Tom Kelley is a partner at renowned design and innovation consultancy IDEO.He's also a best-selling author, along with his brother, IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley, of a fantastic book called Creative Confidence. Beyond that, he is an Executive Fellow at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and the University of Tokyo. As a leading voice on innovation, Tom travels the world, speaking on how to tap the creative potential of individuals and organizations and create a culture of innovation.During his time at IDEO, he's helped the company grow from 15 designers to more than 600 innovators, working on projects that often make a global impact and lead to wide-scale paradigm-shifts. Even as an avowed entrepreneur, when I think about whether I could work with a larger company again, IDEO pretty much tops the list of dream places. Actually, it IS the list.In today's conversation, we take a step back in time. Tom shares how the freedom to play and experiment he had as a kid led to the way he views the world now. We talk about creativity and innovation, especially design thinking, applying the process of design to business and innovation. He and his brother, David, are often credited with helping to define and bring this methodology to the world.We explore the power of story, both in creativity and communications. We also talk about creative culture, what's necessary for it to flourish and we dive into the cancer diagnosis that led him to collaborate with David to write a fantastic book together and how that changed them both.If you are looking to bring more creativity and innovation into what you're doing, this is a don't miss an episode with a leading voice in the field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diving into the quirks of communication, the discussion highlights our urge to sound smarter with complex jargon. Personal anecdotes reveal how using fancy terms can alienate rather than connect. The speaker argues for the beauty of simplicity, showing that clarity fosters trust. Stripping away the layers of complicated language is not just refreshing, but essential in building genuine relationships. Everyone has felt the tug of imposter syndrome, but embracing straightforwardness can truly change the game.

Ever wonder what your mobile device is really doing to your relationships, your happiness...your life?Today's guest, famed MIT Professor, bestselling author and researcher on how technology affects the human condition, Sherry Turkle, has been studying questions like this for decades.In her new book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, she looks at what phones and the technology that rides inside them are doing not just for us, but to us.What she reveals is beyond scary.Put your cell phone on the table when you're with someone else, she offers, you've just destroyed the possibility of deep conversation. Without even realizing it, everything gets superficial. You don't go deeper, because you want to be able to scratch the near-addictive phone-checking itch. And that's okay when the convo is light, but not when it gets real.We also talk about how apps and texting are destroying empathy and solitude and making it harder and harder to actually know ourselves and develop real relationships. We explore the "I share, therefore I am" ethos and how technology is profoundly altering the dating scene. We talk about what computers and mobile devices do to classrooms and learning, seeing how some professors who at first welcomed them are now banning them and why. Turkle offers:"Technology doesn't just change what we do, it changes who we are."We need to understand how, then leverage it to work with, rather than against us.In the end, Sherry isn't anti-technology, she'll tell you. She's pro-conversation.This conversation led me to immediately change how I use my cell phone and think about the model I'm creating for my daughter. It was also a reminder of why I record these conversations, with rare exception, in-person, rather than remotely. Because it changes the conversation and the depth of the relationship. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We love to judge. To gossip. To belittle.Not everyone, and not all the time, but enough for these feelings to fuel multi-billion dollar industries.Even if we never say it out loud, we derive a certain pleasure from others' misfortune. There's even a name for the phenomenon—Schadenfreude.We do it partly, because our brains are wired for comparison and social currency. And in part, because we're trained societally to determine our own value relative to others.Pile on the anonymity of the screen or the page and we've become a culture that not only judges, but determines the entire worth of a human, all too often, by their worst moment.We see it in the news cycle, in politics and Hollywood. But, we also see it in our towns, the local club, our own families and supposed friends.What if the value of your entire existence was judged by the meanest thing you've said or thought, or the biggest mistake you've made? What would that look like? How might it make you feel?What if, instead of reveling in the belittling of another human based on a moment, we looked through the lens of empathy and compassion? How might that change things?That's what we're talking about on today's short and sweet GLP Riff. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At first glance, you might think Amy Stewart had an obsession with gardens and bugs. She's written a series of bestselling books on the topic and had her garden of poison plants hailed as one of the 18 strangest gardens in the world by Popular Mechanics.Underneath that, though, lies a far deeper devotion, one that's fueled her since she was a kid. Amy Stewart is possessed by the craft of writing and storytelling. It's not so much gardens or bugs, it's the stories of people that arise out of those places and creatures that fascinate her. And the opportunity to tell them in her wonderful voice.After tremendous success as a nonfiction writer, Amy decided to do something most people in the industry view as a huge risk. Having built a large audience around her nonfiction creations, she stumbled upon a bigger story that had to be told. One of three beautifully colorful sisters who decided to take the law into their own hands, leading to an outcome nobody saw coming.But the story was old, the research was incomplete. There were gaps even living relatives couldn't fill. So she as forced to fill them in with her own imagination and write the story as historical fiction. When that book, Girl Waits With Gun, came out, Amy was faced with the usual anxious waiting every author faces. Would people like it? Had she done the story right?Heaped on top of those emotional questions were whether the families of these real-characters would feel she'd done right by them. And, whether her long-won nonfiction readers would follow her down the fiction path.We talk about all these questions, plus an exploration of the craft of writing and storytelling in this week's conversation. We talk about the writing life, and her time growing up in Texas. We also talk about indie bookstores, what it's like to own one (she does) and how that universe is changing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if one of the biggest pieces of "success advice" was wrong?There's a particular strategy that's become hot in the world of success and personal development. It's been hailed as the secret to accelerated results and success on a level and at a pace, that'd be near impossible without it.It's called "modeling." On the most basic level, the advice is to find someone who has done what you want to do, deconstruct everything they've done to get where they are, then do those same things yourself.Problem is, that can be pretty dangerous advice. It can and often does lead not to success, not to a good life, but to a whole lot of angst, anxiety and failure.Why that happens and what to do about is what we're talking about on today's short and sweet GLP Riff. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So often, the way the world perceives us conflicts with the what we "think" we're saying and the way we want to be seen and heard.Truth is, so much of what we communicate all day long has nothing to do with the words that come out of our mouths.In fact, often the things we do, the way we move, the things we telegraph contradict the words we offer, leaving people with a sense of cognitive dissonance.Todd Henry is a master of cultivating the "voice beyond your spoken voice" or what he'd call your "authentic voice."A former touring musician and now a bestselling author and international speaker on creativity, intentional living and presence, he's spent years on everything from country music stages to stadiums, learning how to create magic night after night. What he'd eventually come to realize was, it wasn't the music that pulled him from ahead, it was the opportunity to teach, to see lightbulbs go on, to create magic and leave people changed.To do this on the level that made a real impact, though, he'd first need to cultivate his authentic voice and presence on a whole different level. Todd writes about this in his latest book, Louder Than Words.In this week's wide-ranging conversation, we explore the lessons he learned from the music industry, from playing one night before 50,000 people, then the next at a bowling alley and even the occasional small joint where his band played behind chicken wire to keep them safe.We also talk about why he walked away from that life, how he embraced a new season and chose to contribute in a way that was better aligned with the future he sought to build. We explore what fame is really about, responsibility and freedom. We dive into the invitation to be original and what stops so many from cultivating their true voices, from no longer being "cover bands." And so much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've been to the movies or watched cartoons, you've seen the word "Avatar" before. But, when we talk about building a career or company, it has a very special meaning.Your avatar is the person you're looking to help. The one you want and need to serve and elevate. It's your potential customer, client, diner, patient, participant, camper or student.If you want to build a successful career, experience or venture, you need to get to know your avatar on the most intimate level.You need to know her name, where she lives, her age, fears, desires, hopes, struggles, and influences. You need to understand a day in her life, then a week, a month, a year and a decade. You have to understand the conversations going on in her head, the language she used to talk to herself and the pictures she paints with her mind.It's hard work to get this detailed, but it's also make or break. It lets you serve, solve and build on a different level.But, here's the thing. The two reasons most commonly offered to "know your avatar"—to solve her problem better and to communicate with her more effectively—they matter, BUT they're not actually the most important reason to do this work.There's something bigger, more important. Something nobody talks about. Ignoring this reason is a huge miss.And that's what we're talking about in this week's short and sweet GLP Riff. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The thing most people fear more than spiders and death is the very thing this week's guest, Michael Port, loves with every fiber of his being.What am I talking about?Public speaking.Port began his career as an actor, featured often on screens of all sizes, before jumping into the fitness world and then creating the Book Yourself Solid business development juggernaut and a string of bestselling books.He built an empire and, along the way, became a master not just of the screen, but of the speaking stage. There, he found his true home and built an astonishing career as an international speaker.With the launch of a provocative new book, Steal the Show and a new speaker training venture, he's on a mission to transform the world's #1 fear into an experience of awe, joy and impact.We go deep into the "real" backstory and his deeper "why" in this week's conversation. We talk about the tension between "performing" and being "authentic," and whether the two can really coexist. We talk about what trips us up when we think about taking stages of all sizes, from the dinner table (should that even be a stage or is that too sacred) to the boardroom, theaters and stadiums.We also get into why he believes nearly everyone should script and memorize their talks, even if you believe yourself to be a "natural" speaker, and why it's not memorization that kills a great talk, but rather preparation.We bust a lot of myths about the difference between persuasion, manipulation and whether either is good, bad or maybe even...massively desirable. And, we talk about what any and all of this has to do with building good relationships and living a good life.We also get personal and explore why, after so much success, Michael decided to shift gears in a major way, where he's headed with his life and how his lens on living a good life has changed since I last sat down with him.If you've been "public speaking curious," but you've struggled with fear or anxiety around it, this is a don't miss an episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pam Slim is one of those people.You know, the ones who see the best in everyone. In everything. In every seeming barrier, she sees the lesson. The good. The opportunity to learn. To grow. To create. To collaborate.The one whose lens I aspire to embrace, but still find myself failing more often succeeding (someday, lol).She's also just an amazing human, dear friend and award-winning author who is in the midst of very cool 21-city Indispensable Community Tour.And, it just happened that one of the stops on that tour was NYC a/k/a my little town. So before she swept out to the next city, I asked her to jump in and share a special GLP "Guest" Riff about the power of community, especially as it relates to makers and entrepreneurs.In her short and sweet Guest Riff, she asks a big question:What if we thought more about serving a community as a community?Now, of course, the realist in me always kicks in when I hear things like that. Sounds good in theory, I snicker, but can it really happen in the real world?According to Pam, yes. Sure, we still all need to build our own things. We still need to put food on the table, honor our paths and build what we're here to build. But in the end, she argues, all ships rise when we start thinking about community not just as a target market, but as a collective solution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.