Being Human

#120 Gettin‘ (un)Busy - with Garland Vance

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/In this episode, we talk with Garland Vance, author of 'Gettin' (un)Busy' on:- The secret to purpose, productivity and peace- Elon Musk: examplar of un-busyness?- Transitions and batching- Taking a sabbath - Wisdom in businessEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Garland's website

#119 Uncommon Sense in Unusual Times - with Csaba Toth

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My guest this week, Csaba Toth arrived in the UK from Hungary in 2004 with enough money for a couple of nights in a hostel.After a stint in hospitality, Csaba co-created a highly successful table-booking start-up. But despite his academic training in personality differences, he was unable to resolve his issues the CEO, which ultimately led to him leaving the business.This spurred him to create Global DISC, a powerful assessment tool endorsed by John Mattone, coach to the late Steve Jobs.In this episode, we talk:- The difference between inclusion and diversity - Why gender, age and ethnic diversity won’t necessarily drive company performance- The Global DISC approach and how it differs from other personality tests - What we mean by cognitive diversity and why it matters- Why achieving inclusion can take intensive self-work and team developmentEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Global DISC

#118 The Post-COVID Ecomony - Nick Bloom

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/This episode's guest is Nick Bloom, a fellow Brit and professor in economics at Stanford. He's been an avid researcher in remote working since 2014. Pre-COVID likely only 8% of employees worked from home. Nick expects this to be 40% in the aftermath of the pandemic, an extraordinary transformation of economic life.In this episode, we talk:- What Nick learned studying working from home at 'China's Expedia' Ctrip- The optimum set-up for home working- The shape and drivers of inequality in today's society- How lockdowns may be driving inequality- The future for capitalismEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Nick's research

#117 Chasing Black Unicorns - with Marek Zmyslowski

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/On 14 January 2018, as he attempted to board a flight to London, my guest this week, Marek Zmyslowski, felt a hand on his shoulder from the Polish customs agents. His business partner in Nigeria had bribed the local police to get him placed on Interpol's Most Wanted List.This is just one of many extraordinary incidents during his adventures in building start-ups in Poland and Africa, including co-founding 'The Amazon of Africa' Jumia.We talk:- Defending accusations of being a 'white saviour'- His fight with the Nigerian justice system- His lessons building software teams- How to stay resilient- How we must reform capitalismEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Chasing Black Unicorns - The Book

#116 The Ostrich Paradox - with Robert Meyer

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/A conversation with Wharton scholar Robert Meyer on his book 'The Ostrich Paradox'.In this episode, we talk:- Why we fail to learn from past disasters- The biases that stop us making investments for the long term- How we can use herding and other biases in our favour- How we must change our approach to managing risk- The truth about ostrichesEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:The Ostrich ParadoxRobert's profile at Wharton

#115 Sanity Correspondent - with Tanmoy Goswami

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My guest this week on Being Human is Tanmoy Goswami, who holds that rare distinction of being the world's only 'Sanity Correspondent' for, well, The Correspondent.He is a passionate advocate for us talking more openly about mental health.He first got on my radar with his article "From the myth of meritocracy to the rise of bullshit jobs – it's time we admit work doesn't make us happy" in which he lays out how our workplaces can not only make us unhappy but send us to an early grave.Yes, things must change.We talk:- Moving away from the language of war in business- Living with depression and anxiety- What we really mean by recovery- What we must change about our workplaces- The dark side of mainstreaming the mental health conversationEnjoy!To our humanity,Richard Links:Tanmoy's profile on The CorrespondentTanmoy's Twitter

#114 Emerging from a Trauma World - with Daniela Sieff

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/Author and speaker Daniela Sieff is a former student of evolution under Richard Dawkins. She has turned her attention to trauma and its impacts. She brilliantly articulates the way adverse events and conditions shape our lives and how we can emerge from a Trauma World.In this highly personal conversation, we cover:- The definition of trauma- Daniela's own turning point in her facing her past - Healing versus curing trauma- How society ignores the magnitude of child abuse, neglect and its effects- How we can heal and why therapy worksEnjoy!To our humanity,RichardLinks:Daniela's websiteDaniela's mailing list

#113 Liberating Collective Wisdom - with Phil Driver

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/This episode is with Phil Driver, author of 'From Woe to Flow: Validating and Implementing Strategies'. In it, he sets a way that anyone can think about strategy based on decades of work with a wide range of organisations.Let Phil take you through a fresh way to think about strategy from his cabin in rural New Zealand.We talk:- Living the permaculture life- The art of strategising 'right to left'- How to get three hundred people to agree on a way forward- The common issue with 'Open Space' meetings and how to fix them- How emerging from Covid-19 is not about returning to normal Enjoy!To your humanity,Richard

#112 What If da Vinci Built Companies? - with Michael J. Gelb

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/This episode's guest, Michael J. Gelb, has published 17 books, including 'How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci' and 'The Healing Organization', which he co-authored with recent guest Raj Sisodia. He takes the view that our intellects are highly malleable, even into later life, and by using specific exercises, we can better integrate our left and right brains to enhance our reasoning and creative powers.  In this conversation, we take a tour through three of his books, from 'How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci', the 'The Art of Connection', landing at 'The Healing Organization'. The underlying theme is one of embracing all of our humanity, as individuals and in our organisations. We talk:- How to think like Leonardo da Vinci- The power of curiosity for unlocking creative potential- The Indra's Net metaphor for consciousness- The need for 'whole-brain thinking' in economics and in life- Why "Healing Organizations" are part of the megatrend for capitalism Enjoy and have a great weekend!To your humanity,Richard

#111 Taming The Corporate Psychopath - with Mike Lee

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/As well as researching psychological safety with his colleague Amy Edmondson , my guest this week, Mike Lee, Professor in Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, takes a deep interest in how company structure affects how people act.In this episode, we cover:- Psychological safety defined- How changing the default choices managers make can improve psychological safety for others- The radically flat business operating system Holacracy: its benefits and limitations- How getting to know your colleagues improves productivity- Mike's spirit animal: a live demoEnjoy!Have a great weekend, Richard Links:Mike's websiteINSEAD profile link