Doing well, feeling fine

In this episode I am sitting down with Professor Simon Critchley:  He is the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. Simon and I discuss the role of story and narrative in making sense of our biographies.  We explore how the stories we tell about ourselves often rely on stability and coherence. The reason is to convey authenticity. And perhaps in some ways to fit a mold others recognize and value.  In practice, though, we often don’t live in a very consistent or coherent way. As Simon and I discuss, insisting on the constancy and continuity of the self is a bit of a fiction. Against the narrative version of the self, living out a coherent story, Simon pits the “episodic self”. On this account, we live out our biographies in fits and bursts, stops and starts; in episodes, which don’t necessarily add up to a coherent whole.  Rather than seeing this fragmentation as a problem, as a kind of identity crisis, leaving people to wonder who they “really” are, Simon celebrates the “freedom *from* identity”.  He argues that our attachment to “authenticity” is restraining, and that there is freedom in trying out new episodes, new versions of the self, all the time.  There are many sides to us, and we constantly evolve - especially if we are open to getting outside our heads and looking at what’s going on in the world. Here, we connect back to episode #24 on this podcast with Christian Madsbjerg in which we discuss how to see with neutral eyes (I can really recommend this conversation; please do check out the episode if you have a chance). In the end of our conversation, the version of the self that we land on is that of the curious observer; less obsessed with their own narrative and presentation of self, and more open to new impulses and people.  I found this conversation insightful and really refreshing - and hope you do, too. 

In this episode, I am talking to Dr. Peter Kim. He is a Professor of Management and Organization at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. His research focuses on the dynamics of social misperception, with a particular focus on the violation and repair of trust. His latest book is called How trust works: the science of how relationships are built, broken, and repaired.  In this conversation, we kick off by exploring the broader question of what trust actually is. The most cited definition of trust is that of: "The willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party" (source). We find that trust is ultimately about how we navigate mixed-motive situations: Does the other seek to benefit only themselves or others, too?  We then look at how you scientifically measure how trust is established, broken, and repaired. What do the studies, the experiments look like? Then we touch on how trust is built. You might know the trust equation (e.g., from the work of Charles Green) that describes trustworthiness as the result of credibility + reliability + intimacy (or openness); all divided by self-orientation. But the scientific literature has a few more factors worth considering: 1) availability, being present when needed  2) competence, skills and professionalism 3) consistency or even loyalty  4) discreetness 5) fairness and other markers of integrity 6) benevolence and benign intent 7) openness, not just in the sense of being ready to share, but also in the sense of being receptive and responsive.   The elements of the trust equation will get you far, however, it is ultimately about figuring out the traits that are most important in a given situation and bolstering those.  We then turn to the role of competence and integrity: As Dr. Kim argues, we weigh matters of competence and integrity differently: in breaches of trust, lapses in integrity weigh more heavily than incompetence. So how do we differentiate matters of competence and integrity? We don't do it well! We are easily influenced and led astray by our biases. Also, most matters are not clear cut; often both dimensions are involved when trust is broken.  We explore whether we should be more trusting, pay it forward and assume good intent? Will people abuse trust or work to prove trusting people right? Peter Kim tells us that research shows “people who are more trusting are happier in life”. Finally, we cover our unknown irrationalities when it comes to trusting others: Trust is so vital. But we make these judgements poorly. Here's one nugget from the research: It turns out we want to preserve relations with those in power, so we find reasons to trust them more. Hope you enjoy this far-ranging conversation with Dr. Peter H. Kim.

In this episode, I am speaking to the amazing and prolific Viv Groskop (www.vivgroskop.com). She is a journalist, author, podcaster, and comedian.    She is the author of 6 books, two of which we spend some time on in this episode: “How to Own the Room” and her recent book, out now, called “Happy High Status”.  In our conversation, we talk a bit about Viv’s experiences with comedy and what it’s taught her. we work through how our minds trick us about how we are perceived by others, for example.   We talk about her book chapter “How to be more like a comedian (well, sort of)”. What that gets at is how to bring more lightness, joy, and fun into our lives, without becoming clownish, of course.  We then turn to how to own the room in a way that is authentic to you: This could involve extraversion, positive energy even enthusiasm, but it can also be about radiating a kind of quiet energy, focus, presence.  In short, we discuss, "how to exist in life in front of other people", as Viv puts.  We then finally turn to happy high status, the subject of her latest book. It’s about being at ease, radiating a kind of self-assuredness, without arrogance. We land on a definition that blends humility and confidence into an authentic presence.  Really enjoyed this conversation with Viv Groskop, and hope you do, too!

New episodes are in the bag, and we are back for the next "season". In this episode, I am in NY, sitting down with Christian Madsbjerg who is a professor at NY's New School and co-founder of consulting firm ReD Associates. Christian teaches widely on the practical application of the human sciences. Here are some key questions and insights from our conversation: We are trained in having opinions and need to learn to see with neutral eyes Getting lost in philosophical arguments about the impossibility of a truly neutral, objective vantage point isn't all that helpful: even if we cannot escape our "frame of reference", there is so much to see and learn if we just suspended judgement and opinion and allowed the world to stream in This stuff has business application, e.g., gathering customer insights. Christian recounts the way midwestern SUV users care deeply about the environment: But instead of referring to "fighting climate change", they might talk about their love of the outdoors, the importance of conservation, freedom, etc. Reframed in those terms, this customer segment can become highly interested in electric vehicles, say. And Christian recounts how these insights informed his consulting work for a global automotive player We talk about there being too much "introspection" and not enough "inspection" of the world: Instead of observing and optimizing ourselves, we should observe and listen to what is happening around us Christian also highlights the through-line from observation and gathering a unique insight about customers to innovation and creativity: instead of brainstorming sessions, play, and "channeling inspiration", we should start with an insight. Finally, Christian leaves us with perhaps one of the most distinctive accounts of observation, here, in the context of wildlife: we talk about J.A. Baker's classic The Peregrine, published over 50 years ago, and still such a compelling account of how to look without judging or opining. LOVED this conversation and hope you find it valuable.

Today’s episode features Anabel Maldonado, CEO of psykhe.ai. Anabel trained as a psychologist and studied how measurable personality traits lead to predictable consumer choices. Building on the classic “OCEAN” model of personality, she developed a framework to explain what about us is driving taste.  Across openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism - the dimensions of the OCEAN model - there are patterns that influence what products we will perceive as “relevant”.  This insight can be used to address a particularly thorny problem in ecommerce: showing customers that part of the assortment, that they are most likely to experience as personally relevant, thereby increasing conversion rate.   In the episode, Anabel takes us down Rue St. Honoré in Paris, into the world of Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester, Loewe bubble glasses, and why it is that some of us respond to their allure.  She also describes a few lessons learnt in building a business on “personalization-as-a-service” for brands and retailers. If you love founder stories, are fascinated by the challenge of making a virtual “endless shelf space” relevant to users, and love fashion, this episode’s for you…  This episode concludes Season 1 of DWFF. I’ll take a few weeks off until the beginning of October to shape the topic list and guest line-up for Season 2. If you have feedback on which episodes you found particularly interesting, or not, I would love to hear from you! Send a brief message to dwff.pod@gmail.com and help to shape the next season!

By all standards, Phumi Morare was on a stellar path: following 4 years on the credit risk team at Goldman Sachs and two years at McKinsey & Company, she still decided to begin again: In 2017, she pursued her passion for film-making and set sail for film school in LA. We did an episode on endings and beginnings on this podcast (#14, with Angus Ridgway). In it we explore, what happens when it's time for change: how do we know the moment has arrived? How do we think about our reputations and others' expectations of us? Phumi took a massive risk to begin again in one of the most competitive industries of them all. Her story is one of taking the less popular path and eating into her savings to fund a dream. It worked: in 2022 her film was nominated for an Academy Award in the live action short-film category. She is now working on a feature film commission. This is her story, so far.

In this episode, I head to the seaside to join my mother on a week-long fasting retreat. I cover some of the purported benefits of fasting and compare that with my own experience, recorded during the retreat. For sure, I can report significant weight loss of 6kg. But was it mostly water, muscle or fat loss? Fasting is also associated with a series of physiological and psychological benefits, e.g., reported increases in clarity, mood, and even energy. Did that pan out? What worked and what didn't, and was it worth it? Check out this short episode to find out! Please note, this is not medical advice, and I am not a medical doctor or practitioner. Always speak to your physician before considering to fast.

This week I am sitting down with the amazing Baratunde Thurston! Another "renaissance human" on the podcast, combining a passion for the performing arts with a serious mission to drive broader social change by increasing what he calls "small-d democracy" - having all of us involved and living out our civic duties. Doing well, feeling fine is not just a project of the individual; responsible, autonomous agents get involved in their community. In this episode, Baratunde describes what that can look like. In the first part of the show, we cover Baratunde's portfolio of work (including but not limited to his How To Citizen podcast, website and initiative). We talk about his background, education, foray into business. We trace back how his passion for the artistic and creative became intertwined with his entrepreneurship and political mission. From minute 29 onwards, we focus specifically on "citizen as a verb", and discuss his vision for a renewed, functional, inclusive democracy. You can find his website here. Here is a trailer for his PBS show America Outdoors. This is the link to the How to Citizen podcast.

This week, I am sitting down with Peter Semple, who managed to combine his personal passion and professional mission: Peter is Chief Marketing Officer at Depop. Before that, he spent 7 years in Google’s Creative Lab. His love of culture, fashion, art and music naturally flows into his work as CMO of Depop. Depop is a global, community-powered, 2nd-hand fashion marketplace with over 30m registered users, over 30m available items, and up to 140k listings every day. The majority of Depop’s users fall into the Gen Z demographic. So Peter and his team truly understand how to build a product that resonates with Gen Y and Z customers, which we unpack. In our conversation, we cover: Peter's time at Google's Creative Lab, working on "other-bet" projects such as weaving electrical fibres into textiles as alternative interfaces with technology How to understand next-generation subcultures and trends such as "Y2K", "egirls and eboys", "cottagecore", or "dark academia" to keep a very broad assortment of 30m items interesting. Please also check out episode #13 of this podcast if you are interested in youth subcultures How to harness user-communities to aid discovery, e.g., by browsing users' likes and listings Whether streetwear is dead (spoiler: no, not dead) and what Peter's top3 sneakers are, building on over 20 years of dedicated collection. In our conversation, we reference the project Exactitudes, which meticulously documents fashion micro-trends. We also refer to DJ Shadow, beat producers and legendary DJ, whose classic album Endtroducing contains the tracks "Building steam with a grain of salt" and "Midnight in a perfect world". Two of my favourite pieces of music. Please do check them out if you love hip hop and beats. A new DJ Shadow album is apparently forthcoming in September.

In the area of "body recomposition" (fat loss, muscle gain), Andy Morgan is one of the most experienced coaches and client advisers around. He is also one of the most generous, offering his insights from over a decade of serving >1100 clients successfully on his website for free www.rippedbody.com. The site is an absolute treasure chest of relevant, fact-based research around dieting and strength training. I can only recommend looking at articles published there if you are interested in these topics. On this episode, we cover: (1) Food choices as evaluated by calorie density compared to satiety (whether the foods make you feel full). Fun fact, the humble potato at 15g net carbs per 100g of the vegetable is one of the hidden champions of the satiety/per kcal ratio. It is also strangely demonized in much diet advice. (2) We talk about intermittent fasting and its uses. Andy was an early adopter of this technique in 2011/2012 in his work with clients. We discuss whether this is still a helpful tool today, given the latest research. (3) We talk about what to do when our diet compliance caves for a day or two, how that might show up physically, and what to do to recover (vs. drop into a negative spiral). (4) We discuss the importance of food environments and how simple changes to our environment can play a major role in diet adherence. It might be useful to check out this article here, on Andy's website. (5) Finally, we reflect on whether technology is likely to disrupt this space... or not any time soon. Andy published several books on nutrition and training, which you can find here. We also cite eatthismuch.com as an easy tool for converting target calories into meal plans.

Angus Ridgway is back for a round 3 discussion on personal leadership. He and I use the summer break as a prompt to think about how to re-energize for a fulfilling second half of the year. We focus on personal energy and the idea of "vibrancy". What do you radiate? Optimism? Possibility? Enthusiasm? Opportunity? Leaving "toxic positivity" to one side, we address: Our relationship to the volume of work and volume of effort required to deliver impact We talk about focus and the need to say "no" - not just to the things we don't want to do, but even to things we very much would like to do This relates to a shift from "FOMO" to "JOMO", developing a "joy" of missing out Energy management begs the question of "recovery", which we tackle on a micro (daily), meso (weekly), and macro (yearly) scale We distinguish the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions of increasing our energy levels We also distinguish todo- from "today"-lists because as David Allen puts it: "The mind is for having ideas, not holding them". The todo list is the holding device, the today list is the closed list of things to actually deliver. Today. In our discussion we cite the work of Oliver Burkeman, David Allen and Caroline Webb, which is all highly recommended reading.

This week I am still in Spain, and designer couture features prominently in cafés, waterside promenades, restaurants, and sometimes even supermarkets. Where better to enact a sense of a more passionate life than on holiday, wearing your favorite 'fits? Against a background of "boardwalk" instead of "boardroom" looks, I sit down with MCM Worldwide's newly appointed Chief Digital and Merchandising Officer Marie-Laure Lequain. Before joining MCM, Marie-Laure spent over two decades at Gucci, developing their digital business. We discuss the role of fashion - and especially designer fashion - in constructing our sense of self. We discuss heritage and brand promise in raising customer desire. We also talk about the role of creativity and creative direction as the engine that drives newness and helps brands to balance heritage and fashionability. Given our shared commercial backgrounds, we also compare notes on how to effectively sell fashion, balancing exclusivity and commercial goals.

In this episode, I sit down with Jan Wilmking of Project Eaden, a start-up focused on producing plant-based meats that win through "performance on the plate and palate". Jan shares his personal journey and background that led him to this, his latest venture. His story is full of fascinating vignettes and insights: for instance, his great-grandfather invented and successfully commercialized the mouse-trap, which introduced Jan to entrepreneurship. From 20min onwards, we focus on Project Eaden and dive deep: We discuss the vital importance of the first bite and chew for customer adoption. We discuss Project Eaden's fibre-based approach to create a texture that is similar muscle and how technology from the textile industry can be usefully applied here. We talk about the expected growth in meat consumption worldwide over the next two decades through a growing global middle class (+70% growth expected) and how we need to address the meat-eating customer to reduce emissions from cows (vs. focusing on the vegan/ vegetarian market). Join me for this open exchange with Jan Wilmking and his biggest goals in work and life.

Angus and I decided to team up for a few more episodes on the broad subject of leadership - not just in the workplace, but more broadly. We spoke about leading with "character" in episode #11 and decided to cover a few more angles here (and in a forthcoming episode, later this summer). June, July, and August are typically a period of reflection. In this episode, we talk about endings and beginnings - over different time horizons (HY1, HY2; a couple of years; a break in a career, ...). We talk about retirement: Are we thinking too linearly about our careers? Should we think instead about life-long cycles of learning and building? If so, how should we think about the professional and personal reputations we are building up? Do the risks associated with new beginnings undermine our carefully developed reputations? What about a sense of duty to stay put in a good job, to look after ourselves and our loved ones? Or is the notion of "duty" just something we hide behind, avoiding change? We cover these and other topics with the aim of providing "food for thought"; we also go through a couple of listener questions. Thank you for your submissions! For feedback and topics to cover on the podcast, please email dwff.pod-at-gmail.com. Always happy to receive thoughtful suggestions :)

Subcultures have exerted a continuous fascination throughout the decades. Their styles have been admired; their coolness commodified. Their lifeworlds provided escape from ordinary life. Some members went even further and sought full-time employment as musicians, artists, stylists, DJs and so on. The 1990s saw the rise of the creative industries, especially in London. More recently, we see the emergence of the contemporary creator who seeks to live off of YouTube, TikTok, and other outlets for creative work. But are these legitimate careers? Have subcultures ever offered more than imaginary solutions to real-world problems? Professor McRobbie and I track through the recent history of popular culture trying to answer these questions. We take the role of style, music, art, etc. seriously as sources of "doing well and feeling fine". But we are also critical of what these worlds - and industries - can and cannot provide for its members... Sources: We cite the work of Pierre Bourdieu "Distinction", Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson's "Resistance through Rituals", as well as Dick Hebdige's "Subculture and the Meaning of Style": three classical works of cultural sociology.

Andrea Fernandez has a stellar CV and an inspiring mission: Together with her co-founder Artyom Chelbayev, she set out to empower women to learn more about personal finance and take more control of their financial futures. They founded Vitamin and shifted customer mindsets, enabled users, increased access to personal finance products and steadily grew their base. But adoption takes time, and time requires funding to keep going. In the current market environment, securing funding is exceptionally challenging. Under the current circumstances, Andrea and her partner could not raise funds and had to discontinue the venture. This is perhaps the most feared moment for founders: what if it all doesn't work out? What will happen? In this conversation, Andrea speaks openly about this experience and describes exactly what happens. And what goes on inside the mind of leaders who have to lead through such challenges. She describes how she and her team took care of customers, how she and her co-founder broke the news to their employees, and how she came away from the experience stronger. Sometimes, things don't go to plan. OK. We learn, we grow, we begin again, in this candid episode of DWFF, with Andrea Fernandez.

Angus Ridgway and I sit down together in this free-flowing conversation about leadership and, well, personhood, discussing how to "human". We start with the question of how to lead with "character", but really we are talking about some core tenets of how to be, full-stop. We cover several ideas that apply equally to being an effective leader in an organization or in a community and family. We talk about purpose, "purpose fatigue" and how to live in a purposeful way (which is less about the lofty ambitions we pursue and more about finding meaning in day-to-day encounters and moments. We talk about the role of morals and morality as they relate to character and how that manifests in leadership behaviors. We advocate for cognitive diversity and touch on the risks of group-think, especially as we are by definition "in a hurry", rushing to come to a decision. We explore creativity and how to create the conditions for it. We acknowledge the existence of non-linear work (high-value work being produced in bursts and fits vs. even increments spread out across the 9-18h workday), and what that means for an era in which more routine work becomes increasingly automated. We come back full-circle to the concept of character in relation to authenticity and whether being "real" is possible when so much of our identity is influenced externally. Angus and I had a lot of fun in this very free-flowing conversation and hope you enjoy it, too. We cite the work of David Brooks ("The Road to Character") and Oliver Burkeman ("Four Thousand Weeks") in case you would like to read on.

Today I am speaking with Hélène Guillaume Pabis. Hélène founded Wild.AI, a customer-facing app to optimize physical performance and wellbeing tailored to women athletes.  Hélène also operated as an angel investor in startups and worked in AI consulting, hedge fund management and trading in a number of investment banks.  She is a passionate athlete, parent, and founder.  I was keen to have Helene on the show to share her interesting bio and life-lessons, but also for two more specific reasons: First, I wanted to understand how she builds with AI tools, providing us with a practical example that is deployed to customers today (and what usage her business will have for such tools in the near future).    Second, she's very vocal about her ambition to change still all-too common gender stereotypes. We also touch on this with Julia Grosse in Episode #4, when we talk about some of the gender conventions of 30-40 years ago that contributed to couples staying together for a lifetime.  In this conversation with Hélène, we cover: Lessons from hedge fund management and trading securities  Dealing with setbacks including being made redundant Some differences between predictive analytics, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) Using large-language models (LLMs) in consumer apps (what Wild.AI is doing today and tomorrow) We discuss hyper-conventional conceptions of womanhood and counter-narratives that more accurately account for plural selves and varied personalities. They also account for what customers really want and need, and are not getting from the market right now  How to push back confidently on Dragons Den The power of pre-mortems and negative visualization (yes, there is a lot of work on how "positive" visualization can help; here, we look at a Stoic philosophy variation, anticipating and desensitizing ourselves against potential failure to better face risks Embracing shame and fear as a strong way to feel alive (vs. trying to avoid these emotions at all cost). And...  Puerto Williams, the southernmost settlement in the world.

I am sitting down today with Jannis Bandorski, serial entrepreneur who founded and co-founded multiple businesses; most recently, ARRtist, which provides networking and knowledge exchange for SaaS founders and Xletix, a market-leading obstacle course racing event. In our conversation, we focus on his latest project: "the happiness remix", which he’s about to take to clients and other outlets. The happiness remix is essentially an eclectic mix of key lessons from the broad body of happiness research that he started to engage with as a graduate student.  Jannis is inspiring to me because of his “go for it” attitude: If he’s excited about something, he just goes for it: whether its pursuing happiness research in one of europe’s pre-eminent management schools Uni St. Gallen; whether its teaming-up with some passionate supporters to help relocate one of Berlin's most iconic club spaces Bar 25, or spinning up a community for SaaS leaders in DACH: Jannis is the kind of person who sees more downside in not-doing than doing. There’s something infectious about his energy and that sense of possibility. In our conversation, we focus on his latest interest in happiness habits:  There are some well known attempts to define happiness in a way that allows you to optimize it. For example, happiness as a function of how different life events unfold compared to our expectations teaches us to be realistic about setting those expectations (see Mo Gawdat's work). Or Martin Seligman's famous equation that happiness = setpoint + fixed circumstances + voluntary conditions, which directs our attentions to those areas that actually are under our control. Those definitions are still largely "meta": What areas of life should we focus on? What matters?  Jannis cuts happiness into 4 broad components that all contribute to wellbeing:  First, health, incl. moving, eating, breathing, sleeping; second, personal relationships and community/ belonging; third, work and focus, and fourth: purpose.  *** If you happen to be listening to this on Spotify, there’s a question for you on the episode page: Please tell us about a happiness routine that you introduced recently that is simple to do and really effective for you. We’ll pool the best ideas and share them back *** Some sources we cite: The Harvard Study on adult development analyzes the determinants for well-being. You can find it here. We also refer to Tim Urban's book What's Our Problem, which you can follow-up on here.

I am sitting down today with Tahir Hussain who has 25+ years of global leadership experience in the consumer, retail and tech space. He lived and worked in Korea, China, the US and the UK. Having worked for BCG, Bertelsmann, and Amazon in senior roles, Tahir is now an independent advisor, and the founder of the non-profit education startup: 21 Future. Tahir already addressed a question many of us face: what happens after the corporate career? What’s the “exit strategy” that is both personally rewarding and economically sustainable?  In our conversation, we unpack what he calls the 2/2/1 model. It describes his allocation of time to commercial activities, philanthropic goals, and, well, unstructured flexi-time, which he can dedicate to family, hobbies or spontaneous interests.  People often dream of such portfolio approaches, but few do it. Tahir is one of them.  In the interview we also track through a series of leadership lessons, especially from his time as a leader at Amazon. We discuss:  … The power of leadership principles to synchronize how large groups of colleagues deliver results together … Why focusing on controllable inputs - such as assortment availability in retail - often connects directly with what matters to customers, but also why such inputs are at risk of being bypassed with a short-term focus on outputs, especially quarterly commercial metrics. We explore why owning your defects publicly - that is to say the underperformance in your area of responsibility - can be a way of enhancing one’s reputation if you can come back and show that the underlying root causes of the defect have been removed as a result of flagging them. We discuss the famous “?” email, customer complaints forwarded to responsible teams by Jeff Bezos, and what that level of customer focus at the top of the house produces across the company. We unpack the “Press Release FAQ” approach as a way to put forward proposals for innovation. Based on this, we track through “working backwards” from a northstar goal, and ... Why sometimes, it’s important to be comfortable with being misunderstood for long periods of time, while in pursuit of a genuinely new and bold idea.     Fully on topic with doing well and feeling fine, here is Tahir Hussain and his biggest goals in work and life.