In Rebel Talent,  today’s guest shows us why the happiest and most successful among us are those who break the rules and how we can all do it more.

The world’s best chef.
The pilot who landed his plane on a river.
The magician who made history.
The computer scientist who changed animated films forever.
What do they all have in common?

They are all rebels.

Our guest has been studying rebellion and conformity for more than fifteen years. She has discovered that when we mindlessly follow rules and norms rather than constructively rebelling against them, we become less happy and less successful in every area of our lives. While rebels may seem disruptive, they are ultimately good for business: their passion, drive, curiosity and creativity can raise organisations to a new level.

When we break the rules, we fix our lives.

We welcome award-winning Harvard Business School professor, behavioural scientist and author of Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life, Francesca Gino

We talk:

• Italian master chef and Rebel Massimo Bottura
• Rebellion reframed as a constructive force
• 5 core elements of Rebel Talent
• Napoleon, the rebel
• Hidden biases towards Rebellion
• Morningstar Case Study
• Breaking conformity
• Diversity
• Stereotyping
• GroupThink 
• The need for Novelty
• Following Rituals
• Novelty in Business
• Inviting Curiosity
• Adriano Olivetti and Exploration
• Counterfactual Thinking
• Authenticity

More about Francesca here:

https://www.rebeltalents.org/the-rebel-test

https://francescagino.com

“Every single child has an inner spark–a combination of a unique temperament and various experiences–and we want to fan that flame to help kids become happy, healthy, and internally driven to be the ‘best them’ they can become.” – Dr Tina Payne Bryson and Dr Daniel Siegel

The Yes Brain Child

Children can often act out or shut down when faced with a setback or a tricky issue like homework, food or screen time. Our guest calls the ‘No Brain’ response. But you can help develop the ability to cope, solve their own problems and thrive by nurturing the ‘Yes Brain’.

Drawing on her successful work with thousands of parents and children from all backgrounds, our guest provides the advice, tools and activities to help parents and children of all ages.

This is what the ‘Yes Brain’ approach looks like in action:

*A 5-year-old boy thinks about his first day at school and says, ‘I’m nervous but I’ll give it a try.’

*An 8-year-old girl says, ‘I’d like to join the football team, even though none of my friends like football.’

*A 14-year-old boy looks at a test he’s earned a D- for and says, ‘That’s not the mark I wanted but it’s not the end of the world. I’ll ask the teacher how I can improve.’

I would like to add to all that a Yes Brain is what we need in business environments today. A mind open to possibility and with the ability to control emotion and recognise when fear is a blocker. So please do listen to this show as a parent, a corporate innovator, change-maker or out of pure curiosity.

We welcome the author of “The Yes Brain Child: Help Your Child be More Resilient, Independent and Creative”, Dr Tina Payne Bryson

We discuss: 

• Yes and No brains 
• The Prefrontal Cortex
• Neuroplasticity
• Social and Emotional Intelligence
• Response Techniques
• Empathy
• Attuned Communication
• Self Regulation
• Overcoming Fear
• Building Resilience 
• Intuition and Morality
• Integration
• Tolerating Discomfort
• Perspective
• Discipline as Education

More about Tina here:

https://www.tinabryson.com

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Today’s guest is previously best known for his position as the head coach of the English national rugby union team from 2011 until 2015, In 2016, he joined the backroom team of the Ireland provincial side, Leinster Rugby and has been instrumental in their success.

I have asked our guest on to the show to discuss leadership lessons from sport, focus on a business context. In this episode we will talk about: creating a purpose, a why, a vision, values and behaviours and people-led leadership to achieve success.

We discuss:

• The benefits of failure and the necessity of resilience.
• The desired characteristics of organisational achievement.
• The individual characteristics needed to achieve in any field.
• The elements of mind, body and soul.
• How to build a high-performing culture.

We create human-centred interactions and experiences in our field. Empathetic purpose drives our every decision. Mobile First? In reality, it’s humans first. This same mentality turned inward, forms the cornerstone of something amazing: a creative culture.

Designers and front-enders have a unique advantage in solving the cultural problems in business that are sucking the life out of us. Several, in fact. The principles discussed in this book derive from the perspectives and skillsets we already use daily: empathy, objectivity and, yes, ample creativity.

We discuss:

• The Sunday Night Work “Dreadies”
• Agency work burnout
• 100% Billable Time
• The need for Mental White Space
• Examples of Great Cultures
• Toxic Meetings
• Poor Feedback
• Ego as the Enemy
• Humility
• Redesigning Day One for New Hires
• When to Leave a Company
• How to Ensure You Find the Right Cultural Fit

Do you feel restricted by your career, by your workplace identity?

Do you feel you are not doing what you would really like to do?

Are you good at many things, but feel you cannot do them for fear of appearing odd or going against the grain?

You may just be a polymath and that is a major gift!

Every human is born with multifarious potential.

Why, then, do parents, schools and employers insist that we restrict our many talents and interests; that we ‘specialise’ in just one?

We’ve been sold a myth, that to ‘specialise’ is the only way to pursue truth, identity, or even a livelihood. Yet specialisation is nothing but an outdated system that fosters ignorance, exploitation and disillusionment and thwarts creativity, opportunity and progress.

Following a series of exchanges with the world’s greatest historians, futurists, philosophers and scientists, Waqas Ahmed has weaved together a narrative of history and a vision for the future that seeks to disrupt this prevailing system of unwarranted ‘hyper-specialisation.’

In The Polymath, Waqas shows us that there is another way of thinking and being. Through an approach that is both philosophical and practical, he sets out a cognitive journey towards reclaiming your innate polymathic state. Going further, he proposes nothing less than a cultural revolution in our education and professional structures, whereby everyone is encouraged to express themselves in multiple ways and fulfil their many-sided potential. Not only does this enhance individual fulfilment, but in doing so, facilitates a conscious and creative society that is both highly motivated and well equipped to address the complexity of 21st-century challenges

We discuss:

• What is a Polymath?
• How did we get to this age of specialisation?
• Polymaths through time
• Polymathy as a gift
• Polymaths in an age of Artificial Intelligence
• Educational Reform
• Workplace Reform
• Social Reform
• A cognitive Revolution?

More about Waqās here: https://www.the-polymath.com/author/

From 1990 to 1995 our guest conducted DEA-approved clinical research at the University of New Mexico in which he injected sixty volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. His detailed account of those sessions is an extraordinarily riveting inquiry into the nature of the human mind and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. DMT, a plant-derived chemical that is also manufactured by the human brain, consistently produced near-death and mystical experiences. Many volunteers reported convincing encounters with intelligent nonhuman presences. Nearly all felt that the sessions were among the most profound experiences of their lives.

Our guests’ research connects DMT with the pineal gland, considered by Hindus to be the site of the seventh chakra and by René Descartes to be the seat of the soul.

His book “DMT: The Spirit Molecule” makes the bold case that DMT, naturally released by the pineal gland, facilitates the soul’s movement in and out of the body and is an integral part of the birth and death experiences, as well as the highest states of meditation and even sexual transcendence. Our guest also believes that alien abduction experiences are brought on by accidental releases of DMT. If used wisely, DMT could trigger a period of remarkable progress in the scientific exploration of the most mystical regions of the human mind and soul.

We welcome:

Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and author of  “DMT: The Spirit Molecule” Dr Rick Strassman welcome to the show.

“The new normal is perpetual change” –

Scott D. Anthony

Innovation may be the hottest discipline around today – in business circles and beyond. And for good reason. Innovation transforms companies and markets. It’s the key to solving vexing social problems. And it makes or breaks professional careers. For all the enthusiasm the topic inspires, however, the practice of innovation remains stubbornly impenetrable. 

In The Little Black Book of Innovation, long-time innovation expert Scott D. Anthony draws on stories from his research and field work with companies like P&G to demystify innovation. In his trademark conversational and lively style, Anthony presents a simple definition of innovation, breaks down the essential differences between types of innovation, and illuminates innovation’s vital role in organisational success and personal growth.

We talk:

• Why Innovation is so hard
• The definition of Innovation
• Innovation in the eye of the beholder
• Living at the Intersections
• Heroes of Innovation
• Innovation Mindsets
• Customer-First Mindset
• The 7 Deadly Sins of Innovation
• Sustaining Innovation
• Psychological Safety
• Bridging the gap between the established business and the emergent concept 
• The language innovators should use
• The  Innovators Pledge

More about Scott here:

https://www.innosight.com/

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.”—Mark Twain

For the past few years todays guest  has been talking to people about what scares them and helping them to work through their fears.

His book brings together what he has found. Maybe it is about time that we looked at fear differently and asked why it is still such a problem for us.

Hacking fear involves looking at fear from another angle.

Rather than being afraid of our fears, our guest shows us a way of befriending our fears. our fears. Hilary shows us how.

Fear Hacking is a way of turning our experience from a monster story into a love story.

We welcome author of “Fear Hack”, Hilary Gallo to the show

We talk:

• How we develop fear
• The formative years
• How fear can be reframed
• How we can embrace fear
• How hierarchy controls us
• How we can play the victim
• How we justify our position
• Strategies to break free

More about Hilary here:

http://www.hilarygallo.com/

The world created in Last Tango is based very closely on our world about five years from now, and all technology in the book either exists in labs or is rumoured to exist. 

With its electrifying sentences, subtle humour, and an intriguing main character, readers are sure to find something that resonates with them in this groundbreaking cyberpunk science fiction thriller.

We welcome award-winning journalist, executive director of the flow research collective, world-leading expert on high performance, multiple New York Times bestselling author, and author of “Last Tango in Cyberspace” Steven Kotler

We talk:

• The future of our culture
• The fracturing of society
• Innovation 
• Flow
• Peak Performance
• Purpose and Vision
• Habits and Attention
• Evolutionary Biology
• The origins of Empathy
• Autism
• Reinvention and regeneration
• Walking logic bombs with hyper logical minds, the Mentat
• Species die-off rates

More about Steven here:

www.stevenkotler.com

Steven mentioned this Forbes article during the show:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenkotler/2015/03/27/the-passion-recipe-four-steps-to-total-fulfillment/#74d9b2f86bb4

Did you know learning is a skill? Did you know that learning to learn stuff better is much easier once you know how? Did you know there are dozens of ways to improve your ability to learn more stuff in less time that you can apply immediately?

It doesn’t require brain surgery, hormone injections, getting tattooed in unmentionable places or paying for extra tuition. In fact, beyond the (extremely modest) cost of this book, applying them is virtually free.

Avoid wasting any more study time and start getting the most out of your education by picking out your favourite top study tips and start learning stuff better right now.

We welcome the author of “23 Tips to Learn Stuff Better: so you can spend less time studying and more time enjoying yourself”, Ian Gibbs.