Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks

It seems like a waste of time to introduce Seth Godin. Just search his name, "Seth" to Google is Seth Godin. He's founded several companies including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. He is the author of 18 best-selling books that have been translated into more than 35 languages. They include perennial classics like Permission Marketing, written in 1999 that elucidated the [then] new idea of delivering relevant, personalized messages that people agreed to receive. Practiced everywhere now but in 1999 it was controversial, and it birthed the  dollar permission-based email marketing industry.  The book most of you probably know him by is Purple Cow, his thesis about attention being the game. He’s also the founder of the altMBA and The Marketing Seminar, online workshops that have transformed the work of thousands of people. In 2018, he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame. His new book, This Is Marketing, which is more or less the focus of this episode is the first, in his words, "real book from a real publisher about marketing" that he's done in more than seven years. You don't have to be in business or into marketing to benefit from this episode. It's about how to make change happen or as Seth puts it, to cause a change you'd like to see in the world. I think work and business dilemmas usually focus on the tactical, what's step #1 step #2 which is also true personally and in relationships. How can I get Jim or Jane to do x? What's the technique? Seth proposes the answer to many questions we have about work - and I'll add life in general - is really the answer to "who can you help"? Answer all the who, what, where, why questions that way; who can I help, what can I help with, where can I help - and you win, no matter what happens with the business, the campaign, the interview. Seth exceeded my high expectations. I could write 50 things I learned from our chat, but I will spare you. So here are just a few highlights of what we talk about.  How to make a change  How to deal with resistance and fear What marketing has to do with culture What a brand really is Why he doesn't use Facebook and how to look at Social Media in regards to marketing   Where optimization lives  The long tail The biggest idea in his book  It's well worth your time at approximately 38 minutes. Enjoy!   

What do you do when you go from being the founder and CEO of your own line of successful hotels to the oldest guy at the tech startup surrounded by some of the brightest millennials in the country? Well, if you’re Chip Conley, Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership at Airbnb, you set aside your ego, reinvent yourself and make the situation work for you. It’s that kind of adaptation that makes it possible to find your place in this era of change, and Chip has dedicated much of his time to sharing the secret with others who are looking to find a meaningful identity in a new world. On this podcast I talk with Chip about his career, his books, philosophies about getting older and his newest project an academy for the Modern Elder.  Chip Conley is a leader at the forefront of the sharing economy. At age 26 he founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality (JdV), transforming one inner-city motel into the second largest boutique hotel brand in America. Chip served as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy for four years. His five books include PEAK and EMOTIONAL EQUATIONS and are inspired by the theories of transformation and meaning by famed psychologists Abraham Maslow and Viktor Frankl. In his new book, WISDOM@WORK: The Making of a Modern Elder (September 2018), Chip shares his experiences – as both mentor and unexpected intern – at Airbnb. He is the founder of Fest300 (part of Everfest). Chip is a recipient of hospitality’s highest honor, the Pioneer Award, and holds a BA and MBA from Stanford University, and an honorary doctorate in psychology from Saybrook University. He serves on the boards of the Burning Man Project and the Esalen Institute, where the Conley Library bears his name. When reflecting on what it was like to go from being a seasoned CEO to a mentor at a startup tech company where every employee was at least 2 decades younger than him, Chip says that he had a ton of learning to do. No longer could he rely upon the traditional rules of business in which being “senior” or lets use the term “elder” in this context, meant you could expect reverence. In this new world of technology, relevance is much more revered than age. Lesson: If you can't offer much in terms of subject matter experience, instead of giving up on it - you figure out what you can offer. For those of us who aren’t part of the millennial generation, that might be sharing what we’ve learned about emotional intelligence, business strategy, and all of the other things that go into a successful company beyond just the ability to write code. The key, he says, is that you’ve got to be ready to learn as much as you’re ready to teach. That’s where the Modern Elder concept came from. Chip learned that in order to stay relevant in a field where technology had made him feel irrelevant, the best thing he could do was to form mutual mentorships with his younger coworkers. So, instead of barging into a room and forcing everyone to respect his wisdom, he made a greater impact by asking thoughtful questions and offering advice in more subtle ways. Eventually, the twenty-somethings started seeking Chip out for advice and guidance. It wasn’t what he envisioned going into the company, but it taught him a lot about what it meant to be an elder in the modern workplace. And that is the basis for his latest book Wisdom @ Work: The Making of a Modern Elder. It’s also why Chip spends a good chunk of his time in Baja California, Mexico, where he’s founded the very first ever Modern Elders Academy, where anyone from social workers to CEOs can come together to reinvent themselves as mid-lifers in the workplace. Enjoy!  

“What would it be like if you were only known for the worst decision that you've made for the rest of your life?” I’m excited for you to hear this episode because I think it will challenge you as it did me. My guest is Catherine Hoke. “Cat” is a former venture capitalist who is using training in entrepreneurship to solve a very serious social problem, high recidivism rates in the US prison system. And to that end, founded two successful nonprofits; the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) and Defy Ventures. In 14 years over five thousand incarcerated people have graduated from these two programs and earning Baylor University MBA certificates and the programs have resulted in industry leading low recidivism rates of less than seven percent. Fast company named “Cat” one of the hundred most creative people in business. Forbes named her 40 women to watch over 40. She was also one of the first recipients of the MakeTechHuman Agents of Change award given to global influencers who are shaping how technology is expanding human possibility She has a new best selling book (published by Seth Godin BTW)  called A Second Chance: For You, For Me, And For The Rest Of Us, about the struggles and triumphs of her journey and on her graduates journey, telling the stories of America's most unforgivable people redeeming their lives. This was an emotional interview - for me - in many levels.  I was personally challenged by her vulnerability, as you will hear, she is incredibly brave. I was also humbled by her commitment to her mission as she did the interview despite very difficult circumstances. So many times I’ve been waylaid by something or some event and there goes the day. Not Cat. We all make stupid decision and mistakes that, on a continuum range from the benign bad to the life changing horrible. Cat will challenge you to ‘step to the line,’ forgive yourself and others then move forward in making a difference. ...and I challenge you to listen to what she has to say Enjoy!  

What does the 2007 -2008 financial crisis, the Fukushima nuclear accident, Three Mile Island, and Deepwater Horizon all have in common? The small things. Or rather, lots of tightly coupled small things that are overlooked, ignored or covered up. Accidents waiting to happen. In Deep Survival, Lawrence Gonzalez, writes about the fact that accidents don’t just happen, they are assembled carefully, piece by piece. And if just one single piece is missing, the accident simply doesn’t happen. Risk is unavoidable but accidents aren't.   Our world is filled with countless near-misses and close calls, and the truth is, most of the time we never even know how close we came to this or that accident or disaster. This is even truer at the organizational/institutional levels, where risk and complexity combine with organizational culture to increase both the likelihood and the impact of catastrophic failure. My guest on this podcast is Chris Clearfield. Chris brings a novel approach to the study of the challenges posed by risk and complexity. He’s a science geek and reformed derivatives trader, but more recently he’s the founder of System Logic, an independent research and consulting firm dedicated to understanding risk and its interaction with organizational factors. He’s also the co-author, with András Tilcsik, of Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail, and What We Can do About it, which is the topic of our show today. This isn't a conversation just about system failures and why they happen; it's also about what we can do about those failures, about how we can better prepare for, and even prevent many such accidents and failures from happening. “The same kind of culture and decision making that led to the financial crisis also led to BP" - Chris Clearfield  Complex systems generate risk (and fail) in ways that are fundamentally different from the kinds of risks and failures our species evolved to deal with over millions of years, and that the new risk landscape we face requires a new approach to risk management, and really, an entirely new organizational culture. Chris was very insightful during the conversation, as he discussed the emergent properties of many system-wide failures. Many of these disasters were emergent in those systems in the same way as the 2009 financial crisis was “of the system and not an anomaly.” “What would have to be in place for something really bad to happen?" Checklists and Pre-mortems After talking with Chris, I find myself thinking much more in terms of checklists and “pre-mortems” and the like. It’s like we spend most of our lives driving along a twisty mountain highway at night, totally clueless about just how close to the edge of the 500-foot cliff we really came around that last turn. I’m reflecting more and more on what would have to be in place for something bad to go wrong, say driving your car or in managing online bank accounts. What would have to be in place for something really bad to happen and then kind of going back and mentally reverse-engineering and mitigating those things, those pieces, one by one. I hope you find my conversation with Chris as interesting as I did.   Some of the other subjects we discuss include: Why systems fail and how some of these companies handled or weathered different crises much better than others; Tight coupling—where connections come together in a way that’s very hard to stop The most prevalent cognitive biases associated with meltdowns  Black Swan events—and how to find the feathers that predict such events Pre-established criteria in decision making The value of dissent Power cues—including a fascinating example Chris gives of a study they did with physicians’ around body language with patients; The S.P.I.E.S Tool, that goes hand in hand with the Annie Duke episode if you're curious and want to listen to that regarding Thinking in Bets. In other words, we talked about a ton of really interesting and useful subjects, and hopefully, I've “salted” this intro enough to make you thirsty for the whole episode.

This episode is about where you spend the majority of your life - your work: why you do it, how you do it, changing where you do it and how companies should measure it. On this podcast I talk with Fred Kaufman. Fred is the former vice president of executive development at Linkedin and current leadership advisor at Google. He is also the author of seven books including conscious business, authentic communication, and for our discussion, his findings in his latest book, the Meaning Revolution. Fred addresses both sides of the issues facing employees and employers and describes how to create not only a productive work environment but a meaningful one. 70% of American workers say they’re stuck in a job in which they are completely disengaged and 30 percent of that group actively hate their jobs.   Fred says there is a better way... "Autonomy I put fairly low in the hierarchy. For me, the most important one is to have a purpose that you're really behind, that makes you proud, that you feel is a noble thing to pursue." Talking with Fred felt like a meeting with a spiritual advisor that I climbed a mountaintop to see. But make no mistake, this is a business discussion but it “felt” different. What he said resonated with me.  Fred gave me perspective expanding ideas and challenged my cynicism. I think you'll find that it will change how you look at work and your long-term career goals.  On this show we discuss... How to really use LinkedIn Building identity capital The motivation problem in the workplace Why employees are disengaged  Incentives and unintended consequences The economic value of workplace happiness How to size up a company's a true culture - very helpful if you're in the job market as we usually we get blinded by the financials or benefits What it means to work for a mission And more... If you're interested in creating a more meaningful work experience, listen up.   

Does motivation - or the lack of motivation - have to stop us from achieving our goals? On this podcast, I talk with Jeff Haden. Jeff runs Blackbird Media, is a top a LinkedIn Influencer--making him a part of an exclusive, invitation-only, global collective of 500+ of the world’s foremost thinkers, leaders, and innovators--a contributing editor to Inc., and the author of his latest book, The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win.   When it comes to motivation, we are going to address two broad bucket applications: you have a desirable goal / task you want to achieve OR you have an undesirable goal / task you need (have to) to achieve. It doesn’t matter which bucket your goal falls into, the truth is, whether we want to do something or not, many of us have a hard time starting, or, once we start, a harder time completing it. Many of you set new year’s resolutions that you haven't even attempted to reach. Why? According to Jeff, the reason has to do with how we prioritize a goal. Most of us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the “prize”: the sixty pounds to lose, the 26 miles of a marathon, the 50,000 word novel we’ll have finished writing. We become fixated on the dream of what we'll earn at the end of the climb, and compare each day’s results to that big payoff. Annie Duke, in her book "Thinking In Bets" has a name for this: Outcome Junkie. Redefining Success Jeff advocates for process orientation and redefining achievement to be more inclusive, so that even if you don't reach the end goal, that process, if you’ve work it, will have still benefited you by providing takeaways you didn’t have when you began. You will meet people you would have never met. You'll make connections that you'd never would have made. You might find some other interests that you never knew you would have. Jeff has not only met with great people who have achieved their dreams, such as tennis star Venus Williams, but has spent untold hours applying his motivational principles to himself. What did he learn? A goal isn’t worth a hill of beans if it doesn’t inform one’s process. “...started me thinking ok, if that's how successful people do it, how do you create a process for basically anyone to follow to achieve anything that they would like to achieve?” - Jeff Haden While many people ascribe to the “dream it, believe it, do it,” goal achievement philosophy, Jeff opts instead for creating cycles of motivation fulfillment. Priming the pump In our conversation Jeff goes into detail on how an emphasis on action brings about a result, which in turn breeds motivation for more action and thus more results. He goes into detail to show how strategic, action-based planning can help someone struggling to achieve results in both areas described above: those who have tasks they want to complete and tasks they don’t want to be doing, but need to get done nonetheless. Jeff also gives some great tips on how to find a dream or goal if you’re drawing up blank when asked the question, “What would you do if you could do anything?” Jeff emphasizes that his motivation techniques can help anyone, no matter what their starting place might be. Having spoken to numerous high achievers like Richard Branson, he realizes that they are all merely humans like us, who used planned motivational strategies to push themselves far. Therefore, Jeff asserts, we can do the same. Oh and by the way, Jeff gives some super good advice on how to reinvent yourself. Want to break into an industry you have no experience in? Listen to Jeff's backstory, he walks me through how he did it.  So, tired of starting and then giving up for lack of motivation? Ready to get those new year's resolutions back on track? Click on the podcast above to access Jeff’s tips for beating procrastination and other motivation sappers, so that you can finally cross items off your to-do list. Enjoy!  

"We’ve all had that experience of expressing something with certainty…and someone says “wanna bet?” and immediately it brings to the fore the fact that whenever you declare something you believe to be true, or a prediction, that there’s risk in that – Annie Duke All decisions have tradeoffs, risk vs. reward. We have to make choices that have costs yet, many factors involved in making those choices are often hidden. So how do you make good decisions in the face of uncertainty? These are challenges inherent in the game of poker, and in poker, as in life, there is a difference between good decisions and good outcomes. On this podcast, my guest is Annie Duke. For two decades she was one of the top poker players in the world. She holds a World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet and the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2010. Before becoming a professional poker player, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study cognitive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She now spends her time writing, consulting and speaking on topics such as decision fitness and embracing uncertainty. In her new book, "Thinking In Bets" Annie reveals lessons cultivated by combining her academic studies in cognitive psychology with real-life decision-making experience at the poker table, which is the topic of this podcast. This conversation is indeed about better decision-making, but that encompasses a great deal. It's also about equanimity, how to be objective in the face of bad outcomes - while developing skill to influence better outcomes. This is also how resilience is developed, using outcomes good or bad, as a feedback loop.  You also become more resilient when you are able to unhook your happiness solely from a result.  I think that the outcome anchors us so heavily that we can't see that there's lots of other stuff by which we can determine whether a decision was good - Annie Duke There's been a lot written about the benefits of shifting to a process orientation but Annie tells you how to actually do that. I had a great time talking with Annie and you will really enjoy this episode. Don't let the length fool you, there is no lull. Here's some of what we talk about on this show.  How she went from academia to poker  Her introduction to decision strategy Some great betting stories (Ira the Whale) The worst call in history? Cognitive bias / why we make bad decisions Defining failure Time travel thought experiments What being wrong / right really means Probabilities and predictions How to use betting to make better decisions in life Whether it's career, business or relationships our lives are the sum total of our decisions to this point. I would listen to this podcast and reflect on whether you've made good decisions or whether you've just been very lucky so far - and then learn how to make better ones.  Enjoy! For show notes and resources visit larryweeks.com/podcasts    

This is a podcast about training how you want to exist in the world. Your training how to do this everyday. If you're existing in a consistently negative state  - angry, fearful, stressful - that's the habit you're unconsciously training. There is a better way.  My guest is Jeff Warren. Jeff is an author and meditation teacher and referred to as the meditation MacGyver. He's the author of "The Head Trip, Adventures On the Wheel of Consciousness", the founder of the Consciousness Explorers Club and recent collaborator on the book "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics" In 2004 ABC News Anchor Dan Harris had a panic attack on live TV and that experience eventually led Dan to meditation. He then wrote a - now best selling - book about it called "10% Happier" and the fidgety skeptics follow-up, subtitled "A 10% Happier, How-To Guide"  which explores why most people don't meditate or can't stick with it once they start.  Jeff's research for the book was a cross country tour with Dan - on a bus - with Jeff being the meditation teacher. They visited 18 states in 11 days meeting with a mix of people from line cooks to police officers, members of Congress, neuroscientists, military cadets and celebrities to better understand the obstacles people have to meditation. Jeff offered up best practices and life hacks designed to help people learn meditation. Hence why I have Jeff him on the podcast. Personally, meditation has been absolutely helpful to me, WHEN I do it but it's been a struggle. Occasionally I can string together 10 or so days in a row (woowho!) but then I just drop it and it's hard to get back into. So, Jeff agreed to talk with me about it and about the book. Thank God.  If you've ever said “I’d love to meditate but I can’t because __"  You need to listen to this podcast.   Jeff describes himself as the anti-Buddha. He says he was meditations hardest test case. Ah, the perfect person to talk to about what meditation can and cannot do.  So I did just that. Enjoy! Episode and show notes - larryweeks.com/podcasts

Rory Sutherland, a prominent figure in advertising and co-founder of Ogilvy Change, dives into the fascinating world of behavioral economics. He discusses how subtle shifts in perception can dramatically alter consumer choices. The conversation reveals the power of branding, the importance of experimenting with marketing strategies, and how our self-presentation influences perception. Rory also reflects on the ethical implications of advertising practices and the challenges posed by clickbait, offering a witty take on navigating the complexities of modern marketing.

"The important thing is never stop questioning" - Albert Einstein  What's possible, medically, mentally and physically, is the topic of this podcast. And the power of persistence.  What would you do if your child was diagnosed with a debilitating autoimmune disease and every treatment protocol was not working? The medications prescribed are not only ineffective but come with even worse negative physical side effects.  What do you do?  For many, they accept their fate and live with it. Solution seeking stops and who would blame them? Hope deferred "makes the heart sick" and hope dashed leads to disillusion.   For Susannah Meadows, a combination of desperation and circumstance pushed her to persist until she could find a solution. "If you have exhausted the answers that traditional medicine has. That's not the end of the world" - Susannah Meadows  Her 3 yr old son Shepherd, was diagnosed with debilitating juvenile idiopathic arthritis which is Sheperd's case caused near crippling joint pain, swelling and stiffness. Her journey for a cure took her into areas some might consider fringe or certainly outside of conventional medicine. But Susanna is a former senior writer for Newsweek. She covered stories ranging from the 2004 presidential campaign to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina and she's a frequent contributor to The New York Times She is not one to believe anything unsubstantiated. Her new book is called the Other Side of Impossible. It's about ordinary people who faced daunting medical challenges and yet refused to give up.  They turned desperation into determination. Suzanne not only chronicled her journey but also the stories of others who've faced severe medical challenges and the steps they took to overcome them. Her journey took her into areas some might consider fringe or certainly outside of conventional medicine. And what she learned is the topic of our discussions. Medicine, food and illness. Learned helplessness and disease. The latest research into the mind potential to heal the body. Alternative therapies for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, ADHD, multiple sclerosis and others. The impact of anxiety and fear on the body's autoimmune response Maybe more importantly Susan share what she learned about the power of personal agency. Your capacity, your faith in your ability to handle a situation. These are stories of courage.   You may be healthy, you may not have challenges of disease. But you have challenges none the less.  You may have run into dead ends and failed attempts of a different sort.  Keep trying. Take heart.