Radio Free Leader

As part of the pre-order campaign for my new book, I interviewed two individuals profiled in The Myths of Creativity as part of special, advance episodes of LDRLB. Today, we’re releasing the second of those two interviews to our entire audience. Gianfranco Zaccai is the Chairman, President & Chief Design Officer of Continuum, an innovation consultantcy that designs award-winning products, services, and experiences for their clients. In this interview, we talk about the founding of Continuum, their approach to organizational design, and how design thinking is transforming more than just commercial products.

Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan are the authors of The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Office. Fisman is the Lambert Family Professor of Social Enterprise and co-director of the Social Enterprise Program at the Columbia Business School. Tim Sullivan is the editorial director of Harvard Business Review Press. In this interview, we discuss why there is no perfect organizational model, the real value of managers, and why even Al Qaeda needed a little organizational structure.

As part of the pre-order campaign for my new book, I interviewed two individuals profiled in The Myths of Creativity as part of special, advance episodes of LDRLB. Today, we’re releasing the first of those two interviews to our entire audience. Jennifer Anastasoff is the head of an amazing organization called Fuse Corps, which places mid-career professionals and entrepreneurs inside city and state government in order to create innovations in the public sector. They’re a relatively new organization that has already created amazing change.

Todd is the founder of Accidental Creative, a company that helps creative people and teams generate brilliant ideas. Todd’s work has been featured by Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, HBR.org, US News & World Report, and many other major media outlets. Todd’s first book, The Accidental Creative: How To Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice offers strategies for how to thrive in the creative marketplace. His latest book, Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day, unlocks the forces that cause even the brightest, most skilled people to become stagnant in their life and career. In this interview, we talk about how to take responsibility for your own engagement and why some people really do regret not working better on their death bed.

To celebrate the launch of his new book, David Burkus has turned over his microphone to friend and LDRLB contributor Soren Kaplan. In this interview, David and Soren discuss why brainstorming isn’t even, why the most creative teams fight, and the new book The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas.

Patrick J. Murphy is professor of management at DePaul University. He has consulted to or advised more than 100 entrepreneurial ventures and is he is chair of the management history division of the Academy of Management. He is co-author of Mutiny and Its Bounty: Leadership Lessons from the Age of Discovery (Yale, 2013). In this interview, we discuss the historical truths around mutinies and their lessons for entrepreneurial leaders.

Larry Keeley is a strategist who has worked for over three decades to develop more effective innovation methods. Larry is President and co-founder of Doblin Inc, an innovation strategy firm known for pioneering comprehensive innovation systems that materially improve innovation success rates. Doblin is now a unit of Deloitte Consulting, where Keeley serves as a Director. He is also co-author of Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs. In this interview we talk about what innovation looks like and how to get it to happen more in your organizations.

Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D. is the author of Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. He is a cognitive psychologist specializing in the development of intelligence, creativity, and personality in education, business, and society. Scott holds a doctorate from Yale University and a Masters degree from Cambridge University, where he was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. He is adjunct assistant professor of Psychology at New York University. In this interview, we talk about the need and failure to properly define intelligence and how potential is a moving target.

Judah is the co-author (with Ori Brafman) of The Choas Imperative: How Chance and Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness, and Success. He is an expert in the art of leadership in a rapidly changing world. A regular speaker at Startx, Stanford’s incubator, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and TEDx’ he has spent the past three years designing for and speaking to The US Army’s General staff and Special Forces. In this interview, we talk about the need to create white space and encourage chaos in order to drive innovation.

Rita Gunther McGrath, a Professor at Columbia Business School, is a globally recognized expert on strategy in uncertain and volatile environments. Her thinking is highly regarded by readers and clients who include Pearson, Coca-Cola Enterprises, General Electric, Alliance Boots, and the World Economic Forum. She is the author of The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business. In this interview, we discuss the end of sustainable competitive advantage and a the new strategy playbook for establishing a transient advantage.

Michael E. Raynor is a Director at Deloitte Services LP and the Innovation Theme Leader in the firm’s Eminence function. In addition, Raynor is an advisor to senior executives in many of the world’s leading corporations across a wide range of industries. He is the co-author (with Mumtaz Ahmed) of The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think. In this interview, we discuss why companies need to pursue better before cheaper, revenue before cost, and…well…nothing else really.

Eric Lowitt is a globally recognized expert in the fields of competitive strategy, growth, and sustainability. He is the author of The Collaboration Economy: How to Meet Business, Social, and Environmental Needs and Gain Competitive Advantage. In this interview, we discuss the shift toward collaboration, how to meet social and environmental needs profitably and we invent a new phrase: “SUSTAINABLE sustainable competitive advantage.”

Adam Grant is the youngest tenured professor and single highest-rated teacher at The Wharton School. He is a former record-setting advertising director, junior Olympic springboard diver, and professional magician. He is the author of Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success. In this episode, Adam and I discuss why nice guys don’t finish last, why it’s so hard to identify potential talent, and how to get seats on a private jet.

Michael Roberto is the Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. He has served on the faculty at Harvard Business School and as a visiting professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He is the author of the newly updated Why Great Leaders Don’t Take Yes For An Answer. In this interview, we discuss how great leaders balance consensus and conflict in making the best decisions, and how history sometimes precedes the research on great leaders.

Heidi Grant Halvorson is Associate Director of the Motivation Science Center at the Columbia Business School. She is co-author (with E. Tory Higgins) of Focus: Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence. In this interview, we talk about the two different motivational focuses people can have on the world, how it affects their behavior, and how mastering these two perspectives can make you a better teammate, leader and even spouse.

Sometimes adding to the number of people on a team can actually subtract from the quality of the teams output. This isn’t a rare occurrence, it’s a well researched phenomenon. In this episode, we review the research on social loafing and share three options for counteracting the negative effect of more people.

Alexander Osterwalder is an entrepreneur, speaker, and business model innovator. In their book, Business Model Generation, he and Professor Yves Pigneur revealed the Business Model Canvas, a practical tool to visualize, challenge and re-invent business models. In this interview, we talk about the need for visual business tools, business model strategy, and why good leaders build a portfolio of business models in their organizations.

Strategy is a heavy topic. Either it requires a seemingly infinite time commitment, or it is easily mistaken for an organizational vision or (perhaps worse) a short-term operational plan. If you’re trying to build a solid strategy, then there are a number of resources you can draw from. No matter what tools you use, ultimately you’re strategy has to answer two questions, brilliantly posed by Roger Martin and A.G. Lafley: “Where will we play?” and “How will we win?”

Dr. Keith Sawyer is the author of the new book Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity. He is one of the world’s leading scientific experts on creativity and innovation. In his first job after graduating from MIT, he designed videogames for Atari. He then worked for 6 years as a management consultant in Boston and New York, advising large corporations on the strategic use of information technology. He’s been a jazz pianist for over 30 years, and performed with several improv theater groups in Chicago, as part of his research into jazz and improvisational theater. He currently serves as a professor of education, psychology, and business at Washington University in St. Louis. In this interview, we talk about the innovation process, the research on personal creativity and the entrepreneurial pivot.

Francesca Gino is Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations, & Markets Unit at the Harvard Business School. Her research focuses on judgment and decision making, social influence, and ethics and creativity. Her studies have been featured onCNN and NPR, as well as in leading print publications including Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Newsweek, Scientific American, and Psychology Today. She is the author of the new book Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan.