Disrupt Yourself Podcast with Whitney Johnson

I have shared on here before that I am a recovering perfectionist when it comes to my podcasts, and I have yet another confession: sometimes I make mistakes. Or, rather, errors. I recently received feedback from a newsletter subscriber that helped me see that some of my newsletter content was not what she was expecting, or hoping to receive. I’ve told you many times that I value feedback, and I’m taking what this subscriber said and trying to learn from it. I won’t get into the details here (I’ll do that in the intro to the podcast), but suffice it to say that our interaction reminded me of what I learned from Donald Miller—but maybe I needed to learn it again. Repetition is a good teacher. So, please enjoy this encore episode of my conversation with Donald Miller - New York Times bestselling author and the CEO and founder of StoryBrand, a marketing company that helps you clarify your marketing message so people will listen. Links and Show Notes available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/donald-miller-encore

When we’re feeling stagnate or trapped in our job, jumping ship altogether often seems like the best option for disruption. However—and this is a big one—what if you didn’t have to? What if you could identify what motivates you, and why your current job isn’t a good fit? What if you communicated your desires for growth to your boss, and were able to do so in a constructive way? What if you could find a way to disrupt yourself without quitting or losing your job? Bethany Quam’s “first career” at General Mills was not a good fit. Having graduated from college with an accounting degree, Bethany spent her first two years working in the finance department and making practical use of her practical degree. At her annual performance review Bethany was shocked to find out that while she was considered technically sound at her job, she was also “too chatty.” Bethany would go on to be in sales for 18 years before pivoting to a different “career” within General Mills (she says she’s had four careers in total). Her ability to communicate with her direct superiors about her motivation and drive allowed her to disrupt herself within the company, all while maintaining a steady paycheck. Join us as we explore Bethany’s career journey, how to push out of the comfort zone to stay in growth mode, and Bethany’s love for the gift of feedback. Links and show notes available on our website at https://whitneyjohnson.com/bethany-quam

My guest today is James Clear, and he’s the go-to expert for those small changes, or Atomic Habits (as his New York Times best-selling book refers to them).  James advocates that the way to build habits is to try and get just one percent better each day—something that sounds almost too easy to do, and yet builds a firm foundation for continual improvement. James is great at giving practical tips for improvement, and I hope you enjoy our discussion as much as I did! Thank you to James for being a great guest. I am especially grateful today for Ralph Campbell, a Disrupt Yourself podcast listener who introduced me to the work of James, leading to this interview today. I really value the feedback of my listeners, and suggestions for future guests are appreciated! Please subscribe or leave a comment. Click here for the full show notes and to get episode links at our website.

Israel and Palestine. Northern Ireland. Colombia. Libya. These are more than just countries to Donna Hicks. Notorious for their political upheaval and turmoil, within their borders, Donna has sat between sworn enemies and dared to help them find common ground. Wherever there is an “intractable conflict” in the world, Donna and her team work diligently to facilitate dialogue between the disparate parties and find ways for them to work together. It’s far from easy, but over the past 25 years, Donna has noticed a pattern emerge, helping her achieve better results with each conversation. I can’t wait for you to hear one of Donna’s favorite stories from her time in Libya. It gives me hope that even when things look dark - when we choose to respect the dignity of others and connect with each other there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. For links from this episode and full show notes, visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/donna-hicks

On the podcast today I am pleased to introduce Asheesh Advani, the CEO of Junior Achievement. Junior Achievement (or JA) is an organization that provides children and teenagers around the world opportunities to learn about work, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential learning. Asheesh believes passionately in the mission of JA, not only because it is his job, but because at the age of 14 Asheesh was made “CEO” of a T-shirt company through Junior Achievement, giving him hands-on experience and insight into how a company (even on a small scale) must operate to survive. It was an enlightening experience for Asheesh, and cracked the door for him to be interested in entrepreneurship later in life. In 2019, JA is celebrating its 100th year as an organization, and Asheesh is excited to remove any obstacles standing in the way of his team so they can take the opportunities JA provides to a whole new generation of students. Join us as we discuss the mission of Junior Achievement, the early turning point in Asheesh’s life, and the not-so-successful business idea Asheesh embarked on as his first entrepreneurial venture (and what he learned from the experience). Complete show notes and links mentioned in the episode available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/asheesh-advani

I have a confession:  I am a recovering perfectionist. Up until very recently I have been completely unable to listen to a single “Disrupt Yourself” podcast. I convinced myself that I would be a terrible interviewer, and my imagination was doing just fine on its own without my hearing every flaw, every weakness, and every “should-have-done” possibility in each episode. But something brilliant has happened—I’m in the sweet spot! I have finally crested the low end of my learning curve, and have reached the point where this podcast is challenging to produce (but not too challenging). And in many ways it is getting easy (but not too easy).  Now that I feel I can breathe, I can also take a look back at my previous episodes with a more balanced eye. And I have actually listened to the episodes! I’m in a place where I am ready to learn and grow again, and I’m excited to see what lessons 2019 will bring. Just as we did last year, I have compiled some of the most-listened-to podcasts of the past twelve months as well as some of the favorites of our newsletter subscribers and production team. It was amazing to revisit these interviews! Maybe they’ll sound familiar to you, or maybe they’ll sound brand new. Either way, I hope you enjoy the “Disrupt Yourself” highlights of 2018, and revel with me in the delightful comfort of the sweet spot. (Of course, now I need to be on the lookout for the top of the S-curve. Stay tuned!) Links and show notes at https://whitneyjohnson.com/2018-review

Keith Krach collects people. It’s not that he’s a comic book villain, mind you—Keith simply has a knack for finding people, discovering what they’re interested in, and building a team from that connection. Over the past ten years at DocuSign he has asked over 300 people to be on the Advisory Board (an unsually large number), but his reasoning is sound: why not?  Creating genius is certainly familiar territory for Keith. In college, he earned an internship opportunity at GM, and went on to participate in their scholarship program at Harvard Business School. Finding leadership and team building to be his passions, Keith climbed the ladder at GM for a decade before moving on to Silicon Valley and opportunities to work in the C-suite. He is now the Chairman and former CEO of DocuSign, and co-founder and former CEO of Ariba. Along the way, he has always paid diligent attention to attracting and retaining the right talent. More information and links from the episode available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/keith-krach

Thinking about the competition often keeps business owners up at night. Will someone else find a way to copy your product? Will they lure customers away? Will they make your clientele happier? It’s the stuff of nightmares. Mike McDerment, the co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, decided that he didn’t want to waste time being afraid of his competition. Why wait for someone to figure out how to do your business better? So he decided to do something about it now—and created a strong competitor. It was an unconventional move, but effective. Using everything they learned in their mini-startup, FreshBooks was able to make a smooth transition to their new platform and learned valuable information about their customers in the process.  Join me as we discuss customer proximity, being a partner with your clients, and how Mark went from being a marketing consultant to creating a valuable cloud-based accounting software (despite not being a programmer). Show notes and episode links available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/mike-mcderment

When President Kennedy announced in 1961 that he wanted to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, it was a longshot. Some believed it to be impossible. However, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the surface of the moon and that “longshot” became a reality. In January of 2011 President Obama put out his own “moon shot call”—in his State of the Union address, he announced the goal of 100k more science, technology, engineering, and math teachers in in the United States over the next 10 years. And not just any teachers: he wanted excellent teachers to help train the next generation of STEM students. Talia Milgrom-Elcott remembers this speech vividly. It was a rallying cry that she felt deep in her bones. She knew it wasn’t enough to just stand and clap for the announcement (which received wide bipartisan support). Someone needed to do something—why not her? Join us as we discuss how Talia built her team, when she realized how true success would be measured, and the difference between fixing symptoms and solving problems. Join us in the player below, or download the episode on iTunes. Links and show notes available at http://whitneyjohnson.com/talia-milgrom-elcott

When his eight-year-old son asked Dave Hollis what his biggest fear was, no doubt he anticipated an answer along the lines of “tarantula” or “scorpions.” Instead, he received a brutally honest assessment: “Not living up to my potential.” At the time, Dave Hollis was the President of Worldwide Theatrical Distribution at The Walt Disney Company—you know, that little start-up out of California that has distributed such niche films as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Black Panther, and Toy Story. Dave had spent 17 years of his life working his way up the ladder at Disney, and to most of the world appeared to have achieved the apex of his career. But Dave didn’t feel that way. Despite working for one of the biggest (and in Dave’s opinion, greatest) companies in the world, he couldn’t escape the feeling that he was no longer challenging himself in the role that he occupied. He had an amazing team, amazing support, and given the track record of the company also had little resistance to do whatever he wanted to do for theatrical distribution. But he wasn’t challenged, and that was a problem. There’s more to this story, and I hope you’ll take the time to listen to it. You can learn more and get all the links in our show notes at http://whitneyjohnson.com/dave-hollis