Barry O’Reilly is happy to welcome Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas to this episode of the Unlearn Podcast. Sally earned international acclaim as an entrepreneur and innovator in social change, helping to establish many large-scale mental health efforts, including Man Therapy and National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. A trained clinical psychologist and a suicide loss survivor herself, she sees issues of suicide prevention and mental health promotion from a holistic perspective. Sally is a team member at Nobody Studios, leading the Employee Crisis Management function, where her mission is to save company-employee relationships by ensuring both sides have their needs met in times of difficulty. He and Sally discuss how we all can promote mental health in our companies, family, and community.  The Turning Point “Many of us have these moments in our life where we had a life before and then we have life afterward,” Sally says. That pivotal moment for her was her brother’s death by suicide. She describes her deep grief and the moment in a Suicide Loss Survivors support group when she realized that she could contribute to supporting others. Facing Down Fear “The fear around suicide is just immobilizing,” Sally tells Barry. Even trained mental health professionals feel that fear and often ‘hot potato’ clients who are struggling with suicidal feelings: they fear losing their reputation - and their license - if a client dies by suicide on their watch. If, however, we face down the fear, we can really help people, she points out. Sally describes how fear made them reluctant to take a different approach to suicide prevention, despite data telling them that they should. In the end, they decided to face down the fear and go against the status quo. She and Barry talk about the importance of psychological safety. If people don’t feel safe to reach out for help, they won’t, and then they can’t get the help they need. Learning From Disaster “A lot of times when we face large-scale disaster, we pull together as communities and that protects us,” Sally tells Barry. However, the Great Resignation is teaching us that people will no longer tolerate working in a toxic environment. Burnout is real, and when it reaches the point of despair, then it’s past time for companies to do something about it. A Better Approach to Suicide Prevention  Historically, suicide prevention has been seen as an issue only medical professionals could address. This ‘only-one-path’ approach has failed. “What we learned from that is that when we force hospitalization, suicide rates go up,” Sally says. We have to broaden our view and see suicide prevention as both a public health and social justice issue. Research shows that people who overcome suicidal despair usually fall into two categories: they related deeply with someone who went through a similar experience, or they made meaning out of their experience so they could help others. Having someone be there for you in tough times really helps, Barry and Sally agree. Looking Ahead Sally is excited about the progress she is making advocating for mental health in male-dominated industries. 80% of people who die by suicide are male, she tells Barry, so it’s important to carry the work where it’s needed the most. It’s about creating a culture where people are excited to serve, rather than one where you are essentially a robot. She is also excited about her work at Nobody Studios, particularly the collaborative employee crisis management tool they are working on. Personally, she is unlearning that she is more than just her work. “We are the millions of decisions we make every day with the people around us,” she reminds herself and listeners. Read full show notes at BarryO'Reilly.com Resources Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas on Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

Barry O’Reilly goes solo in this season's finale episode of the Unlearn Podcast. He answers listeners’ questions about perfectionism, permanent hybrid work, and letting go of the past, among other things. Q: How do you deal with perfectionism in the startup you're working on at the moment? Q: How do you get the most out of the content you create under reach? Q: How would you summarize the insights and learnings from your podcast guests about being change agents? Q: Given that your move towards permanent hybrid work seems to be gaining serious momentum, how will this affect founders’ efforts to scale their businesses? Q: In the unlearning process, what encouragement do you have to counter the fear of letting go of the past? Q: What are you most excited about at the moment? Q: What kind of guests are you looking for for future episodes? Q: What's the biggest lesson you've had so far in 2021? Resources Barry O’Reilly on LinkedIn

Barry O’Reilly is excited to welcome this week’s guest, Ryan Serhant, to the Unlearn Podcast. Ryan is founder & CEO of SERHANT., the bestselling author of Sell It Like Serhant and Big Money Energy, and is one of the most successful and well-known real estate brokers in the world. He is a producer, public speaker, and the star of multiple TV shows. In this inspiring episode, Ryan talks about how he revolutionized the traditional brokerage model and his strategies for building businesses of tomorrow. Selling Confidence “I have never sold a house in my entire career,” Ryan tells Barry. “What I've sold is about $5 billion dollars worth of enthusiasm and confidence.” When he started out in real estate, he didn’t have the ‘right’ education, connections, or experience. What he did have in spades though, was self-confidence. Every day he would convince himself that he was the greatest real estate broker because he knew that clients were not just buying a house, they were buying into his belief that he was the very best in the business. Barry asks Ryan how he helps clients see something exciting in an otherwise ordinary property. “Facts tell, stories sell,” Ryan responds. He no longer just gives information, he deciphers it so that clients see the potential. Diversifying Happiness “I diversify opportunities for happiness so every single day is exciting,” Ryan comments. He learned the hard way to never depend on just one “line of happiness”. As such, he used his skills to create other businesses and diversify his income sources. This led him to create his online education platform and his real estate media production company. “It’s really proven beneficial for my long-term career,” he adds. Barry comments that diversification is one of the tenets of Nobody Studios: “It's all about diversifying because you're building lots of different businesses; you're diversifying your skills, your portfolio, your investment strategy; and I think it's really important for people to see that as a skill to develop.” People First Business books teach product, process, then people; Ryan learned that people should come first. “What I realized was you can think of the greatest product ever, …[but if people] were not part of the ideation of the products - especially in the early phases - they have no emotional connection to it, and they're just never going to care the same way you do.” Employees who are emotionally committed to your company will give their best and “will do everything possible to make sure that the company is successful,” Ryan tells Barry. He shares how this has played out in his own businesses: his team shared ideas that brought significant growth to the company. Ryan is also thinking about getting into the minds of his future customers. This is how he future-proofs his business. He says, “I want to make sure that I'm living in the future far enough, so I can predict my future.” How to Get Started We are in the attention economy, but you can grab your customers’ attention for free. However, you have to speak to them in their language and play in their field, and their field is on their phone. Ryan's advice for anyone wanting to get started in business is to determine the story you want to sell, and why it’s better than your competitors’ story. “Get that story out there in the form of content,” he tells listeners. Barry admires that Ryan does not pretend, that he’s authentic in what he shares with the world. Ryan adds that clients come to him to interpret the facts they already know, the same reason they listen to the news. People don’t want to think, he points out. “Do the thinking for people and you can be wildly successful,” he advises listeners. Visit Barry O'Reilly for full show notes. Resources Ryan Serhant on Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Barry O’Reilly welcomes Shiyan Koh as this week’s guest on the Unlearn Podcast. Shiyan is Managing Partner at Hustle Fund, a VC fund that invests in pre-seed software startups in the US, Canada, and Southeast Asia. What makes Hustle Funding different is that, beyond the usual criteria that VCs look for, they tend to prioritize founders that have speed of execution. In today’s show, Shiyan and Barry discuss her professional experience, from her beginnings in finance to her current role at Hustle Fund. A Whole New World “I’ve never been one for ten-year plans, so I cannot tell you that [I knew] I was going to end up here,” Shiyan tells Barry. One major interest was policy creation and regulation, which she defines as “systems being enacted on people,” so she surprised herself when she delved into investment banking after receiving an internship in college. “I didn't really know what I was showing up for, but opened up a whole new world,” she says. The company that offered her the internship, JPMorgan, invited her to work for them as a full-time employee, which she accepted. Eventually, however, she decided that the job and the industry weren't in her long-term game plan. Finance, to Growth Stage Venture Capital Shiyan talks about how she transitioned from investment banking, and how that experience helped her determine what to do next. “I thought [to myself], ‘I don’t want to be an investment banker anymore, but let me reflect on the things I enjoyed about the job.’ [So I] made lists… When I thought about all the different projects I've gotten to work on over the course of my time there, I realized that my favorite ones were the young companies, the ones who were just going public. And so I went ‘You know what, I want to do more of that.’” Growing Beyond Growth It’s much easier to model growth in an Excel sheet than it is to make it happen. Shiyan recalls what she learned from her stint in growth stage venture capital. “I often felt like a fraud in those board meetings because I had never sold anything in my life… there was a huge gap between theory and practice.” Emboldened by her lack of knowledge, Shiyan resolved to attend business school to grasp a better understanding of how to build and run a business. Yet once again, she determined that this wasn’t what she wanted to do. Just because something is intellectually interesting to you, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good job for you, she affirms. NerdWallet and Takeaways Shiyan dives into her time at NerdWallet, where she was VP of Business Operations and Corporate Development. Incidentally, the founder of NerdWallet was a friend of hers. They were together for a casual meetup when she asked him if he knew of any interesting companies in New York, to which he replied with an offer to join his company. She goes on to describe her experience commuting from New York to San Francisco every few weeks. “The big takeaway from startups is that only 2 of the 100 things to do on your list are existential; you just need to let 98 things burn until they [reach that level],” Shiyan advises listeners. “You just have to focus on existing topics.” Alignment and Action “One thing I personally struggle with is finding the balance between the appropriate amount of time to invest into getting people aligned with what you’re trying to do, and getting them to take action,” Barry shares. If you spend too much time on alignment, no action will take place, and vice versa. One thing that’s hard for a lot of people to imagine is that startups move so fast, and as human beings, we’re unaccustomed to that rate of change, according to Shiyan. We develop routines for control, but when things shift too quickly, we become stressed and emotional. You then have to investigate ways to help people continue to be productive and high-performing. Resources Shiyan Koh on LinkedIn | Twitter Hustle Fund

Barry O’Reilly is pleased to welcome Dr. Erik Reis to this episode of the Unlearn Podcast. Erik is a Co-Founder of Health and Wellness at Nobody Studios and has spent the last 10 years of his career helping individuals maximize their bodies, brains, and business through neuroscience and behavioral psychology. “He believes the brain is limitless,” Barry remarks, “which is why his efforts at Nobody Studios are focused on maximizing human potential and improving access to global healthcare.” In today’s show, Erik and Barry talk about the power of the brain, and how to maximize your human potential.     Maximize Your Brain “Every single one of us has the capacity to change and to improve and to adapt, and become more efficient at whatever task it is,” Erik tells listeners. He stresses that your daily actions, habits, and choices manifest in long-term outcomes. This is exciting because it means that we can achieve big goals by taking small steps every day. “I think that the brain is the final frontier. I'm thoroughly convinced that it is one of the only frontiers that we can truly try and pursue and master at some point,” Erik says.   Update Your Brain’s Software You can change your brain simply by changing your habits, Erik points out. Given the same stimulus, people make different choices based on their perceptions. As such, Erik sees it as his mission to help people change their brain, or “update their software”. This is a requirement to reach your fullest potential in life and in business, he says. One simple step anyone can take to ‘update their software’ is movement and exercise: “Movement will always be the language of the brain,” Erik says.   Small Steps, Big Impact There’s no one magic pill; rather, maximizing your potential is a matter of small actions taken consistently. Instead, keep an open mind - be open to differing opinions, perspectives, and experiences. The brain is not binary, so our mindset shouldn’t be either. He and Barry discuss the importance of diet and relationships in living a fulfilling life. What you put into your body directly affects your brain’s health. Additionally, humans are social beings, so people who have strong relationships enjoy a better quality of life.   Prevention and Habit Stacking Barry comments on the value of prehab, taking corrective action once you see a problem to prevent having to do rehab later on. Erik agrees and states that prevention is a key focus of his practice. It’s not the first cigarette or cheeseburger that kills you, he says; it’s the 1000th. Start with one small habit, and keep stacking new ones. “That's the beauty of the brain,” Erik says, “you were just laying down new neural networks, and you were just facilitating long term potential health and growth of those pathways, to now where you have just become a different person; and that's what people are striving for all around the world!”    The Infinite Game Nobody Studios’ goal is to help entrepreneurs build companies that impact the people they serve. Changing one person’s life could have exponential outcomes, Erik and Barry agree. That’s why Erik’s role at Nobody Studios is so important and bigger than himself, he says. He wants his legacy to be the people he helped change their brain and ultimately their lives. Barry asks him to advise listeners who want to change their lives about where to start. Start where you are, Erik responds. Form good foundational habits, and be willing to change your bad habits. “Take the plunge and get after it and don't be scared to ask for help,” he tells listeners. “One thing that I've realized throughout my life is the more help that I've asked for, the more help that I've gotten. More importantly too, the faster I've been able to accomplish things that I wanted to accomplish in my life.”   For full show notes, visit BarryOReilly.com   Resources Dr. Erik Reis on LinkedIn Nobody Studios

Barry O’Reilly’s guest is Jim McKelvey, who has been everything from a glassblowing artist, to a founder of a multibillion-dollar organization. Just recently, he was appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Jim is the co-founder of Square, a leading financial services and digital payments company, and the author of The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time, where he shares the story of building Square and his philosophy for building disruptive companies. His most recent startup, Invisibly, gives consumers control of how their personal data is monetized by advertisers. Jim treats listeners to some fun facts and tips he learned from his own journey in this week’s episode.   Be Grumpy, Optimistic and Tenacious Innovation requires a “wonderful blend of grumpiness and optimism”, as well as a healthy dose of tenacity, Jim argues. Grumpiness makes you upset about a problem, and optimism inspires you to come up with a solution. Tenacity keeps you going through the tough times. “A lot of the companies that are now household names ... began with a founder who just found themselves in a really unpleasant situation and didn't quit,” Jim says. The mix of work ethic and stubbornness is often the secret sauce to your ultimate breakthrough. The most successful founders are just regular people; you just need the right tools, which Jim describes in his book.   Entertain Them Barry loves The Innovation Stack for its amusing anecdotes and contrary approaches, one of his favorites being Jim’s approach to pitching investors. “People get pitching wrong,” Jim explains. “People spend a lot of time pitching as if they are trying to sell somebody something. I pitch as if I'm trying to entertain and invite them to partner with me, and it's a subtle difference.” It’s your duty to entertain your listeners, he argues, especially if you want them to listen to you for more than 30 seconds.   Make it an Experience Your product or service should be an unforgettable experience for your customers, one they want to revisit. Jim describes thinking through the design of a new drinking glass that will invoke the users’ senses and help them see the world in a new way. These types of hidden experiences are key. “What I noticed was that immediately after an experience like that, you have this window of attention that may last 2 seconds or 5 seconds or 20 seconds,” Jim tells Barry.   Make Space in Your Head What used to work well before may stop working, and you have to be flexible enough to unlearn. “If you stick too rigidly to what has worked, you'll find that you end up one of these fossils who is so out of step with what's working that you no longer have any success,” Jim warns. “To me, unlearning is a Marie Kondo approach to your brain.” You have to get rid of the stuff that no longer works, to make space in your head for new ideas and approaches. This is a continuous process.   Looking Ahead Jim is excited about his new position as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He is responsible for ensuring that the right information gets to the people who need it, he says. “But it's also about gathering economic data and then going to Washington a couple times a year to make decisions on how that data gets used.” The main focus is to bring the economy back to health post-pandemic. “The key unlearning there is to just continually recognize that you don't get to copy the solution from some previous crisis because we haven't had one like this,” he tells Barry, “so just keep your mind open and be willing to listen to the person who proposes something that sounds radical, but in fact might actually be the solution.”   Read full show notes at BarryO'Reilly.com Resources Jim McKelvey Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time

Jaime Schmidt started Schmidt’s Naturals in her kitchen and scaled it to acquisition by Unilever. In the process, she pioneered a movement of modern brands bringing naturals to the mainstream. Since then, Jaime has been empowering the next generation of consumer brands through her inclusive investment firm, Color. In 2019, she launched Supermaker, a media company that celebrates inclusive and disruptive independent brands. Her book, Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, on this very topic was released in 2020 and is all about turning your passion project into a thriving business. Jaime is gearing up for her starring role on Season One of Going Public airing on October 19, the first show that will enable viewers to invest in companies on screen, to help entrepreneurs take their brands to a global audience. “There's so much here that resonates with our mission at Nobody Studios about giving access to all for entrepreneurs,” host Barry O’Reilly says.  Get Your Hands Dirty Oftentimes, you have to get your hands dirty to figure out what you want to do, Jaime discovered. She outlines her journey from college to working in HR to ultimately starting her own business. She advises listeners, try to learn something from every experience you’ve had that you can take forward: “Figure out something about that [present] job that you can take with you that will somehow make you a stronger performer in your dream job.” Leadership Lessons Barry and Jaime talk about important lessons that Jaime learned and unlearned along the way. Some of these lessons are: Not all leadership looks the same. Decide how you want to show up as a boss. Emulate the good behaviors you learned from other leaders, and discard the bad behaviors. There’s no one way to be a good leader. The best way is to just be yourself. Your leadership style is good enough. “Don't be afraid to admit what you don't know; ask for help when you need it, and just keep that ego under control.” Hire a good team: people you can trust who you’re proud to have representing your brand. Be transparent and let them lead sometimes. COVID has taken a toll on leaders, but one positive effect of the pandemic is that we’re more tolerant of others than before. Investing in People and Democratizing Entrepreneurship “In many ways,” Barry remarks, “most investors look for the people that they seem to make an investment in rather than the product.” He asks Jaime about her own philosophy for choosing investments. “As an investor today I think I have a little more openmindedness to founders that are a bit untraditional, because that was me,” she responds. She looks for more than just a good proposal on paper; it’s the passion and dedication of the founder that really helps her decide whether an investment has potential. Two-Way Mentorship The best type of mentorship is two-way. Mentors and mentees should bring their expertise to the table, and be open to learning from each other. Leave the ego at the door though, Jaime stresses. It’s common and natural to wonder if you can add value to a business when you have no experience in that industry, but Jaime realized that many of the lessons she learned growing her own business were transferable to any business. Once you approach mentorship collaboratively, it will be successful and rewarding, she says. Looking Ahead Jaime will continue to invest in consumer brands through Color, but she also sees an exciting opportunity in the emerging crypto and NFT space. She is learning more about this area, and feels that brands should embrace it and actually start adding these types of digital assets to their existing catalog. Brands would stay relevant, and consumers would be more inclined to buy these new products from brands they already know and trust. “The smartest hire a brand can make today is someone who is a consumer of culture” she points out. Read the complete show notes at Barry O'Reilly. Resources Jaime Schmidt Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

What is a product-led organization? What does it take to build one? How can technology help solve real-world problems? These are just a few of the questions that Yi-Wei Ang has dedicated his career to answering. Yi-Wei is the Chief Product Officer at Talabat, the largest food delivery and quick commerce company in the Middle East, and is responsible for Talabat’s rapid growth in the region. He joins Barry O’Reilly to talk about what better leadership means, and what it takes to build a product-led organization. Using Technology to Solve Human Problems “If we think about what great design is and great experiences are,” Yi-Wei tells Barry, “it's not just [that] it's beautiful - it’s how the thought process that goes behind every decision you make... is anchored on the end-user.” From an early age, Yi-Wei was fascinated with how you could create something that works using technology. He became immersed in human factors engineering in university, especially with building resilient systems that were responsive to unplanned exceptions. Ultimately, he remarks, it’s about understanding humans and building products that help them solve their problems. Better Management Marty Cagan taught Yi-Wei that people aren’t looking for less management, they’re looking for better management. This was counterintuitive to what he believed at the time, and it was a major unlearning for him. He knew that he didn’t want a top-down micromanaged organization, so he mistakenly felt that this meant giving his teams complete autonomy to choose the problems they wanted to solve. The result from this approach was that his teams’ efforts were misaligned, and they did not deliver on several commitments because of it. Cagan’s advice opened his eyes that he needed to set constraints and provide context and direction for his teams.  One Thing That Matters Trust the team close to the problem to solve the problem, Yi-Wei advises. Solving that problem should be their sole focus. At any given moment, there are 10 problems you could solve, and you might be inclined to tackle them all at once. This is a mistake, Yi-Wei and Barry point out. It’s more productive to pick the most important thing on the list and focus on solving that one problem. What you learn will tell you how to proceed. Leaders should help the team pick the problem. “The thing that often we don't spend enough time on - and I believe is that the crux of product leadership - is the ability for product leaders to help the team pick the one thing that actually matters,” Yi-Wei comments.  Product Led Organizations Across Cultures  Barry asks Yi-Wei how he gives teams context and directions company-wide, while also paying attention to local differences. He replies, “The challenge with building an organization or product across all these different markets is that when you try and paint it with one brush you often just get an average product across everything.” The best approach, he finds, is to choose the most strategic problem in just one market and address that. You can go deep and find out details that you wouldn’t otherwise. Talabat’s impressive growth is due in part to taking this approach. The company sees the intersection of technology and the real world as an interesting challenge and is driven to innovate their operations to serve their customers. Yi-Wei’s definition of a product-led organization is one where you use technology and product to solve customer problems.  Looking Ahead Barry asks Yi-Wei what he is excited about as he looks ahead. Yi-Wei responds that they are very focused on solving more problems in the food delivery space, including online and offline experiences. Scaling quick commerce is also part of their agenda, as he believes there are opportunities in so many verticals “to help enable people and bring a lot of autonomy back into their lives.”  Read the full show notes at BarryO’Reilly.com Resources Yi-Wei Ang Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Peggy Liu is on a mission to spark quantum change towards a better future faster. Hailed as the Green Goddess by the Chinese media, Peggy has been bringing people together from around the world to change the world for the better. She is the Chairperson of JUCCCE, the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, as well as the bestselling author of Mesmerize the Media: Maximize Your Impact with More Press. She joins Barry O’Reilly on this week’s show to talk about building momentum for your change movement and how to recognize when the universe is winking at you. From Head to Heart “The power of the intellect,” Peggy tells Barry, “is not matched at all by the magnetism of the heart.” This was an important lesson she had to learn in her own life, so everything she does now is based on tapping into emotional energy. Quantum change - societal change that’s the end goal of tornado leadership - starts with mastering emotional energy of movements, and of yourself, she argues. When you build the energetic architecture of a tornado behind the change you want to see, you bring people along with you to a better future faster. Perception Creates Reality The books that inspired her from a young age and the influence of her grandfather, are just two of the “winks from the universe” that told Peggy what path she was meant to take. “...It begins with the perception of yourself and reality,” she remarks. “Perception is what creates reality.” You create the future by visioning that you’re already there. The emotion of euphoria of already achieving that future is what magnetizes people subconsciously.  Barry comments on the value of meditation as part of your morning routine. People who are good at leading change usually practice spending time with their thoughts, he says. Peggy shares an example of how practicing meditation helped her craft a speech for the Harvard Model UN. You have to open yourself up to transformational ideas. Allowing yourself freedom to do so is one secret to moving to quantum change. Building Momentum Peggy helps her workshop attendees embody the future they want to see: she leads them into experiencing “the satisfaction of already living in the future that they want to create”. From there, it’s easy to reverse engineer the path to that future. Barry agrees that focusing on your vision of ‘better’ cuts through the noise and clarifies the creation process. You can choose from an infinite number of realities, Peggy comments, “but to make them come alive, you need to be excited about it and to believe that it already exists to have that satisfaction and euphoria, that love for living that life.” You then become a lightning rod to others aligned with the same vision. Barry remarks that the right people are drawn to you when you share your vision authentically. Friction vs Flow “How successfully you create your reality is all about your level of understanding of friction versus flow,” Peggy emphasizes. Friction comes from trying to force things to go your way, flow is when things align naturally. She shares the secret of flow with listeners: “Your job is to be at the center of the tornado with a vision delivered with love; but you cannot control the tornado's path.” You have to be open to the possibilities the tornado brings. Barry shares an example of flow with founding Nobody Studios. When people are aligned you can create a bigger wave that’s like a lighthouse, Peggy adds. Getting Started Barry asks how listeners can get started on this path. Peggy invites them to start with the questions on the Limitless Facebook page. These questions would help anyone and their community to envision the future they want to create. “Always start by being the James Cameron, creator of the Avatar world,” she advises. Believe in yourself as the creator of yourself world. Resources Peggy Liu at Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter  BrianTheHealer  Limitless Facebook page

Some people just do things differently. Data analytics expert and advisor Donald Farmer is one of them. Donald works with Barry O’Reilly at Nobody Studios where he serves as the Chief Innovation Officer. With his company TreeHive, Donald advises enterprises and non-profits in emerging economies on innovation, strategy, and the uses of data. His career has taken him around the world and into a huge range of industries, from fish farming, to managing a village nursery, to being the face of business intelligence for Microsoft. He and Barry talk about creating a better world for the people who live in it through technology and innovation. Different, not Better “I’ve never been interested in computers for their own sake. I’m really interested in what I can DO with it.” Donald tells Barry, “I see the machine as an intellectual lever that allows me to do more – that’s what’s interesting to me.” This leveraged power is important because there is a lot in the world that needs changing. A guiding principle of Donald’s work is that each individual is unique – humans can’t be aggregated into categories for whom one solution will work all the time. By moving away from the industry standards of incremental change and towards exploring alternative solutions that make things materially better for people, Donald is able to ask how a new company or idea will help change the way things are done.  A Pivotal Moment Barry wonders about the choices Donald made that really clarified this perspective of focusing on humans above all else, and Donald shares a story about a fish farming tech startup he developed while doing some consulting work in the Scottish Highlands. He formed a company that productized the data around fish weights and measurements and aided in the complex calculations needed for transporting and exporting and so on. Eventually, they sent the product to Japan, where it was extremely well received, except for one major issue: the computer beeped when a data entry error was made. Now, in Scotland, no one cared about this, but in Japan, the public announcement of errors was intolerable. The context of the technology was different, so the product needed to be. Barry notes that you can execute an algorithm correctly, but when we’re talking about people using a product – the things that make them feel good can vary. Don’t Solve Problems. Eliminate Barriers to Happiness. So much of software design starts from trying to understand the user problem. This sounds great, but Donald wants to start with what’s good in someone’s life – their job, their business, etc. The first step in modeling a problem is to model a positive situation, and look at how to make it easier to achieve that. Barry adds that when you’re constantly looking at the problems, you’re often overlooking better approaches: What does great look like? Problems are the obstacles in the way, so let’s design for the aspiration – you’re thinking bigger, you’re creating more options, etc. It’s an interesting way to look at the world – especially in startup space where people are always talking about the problem they’re solving, not the great world you could be creating. Nobody Studios The vision of Nobody studios is to rapidly build a very large number of startups, but very differently from the traditional venture model, which is extremely broken. Venture startups are usually built with a financial and technical imperative – no one asks if it’s good, valuable, sustainable, or responsible. This means that a lot of ideas that might not tick those tech and finance boxes never get a chance – and that’s what is so exciting about Nobody – it’s a lighter touch focused on human, social, and personal values. Go to BarryO'reilly.com for full show notes. Resources: Donald Farmer: Twitter | LinkedIn TreeHive Strategy Nobody Studios