Disrupt Yourself Podcast with Whitney Johnson

Open google, type a word or a phrase, any phrase... red car, modern couch, dog, and a slew of results will populate your browser window. Who is responsible for the avalanche information that lies just a few keystrokes away? Are there downsides to this world of information accessibility? Our guest this week, Mary L. Gray lives to answer these questions and attempts to do so in her new book, Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass. The book, written with co-author Siddharth Suri, tackles explaining the new and ever-changing workforce responsible for captioning photos, flagging and removing inappropriate content, or even writing, designing or coding a project to move it along. Mary and Siddharth explore the lives of these workers – ghost workers – exposing a world marked by low pay, no benefits and wildly unpredictable income. An estimated 8 percent of Americans have worked at least once in this “ghost economy,” and that number is growing. Mary L. Gray is a Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and Faculty Associate at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Along with her research, Mary teaches at Indiana University, maintaining an appointment as an Associate Professor of the Media School, with affiliations in American Studies, Anthropology, and Gender Studies. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit: https://whitneyjohnson.com/Mary-L-Gray

Conflict is becoming an ever more present reality in our lives, yet most of us try desperately to avoid it. The widening gap between the world in which we live and our lack of ability to navigate conflict, is showing up in our personal and professional spaces. Given our discomfort and conflict avoidance bend, how do we address this? Is there a way back? Can we face conflict head on, hash it out and be stronger for it? Our guest this week, Buster Benson, believes navigating conflict is an achievable “meta-skill” that allows us to integrate the differences we encounter in the world. In his book, Why Are We Yelling?, Buster reveals that conflict can serve as a valuable tool, that when channeled properly can be leveraged to deepen our relationships, strengthen our problem-solving skills and stimulate our creativity. As the mastermind behind highly successful teams at Amazon, Twitter, and Slack, Buster Benson spent decades leaning into and facilitating difficult conversations in high stress environments. Buster exposes the psychological underpinnings of awkward, unproductive conflict and the critical habits anyone can learn to avoid it. Buster Benson is an entrepreneur and a former product leader at Amazon, Twitter, Slack, and Patreon. This is his first book. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/buster-benson.

Leaping to a new S-Curve of learning can be an overwhelming experience. As we transition from being at the top of our field into a new and less experienced trajectory, our emotions and anxieties can get the best of us. Our guest this week believes science, specifically the discipline of rocket science, can help us better navigate personal and professional disruption. Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned award-winning law professor and bestselling author. A renowned professor, author, and speaker, Ozan writes and speaks often about creativity and critical thinking. He's authored many book chapters and law review articles, and now he has a new book: Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life. In this episode we learn how Ozan stays attune to his mind and body, sensing when it is time to disrupt. He shares how important it is to see yourself through a forgiving lens and discusses the importance of failure in the trajectory of success. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/ozan-varol.

Organizational change can be a disorienting experience. We all have bristled against it at one time or another, unnerved by the unknown. However, leaning into change and following the path of disruption can be a liminal moment for organizations and the individuals involved. Our guest this week, a self-described change junkie, knows all to well the discomfort and rewards of disruption. Michelle McKenna is currently the Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer for the NFL. She is responsible for their technology strategy, shared service delivery and management of the league’s technology activities.  In this episode we learn the benefits of asking why we do it this way and how important it is to never stop innovating. Michelle offers an inside take on producing the 2020 NFL Draft and previews the future of data driven decision making for players and coaches. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/Michelle-McKenna

Mindsets are foundational to everything we do. Improving our mindsets can improve our success across life, work, and leadership. Our guest today Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D., takes us on a deep dive into the power of mindsets. In his book, Success Mindsets: Your Keys to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work and Leadership, Ryan blends the latest in mindset research and practice to present the most comprehensive mindset framework to date. Ryan is a mental success coach and cutting-edge leadership consultant, author, trainer, and researcher. He helps improve organizations, leaders, teams, and employees by improving their mindsets. Ryan is currently a leadership and management professor at the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton (CSUF). He holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources from Indiana University, and a B.A. from Brigham Young University. In this episode, Ryan exposes how the lens in which we view the world impacts our mindset. He walks us through four main mindsets and explains how we can adopt a better way of showing up in the world. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/ryan-gottfredson.

One in three Americans listen to at least one podcast per month. This is an astounding number given podcasting was a relatively unknown medium as recently as 2012. Recently, Apple surpassed the 1 million mark in podcast titles, and we’ve witnessed an explosion of genres ready to tickle our ears on demand.  Our guest today, Molly Beck, knows the power of podcasting firsthand.  Molly is the founder of podcast creation site messy.fm, creator of the lifestyle blog Smart, Pretty & Awkward; and a marketing expert who has provided digital strategies for numerous companies including Forbes, Venmo, Rice University, and Hearst. Her work has been featured in Business Insider, Parade, Refinery29, Lifehacker, The Boston Globe, and more. In this episode of the Disrupt Yourself Podcast, Molly shares how early career constraints stimulated creativity and spurred her into an unexpected entrepreneurial journey.  For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/molly-beck. 

Dr. Benjamin Hardy challenges fixed personalities, advocating for growth and self-transformation. He discusses reframing identity, the ineffectiveness of personality tests in hiring, and leveraging the S-curve of learning for future progress. The podcast delves into reshaping the future self and the power of self-reflection for personal growth.

Today on the Disrupt Yourself Podcast, our guest is Liz O'Donnell, a marketing executive who is an expert on taking a step back to slingshot forward and that will be the topic of our conversation today. Liz is the award-winning author of Mogul, Mom & Maid: The Balancing Act of the Modern Woman and Liz's latest book is Working Daughter: A Guide to Caring for Your Aging Parents While Making a Living, a book in which she discusses her personal experiences and lessons learned from having to transition quickly from working mom to working daughter - working in a busy career, caring for her own family and taking on the care of her elderly parents. Many of the lessons she outlines in the book apply not only to taking care of elderly parents, but how to go through any type of disruption while showing up for others. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/liz-odonnell

Today on the Disrupt Yourself Podcast, our guest is Gregory Haile, President of Broward College in Florida. On this episode, Greg takes us through his educational journey and background - beginning as a child in a dangerous neighborhood in Queens, through his decision to attend college. Ultimately graduating magna cum laude from Arizona State University, going to Columbia Law School and eventually President at Broward College two years ago.  Though we did this interview several weeks ago, at the time of this recording, the United States is in the midst of riots and racial protests across the country. We hope this episode will give you a chance to listen and understand and start to help dismantle and battle any feelings of entitlement that might be holding you back from disrupting yourself and growing in the way you’d like to. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/gregory-haile

Today's episode is a rebroadcast of an episode we aired back in 2017 with speaker and New York Times bestselling author Luvvie Ajayi Jones. Pamay Bassey, the Chief Learning Officer at Kraft Heinz posted this quote from Cleo Wade on LinkedIn: “My friend Maud once said, 'There are times when we must speak, not because you are going to change the other person, but because if you don't speak, they have changed you.' Silence doesn't change the world. It changes us.” I don’t want to be silent, but I’m not yet sure what to say. But what I’ve learned from Luvvie, is that when you don’t know what to say, you pass the mic. That's why we decided instead of airing the episode we had scheduled today that it was important to re-air this episode. Several people shared with me on social media that it was this conversation that started them thinking differently about privilege, and that's a good place to start when it comes to seeing others as people and not objects.  Luvvie – I’m taking your advice. Here’s the mic.