Podcast Themes

Jeffrey speaks about how one could think about engaging people and creating a certain stickiness to the commitment they make as a result. He uses the example of Jon Levy and the concept of Influencer Dinners that he organizes.

Jeffrey speaks about how nuclear energy can be a boon if used to generate electricity but could be a bane if it is used to make a bomb that kills people. Jeffrey goes on to say that context determines if something is good or bad and says that Power works in a similar fashion.

Jeffrey speaks about how the opposite of humility might be something like Narcissism. He also speaks about Jim Collins work around Level 5 Leadership where he speaks about combining Modesty with Fierce Determination. Jeffrey says that some of these leaders become modest after they become leaders but not on the way to the top.

Jeffrey speaks about how, when people become more powerful, they stop getting meaningful feedback given the power dynamic. He also speaks about how we all need to get out of own way by reminding ourselves behind the “Why” behind accumulating greater Power.

Jeffrey speaks about how one needs to be careful about showing vulnerability while climbing the Corporate Ladder.

Thomas says that designers distinguish between features and benefits, negotiators distinguish between positions and interests and policy experts between outputs and outcomes. He expands on the nuance here around focusing on the underlying and not getting swept away by surface level considerations.

Ayelet speaks about the notion of Psychological reactance – the tendency to “not do” what you are told to do. She speaks specifically about how this shows up in the context of parenting and what we can do to avoid it.

Pradeep speaks about Jahanara Begum who was Shah Jahan’s daughter. Pradeep speaks about how, despite not holding an official title, she had significant influence in the Mughal Kingdom.

Ayse reflects on the distinction between Life Design and Product Design. She speaks about the fact that in the case of Life Design, there is no “3rd party consumer” which makes it a pure process. We connect the dots with what Stew Friedman says about getting other people into our world.

Sukhinder speaks about how she has built her self-awareness along the way. She goes on to say that she spends time figuring out “who she is” because what she wants often evolves along the way. She also speaks about the criticality of negotiating and having conversations with people around us to solve for the future that we want to go after.

Sally speaks about how it is critical not just to build relationships but to leverage them in a non-transactional way. She goes on to say that a quid pro quo approach to asking for favours from others often doesn’t work and suggests a more nuanced approach here.

Jennifer speaks about how the desire for control is an essential part of human-ness but unfortunately in complex situations, going after control often leads us on a wild-goose chase of chasing superficial metrics while missing out on the bigger picture. She suggests that we focusing more on direction than outcomes and mentions that outcomes are an emergent property of a complex system and it is hard for us to control them given the number of variables that are outside our purview.