Transitional Matters

Episode nineteen: Dr Jim Taylor The Psychology of a Highly Disruptive World

Dr. Jim Taylor has long been a guiding force in helping individuals navigate their personal psychology, achieve their aspirations, and fortify their mental resilience.

His expertise has benefited a diverse group, from Olympic athletes to ambitious entrepreneurs and business magnates. In this episode, both Jim and Chris come to the table without a set agenda. Their goal? Delving deep into the psychology of performance, understanding how a turbulent world impacts our cognition, and uncovering the strategies Jim employs to maximise one's life potential.

Chris's acquaintance with Jim dates back 25 years to when he was a young ski racer in the picturesque Green Mountains of Vermont. Beyond his prowess as a psychologist, Jim boasts commendable athletic achievements. He once graced the US Alpine ski team and has recently been making waves in the triathlon circuit picking up a third place in the World Triathlon Championships in 2023 .

This podcast touches upon the pivotal challenges that today's entrepreneurs—and indeed, all of us—are grappling with in this tumultuous era. From understanding the evolution of our stress responses to unpacking emotional baggage, confronting self-imposed barriers, and comprehending the subsequent effects on our cognition, demeanor, and worldviews, this episode is a treasure trove of insights. Don't miss this one!

Find out more about Jim's work at https://www.drjimtaylor.com/4.0/

Episode Eighteen: Looking to the future through the Biomimicry lens with Jared Yarnall-Shane

Jared is the director of Innovation at the Biomimicry Institute. An institute that sets itself the task of solving humanity's biggest challenges by using nature's proven solutions. As they describe it, 'we are the bridge between biology and design, advancing the adoption of nature-inspired strategies to help solve the most pressing problems of our time.' 

In this fascinating and wide-reaching conversation, Jared brings to life what he see's going on in the world around him, both from his personal experience and from his position at the Biomimicry Institute. All in all, you will not only find the innovation going on fascinating - and perhaps even mind-blowing - but this episode really does leave you with a true sense of optimism for the future. 

Find out more by heading over to the Biomimicry Institute website https://biomimicry.org/

Episode Seventeen: Why do you believe that? The big drivers of change with Gregg Guerin

"The transitional phase is super bumpy, but we must go through it."

In this episode I am joined by Gregg Guerin, a friend for a number of years - and the person I often find myself talking to about trends and megatrends in the wee hours at the end of conferences! Yes I am that obsessed with this topic!

In this episode our conversation covers a lot of ground, here are the main points:

- The very timely topic of AI implications and benefits of what we know so far

- Energy transition, the need for storage, and how this changes international energy trade

- How progress is fractious and disruptive in the short term, but extraordinarily positive in the long term

- Should the government have a role in transitional assistance?

- Job disruption  and re-skilling: evidence from COVID when people switched.

- Coding in the world of AI and ChatGPT capabilities. Is it a game changer? 

- Degrowth and it's economic flaws, and it as

- Why innovation and the pace of change is NOT linear, and how Doomsayers get this wrong

- Investment shift towards ESG, and some of the issues with a centralised process

- Human intentions are good, but conclusions and the applications that follow aren’t always that well thought through

- The invisible world is where the key drivers are, but few people look at this, and only look at surface events

- How innovation and economic progress is the facilitator of the Global Order, China and US tensions

- Regulation and the keys to a well function free-market

- Biases in early version of AI and search engines, and the link with centrally planned structures.

- We are not powerless to make change in the world, we have agency

 

Gregg referred to this article: https://hbr.org/2018/07/collaborative-intelligence-humans-and-ai-are-joining-forces

Episode Sixteen: The Paradigm Shift To Smart Wellness with Dr Julia Jones

In this episode I am joined by Julia Jones, a neuroscientist, also known as Dr Rock, has used music and sound, as well as other tools to help countless people bio hack their brains and bodies to bring about wellness.

In this episode, we talk about everything wellness! From our serendipitous meeting in 1997, where Julia taught me as a young athlete to manage the stress and anxiety of competition with breathwork, to her current ongoing research and business: Smart Wellness.

The episode is all about the shifting paradigm in wellness: how fitness is not wellness, to how traditionally woo-woo things such as breathwork, meditation, sound, and gratitude change the chemistry of the brain.

Julia's refreshing approach, see's Smart Wellness as simple lifestyle changes that simply change your life.

Find out more about Julia’s work at Smartwellness.co.uk

Episode Fifteen: Neurodiversity, autistic identity, workplace benefits and challenges with Dr Amy Pearson

With just over a week until World Autism day, I am joined by Dr Amy Pearson, Developmental Psychologist who specializes in Autism and Neurodivergence for an incredible conversation. 

While I don't normally talk about me on these podcasts, as an Aspie diagnosed in 1998 at age 14, this is one where I 'brave-up' and talk about this from both my perspective, as well as where I hope this is all going in terms of neurodiversity in the workplace. 

Amy brings a wealth of knowledge and great conversation around the history of neurodiversity diagnosis, the changes in attitude around this area, as well as the benefits of bringing divergent thinkers into the workplace. Just perhaps not an open-plan one! 

Here are the links to the resources that she recommends for anyone interesting in learning a little more about neurodiversity:

https://theautisticadvocate.com

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dr-Luke-Beardon/e/B072HC7SHS%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Also look out for her upcoming book. 

Episode Fourteen: The Demographic Megatrend with Futurist Adam Sharpe

I first came across Adam and his work in a copy of the Association of Professional Futurists magazine. He's a futurist and youth engagement specialist. While so many people are solely focused on overpopulation, there is another, bigger megatrend behind it. A declining, ageing, population. This changes everything.

"we have historically lived in a world where the average population was young. This is about to reverse itself. Are we even aware, let alone ready, for the plethora of ways this will impact society?"

In this awesome conversation we talk about his work, what he sees going on in the work, attitudinal changes in the younger generations, and how mega trends are human rights issues, not just a climate change or economic issues.

To help get these concepts across, and to help people think in less linear ways, he's in the process of designing a demographic based game called People Power that encourages systems and scenario thinking. 

If you want to find out more about Adam's work (and you should) then head over to https://www.futurely.online/

Episode Thirteen: Impermanence, Disruption & Rough Diamonds with Nicole Yershon

For those of you who don't know her, Nicole Yershon was brought into Ogilvy in 2000, with the brief of bringing them into the 21st century.

From there she earned the reputation as the person that would get stuff done. That would challenge the norm, and question the status quo. 

In this podcast and conversation we talk about the process of innovation, how the world around us is uncertain and rapidly changing, the Ogilvy innovation lab and the rough diamond program. In addition we touch on her new business the NY Collective, her incredible book ‘Rough Diamond’ and her current topic of investigation ‘Human as tech’. 

As Nicole puts it: You’ve got two choices, you can let all this change crush you or you can push back and write your own rules. 

 

https://www.nicoleyershon.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Diamond-Expanded-Disruption-Advantage/dp/1948787989

 

 

Episode Twelve: Innovation and the role of the VC in the entrepreneurial journey.

Does shark DNA hold the key to eye inflammation? Does innovation require failure? Clusters of innovation? And what's the role of a Venture Capitalist in the entrepreneurial journey?

In this episode, I'm joined by Louise Farley, a Venture Capitalist who specialises in technology and life sciences, to talk about the things she sees going on today, as well as about innovation and the importance of the entrepreneur as the seed of innovation in society. This fascinating episode touches on trends in the VC space, as well as the incredible surge of innovation going on around us.

 

https://www.deepbridgecapital.com/our-people/louise-farley

 

Episode Eleven:How AI And Gamification Are Changing Military Strategy

Will gamers win the next war?

What does playing games even have to do with real-life military strategy?

What data processing do we retain the preserve of humans, and what should be passed on to AI?

Can gaming make the learning experience richer?

These are all super important questions. 

In this episode, we try and answer these questions by taking a deep dive into the fascinating developments happening in the military sphere. Specifically the use of gaming - and how the technology behind this starting to be used to drive better strategy and more informed decision-making in a military setting. But, of course, its application is far wider.

To talk about this topic, Chris has invited two military experts with active-duty experience, who sit right at the forefront of this development. US Army Strategist Colonel Arnel David and British Army Lieutenant Colonel Nick Moran. Both Arnel and Nick bring a wealth of information and insight into the use of AI in the military setting, as well as discuss some of their observations from their setting up and running of the military strategy game, Fight Club International: a gaming experimentation group seeking to improve the efficacy of warfighting across the spectrum of conflict and competition.

Here's a link to an article Nick and Arnel wrote that we touch on in the episode. Why Gamers Will Win The Next War.

Episode Ten: why our habits are so important in times of change with Tamsin Astor

A slight change in the focus of this episode, but an important one. In this incredible episode with Tamsin Astor PhD, Neuroscientist and ‘The Chief Habit Scientist’, we delve into why our habits are so important, and why changing them is so hard. But living in a fast paced world, being in control of our habits is an essential skill. The question I put to her? Just how important are our habits in determining who we are? Enjoy.