Disrupt Yourself Podcast with Whitney Johnson

Reframing failure as a learning experience is so hard to do. But when you can, it's one of the most powerful tools for personal growth. This week, Whitney explores the value of a discovery-driven mindset through the advice of many past Disrupt Yourself guests, and her own experience. Knowing where you are on your emotional journey before walking into the unknown removes so much risk. And traditional planning isn't always enough. Discovery-driven planning is a different, and often more flexible way to embark. Whitney also discusses testing your assumptions by setting milestones, and why sometimes the bravest thing you can do is just show up.

In an economy dominated by tech giants, growing your business to compete with Amazon or Google can feel futile. But Ray Wang thinks differently about this challenge. Wang is the founder and chairman of Constellation Research, a Silicon Valley advisory firm that finds opportunities for businesses to scale — especially in highly competitive climates. He explains why companies that have won the digital innovation battle have yet to win the war. From Domino's Pizza, to Honeywell, to Walmart, and even Mom & Pop businesses, Wang shares numerous examples of how successful companies stopped playing their competitors' game, and invented new lines of business they can uniquely own. Wang also re-thinks personal data as a property right — a simple regulatory shift that would completely disrupt tech in favor of consumers and small businesses.

Brooke Snow is an author, meditation instructor, musician, podcaster, and parent who prefers to define herself by her qualities, rather than any of these roles. Reframing identity as traits (kind, thoughtful, determined) rather than titles allows Brooke to be so much more than the sum of her jobs. Brooke explains why bad days are actually good when you can recognize your wins (however small), putting floors and ceilings on your daily productivity, where her S Curves as an entrepreneur and a parent inform each other, and why it's not always a bad thing to be "self-centered." Learn more about Brooke's work here: https://brookesnow.com/

“Listen first” and “Disrupt yourself before you are disrupted.” Those are some of the hard-won lessons from Scott Miller on this encore episode.  Scott is the Executive Vice President of the Thought Leadership practice at FranklinCovey and author of Management Mess to Leadership Success: 30 Challenges to Become the Leader You Would Follow, about becoming the leader you would want to follow. In this episode, he offers many lessons that are critical for the challenges facing today’s leaders. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.com/scott-miller-encore/

What does it take to get someone to believe in you? To back you and what you are doing? This episode’s guest is Harvard University Visiting Scholar Suneel Gupta, author of the new book Backable. We talk about what you must do, and what you must leave behind, to get people to take a chance on you. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.com/222-suneel-gupta/

Writer, investor, and entrepreneur Chris Yeh joins on this episode of Disrupt Yourself. He has been in the world of startups for 25 years and shares amazing insight and wisdom he has gained along the way including going faster than you might be comfortable with; deciding what you are willing to go “all in” on; how to realize that you need to discover the new rules, and others. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.com/221-chris-yeh

Play to your strengths and play where no one else is playing These are the first two of the Seven Accelerants for Growth™ on the S Curve of Learning™. Sarah Feingold is a great example of both. She former General Counsel of Etsy, and general counsel of Vroom.com, and co-founder of Fourth Floor that helps women become ready for the Board Room—and her stories provide guidance and inspiration for all of us looking to have a great career.   Enjoy this encore episode that we recorded in 2016. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit:https://whitneyjohnson.com/encore-sarah-feingold

Scott O'Neil, head of a sports organization, discusses jumping to new learning curves, encouraging risk-taking, being present, and dreaming big. Topics include navigating success, leadership growth, and embracing challenges with personal growth.

Justin Osofsky, Chief Operating Officer at Instagram, shares some of his hard-won insights about Building an A Team. The five takeaways from the episode can help any manager be more engaged and supportive of their team.

When you combine the human spirit and technology all sorts of great things start to happen. Aicha Evans, CEO of the autonomous vehicle company Zoox, is our guest. There are six big takeaways from this conversation including understanding everyone’s importance in a company’s value chain, how complaints can help reveal truth, how to add value to a team by not just focusing on individual output. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.com/aicha-evans