Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different™

If you’re someone who wants to have a legendary, long-term, and super-successful professional career, you’re going to love this dialogue with Silicon Valley’s Legal Obi-Wan, David Schellhase. David Schellhase is considered as one of the greatest General Counsels in Silicon Valley history. David was the GC at Salesforce for nine years, and he was the GC that took them public. He was the GC at Groupon, and most recently, the GC at Slack. On this highly engaging episode, David and Christopher cover everything from the problems plaguing San Francisco in California, to how lawyers can be true partners who helped power the success of a legendary business. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. David Schellhase on the Challenges facing San Francisco The dialogue starts off on the topic of the current state of San Francisco. David described downtown San Francisco as a ghost town with a lack of energy and a significantly reduced population, feeling like just a really small scale of what it was four years ago. He expressed concern that there’s no immediate rebound in sight. Christopher pointed out that policies and politicians may have contributed to the city’s issues, but some complexity exists in understanding the causes. David acknowledged that many are well-intentioned but lack a clear understanding of cause and effect. They discussed the challenges of addressing issues like addiction and the need for comprehensive solutions, rejecting simplistic approaches. David emphasized the difficulty of the situation and the desire for an easy solution. Stuck in the middle David Schellhase discussed the challenges of dealing with complex problems, particularly in San Francisco, where there’s a high tolerance for individuals facing issues like addiction and homelessness. He noted the difficulty of reaching marginalized individuals with chemical problems. Christopher shared a scuba diving analogy, emphasizing the need to make a clear choice between being supportive and caring or taking a more serious approach. He highlighted the inconsistency in dealing with crimes related to opioids, such as fentanyl, where some individuals receive lenient sentences despite carrying dangerous substances. Christopher argued that society is stuck in an ambiguous middle ground, where it either needs to fully legalize and regulate these substances or enforce stricter criminal penalties, as the current approach is leading to harmful consequences. David Schellhase on addressing the societal issues in San Francisco David and Christopher then continued to discuss the lack of a coherent strategy to address societal problems in San Francisco and the broader United States. They acknowledged the need for a balanced approach that avoids mass incarceration but also holds individuals accountable for their actions. David emphasized the complexity of San Francisco’s permissive culture and the challenges it faces in dealing with issues like addiction and homelessness. Christopher highlighted the importance of a holistic approach, including both support programs and consequences for criminal behavior. He argued that the U.S. lacks effective measures to deter crime, with many serious offenses going unsolved and unpunished. To hear more from David Schellhase and his thoughts about the current Justice system, rise of AI, and how to build a long-term successful career, download and listen to this episode. Bio David Schellhase is of Counsel to Sullivan & Cromwell. He is resident in the Firm’s Palo Alto office and focuses on a range of technology-related and business issues. David has more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry and most recently served as the General Counsel of Slack Technologies, Inc. While at Slack, David oversaw the company’s 2019 direct stock listing IPO. Prior to that, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Honest Work Corporation, a software company that was acquired by Twitter, Inc. He also previously served as General Counsel and then Strategic Advisor at Groupon, Inc. and for more than eight years as General Counsel of Salesforce, Inc. where he guided both companies through successful IPOs. Professional Activities and Community Involvement Trustee, Junior State of America Foundation Board Member, Next Chapter Publications Cited in a Law360 article, “4 Major Concerns on GCs’ Minds for 2023” (January 3, 2023) Credentials Related Practices Credentials Education Cornell Law School, J.D., 1990 Columbia University, B.A., 1985 Links Connect with David Schellhase! LinkedIn | Sullivan & Cromwell We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, Dr. Avi Loeb makes a return to discuss why traditional science and academic circles still consider researching aliens as taboo. If you are not familiar with Dr. Avi Loeb and his work, you can check out our previous conversations with him (FYD 202 & FYD 230). Dr. Avi Loeb is the most credential scientist and astronomer ever to say that we have been visited by something outside of our galaxy that is alien in nature. He also has a new book out called Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars. And now, Professor Loeb with his team are the first ever to discover and retrieve interstellar objects that landed on Earth. And even further, Professor Loeb says that he thinks there’s a case to be made that these remnants of these objects that came from outside of our solar system and landed in our ocean could be alien. So if you are interested in that and things from outside our earth, stay tuned to this episode. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Dr. Avi Loeb and his Interstellar discovery The conversation begins with Christopher expressing his admiration for Professor Loeb’s work and delves into the controversial nature of his recent actions. Professor Avi Loeb then talks about his expedition to Papua New Guinea and its connection to a significant interstellar discovery. Professor Loeb explains that his journey to Papua New Guinea was prompted by the detection of a fast-moving object that collided with Earth in 2014. This object exhibited unusual properties, including its high speed and material strength. It was determined to have come from outside the solar system, which sparked initial skepticism among his colleagues but was later confirmed by the US Space Command. To investigate further, Professor Loeb led an expedition to the Pacific Ocean, where the object had crashed. The team used a specialized sled with magnets to collect millimeter-sized particles from the ocean floor, which had rained down during the object’s explosion. After extensive searching, they found molten droplets and other materials that provided crucial insights into the object’s composition and origin. Dr. Avi Loeb and the Spaceballs Professor Avi Loeb then talks about the remarkable discovery of spaceballs, which are unusual spherical objects with unique compositions. Professor Loeb also adds that the expedition was a significant effort funded by private donors, emphasizing the extensive work put into the project. He then talks about receiving the spaceball materials at his doorstep via FedEx, and he wasn’t concerned about a slight delay given the billions of years it took for the materials to arrive on Earth. They then talk in detail about the analysis of these spaceballs, with Professor Loeb’s intern, Sophie Bertram, helping to discover and analyze a significant number of them. They found three high-yield regions along the meteor’s path, suggesting these regions might correspond to the flares observed during the meteor’s entry. The composition of these spaceballs, dubbed “Bilbao,” was unique, containing elements not found in known Earth, Moon, Mars, or asteroid materials. This composition further supports the idea that these materials originated from outside the solar system. Dr. Avi Loeb on the skepticism of Traditional Science Professor Loeb explains that initially, there was skepticism from some colleagues and reviewers when the data about these interstellar landings that occurred in 2014, leading to a delay in publishing the findings. However, three years later, the US Space Command formally confirmed the object’s interstellar nature with a high level of confidence. This confirmation prompted Professor Loeb to plan an expedition to Papua New Guinea, gather a team, design specialized equipment, and secure funding. During the expedition, they discovered unique materials known as “spaceballs” that didn’t resemble anything from the solar system. This discovery further supported the US Space Command’s assertion about the object’s interstellar origin. Professor Loeb expresses frustration with astronomers who clung to traditional models and refused to revise them in light of new data, referring to it as the “Stone Age of Science.” He highlights the importance of adjusting models when they don’t align with observed data. To hear more from Dr. Avi Loeb and his interstellar discoveries, download and listen to this episode. Bio “The world’s leading alien hunter”—New York Times Magazine Dr. Abraham (Avi) Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University. He received a Ph.D. in Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel at age 24 (1980

Nothing is more powerful than words. Yet we seldom realize that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images, which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society. Today, we go deep into the power of words and much more with our guest, Dr. Valerie Fridland. Dr. Valerie Fridland is a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno. She writes a popular language blog on psychology today called Language in the Wild. Her new book is the number one bestseller. It’s called, Like, Literally, Dude, arguing for the good in bad English. So if you love words, thinking, and thinking about words, you’re gonna love Dr. Valerie. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Dr. Valerie Fridland on how Language evolves over time The conversation starts with Christopher asking if the emergence of new phrases that some people dislike is a part of how language changes and develops. Dr. Valerie Fridland explains that language evolution involves a combination of factors, including how our brains and mouths work, societal influences, and the goal of maximizing communication with minimal effort. Language not only conveys information but also communicates social facts and signals about relationships and context. Dr. Valerie mentions that language naturally tends to become more efficient in terms of pronunciation over time. For instance, sounds that are harder to articulate tend to simplify, such as the evolution of “th” sounds into sounds like “f” or “v.” Despite these natural linguistic changes, people often criticize them as lazy or uneducated. Christopher shares examples of pronunciation differences he’s noticed over time, like the word “details” and “insurance”. Dr. Valerie explains that these changes often involve shifts in stress patterns, where certain syllables become emphasized while others are de-stressed. This shift in stress patterns can be influenced by various factors, including the influence of other languages or dialects. The shifting of words due to culture and society Dr. Valerie and Christopher then continue the discussion about the shift of words due to cultural and contextual changes over time. They explore the evolution of the word “stone” from its Old English origins as “stainaz” to its modern form, which was influenced by contact with Old Norse and Anglo Norman French. This emphasizes how language changes in response to historical interactions and influences. They also discuss the evolution of the word “partner” and how it reflects changes in societal attitudes towards relationships. Initially associated with business partnerships, “partner” expanded to include romantic or committed relationships, especially within the LGBTQ+ community as social acceptance grew. Younger generations commonly use “partner” to refer to their significant others, regardless of their gender or marital status. Valerie explains that language adapts to describe new concepts or changing social norms, often by repurposing existing words rather than creating entirely new ones. Dr. Valerie Fridland on Neologism Neologism refers to the creation of entirely new words, not borrowed from other languages. Christopher initially confuses neologism with someone who invents new words, but Dr. Valerie Fridland clarifies that it involves creating completely new words. They discuss examples related to language innovation. Christopher mentions how businesses like Starbucks introduce new words or repurpose existing ones to create new categories, as seen with “latte” and “grande.” Valerie explains that these are not neologisms but rather the borrowing or repurposing of words. The conversation delves into the concept of creating new words through morphological processes like adding suffixes, as seen with “palooza” and “gate.” These processes involve attaching meaningful elements to existing roots, creating new words that build on old word parts. Christopher provides an example of how he playfully tweaks expressions to make them more accurate, such as saying “to make a long story longer” instead of the common “to make a long story short.” Dr. Valerie describes this as a form of linguistic extravagance, where novelty and unexpected language use attract attention and cognitive focus. To hear more from Dr. Valerie Fridland and the power of words in our culture and society, download and listen to this episode. Bio Valerie M. Fridland, Ph.D. Sociolinguist, Professor, Author With a PhD in linguistics, Dr. Valerie Fridland is a Professor and former Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of English at the Univer

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we have a riveting dialogue with two of America’s favorite crime fighters. The hosts of the Game of Crimes Podcast are here: Morgan Wright and Steve Murphy. Steve Murphy was one of the real DEA Narcos who took down Pablo Escobar. The Netflix series Narcos is based on his work. Morgan Wright spent 18 years in state and local law enforcement is a highly decorated police officers state trooper and detective. He was even trained by the original members of the FBI as Behavioral Science Unit on serial crime profiling, which led him to training spies and spooks at places like the NSA. If you’re a crime buff care about justice and or care about the future of the United States, you’re going to love this episode. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. How Gangs are extending their Influence in certain parts of America The conversation starts off with Steve Murphy sharing shocking revelations about Mexican gangs and their influence on California laws. He mentions their podcast called “Game of Crimes”, which has been running for over two years, and their recent episode about an interview with a former member of the Mexican Mafia, referred to as “Mundo.” They emphasize not sharing his real name due to safety concerns, as there is a history of violence associated with such revelations. Steve explains further how criminal groups like the Mexican Mafia manipulate the California penal system and legislators. They work to secure more lenient laws, better prison conditions including improved food, reduced responsibilities, and access to phones for conducting criminal activities from behind bars. The speaker expresses how these criminals mock the California legislators, exploiting their reluctance to confront them, resulting in laws that favor the criminals. This situation is portrayed as detrimental to honest taxpayers in California, who end up losing out. On Gangs using children in their operations The conversation continues as they discuss the disturbing trend of gangs involving children in their criminal operations, particularly in relation to Mexican fentanyl gangs and trafficking. Christopher expresses his shock about the leniency of consequences for minors involved in serious crimes due to certain laws in California. He describes a conversation with a police chief who shared a case of a 14 or 15-year-old who stabbed a rival gang member and received only a three-month ankle bracelet as punishment. They then delve into the concept of gangs using children, mentioning how historically even New York City drug dealers employed young kids as lookouts. Steve Murphy shares insights into the psychology of recruitment, explaining how gangs exploit children’s need for attention and affection, particularly in impoverished neighborhoods where parental support may be lacking, and the allure of earning “easy money” even as a child. This dynamic leads to these kids being drawn into gang activities. Morgan Wright adds that Mexican fentanyl gangs are trafficking even children, who are forced into various criminal roles such as drug distribution, human trafficking, and even employment. He highlights the shift in focus for cartels from drug trafficking to human trafficking due to the increased profits and lower risks involved. The term “Minutemen” is mentioned, referencing how quickly kids are released from custody due to relaxed laws, allowing gangs to maintain control over them easily. Keeping children out of jail Morgan Wright then stresses how important it is to keep children out of the streets and jails, so they do not fall further into the machinations of these gangs. “The intervention has to start early and often because if you don’t, they’ll arrive at a path to where as he could either stay on the good side, or he could go to the other side. And it’s that age around 12 or 13 is the one of the most critical times for a kid.” – Morgan Wright He says that once these kids start getting involved in gangs, it’s like a rabbit hole that sucks them in deeper, and it’ll be harder to get them out later on. You’ll not only be fighting the gangs, but also these young adults as well, because now they think that’s the only thing they can do with their life. To hear more from Morgan Wright and Steve Murphy and the current state of Crimes and Justice in America, download and listen to this episode. Bio Morgan Wright Morgan spent 18 years in state and local law enforcement as a highly decorated police officer, state trooper and detective. He solved a lot of cases, interviewed a lot people, and interrogated a bunch of suspects. In fact, he was trained by the original members of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit on serial crime profiling. This led to him training spie

Many of us are different; and for many of us being different is a superpower. But what do you do if your different is not always accepted in the business world? How can you use your different as an advantage? We get into that and much more with our guest, Jim Fielding. Jim Fielding has had an extraordinary executive career, working at the highest levels of some of the most well-known and respected corporations in the world companies like The Gap, Disney, DreamWorks, and 20th Century Fox. And Jim’s got a stunning new book out. It’s called All Pride, No Ego: A queer executive’s journey to living and leading authentically. Today, we get into all of it: from how to have a legendary career as an openly gay man and how to be different. We also dig into many of the thorny social dynamics that are being discussed and dealt with right now around the LGBTQ+ community in modern America. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Jim Fielding on being Different and having the Freedom to follow it The conversation starts off with Jim’s younger years, as he reveals that he felt different around the age of six or seven and had a sense of destiny beyond his hometown. He grew up in Toledo, Ohio, near Lake Erie, and had a middle-class upbringing with a firefighter father and stay-at-home mom. But he has always felt that his parents gave him a sense of freedom early on. Jim’s book, which was initially meant for 2024, has taken on more urgency amid the evolving LGBTQ+ rights movement. He shares how it has evolved into a platform for conversations, community building, and addressing inequities. They then talk about the impact of the book and how Jim is using his platform to advocate for marginalized communities and human rights. Jim Fielding on the state of queer communities then and now They then talk about the state of queer communities over the years. Jim Fielding discusses the evolution of attitudes towards LGBTQ+ individuals and their experiences. Jim reflects on the changing landscape and the challenges faced by the queer community. He notes that the current situation feels like a mix of progress and regression, with moments of hope interspersed with concerning headlines about anti-LGBTQ legislation and discrimination. Jim emphasizes the need to own the narrative and stand up against efforts to push the community back into the closet. He draws parallels to historical moments, such as the fight for rights in the 1960s and the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Despite all these, Jim’s optimism remains strong, bolstered by the resilience of the queer community and the activism of younger generations. On standing up and being an Ally The conversation then shifts to Christopher’s perspective as an ally and his observations about changing attitudes. He contrasts the comparatively accepting atmosphere of the 1970s and 1980s, exemplified by cultural icons like David Bowie and Annie Lennox, with the challenges faced during the AIDS epidemic and subsequent backlash. He expresses confusion about the shifts in attitudes and experiences, wondering if his memories of acceptance were naive or if there has been a recent shift. Jim offers insights into the impact of the AIDS epidemic on perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community and the subsequent challenges it faced. He discusses how this period led to a more pronounced demonization of LGBTQ+ individuals, especially by conservative groups. They also touch on the struggle for marriage equality and the ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights. Bio Jim Fielding, a proud Ohio native and Indiana University Hoosier, started his career on the department store floor. Over the next 30 years, he would lead some of the world’s most beloved media and retail brands, including The Gap, Disney, Claire’s, Dreamworks, and 20th Century Fox. Jim is known for his ability to combine storytelling and product merchandising into unforgettable consumer experiences. As culture builder and talent spotter, he has recruited and trained global leaders in a variety of disciplines and at all levels. Today, Jim spends his time and talents on independent media, entrepreneurship, higher education, and philanthropy. He’s a Partner at Archer Gray, an independent media company inspiring change through storytelling and innovative brand collaborations. Jim is also the founder of the boutique consultancy, Intersected Stories, and proudly serves as part-time Executive-In-Residence for IU Ventures and The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He is also an active angel investor and advisor to early-stage startups and their founders. Jim has been active in philanthropy for over 25 years, serving on the boards of charitable organizations like Make-A-Wish, GLSEN, Kidspace Children’s Museum, and the American Red Cross. He was recognized by the Walt Disney Company as Executiv

We all want to live life well and long but oftentimes, life gets in the way of having a legendary life. But what if there are secrets to a well lived life? Today, we have a life affirming real dialogue with the legendary Dr. Gladys McGarey. Dr. Gladys McGarey is a general practitioner, co-founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, and she’s a category designer who is considered the mother of holistic medicine. Dr. Gladys is 102 years old; she began her medical practice at a time when women couldn’t even have their own bank accounts. She’s got a new number one best seller out and it’s already in its second printing, called The Well Lived Life, a 102-year-old doctors six secrets to health and happiness at every age. This conversation takes some fascinating and unexpected turns, and we hope you join us for it. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Dr. Gladys McGarey on the Importance on focusing on Life and Love We start the conversation with Dr. Gladys, who is more than 100 years old, and they discuss how amazing it is to communicate through modern technology. Dr. Gladys expresses her conflicted views on technology’s impact, suggesting that the lack of real-life experiences and love in young people’s lives might contribute to violence. She then shares a story about using dogs in the classroom to provide children with a sense of real love, which could prevent harmful behaviors. She also talks about the power of animals to bring joy and love, and how Dr. Gladys’ upbringing in India reinforced the importance of love in healing and how it is a powerful medicine, as described in Dr. Gladys’ book. Dr. Gladys McGarey on how to make do with what you have Dr. Gladys discusses the benefits of modern technology, as well as acknowledge some concerns that herself has. She reflects on her medical career, recognizing the limitations of past practices and the importance of evolving with new knowledge. She shares a dream that led to the realization of the interconnectedness of masculine and feminine energies. They explore the concept of feminine gestation and manifestation, emphasizing the need to understand and appreciate this process in addition to traditional manifestations. Dr. Gladys suggests that acknowledging and accepting this holistic approach could lead to better outcomes, instead of rejecting them outright. Find her Voice in her 90s In her 90s, Dr. Gladys had a breakthrough in finding her voice and embracing her true humanity. She had always sought validation from others and struggled to trust her own voice. Through a dream, she had a profound realization that her voice mattered and was essential to express her soul essence. This led her to write a book with a deeper focus on the inner aspect of the Divine, emphasizing life and love. She believes that as humans, we are reaching for our true humanity, understanding the importance of caring for each other and the Earth rather than seeking dominance. Dr. Gladys sees simplicity in embracing life and love as essential elements of our existence. To hear more from Dr. Gladys McGarey and her views on how to live a fulfilled life, download and listen to this episode. Bio Dr. Gladys McGarey is 102 years old in 2023, at the time of the publication of her book “The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age” Dr. Gladys is also still a consulting doctor. Recognized as a pioneer of the allopathic and holistic medical movements, she is also a founding diplomat of the American Board of Holistic Medicine. She is the cofounder and past president of the American Holistic Medical Association, as well as the cofounder of the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine and the founder of The International Academy of Clinical Hypnosis. Dr. Gladys lives and works in Scottsdale, Arizona, where for many years she shared a medical practice with her daughter. She currently has a medical consulting practice, maintains a healthy diet, and enjoys a good piece of cake every now and then. Links Connect with Dr. Gladys McGarey! Dr. Gladys’ Website | The Well-Lived Life | More info on Dr. Gladys We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

The people who are happiest don’t chase someone else’s dreams; they chase their own. This is according to our guest, one of our favorite authors, thinkers, and people, Bruce Feiler. So we have a whole dialog on just that. Bruce Feiler is the author of the landmark book, Life is in the Transitions. And now he’s back to address one of the seminal questions of our time: “How do we find or create meaningful work,” a subject he’s lived over and over again. His new book is out and it’s called The Search, finding meaningful work in a post career world. Bruce is one of America’s most thoughtful voices on contemporary life. He’s a seven-time New York Times bestselling author, he’s lived many lives from circus clown to preeminent spirituality, author to winning three James Beard Awards and being the subject of a Jeopardy question. Bruce is an American treasure, who you’re going to love hanging out with. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Bruce Feiler and his book’s effect One of Bruce’s books is titled “Life is in the Transitions,” which explores the idea that nearly half of our lives are spent in various transitions. The book delves into personal experiences, including Bruce’s own life upheavals, such as battling cancer, facing financial troubles, and dealing with family crises. He explains how society tends to undervalue and stigmatize these transitional periods while glorifying stability. Bruce’s mission is to normalize and understand the growth potential in these unsettled phases, encouraging people to embrace them as opportunities for renewal and transformation. The book has resonated with readers who recognize and appreciate the validation it provides for the complex emotions and experiences they encounter during life’s transitions. Bruce Feiler on the notable lack of life transition books at 40 When asked why he thinks there’s not a lot of books like his on the shelves, Bruce shares that it was mainly because society has traditionally undervalued and stigmatized these periods. The focus has been on achieving stability and success, neglecting the importance of understanding and embracing life’s transitions. However, Bruce says that recent societal changes, including the decline of organized religion and shifts in the workforce, have led to a growing interest in searching for meaning in life and work. People are no longer content with viewing work as a mere source of income but are seeking work with purpose and significance. This shift in perspective has sparked a renewed interest in exploring life transitions and finding meaning in these transformative phases, especially for professionals who are still pursuing their careers in their 40s and beyond. The power of work vs fame The conversation then shifts to the power of work over fame, and the importance of focusing on the craft rather than seeking balance. Bruce praises the Christopher’s diverse and successful career and emphasizes that legendary individuals are not known for balance. For Christopher, he finds Bruce’s commitment to the work quite amazing, and despite achieving fame and success, he remains grounded and humble. Bruce attributes his continued passion and joy to finding a path that aligns with his talents. They agree that the best work comes from dedicated effort and stepping away from distractions to focus on the creative process. To hear more from Bruce Feiler and how to make the most out of yourself during your transitions, download and listen to this episode. Bio Bruce Feiler Links Connect with Bruce Feiler! Bruce’s Website | Twitter | LinkTree We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

The story we’ve been told our entire lives is that as we get older, we decline physically. But what if we could become more legendary as we age? We discuss this and so much more with our legendary guest, Steven Kotler. Science-based Human Performance Guru Steven Kotler is back in his fantastic new book Gnar Country: Growing old, Staying Rad. Steven lays out how cutting-edge discoveries in embodied cognition flow science, and network neuroscience have revolutionized how we think about peak performance aging. In this radically different conversation, you’ll learn how to embrace peak performance aging in your life. This is a fun, fascinating and deeply insightful conversation with one of our favorite thinkers. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Steven Kotler writes a book about me The conversation starts off about the new book that Steven has written, called Gnar Country. Christopher expresses his gratitude to Steven for writing the book and acknowledges his admiration and respect for him. However, Christopher also tells Steven that it has challenged his comfortable outlook on life. The book centers around the idea of not being “dead before you’re dead,” encouraging readers to embrace mission-style challenges in the second half of their lives. Steven clarifies that he doesn’t mean Christopher has to go surf Mavericks, a famous surfing spot known for its enormous waves. But rather that engaging in difficult and fulfilling activities can be transformative. For Steven, the second half of life is presented as an opportunity for growth and exploration. Getting back to Gnar Country Christopher, who had been easing into a more relaxed lifestyle, confesses that he was getting used to being “dead” in a figurative sense – finding comfort in smoking at home, enjoying the garden, and taking leisurely walks. However, after reading Steven’s book, he feels inspired and reminded of the adventures he used to embark on with his friend Al Ramadan. Christopher mentions how he and Al would take annual trips for adrenaline-fueled activities like surfing, skiing, and scuba diving. Coincidentally, as Christopher reads the book, he receives an email from Al Ramadan, proposing a future surf and dive trip for their group of friends. This timing strengthens Christopher’s belief that the universe, through Steven and Al, is nudging him to return to thrilling and challenging adventures in “Gnar country”. Steven Kotler on Park Skiing in your 50s The conversation then focuses on Steven Kotler’s experience of teaching himself park skiing at the age of 50. This is despite conventional beliefs that learning such skills becomes impossible after a certain age. Steven explains that there has been scientific research done in the past 20-25 years that challenges the traditional view of aging, which assumes a gradual decline in physical and mental abilities. He emphasizes the “use it or lose it” principle, stating that with continued training and practice, individuals can maintain their skills far longer than previously thought. As a skier himself, Christopher initially finds it incredulous that Steven attempted to learn park skiing in his 50s. He recounts a personal experience of attempting a park maneuver in his early 40s and how risky it was as he continued. Christopher expresses his surprise at Steven’s determination and adventurous spirit, acknowledging the challenges and potential dangers associated with park skiing. This further showcase Steven’s pursuit of pushing boundaries and defying age-related limitations by taking on the challenge of park skiing in his 50s, which is pretty rad, in our opinion. To hear more from Steven Kotler and how to live in Gnar Country, download and listen to this episode. Bio Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. Steven is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. He is also the author of 11 bestsellers (out of fourteen books), including The Art of Impossible, The Future is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, Bold and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 50 languages, and has appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, Wall Street Journal, TIME, and the Harvard Business Review. Links Check out Steven’s new book! Gnar Country: Growing Old, Staying Rad We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

The most powerful thing you can be is 100% yourself, and specifically be the things that make you different, yet uniquely you. But we live in a world that values sameness that drives conformity, that lack of openness to different can cause significant problems for adults, and even more so for kids. We discuss all these and more with our guest, Kayla Taylor. Kayla Taylor is the author of Canaries Among Us, a Mother’s quest to honor her child’s individuality in a culture determined to negate it. If you’re different, you love someone who’s different, or have a child in your life who’s different. You’re going to love this conversation with Kayla. Pay special attention to the part of this dialogue about how we’re all grappling with being caring and sensitive to the needs of others and on the other hand, not being so overly careful that we can’t say anything to anybody about anything for fear of being criticized or canceled. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Kayla Taylor on receiving appreciation for her work Kayla expresses gratitude for when people give their time and validation of her work. She describes her book as a vulnerable endeavor and admits to considering not publishing it multiple times. She recalls expecting critical reviews, which almost led her to give up. However, a positive review convinced her to continue. Kayla feels a sense of obligation to address the stigmatized issues covered in her book and support others who may be going through similar experiences. She acknowledges that while others have written about similar topics, they often reflect on childhood experiences or feel restricted by privacy concerns. She believes there is a lack of literature capturing the current challenges of raising children with learning differences who face bullying, and she wants to fill that gap and offer support to others in similar situations. Kayla Taylor on writing under a pseudonym When asked as to why she wrote under a pseudonym, Kayla explains that she couldn’t find a memoir from a parent in the midst of dealing with issues such as bullying, learning differences, and anxiety. She desired a book that captured the present moment and felt poignant. However, she also wanted to respect her children’s privacy and avoid publicly shaming individuals, including the children who behaved poorly. She believed that all children should have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and grow without enduring public shaming. To protect people’s privacy, avoid shame, and honor her own principles, she chose to write under a pseudonym. Additionally, through her research on different forms of victimization, Kayla discovered that society often fails to support and center those who have been victimized. She didn’t want to contradict her belief in prioritizing victims’ privacy and autonomy by publishing a book that would potentially expose everyone involved. Thus, she decided to use a pseudonym to maintain consistency. Understanding Learning Differences Kayla discusses her journey into understanding learning differences when her child faced bullying for being unique and different. Through research, she discovered that one in five people have diagnosable learning differences, including dyslexia and ADHD. However, this statistic doesn’t account for other factors such as sensory processing, mental health issues, and physical impairments that affect learning. She criticizes the education system for being designed during the Second Industrial Revolution, focusing on standardization and neglecting individual strengths. Christopher shares his own experience of having multiple discernible learning differences and emphasizes that being radically different left him with no choice but to embrace his uniqueness. Despite not having a GED, he became the head of marketing at a publicly traded software company. Kayla acknowledges that many successful individuals, including Albert Einstein, dropped out of school or struggled within the rigid system. She highlights famous scientists and CEOs who are believed to have learning differences, such as dyslexia and autism spectrum traits, to challenge the notion that such differences hinder capability. The conversation emphasizes the need to recognize and value individuals for who they are rather than conforming to a rigid educational system. To hear more from Kayla Taylor and how being unique in a world of sameness is actually a good thing, download and listen to this episode. Bio About Kayla Taylor Kayla Taylor writes to address important issues plaguing families, and she uses a pseudonym to protect the identities of minors and other vulnerable individuals. She supports organizations that promote mental health, neurodiversity, and bullying prevention. Links Conn

In this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we learn how to build a legendary B2C category and company from one of the hottest founders in a brand new category space, Matthew Bertulli. Matthew Bertulli is a true mission driven founder, and this is a masterclass on how to be a missionary category designer who evangelizes their category and believes entrepreneurs can do what governments can’t. Lomi was introduced to the world with one of the most viral product launch videos in history, and Matt breaks down just how they did it. Trust me, you’re going to come back and listen to this episode multiple times. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. The Need for Lomi The conversation starts off about Lomi, and the need for a product infrastructure for composting. Matthew sets up a bit of background by discussing their company, Pela Case, which produces compostable phone cases. Later on, what they realized is that despite having the push to create compostable and earth-friendly products, there was a lack of compostable infrastructure globally. They observed that even major companies like Pepsi, P&G, and Unilever were investing in transitioning from single-use plastics to compostable alternatives. However, government regulations banning single-use plastics were in conflict with the lack of compostable infrastructure. For example, in California, companies offered compostable products, but there was no proper system to handle them. Compostable items were often mistaken for regular waste and ended up in landfills, rendering the whole effort futile. Matthew Bertulli on going against the “safe”route Matthew then shares their decision to go against the “safe”advice and pursue this idea for Lomi. Despite having a successful company with millions of customers, they chose to develop a complex product that would compost food in a short time. The process was difficult and required significant investment. They faced numerous obstacles, particularly with factories initially rejecting the idea or lacking the technological capability to execute it. However, they eventually found a toy factory willing to support the project. Matthew emphasizes that creating something new and innovative is met with resistance, as manufacturers prefer replicating existing products. “The hard part with all of this is like, it’s making this kind of product or any kind of product like this. It’s hard tech, which makes it expensive. It makes it slow. It took years to develop.” – Matthew Bertulli Standing up against the Board The conversation then moves toward the entrepreneurial mindset and the personal motivation behind pursuing a business idea. Matthew explains that having control over the board and ownership in the business allowed them to make bold decisions. For them, their drive stemmed from a strong dislike for food waste, particularly due to personal experiences with inefficient waste disposal methods. They believed that finding a better solution would resonate with others who shared the inconvenience. Matthew was highly convinced that the idea would work and could successfully sell it to the board and the team. They also highlighted the positive impact on climate change, which further motivated people to support the idea. Despite having some failed ideas in the past, the trust and confidence from the board and investors helped them move forward. The result of their efforts was the successful introduction of Lomi, a new kitchen product that has experienced rapid growth and is considered one of the most significant additions to the kitchen product category in over a decade. To hear more from Matthew Bertulli and the success story of Lomi, download and listen to this episode. Bio Matthew Bertulli Co-founder and CEO of Pela Case & Lomi. We are a certified B-corp, have Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Projects as a notable investor, were named Top 10 in the Canadian Business Growth 500 ranking and are #1 in Deloitte’s Fast 50 for cleantech businesses in Canada. Links Connect with Matthew Bertulli! Lomi | Matthew’s Website | LinkedIn We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

We all face mental health challenges, and learning to navigate them is the difference between a super successful career and life or living a career and life of struggle. But the business world is not exactly the most welcoming place to talk about our mental well-being. One of the people leading the way to change that is our guest, Morra Aarons-Mele. Morra Aarons-Mele the author of The Anxious Achiever: Turning your biggest fears into your leadership superpower. She is also the host of the popular The Anxious Achiever podcast, and is on a mission to normalize anxiety and leadership. Morra says that anxiety is built into the very nature of leadership and can be harnessed into a force for good. So if you’ve ever experienced that feeling in your stomach that comes from being nervous, or if you’ve ever grappled with fear, you’re going to thank yourself for listening to this conversation. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Morra Aarons-Mele on talking about Mental Health The discussion opens up with the topic of mental health in the workplace. Christopher expresses his gratitude for a book on the subject and acknowledges the growing acceptance of talking about mental health. Morra then reflects on her interactions with others while doing so, noting that the value is in providing a sense of normalcy and acceptance. She hopes to assist people in incorporating mental health considerations into their lives and encourages them to consider how this affects their performance. She also emphasizes the value of humor and a human approach in dealing with mental health issues. The Shy Loud and the Introverted Extrovert The next part explores the experiences of Christopher and Morra as introverts and extroverts in social situations. Morra describes herself as an extreme extrovert who enjoys being in the spotlight, engaging with media, and giving speeches, but finds herself quite introverted when it comes to casual conversations and one-on-ones. She emphasizes that introverts can also enjoy public speaking and have a humorous side, challenging common stereotypes. Christopher, on the other hand, identifies as an extrovert but mentions being an “introverted extrovert.” He explains that while he is comfortable speaking or participating in events, he tends to avoid social gatherings without a clear purpose or role. Christopher shares his preference for meaningful interactions rather than superficial networking. He mentions that online platforms like TED Talks have allowed him to avoid uncomfortable socializing while still sharing his ideas. Managing Mental Health is important Morra emphasizes that managing mental health does not weaken a person’s ability to show up and be successful. She challenges the misconception that anxiety and depression make individuals weak and highlights that they are common human experiences and sometimes medical conditions. Morra draws attention to the fact that stories of overcoming adversity are celebrated because they demonstrate resilience and personal growth. She argues that mental health should be viewed in the same light, as individuals who confront and integrate their mental health challenges can become stronger and more effective leaders. Morra criticizes the tendency to deny or mask mental health issues, stating that it hinders our ability to be there for others. She ultimately suggests that managing and embracing mental health challenges can contribute to personal growth and leadership development. To hear more from Morra Aarons-Mele and how to thrive as an Anxious Achiever, download and listen tot this episode. Bio Morra Aarons-Mele Morra Aarons-Mele knows that taking your mental health seriously is a leadership strength. She hosts The Anxious Achiever podcast for LinkedIn Presents, which won the 2023 Media Award from Mental Health America, was a 2020 Webby Awards Honoree, 2022 “Best Commute Podcast” Signal Award winner, and is frequently a top 10 management podcast and top 50 business podcast. She’s passionate about helping people rethink the relationship between their mental health and their success. Morra speaks to and consults frequently with Fortune 500 companies, startups, and U.S Government agencies. She is a LinkedIn “Top 10 Voice” in mental health. Her new book, The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in April 2023. Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson calls the book “a game changer, wise and practical,” and Andy Dunn, who co-founded and sold the popular men’s clothing brand Bonobos, says “Morra has written an astonishing book. She moves from stories to data to advice in a page-turning way. This is not a book just for anxious achievers — it is a book for any h

There are experiences in life over which you never get in this, and dialogue is one of those. Normally, we tell you some things you’ll learn and some things to listen for, but not today – because we want you to get what there is for you to get from this conversation with our guest, Evan Mawarire. Evan Mawarire is a Zimbabwean clergyman who founded the #ThisFlag Citizens Movement to challenge corruption, injustice, and poverty in Zimbabwe. He’s the man who stood up to an evil dictator Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, with nothing more than his voice, faith, and commitment to his country and his people. Pastor Evan mobilized a movement powered by social media and empowered the nation of Zimbabwe to peaceful protest. And when he inspired his beloved country, Pastor Evan inspired the world, but he has paid in unimaginable personal price. On this episode, you get to hear his story in his words like never before. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Pastor Evan Mawarire on releasing the bitterness In this conversation, Pastor Evan Mawarire is asked how he maintains a positive attitude in the face of mistreatment and hardships. Pastor Evan admits to having felt bitterness and anger along the way, but emphasizes the importance of releasing these emotions and practicing forgiveness. Holding on to bitterness, he believes, only poisons oneself and prevents personal growth. By forgiving others and asking for forgiveness for his own mistakes, “I would be lying if I said I was never bitter or never angry at some point in my life, or in my journey, particularly this part of the journey. But you have to have an openness of heart to work that bitterness out. You have to have it in your hearts to be able to get to a point where you release the anger that you feel towards somebody because these are human emotions. At the end of the day, what bitterness does is that it does not affect what you are bitter towards, but it poisons your own well.” – Pastor Evan Mawarire Pastor Evan strives to be negative-free and to cultivate a clear conscience. He admits that this process is ongoing and affects all aspects of his life, including apologizing to his six-year-old daughter for his errors. Pastor Evan sees forgiveness as an essential part of his path, allowing him to thrive and be the best version of himself despite the risks and challenges that come with it. You can Forgive and still seek Justice Pastor Evan Mawarire is then asked how he can forgive those who have committed grave injustices against him and others, given the dangers he has faced. Pastor Evan explains that forgiveness is not a substitute for justice and emphasizes the significance of distinguishing between the two. He recognizes the importance of justice and understands that forgiving someone does not absolve them of their actions. While he has personally forgiven individuals such as Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, who threatened and mistreated him, Pastor Evan believes that justice must be sought for the crimes committed, not just for his own sake, but also for the millions of others who have suffered. He encourages others to forgive at their own pace, because true forgiveness comes from the heart and cannot be forced. Finally, he emphasizes that forgiveness and the demand for justice can coexist because forgiveness is a personal choice and justice must still be sought. Pastor Evan Mawarire on the Liberation Struggle of Zimbabwe Pastor Evan then shares his background and the values instilled in him by his father. He describes how his father, who had humble beginnings as a cow herder in rural Zimbabwe, actively participated in the liberation struggle for Zimbabwe’s independence. When the war ended in 1980, his father, along with his newlywed mother, moved to the capital city, with dreams and hopes for a prosperous new Zimbabwe. Pastor Evan explains that he grew up witnessing his parents’ hard work, respect for others, and belief in the importance of helping people. “I think the one thing I recognized growing up watching my mom and dad is this idea that you can, through hard work, through respect for other people, and through digging into yourself and figuring out what you’re good at, you can you can really build a life. But the most important thing my dad taught me – even growing up as a young man – is that a life that is lived only for one self, is a life that’s wasted.” – Pastor Evan Mawarire Following his father’s teachings, Pastor Evan chose not to pursue college but rather attended a technical school to learn a craft, becoming an auto electrician. To hear more from Pastor Evan Mawarire and on how to inspire the world, download and listen to this episode. Bio Evan Mawarire is a Zimbabwean clergyman who founded #ThisFlag Citizen’s Movement to challenge corruption, injustice,

Many people dream of being paid to create. That is, earning a living from both knowledge work, which is the application of existing knowledge to produce value, and creating net new knowledge, intellectual capital content, or what you can think of as creator capital, is simply cool. Our guest today is the Category Queen of teaching people to build highly scalable, highly profitable, native digital businesses, and specifically digital courses, content and communities, Amy Porterfield. Amy Porterfield has a podcast called Online Marketing Made Easy, which is often the number one ranked marketing podcast in the world. and she also operates the leading digital course academy. Her book, Two Weeks Notice, find the courage to quit your job, make more money, work where you want, and change the world is a number one bestseller for a reason. There are a lot of people who pay a lot of money to have the conversation with Amy that you’re about to hear. The future of businesses native digital in yourself will thank you for listening to this episode. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Amy Porterfield, the Category Queen of Digital Community Online Marketing We start the conversation with a brief background as to what Amy Porterfield does in the online business field. As Amy puts it, she teaches people how to start online businesses, specifically how to turn their knowledge, know-how, and skill set into a profitable digital course that they can launch over and over again. And when it comes to digital resources, careers, or businesses that one can have access to, there’s a lot in the online sphere. Her courses teach you these options, so you can decide which ones you need to learn for your business, and which ones you might choose to delegate for efficiency. Amy Porterfield on the magic of Digital Courses Amy then highlights the benefits and advantages of digital courses. Both discuss from their POV the transformation that occurs when shifting from a product-focused marketing mindset to a teacher mindset. They highlight the scalability of digital courses, allowing creators and businesses to reach a larger audience and achieve greater freedom and financial success. Amy emphasizes how digital courses can establish thought leaders and put individuals or companies on the map within their respective industries. Furthermore, digital courses help potential customers understand the value and power of a product, service, or brand, making it easier for them to buy in and become part of a community. Teaching through digital courses is seen as a powerful strategy to educate and engage customers, ultimately leading to business growth. The use of digital courses in a product-driven business Amy then talks about the role of digital courses in educating people about innovative products or services and facilitating buy-in from potential customers. Amy highlights the value of digital courses in helping individuals understand the power and benefits of a business’s offerings, leading to increased interest and engagement. Christopher adds that the more groundbreaking the product or service, the greater the need for education to bridge the gap between the new concept and the target audience. He mentions the importance of teaching and providing knowledge within digital courses to support the adoption of new ideas. Digital courses are an effective medium for educating and empowering users and businesses alike. They enable businesses to demonstrate their expertise, build trust, and highlight the value they can offer. Businesses can establish themselves as thought leaders and attract a dedicated community of followers by teaching first and providing valuable content. Because they provide a structured and accessible format for learners to grasp new information, digital courses can be especially effective for introducing innovative or complex concepts. Overall, digital courses can be used by businesses to educate and engage their audiences, resulting in increased awareness, customer loyalty, and business growth. To hear more from Amy and how to build a Legendary Native Digital business, download and listen to this episode. Bio Amy Porterfield Amy Porterfield is an ex-corporate girl turned online marketing expert and CEO of her own multimillion-dollar business. Through her best-selling courses and top-ranked marketing podcast Online Marketing Made Easy, Amy has helped hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs to trade burnout for freedom, income, and impact and find professional autonomy, independence, and success far beyond what a corporate glass ceiling would traditionally allow. She has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, CNBC, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, and her company has twice been awarded the Inc. 5000 Award as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S.

Today, we are living in a world where access to all of the knowledge of humanity is getting easier, faster, and more accessible to all. This means that know what and how to ask questions to obtain the required answers have become a skill onto itself. On this episode, we have a dialogue with Jon Berghoff about the power of questions, and how to know if you’re asking the right questions. Jon Berghoff is the founder of XCHANGE Approach, a company that delivers legendary group learning experiences designed to blow open exponential thinking, and exponential results. Jon’s a living legend for a reason, and he’s a ton of fun. We promise you; your brain will thank you for listening to this dialogue today. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Jon Berghoff on creating an experience where people feel safe The conversation starts off with a question for Jon, particularly on how he could create successful digital events in a world where people don’t fully subscribe to them yet. Jon shares that he drew his drive from his own experience back in high school, where he felt like he was left out and was disconnected for other people. In time, he realized that breaking through this disconnect is one of the important details in getting people excited for conversations, meetings, or on his case, digital events. Because they have a place where they feel safe and where they feel they belong. Jon Berghoff on the role of questions The next part of the dialogue focuses on the importance of asking the right questions and creating meaningful experiences in meetings and gatherings. Christopher recognizes that a company’s success is attributed to asking the right questions, listening, and creating a positive experience, and Jon is an expert at asking questions and creating a safe environment. They then talk about the difficulty of adapting to a rapidly changing world and how it relates to ineffective meetings. Jon emphasizes the importance of designing meetings that address complex issues and move away from the notion that a few people have all the answers. The Ego-centric design of meetings The conversation then shifts to the ego-centric design in meetings and conversations. Christopher observes that some meetings have the feel of dictatorial ego-centric events in which a few people present their vision and have all the answers. Jon agrees and explains that many meetings are unconsciously designed with an ego-centric approach, in which either a few people have all the answers or participants are more concerned with convincing each other of their own ideas. They do, however, recognize the need to tap into collective intelligence and shift the paradigm to engage everyone’s thinking. Jon emphasizes the importance of questions in this process, stating that the world’s complexity requires less emphasis on having all the answers and more emphasis on asking the right questions. He refers to John Kelly’s view that future intelligence will be measured by the ability to ask the right questions rather than what one knows. To hear more from Jon Berghoff and the power of questions in today’s knowledge-driven world, download and listen to this episode. Bio Jon Berghoff is the founder of the XCHANGE Approach, a scientific approach to unlocking collective wisdom in any group. These are extraordinary times, which call for exponential conversations. Which is why innovative leaders have run to XCHANGE as the solution for bringing together companies, communities, customers in powerful ways. Before COVID-19, XCHANGE was leaned on by companies like Facebook, BMW, Costco, to facilitate powerful, large-scale conversations… when the stakes were highest. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, change agents of every type: coaches, consultants and thought leaders… are using XCHANGE to create connection, community and accelerated learning in every imaginable environment. All of it digitally, of course. Links Connect with Jon Berghoff! XCHANGE Approach | LinkedIn We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

Women’s Health is a topic everyone cares about, and sexual health is an important part of living a legendary life. But it can also be a tough topic for both women and men to address. On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we go deep into the topic of Women’s Health with our guest, Dr. Christi Pramudji. Dr. Christi Pramudji, MD is a fascinating doctor because she followed her different to become one of the very few Urologist-Gynecologist. Dr. Christi is considered to be a true pioneer in Pelvic Health and Regeneration. By the end of this episode, you’ll gain real insights into why Dr. Christi says orgasm is a right, how the female orgasm works, and what it takes for women to have them. She also presents a holistic approach, including some new recent medical interventions that help women have breakthroughs in their sexual health. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Dr. Christi Pramudji on niching down The conversation starts off with the question as to why Dr. Christi decided to niche down to being a urologist for women, rather than a more general practice. Dr. Christi clarifies that she still has male clients from time to time, though looking at the overall clientele, 99.5% of it would be women. She explains that once clients found out that there was a female urologist, they all started flocking to her practice. Over time, she grew to love the role, and it became her specialty. “When I got into practice, it immediately became female. As soon as women learned that there was a woman urologist, they wanted to come see me. And I kind of fought against it for a couple years. And then I decided that I really like this part of urology and I wanted to embrace it, and I just wanted to be really great at it.” – Dr. Christi Pramudji Why Women prefer female urologists When asked why women tend to prefer female urologists over male urologists. Dr. Christi explains that many women feel more comfortable discussing private and intimate issues with a female doctor. Conditions like a leaky bladder can make women feel less feminine and embarrassed, leading them to prefer talking to a female urologist. While most male urologists are easy to talk to and have a good sense of humor, women may still worry about feeling uncomfortable. Dr. Christi also mentions that a sense of humor and a warm, down-to-earth demeanor can help put patients at ease when discussing such personal matters, regardless of gender. They also share an example of a doctor with a unique bedside manner who is well-respected and successful in his field. Dr. Christi Pramudji on the female orgasm The topic then shifts to female orgasms and the numerous misconceptions about it. Dr. Christi explains that female orgasm is frequently portrayed in the media as easy to achieve during intercourse, which is unusual. Orgasm in women typically requires clitoral stimulation as well as full integration of the body and mind. Dr. Christi also mentions how the lack of effective treatment options for female orgasm issues makes dealing with the issue difficult. She emphasizes that, unlike men, female orgasm is not required for procreation and is considered a sex bonus. Christopher then asks if women can experience pleasure without orgasm, and Dr. Christi emphasizes that sex should be pleasurable even without orgasm. She does, however, clarify that the clitoris is the primary pleasure organ for women, and that most women require direct stimulation of the clitoris to experience intense pleasure. To hear more from Dr. Christi Pramudji and other topics regarding women’s health, download and listen to this episode. Bio Dr. Christi Pramudji is a Urologist-Gynecologist whose expertise is unmatched as a true pioneer in pelvic health and regeneration and has helped thousands of women heal and get their fulfilling sex lives back.“ The clitoris is made for pleasure, and we must tap into that. Every woman deserves an enjoyable sex life and the tremendously positive effects an orgasm has on the body, from increased mood and decreased stress levels to strengthening relationships,” says Pramudji. Dr Pramudji advocates that women should be enjoying sex at all stages of their lives, and encourages them to take back their sex life, as this can have a profound effect on women’s overall health, wellness, and happiness. While there are many ways to treat libido changes due to menopause and female sexual dysfunction post-menopause, the most exciting is a treatment called Cliovana, a gentle, non-invasive alternative to rejuvenation surgery, which Dr Pramudji describes as a game changer. Links Connect with Dr. Christi Pramudji! ChristiMD Medical Group | LinkedIn | Youtube We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel fre

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we have a dialogue with Mike Maples Jr. on how artificial intelligence is changing startups and venture capital. Mike Maples Jr. is the co-founder of Floodgate, one of the highest profile early stage venture capitalists. He also has a podcast called Starting Greatness, and it is one of my absolute favorites. By the end of it, we hope that you’ll gain a new way to think about both technical risk for startups and market risk. And why in an AI world, you must either be radically different or radically disintermediate something. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Mike Maples Jr. on AI We begin the discussion on the topic of challenges of making sense of the rapidly evolving field of AI. Mike also talks about the traditional funding model of startups, where the primary focus was taking out technical risk, and how the LAMP stack, which commoditized what was once expensive, made it easier to start a startup. Mike notes that the nature of the LAMP stack changed what startups were funded for. “What I like to say is that the LAMP stack was deflationary in terms of the cost of starting startup. And so what does that mean? It meant that what you were funding was different, because if Kevin Rose can start dig for $1,500, over a weekend, there’s no technical risks there. I mean, he hired a contractor to do it that he didn’t even know at the time.” – Mike Maples Jr. Who gets Product Market Fit first The conversation then moves on to the changing dynamics of venture capital investment. The discussion continues with the notion that technical risk and market risk are inversely related. Solving a technically difficult problem that is valuable to society will create a market; if the problem is easy to solve technically, it will all come down to who achieves product-market fit first. To add value to the business, Floodgate and YC have taken the approach of funding market risk takedown. As technology becomes more commoditized and innovations become more accessible, the person who creates something people want the quickest wins. This is why YC was so successful: it offered young people $100,000 to either take market risks or leave. He also mentions that the traditional venture capital model may not be appropriate for all businesses and that deflationary factors such as content, code, and data may change the way businesses are built. Mike Maples Jr. on AI and the future of Venture Capital Mike Maples Jr. then returns to the topic of artificial intelligence and its implications for the future of venture capital. Here, Mike emphasizes two ends of the risk spectrum: high technical risk and high market risk. On the one hand, some projects require large amounts of funding for mass computation in order to build massive models that have the potential to change humanity. On the other hand, AI is being used in a variety of fields, including content generation for marketing, customer service chatbots, and lead generation, resulting in a deflationary effect on content, code, and data. According to Mike, some businesses may not require traditional venture capital funding and should instead focus on achieving $50 million in revenue with a small team and minimal funding. There is also speculation that the current billion-dollar funds may be providing the wrong incentives to these companies. To hear more from Mike Maples Jr. and how AI can affect the future of startups and venture capital, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples Jr. is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. He’s co-founder of Silicon Valley based, early-stage VC Floodgate. And the host of the popular “Starting Greatness” podcast. Investments include Twitter, Lyft, Bazaarvoice, Sparefoot, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Doubledutch, Twitch.tv, Playdom, Chegg, Demandforce, Rappi, Smule, and Outreach. Link Connect with Mike Maples Jr.! Floodgate | Twitter | LinkedIn | Starting Greatness Podcast We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

Over the last three years or so, we’ve all been through one of the craziest most challenging times in modern history. On today’s episode, we have a conversation with Liz Hoffman on how we can take stock of what just happened, and how we can master ourselves during a time of Crisis. Liz Hoffman is a legendary author and journalist. She used to be a senior reporter at The Wall Street Journal, and now she’s a business and finance editor at the new startup called Semafor.com. She’s got a riveting new book out that I really enjoyed, called Crash Landing: The Inside Story of how the world’s biggest companies survived an economy on the brink. We’ll discuss more about this new book and much more in today’s Follow Your Different, so stay tuned. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Liz Hoffman on the early days of the pandemic, and how we are today Liz and Christopher discuss the emotional impact of the pandemic’s early days, which they regard as a global trauma. She then talks about how the emotional pitch of those days helped her set the emotional tone of her book’s characters. Christopher reflects on the dramatic changes in the world since then, as well as his sense of loss for lost time and loved ones. Liz agrees and mentions a recent article on the pandemic’s delayed reckoning with global trauma. They then talk about the bumpy re-entry into the world and the pandemic’s lingering effects, of whether we are post-pandemic or not. Liz Hoffman on the ending that never came Liz and Chris discussed how they, like many others, had hoped for a clear endpoint to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that it had remained elusive. And for Liz, there was an added layer of it as a reporter, looking for a conclusion to her work, but it never came. Christopher mentioned how both parties were hoping for a Hollywood-style ending, but the emergence of the Omicron variant dashed those hopes. Liz Hoffman believes that, as humans, people prefer clarity and closure, but the pandemic has been a long-term experience that defies easy categorization. The pacing of Liz’s pandemic book reflects this, as it begins with a frenzy before settling into a long and uncertain funk. What legendary leaders do in times of crisis Christopher then asks Liz for insight on how leaders can rise to the occasion rather than crumble under pressure. Liz believes that making a large number of decisions quickly and efficiently, without over-analyzing, can be beneficial. She cites the CEO of Hilton, who pulled their credit lines from banks in early March and received $2 billion to get them through the crisis. Liz emphasizes the importance of making decisions early and anticipating what will happen next, rather than getting bogged down in lengthy decision-making processes. She also points out that leaders should never run a multinational corporation on instinct alone, yet there is frequently unnecessary “process fat” in corporate decision-making that can be trimmed off. To hear more from Liz Hoffman and how to master yourself in times of crisis, download and listen to this episode. Bio Liz Hoffman is the business and finance editor at Semafor. Previously, she was a senior reporter at The Wall Street Journal, where she covered financial markets, corporate dealmaking, and the machinations of Wall Street. A native of central Pennsylvania, Hoffman graduated from Tufts University and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Links Connect with Liz Hoffman! Semafor | Twitter | LinkedIn | Crash Landing We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

How do you take a startup, or really any game-changing idea, from conception to launch and success in the new native digital world? And how do we connect and celebrate with our colleagues in this new native digital world? Our guest Doug Camplejohn, has given a lot of thought to both of those questions. Doug Camplejohn is the founder and CEO of Airspeed. And it has been remarkable to see how Doug and his team has stayed true to a true north vision to solving a problem that matters, but at the same time be super flexible in both thinking, product development, and marketing. With over two decades of experience in the tech industry, Doug has held leadership roles at some of the world’s most innovative companies, including LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Salesforce. Pay special attention to Doug’s wisdom about why the questions, “are you having fun?” and “do you care if you get fired?” are such powerful questions, and how they can affect a person’s business decision-making. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Doug Camplejohn on how to create a Startup The conversation starts with Doug sharing his approach to creating a startup. Doug explains that entrepreneurs are constantly looking for patterns and problems to solve, and he keeps a “suck list” of bad things and ideas that stick with him. He believes in being firm on the vision but loose on the details, and that good ideas don’t die but instead become something he can devote the next decade of his life to pursuing. Doug further explains that he and his team at Airspeed started with a clear goal in mind: to make employees feel more connected and celebrated, even if the details of how they got there changed along the way. The Trap of following the “Perfect Plan” The importance of having a clear problem direction rather than being solely focused on a product vision is further addressed by Christopher and Doug. They discuss how some entrepreneurs can become obsessed with a particular product idea and then struggle to pivot when it fails. Doug also believes in solving a problem that is personally meaningful and resonates with others, rather than chasing after the latest hot technology. He maintains that if the problem statement is genuine and resonates with people, the solution and approach to solving it can be flexible and evolve over time. Product Direction vs Problem Direction They then talk about the importance of having a problem direction rather than a product direction. They discuss how many entrepreneurs become too obsessed with a product vision and then realize they need to pivot one day. Because there are other factors to consider, from the top to the bottom of the organization. Finding a problem that is personally meaningful to the entrepreneur and resonates with others, according to Doug, is critical. They also discuss the difficulty of changing product direction and how it affects morale. Doug believes that taking a balanced approach, planning ahead of time, and breaking it down into smaller chunks, can help with flexibility and adaptation while still maintaining a clear vision. To hear more from Doug Camplejohn and how one could create a legendary startup from the ground up, download and listen to this episode. Bio Doug Camplejohn is an accomplished tech executive, entrepreneur, and startup advisor with over two decades of experience in the industry. He is the Founder and CEO of Airspeed, a platform designed to connect and celebrate employees digitally. Prior to founding Airspeed, Doug held several leadership roles at innovative tech companies such as LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Salesforce. At LinkedIn, he was the Vice President of Product Management for Sales Solutions, where he led the development of LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator product. Doug also worked at Salesforce as an EVP and GM of Sales Cloud. Doug is also an active investor and advisor to several early-stage startups, including Metadata.io, a B2B demand generation platform. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been featured in various publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and TechCrunch. Doug attended Carnegie Mellon University. He is passionate about leveraging technology to drive innovation and improve people’s lives, which is reflected in his work at Airspeed. Links Connect with Doug Camplejohn! Airspeed | LinkedIn | Twitter We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

In good times and bad, every drop of revenue matters. Without it, none of us even has a business. On this episode, we have a riveting conversation about the past, present, and future of revenue operations with Andy Byrne – the entrepreneur, CEO, and category designer of revenue operations. Andy Byrne is the CEO of Clari, and is known widely in the industry as the prime minister of revenue. And right now, Clari is doing an extraordinary thing, and has become the category King in revenue operations. Pay special attention to Andy’s insights into how boards and investors are now starting to focus on revenue governance. As you listen to Andy, you’ll also be getting a masterclass in how a CEO can be an evangelist for their company, and their category. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Andy Byrne on being the CEO of a Red-hot Company The discussion begins with Andy being asked about his experience as co-founder and CEO of a successful startup, particularly over the last three unusual years. Andy expresses excitement about the impact his company has made, including the creation of a new job category called Revenue Operations, which is now the fastest growing and most lucrative job in the industry in the United States. He also mentions how proud he is that their platform has managed over $1 trillion in assets. He believes they are only getting started and will have a significant impact on the world. How Revenue Operations and the rise of AI Andy describes how he and his team saw an opportunity in developing an enterprise system to manage the revenue business process from beginning to end. They saw revenue as more than just an outcome, but as a critical business process in need of a dedicated system. He is pleased with the effect their company has had on the lives of many people, particularly revenue-critical employees, and believes that this is only the beginning. With regard to AI, Andy is excited about the potential of machine learning and artificial intelligence to make a meaningful impact, citing an example of their system accurately predicting a healthcare life sciences company’s $1.6 billion quarter within hours of being turned on. The Problem with the Three-Headed Hydra Andy then chimes in on importance of revenue and the challenges that companies face when using antiquated revenue management systems. He re-emphasizes that revenue is a business process, and it is the most important process in a company. Unfortunately, many businesses continue to rely on the three-headed Hydra: CRM, Excel, and BI, resulting in revenue leaks, reporting leaks, and inaccurate forecasting. Christopher shares his experience working with businesses that face unexpected deals in the final days of the quarter, which can be problematic if the company’s forecasting is inaccurate. Andy agrees and stresses that using these subpar systems increases risk and should put a stop to investor interest in that stock. To hear more from Andy Byrne and how to avoid revenue leaks in your business, download and listen to this episode. Bio Andy Byrne brings over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, business development and management to his position as CEO of Clari. Clari is the category leader in the Revenue Software Platform market, with over $1 trillion in revenue under management. Prior to Clari, Andy was part of the founding executive team at Clearwell Systems, which he helped grow from pre-product & pre-revenue in 2005 to $100 million run rate until its acquisition by Symantec (SYMC) in Q2 2011. Prior to joining Clearwell, Andy co-founded Timestock, Inc., which was acquired by Computer Associates (CA) via the acquisition of Wily Technology. Timestock delivered world-class enterprise application management solutions to large fortune 500 corporations. Before Timestock, Andy was VP of Marketing at Desana Systems. Prior to Desana, Andy was VP of Product Management at Lucent Technologies. Andy came to Lucent Technologies via the acquisition of VitalSigns Software. He has also held sales, marketing & management roles at Bay Networks and at MiLAN Technologies, which was later acquired by Digi International. Andy holds a BS in Economics from the University of Nevada and received his MBA with honors from San Jose State University. Links Connect with Andy Byrne! Clari website | Clari Revenue Leak Assessment | LinkedIn | Twitter We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

Over the recent past, we’ve all been through one of the craziest, most challenging times in modern history. simultaneously, we’ve had to negotiate all of these things, inside of the context of dealing with our personal lives, our businesses, our careers, and any life challenges that we may have had along the way. So we thought that it would be great to welcome back the legendary Amy Morin, for some much needed group psychotherapy. In less than a decade, Amy Morin has become one of America’s most popular psychotherapists. She’s just got that special quality. Amy is a person who is radically human, incredibly smart, empathetic, and surprisingly, approachable. Maybe that’s why we think she’s become America’s top or one of the top Psychotherapist and a multi-time Bestselling Author. Her new book is out, and it’s called 13 things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do Workbook. So in this episode, we dive into all that and find out ways to tactically bolster our own mental strength as we go along. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. A Quick Update on Amy Morin Amy has been a guest before in Follow Your Different, and since then she has written new things and accomplished so much more. While Amy has many years of experience and success as a psychotherapist and writer, she quickly found herself with new inspiration and multiple inputs when Covid struck the world. Given the mental strain of worrying about a pandemic, the additional factor of having to stay home and people being exposed to a plethora of terrible news on TV, as well as the helplessness of being unable to do anything, did a number on everyone. Amy realized that she was in a unique position of having the knowledge to assist and a way to share that knowledge through her podcasts and later, in print. As a result, she has written a few works on how to deal with mentally demanding situations and stress, and she recently released a workbook on how to boost one’s mental strength. Mental Health Podcast or Therapy? Amy shares that sometimes, their mental health podcast turns into an impromptu psychotherapy session – not just for the guest, but as well as the listeners who are going through the same situation in their own ways. When asked about the difference between podcasting and her psychotherapy sessions, Amy admits that there are times that those two seem to blur together, yet she thinks it is important to keep a distinction. Sometimes, the therapist in me wants to respond one way, and then I’m like, but there’s people listening. So you need to respond in another way. So I’m always very aware of that, like, ‘Oh, am I gonna respond to this a little bit differently. And I want to be empathetic’. But at the same time, I didn’t want to open up a can of worms for somebody who forgets that this is a podcast. I don’t want to ever make it seem like we’re getting them to open up in a way to then take advantage of them.” – Amy Morin The importance of having a healthy amount of Not-Give-A-Shit Attitude We then talk about what it is like to have a public following, and how having a healthy amount of no-give-a-shit attitude helps wonders with their own mental health. Amy agrees with this, and shares that she recently did a podcast about the topic of bad mental health advice you might be getting in social media. She had wanted to explore the topic more, and even go so much as contact those who posted the now-viral meme “advice”. But she didn’t go through with it in the end. At the end of the day, all she’d gain is a migraine from arguing with people who don’t care. She would rather focus on her own inner peace and work on other topics for her own podcast. To hear more from Amy Morin and how to bolster your mental strength to take on the world, download and listen to this episode. Bio Amy Morin is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and a lecturer at Northeastern University. She’s been dubbed the “self-help guru of the moment,” by The Guardian and Forbes refers to her as a “thought leadership star.” Her knowledge of mental strength stems far beyond her professional experience. She’s experienced a series of losses in her personal life that gave her first-hand insight into the strategies that build resilience. In 2013, her article 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do was read by over 30 million people around the world. Her best-selling book, also called, 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, is being translated into 25 languages. Her newest book, “13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do: Raising Self-Assured Children and Training Their Brains for a Life of Happiness, Meaning, and Success” is a sensation. Amy’s advice has been featured by a number of media outlets, including: Parenting,

All of us want the best healthcare for our families, our communities, and our country. But Legacy approaches and technologies in the United States often stop our healthcare heroes from being able to deliver the legendary care they want to deliver. So let us have a dialogue about this and much more with our guest, Dr. Ashwini Zenooz. Dr. Ashwini Zenooz is a radiologist who became the chief medical officer of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. She then joined the technology industry, and became the chief medical officer at Salesforce.com. Dr. Ash is now the CEO of Commure, a venture-backed startup on a mission to produce a breakthrough in digital health. Her achievements thus far have been incredible, and we hope that her personal story will inspire you. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Dr. Ashwini Zenooz on the current state of COVID The conversation starts of with a question for Dr. Ash on the current state of COVID, particularly if we are past the crisis part of it. Dr. Ash responds that there’s still a lot of things to look into, as COVID has not only affected our healthcare, but different parts of society and fields as well. “I would say it’s yet to be seen. I think it’s not just the healthcare part. There’s a lot of other implications from the pandemic that were seeping into with the economy. There’s a lot of stuff that’s happening around us that’s related or as a result of the pandemic. So it’s yet to be seen. But yeah, I would say that at least the crisis is over.” – Dr. Ashwini Zenooz On how the US fared in the COVID pandemic As much as it hurts to say, Dr. Ash shares that there were things that the US could have done better on. She thinks its partly because we try to “reinvent the wheel” every time there’s an epidemic or pandemic. As a society, we have had a lot of ways to learn how to properly respond and mitigate the damages, yet we tend to commit the same mistakes over and over again once it happens. What’s even more frustrating from a healthcare standpoint is our lack of concern for future occurrences. When a major healthcare issue is resolved, it appears that no one is interested in researching how to prevent the next case, or what to do if the next one would be on a larger scale than the one before. It’s like we only care to look back once the current one is already at our doorstep. Dr. Ashwini Zenooz on masks and vaccines On the topic of preventive measure, Dr. Ash was asked about what she thought about wearing masks and taking the vaccine. For mask-wearing, Dr. Ash shares that for her, it is a personal choice. Even if airlines and public spaces don’t require you to wear them anymore, she opts to wear them because she wants to. For her, having that extra precaution for a little inconvenience is not a big deal, but she wouldn’t be offended if she sees someone not wearing one in a public place. For vaccines, her thoughts as a layperson or a simple mom is that there would be more documentation or data available to the public on the tests that were done that passed the approval of the FDA, and have someone who can explain it to the general public. This avoids confusion and misinformation from spreading out, and less hesitation for asking assistance when someone eventually decides to finally get their vaccines. To hear more from Dr. Ashwini Zenooz and the future of American healthcare, download and listen to this episode. Bio Ashwini Zenooz, M.D. Dr. Ashwini Zenooz is the CEO of Commure, a venture-backed technology company dedicated to building a health ecosystem rooted in collaborative care and connected innovation. Prior to Commure, Dr. Zenooz was Chief Medical Officer at Salesforce. Dr. Zenooz was also the Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) overseeing the national EHR modernization program, where she was responsible for organizational change management, business process redesign, and implementation of a new digital health platform. She has also held senior policy development and operational roles including serving as Deputy for VA Health Policy and Services, Legislative Health Policy Fellow with U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Committee Staff on U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, and Chief of Imaging Services. Dr. Zenooz graduated with summa cum laude distinction in undergraduate studies and received an MD in the Medical Honors Program at the University of Florida. She completed radiology residency at Henry Ford Health System and an Abdominal Imaging fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Zenooz is board certified in radiology and continues to practice medicine today. Links Connect with Dr. Ashwini Zenooz! Commure | LinkedIn | Twitter We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! C

Almost everybody wants to design a legendary life and make a difference, but it can be harder than it sounds. On this episode, you’ll get a very different conversation about designing a life with meaningful work that works for you. And who better to have this conversation than with our guest, Ollie Henderson. Ollie Henderson is an entrepreneur, CEO, and bestselling author of the book called “The Work/Life Flywheel”. He is a great guy, and we really get into a heartfelt conversation about how we can all design the legendary life for ourselves. By the end of this episode, we hope you’ll have some new tools for living your life, your way. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Ollie Henderson on Work/Life Balance The conversation starts off with the two agreeing on how much they “love” work/life balance. Ollie responds that he had kept a few choice words in the book that his editor would rather not have, but it was important to the point Ollie was making. That being said, Ollie shares that his issue with Work/Life balance is just a term people used to oversimply a supposedly complex matter in our lives, mostly due to laziness and have something easy to adhere to, like a schedule or a task to do. “I think the thing about work life balance is that it’s a lazy feeling that we all have. It’s something we think we should adhere to. Like, ‘yeah, we should all have better work life balance’, and it kind of makes sense. It has the best intentions, but it’s frankly, wrong. It doesn’t make sense.” – Ollie Henderson Work vs Life Another thing that Ollie pointed out is that the semantics of the word is also all wrong. Work/Life Balance conjures up the image of you pitting up Work versus Life; that you cannot have both at the same time, and that one of them is better than the other. “I think when people say they aspire for work/life balance, what they’re saying is, ‘I am going to place work in life against one another, because work is bad and life is good. And if I can’t find this equilibrium, then my life is not complete’.” – Ollie Henderson The issue is that statement is not true for every individual, and there is no one-and-done balancing to be done. Nobody has achieved that precise equilibrium, because it doesn’t work like a countermeasure of one over the other. Work/Life Flywheel Christopher adds that we have to reject the notion of work and life are compartmentalized in different sections, and we somehow need to balance them on weighing scales. There is only “Life”, and we do a lot of things in that life. So if not Work/Life Balance, what then? Ollie shares that there are some who use the term “integration” to add a new perspective to it. For him, he prefers to use the term “Flywheel”, because it entails that everything he does in life are interdependent of each other. “It’s this idea that there isn’t a single part of your work your life that is any more important than the other; they’re all interdependent. For me, when I’m doing great work and I’m happy at work, I’m a better person, I’m a better dad, I’m a better partner. And when I’m a better partner and a better dad, that manifests more in my work.” – Ollie Henderson To hear more from Ollie Henderson and the Work/Life Flywheel, download and listen to this episode. Bio Ollie Henderson Experienced founder and CEO, Ollie Henderson, pivoted his career while juggling the pleasures and pressures of raising a young family. He believes work/life balance is a myth. Rather than seeing career and personal life as two opposing forces, Ollie argues that the secret is to design an integrated approach that allows them to work in harmony. Ollie’s weekly newsletter and Top 10 Careers podcast, Future Work/Life, provides news and analysis to thousands of people interested in the future of work, covering subjects like creativity and innovation, data and technology, peak performance and workplace culture. He’s the author of the Amazon bestseller Work/Life Flywheel: Harness the work revolution and reimagine your career without fear. Links Connect with Ollie Henderson! LinkedIn | Future Work/Life Newsletter | Work/Life Flywheel We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you feel very lucky to have been able to meet and talk to that person? My conversation with our guest, Dr. Simran Jeet Singh, felt like just that. Simran Jeet Singh, PhD is the Executive Director of the Religion and Society Program at the world-famous Aspen Institute. He’s also the author of a new national bestseller, called The Light We Give: How Sikh wisdom can transform your life. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Dr. Simran Jeet Singh on Sikh Wisdom The conversation starts with one of the major proponents that Dr. Simran shares to everyone, which is Sikh wisdom. He defines it as such: “I think Sikh wisdom is these experiences and insights that people before us have developed and we have access to if we want. And one of our choices is do we want to learn all the lessons the hard way, or do we want to step into these treasures that are already available to us. It is the Sikh philosophy and traditions that I didn’t really learn to appreciate until I got older and started meeting real challenges in my life.” – Dr. Simran Jeet Singh Dr. Simran used these Sikh wisdom in moments of his life where he felt huge struggles and difficulties to guide himself into the person that he wants to be. The Challenges of being Different On such moment was when the events during 9/11 occurred, and the whole country was, in many ways, suffering a collective sense of trauma. It was a vulnerable feeling that people of the United States did not think they would feel. But the feeling of vulnerability was even more so for Dr. Simran and his community. “In this moment of extreme difficulty for our country, of extreme anger and violence, all of a sudden, I and people belonging to my community fell into the stereotype of how Americans saw their enemy. And so that, I think, is partly what felt so difficult in this moment: on the one hand, I felt like I was an American and belonged here and was going through the same trauma as everyone else. Yet at the same time, so many people around me, my fellow Americans would look at me and be like, “no, no, you’re not one of us here.”” – Dr. Simran Jeet Singh It hurts doubly for Dr. Simran, as he understands the pain and vulnerability that they are experiencing, as someone who has lived in the US for quite some time. But at the same time, the hate created by the almost-kneejerk reaction that some had afterwards was something that his community and others did not deserve, simply because they were different. Dr. Simran Jeet Singh on educating the masses Dr. Simran believes that this reaction is fear born from ignorance, and is something that could be remedied by educating the people on what the Sikh ideologies and culture really stand for. Sometimes, he would be surprised that an average American doesn’t know where Punjab is, let alone what a Sikh was. That gave Dr. Simran a sense of where he needed to start. Even before educating about the different cultures and ideologies, they might not even have an idea of where you came from, and they have been making assumptions about your culture based on the wrong information. To hear more from Dr. Simran Jeet Singh and Sikh wisdom, download and listen to this episode. Bio Simran Jeet Singh PhD is Executive Director for the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program and author of The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life. He is a visiting professor of history and religion at Union Theological Seminary and a Soros Equality Fellow with the Open Society Foundations, and in 2020 TIME Magazine recognized him among sixteen people fighting for a more equal America. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN, and he is a columnist for Religion News Service. Author of the award-winning children’s book Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon, Simran is an engaging guest speaker who delivers keynotes and facilitates workshops. His message has been described as “critical and essential” and he’s noted for his “unwavering and empathetic approach to anti-racist work.” Simran lives in New York City with his family. Links Connect with Dr. Simran Jeet Singh! Website | The Light We Give | The Sikh Coalition We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

It’s been a crazy handful of days in Silicon Valley. But now that the federal government has made their announcements and has the ball rolling, I wanted to spend a few minutes with you just clarifying some things that seem to be creating confusion in the recent Silicon Valley Bank situation. There seems to be more confusion about what just happened with the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and what the federal government just did as there was about COVID. So let me see if I can break this down for all of you. There is no Bank Bailout for the Silicon Valley Bank Let me say that again: there was no bank bailout here. The executives got fired. None of the investors, creditors, nobody doing business with the bank, in that sense, are getting any of their money back, particularly the investors in the board. The Silicon Valley Bank is gone. The Effect on the US Finance The President has said that this will not cost taxpayers’ money. You may choose to believe it or not, but that is the current position of the government on the matter. What they’re saying is if there’s any protection money required, it will come from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The FDIC is an insurance company managed by the federal government, which is paid for by Wall Street and the banks. They pay insurance fees to the FDIC for drastic instances such as these. Making that point clear as soon as possible was a good move by the federal government, because if they have wavered in their decision to do so, twisted narratives about bank bailouts and conjuring the past instances of it happening would have been a bad blow to the US government’s image. The Silicon Valley Bank Depositors will get their money back White there’s no direct timetable for when the depositors can get their full funds back, the federal government, via the FDIC, came in and said that they will make sure that the people will get 100% of their money back. Here’s where most of the confusion lie at the moment, because there are some who spin the narrative like this resembles the recent FTX crash. But unlike the FTX crash where the money is in large parts gone, the Silicon Valley Bank’s money is still there. The main issue at the moment is that there were some horrendous mistakes in investing the money, which caused it to be stuck and become inaccessible at the moment. So when a bank run happened, they didn’t have enough cash. And that’s what caused this. But the money is still there, unless we learn otherwise after the ongoing investigations. To hear more updates and suggestions on how Silicon Valley, the federal government, and the FDIC can prevent such a crisis from happening again, download and listen to this episode. Bio Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse went off like a bomb on March 10th 2023. And I want to reach out to you and essentially share with you the conversations that I’ve been having with many friends, many entrepreneurs, many VCs, in the last 24 hours or so. That said, let’s talk about what’s really going on; specifically, what the media talking heads and idiot, ‘thought leaders’ on the internet are getting very, very wrong. Second, we’ll discuss a few ideas on what you can do immediately to shore up your situation if you are a Silicon Valley Bank customer, or even if you are working in the tech world. And then thirdly, let’s talk about the crisis from the perspective of your company, and what you can do moving forward. The Silicon Valley Bank Collapse As of now, what is clear is that Silicon Valley Bank went down in part, because of some combination of getting caught in a cash crunch. It appears they made some bad long term bond decisions at low interest rates. And as you know, the US government has been raising interest rates from about 0.25% roughly a year ago, to about 4.75% now a year later. This has caught a lot of people off guard. This is not to say there wasn’t a mistake on SVB’s part, but what we do know is that there were some combination of over investing in long term bonds, and the interest rates going up that aggravated the problem. Here’s a link to the Wall Street Journal article breaking all of what has happened so far. Media and Thought Leaders’ “thoughts” on the matter First of all, there’s a thread  growing around that says, “Oh, this is the billionaires in Silicon Valley doing corrupt things, and now they’re getting their comeuppance.” This is not the case. If there was something incompetent or illegal that took place in the Silicon Valley Bank, we’ll find out once the investigations are done. But for now, it is affecting a lot of people in the space, and not just those billionaires they are harping about. This is not some cash crunch hurting billionaires. It is hurting the people who didn’t get paid on Friday, because their employer just froze their bank. This is the entrepreneur who DM me on Twitter yesterday saying they have their entire 20 million of VC funding at SVB, and asking what they can do now. These entrepreneurs and CEOs don’t know how they’re going to pay their people, don’t know how they’re going to pay their bills. It appears that the FDIC is saying that people will get their guaranteed 250,000 on Monday, but over 90% of the deposits in this bank are in excess of that. So it’s really not much protection. And while it seems that much of this money will come back to its rightful owner, it’s not clear what percentage and in what timeframe. Running a business with no money is fucking hard. And that’s what’s going on here. To learn more about the Silicon Valley Bank situation and how your business can cope with crisis of this magnitude, download and listen to this episode. Bio Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

When we come face to face with the raw enormity of the human spirit, it can be truly stunning. And when we encounter a person who is so magnanimous, they inspire us to ask questions like, “What could I do?” Today on Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we talk to one such person, Peter Mutabazi. Peter grew up in shocking poverty, was called garbage and physically abused by his father. He ran away from home, and by 10 years of age became a “street kid” in the capital of Uganda Kampala. Today, Peter lives in America, and he’s living a legendary life as a foster dad. He is also running a foundation called I Am Known Foundation, and his mission is to help increase foster parenting to help care for the most vulnerable children in our country. By the end of this episode, you will gain a visceral understanding of how a person can literally traverse from the worst imaginable situations as a child to achieving success, happiness, and a deep sense of what he calls true worth. Peter Mutabazi on Teenage Adoption The conversation starts off on the topic of adoption, particularly on teenage adoption. While most of the conversations about adoption revolve around adoption as a child, teenage adoption is very rarely talked about. For Peter, this age period is particularly vulnerable for them, as they prepare to be part of society when they become 18. If there was no one to guide these teenagers, then they would have nowhere to go afterwards, and no way to establish themselves. “When you’re 15 and you have only three years left in the foster care system, and you have nowhere to go, it’s critical for anyone to step up and guide you to the world you’ve never lived, that you don’t know. So I feel like they’re the most vulnerable and need the most talk.” – Peter Mutabazi Peter also comments that teenage adoptees are easier to be with. This might be due to the fact that they can pretty much handle themselves in their day-to-day lives, provided that they have the support and resources to do so. Peter Mutabazi on his Origin Story Peter tells the story of his youth in a village called Kabaddi, which was located at the border of Uganda and Rwanda. From the get-go, life was harsh to them, as even the basic necessities are hard to come by at times. Peter shares that he wasn’t even given a name until he was 3 years old, as the survival rate of babies was so low, they did not want to give them names and form attachments before they are sure that he could survive. “I also got to learn that I didn’t have a name until when I was three years old. Why? Because for every 100 children were born in my village 60 would die before the age of two. So most moms were afraid to name a child because they didn’t want to get attached.” – Peter Mutabazi To add another layer of difficulty to all that, Peter’s father was what you’d call abusive, in every sense of the world. Peter quips that in a normal family, even if you suffer through hardships, there’s always some comfort of knowing that you have a home to return to. In his case, it was the most agonizing place to be in because of his father. So at the young age of 10, Peter decided that he had had enough. He ran away from home. To hear more from Peter Mutabazi and his story of growing up with an abusive father to being the father to those in dire need of it, download and listen to this episode. Bio Peter Mutabazi Peter Mutabazi is an entrepreneur, an international advocate for children, and the founder of Now I Am Known, a corporation that supplies resources to encourage and affirm children. A single father and foster dad, Mutabazi is a former street kid who has worked for World Vision, Compassion International, and the Red Cross. He has appeared on media outlets such as the BBC and The TODAY Show and continues to be a passionate speaker. He currently lives in Charlotte, North. Links Connect with Peter Mutabazi! NowIAmKnownFoundation.org | Now I Am Known | Facebook | Instagram Check out his book here: Now I Am Known | Amazon

This is part two of a very special Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different series that we are doing on how to design a legendary career, company and category. This two-part series is a masterclass on how to have a legendary career in technology from 2 different perspectives. On this episode, we have a dialogue with the amazing Gail Moody-Byrd. Gail Moody-Byrd is the head of Marketing for LinkedIn Sales Solution Group. And the job that she’s done there on category design is truly a stunner. I myself have known and done some work with Gail in the past, and she’s also worked with my friends and adopted brothers from Category Design Advisors. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to drive massive big change inside a massive big organization to make a massive big difference, you’re in the right place. You’re also going to learn what it took for a Harvard MBA to become a successful category designer, and get executive management bought in and participating in a massive new strategic initiative like category design. There are many people who would easily pay $25,000 to have lunch with Gail, and today you got her for free and on repeat. We hope you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as we did. Creating a New Category in LinkedIn The conversation starts off with acknowledging that Gail Moody-Byrd has done something extraordinarily rare in the business – which is to have implemented a category design approach within a monster corporation, which is within an even bigger monster corporation. This is because normally when you think of implementing category design in a business, it is usually done by startups and entrepreneurship, which may develop later on to a category business leader. Though it is not unheard of, it’s highly unusual for a megacorporation to attempt such a thing. But according to Gail, it all stems from the culture within LinkedIn itself, where they are encouraged to pursue and grow their business the way they see fit, almost like the same energy as a startup would, but with the backing of a monster corporation behind it. So when Gail joined the LinkedIn Sales Solutions Group, they already had the idea of finding something to elevate their status and “get their mojo back”. And Gail was just the spark they were looking for. Gail Moody-Byrd on the Curiosity of LinkedIn Christopher shares his experience with introducing Category Design to big corporations, and the less than successful results he would get a times. This is because major corporations tend to stay rigid and not dive into new ideas that easily, especially if their current product or service still has a huge share of the market at the moment. Gail agrees with this and adds that while LinkedIn may seem like the same on the outside, it has this inherent curiosity within that lets their people explore new ideas, as long as it stays within company guidelines and has the data to back it up. “The beauty of LinkedIn is that they gave me the liberty to explore some of those ideas. There’s a curiosity within LinkedIn that I appreciate. We’re so market driven, and interactive, always looking for new ideas. And so the amount of support and the extreme receptivity to the conversation was, frankly, shocking to me.” – Gail Moody-Byrd Evolving the Platform through Category Design Gail Mood-Byrd then talks about LinkedIn Sales Solutions, and its growth and changes over the years. It was created 10-11 years ago to enable salespeople in the b2b space to connect on the LinkedIn platform with people who might need their services. Over the years, it has grown from being a way to connect with potential buyers and fielding available talents, to something backed by support and data science to help you find the information and the system actively looking non-stop for related data to your inquiries and target audience. It has also gone from one-way communication, to something akin to an active conversation between potential buyers and sellers; all in a trusted network like LinkedIn. And that is something Gail and her team aim to develop further with category design in mind. To hear more from Gail Moody-Byrd and How To Design A Legendary Career, Company, And Category, download and listen to this episode. Bio Gail Moody-Byrd Vice President, Marketing, LinkedIn Sales Solutions Member, Board Of Directors, Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) A seasoned Senior Marketing Executive, two-time Category Creator and public board member with extensive experience in all aspects of Global Marketing, Sales and Strategy across industries, from enterprise software to retail/commerce. Propelled by a vision full of possibilities, acts as a change-maker who leads and inspires teams to deliver results, exceed expectations and grow as leaders themselves. Links More about Gail Moody-Byrd LinkedIn Newsletters Category Design Advisors: Category Design Lightning Strike of 2022 We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your D

This episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different is part of a very special two-part series that we are doing on how to design a legendary career, company and category. This two-part series is a masterclass on how to have a legendary career in technology from 2 different perspectives. On this episode, we have a dialogue with the legendary Joe Sexton. Joe Sexton has been a material contributor to creating well over $40 billion in market value over his legendary career. He’s one of the most legendary sales revenues and frankly, overall company leaders I’ve met or ever had the pleasure of working with. There are many people who would easily pay $25,000 to have lunch with Joe, and today you got him for free and on repeat. So sit back and let this conversation take you into new heights and ideas in the next hour or so. How to Change to Conversation in Tech Industries Christopher and Joe reminisce on the time they spent working together, what they learned from each other during that time, and how they were able to apply what they had learned from each other to their own practices after they pursued their own paths. For Joe Sexton, it was all about changing the conversation about things. Whether he went to McAfee, CrowdStrike, and other different fields in tech, his understanding in improving their business and becoming business leaders in their respective categories was on how to change the conversation, i.e. making a radical change in the usual perspective of a certain product, or creating a new one for a problem that people didn’t think of solving before. Know What You Know, and Execute Joe Sexton has taken may advisory roles over the course of his career, and have heard from CEOs that doesn’t seem to know what exactly their company does, or what they do in it. “I’ve spoken literally to well over 100 CEOs in my board role. I’ve heard pitch after pitch after pitch, and 99 times out of 100, after a half hour of passionate talk and presentation by the CEO, I say, “I’ve been doing these 35 years, and I don’t understand what you said. I mean, I only understand what you do.”” – Joe Sexton On the other hand, Joe has also worked with people who knew what they were good at, and got his help so they could focus on the thing they’re good at, rather than stretching themselves thin. Of course, it doesn’t mean that you only stay on that level for the rest of your company’s development, but learning where you can help your business grow, especially during its start, can spell success or failure in startups and the like. Joe Sexton on Creating Your Opportunities When asked about how he would create opportunities for himself when he got started, Joe replies that that is one of the questions that young people ask him. To answer the question, Joe shares that one must have a good track record on their field and the data to back it up. Because when it’s time to compete in the market, these two things will speak for themselves, rather than coming up with a soft pitch and hoping for the best. It’s like explaining what you are worth to a company or a potential investor, without needing to resort to technical babble or telling your story from scratch. Having that track record and reputation and the data to back it up means that they have something to look into before you even meet, and that could put them at ease. To learn more about How To Design A Legendary Career, Company, And Category, download and listen to this episode. Bio Joe Sexton Mr. Joe Sexton is an accomplished technology executive who’s been part of creating over $40 billion in value. He’s served as CEO, President, CRO and SVP, advisor and/or board member for more than a dozen category designing technology firms. He is the former President of Worldwide Field Operations at AppDynamics. ($3.7B purchase by Cisco) Prior to AppDynamics, he spent significant time in senior leadership roles at McAfee ($5B public co), Mercury Interactive ($4.5B purchase by HP) and CA Technologies ($20B public). Joe is currently on the Board of Directors of Aqua Security, Menlo Security, D2iQ, DecisionLink and BrainBox Intelligent Marketing. He is formerly on the Board of CrowdStrike and Executive Advisory Board of PagerDuty helping both companies experience successful IPOs. Joe is also a private investor in several promising technology startups. Joe earned his BA in Marketing from the University of Kentucky. He is very passionate about mentorship, helping women succeed in the workplace and teaching salespeople how to become Value Professionals. Links Connect with Joe Sexton! LinkedIn We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead, Follow Your Different, we are going to drop a conversation that I recently had with my dear friend, one of the smartest guys in tech, Bob Evans, on his podcast, Cloud Wars Live. If you work in technology, what Bob and his guests have to say is fascinating, illuminating, and, frankly, agenda-setting. If you’re a regular reader of Category Pirates, you’ll know that we’ve been writing about intellectual capitalists and the emergence of a whole new human category, Native Digitals, for quite some time. We believe this is an extremely important topic, and we believe that the emergence of the intellectual capitalist as the highest value role in the work world above that of what has historically been the highest value job you can have in the working world, which is the knowledge worker, is particularly significant. Because those of us who will thrive not just survive in the future, we’ll move beyond acquiring knowledge and getting paid to apply that knowledge to getting paid to create and monetize new categories of intellectual capital, new categories of knowledge, new categories of thinking, which can be turned into new products and services. The Story of the Hummingbird The conversation starts off with Christopher telling the story of the Hummingbird and his Sensei Sutton. His sensei is an amazing martial artist and a badass individual, but at a certain point in his life, he had to overcome many adversities before getting to where he is now. “So the moral of the story is in life – Sometimes you’re the hummingbird and sometimes you’re the sensei. But Sooner or later, we all need somebody to catch us tightly enough not to hurt us, but strongly enough to save us.” – Christopher Lochhead In life, we will absolutely be in situations where we are the hummingbird. But the real question is, when we have an opportunity to be the Sensei, will we will we meet the call? ChatGPT and the Death of the Knowledge Worker Christopher then talks about the current boom in AI technology, particularly on the topic of ChatGPT and similar AI generated content. Much like how machinery and Automation have taken over some aspects of labor from men, this new AI technology seems to be crowding in the profession of Knowledge Worker. While it may not be up to par with certain intricacies to date, it is quickly learning and becoming better over a short period of time. And much like the service workers of the past have to learn to adapt to new technology, Knowledge Workers also have to follow the trend and evolve, paving the way to what we call Intellectual Capitalists. Intellectual Capitalist So what is an Intellectual Capitalist? For Christopher, it’s someone who doesn’t just collect information and apply it like a knowledge worker, but someone who actually generates net-new knowledge. It could be from their experience while working on a certain field that makes them faster, more efficient, or outright the best in that field. In one word, an Intellectual Capitalist has Leverage over other people who are in the same field, but can’t do it better or even as good as them. An Intellectual Capitalist should also not be only bound to current categories and ideologies. If there is an idea worth pursuing, it’s not enough to learn why it hasn’t been done before. One should also look through it with what we have today, and if the rapidly-growing pace of technology will  be able to support it and when. To hear more about the dialogue about AI and the Intellectual Capitalist, download and listen to this episode. Bio Bob Evans Founder of Cloud Wars and Co-Founder of the Acceleration Economy, Bob leads the strategic direction of the global analyst network and actively covers the Cloud and Digital Business categories. Creator of Cloud Wars Top 10, a ranking and ongoing analysis world’s most influential tech companies driving digital business and the digital economy. World-class strategic communicator focused on emerging business strategy, disruptive innovation, and forward-looking leadership. Links Follow Cloud Wars Live! Acceleration Economy Network | Apple Podcasts | Spotify Related links to the discussion: The Digital American Dream: Life, Liberty, And The Exponential Pursuit Of Capital The Digital Creation Game: Exiting The Analog World Of Competition And Entering The Digital World Of Infinite Creation Paid To Create: How To Leverage Your Intellectual Capital To Accelerate Your Career & Achieve Financial Freedom The Mentor Myth: What Native Analogs Can Learn From Native Digitals (And Vice Versa) We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

Position yourself or be positioned has long been one of my favorite expressions. Most people think of life as something that happens to us, and that we have no agency to design our lives. It turns out, successful people like our guest Carly Malatskey, tends to think differently from that. They learn to create and seize upon opportunity before they succeed, they position themselves for success. Carly Malatskey hosts the SheLeads podcast, which is a podcast network made by women for women. Carly is also a two-time Stanford National Soccer champion, and has also started off her career as a new Venture Capital Investor at the legendary Floodgate in Silicon Valley. On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, what you’re about to experience is a real dialogue about how to seek out legendary mentors and surround yourself with legendary people. We also talk about what it takes to win championships at the highest level, and how to start your career in a strong, powerful way and much, much more. Carly Malatskey on Starting a Podcast The conversation starts off with Carly being asked as to why she started her own podcast, and the types of dialogues she wants to have in it. Carly explains that she has always loved listening to podcasts. But she also thought that as a young leader, she has the opportunity to talk to other leaders in different fields, and have a conversation from the view point of a young woman who has the youthful energy of coming out of the academe but still has a lot to learn and experience in the field. This also comes at the cusp of COVID, so she along with countless leaders and individuals are currently stuck at home and pretty much open to doing conversations over zoom and the like. It just seemed to Carly that it was the right time to take a chance at it and reach out to different types of people so they can share their experiences with her and other young aspiring leaders. SheLeads Podcast: A Podcast for Women by Women Carly shares that one aspect of SheLeads podcast is that it is from the perspective of incredible female leaders in different fields and industries. “I talked to Olympians, founders, lawyers, and I thought, “why not have this aspect where these women are also talking to someone like me?” And thinking of how they started their career, what were their first steps, or how were they thinking through their career.” – Carly Malatskey Men and Women Communicate Differently When asked about the saying that men and women communicate differently, Carly shares her thoughts on the matter. For Carly, it’s much more natural for women to sit across from someone and really just sit for hours, talking. The topics could range from their experiences this past week or so, something that worries them in the future, or their feelings about certain matters. For men, they need an activity to distract them from the fact that they’re actually sharing their thoughts with another individual. It’s almost like it’s an excuse to talk and bond over something, though it was their original intention to begin with. Carly found the question quite interesting, and was even thinking if there was a scientific reasoning for these types of behaviors. To hear more from Carly Malatskey on how to win big and start your career stronger, download and listen to this episode. Bio Carly Malatskey is an Investor at seed-stage VC firm, Floodgate. Prior to Floodgate, she earned her Bachelors in Science, Technology and Society from Stanford University and was a Mayfield Fellow at Stanford as well. She also played for the Stanford Women’s Soccer team for 4 years and won 2 National Championships! Shortly before graduating, she started a podcast called SheLeads with Carly, where she speaks to powerful female leaders from all industries. With 80+ episodes, she explores their unique paths to becoming leaders in their fields as well as the lessons they learned along the way. It is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Facebook (video version). Links Connect with Carly Malatskey! Floodgate | Twitter | Apple Podcast | Spotify | SheLeads Show on Facebook We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we talk about Pricing, and how it can be a Superpower. Our guest, Dr. Rafi Mohammed explains how pricing strategy is one of the most underused power levers in business, and why you should start using it. Dr. Rafi Mohammed has written over 90 articles on innovative pricing strategies for Harvard Business Review over the years. He is the author of The 1% Windfall: how successful companies use price to profit and grow and the art of pricing. Also, he has got a brand new HBR article out called Expand Your Pricing Paradigm. When the smartest people in business want to work strategically on pricing, they go to Dr. Rafi Mohammed. So this may well be a very, very valuable episode that could be a demarcation point for you personally and your business. Pricing is about Capturing Value This dialogue could not come at a more timely manner for Christopher, as there have been multiple questions and discussions with him with CEOs who are asking very deep questions about pricing. And while him suggesting to double the price was being outrageous, Dr. Rafi agreed to his point that Price should be a function of value. To calculate their profits, many businesses, in Dr. Rafi’s opinion, erroneously use the formula “cost times a certain percentage,” which he claims is fundamentally flawed. For Dr. Rafi, Pricing is all about capturing the value of the product or service. He gives a story about it to illustrate the point: “A little example I have of that, that sort of illustrates a story is street vendors in the middle of Central Park. The minute that it looks like it’s gonna rain, many street vendors double the price of their umbrellas. But think about that: the doubling of price has three important thing components of pricing. First of all, it shows that price really doesn’t have a correlation with cost. The second point is price is all about what is the customer’s next best alternative. So if I’m in the middle of Central Park, I can hightail it to a local CVS six or seven blocks away, then get right on to buy an umbrella. Or I can have the convenience of it right now. And the third and most important point of that very simple story is pricing is all about thinking like a customer, how’s your customer thinking?” – Dr. Rafi Mohammed Dr. Rafi Mohammed on Highlighting the Unique Value One of the common practices that is also observable in the tech and Silicon Valley industries is that they view their competitor’s price, and adjust accordingly if they think they are “better” or roughly competing on the same level. The issue that Dr. Rafi sees in this is that most companies only have a vague idea of the “advantages” that their companies have over their peers. Most do not pinpoint what makes their products or services “unique” from the rest, hence they have problems capturing and justifying the correct value for their product or services. This lack of definition also makes the market more spread out, as consumers have a harder time figuring out which one is the better alternative from each other. Highlighting the “uniqueness” or in some cases, the “premium” qualities of a certain business also helps consumers figure out if they’re getting a decent price for it, or just paying too much for a small added convenience. “Here’s also the beauty of pricing. Even if you’re not as good as is the next best alternative pricing come in to save the day? And you can sort of look at customers other eyes, they look, I get that don’t have all the bells and whistles of this of this alternative that you’re looking at. But is it really worth the 40% premium that they’re charging over what I am? And I often tell people that if consumers always want the best, we’d all be driving Rolls Royces.” – Dr. Rafi Mohammed The Value of Category Design in Pricing Christopher then addresses the elephant in the room, which is how category design can affect the value and eventually the pricing of a product or service. Dr. Rafi explains that his point before still stands, which is how radically different this new category is to its next best alternative. It’s important to communicate with the consumer that they need it because it’s radically different, rather than this is different, therefore you want it even though It pretty much functions the same. “[An example would be] going from cell phone to smartphone. I could look you in the eye and say, “Look, we have all these different features. You can use apps in the internet, and you can start to put numbers to that.” And so, I think you’ve even in it in a new category, you can base a price off of what the customers alternative would have been, which is an older category plus the extra work they’d have to do.” – Dr. Rafi Mohammed To hear more from Dr. Rafi Mohammed and how Pricing can be a Superpower, download and listen to this episode. Bio Dr. Rafi Mohammed has bee

Today marks the 300th episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. And who better to have a dialogue with on this episode than one of our very first guests in the podcast, the amazing Dushka Zapata. Dushka Zapata is a regular here on the podcast, and is one of my absolute favorite people in the world. She’s the author of many legendary books. Her most recent is called How to Write a Book: or tackle anything you find daunting, which is part of the How to be Ferociously Happy series. When she’s not writing, she has had an extraordinary career as a PR communications executive and coach. A Period of Creativity The dialogue starts off with a reversal of roles, as Dushka asks Christopher about how he has been, and congratulating him on his most recent works. Christopher attributes it to having partners in the craft in Eddie Yoon and Nicolas Cole. He feels grateful that he has been able to work with both in what he refers to as his “business writing band”. “I think in my case, on the writing side with Cole and with Eddie, when you have partners, we sort of feel like a band. We call ourselves a business writing band, in so far as we’ve committed to do work together for years, and do meaningful work over a meaningful amount of time. And while the three of us have other interests and do other things, we do the vast majority of our writing together. So what being in a creative band means is the quality of the work changes radically.” – Christopher Lochhead Christopher adds that while they have overlapping interests, they also each have expertise in other areas, which allows for a multiple perspective on what they write, and can reach out and connect to different audiences. Creativity as a Way to Connect with Yourself On the topic of connecting to people, Dushka shares that creativity in a way has a purpose of connecting you more with yourself. She also finds it wonderful that while you are doing so, other people can join you on that path of self-connection. “I feel like being connected to the part of me that creates, which in my case is mostly writing. But it can be anything. Creativity can be baking, or raising a child or anything that creates something from nothing. But I think it’s us at our most us.” – Dushka Zapata Writing as a Superpower It usually is the case for people who create is that the more they get older, the less they create. Though it does not seem like it for Dushka, as she continues to write and share new things enthusiastically as time goes on. For Duskha, she feels like she has even become more creative as she grew older. Because for her, it’s something that she genuinely enjoys doing. “My relationship with writing is idyllic. I have heard great writers like Hemmingway say that you have to bleed at the keyboard. And I have never associated writing with anything that hurts. I have never felt frustrated with it. Or I’ve never experienced writer’s block. I’ve never felt that I have to suffer at the keyboard or with my pencil. It’s just pure joy. It always has been.” – Dushka Zapata To hear more from this amazing dialogue with Dushka Zapata, download and listen to this episode. Bio After working for more than 20 years in the communications industry, Dushka noticed a theme. People find it very difficult to articulate who they are and what they do. This holds true for both companies and for individuals. For companies, this is an impediment to the development of an identity, a reputation, a brand. It makes it hard for customers to see how companies are different from their competitors. For individuals, in a new world order of personal brands, it makes it hard to develop one that feels real. This is the focus of Dushka’s work: she helps companies and people put into simple terms who they are, what they do, and where to go next. Her work comes to life through message development, presentation training, media training and personal brand development. It comes to life through executive coaching, workshops and public speaking. It comes to life through what she writes. Dushka has written ten bestseller. Her work has been consumed on Q&A site Qoura 180M times. Links Connect with Dushka Zapata! Amazon Authors | Quora | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we have a much-needed conversation with Denys Gurak of A.D.A.M., Iryna Savytska of Bank of Memories, and Dr. Amarjot Singh of Skylark Labs about the commitment to make a difference and standing up for what you believe in. We also get into how entrepreneurs and startups in Ukraine are answering the call to help their homeland from within and beyond. Denys Gurak and his company A.D.A.M. is a pioneering 3D bio printing company whose primary focus is 3D-printing bones, with the hopes of using the technology to assist medical professionals in helping injured soldiers. Iryna Savytska is the CEO of Bank of Memories, which is a blockchain startup focused on allowing families to protect the memories of all their loved ones, as well as key documents and assets for the next generation. Dr Amarjot Singh is the founder and CEO of Skylark Labs, a company that is designing a new category of next gen AI powered security products that can detect and save people from drone attacks and other threats. These three entrepreneurs and category designers prove the axiom, “Everything is the way that it is because somebody changed the way that it was.” And they are changing the way that it is. All startups on this episode are mentored by the Global Ukraine Foundation. The Global Ukraine Foundation is a community of VCs and Founders who support Ukraine and other tech founders around the world. A Snapshot of life in Ukraine The conversation begins with a question about the current conditions inside of Ukraine, and what are the immediate concerns that the public needs to know and help with if they can. Iryna shares the news of the recent rocket barrage by Russia, which was quite a dangerous yet almost routine for them nowadays. One of the things that hit the most is the current conditions in Ukraine, where they are forced to rely on generators to get electricity and water, things that people in the 21st century shouldn’t be worrying about anymore. She also describes the situation in some areas outside Kyiv, where looting and robbing houses have been happening. Most are being done by Russian soldiers, but there have also been other unscrupulous people taking advantage of the confusion around them to loot and steal. Physically away, mentally in Ukraine Denys Gurak talks about his experience living outside of Ukraine and seeing what is happening on the ground from the outside looking in. He shares that a lot of Ukrainians he knows who are also living in the US feels a certain guilt that they’re not there and physically support their families and countrymen. But he says that rather than wallow in guilt, it’s better to convert it into somethings productive and helpful for their countrymen, and do whatever they can even from a distance. When asked if it was a fucked-up thing for a young entrepreneur like themselves to be thinking about war and what to do about it, Denys has this to say: “Actually, it gives you experience and makes you stronger. I mean, you have to try to switch any situation from a problem to an opportunity. Otherwise, you can just sit at home on the couch and do nothing. And for many of us, that’s not an option now, is it?” – Denys Gurak Dealing with Drones Dr Amarjot Singh talks about drones, particularly on what they are developing at Skylark Labs. Their aim is to use drones on the side of Ukraine to help guiding systems and give a pre-emptive warning to people that Russian drones have been sighted in the vicinity. One of the issues with the usual procedures is that drones usually flight high and are hard to find using conventional means. Skylark aims to counter this with drones of their own, but focus on counteroffensive rather than escalation. That said, this technology can eventually help in surveillance and exploration of certain areas, especially once it has been developed to withstand different weather and abrasive conditions. Dr. Singh and his team are hopeful that it can be very helpful in maintaining a clear airspace in Ukraine and monitoring towns and other areas for national security. To hear more from these amazing people, their startups and how they are helping in the Ukraine effort, download and listen to this episode. Bio Denys Gurak Denys Gurak is an experienced C-level manager and serial entrepreneur. He is a CEO and Co-Founder at A.D.A.M., a 3d bioprinting company with a primary focus on 3D-printed bones. Denys’s ultimate vision is to build an on-demand personalized tissue manufacturing platform that would be a one-stop shop for transplanted tissues and organs; and, hence, to cut barriers to medical treatment for millions. Denys’s passion for biotech can be traced back to 2010, when he was leading the international relations and certification, along with EU legislation adaptation at the Ukrainian medicinal products regulatory authority (official position – director of the «GMP/GDP Center» of the State Administration of

Given recent events in the world of Cryptocurrency, almost everyone in business is currently pondering the following question: Is Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of the crypto exchange FTX, the Bernie Madoff of Crypto? Or is he merely an entrepreneur who made some horrible errors? Today at Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we are joined by the legendary Jim Campbell to examine this question. Jim Campbell is the author of the bestselling definitive book on Bernie Madoff called Madoff Talks. We did a deep dive with him on the book and on the topic of Madoff himself. Check it out if you’re interested in how Madoff manipulated everything before it all fell apart (FYD 217). On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we go deep with Jim Campbell on the similarities and the differences on old school scammers like Bernie Madoff and the disaster that is Sam Bankman-Fried and the fate of FTX. Jim Campbell on Sam Bankman-Fried: Madoff 2.0 or not? The dialogue starts off direct to the point: is Sam Bankman-Fried Madoff 2.0? Jim responds that there are similarities but also differences between the two. The biggest similarities is that both Madoff and Bankman-Fried comingled their firm and customer assets to boost the value of its company, with Bankman going so far as to use said money to create more connections in the tech, business, and even so far as government and politics. Both were also involved in something like a Ponzi scheme, though FTX allegedly took it a step further by using its own FTX tokens as collateral to further increase its own valuation, which is a form of market manipulation. The baffling behavior of Sam Bankman-Fried When you are accused of a crime as big as the one Sam Bankman-Fried is currently facing, it’s normal to avoid the public eye for a while, and make no statements unless in the presence of their lawyer, lest they say something incriminating. Which is why Sam Bankman-Fried’s behavior baffles everyone, as he goes so far as guest for certain podcasts and interviews. Yet he still had the arrogance and audacity to say that he didn’t know what he has done would result in a loss of $32 billion dollars for their investors and consumers. Jim Campbell on doing your due diligence The thing is, there were a lot of questionable aspects to FTX, once you dug into their model. Unfortunately, doing the due diligence seems to be a rare thing nowadays, due to the fear of missing out. With the boom of crypto in the latter half of the 2010s and even more so during the pandemic, investors wanted to hop it to latest coin or token, should it increase in value exponentially like what happened to Bitcoin. Some tech companies and businesses are also guilty in this regard. Take for example on what happened to Theranos. Businesses were so eager to jump in even with just a concept, because they think it’ll be more expensive to establish connections and partnerships later on. Some were dazzled by the names attached to the concept, others by the “projected” earnings should it be developed. In the end, they all lost their investments because they couldn’t be bothered to do their due diligence beforehand. To hear more from Jim Campbell, download and listen to this episode. Bio Jim Campbell is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show Business Talk with Jim Campbell. He is known for his hard-hitting interviews of leading figures from the worlds of business, politics, and sports. Known for “firsts,” Campbell snagged the first extensive interview with former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer after his resignation, the first interview with former Tyco CEO Denis Kozlowski after his release from prison, and the first broadcast interview with former stock analyst Roomy Kahn, a government informant in one of the biggest insider trading busts in American history. Campbell’s extensive corporate, consulting, and entrepreneurial business background includes roles at KPMG Consulting, Dean Witter Financial Services (now Morgan Stanley), and IBM. He is founder and president of JC Ventures, Inc., a management consulting business. Links LinkedIn: in/JimCampbell Book: Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History More about Bernie Madoff and Madoff Talks: Wall Street Journal: Bernie Madoff Dead at 82 CNBC: Bernie Madoff dies, Mastermind of the Nation’s Biggest Investment Fraud More about Sam Bankman-Fried: Exclusive: SBF secretly funded crypto news site We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

Plato once said that Necessity is the mother of Invention. This could not be anymore true with Category Design, and for our guest today, Mike Evans. Mike Evans is the founder of Grubhub, a category in food delivery service that was born from the necessity of having a multitude of options in one app, rather than having to look for it in different websites or printed pamphlets. From a budding delivery guide, Mike grew his company into a premier delivery ordering platform, and became Category King in this regard. On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we go through Mike Evans’ journey, from the spark of the idea to managing a successful startup and beyond. Mike Evans on the inception of Grubhub The conversation starts off with Mike sharing how their love for great food made them a big fan of ordering. “I live in a household with a woman who loves to cook. Because we like to eat, sometimes we don’t feel like cooking. And when I say we, I mean her – I helped mildly. And maybe it’s because we’re getting a little older or whatever, sometimes you just don’t feel like the rigmarole of going out to a restaurant and sitting down and that. And there’s this magical ability to press a button on your Star Trek communicator and have a very nice person show up at your house with some very warm food from one of your favorite local restaurants. It’s a fucking miracle.” – Mike Evans Grubhub came at a time that the home internet is still finding its foothold in everyone’s household, and is one of the first few apps you’ll find in the App Store. Necessity brings Innovation But as the idea might seem like a simple one nowadays, it’s surprising that we haven’t thought of it sooner, even as a simple website or catalog. Of course, there was the yellow pages, but it’s not like there’s a dedicated section there for restaurants, and the numbers aren’t always updated. And you still have to resort to pamphlets to find out what’s on the menu, so can be quite redundant. “I just wanted to find who delivered to me, and the Yellow Pages was a terrible, a terrible way to organize that information. It was just alphabetical sorted for the whole city and Chicago is 25 miles tall and 3 miles wide. And so the restaurants that deliver to the White Sox area, don’t deliver to the cubby area. Not useful to see it in a in a big Yellow Pages book. And so that was the original idea.” – Mike Evans While there were some restaurants that were doing online ordering at the time, it wasn’t what Mike has originally had in mind. He just wanted to have the location and contact details of a restaurant, as well as and updated menu of what they offer. Eventually they would expand Grubhub to be an ordering platform as well, but that’s a few years down the road. Mike Evans: Content comes first Now that he has the idea for it, the next step was creating the business and driving traffic into it. Mike Evans explains that the common trap among starting business that bridge two markets together is that they often cater to just one end or the other. According to Mike, before you even get to any side of the market, you first need to create great content for your business. In his case, he built out the online menu guide first for high-traffic restaurants before marketing it to potential users and showing restaurant owners that it is a viable product. He basically found a way to get value on his business that doesn’t depend on either side of the network to start. Mike also commented that there’s a common misconception that you have to be the first in order to corner a big chunk of the market. For him, being the First Best is important, as you will be used and remember much better this way by users, rather just having a clunky business model that happened to come out first. To hear more from Mike Evans and his startup journey, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Evans founded GrubHub in his spare bedroom and grew it into the multi-billion-dollar online food delivery colossus that is a household name. In Hangry, his insightful and hilarious memoir, he reveals the inside story of how a pizza craving turned into a hobby, and then became a business, and then ultimately grew into a multi-billion-dollar behemoth that changed the way we eat. Shocking everyone, at the pinnacle of startup success, Mike leaves it all behind, quitting the company he started to bike across the United States. Links Connect with Mike Evans! Mike’s Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Instagram | Hangry on Amazon Books We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

On almost every episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we strive to provide radically valuable, radically different real dialogues that hopefully make a big difference. Today, we aspire to do none of that. Because what you’re about to hear is a fun funny ADHD conversation with our guest, my buddy and Santa Cruz icon, Neil Pearlberg. So sit back and listen to two buddies have a conversation while the cocktail flows and the better judgment goes out of the window. Neil Pearlberg On podcast high jinks and Cameo The conversation begins with some light-hearted ribbing about podcasting, and how they don’t get together often anymore unless there’s a podcast. There’s also a couple of stories about their previous attempts and always having an issue every time they do so. Afterwards, Christopher brings up the idea of Cameo, and maybe hiring someone to do audiobook readings of their Category Pirates mini books. They muse if UFC fighters could be good audio books readers, and also wonder how much they would charge if they set up their own Cameo. Neil Pearlberg on high-profile guests to the podcast The conversation then shifts to the past guests they’ve had on their respective podcasts, particularly the higher-profiled ones. Neil recalls the time when he had Jimmy Panetta on as his guest, back when he was still a District Attorney and was running for Congress. He remembered how nervous he was and how he wanted to ask great questions rather than the usual ones they dish out at interviews. So as Neil’s interview winds down and he is down, to his last question, he decides to take a chance. “So at the end of my 10 questions. I’m like, fuck it, I’m just gonna ask the guy. Because I know he’s gonna say No, and I’m not afraid of the word No. So I said, “Mr. Panetta, What could you tell me? What it was like to be in the situation room with you and Obama went off to bin Laden? Can you describe to me that process?” I’m thinking, “Fuck no. Hey, that’s top secret”, you know? He answers, “Do you have half an hour?” Yes, sir. I do. And he told that story about the whole thing with the three helicopters and that black ops and Navy Seals and the whole thing was badass. was pretty cool.” – Neil Pearlberg Getting Banned on Twitter Christopher then talks about Twitter, and given its recent trends, how he got suspended for the most ridiculous reasons. One of his suspensions was from an offensive Covid tweet, where he sarcastically replies that Bill Gates has a farm that puts Covid on 5G towers (a weird conspiracy hoax perpetuated at the time). Unfortunately, Twitter customer service bots can’t detect sarcasm, and he was suspended the next day, although he got immediately reinstated once he deleted the tweet. Though given the current trend, getting banned or suspended on Twitter is almost a badge of honor for some, especially if their ban came from the most ridiculous or offhand reason. Which is sad, because despite its flaws, Twitter remains one of the few places were people could have an open discourse, provided it is executed properly. To hear more from Christopher Lochhead and Neil Pearlberg, download and listen to this episode. Bio Since September 2009, Neil Pearlberg has written over 200 articles covering the sport of surfing, as well as skateboarding, and soccer, for the Bay Area News Group, & Santa Cruz Waves. He is also the host of the “Off the Lip Radio Show”, & Hour Local Radio Show aired on Santa Cruz Radio Show KSCO AM 1080, FM 104.1, ksco.com and streamed on Santa Cruz Waves Facebook Page. Neil has also published articles in Adventure Sports Journal, National Geographic, Stand Up Paddle Board Magazine. Links Connect with Neil Pearlberg! Off the Lip Radio | Instagram | Twitter | Linkedin We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we go deep with one of my favorite people in Silicon Valley, Bruce Cleveland. Bruce Cleveland has had a career in Silicon Valley for over 40 years. And he’s pretty much done it with building companies, technologies, categories, and brands, as well as working on and with some of Silicon Valley’s best executive teams and entrepreneurs. He’s been a successful investor. He’s also a bestselling author. In fact, one of my favorite books is Traversing the Traction Gap, which he wrote. And I recommend it to all entrepreneurs. By the end of this dialogue, we hope you’ll have gained radical new insights into how you can do legendary things in your life and career. Traversing the Traction Gap The conversation begins with a discussion of Bruce Cleveland’s book, Traversing the Traction Gap. His best-selling book was praised by Silicon Valley insiders and many entrepreneurs for the information and insights it provided. Bruce shares that his reason for writing the books stems from people trying to make VC seem like a mystical thing, rather than explaining things in a clear way. “The reason I wrote it was because I began to grow pretty weary of really, really smart people not making it. Their companies not surviving for a variety of reasons. And they all tended to be pattern-matched against those reasons. I was also not happy with the venture community in its entirety, because I don’t think it was honest with a lot of these entrepreneurs as to why they weren’t getting investments, etc. And I kind of wanted to demystify those issues.” – Bruce Cleveland Bruce Cleveland on helping out entrepreneurs Another reason Bruce gives for writing out the book is that he wanted to help out fellow entrepreneurs who may be feeling lost, or guide those who are doing well into things that could make their ventures better. “The purpose and objective of this book was to share with entrepreneurs that, “hey, here’s some things you could possibly do to significantly enhance the probability of success.” You know, we only get one shot at this life, I felt like I owed it back to the entrepreneurs of the world who take all the risk as to what I saw, from my vantage point, both as an operating exec and as an investor, to why I thought things weren’t working for the vast majority of startups.” – Bruce Cleveland C3.ai and Enterprise AI The conversation then goes to Bruce’s latest ventures into category creation. Together with Tom Siebel, they founded C3.ai, which delves into enterprise AI. Bruce then talks about how it came to be, and how working on C3.ai has been so far. “I think this is one of the benefits of having a CEO who understands and believes in category creation, is that it as your job as CMO becomes much easier to do.” – Bruce Cleveland When they started conceptualizing and creating the category of enterprise AI, the term wasn’t even on the radar. While there were companies who were doing something similar to a lesser degree, it wasn’t clearly defined, and no one was pursuing rapid advancement on it. Now, it’s something that a lot of companies are looking at, and C3.ai is at the forefront of it. To hear more from Bruce Cleveland and how to have a legendary career in VC and tech, download and listen to this episode. Bio Bruce Cleveland’s career in Tech spans more than 40 years as a venture investor and operating executive. He was a first investor and a board member of Marketo, which held an IPO in 2013 and was acquired in 2018 by Adobe for $4.75B. He was an early-stage investor in other notable companies such as C3.ai, Doximity, Vlocity, and Workday. Bruce also held senior executive roles in engineering, product management and product marketing at Apple, AT&T, C3.ai, Oracle and Siebel Systems. His book, Traversing the Traction Gap, is a prescriptive guide for startups and new product initiatives within larger companies helping teams to use ‘market engineering’ techniques to successfully transition from Ideation to Scale. He attended the US Military Academy, West Point, New York, and received a BS in business administration from CSU, Sacramento. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Connect with Bruce Cleveland! LinkedIn | Twitter | Website Check out his book here: Traversing the Traction Gap We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

In observance of the Midterm Elections in the United States, we will not be dropping full normal episodes of Follow Your Different this week. And if you are American, I do hope you get out and vote. It is, in my opinion, one of the most patriotic things you can do. I also just wanted to read you a little something that I wrote recently on LinkedIn that I think is germane. Because whatever happens in the American midterms, roughly 50% of the country is going to be elated, and 50% of the country is going to be pissed. So let me do a little reading for you here. “Today, more Americans hate more Americans than ever. And yet, we all know hating someone because they disagree with you might be the biggest stupid of them all. So how did this happen in the oldest surviving democracy in human history? It’s because politicians, media, and social media, on both sides, create hate. Politicians, media, and social media, on both sides. monetize hate. We took the bait and internalize the hate, but it’s not too late. We can start really thinking. We can start really dialoguing. We can start really making a difference. American on American hate stops with us. This is something every American can be a leader on, and frankly, everybody in the world can be a leader on. American on American hate stops with us. God bless America and God bless the world.”

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow your Different, we discuss the idea of keeping a successful career that you have stopped liking a long time ago versus quitting it to find one that you find more fulfilling. And who better to have this conversation than with our guest, Pat Hiban. Pat Hiban is the bestselling author of the book, The Quitter’s Manifesto. He is an investor, author, podcaster, and a guy having a very good time living an epic life. By the end of this dialog, you will gain radical new insights to build your muscles for designing the life of your choosing, and not just do something because of a current trend. Pat Hiban on The Quitter’s Manifesto The conversation starts with Pat Hiban’s book, The Quitter’s Manifesto, particularly on the topic of why he wrote it, and his inspiration while doing so. Pat shares that during the past year or so that we were all locked up, people had time to think a lot about their work conditions, and what they want to do in life. “It was during COVID. I just heard of a lot of people making decisions to change jobs and the change the location of where they were working from. Also, we had this great resignation going on. I saw it, and I called Tim and I was like, “Tim, the one thing that I learned from you, you are my mentor in quitting, and I said, we should write a book on quitting.”” – Pat Hiban So Pat and Tim Road pooled their thoughts together and The Quitter’s Manifesto was born. Quitting is Scary Pat’s idea for the book was that it should be a tactical, step-by-step book. So first things first, they have to acknowledge the reality of things: that quitting a stable career is scary. “The first chapter in the book is called, Acknowledging the Truth. And the truth is, quitting is very, very scary. It’s like going to a cliff and jumping off.” – Pat Hiban For entrepreneurs, taking the jump is just Tuesday to them. This is because before they jump, they already have a parachute or glider ready even before they take the leap. Normal people do not always have those prepared beforehand, and jump blindly to their doom. So the aim of The Quitter’s Manifesto is to create rope swings that they can hang on each chapter, and at the end of it all, a net of safety when you finally decide to take the plunge. The Company Healthcare Trap The conversation then shifts to the topic of job fluidity being hampered by healthcare being tied to their employment. There are a lot of people who stick it out with big corporations for less pay, because of the healthcare benefits that they could have. So a lot of people end up being stuck or always teetering at the edge of quitting, until they find something with enough income that it overshadows the healthcare benefits they get. The weird thing about this is that they may already be earning a lot more monthly than that potential “healthcare benefit” might provide, but they still hedge because they don’t want to let go of that supposed “security blanket”. “I talked to a guy yesterday that had a family health care plan, it was worth $2,000 a month. And he wouldn’t quit his work because of it, even though he was flipping real estate on the side, making 400 grand a year. He wouldn’t go to flipping real estate full time, just because he wanted that healthcare. And then he finally did quit, and he realized how minuscule that the healthcare actually was, it didn’t matter.” – Pat Hiban To hear more from Pat Hiban and The Quitter’s Manifesto, download and listen to this episode. Bio Pat Hiban As a young child, Pat Hiban was labeled “learning disabled with speech deficiencies” and put into special classes. Through his teenage years, Pat fell forward through life and tried everything he could to find his purpose, including 2 years as a 4th string player (benchwarmer) on the lacrosse team. He graduated from college with a degree in sociology and a 2.6 GPA. After being turned down for several corporate sales positions out of college, Pat jumped into real estate and sold 10 homes his first year (6 condos, 1 house, and 3 mobile homes); he earned a total of $13,200. Through the consistent application of 6 steps, Pat grew his real estate business each and every year. In 2004, he became the #1 RE/MAX agent in the world. In 2006, he was honored with the same recognition by Keller Williams Realty. Now, having sold over 4,000 homes and over one-billion dollars in volume, Pat is one of only a handful of residential real estate agents internationally to hold the title of Billion Dollar Agent. Pat is also an avid real estate investor, a venture capitalist, and the founder of Rebus University: an online training platform for real estate agents who want the secrets that most successful agents try to keep to themselves. On average, Pat takes 153 days off each year to spend with his wife of 18 years and his two daughters. In his book, he outlines the exact process he follows to earn more working less so you can too. He lives in a suburb

Most of us are interested in what is happening in the electric energy revolution. So it is logical that people want to understand how this different future will impact ourselves, our families, our communities, our work, and our world. On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow your Different, we talk to Bill Nussey to clear the air about renewable energy. Bill Nussey is a best-selling author, and his book, Freeing Energy is a fact-based, clear-eyed look at how innovators are using what he calls a local approach to solar to develop whole new categories. What you’re about to discover is how learnings from the information technology and entrepreneurship world are now driving breakthroughs, in energy and in specific solar energy. We go right at some of the myths about solar energy, and the trillions in New Category potential that Bill sees for entrepreneurs and investors in solar energy. Bill Nussey on Legacy Power Technology Bill starts of the conversation by describing how outdated the current grid system that we are using to power homes and businesses around the country. He describes past inventors like Graham Bell and Wright Brothers, and how proud they would be if they were to see how far their inventions have evolved over time. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the technology running our power grids. “If I were to go back to Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, any of the fathers of the original grid 100 years ago and bring them forward. They would look around and say, “WTF, this is the exact same system.” Every other part of the industry & technology has been completely changed, yet this is the same. – Bill Nussey Why Nothing has Changed All of this could be traced back to the business model being outdated, yet no one is taking a huge leap in changing. That’s because they are afraid of losing the monopoly they have over distribution, should their new venture fail. Every one of them is risk averse and more than happy to just keep the status quo. Though it might look broken at times, it’s not to say that the grid can’t handle the capacity. It’s just that overall consumption is steadily growing, especially during peak hours when everyone is at home, using their devices and charging up their EVs. That said, this also fuels the rhetoric of how monopolies work, which is “if it is not noticeably broke, then we don’t have to fix it.” Myths about Renewable Energy Bill then talks about the general misconceptions and myths surrounding renewable energy, particularly those who insist that it is worse than what we currently have now. One major misconception that still prevails is that creating the materials to harvest renewable energy is simply too expensive and generates a lot of waste that it supposedly should prevent. The main target of this argument was solar panels, which back then was costly to make, and usually have a long Return of Investment (ROI) for potential adopters. While it may have been a reasonable argument in the past, nowadays technology and further development has made it so that manufacturing these materials don’t require as much energy and resources as it did before. If you are willing to spend a little extra, you can even have the manufacturer create 0% net carbon panels for you. New technology will continue to make more efficient, and more affordable things in the future. It’s all a matter of if and when you are willing to adapt to the new circumstances. To hear more from Bill Nussey and how the Renewable Energy category can thrive in the near future, download and listen to this episode. Bio Bill Nussey spent most of his career as a tech CEO. His first company, which he co-founded in high school, provided graphics software for early, text-based personal computers. Bill’s second company, Da Vinci Systems, was started out of his college dorm room and grew to serve millions of users across 45 countries. Later, he spent several years as a venture capitalist with Greylock. In 1998, he left the firm to become CEO of a portfolio company, iXL, which went public and grew to $500 million in revenue. After iXL, he joined Silverpop as CEO. The company grew to nearly $100 million in recurring revenue and became a global leader in cloud-based marketing. In 2014, IBM acquired the company and made it the foundation of the IBM Marketing Cloud. Shortly after the acquisition, Bill was promoted to IBM’s VP Corporate Strategy, helping the CEO and SVPs set IBM’s strategic roadmap. Bill’s companies have created thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in value. Bill’s journey into clean energy began with a TED Talk, which grew into 100+ articles and, most recently, the #1 ranked renewable energy podcast called The Freeing Energy Podcast. All of this supported and ultimately led to his upcoming book called Freeing Energy. Supported by 320 interviews across the world, the book’s mission is to help readers understand a powerful new approach to acce

On today’s episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, what you’re about to hear is a story of challenge, loss, courage, and triumph. We’re also releasing it now in part because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So join us as we have a meaningful dialogue with our guest, Katrin Van Dam. Katrin Van Dam is a successful executive in the media business, and she’s focused on content for kids and families. About three years ago, doctors told her that she had to have both breasts removed because of cancer. What she did next will surprise and will likely inspire you because she chose a different path. By the end of this dialogue, I think you’ll gain some legendary insights into a problem that almost all of us will be touched by. Katrin van Dam on Breast Cancer The dialogue starts of with Christopher sharing that as people stay longer in this world, they experience a lot of expected and unexpected things. One of the unexpected things would be cancer and other serious ailments. Katrin van Dam replies that it is not as unexpected as we all thought. Given that one in eight women get diagnosed with breast cancer. So rather than unexpected, it’s something to be aware of and get checked for every once in a while, after a certain age. When Katrin was diagnosed with breast cancer, she found that both her breast had an invasive type of cancer. So rather than going for radiation, she opted to nip the problem in the bud and went with mastectomy. Being Presented with Options The part that Katrin found perplexing afterwards was when she found out that there was an option to not have breast reconstruction after undergoing mastectomy. Most would’ve probably taken reconstruction as part of the process, rather than an option. But Katrin also clarifies that she’s not advocating that everyone not to have reconstruction, but consider if it is really something they want. “I want to be clear about this. It’s a tremendous boon to somebody who wants to have breast mount reconstruction. For many, many women, that is a great way to be able to sort of move on from what’s happened to them and to reconnect with their bodies. And I don’t begrudge anyone that, but knowing that it was not for me.” – Katrin van Dam She also points out that Breast Mound Reconstruction is not a one-and-done thing. It is normal for those pursuing it to have multiple operations to have the desired outcome that they want, and as with any operation, each one of those presents risks. This is why Katrin is pissed that women aren’t given all the options upfront, and some have gone through painful and risky operations for something that they may have not wanted in the first place. Making an Informed Decision Katrin brings up a conversation she had with her husband when she informed him that she wasn’t getting the reconstruction. It surprised her that he did not give his immediate support on the matter, which got Katrin thinking if she missed something. In retrospect, Katrin realized that they were not operating on the same knowledge base. She who has had time to research on the complications and risks of reconstruction can confidently say that she doesn’t want one, as compared to her husband who has not delved into the matter as deep as she did. Another thing was that they were working on different assumptions: him thinking that having no breast would be a constant reminder of the cancer, while Katrin not caring about it at all. In the end, Katrin realized that she could’ve communicated better, not just on the final decision, but on her process on how she got to that decision. To hear more from Katrin van Dam on how to be Flat and Happy, download and listen to this episode. Bio Katrin van Dam has worked in children’s media and licensing for nearly thirty years and is currently a creative executive at a major media company. A few months after her debut Young Adult novel was published, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. After getting a taste of the societal pressure to have reconstruction, she felt compelled to provide a resource for women who are facing this difficult decision. FLAT AND HAPPY, her first work of nonfiction, came out of that commitment. Katrin lives with her husband in New York City. She is an avid theatergoer and enjoys hosting raucous dinner parties and traveling. Katrin is also passionate about good food, storytelling, and saving our beautiful, besieged planet (not necessarily in that order). She is a graduate of Yale University. Links Connect with Katrin van Dam! Website | Flat & Happy More information about Breast Cancer: www.cancer.org We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

US President Joe Biden recently warned about the possibility of Armageddon. He said “we have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.” On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we discuss the current situation in the US and around the world with All In Podcast Rain Man, David Sacks. David Sacks is a legendary entrepreneur, category and company builder, and now venture capitalist. He’s the founder of a VC firm called Craft Ventures. He was the founding Chief Operating Officer of PayPal founder and CEO of Yammer, which sold to Microsoft for well over a billion dollars. He has been an early investor in companies like Facebook, Twitter, Uber, SpaceX, Airbnb, Slack, and more. And today, he’s also incredibly well known as one of the CO hosts of the All In podcast. So listen in to keep up with current affairs, and you might learn a thing or two on how to prepare for the future. David Sacks on Biden’s comment about Armageddon We begin on the recent comments that Biden made about Armageddon. When asked why he thinks Biden’s thoughts went that way, David’s reply was: “My reaction to this was the man who can’t see two steps ahead, suddenly realizes where his policy is leading. We’re the ones who have refused to engage in any sort of diplomacy or any sort of negotiated settlement. Our strategy is not to provide them with an off ramp.” – David Sacks But David also thinks that Biden acknowledging this is a step in the right direction. “That being said, I still thought it was incredibly useful for Biden to say what he said, because the first step of getting out of a problem is acknowledging that you’re in one.” – David Sacks David Sacks on Tactical Nukes & Risking Nuclear War There has also been talks of using tactical nukes to quickly resolve the situation. David does not agree with this, saying that using nukes at this point just opens up the risk of a nuclear war. “If a tactical nuclear weapon gets used in Ukraine, then the whole world will be different. This thing could escalate very quickly into a larger scale nuclear war. You had Petraeus on the Sunday shows last weekend saying that if Putin uses attack nukes, the US should respond by hitting every Russian military target in Ukraine? Well, again, think two steps ahead. How do you think the Russians would react to that, given that they clearly don’t have the military might to stand up to the US in terms of conventional arms?” – David Sacks If countries start using nukes, then it signals that the former agreements against it can be violated with impunity. And that is a dangerous ground to tread. Prediction or Deterrent Returning to Biden’s statement about Armageddon, David suggests that, rather than being a prediction, this statement, along with Petreaus’, could be interpreted as a warning or deterrent against Russia going nuclear. The problem is that the reasons why the Russians might escalate to the use of nuclear weapons is because they’re losing the war by conventional means. Add to the fact that Putin doesn’t have an off ramp that lets him keep his reign. Because if he loses this war, or doesn’t gain anything significant from it, it is very likely that he will be forced out of office by the public. Putin is pretty much acting like a cornered beast at this point. The scary part is that you don’t know what that cornered beast might do as a last-ditch effort to escape. To hear more from David Sacks and the current situation of the world, download and listen to this episode. Bio David Sacks is co-founder and general partner at Craft. He has been a successful founder and investor for over two decades, building and investing in some of the most iconic companies in tech. He has invested in over 20 unicorns, including Affirm, AirBnB, Bird, ClickUp, Eventbrite, Facebook, Houzz, Lyft, OpenDoor, Palantir, Postmates, Reddit, Slack, SpaceX, Twitter, Uber, and Wish. David is also co-host of the popular “All-In Podcast” with Chamath Palihapitiya, David Friedberg, and Jason Calacanis. David first got involved in the technology industry in 1999 when he joined early-stage startup Confinity, later renamed PayPal. Serving as the company’s first product leader and then as COO, David built and ran many of the company’s key teams, including product management and design, sales and marketing, business development, international, customer service, fraud operations, and HR. He pivoted the product from beaming money on Palm Pilots to emailing money on the web, and introduced the business model. When the company IPO’d on the Nasdaq in 2002, David was 29 — the median age of the “PayPal Mafia” executives listed on the S-1. PayPal was later acquired by eBay and eventually spun back out into a publicly traded company (under ticker symbol PYPL). In 2008, David founded enterprise collaboration company Yammer, which was one of the first SaaS startups to apply consumer growth tact

Most people want to be welcoming of others and believe in equality for all human beings. But we’re all a little biased. On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we go deep on the topic of bias with our guest, Jessica Nordell. Jessica Nordell is a bestselling author who has written a book called The End of Bias. Jessica’s book has won a boatload of awards, including being named a Best Book of the Year by the World Economic Forum. What you’re about to experience is a real different dialogue about what it really takes to end bias. Jessica Nordell on Bias and Racism The conversation starts off on the topic of Bias, and how it relates to racism. Christopher asks if racism and bias served a purpose for humanity or not, to which Jessica replies: “Racism certainly emerged because it had a very specific social, political and economic purpose, which was to enable the existence of chattel slavery. In order to justify and sort of perpetuate the existence of that inhumane practice, what we would look at now as a criminal, criminally inhumane enterprise, Racism had to exist as a as a way to justify it. Because if a group of people are seen as lower on a social hierarchy, then it’s much easier to justify that kind of inhumane behavior.” – Jessica Nordell Jessica Nordell on the Origin of Racism Following up on the topic, Jessica was asked if these ideas of being superior over a certain race or gender started existing after a certain period, or did humanity have these notions from the start. Jessica explains that this particular question was one of the things she really dug into in her research for her book, The End of Bias. One of the things she found was that in ancient Egyptian civilization, there was no notion of skin color prejudice. There were even evidence of non-ethic people rising on the Egyptian political administration, which suggests a high intermingling of people in the region. This suggests that contemporary racism was invented at a certain point in time for a specific purpose. Jessica Nordell on Male-Female Bias When asked if it was the same for Male & Female biases, Jessica shares that Patriarchy predates the written word, which means the position of men above women is a really old school of thought. But there have been civilizations and ethnicities that flip that over its head. For example, in ancient Mesopotamia women are associated with divinity. There was a sense of women being associated with authority and leadership, which has eroded over time. So it’s hard to find the origin of Patriarchy, because by the time we have writing, it was already there, and men were doing the writing. To hear more from Jessica Nordell and what it takes to actually end bias, download and listen to this episode. Bio Jessica Nordell is an award-winning author, science writer, and speaker known for blending rigorous science with compassionate humanity. Her first book, The End of Bias: A Beginning, shortlisted for the 2022 Columbia Journalism/Lukas Prize for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2022 NYPL Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the 2021 Royal Society Science Book Prize, is the culmination of fifteen years of reporting and writing on the subject of bias and discrimination and how to solve it, for publications including the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the New Republic. The End of Bias was named a Best Book of the Year by the World Economic Forum, Greater Good, AARP, and Inc and is currently being used by organizations from newsrooms and startups to universities, healthcare organizations, and faith communities to solve some of their biggest cultural challenges. Deeply engaged with connecting across differences to expand and heal the human experience, Nordell’s own early-career experience with workplace bias inspired her passion for tackling discrimination and for seeing others in their full complexity and humanity. With degrees in physics from Harvard and poetry from the University of Wisconsin, Nordell undertakes pioneering collaborations across disciplines; her work with computer scientists to simulate the real-world impact of workplace bias became a 2021 viral NYT story. Nordell is the recipient of a Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television, was named a Best New Poet by Tracy K. Smith, and was a 2022 featured speaker at SXSW. She is a direct descendent of the last woman to be tried for witchcraft in the state of Massachusetts, and is an amateur rock drummer. Links Connect with Jessica Nordell! Website | Twitter | Instagram Read her book: The End of Bias We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we talk about something that every single one of us has, very few of us think or talk about, and it’s something that can have a profound impact on our lives. So let’s talk about Secrets with our guest, Michael Slepian. Michael Slepian is an Associate Professor of Leadership and Ethics at the legendary Columbia University. He’s also a recipient of the Rising Star Award from the Association of psychological science. Michael is considered by many to be the leading expert on the Psychology of Secrets. He’s got a brand-new best seller out called The Secret Life of Secrets, which we will get into this episode and much more. Michael Slepian on Secrets The conversation starts out on secrets, and how we all keep them. As to why we have secrets, Michael was asked if there were pros and cons in keeping secrets from people. “So the pros, you are protecting something, you might be protecting your reputation. And in your own mind, you might be protecting someone’s feelings, you might be protecting a relationship with someone. Whatever you think is the outcome of people learning about this thing, you’re preventing that.” – Michael Slepian But to keep a secret means you are essentially cutting yourself off from other people, so they couldn’t share your burdens or provide emotional support if that is part of what you are keeping your secret from. “You’re blocking yourself from the availability of getting help from others. You can’t get their emotional support; you can’t get their guidance and advice.” – Michael Slepian Why We Keep Secrets One reason that we keep secrets is that we often feel ashamed of those secret. In response, we bury it deep and isolate it from the public, so no one will know. But this process of isolation also keeps it from receiving any validation if the secret is something to be actually ashamed of, or something that one only thought would be unacceptable. “We’ll feel isolated with those secrets, we’ll feel inauthentic for keeping them and uncertain that we’re doing the right thing. But all these negative feelings are tempered easily when we start talking to people and getting the help that we need.” – Michael Slepian Having Secrets is Natural Michael further explains that having secrets is normal, and that people tend to keep the same secrets. On his research that shows 38 common categories of secrets, an average person has 13 secrets that fall on that list, and 97% of people would have more than one secret that is in that list. “We all keep the same kinds of secrets. As isolating as a secret can feel, we all have similar ones. And so we’re not alone in the secrets we have.” – Michael Slepian To hear more from Michael Slepian and the secret about Secrets, download and listen to this episode. Bio Michael Slepian is the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Associate Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia University. A recipient of the Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science, he is the leading expert on the psychology of secrets. Slepian has authored more than fifty articles on secrecy, truth, and deception. His research has been covered by The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, the BBC, NPR, and more. Links Connect with Michael Slepian! Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Columbia bio Check out his new book: The Secret Life of Secrets We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

It is said that the people who have the most legendary careers are what you might think of as other-directed. The key to a successful life is to remove your joy blockers, and the goal of a career should be to, as Warren Buffett says, dance your way to work. We talk about all these and more on Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different with our guest David Novak. David Novak is the co-founder and was the CEO for 17 years of the legendary Yum! brands. Yum! is the world’s largest restaurant company, which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, and many others. David also has an amazing podcast called How Leaders Lead, and a new book called Take Charge of You: how self-coaching can transform your life and your career. Learn how be a legendary leader, executive, and entrepreneur from the best by listening in to this episode. David Novak on Looking Back on his Career The conversation begins with David’s new book, and how it is a window to his career and life, and the interesting events and tidbits that go along with it. “I was the first kid in my family to get a college education, got a degree in journalism, didn’t get an MBA, ended up becoming a CEO, and have the time of my life building a fantastic company. Now I’m in my next phase of my life where I’m fortunate enough to be able to spend time on the things that truly give me joy.” – David Novak Nowadays, David focuses on Leadership Development, and shares his thoughts and insights in his podcast, How Leaders Lead by David Novak. He also has time to write books, which has been a big passion of his. David Novak on Reaching One’s Goals and What Comes After The topic shifts on how most of the books and guides in entrepreneurship that is published are focused on personal growth and development, but there are only a few on what happens when you achieve those goals. Because life doesn’t stop when you reach those goals – there has to be something else to direct your passion into. David agrees and adds to it that after proving yourself and learning to manage and eventually lead people, the goal post shifts ever so slightly, and you find other ways to draw success. “Well, I have to tell you, that a lot of the research out there says that, you know, the people that are the happiest are other directed. What I’ve found is that the more other directed I got, the more I focused on other people’s success more than my own, the more success I ultimately got. And, you know, it’s kind of an amazing thing.” – David Novak On the Current State and Rising Up Again The conversation then goes to the current state of things, where inflation and the looming threat of recession is on the rise. David comments that there is current a huge divide, particularly in the haves and have nots, especially in the environment that they are in. That is not to say that there aren’t any people who thrive in harsher environments, but David wishes that people would at least have the chance to nurture themselves and grow. “I hope one day, my goal is somehow from all the leadership development I do that there’ll be one person that will rise up in this country and inspire people again.” – David Novak To hear more from David Novak and how you can take charge of you, download and listen to this episode. Bio David Novak, Founder/former CEO Yum! Brands & NY Times Bestselling Author Starting with an undergrad degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri, David grew from his first job as a copywriter at a small ad agency to become a New York Times best-selling author, co-founder and former CEO and Chairman of Yum! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut), and now, founder of the non-profit organization, David Novak Leadership, Inc. and host of top-rated leadership podcast, How Leaders Lead with David Novak. David was named “CEO of the Year” by Chief Executive magazine, one of the world’s “30 Best CEOs” by Barron’s, one of the “Top People in Business” by FORTUNE and one of the “100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World” by Harvard Business Review. And he’s passed it on. Today, there are over 26 CEOs of major American corporations that David has coached or led earlier in their careers. Links Connect with David Novak! LinkedIn | Podcast | Twitter How Leaders Lead | How Leaders Lead – Twitter Read the book: Take Charge of You We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we talk about the idea of startup capital, how to have an exponential career, and maybe even a new way to think about the future with our guest, Mike Maples, Jr. Mike Maples, Jr. is the co-founder of Floodgate Capital. Floodgate has led early-stage investments in companies like Twitter, Lyft, and much more. His podcast, Starting Greatness, is truly one of the greatest business podcasts there is. That said, let’s get into the discussion of how to think about the future. From Value Creators to Rent Seekers Mike Maples, Jr. dives into the idea of the industries and business leader’s mindset and drive for creating new ideas or the lack thereof. At the time when the animating forces behind industrial economy was mass production, mass distribution, and eventually mass computation, the focus in new technology and ideas revolved around improving performance. Over time, it evolved into developing networks, whether physical or via software, and value was derived on how vast your network reached. Fast forward to recent years, in which Mike started noticing that there was a disconnect with most of the ideas from the founder of a company, to its current inheritors. A lot of them are starting to focus on creating a status quo, rather than moving forward. As a result, a lot of people in business make money through financial engineering rather than things that improve productivity. “They’ve transition from being value creators to rent seekers. And they’ve started to become more interested in preserving their institutional power than in fulfilling their mission to their constituents.” – Mike Maples, Jr. Mike Maples, Jr. on Nurturing an Economy that Rewards Productivity According to Mike, the issue nowadays is that people make money from the market without creating new ideas, and are incentivized to do it in the current financial economy. In order to become a successful society, we need to incentivize productive behaviors to move forward. “So hedge fund guy borrows money close to 0%, and then buys IBM stock or loans at IBM so they can buy back their own stock. And since they know they’re gonna do that they front run it. And so Okay, did any jobs get created in that? No. Did any new products get created in that? No. But people who played financial engineering games did well. And what you want is an economy that is not financialized. You want an economy that rewards productivity gains, because fundamentally all abundance and standard of living advancement comes from people being more productive.” – Mike Maples, Jr. Engaging in fakery and keeping this charade of an economy will just lead to a cycle of economic bubbles and bursts in the future. Startup Capitalism If the current system won’t lend itself to shifting back to a productive economy, then the third option is to exit. Though it was not as feasible before as it is now, Bitcoin and other non-Fiat currencies have given us the chance to break free and start over, without being tied down by Fiat economies. That said, Mike has been playing around the idea of a Startup Capitalism. As with most startups, they focus on creating a different future than just following the current flow of things. Which is why startups are born from the pursuit of new ideas, and could be the drive to a more productive economy that Mike wanted. And you don’t necessarily need to start a new company to create a startup. It could be born inside a bigger one, much like the iPhone inside Apple. “At the very least, you get to exercise the option of doing things in a different way. “– Mike Maples, Jr. To hear more from Mike Maples, Jr. and his ideas on how to Rethink the Future, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples, Jr. is the Co-Founder and Partner at Floodgate, the host of the Starting Greatness podcast and a Co-conspirator with awesome Startup Founders. Links Connect with Mike! Website: Floodgate |Twitter: @m2jr | LinkedIn: in/Maples | Podcast: Starting Greatness We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, our guests Lauren Dunford and Kevin Maney discuss how Category Designers work to create the future. On this topic, we also talk about how do you create a company that makes a difference and makes money at the same time. Lauren Dunford is the cofounder and CEO of an extraordinarily exciting new company called Guidewheel. They are a mission to empower all the world’s factories to reach sustainable peak performance. Kevin Maney is a legendary bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He’s also the co-founder of Category Design Advisors, where he helps companies create and dominate new market categories. He is also one of the co-authors of Play Bigger, and one of the Godfathers of Category Design. If you care about building companies that changed the future, I think you’re gonna love everything about this episode. Lauren Dunford and Kevin Maney on Category Design The conversation starts off with an explanation on how Lauren Dunford and Kevin Maney met, and the work they have done together on category design. Kevin knows Lauren from the work they have done on the category design project on Lauren’s company, Guidewheel. Kevin was really interested with Lauren’s work, as he explained: “There are actually two tracks of reasons that I very interested in Lauren, and her company guide wheel and one is the category design aspect, which I feel like was a very exciting project. But then also, there’s another track of the book that I wrote that came out earlier this year called Intended Consequences. The idea behind that book was that there’s been lots of conversation out there about responsible innovation and how a company’s ESG had companies to do good and everything. And hang on. And we were talking about the fact that there wasn’t really a real playbook for like, if you wanted to start a company that was like this.” – Kevin Maney As he was writing the book, Kevin realized that a lot of conversations he had with Lauren Dunford line up with the ideas that they were talking about in the book; mainly how to setup a company that from the beginning, will be a company that is profitable and does something really good. Lauren Dunford on Guidewheel We then pivot to a discussion on Lauren’s company, Guidewheel, and the work they are doing to make the business a force for good. Lauren and her co-founder were undergrads in Stanford, where they ran competing climate change groups. Afterwards, they consolidated their efforts and aimed to create a profitable business objective that still had a massive impact on climate change. “We work with factories, and the category we’re building is Factory Ops. Our goal is let’s have all of the world’s 10 million factories, having the tools to reach sustainable peak performance, if we can do that at scale huge for their businesses. And then, of course, your massive impact for the planet because of how much emissions results from how we make those guitars and everything else on the planet.” – Lauren Dunford Lauren describes the category of Factory Ops as making the tools of the biggest factories run efficiently, so there are less waste and by-products. This in turn meant that companies will have the same, if not more, output while contributing less to factors that cause climate change. To hear more from Lauren Dunford and Kevin Maney on how to create a company that makes a difference and makes money at the same time, download and listen to this episode. Bio Lauren Dunford Lauren Dunford is the co-founder and CEO of Guidewheel, on a mission to empower all the world’s factories to reach sustainable peak performance and recognized by the World Economic Forum as one of the 100 most promising companies globally poised to have a significant impact on business and society.   Kevin Maney Kevin Maney is a bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He’s also the co-founder of Category Design Advisors where he helps companies create and dominate new market categories. He has been writing about technology for 30 years, has interviewed most of the tech pioneers you can name, and brings broad and deep context to Category Design conversations. He is co-author of the book Play Bigger, and has been an A-list writer and thinker about technology for 25 years. Kevin’s most recent book is UnHealthcare: A Manifesto for Health Assurance, which proposes a new category of healthcare. It is co-authored with Hemant Taneja of General Catalyst and Stephen Klasko, CEO of Jefferson Health. Kevin and Hemant also co-authored the 2018 book Unscaled: How AI and a New Generation of Upstarts Are Creating the Economy of the Future. His other books include The Two-Second Advantage (a 2011 New York Times best seller), Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On and Others Don’t, and The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson Sr. and the Making of IBM. Kev

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, our guest Al Ramadan talks about what’s at stake when it comes to category battles, how you can spot the category challengers who can become category kings and queens, and what they need to become category leaders that earn 76% of the economics. There comes a time in every startup’s life, where they face an epic, typically 18-to-36-month category battle. As we reported in our first book Play Bigger, the company that wins that battle earns 76% of the total value created in the category as measured by the market caps for public companies and valuations for private companies. What that means is, in any space, one company earns two thirds of the economics, which makes that category battle, which is typically 18 to 36 months long, arguably the highest stakes game in business. This episode will be available on both Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different and Lochhead on Marketing, because we think it is that important that everyone must hear about it. So without further ado, let’s dive into this dialogue. Play Bigger: Looking back, and its impact today Al Ramadan comes into the conversation bearing data about the businesses and companies we’ve observed when writing Play Bigger, as well as some new players that have achieve the same feat since then. To recap, Al Ramadan and Christopher Lochhead wrote a book back in 2014 called Play Bigger, which talks about category design and how it can make you become a category leader in your chosen space. One of the things they’ve found out in the course of their research is that Category Leaders tend to corner 76% of the value of said space. Though when they wrote Play Bigger, the world was nowhere near as digitized as it is today. So a lot of the research was based on tech companies back then. But now, as more and more categories are behaving like tech categories due to digital scalability and digital reach, these findings are becoming true for every category. Category Kings to Category Leaders Al Ramadan shares that he and his team looked into the 35 Category Kings that they have observed back in Play Bigger, and check on their current situation in the market sphere. In Play Bigger, we originally published a set of research and tracked 35 Category Kings in the tech space and their market caps at the time were 465 billion and those same companies today are now worth 1.9 trillion. “If you track what happened to those 35 kings, as we call them back then, between the year of 2014 to the year of 2021. You want to know what the numbers are? At the time in 2014, the entire pool of the 35 category kings were valued at 465 billion. They are now valued at 1.9 trillion. That is, they’ve created more than $1,000,001.5 in market cap and the annual for those people who care about this stuff like Investors and Financial people. The compound interest growth rate of those kings. Market cap wise, is 22.46%.” – Al Ramadan Given this data, it begs the question of how many understand that this is the new dynamic, and how many entrepreneurs and marketers still think that it’s a big leap of faith to follow. To hear more from Al Ramadan and how Category Kings can become legendary Category Leaders, download and listen to this episode. Bio Al Ramadan is a co-founding partner of Play Bigger Advisors and coauthor of the book, Play Bigger. He also co-founded Quokka Sports, which revolutionized the way people experience sport online. Al then joined Macromedia and Adobe, where he spent almost ten years changing the way people think about great digital experiences. At Adobe, Al led teams that created the Rich Internet Applications category and helped develop the discipline of experience design. In the early ‘90s he applied data science to Australia’s Americas Cup — an innovation in sports performance analytics. His work in sailing led directly to the idea for Quokka. He lives in Santa Cruz, California. Links Connect with Al Ramadan! Play Bigger | LinkedIn | Category Contenders We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, our guest Alexander Rose asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks. We go deep into that question, and a myriad of other topics in today’s dialogue. Alexander Rose is the executive director of the Long Now Foundation. And their mission is to foster long-time, long-term thinking. And they’re probably most known for the building of this massive 10,000-year clock with the support of Jeff Bezos. If you are anyone who cares about products, if you’re an engineer, a product leader, or frankly, anyone else who cares about creating products, or a different future, you’re going to love this conversation. Alexander Rose on The Long Now Foundation The conversation starts off with Alexander describing the purpose of The Long Now Foundation and The Long Now Idea itself. It was started by a set of both technologist and artists, who are part of the earlier generation of Silicon Valley. “It was a group of people that were realizing that by the kind of fetishization of speed that was happening, especially around Silicon Valley, in technology, circles, that we were taking a lot of things off the table. So things like climate change, if you were only given a few years to solve something like that, you basically won’t even start. But if you are willing to think about something, at least in terms of centuries or generations, you could imagine how you might solve these large challenges that humanity is now facing.” – Alexander Rose Brian Eno, one of the founders of the Long Now Foundation, coined the term, and he really stretched it out to the 10,000 years we’ve had, to the 10,000 years in the future, making it a 20,000-year story. Humanity 10,000 Years into the Future The focus then shifts into the story of what will happen 10,000 years into the future. For Alexander, he believes that humanity will still be there, but it depends on what we do today if they are thriving or struggling by then. “I very much believe that humanity is going to be around for the next 10,000 years. The question is, are we making decisions that are going to help those future generations right now? As Jonas Salk originally asked: Are we being good ancestors, or are we being bad ancestors? And how can we be better ones?” – Alexander Rose Alexander then proceeds to discuss our ongoing report card on the matter. Alexander Rose on Thinking of the “Good Old Days” Talking about the past, particularly the notion of the good old days, Alexander firmly thinks that we definitely have it better today than in the distant past. It is just that, we are used to modern comforts and the ever-growing technology at the palm of our hands, that we take those things for granted and focus on the bad things todays and reminisce on the good memories from the past. Alexander describes it like a pendulum swinging back and forth. While there are swings on both directions, the momentum for the forward / positive swing is oftentimes bigger than the backwards or negative one. Though granted in today’s climate, it’s hard to see the positives than the negatives. While the past would be nice to visit, a person from this time would find it a horrendous place to live in, minus the comforts that they have been accustomed to. To learn more about Alexander Rose and The Long Now Foundation and mindset, download and listen to this episode. Bio Alexander Rose Links Connect with Alexander Rose! The 10,000-year clock We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

Today’s episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different is a love letter to our military and veterans. Our guest Christian Anschuetz shares his story of how he looked up to these brave heroes growing up, and how he became one of the heroes that serve our country. Christian Anschuetz retired from the U.S. military as a Marine Captain. After his service, he had a long and successful career as both an entrepreneur and an S&P 500, Senior C-level executive. After hanging up his uniform as and executive and advisor, he continues to serve as one of the leaders of the organization called Project RELO and will be spearheading an upcoming endeavor called Task Force Tribute. If you are interested in his story, and the story of thousands of active military and veterans who have served our country, stay tuned to this episode. Christian Anschuetz & the Legendary Humans of the US Military Imagine being 12 years old at home with your dad, as you watch a strange car pull up in front of your house. Two men in uniform get out, and one’s a chaplain. This is an experience only Goldstar families know. This was also the moment a 12-year-old Christian Anschuetz, learned that his older brother and hero, Norman, had died serving his country. Years later, Christian finds himself joining the military himself. He did so to honor the memory of his brother, and the love of country in his heart. He eventually became a Marine Captain and went to serve for several years. We often forget that military service in our country is completely voluntary. So it takes a tough and brave soul to go through all the harsh training, and eventually deploy to dangerous and unknown territories. To sacrifice so much to serve speaks volumes to their love and loyalty to our country. After Christian retired from service, he found himself in the entrepreneurial side of things, where he utilized his expertise in advising and training business leaders and executives on how to hone their leadership skills. Project RELO Christian talks about Project RELO, a veteran non-profit that he founded. He provides a quick description of what they do, and how they help hone the nation’s top CEOs and management teams to think different. “What we do is we take some of the nation’s top executive leadership of fortune 500, CEOs and their management teams, and we provide leadership training to them. But what we do is we actually go on to military bases, and we conduct full military operations for three days. We do everything from convoy operations, communications, weapons handling, etc.” – Christian Anschuetz The beauty of Project RELO is that the people teaching these leadership training are transitioning military members. So it not only trains future business leaders to focus and learn leadership skills from another perspective, it also helps these transitioning military members and veterans have an idea on how they can use their previous experience to find work, or even build up new careers. Task Force Tribute Christian then talks about Task Force Tribute, which is a huge undertaking that Project RELO will be undertaking soon. One thing he pointed out was that not a lot of people know that people they mingle with on a day-to-day basics is a veteran, or is serving in some capacity in the military. Part of it is the depiction of what military does in the media. So when they eventually leave the service, there are certain preconceptions on what they could do for a career or business moving forward. As said earlier, Project RELO helps shine a light to both business leaders and military members that these military members’ skills are not just confined to military-related activities. They are well-equipped with other talents and skills, plus the military discipline that has been trained to them for years. Task Force Tribute aims to tell their story in a more elaborate way. They want to tell the story of these legendary people, both active and veterans alike, and share their perspectives to those who they have protected and served. To learn more about Christian Anschuetz, Project RELO, and Task Force Tribute, download and listen to this episode. Bio Christian Anschuetz, Marine Captain (retd.), Executive Leadership Advisor Executive leader and advisor in art and science of ‘strategy activation,’ Christian Anschuetz helps industry leaders re-imagine and re-invent how their companies do business. His unique blend of market-shaping vision and leading-edge tech savvy coupled with a strong belief in the power of service over self helps leaders step beyond conventional thinking. The result? Envisioning and executing future-proofing market strategies that lead to competitive edge, rapid growth, and lasting digital transformation. Christian has held C-level and executive leadership positions at top global firms in the advertising, cyber security, global safety and supply-chain arenas, and is known for success in case studies by Microsoft, Intel, HP, and Oracle. He is