Disrupt Yourself Podcast With Whitney Johnson

I have shared on here before that I am a recovering perfectionist when it comes to my podcasts, and I have yet another confession: sometimes I make mistakes. Or, rather, errors. I recently received feedback from a newsletter subscriber that helped me see that some of my newsletter content was not what she was expecting, or hoping to receive. I’ve told you many times that I value feedback, and I’m taking what this subscriber said and trying to learn from it. I won’t get into the details here (I’ll do that in the intro to the podcast), but suffice it to say that our interaction reminded me of what I learned from Donald Miller—but maybe I needed to learn it again. Repetition is a good teacher. So, please enjoy this encore episode of my conversation with Donald Miller - New York Times bestselling author and the CEO and founder of StoryBrand, a marketing company that helps you clarify your marketing message so people will listen. Links and Show Notes available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/donald-miller-encore

When we’re feeling stagnate or trapped in our job, jumping ship altogether often seems like the best option for disruption. However—and this is a big one—what if you didn’t have to? What if you could identify what motivates you, and why your current job isn’t a good fit? What if you communicated your desires for growth to your boss, and were able to do so in a constructive way? What if you could find a way to disrupt yourself without quitting or losing your job? Bethany Quam’s “first career” at General Mills was not a good fit. Having graduated from college with an accounting degree, Bethany spent her first two years working in the finance department and making practical use of her practical degree. At her annual performance review Bethany was shocked to find out that while she was considered technically sound at her job, she was also “too chatty.” Bethany would go on to be in sales for 18 years before pivoting to a different “career” within General Mills (she says she’s had four careers in total). Her abilit

My guest today is James Clear, and he’s the go-to expert for those small changes, or Atomic Habits (as his New York Times best-selling book refers to them).  James advocates that the way to build habits is to try and get just one percent better each day—something that sounds almost too easy to do, and yet builds a firm foundation for continual improvement. James is great at giving practical tips for improvement, and I hope you enjoy our discussion as much as I did! Thank you to James for being a great guest. I am especially grateful today for Ralph Campbell, a Disrupt Yourself podcast listener who introduced me to the work of James, leading to this interview today. I really value the feedback of my listeners, and suggestions for future guests are appreciated! Please subscribe or leave a comment. Click here for the full show notes and to get episode links at our website.

Israel and Palestine. Northern Ireland. Colombia. Libya. These are more than just countries to Donna Hicks. Notorious for their political upheaval and turmoil, within their borders, Donna has sat between sworn enemies and dared to help them find common ground. Wherever there is an “intractable conflict” in the world, Donna and her team work diligently to facilitate dialogue between the disparate parties and find ways for them to work together. It’s far from easy, but over the past 25 years, Donna has noticed a pattern emerge, helping her achieve better results with each conversation. I can’t wait for you to hear one of Donna’s favorite stories from her time in Libya. It gives me hope that even when things look dark - when we choose to respect the dignity of others and connect with each other there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. For links from this episode and full show notes, visit https://whitneyjohnson.com/donna-hicks

On the podcast today I am pleased to introduce Asheesh Advani, the CEO of Junior Achievement. Junior Achievement (or JA) is an organization that provides children and teenagers around the world opportunities to learn about work, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential learning. Asheesh believes passionately in the mission of JA, not only because it is his job, but because at the age of 14 Asheesh was made “CEO” of a T-shirt company through Junior Achievement, giving him hands-on experience and insight into how a company (even on a small scale) must operate to survive. It was an enlightening experience for Asheesh, and cracked the door for him to be interested in entrepreneurship later in life. In 2019, JA is celebrating its 100th year as an organization, and Asheesh is excited to remove any obstacles standing in the way of his team so they can take the opportunities JA provides to a whole new generation of students. Join us as we discuss the mission of Junior Achievement, the early turnin

I have a confession:  I am a recovering perfectionist. Up until very recently I have been completely unable to listen to a single “Disrupt Yourself” podcast. I convinced myself that I would be a terrible interviewer, and my imagination was doing just fine on its own without my hearing every flaw, every weakness, and every “should-have-done” possibility in each episode. But something brilliant has happened—I’m in the sweet spot! I have finally crested the low end of my learning curve, and have reached the point where this podcast is challenging to produce (but not too challenging). And in many ways it is getting easy (but not too easy).  Now that I feel I can breathe, I can also take a look back at my previous episodes with a more balanced eye. And I have actually listened to the episodes! I’m in a place where I am ready to learn and grow again, and I’m excited to see what lessons 2019 will bring. Just as we did last year, I have compiled some of the most-listened-to podcasts of the past twelve months as well

Keith Krach collects people. It’s not that he’s a comic book villain, mind you—Keith simply has a knack for finding people, discovering what they’re interested in, and building a team from that connection. Over the past ten years at DocuSign he has asked over 300 people to be on the Advisory Board (an unsually large number), but his reasoning is sound: why not?  Creating genius is certainly familiar territory for Keith. In college, he earned an internship opportunity at GM, and went on to participate in their scholarship program at Harvard Business School. Finding leadership and team building to be his passions, Keith climbed the ladder at GM for a decade before moving on to Silicon Valley and opportunities to work in the C-suite. He is now the Chairman and former CEO of DocuSign, and co-founder and former CEO of Ariba. Along the way, he has always paid diligent attention to attracting and retaining the right talent. More information and links from the episode available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/keith-kra

Thinking about the competition often keeps business owners up at night. Will someone else find a way to copy your product? Will they lure customers away? Will they make your clientele happier? It’s the stuff of nightmares. Mike McDerment, the co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, decided that he didn’t want to waste time being afraid of his competition. Why wait for someone to figure out how to do your business better? So he decided to do something about it now—and created a strong competitor. It was an unconventional move, but effective. Using everything they learned in their mini-startup, FreshBooks was able to make a smooth transition to their new platform and learned valuable information about their customers in the process.  Join me as we discuss customer proximity, being a partner with your clients, and how Mark went from being a marketing consultant to creating a valuable cloud-based accounting software (despite not being a programmer). Show notes and episode links available at https://whitneyjohnson.com/m

When President Kennedy announced in 1961 that he wanted to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, it was a longshot. Some believed it to be impossible. However, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the surface of the moon and that “longshot” became a reality. In January of 2011 President Obama put out his own “moon shot call”—in his State of the Union address, he announced the goal of 100k more science, technology, engineering, and math teachers in in the United States over the next 10 years. And not just any teachers: he wanted excellent teachers to help train the next generation of STEM students. Talia Milgrom-Elcott remembers this speech vividly. It was a rallying cry that she felt deep in her bones. She knew it wasn’t enough to just stand and clap for the announcement (which received wide bipartisan support). Someone needed to do something—why not her? Join us as we discuss how Talia built her team, when she realized how true success would be measured, and the difference between fixi

When his eight-year-old son asked Dave Hollis what his biggest fear was, no doubt he anticipated an answer along the lines of “tarantula” or “scorpions.” Instead, he received a brutally honest assessment: “Not living up to my potential.” At the time, Dave Hollis was the President of Worldwide Theatrical Distribution at The Walt Disney Company—you know, that little start-up out of California that has distributed such niche films as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Black Panther, and Toy Story. Dave had spent 17 years of his life working his way up the ladder at Disney, and to most of the world appeared to have achieved the apex of his career. But Dave didn’t feel that way. Despite working for one of the biggest (and in Dave’s opinion, greatest) companies in the world, he couldn’t escape the feeling that he was no longer challenging himself in the role that he occupied. He had an amazing team, amazing support, and given the track record of the company also had little resistance to do whatever he wanted to do for t

As I say at the beginning of every episode, I think, write, speak, and live all things disruption. I take this responsibility very seriously, so while each week I encourage you to disrupt yourself I am also looking for ways to disrupt myself. Since I spend each podcast interviewing guests, my personal journey is revealed to you in drips and drabs, and periodically I like to turn on the water hose and let you know how I’m really doing, what I’m learning, and where I am on my own learning curve. Today’s episode revolves around the question that you, as my audience, have asked me in person, tweeted online, or messaged me on LinkedIn. With me is Macy Robison, my fearless podcast manager and producer, who will be asking the questions and contributing some of her own insights along the way. For links from today's episode and the full show notes, visit http://whitneyjohnson.com/qa-85

Diane Dietz would have happily spent her career working in marketing at Proctor & Gamble, but as we all know, life can be unpredictable. When she found herself seated next to a tall, dark, and handsome stranger at a wedding, she could not have predicted that she would someday move from Cincinnati to San Francisco to start a family with him. That unpredictable relocation led to a significant career disruption, taking her from oral care and cosmetic marketing to a C-suite position at Safeway, where she led the marketing, merchandising, and supply chain of the second largest grocery retailer in the US. Even after being a chief marketing officer, executive vice president, and responsible for over 12,000 employees, Diane still felt some hesitation when she was approached by a recruiter about the CEO position at Rodan + Fields. Up to that point she had been looking at the number two position at really large companies, but as she met with the team at Rodan + Fields she fell in love—only this time with a company.

When Saul Kaplan produced his carefully compiled spreadsheet of how he planned to host a two day summit on innovation, the last thing he expected his friend to do was tear the spreadsheet to pieces—literally.  His friend was none other than Richard Saul Wurman, the founder of TED, so his feedback was not something Saul could take lightly. This summit was his dream. After years of being a consultant and looking at innovation from the top-down, he knew that he wanted to put on an event that focused on innovation from the bottom-up—what Saul referred to as a “human-centered design.” He had planned everything, from how they would scale from the nano to the cosmic, but the feedback from Richard was blunt and to the point: “You have an awful lot to learn, Kaplan, about what organic engagement and connection is…Design something that you’re interested in, that you can learn from, and then allow other people to participate in that by doing it openly and transparently.” In many ways, that has become the touchpoint of t

Being the host of a podcast, I’ve had my share of great conversations, but I’ve also had some that were…not. Whether the blame should be placed on myself, my guest, or both of us, can be left up to interpretation, but I find it interesting that something we do every day—converse with others—is also something that we receive very little, if any, formal training in how to do well. Lisa Kay Solomon wants to change all that. Lisa is the author of Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic Conversations That Accelerate Change, and she is passionate about great conversation. In the business world, this passion translates into a careful examination of team meetings and huddles, and Lisa is not afraid to shy away from the awful truth: most meetings are terrible. Americans spend (or waste) 1.2 billion hours every year in meetings, an average of four hours per week per person, and yet most employees feel that the most important discussions occur after a meeting is over, when discovery oriented conversations take place.

As children, we are taught to say “please” and “thank you,” but oftentimes, as adults, these habits are not reinforced in the workplace. We are not asked to perform tasks, we are told, and we are paid for our efforts; in other words, we do something because it is our job. What more do we need?   According to Bob Nelson, we need a sincere “thank you.” Bob is the president of Nelson Motivation Inc, and is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on employee motivation. He has written 30 books ranging from The Management Bible to 1,001 Ways to Engage Employees, and has dedicated his life to the idea that thanking employees makes for a better work environment.   Whether you’re praising performance on the latest project or celebrating an accomplished goal, saying a sincere, specific “thank you” can strengthen trust and relationships, and make your team more engaged in their work. Join us on the podcast today as we discuss what employee recognition is, how it can benefit your team, and what managers can

Before you can be an agent of disruption, you first become its subject by disrupting yourself. Keeping this in mind, today’s podcast is a bit different. If you’ve been a long-time listener, this will probably come as no surprise (disruption is what we do, after all)! In the past I have shared episodes where I take part in some one-on-one coaching, but today I am taking it a step further: I will be coaching you. All of you. I’m going to start at the top with giving you five reasons why you might want to disrupt yourself, and then we’ll talk about what disruption is—what the term truly means. Once we’ve established that common language, we’ll get to what you really want to hear: How do I get started? I know this may be a bit scary to some of you. You may not feel ready to “get started”, or take that next step, and you’re afraid that I’m going to dare you to take it anyway. But I suspect that one of the reasons you listen to this podcast is because you want to take things to the next level, and if so, then I am

My guest today is Shawn Askinosie, the founder and CEO of Askinosie Chocolate and author of the number one Amazon best selling book, Meaningful Work: The Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul. For Shawn Askinosie, picking a favorite kind of chocolate is like asking someone to pick a favorite child. His company, Askinosie Chocolate, sells 17 different chocolate bars, but when asked to pick just one he is at a complete loss. “[I]t seems like the last place that I have been is my favorite…the people mean so much to me it’s hard to separate the people from the chocolate. And the hard work that they provide to make these beans what they are. So it’s hard. It’s hard for me.” Shawn most recently returned from Tanzania, where he personally met with the chocolate farmers that produce the cocoa beans used in his factory. This is unusual in the chocolate world—larger companies (or “Big Cocoa” as Shawn refers to them) buy almost exclusively through a broker, resulting in local farmers receivin

This year on the Disrupt Yourself Podcast we have had musicians, writers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and even a mountain climber as guests on the show, but I must admit that today’s guest feels more disruptive than usual—Margaret Busse is a politician. Spoiler alert, we don’t talk national politics at all. Margaret is an MBA graduate from Harvard as well as a devoted mother of 5 young children, and back in 2012 I included an essay that Margaret wrote in my book Dare, Dream, Do. In the essay, Margaret talked about her early love of democracy and her desire to someday run for public office, as well as the fear that held her back from fulfilling that dream. “When the time is right,” she said, “I will dare to do it.” The time is right. And she really is daring to do it. Conquering her fear, Margaret is running for a seat in the Massachusetts state senate. Surprisingly, a lot of our discussion focuses on the “how-to’s” of setting up a political campaign, a process that at times surprises and challenges Margaret. Thankfu

My guest today is Beth Comstock, former vice-chair of GE, a member of the Board at Nike, and author of the new book Imagine It Forward, a candid and encouraging narrative in which she shares both business and life lessons. Despite having been a biology major in college, Beth realized early on that her passion led her to storytelling. Instead of becoming a doctor, as she originally planned, she turned instead to the world of television journalism. The call of the unknown led her to make many surprising leaps in her career, often with co-workers questioning her sanity, but Beth’s willingness to take a risk and play where no one else was playing allowed her to have a fascinating and varied path. Join us as we discuss taking risks, the importance of communication, the difference between mentors and champions, and how Beth Comstock intends to start new again in 2018. Listen on iTunes or using the player below, and be sure to check out Imagine It Forward, available for purchase today on Amazon or at your local book

David is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Degreed, and coauthor of the new book The Expertise Economy: How the Smartest Companies use Learning to Engage, Compete, and Succeed. His company focuses on “Jailbreaking the Degree” by giving employees credit for their lifelong learning, including formal certification as well as a “transcript” for skills learned on the job. Additionally, Degreed gives them a platform to find the best resources for learning new concepts and skills across a variety of platforms. Becoming an entrepreneur was not an easy step for David, who admits that going from the perfect collegiate applicant to a member of a start-up is in many ways antithetical. The path was difficult, almost cinematic at parts, but David still feels the same passion for education—true, lifelong learning—that he did as a 17 year old boy.   Show notes and links from this episode: http://whitneyjohnson.com/