Curious Minds at Work

Artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation technologies are fulfilling (and surpassing) predictions from the most creative science fiction. While the possibilities are exciting, these changes force us to ask what this means for the future of work. What jobs will they replace? Which industries will they decimate? What impact will they have on how we live and work in what many are calling a post-industrial age? Martin Ford explores these questions and more, in his bestselling book, Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future. Named 2015 Business Book of the Year by the Financial Times and McKinsey, his book is helping to drive a much-needed conversation around the dark side of innovative technologies. As a software company founder who has worked in the industry for over 30 years, Martin saw how automation was eliminating more and more jobs. This led him to research the impact of cutting-edge technologies on labor, wages, and productivity. In this episode you will learn: why this time is different when it comes to the impact of automation on jobs the important role education will play in how we respond and adapt why we need to rethink income and healthcare policies to ensure a healthy economy the pressing need to raise awareness around this issue and to incentivize solutions Episode Links @MFordFuture Luddite Martin Luther King, Jr. Triple Revolution Machine learning Deep Learning Artificial intelligence The Three Breakthroughs That Have Finally Unleashed Artificial Intelligence on the World by Kevin Kelly Everlaw Long tail distribution Ray Kurzweil Basic or guaranteed income Single-payer healthcare X Prize Peter Diamandis If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!

When we operate in silos, we narrow our perspective in ways that can limit, and even destroy, innovation. So where have we seen silos before and what can we learn from them? In this fascinating conversation with Gillian Tett, award-winning journalist and U.S. Managing Editor of the Financial Times, she explains how silos reversed decades of innovation at Sony, limited innovation in a world-class hospital, and played a key role in the 2007 global financial crisis. Drawing on insights from her bestselling book, The Silo Effect: The Peril of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers, she helps us see the patterns that create these tendencies, and the simple steps we can take to avoid or overcome them. In this episode you will learn: what makes smart people do apparently stupid things how rewards and incentives can reinforce a silo mentality why success can lead to silo perspectives steps we can take to overcome mental and organizational silos the value of an insider-outsider perspective Also in this interview, Gillian encourages us to recognize how the silos begin erected in the information technology industry have begun to mirror those that led to the 2007 global financial crisis. She is the other of two other bestselling books, Saving the Sun and Fools Gold. Episode Links @GillianTett Octopus Pots British Press Awards Cleveland Clinic Pierre Bourdieu Mental Maps   Securitizations Sir Paul Tucker Paul McCulley PIMCO Shadow banking Zoltan Poszar Nicolaus Copernicus Cultural anthropology Brett Goldstein Open Table Toby Cosgrove Robin Dunbar It is Complicated by danah boyd Liquidated by Karen Ho If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!

Why do most people want to live in walkable cities and towns? What's the impact on innovation and well-being? Jeff Speck, city planner, urban designer, TED Talk speaker, and bestselling author of Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, offers fascinating and fact-filled responses to these questions. Along the way, he tells us the changes needed to make cities the thriving places that most people want. In this episode you will learn: what is a walkable city how walkable cities drive innovation by attracting talent what makes cities safer than suburbs how more traffic signals actually make cities less safe why the most popular solutions to congestion actually increase it what the cheapest solution is for making a city more walkable how great urban design trumps weather every time Jeff also shares a fascinating insight regarding a possible downside of self-driving cars. Episode Links @JeffSpeckAICP The Walkable City TED Talk by Jeff Speck Externalities Millenials Seek Walkable Cities Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam Single Family Housing Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett Induced demand and traffic Free Good Donald Shoup Prospect-refuge Theory and Jay Appleton Charrettes for Design Andres Duany Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery Inclusionary zoning Granny flats Wyandanch, New York Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck Jarrett Walker - Human Transit If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!

Why do certain products, services, or stories go viral? How can we make our own work contagious? These are questions Wharton Professor, Jonah Berger, answers in his bestselling book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On. In this fascinating interview, he explains his six-part framework and discusses the behaviors that drive us to make certain ideas, products, and services contagious. In this episode you will learn: how to apply these techniques to your own work what made the video for a seemingly humdrum product - a blender - go viral which emotions drive us to share and which ones do not what makes us spread the word for free why you might suffer from the curse of knowledge and how you can avoid it the critical difference between social media and word of mouth Jonah also gives us a peek into his upcoming book on all the ways social influence drives our behavior. Fascinating stuff! Episode Links Beta testing Social psychology STEPPS Framework Hooked: How to Build Habit-forming Products  Geico ad for Hump Day Curse of knowledge Trojan Horse Social influence If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!

If you are one of the millions of people who struggle to stick with an exercise program, Michelle Segar has a secret for you: It is not your fault; it is a faulty system. After years of studying the science of motivation, Michelle Segar, Ph.D., Director of SHARP -- the Sport, Health, and Activity research and policy center at the University of Michigan -- has created a framework for rethinking exercise, one that replaces a prescriptive mindset with one more aligned with human behavior and emotion. Filled with practical tips and strategies, Michelle’s bestselling book, No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness, is informed by years of putting these findings into practice with people just like you. In this episode you will learn: how to short-circuit the vicious cycle of failure why fitness apps are not enough why willpower is not the answer the science of decision making and reward the power of self-determination theory - initiating behavior because you should versus because you find it meaningful the more moderate recommendations for physical activity - which are known by less than 1 percent of physical activity professionals Episode Links Paulo Freire Dan Ariely Behavioral economics Reward Substitution Self-determination theory No Sweat Resolutions Quiz 2015 USA Best Book Awards If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!

What if the secret to successful innovation lies in asking ambitious questions, the kinds most of us rarely ask? That is exactly what Warren Berger learned in speaking with some of the most recognized, global leaders in innovation. He discovered that they not only ask different kinds of questions, but they apply those questions to problems unsolved and unseen. Along the way, they change the world. He shares these insights, and more, in his bestselling book, A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas. Most importantly, he helps us learn how we, too, can ask these kinds of questions and get started on our own innovative paths. In this episode you will learn: why curiosity is a killer app for success in work, life, and leadership the difference between ordinary and game changing questions the power of problem finding tips for helping us question our assumptions a framework to support innovative inquiry the connection between making, design thinking and powerful inquiry how important it is to create a culture of questioning Warren will share insights from his work with leaders in all kinds of organizations, including schools, and he will talk about his goals for future projects. Episode Links Wired Magazine Why Curious People are Destined for the C-Suite  The Right Question Institute If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!

Nobel-prize-winning economist Alvin Roth explores the markets that shape our lives, particularly our work, our health care and our schools. He also explains how key technologies enable companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Google to thrive. His insights extend beyond products, services, and features to include how successful companies attract and hire the most talented employees. Alvin Roth is a Stanford University Professor, and bestselling author of Who Gets What - and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design. In this episode you will learn: how one phone call and a pivotal decision ultimately led to a Nobel Prize the important differences between markets the role of markets when it comes to marriage, loans, and more the role of social support in markets the ways the Internet and mobile technology shape market possibilities the three key factors that influence the success of companies like Airbnb and Uber the ways Smartphones are influencing markets how labor market findings influenced the market designs of today what game theory can teach us about getting into college and getting a job how market designers are applying their skills to the growing global refugee crisis Alvin also shares what got him interested in the economics of market design and the potential this new field holds for helping us rethink what markets are and can do. Episode Links Bob Beran National Resident Matching Program Operations research Roth-Peranson Algorithm Elliott Peranson United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) School Choice Programs Black Market Repugnant Markets Lloyd Shapley David Gale The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences 1962 paper of Lloyd Shapley and David Gale Stable Matching (or Marriage) Problem (SMP) Game Theory Parag A. Pathak Atila Abdulkadiroglu If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!

No one likes uncertainty, yet our success may depend on it. In the bestseller, Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing, Jamie Holmes argues that uncertainty and ambiguity are invaluable mindsets in an increasingly complex world. In fact, he wants us to rethink our desire for order and closure, so that we can be better leaders, decision makers, and innovators. A recent Future Tense Fellow at New America, Jamie has written for the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Philadelphia Inquirer, CNN, the Huffington Post, POLITICO, the Christian Science Monitor, the New Republic, the Atlantic, Slate, Foreign Policy, and the Daily Beast. In this episode you will learn: the reasons why a high tolerance for uncertainty is so valuable right now the ways we can use uncertainty to avoid bad decisions how our need for closure and order drives so much of what we do the value of uncertainty for innovation and creativity strategies for guarding against negative behaviors associated with certainty when (and how) to hire employees who thrive on uncertainty the kinds of leaders we prefer versus need in times of uncertainty how successful, innovative companies incorporate uncertainty into their business models what this means for educators and learners the real-world disorder and chaos associated with innovation, discovery, and creativity concrete strategies to help students get more comfortable with uncertainty what a renowned golf instructor can teach us about feedback the power of travel and bilingualism for building this capacity the power of reading fiction for helping us strengthen our tolerance for uncertainty Jamie also shares how uncertainty, ambiguity and not knowing make us better leaders and expand our capacity for innovation and creativity. Episode Links Jerome Bruner Leo Postman Travis Proulx Jordan Peterson Arie Kruglanski Need for Closure scale Stalling for Time by Gary Noesner Ambiguity Intolerance Zara Inditex Amancio Ortega Jim Lang Assumption College Brilliant Blunders by Mario Livio Bob Christina Dean Simonton If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!

At 16, Madison Maxey was the youngest to intern at Tommy Hilfiger. Shortly after that, she founded her company, The Crated, a product innovation studio focused on second-generation wearable technology. Then, she went to college, like she was supposed to do. But for Maddy, there was a disconnect between the feelings that she received from her work and sitting in college classes.So after one semester of college, she dropped out to accept a Thiel Fellowship. Since then her work has been featured in Wired, Fast Company, and New York Magazine, and she has provided wearable tech insights to the likes of the White House and Google. She has been named a founder to watch by Women 2.0 and is an Entrepreneur in Residence at General Assembly and an Artist in Residence at Autodesk. This week, in a special edition of Curious Minds, I share interviews with four young people, ages 18-22, each of whom decided either to drop out or never attend college, in order to pursue work that mattered to them. Each is either a current or past recipient of a Thiel Fellowship, a program founded in 2011 by Peter Thiel to encourage young people to sidestep college and a traditional life path, in order to chart their own course as entrepreneurs. In this episode you will hear Madison talk about: innovations in wearable technology what motivated her to learn programming why she dropped out of college after one semester her eagerness to be a Thiel Fellow her passion for costume design and design optimization what her parents thought about her decision to drop out of college her policy of You Do You the importance of finding your tribe how communication skills inform her work her work in relation to the Maker Movement how uncertainty is a natural part of innovation why young people should be working on projects right now how she had to learn the skills of time management her curiosity about teamwork, collaboration, and community in relation to a goal Episode Links Digital Fabrication Textile Circuits General Assembly Autodesk Computational Design 3D CNC Machine Workflows Arduino Enabling Technologies Nathan Wolfe TEDTalk If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!

Alex Koren had never considered dropping out of college. A successful high school student, he headed to Johns Hopkins University and was class president in his first year. Furthermore, that summer, Alex headed to a high-powered summer internship at Intel, seemingly the perfect opportunity for an undergraduate engineering major. Then something happened. While working at Intel, Alex organized a hackathon that led to his first company, Hyv, which focused on solving big problems with data. The engagement and exhilaration that he felt led him to found the company Chrg, with the goal of using everyday outlets and chargers in service of electric vehicles. Not long after that, Alex dropped out of college to accept 2014 Thiel Fellow. This week, in a special edition of Curious Minds, I share interviews with four young people, ages 18-22, each of whom decided either to drop out or never attend college, in order to pursue work that mattered to them. Each is either a current or past recipient of a Thiel Fellowship, a program founded in 2011 by Peter Thiel to encourage young people to sidestep college and a traditional life path, in order to chart their own course as entrepreneurs. In this episode you will hear Alex talk about: what he learned about failure how pursuing work that mattered meant doing something that shocked even him how to create communities for your passions the difference between a life of extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation the importance of living with uncertainty as you pursue your goals the power of surrounding yourself with passionate people our responsibility to make things relevant for ourselves the reasons that we lose our creativity his attraction to what tomorrow holds Episode Links Interroga Omnia If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening!