Many of us feel uneasy with the lack of recognition that our community, city, region or country receives internationally and with the stereotypes and outdated clichés by which “outsiders” define us. This has probably been the case for as long as man exists, but in today’s world with its global connections and social media, it is becoming more apparent, more relevant and more frustrating; to citizens generally, but in particular to policymakers, public administrators, leaders and representatives in public, private and civil society sectors.

Why this is so and what to do about it is the focus of today’s show. We will discuss the topic of community reputation. For communities to be admired, they need a sense of belonging and purpose in order to do amazing imaginative things befitting their character while captivating others.

Our guest is an international adviser, scholar, speaker and author of “Imaginative Communities: Admired cities, regions and countries” Dr Robert Govers

We discuss:

• Place reputation, how it impacts other’s view of us and our view of ourselves
• “Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.” – Napoleon Hill. People can be influenced by how others speak about them and then it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• Globalization: In 2000, 2/3s of the worlds online population was from North America and Europe. In 2010 2/3s of the worlds online population was from elsewhere
• How countries, regions and cities can no longer compete based on functional characteristics like accessibility, service levels and other advantages
• How interconnectedness and globalisation have led to homogeneity so imagination can be a competitive advantage?
• “Imagination is its own form of courage” – Frank Underwood, House of Cards
• How it takes courage to paddle your own canoe, just like business, just like life
• Kazakhstan and the “Stan Effect”
• Collaboration as a key to gain maximum benefit from imagination
• The story about Oslo’s future library
• “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”
• Estonia as an imaginative community
• The little-known country of Bhutan and its gross national happiness
• Most of our listeners are in the USA so let’s share the imaginative virtues that founded America?
• Communicating communities, you can’t advertise this, it is pull and not push
• Communities addressing existing clichés and stereotypes?
• Finland (hello to our listeners on Business FM) where they developed their own set of emojis
• Communities are built on mental Models: Schema and Schemata
• How we limit information processing and selective learning by applying five filters?
• How mainstream Media also plays a huge part
• The 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany and Germany’s goal to change its reputation to be one that is much more friendly than perceived
• How marketing requires reputation and reputation leads to sharing of great experiences
• Like any strategy, we tend to focus on short-term returns on investment. This is a long game you want perceptions to seep into the consciousness of outsiders

More about Robert here: https://rgovers.com/ and https://www.imaginativecommunities.com/contents/

More shows like this:

http://www.theinnovationshow.io/2018/01/31/ep-82-experience-economy-business-provocateur-joseph-pine-ii/

“The digital transformation is over. We live in an age where digital is the default setting. Anyone who is yet to transform is either obsolete or on the way there.” – Andy Swann

The modern world and old organizations are not compatible. Right now, we’re communicating, thinking, collaborating, sharing, working and playing in ways that couldn’t have been imagined two decades ago, yet somehow many of our businesses and the structures employed to operate them remain the same, carrying on in the way they always have. There are many reasons why this is completely unsustainable and we’re going to explore these as we journey through what makes a human workplace.

The human workplace is one that adapts, innovates fast, involves everyone, communicates, understands and acts in perpetuity. It creates relationships rather than transactions. People are emotional, responsive, individual. That’s what our organizations need to be, creating a story and telling it in their own way.

Our guest is the author of The Human Workplace: People-Centred Organizational Development, Andy Swann

We talk:

• The Startup Myth
• Collective Energy
• Purposeful Organisations
• The definition of A human workplace
• Connection with community
• Agility
• Complex, dispersed organizations
• Purpose = Survival + X
• When the community thrives, the organization thrives.
• The problem with hierarchy (is not what you think)
• The organisation as a platform
• Just enough structure to thrive
• Holes and wholes?
• Scaling up startups and the Dunbar number.
• Why and how does personal purpose come before company purpose?

More about Andy Swann here:

https://andyswann.co.uk/

“Our deepest (and fastest) yearnings can be tempered by reason and experience; our more prudent judgments softened by desire and need.”  ― Kayt Sukel

Philosophers, theologians, artists, and boy bands have waxed poetic about the nature of love for centuries.

But what does the brain have to say about the way we carry our hearts?

As technology advances to allow us a more focused examination of the intricate dance our brains do with our environment, we can use science to shed new light on humanity’s oldest question, “What is this thing called love?”

Today’s guest dived into the latest neuroscientific research concerning love and sex and what it really means for the way we approach our relationships. 

Her book This Is Your Brain on Sex: The Science Behind the Search for Love/Dirty Minds: How Our Brains Influence Love, Sex, and Relationships asks age-old questions such as:

What parts of the brain are involved with love?

Is there really a “seven-year itch”?

Why do good girls like bad boys?

Is monogamy practical?

How thin is that line between love and hate?

Do mothers have a stronger bond with children than their fathers do?

How do our childhood experiences affect our emotional control and who is at risk for love addiction?

We welcome author Kayt Sukel

More about Kayt here: http://kaytsukel.com/

Joseph Pine and Jim Gilmore’s classic The Experience Economy identified a seismic shift in the business world: to set yourself apart from your competition, you need to stage experiences—memorable events that engage people in inherently personal ways. But as consumers increasingly experience the world through their digital gadgets, companies still only scratch the surface of technology-infused experiences. So today’s guests Joseph Pine and Kim Korn will share how to create new value for customers with offerings that fuse the real and the virtual. 

Digital technology offers limitless opportunities—you really can create anything you want—but real-world experiences have a richness that virtual ones do not. So how can you use the best of both? How do you make sense of such infinite possibility? What kinds of experiences can you create? Which ones should you offer?

Today’s guests provide a profound new tool geared to exploring and exploiting the digital frontier. They delineate eight different realms of experience encompassing various aspects of Reality and Virtuality and, using scores of examples, show how innovative companies operate within and across each realm to create extraordinary customer value. 

We welcome authors of “Infinite Possibility: Creating Customer Value on the Digital Frontier” Kim C. Korn and B. Joseph Pine II

More about Kim and Joe below:

https://kimkorn.com/

https://strategichorizons.com/

Book on Amazon

http://amzn.eu/d/hO8FF9J

Researchers have found that the accelerated pace of modern office life is taking its toll on productivity, employee engagement, creativity and well-being. Faced with a relentless flood of information and distractions, our brains try to process everything at once increasing our stress, decreasing our effectiveness and negatively impacting our performance. 

Ironically, we have become too overworked, unfocused, and busy to stop and ask ourselves the most important question: What can we do to break the cycle of being constantly under pressure, always-on, overloaded with information and in environments filled with distractions? Do we need to accept this as the new workplace reality and continue to survive rather than thrive in modern day work environments?

What if your organisation’s culture could be fuelled by creativity and productivity? It is possible to train the brain to respond differently to today’s constant pressures and distraction?

The secret to dealing with life’s interruptions is incredibly simple: Give each distraction just “one second’s” time, mindfully. Many companies turn to mindfulness to help their workers become more attentive and less distracted.

Today’s guest has worked with a multitude of fortune 500 countries in over 22 countries. He is the founder and managing director of the Potential Project and the focus of today’s show is his wonderful book “One Second Ahead”.

We discuss:

Mindfulness

Selling mindfulness within an organisation

Translating the benefits to business needs

More about Rasmus here:

https://www.potentialproject.com/

His TED Talk here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n_CWAiF5yE

In the corporate world, we’re fast realizing that people are our largest source of competitive advantage. The problem is, all of our systems and structures are set up for products, services and technology to give us an edge over our rivals. But whether it’s recruitment, leadership, culture or high-performance, pro sports has been quality-testing people strategies for decades, and now contains a treasure trove of ideas for you to harness. Through in-depth interviews and meticulous research, Where Others Won’t dives deeper than ever before into professional sports from around the world.

We are joined by author of “Where Others Won’t: Taking People Innovation from the Locker Room Into the Boardroom”, Cody Royle

We talk:

• Team building
• Leadership
• Hiring
• Innovation
• Outside-the-box thinking
• Best Principles
• Leaders as Coaches
• and much more.

More about Cody here:

https://medium.com/where-others-wont

We can do more with our lives. We all know it, we all wish for it, but just how to do it—that eludes us. As one man describes his life, “In the morning I can’t wake up, in the day I am bored, in the evening I am tired, and at night I can’t sleep.” Even if we want to change, we’re not sure which path to take, and if we do find our way, we are usually too emotionally wounded, physically unhealthy, or mentally stressed to take the steps we know would transform our desperate life into a meaningful one.

Many of us long to change this troubled world, but the one thing we have the most influence over is the person looking back at us in the mirror every morning. We live in fear of terrorism, but in actuality, the most devastating terrorism comes from within as we continue to sabotage ourselves. A neglected body, chaotic mind, or wounded heart will prevent us from fulfilling our destiny as much as any outside enemy.

We all know that we deserve and are meant to live an inspired life that rises above mere existence, today’s guest shares some ways we can live the life we have always known we can live, a life with meaning, a life full of love, a life worth breathing.

We welcome global speaker, teacher, and author who acts as a bridge to connect people with their inner axis and thereby build better relationships with others, Max Strom

We discuss:

• The power of breathing
• Letting go of anger
• Fear of death
• Resilience in children
• Overwork
• Work addiction
• and much more.

More about Max here https://maxstrom.com/

We have been spoon-fed the notion that creativity is the province of genius – of those favoured, brilliant few whose moments of insight arrive in unpredictable flashes of divine inspiration.  And if we are not a genius, we might as well pack it in and give up. Either we have that gift, or we don’t.  But that simply isn’t true.  Recent research has shown that there is a predictable science behind achieving commercial success in any creative endeavour, from writing a popular novel to starting up a successful company to creating an effective marketing campaign.   

As the world’s most creative people have discovered, we are enticed by the novel and the familiar. By understanding the mechanics of what is called “the creative curve” – the point of optimal tension between the novel and the familiar – everyone can better engineer mainstream success.   

Our guest on this episode reveals the four laws of creative success and identifies the common patterns behind their achievement.

We welcome Big Data entrepreneur, CEO of Trackmaven and author of the fantastic “Creative Curve” Allen Gannett.

• On this episode we talk:
• The origin of the creativity myth
• The myth of the lightbulb moment
• The patterns behind the creative curve
• The four laws of the creative curve:
• Law of consumption
• Law of imitation
• Law of creative communities
• Law of iterations
• The social acceptance of ideas
• The significance of the mere exposure effect
• Psychological safety
• Ben and Jerry as champions of the creative curve

More about Allen Gannet here:

http://www.allen.xyz

https://trackmaven.com/

“Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of other men”

Albert Einstein

Dogs don’t bark at parked cars. Dogs only chase moving objects. If you aspire to invest your life in a noble goal; you will experience barking dogs. But you do not have to stop the car for them.

Drawing from a lifetime of entrepreneurial experiences and relationships with some of today’s most dynamic business leaders, founder and CEO of SCB Marketing and author of “Dogs don’t bark at parked cars”, Jeff Piersall shares core principles that are the blocking and tackling of a successful life.

We discuss:

• Tackling the Naysayers
• Overcoming Fear
• Trust
• Social Enterprise
• Medicating Entrepreneurship
• Paying it Forward
• and much more

You can find out more about Jeff here:

http://www.jeffpiersall.com/

The world is full of leaders, from newly minted entrepreneurs to highly paid CEOs. There are nearly a quarter million CEOs in America alone. But according to a Gallup report, only one in ten people possess the talent that’s required of a CEO. If 90% of people lack innate management skills, how CEOs succeed?

CEOs can build incredible cultures, grow companies, and enhance the bottom line. But without the right guidance, they can just as easily burn out, cause cultures to stagnate, and lead their organisations to ruin.

Drawing from twenty-plus years of working side by side with today’s top leaders, Leadership expert and author of Finding Time to Lead, Leslie Peters pulls back the leadership curtain to reveal the shifts, practices, and tools that move leaders past the status quo.

We explore:

• Why “having all the answers” ultimately sabotages success
• How to recognise if busy-ness is, in fact, a sign of anxiety or discomfort
• Why there’s no such thing as a perfectly crafted corporate message
• How the lack of a counter-narrative can bring a CEO down
• How to lead change in a way that brings people along
• Three great shifts as leader:
• From doing to being
• From knowing to understanding
• From reacting to responding

More about Leslie Peters here: https://www.findingtimetolead.com/