Disrupt Yourself Podcast With Whitney Johnson

Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, where she studies the dynamics of organizations and how to create a psychologically safe work environment. Over the past 20 years, Amy has shown through her research that teams who are comfortable asking questions and admitting failures work more harmoniously together. “Questions are really powerful in creating safety because they indicate to someone that you actually want to hear their voice…whether you're the boss or a team member or anything, every single one of us can practice the opportunity to say things like, what can I do to help? What are you up against? What are your concerns? You know, I, I'm, I'm all ears. I want to hear from you. Is the, is the implicit message with those lovely little questions.” In her latest book, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth, Amy has created a handy blueprint for organizations who desire to foster

We’ve had two married couples on the podcast so far, and today I’m excited to introduce a third - Martin and Kym Frey.  On April 17, 2016, Martin Frey became the first person in the world to climb the Seven Summits – the highest peaks on each continent – and sail the Seven Seas. While Kym may not have climbed to the top of each mountain with him, she was nonetheless integral to Martin’s accomplishment. As he put it, she served as a “great source of strength and confidence,” becoming his biggest cheerleader and never letting him give up on his goals. From tiny islands in the South Pacific to the peak of Mt. Everest, the Frey’s have learned that stepping out of their comfort zone and accepting new challenges brings joy to their life in ways they never would have anticipated. Full Show Notes & Links - https://whitneyjohnson.com/martin-kym-frey

My guest today is Priya Parker, the founder of Thrive Labs and a strategic advisor who helps leaders and teams create transformative gatherings. She is the author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, and was featured on the TED2019 stage in April. In a world full of meetings, how many of them are transformative? It’s an impressive word for something so common, but for Priya, every gathering has the potential to be meaningful and memorable. Join us as we discuss the role of a host, the true moment a gathering begins (hint: it’s not when you think!), and the important power of endings. Full Show Notes: https://whitneyjohnson.com/priya-parker

My guest today is Marcus Buckingham, Best-selling author and the Head of ADP Research, People + Performance. Marcus spent almost twenty years at Gallup, and recently released Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World, which he co-wrote with Ashley Goodall of Cisco. His vast experience, applicable knowledge, and grounded wisdom make him a wonderful guest for this podcast. Join us as we discuss the lies that we’ve been told about leadership, the myth of “high potential” and “low potential” people, and how performance reviews should be changed to make them effective (which they usually aren’t). Show Notes: https://whitneyjohnson.com/marcus-buckingham

I love Brené Brown’s story. A “late bloomer,” Brené graduated from her undergrad when she was 29 years old, then proceeded straight into her master’s and Ph.D. programs. She experienced first-hand the impact of amazing professors and knew what she wanted her life’s work to be—changing the lives of students while getting to talk about what she was passionate about. And Brené is passionate about vulnerability. She shared her passion in a TedxHouston talk, “The Power of Vulnerability,” and to her great surprise it went viral. To date, it has been viewed over 35 million times online and is one of the top 5 TED talks of all time. Join us as we discuss what brings Brené joy; who inspired her to pay attention to vulnerability; and how the stories we tell ourselves can make or break us. Links and complete show notes available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/brene-brown

My guest on the podcast today is Safi Bahcall - physicist, biotech CEO, entrepreneur, tennis aficionado, and author of the outstanding book, Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries. Complete shownotes: https://whitneyjohnson.com/safi-bahcall

When Tamika Catchings was a freshman at the University of Tennessee, her coach, Pat Summit, told her that someday her story would “impact thousands, maybe millions of people.” It was a crazy idea. Diagnosed with hearing loss at the age of 3, Tamika was self-conscious about speaking in front of anyone, let alone large groups, and the idea that she would willingly speak in front of an audience was mind-boggling. “And, now you fast forward, that was 1997. Now I’m a public speaker. That’s what I do, I go around, I speak, I tell, I share my story and share…about leadership and all the different things that I’ve learned throughout the course of my life.” Join us to hear how Tamika achieved her goal, and not only became a star player but a valued “role player” as well. We’ll also discuss how her hearing loss improved her performance on the court, how she’s creating her legacy, and what goal is posted on her mirror today. Links and Show Notes: https://whitneyjohnson.com/tamika-catchings

My guest today is Jason Jedlinski, a digital product executive, innovator and brand builder currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Product for Gannett Media. Jason’s career in media spans most of his life, taking root in the second grade when he began producing a monthly family newspaper. It was one of many entrepreneurial avenues Jason pursued as a child, ranging from collecting toll fees outside his father’s office to tutoring computer skills on an Apple II. A discovery-driven thinker, as an adult Jason has repeatedly reinvented his role within an organization and is clearly not afraid to leap to new opportunities.  But don’t just take my word for it: join us as we discuss Jason’s humble entrepreneurial beginnings in his family’s basement, how he took on market risk and created his own job opportunities, and the time he went all the way to the C-Suite on the 24th floor to tell the powers-that-be there was a more efficient way to complete the project he’d been assigned (something he still can’t be

My guest on the podcast today is Ty Shay, the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Norton/LifeLock. Well regarded for his expertise, marketing is not the career path Ty originally set out on. After working tirelessly to get a job as an investment banker at Dean Witter Morgan Stanley, Ty quickly realized that it wasn’t a career he was interested in pursuing. Join us as we discuss Ty’s journey from banking to marketing, the risks of being “invaluable” to a company, and how Ty knows when it’s time to move on. Complete Show Notes & Links - https://whitneyjohnson.com/ty-shay

My guest on the podcast today is Maren Kate Donovan, the founder and former CEO of Zirtual, a company that went from rapid growth and success to shutting down seemingly overnight. The measure of their success ended up being their downfall: rapid growth, combined with the reality of unit economics, created a firestorm where it became painfully obvious that continued operations would lead to an inability to pay employees for completed work.  Maren made the difficult decision to simply stop and pay everyone while they still could—a decision she still believes was the right call for the circumstances. Maren got back on her feet and is now finding her way to success through the founding of AVRA Talent. Her team partners with companies to help them fill critical roles in their staff, what they refer to as “on-demand talent acquisition,” And Maren knows that she never could have moved in this direction without her “$5 Million Dollar MBA” earned at Zirtual.    Join us as we discuss Maren’s early desire to “Escape the

Management isn’t rocket science. It’s harder than rocket science. At least, that’s what Paul Hill, former director of mission operations at NASA, believes. Paul has spent most of his life around rockets: first as a child growing up near the Kennedy Space Center, and then as an adult in mission control. From designing space stations to investigating the explosion of the Columbia space shuttle, Paul has had a front-row seat to the victories and tragedies of the space program.  Join us as we discuss Paul’s solution to the budget cuts; his epiphanies on management at NASA; and how learning management techniques from NASA Mission Control can help your team disrupt itself and stay relevant in rapidly changing environments. Complete show notes and links at https://whitneyjohnson.com/paul-hill

My guest on the podcast is Gina Bianchini, founder and CEO of Mighty Networks. Gina created Mighty Networks to be a social platform that goes beyond the typical scrolling conversations of social media and focuses instead on community and engagement between network members. Whether it’s managing email replies to a podcast newsletter or starting a discussion about living with Type 1 diabetes, Mighty Networks gives creators the opportunity to keep all of their communication tools in one place, facilitate conversations, provide content, and even charge subscriptions. Gina’s enthusiasm is contagious as she describes the possibilities of her platform in helping leaders emerge and create lasting communities.  Complete show notes and links at https://whitneyjohnson.com/gina-bianchini

About six years ago, Tasha Eurich was in a work lull. Her coaching clients were on vacation for the winter holidays, and feeling the bug to accomplish something anyway she began to dig into one of her favorite topics—psychology. Tasha had noticed that many of her clients expressed a desire to see themselves clearly, to clarify who they were, and understand how others perceived them. A correlation was emerging between this self-awareness and her clients’ overall confidence and success, so she delved into the available literature. It quickly became clear that very little research had gone into the topic of self-awareness from a scientific standpoint. So Tasha did what any self-respecting Organizational Psychologist would do.  She decided to study self-awareness. Join us as Tasha and I dissect the nuances of self-awareness; how incremental improvement can change the way we see ourselves; and how musical theatre may have contributed to Tasha’s fascination with the human mind. Full show notes and links at https://

Liz Wiseman knows a thing or two about bosses. She is the author of the best-selling book Multipliers, which explores the impact that leaders have on their teams, whether positive (multipliers) or negative (diminishers). In researching for the book, Liz and her team analyzed data from over 200 leaders and noticed a trend between the groups that seemed to maximize the potential of each individual versus those groups that experienced drains in intelligence, energy, and capability (despite having highly intelligent members).  What her research found was that some leaders inspire employees to stretch themselves and do more, while others, despite high intelligence, “diminish” (sometimes accidentally) that ability of their team members. Our conversation today explores how leaders can avoid the pitfalls that lead to becoming an “accidental diminisher,” as well as how to start on the road to recovery. We also get a fascinating look into Liz’s early life, including how she won a lawsuit at the age of only 17 years old

When Erik and Emily Orton sailed their boat up the Hudson River, there was no one to greet them. It was late, and no fanfare or celebration disturbed the stillness of the night. But the Orton’s and their five children felt what they had sensed many times over the past year: a quiet victory. They had made it. One year and 2,500 miles after leaving home, the Orton’s had managed to sail their family from St. Martin’s in the Caribbean all the way back to New York City. Today on the podcast my guests have a particularly unusual story of disruption. I typically showcase individuals who jump to a new professional learning curve, but Erik and Emily didn’t just jump, they leapt, swam, and climbed up a curve completely removed from their original day to day life.  As documented in their book Seven at Sea, they chose to live on a boat with their five children for a year while sailing up the east coast of the United States at the breakneck speed of 5 miles an hour. While many would balk at the idea of taking a year off o

To celebrate the 100th episode of the Disrupt Yourself Podcast, we're disrupting our format a bit. In Episode 80 we gave you a preview of an online course we're developing. It's been our most downloaded to date. So, in celebration of our hundredth episode, and as a way to say thank you for listening, we're going to pick up where we left off. Back in Episode 80 I provided an overview of the Seven Point Framework of Personal Disruption. In this episode we'll do a deep-dive on Accelerant Number One, taking the right kinds of risks. Not just taking risks but taking the right kinds of risk. For links and show notes, including a worksheet that accompanies this episode, visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/right-risks

Ilana Golan is someone who goes first.  She was the first female commander in the Israeli Air Force, and that experience set her up for a career filled with blazing trails and then creating a wider path for others to follow. From her start at Intel in Israel to the work she is doing now with her firm Golan Ventures and her new endeavor, Homrun, she's taking her vast knowledge of startups and technology and easing the way for Israeli entrepreneurs to build a network and open doors so their startups can grow in the US. Hear the full conversation and download a transcript and links from the show at https://whitneyjohnson.com/ilana-golan    

While growing up in a small farm town in Maine, Melissa Smith had the opportunity to try lots of different things. She drove the flatbed to collect hay on the family farm, was captain of the math team, captain of the cheerleading squad and played on the soccer team. But when it came time to start talking about what she wanted to be when she grew up, Melissa had set her sights on something slightly different than the other girls in town. Melissa wanted to be the CEO of Gillette. It was one of the few big businesses near her home, and though she had the opportunity to try a lot of new things growing up, there wasn't a great deal of exposure to what life was like outside her small town. But because Melissa's mother worked in the business world, Melissa knew she wanted to work. She wanted to do something in business. Now as the CEO of WEX, and a wife and mother to three children - giving birth to twins while CEO - she continues to model the things that matter to her - especially in her commitment to team building

Dan Shapero’s team was a rocket ship. When he stepped in as leader of LinkedIn’s recruiting business, annual revenue was around $40 million. By 2014, it was a billion and a half dollars. So it came somewhat as a surprise when the CEO of LinkedIn told him that he was probably in the wrong job. Join us as we discuss the importance of teams, transformations, and the time that Dan told his boss he was the wrong guy for a promotion.  Download a copy of the transcript, or see the full show notes and links at https://whitneyjohnson.com/dan-shapero

The launch point of a learning curve can feel like a slog. There is so much to learn, and just keeping your head above water requires tremendous effort. When progress seems nonexistent it is human nature to feel impatient and want to change direction, but it is important to remember that you are making progress—and, if you stay focused and committed, someday you will hit the steep part of the curve and find yourself in the sweet spot. My guest on the podcast today is Ryan Gottfredson, a leadership and management professor at Cal State Fullerton in California. I sent out the call a few months ago for another listener to be coached on the air, and Ryan was quick to volunteer as tribute. Full show notes and links available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/disrupt-yourself-podcast