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to entrepreneur, investor, and the creator of highly-regarded newsletter ‘Exponential View’ Azeem Azhar. Much of the world is witnessing radical societal change driven by exponential technologies that are transforming how we live and interact with one another and disrupting our economic and social norms in highly unpredictable ways. In his recent book ‘Exponential: How to Bridge the Gap Between Technology and Society’, Azeem Azhar describes the widening gap between technology and society and its ramifications.  Reading suggestion -'Exponential: How to Bridge the Gap Between Technology and Society’, (Random House, 2021) 0.00 Introduction2.30 Tell us about your journey and how that influenced your views regarding how new technologies are accelerating change and as a result creating an exponential gap between the impact they have on the world and the scope of our institutions and policies.11.33 What is the central message in your book from a leadership perspective? What could business leaders learn from the book?17.06 How do you start the conversation with a CEO who hasn’t started to consider the use of exponential technologies within their organisation?20.17 At a time when mankind’s biggest challenge is tackling climate change, can you share what you’re seeing in terms of the conflict of technology, political will and capability.  24,45 Another huge risk to our future is AI enhanced warfare where (for example) humans could be excluded from making decisions which could lead to catastrophic escalations. Could you give us your view on how this is developing?30.47 In your view, how is remote working transforming the world?37.57 If we pause to think about the future Metaverse (with Facebook having recently rebranded to Meta), how do we prevent it from deepening the problems with mental health and wellbeing that are dogging social media at the moment? 43.39 Thinking about some of the other major players in the techspace (including Apple, Amazon and Microsoft), what do you think their evolution is going to look like in the next ten years?46.57 As leaders, how are we going to manage the exponential gap?  53.52 What has excited you during the last 6-12 months? Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Evolving_Leader The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, Jean and Scott talk to Anja Lovén. Anja founded the Danish ngo Land of Hope in 2012, and is a human rights activist dedicated to protecting and rescuing children in Nigeria accused of being witches. She gained media attention when in 2016 a photo from one of her rescue actions went viral and later that year was named as the world’s most inspiring person (ahead of out-going US president Barack Obama and the pope). Land of Hope 0.00 Introduction3.04 Tell us about your background prior to starting Land of Hope10.35 What did you experience when you went to Africa?22.03 You became widely known when in 2016 you were photographed rescuing a small boy who you subsequently named Hope. How is Hope doing today?27.44 Tell us a little about ‘witch children’34.20 What personal risks do you encounter in communities where you might find yourself confronting fear and sometimes corruption? 37.36 Is the ultimate goal with the education reunification?43.44 What’s next for you?50.06 How do you deal with the trauma associated with some of the situations you find yourself confronted by?55.29 How can our listeners get involved with your organisation? Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Evolving_Leader The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Steve Killelea. Steve is the founder and executive chairman of the global think tank the Institute for Economics and Peace and Steve’s funding and thought leadership behind the Institute have seen him recognised as one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People on reducing the onset of armed violence.The Institute for Economics and PeacePeace in the Age of Chaos: The Best Solution for a Sustainable Future 0.00 Introduction2.57 Tell us your story. How did an IT entrepreneur find himself championing peace?4.57 Can you tell us about the paradigm shift that you are working to create.7.45 What are people’s biggest misconceptions about peace9.42 In your book you say that in the past peace may have been the domain of the altruistic, whereas now it’s everyone’s self-interest because peace is central to a safe and productive society. Can you tell us more about that? 10.47 In the book, you also say that most of our leaders are trapped in an early age, a kind of Darwinian race to complete, and that dominates how they think about international relationships. In our increasingly interconnected world, how should leaders be evolving?14.32 Tell us what your thinking is around the need for leaders to think at a systems level. 20.26 What would have to happen to for different organisations to integrate/un-silo?22.26 From a systems perspective, what was your analysis of the last five years, the increase in popularism, what happened at Capitol Hill etc? 27.23 When you look at the world through the index of the eight pillars of positive peace, which countries are most vulnerable to being destabilised at the moment?29.43 What are your thoughts or reactions to the formation of a world government?32.04 How has the US faired on the index over the last five years culminating in the attack on Capitol Hill?  35.22 How did your entrepreneurial background influence the way you conceptualised and manage the IEP and actually created the international peace index?39.11 Tell us a little bit about how you have developed yourself in relation to your own world view and the things that you do to sustain the level of energy that you must have to be driving all of this.49.09 How can our listeners get involved with the work that you’re doing?  Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Evolving_Leader The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Rob Murray. Rob is a co-founder and CEO of Transformed Leader and a leadership thinker who strives for a deep level of authenticity whilst at the same time being supremely pragmatic in the realities of organisational life. The Human Operating System. Recovering the Heart and Soul of Your Leadership (Jack Nicholson and Rob Murray, 2021) 0.00 Introduction2.34 Let’s start with your story. Tell us about the work that your organisation does, and what motivated you to start the business in the first place?6.16 What do you mean when you say that you were lonely with yourself? 7.39 What can this loss of identity be attributed to?11.09 So having had time to reflect on this, what was your first move?16.34 Exploring the relationship that we have with our partners, and the effect that this has on our leadership.29.16 How have these scenarios influenced the work that you’re doing today, your writing and your research?33.59 So if ‘how are you feeling?’ is a heart question, what is a soul question? What’s the difference?40.45 On this show we’re fascinated with emotions, not as this hard-wired thing but as a sense making mechanism. You’re currently doing some research in this area for your PhD, can you tell us a little about that? 44.25 What are the most prevalent emotions that people are running away from, avoiding or suppressing that are governing their behaviours? 49.40 You mention that showing weakness is counter cultural in many business settings, so many people feeling this way supress it resulting in resentment.53.09 Can we talk about anger, the emotion that is repressed in a lot of organisations, sometimes resulting in a feeling of false positivity. 57.22 Thinking through the lens of intentionality, of recovering the heart and soul of leadership, what is something specific that you could encourage our listeners with right now?  Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Evolving_LeaderThe Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

For years explaining exactly how our brains conjure subjective conscious experience has been described by cognitive scientists as ‘the hard problem’. In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Professor Anil Seth, professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex whose book (Being You, Faber 2021) continues this exploration, proposing an idea of the human mind as a “highly evolved prediction machine”, rooted in the functions of the body and “constantly hallucinating the world and the self” to create reality. 0.00 Introduction2.11 Let’s start with what consciousness is, and how your approach is about getting to the subjective experience3.49 Until recently consciousness studies were held outside of science and more in the realms of philosophy. What’s changed to allow you to break down the unfathomable nature of the topic. 7.00 What drew you into this as a field of study?8.30 Having read ‘Being You’, it’s clear that you take a multi-disciplinary approach to your studies. As a team, how are you successfully approaching this in terms of moving outside of the individual silos of thought.10.15 You provide a really helpful picture of neuroscience and how it’s shifted as the metaphor of the brain as a computer to a prediction machine. Can you give our listeners a sense of how this helps to construct our sense of reality.13.57 In ‘Being You’, you also provide an introduction to Bayesian inference and how our brain is performing this form of abductive reasoning unconsciously. Can we start with some basic definitions of the different types of reasoning and why Bayes has been such an influence in your work.22.33  Can you tell us about your experience of LSD micro dosing, what was it like and why were you doing it?25.36 What were you trying to discover with your hallucination machine?28.26 You talk about consciousness as a construct, and that psychedelic experience gives evidence to that. Could it be argued that the psychedelic experience is actually a disruption to what’s going on?30.58 Could you help me understand the free energy principle.36.26 How are you seeing your work influencing our thinking on the development of AI?45.04 Given everything that you have discovered and that you are continuing to work on, what does all of this tell us about being human that the people taking leadership roles in the world need to know about themselves?48.51 What are the next frontiers for your research?53.22 As exponential computing power and imaging continues to evolve over the next decade, what do you think you might be able to do then that you can’t now?57.55 Do you think we need more multi-disciplinary approaches to exploring consciousness, or is that happening?60.25 Who is most inspiring you as a thinker?  Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Evolving_Leader The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

This week on the Evolving Leader, co-hosts Scott Allender and Jean Gomes talk to Monika Bielskyte. Monika is a futurist, VR and AR expert, internationally renowned public speaker and founder of the bleeding edge edutainment platform Protopia Futures, designed to explore visions of radically hopeful & inclusive futures centering Queerness, Indigeneity, Disability & previously marginalized cultural perspectives.Protopia Futures Framework0.00 Introduction2.14 Tell us about your life11.11  In one of your works you say that mainstream futurist thinking tends to extrapolate from the status quo. Can you lead us through this problem and into a better understanding of futurist thinking.19.55 You’ve been speaking about how some people can be dismissive or even work to destroy the thing that runs contrary to the view that they hold and the ideal that they want. Do you see that at all, has it been a response that you’ve seen from some people during the pandemic?31.01 What is Protopia and how does it help us think about the future differently?42.56 Referring back to the Protopia Futures framework, as you say that was a collaborative effort and collaborations between a large group of clever people with strong opinions can be difficult. So how does that work in your world and how do you get this group of people to arrive at a form of words that they can back?     Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Evolving_LeaderThe Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

“It’s clear that we have a massive problem in the way that we run our biggest and most powerful organisations.”Listen as co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Philip Clarke, founder and CEO of strategic innovation consultancy Hunch, podcast host and author, about the eight pioneer principles needed to change the world.Pioneers Wanted: ' A manifesto for radically ambitious leadership '0.00 Introduction1.56 How do you help leaders move away from incremental thinking?7.28 What are the costs and implications from maintaining the status quo?14.26 How do people make the leap from incremental thinking to being a pioneer who drives real growth?22.07 Can you give us a summary of the eight pioneer principles that you describe in your book?32.15 Two of the pioneering principles seem connected more to one’s mindset. Can you tell us a little more about resilience and what an appropriate level of expectation might be as a leader?41.09 Do you think the next generations are inherently more pioneering?49.26 What has been the most impressive or unexpected shift from pioneers during the Covid pandemic?52.39 Which of your podcast episodes would you recommend to a new listener?  Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Evolving_LeaderThe Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.Send a message to The Evolving Leader team