On The Edge

“How do you change the system to take longer term decisions without forcing people and using a government to do that, and the answer is you set up cooperatives and mutuals.” Shiv Malik In this conversation I connected with Shiv Malik who is a technologist, broadcaster, author, former Guardian investigative journalist and co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation think tank. He is also author of several books - The Messenger and Jilted Generation. He joined the Web3 space in 2017 with Golem and then Streamr. In 2021 he co-founded Pool and currently leads the organization on its mission to bring Data Unions to the world and ensure people have control of their data and a genuine stake in the digital economy. In this conversation we talked about web3 and data unions and why are they are important, building upon his background as an investigative journalist. "We all need to have that stake in the future and be able to leverage that." https://www.pooldata.io/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_Malik https://www.faber.co.uk/author/shiv-malik/ https://www.theguardian.com/profile/shiv-malik https://www.weareliminal.co/

In this conversation I connected with Sonja Blignaut.  Originally a meteorologist, Sonja now partners with people who need to navigate, make sense of, and lead in uncertainty. She spans the boundaries of leadership, organisational development & change, strategy, risk, innovation, and marketing. In short, she works wherever there is complexity, which nowadays is more or less everywhere.  Sonja is internationally recognised as an expert on Complexity, the Cynefin Framework, Waysfinding, and Complexity Fitness. She is certified in various individual and systemic coaching methods and a sought-after speaker, with experience at various conferences locally and internationally, including TedX.  In this conversation we talked about crossing thresholds and the skills, capabilities, rituals, and mindsets are required to navigate transitions well?- inspired by this blog post that she shared recently that I’ll link to in the show notes. That post starts with the following quote by John O’Donohue:   “At any time you can ask yourself: At which threshold am I now standing? At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter? What is preventing me from crossing my next threshold? What gift would enable me to do it?”  So I started out by asking her, at what threshold she is now standing and how it makes her feel? Enjoy!  ____  - The space of not knowing is where the growth happens  - The hardest conversations we are avoiding the most are the ones with ourselves  - The value of rituals in transitions and the need for containment   - How much of my own life am I putting off until someday?  - The time has come to cross - don’t let your life flow by without noticing  https://complexityfit.com/sonja-blignaut/  https://sonjablignaut.medium.com/crossing-thresholds-a109d1b2d392  https://www.weareliminal.co

In this conversation I connected with Nick Hare, founder of Aleph Insights - an analytics consultancy that specialises in supporting strategic decision-making for both business and government in defence, security, intelligence and international affairs. Prior to establishing Aleph Insights, he worked in various roles across the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office and the intelligence community, most recently within Defence Intelligence, where he was responsible for professionalising intelligence analysis." I first met Nick via an old school friend and have gone on to work with him a few times over the last decade. In this conversation - recorded on 1st April 2022 - we talked about the current war in Ukraine. In particular we talked about: What can we learn about analysis and decision making from such turbulent times? And is there a new world order emerging, and if so are are some of the possible future scenarios? So I started out by asking him, how has the war in Ukraine affected him personally, and also whether he agrees that we are past a point of no return? Enjoy! https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-hare-a7b12161/  https://alephinsights.com/ https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/cognitive-engineering/id1142986387 https://twitter.com/AlephInsights https://www.weareliminal.co/

In this conversation I connected with Jon Alexander who is the author of a new book called Citizens.  Jon started his career working in the advertising industry, selling some of the world's biggest brands, and winning plenty of awards along the way. Then he realised he was caught up in a story he didn't believe in: The Consumer Story. So in 2014, Jon co-founded the New Citizenship Project. Their mission was to figure out how to use their skills not just to sell stuff to Consumers, but to involve people in the decisions that affect their lives as Citizens, working with the likes of the Co-op, Body Shop, National Trust, BBC, and European Central Bank. In this conversation we talked about: A brief history of humanity from people as subjects to consumers to citizens. How the citizen story is different to some of the progressive stories and ideas that have preceded it? How the pandemic has shifted the role and power of people, governments and corporations? How we can’t have paradigm shift without a paradigm to shift to. The story of vTaiwan and Taiwan in 2014. The idea of social acupuncture. So I started out by asking him, what is the citizen story, and why is it important right now? Enjoy! https://www.jonalexander.net/ https://www.newcitizenship.org.uk/ https://www.weareliminal.co/ http://www.participatorycity.org/ https://anchor.fm/weareliminal/episodes/004-Participatory-Cities---Tessy-Britton-e57bok https://info.vtaiwan.tw/ Please Note: In this conversation we talked about several examples including Participatory Cities (of which I am a trustee) and Tessy Britton (who I interviewed way back in episode 4 of this podcast) - links above. Also Jon and I were introduced recently thanks to Francine Bennet so many thanks to Fran for the introduction.

In this conversation I connected with Anab Jain who is a designer, futurist, filmmaker and educator. As Co-founder and Director of Superflux - the multi-award winning design agency - they translate future uncertainty into present day choices Over the last 15 years, Anab has gained international recognition for her work and commentary on design, innovation, emerging technologies and complex futures. She is the recipient of many, many awards. She has delivered talks and keynotes at several conferences including TED, MIT Media Lab and MOMA’s to name but three. In addition, Anab was appointed Professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna in 2016, where she leads the Design Investigations (ID2) Program. In this conversation we talked about how and why we think about the future is all wrong. In particular we talked about: 1. Who or what gives you hope for the future? 2. How do you translate future uncertainty into present day choices? 3. What is human exceptionalism, and why are you calling time on it? So I started out by asking her, why do you not like to make predictions about the future? Enjoy! https://superflux.in/ https://twitter.com/anabjain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYjWLqE_cfE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tf7T2TySG0 https://www.dezeen.com/awards/2021/winners/superflux/ https://designinvestigations.at/ https://www.weareliminal.co/

In this conversation I connected with Dilbagh Gill who is CEO of the Mahindra Formula E Racing team since the sports inaugural season in 2014. Formula E is the is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. As one of ten founding teams – and the only Indian team – Dilbagh has built his team from the ground up which has led to multiple race victories and podiums. He’s always been a motorsport and mechanical enthusiast. From repairing motorbikes while studying at college before going on to be an amateur rally driver. He also has a background working for a start up that developed software used in FIFA World Cup and the World Cup of Motorsport. In this conversation we talked about a Formula E and a different kind of race. The race to net zero emissions. In particular we talked about: The role that collaboration within teams and cooperation across teams, plays in the development of the sport? What are some of the plans/predictions for innovations that you are developing and their potential future impact? Last year was said to be a make or break year for the climate emergency (COP26 etc). What are you learning that others (citizens, governments, OEM’s) can learn from? So I started out by asking him what is Formula E and how and why did it start? https://www.linkedin.com/in/dilbaghgill/ https://www.mahindraracing.com/ https://www.fiaformulae.com/ https://www.weareliminal.co/

"What gives me hope is that people are getting involved with climate action, not just politicians and businesses. There is a strong show of human demand for change and that’s what we’ve always needed." Gurjit Singh Lalli In this conversation I connected with Gurjit Singh Lalli, who is one of the best connected people in Glasgow, and with the eyes of the world on the City due to the United Nations COP26 Climate Change Conference summit, I caught him on a very busy day yesterday, in-between meetings in a cafe, a short distance from the main summit event. Born in England, raised in Scotland, educated in Sweden, having lived in Mexico & Middle East, with a wife from Hong Kong, and parents from India, he has been back in Glasgow and since 2010 and is the Founding Curator TEDxGlasgow. They have had hosted numerous events in Glasgow and over 14 million views of the talks we put online.  He is the founder of several companies is also winner of the Business Man of the Year award at the Scottish Asian Business Awards.  So I started out by asking him. How does it feel to be in and from Glasgow right now? https://tedxglasgow.com/ https://ukcop26.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/gurjitsinghlalli/ "If we can bail out banks then lets bail out humanity." "There are two types of activism I’m seeing. One on the street and one in the boardroom." "Climate action is not something we should be competing on it’s something we should be collaborating on."

In this conversation I connected with Dr Sue Black who is now a Prof of Computer Science at Durham. She is perhaps best known for her instrumental role in helping to save Bletchley Park, the once the top-secret home of the World War Two Codebreakers, including Alan Turing and 1,000’s others, half of whom were women, that allegedly shortened WW2 by 2-3 years and saved over 20 million lives. With bright red hair and relentless enthusiasm, she is a tireless campaigner for the role tech can play in creating positive social change - in particular for women and mums in the tech sector. She left school at 16, was in women’s refuge at 25 with 3 small children, went back to education at 26 got degree in computing in 1993, and PhD in software engineering in 2001 and is now one of the most influential people in computer science in the UK and even appeared on the legendary BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs earlier this year too! So I started out by asking her about social mobility through education and asked "are you the exception that proves the rule"?  https://sueblack.co.uk/ https://bletchleypark.org.uk/ https://techupwomen.org/ https://cruciblealumni.com/crucibleirl/ https://techmums.co/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b3b4m5 https://www.weareliminal.co

Michael Garfield, a talented polymath, discusses the purpose of polymaths in today's society and culture. Topics include neuroplasticity, the technological and evolutionary transition, and the benefits of living in the future. Explore the value of generalists in a specialized world and the need for interdisciplinary thinking.

In this conversation I connected with Sharath Jeevan who is an expert on how to practically re-ignite the inner-drive (or intrinsic motivation) in our lives. He is the Executive Chairman of Intrinsic Labs, which supports organisations all around the world to solve deep motivational challenges. Previously Sharath founded and led STiR Education to re-ignite the motivation of 200,000 teachers, 35,000 schools and 7 million children in emerging countries. He was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2014 and was recognised as one of the UK’s ten leading social entrepreneurs in 2019. His first book Intrinsic is available now in trade paperback, audiobook and e-book formats. We literally talked about: The current crisis of motivation How we can best use the 90k hours of our working lives The false promise of meritocracy (which also cropped up in episode 29 of this podcast with Jack Du Rose) Learning about motivation from the 150th best tennis player in the world Who nurtures the nurturers? So I started out by asking him why do you get out of bed in the morning? Enjoy. https://www.intrinsic-labs.com/ https://stireducation.org/ https://www.weareliminal.co