unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc

Gene Kim and Steven Spear discuss the three mechanisms of successful organizational design: slowify, simplify, and amplify. They address the evolution of organizational design and the need for management education to evolve. The podcast delves into enhancing efficiency through modularization, standardized interfaces, and breaking down complex tasks for improved productivity and innovation.

Nicholas Christakis, a Yale professor, discusses genes' influence on social networks, pandemic preparation, and human evolution towards goodness. They explore social contagion dynamics, the impact of genes on group behavior, and the intersection of social networks and genetics.

Humans have always had the propensity to be irrational. In fact, humans may be as irrational today as they were centuries ago. But with a more educated and technologically advanced society, why does this level of irrational thought and behavior persist? Steven Nadler is a professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin. His books like When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People: How Philosophy Can Save Us from Ourselves and Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die encourage readers to examine their lives through a philosophical lens.He and Greg discuss how social media has contributed to the perpetuity of irrationality in society, why more education doesn’t necessarily lead to more rational thought, and why philosophy should be more widely integrated into our education systems. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Exploring Spinoza’s determinismNobody can be truly free from external influences because we have to live in the world. But you can liberate yourself insofar as your life is guided by reason and not by passion. Now, for Spinoza, the world is deterministic. Everything happens because of its antecedent causes. And this is as true as much for leaves falling off trees and rocks rolling down hills and for our bodies, which respond to the physical influences of the world. But it's also completely true with respect to the human mind. Our mental states, our thoughts, our beliefs, our desires also exist within a deterministic system.Where do irrational beliefs come from?02:46: I don't think that human beings are necessarily more or less irrational now than they were centuries ago. However, the difference is that irrationality can flourish more easily now with the advent of social media internet sites that traffic in irrational beliefs that encourage irrational thinking, and that make it very easy for a person to be overwhelmed by misinformation and thus form beliefs without any evidence and never really be exposed to counter-evidence.Two kinds of bad thinking07:08: In the book, we distinguish between two kinds of stubbornness or two kinds of bad thinking. We call the first, epistemic stubbornness, and the second, normative stubbornness. Epistemic stubbornness is where you adopt beliefs without sufficient evidence in favor of their truth. (08:19) What we call normative stubbornness is more a matter of behavior. And maybe here, temperament plays a bigger role. A person who is normatively stubborn applies rules without thinking the actions they choose and the courses of behavior that they adopt.What Nadler says is one of the root causes of persistent bad thinking11:46 Very often we know what the right thing to do is, we know what is good, but we act contrary to our better judgment. That's not just something that's a matter of our actions and behavior, but even in our minds, sometimes we know that a belief is not probably the right thing. It's probably not true, and yet somehow through peer pressure, for example, we feel compelled to go with the crowd, and we find ourselves believing things that we have no evidence for believing, and in fact stand in the face of contrary evidence.Show Links:Recommended Resources:PlatoEthics by Baruch SpinozaMeditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume  Immanuel KantSocratesConatusApology of Socrates by PlatoClytemnestraAchillesStoicism AristotelianismThomas HobbesGuest Profile:Faculty Profile at University of WisconsinHis Work:When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People: How Philosophy Can Save Us from OurselvesThink Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to DieA Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular AgeThe Best of All Possible Worlds: A Story of Philosophers, God, and Evil

Frances Frei, an expert in operational design and leadership, discusses the importance of fostering curiosity, the drawbacks of 'move fast and break things' mentality, and how inclusion can empower organizations. The conversation includes insights on layoffs, organizational design, blame culture, fostering curiosity, and leadership challenges.

Felipe Fernández-Armesto, a history professor, discusses the Spanish Empire's global impact, challenges popular historical narratives, and explores engineers' crucial role in empire building. The podcast also delves into the significance of food history and the debate on history's classification as a social science or humanities.

Without the Dutch revolution of the 16th century, England may never have taken its place as a world superpower and there could have been no such thing as the American Revolution. Yet, the pivotal role the Netherlands played in the development of the modern world seems to go overlooked and under taught in history courses. Why? Jonathan Scott is a professor of history at the University of Auckland and the author of numerous books, including England's Troubles: Seventeenth-Century English Political Instability in European Context and, most recently, How the Old World Ended: The Anglo-Dutch-American Revolution 1500-1800. He and Greg discuss how the Netherlands' geography played a crucial role in its rise to dominance in the 17th century, why that power eventually shifted to favor England, and how the Anglo-Dutch influence has permeated throughout history. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:What inspired the American revolutionaries?30:46 The people by whom the English Republicans and revolutionaries of the 17th century were themselves inspired, who were the Dutch revolutionaries of the 16th century, were very important for the American revolutionaries of the 18th century. So, I think the most important influence in America is the Anglo-Dutch. And the Dutch part of that has been forgotten in America. Why exactly is, again, complicated, but one reason might be that when England ends up dominating, the Dutch component of the American founding and of the American revolution is just quietly forgotten.Was the Anglo-Dutch Revolution seminal to the success of England?03:52 What happens in 17th and 18th century England, which is remarkable and of global importance, derives very substantially from competition with the Netherlands, a competition during which the Netherlands is initially dominant and during which they're eventually overtaken.The complex alliance and rivalry between the English and the Dutch04:43 Not just rivals and frenemies, but they were also very close allies and dependent on each other for the survival of their Protestant religion and political regimes. So, they were close military allies in the war against Spain during the Elizabethan period in the 16th century. Then, they were equally close military, political, and religious allies from the Glorious Revolution in 1689 against France in the nine-year war until 1697. So the framework is one of close alliance, but between those two dates, between the Elizabethan and that end of the 17th century, that is, during the 17th century itself, there's an increasingly bitter rivalry between the merchants of these two countries, which ends up involving three very bloody naval wars between 1652 and 1673.The Anglo-Dutch-American Revolution33:12 The Anglo-Dutch-American Revolution in the early modern period is a series of political revolutions which put in place a new kind of state, which is federated and the product of parliamentary representation and parliamentary votes. And so the United Provinces of the Netherlands is the first one established in the 16th century, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain is the second established in 1707. Then, the United States of America is the third. Each of these is conscious of its place in a sequence where there is copying and adaptation going on.Show Links:Recommended Resources:Hanseatic LeagueMark Kurlansky | UnSILOedNavigation ActsJohn LockeMontesquieuBaruch SpinozaHugo GrotiusGuest Profile:Faculty Profile at University of AucklandHis Work:England's Troubles: Seventeenth-Century English Political Instability in European ContextWhen the Waves Ruled Britannia: Geography and Political Identities, 1500–1800 How the Old World Ended: The Anglo-Dutch-American Revolution 1500-1800

Katharina Pistor, a Professor of Comparative Law, delves into how legal coding shapes wealth distribution and economic inequality. She discusses the evolution of property rights into powerful financial instruments, the biases in economic development due to legal constructs, and the influence of corporate power on the legal system. The conversation also explores the interplay between legal systems and global capitalism, the emergence of new property rights like carbon emission rights, and the impact of digital code on social relations.

Investigative health science journalist and author Gary Taubes discusses the history of diabetes research and challenges modern misconceptions. They explore flawed scientific research, nutritional epidemiology studies, resistance to dietary dogma, and the evolution of diabetes treatment. Taubes highlights the impact of WWII on obesity research and the need for open-minded dietary guidelines.

Nicholas Dirks, President and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences, discusses challenges in maintaining academic freedom, faculty governance, and student activism in universities. They explore the balance between research and teaching, fostering interdisciplinary studies, and adapting to the demands of the 21st century while preserving academic freedom and intellectual debate.

Elisabeth Rosenthal, senior editor at KFF Health News, discusses the complex healthcare pricing system, revealing how multiple intermediaries inflate medical bills. They explore the profit-driven motives behind rising costs, emphasizing the need for transparency in billing. The podcast delves into the impact of private equity in healthcare and the challenges individuals face navigating pricing and insurance complexities.