Disrupt Yourself Podcast with Whitney Johnson

Our guest today is Charlene Li, a New York Times best-selling author and founder of Altimeter Group, acquired by Prophet in 2015. Charlene and a handful of partners disrupted the industry analyst world in 2008, via their unique business model – FREE. As Charlene put it, “You couldn’t buy us.” In this episode we discuss Charlene’s path to disruption and why she ultimately chose to sell Altimeter. We also break down learnings from Charlene’s most recent book, The Disruption Mindset. Join us for a deep dive into all things Disruption. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: http://www.whitneyjohnson.com/charlene-li/

Like a bee to honey, so goes Sumeet Shetty with books. His love affair with the written word began when he was a young man, growing up in India, competing in Quiz Bowls. The experience taught him the value of hard work and helped him develop into a gifted speed reader. Now, Sumeet Shetty is the Development Manager for Enterprise Software Solutions at SAP India and the founder of Literati, India’s largest corporate book club. Through his work with Literati, Sumeet is helping others to discover the inspiration and instruction available to us through books. In this episode we discuss Sumeet’s most formative experiences, his favorite books and how he is helping his team scale the S curve of Learning™. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: http://www.whitneyjohnson.com/sumeet-shetty/

Tragedy often brings unwanted change, pushing us onto new and unfamiliar S Curves. What do you do when faced with the unthinkable? Do you back up? Do you freeze? Or do you rise up and scale the curve before you? Our guest today, Lewis Howes, was faced with the unthinkable. In 2001, while just a senior in college, his family was thrust into a life altering experience that would eventually set Lewis on a crash course with a new future as the founder of the School of Greatness. Lewis is relentless in his practice of personal disruption. He is a New York Times best-selling author, a former pro football player, a collegiate all-American athlete in football and the decathlon, a successful entrepreneur and wanting to go to a school that taught in the way that he learned, Lewis launched The School of Greatness podcast in 2013. Lewis Howes is also dyslexic. He's been sexually abused. He struggled in school. When he was eight years old, his 19-year-old brother went to prison. Scared, embarrassed, ashamed, Lewis was determined to be great... and so, the journey of disruption began. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: http://www.whitneyjohnson.com/lewis-howes/

When I think of our guests this episode, I am reminded of the Turkish proverb, “No road is long with good company.” Jamie and Melbourne O’Banion are on a disruptive journey and have most certainly found themselves, in good company. Jamie is the CEO and founder of Dallas-based BeautyBio which has more than US$100 million in annual sales. Her initial beauty care line on the HSN channel in June 2011 and it immediately sold out. Her products remains a top seller on the network to this day. In 2016, Melbourne co-founded Bestow, Inc., an insurance technology company, where he serves as the CEO. In addition to Bestow, Melbourne founded O’Banion Capital in 2012 and being a is a partner to Jamie at BeautyBio. Join us as today for a real conversation about balancing marriage and parenting while also building thriving businesses. Jamie and Melbourne talk about what support in action looks like and share the unique way they keep the entire family focused and fired up! For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.com/jamie-melbourne-obanion/

Today our guest is Shawn Stevenson, the host of the #1 Nutrition and Fitness podcast in the U.S., The Model Health Show. He’s the author of Sleep Smarter, and now most recently Eat Smarter, which at the time we spoke, was one of the top ten selling books on Amazon. Shawn’s passion for empowering individuals to take control of their health and wellness is apparent to all who connect with him. Diagnosed with a debilitating degenerative bone disease at just 20 years old, Shawn found himself overweight, in pain and depressed. Determined to change his circumstances, he began a transformational journey discovering just how much influence we can have on our bodies through nutritional levers. Now, motivated to help others discover the power of nutrition, Shawn provides actionable steps to help people begin their own wellness journey. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: http://www.whitneyjohnson.com/shawn-stevenson/

Laughing lowers stress – so much so – that simply the anticipation of laughter, just thinking about it, decreases cortisol (stress hormone) and epinephrine (our flight hormone) by 39 and 70% respectively. Our guests this episode, Dr. Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas, understand this better than most. The two teach “Humor: Serious Business”, at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. This course is designed to help the business minded serious folk experience, through humor, more joy in their lives. Jennifer and Naomi have documented their insights and learnings in their latest book, Humor, Seriously Jennifer and Naomi share their scientific based discoveries regarding the reverberating impact of laughter on leadership, teams, health, relationships and overall wellness. We learn the different humor styles they uncovered through their research – Standup, Sweetheart, Magnet and Sniper – and discover how drawing upon each, can help us show up better for one another.

In this episode we discuss the complicated role failure plays in our lives... today, we give failure its due. This, the sixth accelerant in our personal disruption framework, is possibly the most instructive. Yet, because of the pain and shame associated with the experience, we often blow past the lessons, missing out on the gold mine of data revealed to us in the process. However today, we take it all in - we discuss failure openly and learn together how to ditch the shame. We do this by first setting the context, explaining why failure is hard and then we’ll focus on the reframe - sharing amazing stories along the way. Join us as we journey into a reframe of the past and a new way of looking to the future. Together, we will discover that failure is not something to be ashamed of but rather a gift - one that yields dividends for years to come.  For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://www.whitneyjohnson.com/give-failure-its-due/

Our guest this week is a New York Times bestselling author and champion humanizer, Martin Lindstrom. His latest book, The Ministry of Common Sense, releases today. Martin is passionate about business culture and the customer experience. Today, we discuss his methodology of persistence - what can only be described as an above and beyond, up close and personal, all in, every time radical approach to organizational transformation. Martin's methods produce results and awaken cultures.  He’s been named as one of the twenty most influential management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and by TIME Magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Join us for a riveting deep dive with a truly exceptional human! For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: http://www.whitneyjohnson.com/martin-lindstrom/

Today we are joined by Margo Georgiadis. Margo is currently the President and CEO of Ancestry.com. Her career exemplifies the power of the S curve, in particular, the launch point. In this episode, we discuss forging your own path and not being afraid to be the “only”. Margo shares the importance mentors have played in her life and tells us about her incredibly impressive mother – a tenacious woman that served in three separate presidential administrations. We learn how it looks to step back to grow and what her time at Google taught her about the importance of being comfortable with ambiguity. Join us for a delightful interview with a prolific risk taker. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: http://www.whitneyjohnson.com/margo-georgiadis/

In this episode, we are joined by John Mackey. In 1980 he co-founded small supermarket in Austin, Texas. Over the years the company has grown a bit. It now has more than 500 stores in North America and seven in the United Kingdom. You may have heard of it. It’s called Whole Foods. In 2017, the company was acquired by Amazon for $13.7 billion. We discuss what it means to be a conscious leader and how this shows up in everyday leadership. John and I explore how outside events can push us to a new s curve and how those unexpected moments can actually help us grow and mature. John shares how his marriage has made him the man he is today and offers advice to others trying to practice conscious leadership. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: http://www.whitneyjohnson.com/john-mackey/