Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different™

Today, we feature another great author in this series. Rishad Tobaccowala is the Chief Growth Officer at Publicis Groupe, an advertising and communications firm with 80,000 people! He has a brand new book, Restoring the Soul of Business. We talk about how business leaders are overly focused on spreadsheets, why the best companies are like religions, the importance of being human beings at work! Spreadsheet, Story, and Soul Over the last few years where things are moving extremely fast because of technology, data, financial and twitchiness of time, Rishad shares that companies have started tilting towards the spreadsheet side of the business, which is measurable, data-driven and financial. However, for Rishad, a successful company is one who can marry both the spreadsheet side of the business and the story of the business, which is about the culture, the purpose, values, emotion, and talent of the company. “The soul of the business is when you combine the story and the spreadsheet in a way that you have a viable growing business with viable growing people, in a community that is also viable.” – Rishad Tobaccowala Business Is For Citizens Rishad believes that its time to optimize the business for the citizen, and not for the consumer. He discussed about this during his talk last January 2019, addressing professionals from Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook. “What we’ve created is something incredible in both the empowerment, the connections, and the wealth creation opportunities. At the same stage, there is a downside, which is, increased inequality, increased polarization and to a great extent, a break down of trust. Could it be, that in chasing just the data side of the spreadsheet side, we lost the souls of our businesses?” –  Rishad Tobaccowala The Purpose of A Company The first one is to ensure that its four constituencies are looked after. The four are (1) people who they serve – customers, members, users, consumers (2) the talent that works in the company (3) community in which the company or the companies offices and factories are based and (4) the country in which that particular segment of the company is based. Rishad shares that the 2nd part of the company’s reason to be. ”To generate financial profit which basically allows the company to both reinvest in all those first four criteria, as well as continue to grow because to me, growth is an important thing, but growth measured across those four indicators.” –  Rishad Tobaccowala The third one is how companies create purpose, value, meaning, and connections for life. To listen more about Rishad’s advice to restore the soul in the business, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Rishad is Chief Growth Officer and member of the Management Committee of Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communication  firm with 80,000 employees.  BusinessWeek named Rishad as one of the top business leaders for his pioneering innovation and TIME magazine dubbed him one of five “Marketing Innovators.  Rishad’s first book “Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data” will be published globally on January 28, 2020.  Re-Inventing blog features some of his writings. Prior to his current role, Rishad was the Chief Strategist and Member of the Directoire/+ of Publicis Groupe.  Before his corporate role, Rishad was the Chairman of DigitasLBi and Razorfish. Publicis Groupe owns these two global firms, with over 10,000 employees around the world focused on marketing and business transformation. Rishad has 36 years of experience around the world and helped grow, founded/co-founded or incubated a variety of companies including VivaKi, Leo Burnett, Starcom, SMG Next, Starcom IP, Giant Step, Play, and Denuo. Rishad has a BS in Mathematics from the University of Bombay and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. Links: rishadtobaccowala.com Book: Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data  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!

This is a powerful conversation about mid-life design with Chip Conley. He used to be the CEO of the second-largest based boutique hotel in the US. He then ended up joining Air BNB, to help the young founders of Airbnb navigate their growth in the hospitality category. Today, we talk about why Chip thinks people at their mid-life need to do a reset. Listen for what Chip calls his “emotional equation” and more ideas, based on Chip’s new book Wisdom at Work. Boy Wonder to Modern Elder As we continue our run of legendary authors and entrepreneurs, we converse today with Chip Conley. He’s the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second-largest operator of boutique hotels in the United States. He started in 1987 at age 26 and held the position of CEO for nearly 24 years. In 2010, after having created and managed 50 boutique hotels mostly in California, Conley sold his company. He later joined the young business leaders of Airbnb. Today Air BNB is the company that created and now dominates a new travel category  “I was brought in as the old guy, to help them, because of my hospitality and leadership experience. But they taught me, as much as I taught them.” – Chip Conley Hard Truths for Midlife Professionals Chip candidly shares that unfortunately, for a lot of people in midlife and later is, they are not open to being curious. “They don’t want to look like an idiot at age 45 or 50 and so they’re not actually that open to learning from someone younger than them. Yet, 40% of Americans today have a boss that is younger than them and by the year 2025, the majority of Americans will have a boss younger than them.” – Chip Conley He further added that we live in an era of digital intelligence. There is an impression that younger people are digital natives. They have more fluency and ability to learn in the digital world, hence tech companies usually hire them for senior roles. The Modern Elder Academy People in their midlife often ask, “how do I press the reset button?” Chip shares that one of the reasons why he created the Modern Elder Academy is to have a place for middle age professionals to have a pitstop in their lives. He stresses the importance of asking the following questions:  “What mastery have I mined? What wisdom have I cultivated and how can I harvest it? How can I repurpose it and frankly, what is it that I really want to do in my life, because I have been living the life that my parents wanted for me to live.” – Chip Conley To listen more about Chip’s advice to midlife professionals in getting wisdom at work, download and listen to this episode.  Bio:  Chip Conley The iconic boutique hotelier who helped Airbnb’s founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand, Chip Conley is a New York Times bestselling author whose manifesto on ageism, Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder, is inspired by his experience of being both a mentor and an intern in his 50s.  After selling the company he started as a rebel entrepreneur at age 26, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Chip wasn’t sure what was next. He could have retired at age 52. But the young founders of Airbnb came calling.  He served as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality & Strategy for four years — while also being CEO Brian Chesky’s mentor — and continues today as a Strategic Advisor to the company’s leadership.  While writing Wisdom@Work, Chip was inspired to build the world’s first “midlife wisdom school,” the Modern Elder Academy, with a 3-acre oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico.  Chip is an active mentor to six young CEO founders in the hospitality/tech world, and serves on the board of Encore. org and the advisory board for the Stanford Center for Longevity. He believes curiosity is the elixir of life and started learning Spanish and surfing at age 58.  Links: Chip Conley Modern Elder Academy Modern Elder Academy Interview 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! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.

We continue our run of legendary Authors and today, our guest is NYT #1 Best Selling author Ryan Holiday. Ryan is one of the most important writers of our time and hanging out in his brain, makes you a different person! We talk about stillness, wisdom, faith, Peter Thiel and more! Interesting Topics Ryan is the author of Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue. The book is interesting enough as it is about how Paypal founder Peter Thiel took down Gawker Media, through a grand scheme that was founded on the issue with Hulk Hogan. Apparently, Gawker Media publicized an illicitly recorded home sex tape of Hogan. He also authored the books The Obstacle is the Way, Trust Me, I’m Lying and Growth Hacker Marketing” Ego Is the Enemy. Today, he shares about his recent book Stillness is the Key. “In stillness, I’m illustrating stoic ideas with stories from Zen philosophy and vice versa. I always want to be seeking out deeper ideas and diverse ideas. I think that’s ultimately how you learn and how you triangulate real truths.” – Ryan Holiday Old Soul Christopher remarked how Ryan reminds him so much about Adele, as he is an old soul stuck in a 30-something body. Christopher was astounded with his choice of topics ranging from Rome, Greece, Ancient History and the like. He is none like his contemporaries who are busy with social media and mindless online content.  “I got an advise a long time ago that you should write what you’re afraid about, or write what you are unsure about.” – Ryan Holiday Probably one controversial part of the book is the discussion about faith. “Part of this idea of surrender is saying ‘you know what, I’m going to accept this uncertainty a little bit. I will accept that this isn’t all about me, that I don’t know everything. I’m going to accept that there is “something” operating behind the scenes that have an agenda or perspective, or indifference to a regular human problem or issue.” – Ryan Holiday Stillness  Ryan shares how his conversation went with the publishers for his new book. He says he does not claim it as The Ryan Holiday philosophy as he merely translated and popularized the tried and tested ideas of smart people  To listen more about what Ryan learned while doing marketing for fallen fashion brand “American Apparel” and more on faith, wisdom and stillness, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Ryan Holiday is one of the world’s foremost thinkers and writers on ancient philosophy and its place in everyday life.  He is a sought-after speaker, strategist, and the author of many bestselling books including The Obstacle Is the Way; Ego Is the Enemy; and The Daily Stoic.  His books have been translated into over 30 languages and read by over two million people worldwide. He lives outside Austin, Texas, with his family. Links: Ryan Holiday Twitter: @ryanholiday Instagram: @RyanHoliday Good Reads – Stillness is the Key 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 this episode, we continue our run on legendary authors. We hang out with former Marine, FBI agent and Chief of the FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, Robin Dreeke. This guy used to hang out with foreign spies in an effort to get them to turn on their countries and help the US. He’s got some insanely valuable experience in how to communicate, and relate to people. Detecting Lies Christopher asked one of the most pressing questions any FBI agent has been asked, ‘how do you detect lying?’ Robin candidly shares “you don’t.” He further shares that even the best people in the world have 50% accuracy when it comes to detecting deception. Instead, what Robin looks for when speaking to a “subject” are verbal and non-verbal signs of stress. “I never like to tell someone or think that someone is deceiving or lying, I just think in terms of ‘they don’t have transparency with me.’” – Robin Dreeke Famous Cop Questions One of the most famous cop question, as seen in movies, is the suspect’s whereabouts. Robin shared what these cops are looking for is a direct answer. Robin personally shared his personal guidelines when he is questioning a subject: (1) Seeking thoughts and opinions, (2) Speaking in terms of their priorities, (3) Validating them and (4) Empowering them with choices; Similarities With Sales Robin shares that he must have had the hardest sales job in the world. His product is selling American patriotism to foreign diplomats, wherein affiliation is also considered to be illegal.  “From rapport, you build trust. From trust, you get a healthy relationship.” – Robin Dreeke Other than that, he confirms that his learnings, which he wrote in the book Sizing People Up is highly beneficial to sales or business people in general. For the part where Robin talks about the real FBI secret for solving crimes, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Robin is a best-selling author, professional speaker, trainer, facilitator, and retired FBI Special Agent and Chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program. Robin has taken his life’s work of recruiting spies and broken down the art of leadership, communication, and relationship building into Five Steps to TRUST and Six Signs of who you can TRUST. Since 2010, Robin has been working with large corporations as well as small companies in every aspect of their business. Whether it is newly promoted leaders, executives, sales teams, or customer relations, Robin has crafted his People Formula for quick results and maximum success.  The Military Leader Although Robin always aspired to become a great leader, he realized from his time at the United States Naval Academy and in the United States Marine Corps that leadership was much more than just telling people what to do: a great leader uses interpersonal skills to inspire action, rather than demand the compliance of others. The Spy Catcher Upon entering service as an FBI Special Agent in 1997, Robin began his journey as a counterintelligence specialist and behaviorist in the agency’s efforts to thwart the efforts of our country’s greatest adversaries. Serving in New York City, Norfolk VA, FBI Headquarters, Quantico VA, and Fredericksburg VA, Robin received advanced training and experience in the area of social psychology and the practical application of the science behind relationship development and trust, ultimately leading the FBI’s elite Behavioral Analysis Program. The Behavioral Analysis Expert Robin has built his highly effective tools for all aspects and stages of interpersonal communication and relationship development. Robin has combined all these tools and techniques and created a one-of-a-kind formula for success with people. Today, Robin is a recognized expert, author, and gifted lecturer in the art of interpersonal communication, relationship building and Trust. These skills are used every day in leadership, sales, human resources, and all aspects of life, both business and personal. CBD oil and capsules Hemp oil – H Drop UK H Drop UK Links: Twitter: @rdreeke People Formula – Book Sizing People Up – Book 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!