Being Human

#126 5-Minute Selling - with Alex Goldfayn

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My return guest this week, Alex Goldfayn, is back with a new book '5-Minute Selling', which is already an Amazon bestseller.Now, I hate sales. I've always hated sales and yet it's an absolutely critical skill in my business life. In fact, it's crucial even if you're not a proper salesperson, but someone who needs to be able to influence and persuade others.What I love about Alex his approach is that it's the antithesis of 'oily' or 'pushy'. At its core, sales is about connecting with people and asking them if you can help.With that as the ethos, we talk:- The mindset to have you make that call- Why we hate sales and how to learn to love it- The Minimal Viable Proactive Sales Habit (MVPSH) ;)- Why the phone is so important- Why system trumps individual actionsEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:5-Minute SellingAlex's Website

#125 Surfing the Big Shift - with John Hagel

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/This week's guest, John Hagel, is a 40-year veteran of Silicon Valley. John co-founded the Center for the Edge in 2007. The Center has brought insights that have helped me to understand the megatrends in the economy throughout my career. He was the first to identify the growing 'topple rate', i.e. how when large companies gain leading market positions; they are then losing them at an increasing rate.I’m delighted that I'm getting to share his takes on the current state of capitalism in this episode.We talk:- The Big Shift- The importance of passion- The problem with the Learning Organisation- Creation Spaces- Management consultants - problem or solution?Enjoy!Links:John's websiteThe Power of Pull

#124 Spotify Culture - with Henrik Kniberg

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/From his cabin on an island off the coast of Sweden, Henrik Kniberg, author of the viral 'Spotify Culture' video, joins me in this week's episode to share what he learned as a top Agile Coach at Spotify.Henrik is a creative powerhouse with prodigious talent as a musician, coach, author and developer. He brings these skills together to transform the organisations with which he works.In this episode, we talk:- Teams 'self-aligning' for scale- Patient leadership- Why we draw- Achieving Agile Rhythm- Dealing with technical debt  Enjoy! Links:Spotify Culture Video Agile Product Ownership in a NutshellFriendly Guide to Climate ChangeBooks by Henrik

#123 Building the Joyful Organisation - with Richard Sheridan

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/This episode's guest, Rich Sheridan, was a VP in a successful software firm in Michigan when he brought his daughter to work. She was impressed. She figured her Dad must have been very important, as for anything to get done, he had to give his say so. He was "The Answer Man". And yet for Rich, this was a devastating moment. He was a hero in a hero culture. The only way to scale Hero Organisations is to scale the hero, which would mean longer hours for Rich and less time with his daughters.This moment set Rich on a path to ultimately build Menlo Innovations, a firm built on a foundation of joy.In this episode, we talk:- how to kill meetings permanently- the power of pairing- managing the system not the people- equipping people to say no to curveballs- how to make more babies!Enjoy!Links:Joy, IncThe Chief Joy OfficerMenlo Innovations

#122 Make Your Business Happy - with Lars Kure Juul

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/Nicknamed "The Gentle Giant from Denmark" from his time resolving conflicts in a troubled part of Asia, my guest this week, Lars Kure Juul, is a gifted facilitator. With his book 'Organizational Happiness', Lars is on a mission to improve our experience of working life - and especially how to sell happiness to your CFO.In this episode, we talk:- compassion- strengths-based leadership walking away- unlocking potential- why transformation doesn't workEnjoy!Links:Motivational Landscape siteFree strengths test

#121 The Agile CEO - with Mark Creighton

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/Late last year, my guest this week, Mark Creighton, CEO of Avado, listened to a proposal from his CTO to bring the Agile practices into his management team. Although a bit sceptical, Mark accepted the challenge.They shifted from a 90-minute weekly management team meeting to a daily stand-up, plus an end-of-week retrospective.This tweak to their practices had a significant impact on Mark's leadership style. It was also instrumental in their successful navigation of the COVID crisis.In this episode, we talk:- Agile for Management- Leading with vulnerability- Saving 50% of planned redundancies- What the COVID recovery should really meanEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks: Avado's webiste

#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