Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different™

Welcome to another amazing episode with Combat Veteran and US Marine Akshay Nanavati. He joined us at Episode 142, which was one of the top-rated episodes. Due to insistent public demand, he’s back. Akshay is a speaker, entrepreneur, ultra runner, non-profit founder, and best selling author. Today, we specifically talk about dealing with life and moving forward in the face of fear and adversity. He of all people is powerfully equipped to empower those who are having a hard time dealing with C19. Listen carefully to Akshay’s ideas on how to change barriers with questions and more! Solitude During C19 Akshay starts the conversation sharing about coins and medals with the iconic Marines raising a flag in the battle of Iwo Jima. He narrated how honored he is to be a part of the Marines who represents courage and valor in battles. He further shares that he has been living in solitude prior to the Covid19 pandemic. He does some amazing activities to meditate and to practice stillness.  “I’m used to it and I don’t mind the solitude. I’ve trained in solitude in the sense like, I spent 7 days in pitch darkness, isolation, and silence, to confront my fear of stillness to master the experience of solitude but at the same time, as we briefly touch on I do have moments that I feel that sense of loss.” – Akshay Nanavati Living in Paradox Living in paradox, Akshay describes himself as someone who is social but likewise, enjoys his solitude. He shares how he cried himself to sleep while reading a book ISIS abducting a woman to become their sex slave.  “I read these intense books to remind me of the pain and suffering in the world and to stay focused on my mission. My solitude allows me to go into space that I would not be able to go to if somebody else was here.” – Akshay Nanavati He further shares another activity that he does, which Christopher describes as an activity he wouldn’t do in a million years.  “When the world is intense, to me, that’s a time to dig deeper into it. I actually put a horrible death metal music. It’s not actually music, its noise, and I put on a strobe light. I meditate and practice stillness with it. It was very intense, but its a great practice to master stillness in the face of chaos.” – Akshay Nanavati Overcoming Solitude in C19 A lot of people have actually improved communications with others during this crisis. A number of people utilized Zoom and social media to communicate with friends, family, and loved ones. Akshay shares that connection is important as humans are naturally tribal creatures. “I think the problem is, what we’re doing right now, is the same as what we’re doing before, which is basically running away from pain, running away to having to confront ourselves and now we’re being forced into that world.” – Akshay Nanavati To hear more about dealing with life and moving forward in the face of fear and adversity and to learn more about Akshay, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Akshay Nanavati (born October 15, 1984) is a United States Marine veteran, speaker, entrepreneur, ultra runner and author.  He served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was later diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. His book Fearvana was endorsed by the Dalai Lama and Jack Canfield. Links: Fearvana Twitter: @fearvanalife Instagram: @fearvana Wikipedia: Akshay Navati 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, we have a riveting conversation with Dr. Rana el Kaliouby.  She’s a tech / AI entrepreneur and the author of a brand new book out called Girl Decoded. Rana is the co-founder and CEO of Affectiva. Her work on A.I. is bleeding edge, particularly around human and emotional AI and the ethics of AI and more. This is a stunning, inspiring, real dialogue that you’ll surely love. Top Woman in Tech Rana el Kaliouby is a Muslim woman kicking butt in the American tech entrepreneur world. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and a Post Doctorate at MIT. She’s one of Fortune’s 40 Under 40 and Forbes says she’s one of America’s Top 50 Women in Tech. She describes her success as a privilege for having supportive parents who made sure she and her siblings get a top-notch education.  “I grew up surrounded by strong women but it was always understood that your priority is the family and you do your work on the side, that was the context.” – Rana el Kaliouby EI and AI, Counterintuitive Christopher asks about how Rana speaks about Emotional intelligence in the AI world as it is oftentimes, counterintuitive. Rana shares how her endeavors connected the two. “Even 25 years ago, I saw this pattern, with tech, it empowers us to communicate with more people. But I always felt there was something missing. We were communicating with more and more people so the quantity is there but the quality of the connection wasn’t quite there. It was almost like an illusion of a connection. – Rana el Kaliouby Rana shares about her first time living abroad. She was newly married at the time and she found herself away from her family and then-husband who had to stay behind to run a software company. She realized that despite spending a lot of time with her laptop and mobile phone, she always felt alone due to a lack of intimacy of technology.  Importance of Emotional Intelligence During Rana’s study abroad, technology served as the main portal of communication between her and her family. However, it fails to communicate the richness of her voice, intonation, facial expressions, and gestures. Non-verbal communications are lost she was chatting over text with her family. “That just got me thinking, emotional intelligence and our emotions, in general, are so important in how we live our lives, how we make decisions, how we connect with one another, how we learn, how our memory gets encoded yet, in the digital universe, its devoid of all of that. That set me on the path of building technology that has AI and emotional intelligence and maybe even someday, empathy.” – Rana el Kaliouby To hear more about Rana ’s views on human and emotional AI and the ethics of AI, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Rana is co-founder and CEO of Affectiva.  Having defined the category of Emotion AI, Rana is now pioneering Human Perception AI: technology that can understand all things human.   A passionate advocate for innovation, ethics in AI and diversity, Rana has been recognized on  Fortune’s 40 Under 40 and Forbes America’s Top 50 Women in Tech.  Rana is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.   She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and a Post Doctorate at MIT. Links: Linkedin: Kaliouby Twitter: @kaliouby Affectiva Leadership Team 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!

We continue our run of legendary authors with best selling author of the brand new book Samsung Rising, Geoffrey Cain. He takes us into both South and North Korea, what it’s like to live in both places and how relatively small South Korea gained out-sized economic power. We also talk about how Samsung grew from a fish market to a mega-empirical, multi-national, with 300,000 employees. There’s a ton here you’ll find fascinating. South Korea Geoffrey gives a great visual description of both North and South Korea in this episode. He lived on and off in South Korea from 2009 to 2016 and have visited North Korea as well for two weeks as a reporter. He further describes how South Koreans practice their right to assemble to petition about issues such as powers of major corporations, labor unions, and the like. He relates South Korea to the French who have massive protests, too.  “Korean democracy is quite young, it was only 1987 that Korea became a democracy. It wasn’t until many years later that it really became a full democracy. It was a corrupted democracy for a long time. The fascinating thing was the fact that I’m standing in the Square, and I could turn north and look north and I would realize that about 45 minutes or an hour drive away from me, is the border of North Korea.” – Geoffrey Cain North Korea On the border of South Korea lies what they call the DMZ or the Demilitarized Zone. It is one of the most heavily mined places on Earth. Former President Bill Clinton even visited and said: “its the scariest place on Earth.” South Korea (SK) is described as orderly but with bustling cars and noise, he describes the DMZ in North Korea as barren land. There were no lush trees like in SK and the whole vibe of Pyongyang, the capital was similar to a dystopian sci-fi movie.  Miracle in Han River The unexpected growth of South Korea is often called as the Miracle in Han River. The country was able to come out of nowhere and take on the world. This is what Geoffrey discussed in his book Samsung Rising. “The story of this nation that has been overlooked in the past—it is small, it is seen as inconsequential, it is this little peninsula next to this major giant, China, smash right there with Japan, which is also a big power subject to all kinds of war and sufferings in the past—but somehow managed to become this powerhouse of technology and economy and industry and democracy.” – Geoffrey Cain To hear more about Geoffrey’s views on China and Asia more broadly, the Coronavirus and the battle for worldwide AI supremacy, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Geoffrey Cain is an award-winning foreign correspondent, author, commentator, anthropologist, and scholar of East and Central Asia. His first book, Samsung Rising: The Inside Story of the South Korea Giant That Set Out to Beat Apple and Conquer Tech, from a decade of his coverage of the world’s largest technology conglomerate, was published in March 2020 by Currency at Penguin Random House. A former correspondent at The Economist, Cain is a regular commentator in The Wall Street Journal, Time, Foreign Policy, The New Republic and The Nation, and a frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC, BBC and Bloomberg. Cain writes about the ways that technology is upending our lives, communities, governments and businesses. His work takes him to the world’s most authoritarian and far-off places, from inside North Korea to the trans-Siberian railway across Russia, from investigations into genocide in Cambodia to experiments in technological surveillance in China. Cain is sought out as a consultant on government, business and technology, having advised the World Health Organization, Open Government Partnership, the United Nations humanitarian affairs office, and major multinational corporations and investment firms. A Fulbright scholar, he holds a master’s with distinction from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and a bachelor’s at The George Washington University, which he attended on a music scholarship. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a security fellow at the Truman National Security Project. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Chicago, Cain lives in Istanbul, Turkey, and Washington, DC. He plays the jazz trombone. Links: Geoffrey Cain Twitter: @geoffrey_cain Linkedin: Geoffrey Cain The NY Times: Samsung: The Tech Monster That Conquered the World 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, we have a legendary conversation with a legendary American Hero, retired 4-Star General, bestselling author, entrepreneur and educator Stan McChrystal. He is the partner of Chris Fussel who was recently on Follow Your Different Episode #149. We get into these topics: leadership, digital leadership, crisis management, his view on how we got here with COVID19 and how we get out of it. We also discuss the digital divide between the public and private sectors and what we should do about, Pay special attention to The General’s advice for business leaders, State Governors and The President of The United States. An Experience No One Predicted Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates calls Stan “perhaps the finest warrior and leader of men in combat I ever met.” This was definitely one of the greatest descriptions one could say about him. He is the kind of leader any company would want in their team, especially during these unusual times. Stan described this coronavirus pandemic as disorienting. It is highly different from most of the crises in our lives. We face an amorphous viral threat and we get affected economically as well/.  “So the average person is going through an experience he probably has never predicted. He got to get his mind around it and not just their own mind, but also their family, their organization and all the people they care about.” – Stan McChrystal Leadership During Unusual Times Aside from possessing leadership fundamentals, Stan calls for a different kind of leadership during these unusual times.  “Your organization can have had a strategy you’re very comfortable with that was executing in a set of places. Suddenly that strategy, for any number of reasons, appear to be absolutely invalid now. So the leaders got a role to first, give people a sense of direction and then provide direction. And finally, the leaders got to inspire.”  – Stan McChrystal On Digital Leadership Christopher asked Stan about the daily video briefings he spearheaded when he was in the military and Stan gave a nice story back in memory lane. He was citing this as one of the best examples of digital leadership especially in times of crisis. “Out of necessity, we spread our force. That was 2003 and then we realize, how do you synchronize that? We were at the beginning of the technological boom and we latched on the video conferences, laptops and we connected the entire force, every day, for 90 minutes. When I took command, it was 50 people for 30 minutes. Then we opened it to 7500 people for 90 minutes. To some people, it may sound like madness but it was the most efficient thing I’d ever been a part of,” – Stan McChrystal To know more about the digital divide between the public and private sectors and what we should do about it and The General’s advice for business leaders, State Governors and The President of The United States, download and listen to this episode,  Bio: Stan McChrystal is a retired 4-Star US General. He is best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the mid-2000s. His last assignment was as Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, United States Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A).[5] He previously served as Director, Joint Staff from August 2008 to June 2009 and as Commander of JSOC from 2003 to 2008, where he was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.  General McChrystal was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey and the Defense Distinguished Service Medal by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. General McChrystal founded McChrystal Group in January 2011 to deliver innovative leadership solutions to businesses globally in order to help them transform and succeed in challenging, dynamic environments.  Links: McChrystal Group Linkedin – Stan McCrystal Leaders: Myth and Reality My Share of the Task: A Memoir Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World Wikipedia – Stanley McChrystal  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, two mission-driven, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Arisa Amano and Bob Remeika, co-founders of hot startup Internal.IO and they are on a mission to change Internal systems and productivity. We have a real conversation about how technology can positively change the way work gets done, why is it important to protect customer data and how the two of them have built both their relationship and their company. Internal.IO Prior to co-founding the blockchain company Harbour, Anisa and Bob met at Yammer. They went ahead and launched Internal.IO when they realized that they have been building internal tools for different companies in the past.  “When Anisa and I were at Harbor, we realized we built this console internally and we look back and every other company that we’ve ever been at, we built internal tools for every single one. We started thinking about, what would be a good console and why do they get so bad?” – Bob Remeika Access Abuse and More Bob further shares their observation on why consoles are inefficient. Companies always try to determine where to allocate engineering resources and ideally, they should be working for the core product since it is vital to the business. He further shares that consoles often times becomes a “Frankenstein Project” or a hodgepodge of information.  “These internal tools are necessary but what happens is you always go with what is the common denominator. Building them? You usually zap them together and so, you wind up with something that is inherently insecure. You’re giving away way too much customer information to too many employees throughout your organization, so you’re subject to access abuse.” – Bob Remeika Consoles or Internal Tools Anisa shares that Internal. IO aims to replace the internal tools that companies built. She cites Uber as an example, where the main product is the ride-booking service. However, in the background, there are multiple departments that need to share information to be able to fulfill their jobs, such as Customer Service or Operations.  The concern, however, the console is either hard to use or the app does not have proper permissions in place to control the access or the app is partially broken and a lot of different issues because its not the core focus of the company. That is where Internal.IO comes in.  To know more about why it’s cool to disagree, how Anisa and Bob have built trust and to know their thoughts on responsible hyper-growth, download and listen to this episode,  Bio: Arisa Amano began her career at VMware, a software company that provides cloud computing and platform virtualization software and services. As their marketing manager, she analyzed customer usage of products and created marketing campaigns; one of the campaigns was a YouTube video contest called “Run It with VMware.”  In 2010, she worked at MTV Networks as a Product Marketing Lead for Social Games. She worked across Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central groups.  In March 2011, Amano became the Director of Product Marketing & Design for Yammer. In December 2013, her role changed to Head of Lifecycle Marketing. She was part of the company until they were acquired by Microsoft.  In December 2014, Amano began playing the role of Vice President of Products for Zenefits. owned the complete relaunch of the Zenefits’ product suite, launching Z2 and HROne.  In 2017, Arisa Amano co-founded Harbor (blockchain) with Bob Remeika. Their team is in the process of creating a decentralized compliance protocol that standardizes the way securities are issued and traded on blockchains.   Bob Remeika is Co-Founder and CTO at Harbor, Inc. Links: Internal.io Twitter: @arisa_amano Linkedin: Arisa Amano Linkedin: Bob Remeika Twitter: @bob_remeika A newly funded startup, Internal, says it wants to help companies better manage their internal consoles 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, we have a riveting conversation with Sachit Gupta. He’s been in the background helping some of the top podcasters and content creators build their businesses. He’s an expert at building and monetizing digital content. Recently, he stepped out and built his own podcast Conscious Creators and he wants to help people “Make A Life Through Your Art Without Selling Your Soul.” This conversation is a great opportunity to learn from a sensei in digital content and regardless of what you do, Second Guessing His Talents A lot more people are looking at podcasting, webinars, youtube shows, and other digital content of course writing books, as either key parts of their business or an extension to their business. In fact, Christopher personally thinks every brand needs to become a media brand. There is no other time than today to start digital leadership in your respective industry.  For 10 years now, Sachit Gupta had been in the background of content creators or digital leaders. He worked with industry giants like Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, among others. But who would have thought he has always been second-guessing himself in terms of creativity? “My art wasn’t good enough, so I started doing all these things. I graduated and worked with creators and now what I realized is, because I didn’t think my art was good enough, or my creation, I subconsciously entered a career supporting other creators.” – Sachit Gupta The Story of the Starving Artist Christopher asks Sanchit what fascinates him the most. He shares that he has always been fascinated with artists who can remain independent with their craft while still monetizing their talents.  “For me, I think there is a whole story of the starving artist and how creators are always like beholden to big corporations. How can you create and be an independent artist and own your art, own your worth and charge your worth like you can have a career yourself?” – Sachit Gupta Advice To Content Creators What are the things most people get stuck with? Sanchit shares that the people whom he works with—creative people, artists, content creators—are still challenged with defining what their message is and to whom is this message for. “Who’s your market? What are their hopes, fears, and dreams? What are their problems and how do you help them solve the problem?” – Sachit Gupta To know more about Sanchit Gupta, an expert at building and monetizing digital content, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Sachit Gupta helps amplify Creators (podcasters, authors, etc.) & Brands. Creators and Brands want the same things — the right audiences, bigger impact; sometimes, even each other. He provides the tools and strategies to create the right connections at the right time that make these needs, reality — easily, instantly. That’s what he means when he say — Connections, Amplified. Sanchit and his team have worked on campaigns with top podcasters like Andrew Warner (Mixergy) Hiten Shah & Steli Efti (The Startup Chat), #1 NYT best-selling authors (Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Oren Klaff), social media influencers (Tessa Arias, Handle The Heat) and international sports stars (Rohit Sharma, Indian Cricket Team). He also worked with 30+ brands including Pilot.com, Toptal, Pipedrive, HostGator, ActiveCampaign, ahrefs, The 5 Minute Journal, ClickFunnels, Outerknown, Brain.fm and more to create win-win partnerships with Creators.  Links: Linkedin: Sachit Gupta Instagram: @sachitgupta Twitter: @sachitgupta Platforms Media Medium.com: @sachitgupta 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 the legendary super agent Darren Prince. We dig into it all, how he went from sports memorabilia to a super agent. Pay special attention to why Darren wants to inspire people to overcome addiction. This is an extraordinary guy and conversation, I know you’ll love. The Man Behind The Man and The Woman Darren is 100% well-known among sports A-listers and celebrities. His client list includes Magic Johnson, Charlie Sheen, Vince Neil, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Dennis Rodman, Denise Richards, Carmen Electra, Chevy Chase, the late Muhammad Ali, Smokin’ Joe Frazier, and Evel Knievel. “You got to love them like your family. I love people, It’s amazing. You’re getting inside some of these people’s lives and if you do the right thing, the relationships that would come from it, from people that really don’t trust because they’ve been screwed ever so often. They are very very guarded” – Darren Prince  Opiate Addiction Aside from a well-renowned agent, he is also a self-confessed recovered addict with nearly 12 years sober. He describes his experience and how certain religious figures helped him through this challenge. He usually shares this experience when he speaks in colleges, groups or companies. “My opiate addiction took me to a place where I wanted to kill myself every day. I had a dream job, the dream life, the clients, the notoriety, but I was living in a double life.” – Darren Prince  Undesirable Childhood Life Darren shares a lot of his challenges that started in my childhood. He was classified with a severe learning disability. This led him to feel different, less, and uncomfortable with his own skin. He was verbally bullied and he never spoke out.  To hear more about Darren and his ideas on overcoming addiction, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Darren Prince is a sports and celebrity agent who, at the age of 14, founded a mail order company selling baseball cards and traveling around the country participating in trade shows.  At the age of 20 he sold his company and became an industry leader in private autograph signings for sports and celebrity memorabilia with athletes and celebrities. A-List celebrities included the late Muhammad Ali, Hulk Hogan, Pele, Joe Montana, Carmen Electra and Jenny McCarthy. In 1995 Prince started a new venture with Prince Marketing Group (PMG), representing athletes and celebrities for marketing deals consisting of endorsements, licensing, TV, movie and book deals, autograph signings and appearances. His first client to sign with the firm was none other than Magic Johnson.  Soon after Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Dennis Rodman, Pamela Anderson and Chevy Chase followed. With PMG growing at an enormous pace, Prince added Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Mickey Rourke, Roy Jones Jr, Micky Ward and the late Evel Knievel as clients over the years.  The sports/entertainment industry is a small world and very competitive,” says Darren Prince, CEO of Prince Marketing Group.  “Prince Marketing Group has prospered over the years by delivering out of the box thinking for clients and building relationships through the practice of good business and effective networking.” Prince Marketing Group is currently a multi-million dollar business that has negotiated over $200 Million in deals and currently secures marketing deals, arranges signing/memorabilia appearances, commercial licensing, product endorsement, and voice-overs. Darren is a true entrepreneur as he has been able to continuously reinvent himself and significantly grow his business over the years.  He has been featured in outlets such as Your World With Neil Cavuto, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Hannity & Colmes, ESPN, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, USA Today, Forbes’ Sports Money, On the record with Greta Van Susteren, Howard Stern radio, CNBC The Closing Bell and a variety of others for his marketing expertise. Links: Prince Marketing Group Darren’s Website Instagram Sports & Celebrity Agent Darren Michael Prince: “How I was able to recover from my addiction by building self-esteem by doing ‘esteem-able’ acts” 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 the legendary performance coach to rock stars, Phil Towle, joins us today to talk about how we can deal with the coronavirus crisis and how we can make a difference. Phil is a sensei among sensei on life coaching and life design. Kirk Hammett, of Metallica, even said, “If Lennon and McCartney had Phil, the Beatles would never have broken up.” Covid19 Is A Gift Everyone worldwide is grappling with different issues during this crisis. For Phil, he shares that this challenging situation has forced him to believe that Covid19 is a gift we gave ourselves. This gift forces us to transform a lost, sick and divided society. “I think that Covid19 is bringing the best out of most of us. I think that we are going to heal ourselves and the only way that we could do it, is to have something that is drastic that makes it more difficult for us to see ourselves as sinners.” – Phil Towle We Are One Civilization Phil shares that we ought to at ourselves as one civilization. He encourages everyone to set aside personal differences and review oneself instead. He also mentions that social distancing is appropriate at the moment, but a heartfelt connection is a cure. “It is really hard for me to be angry at somebody else now because they have a different viewpoint. I saved my anger because I have some for my own contributions to the way society screwed itself up.” – Phil Towle Making a Difference Phil shares how Christopher stood as a role model at this crisis. Chris placed prime importance on his thought about how companies react to this crisis will greatly define their brand. He himself has been collecting gloves and distributing it to local hospitals in Santa Cruz, California.  “It’s kind of you to say, Phil. When it became clear if I was a legendary leader, what would I do now and I have tasked myself to answer that question every day and it changes every day. so, I just tried to do and be everything I can.” – Christopher Lochhead To hear more about Phil and his ideas on making a difference during this crisis, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Phil Towle is a “performance coach”. He defines “performance coaching” as a proactive psychological strategy that facilitates making your best better.  In addition, Phil works with, “Difference makers” committed to using their God-given talents to fulfill their highest possibilities and those around them…Determined to transform each hardship, setback and self-imposed limitation, into superior achievement… Sample clients include: Metallica; Dick Vermeil (Superbowl Winning Coach with St. Louis Rams); Bill Romanowski (Professional Athlete); Rascal Flatts; Tom Morello (musician with Rage Against Machine/ Audioslave/ Nightwatchman, and Human Rights Activist) Links: Phil Towle Metallica documentary featuring Phil Towle working with the band: “Some Kind of Monster” 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!

We continue our run of legendary authors with Twitter’s former head of Europe Operations, Bruce Daisley. He’s got a new book out called Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat, He’s also got a great podcast of the same name! This conversation is fun as we talk about some of his “30 hacks” for more joy at work. Expect a lot of laughter, conversations about digital relationships, walking meetings, Chinese Sci-Fi and a lot more. Also, pay close attention to our discussion about why you should turn off notifications on your phone! London To California The conversation with a lot of laughter from the two. They touched on topics such as living in London, how Europeans adjust when they visit the US and the culinary fusion of European dishes. You might also relate to the two who kept on adding movies in their “to watch list” but have never even started watching any on the list. Bruce also shared how he loved buying books, but never actually find time reading them. This is also the inspiration why he wrote the book Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat. Twitter EU Bruce shares when he joined Twitter, he never expected he would face a great challenge. Initially, Twitter was rated as one of the best places to work for. However, somewhere along the way, employees started to leave one by one. In a year, 40 of his top people left Twitter. “Might be something I did, something went wrong. The culture went from being the “biggest party that you never wanted to end” to being this “party that you wished you never had left the house to go to.” – Bruce Daisley He then started commissioning researchers with the hopes of improving workplace and culture. Unfortunately, the people have either not read these papers, or have not implemented it. It was such wasted information so Bruce decided he should write about it. Eat. Sleep. Work. Repeat. Bruce shares he wrote this book, which is intentionally a very short episodic series of interventions that anyone can stage in their office or workplace. One piece of information he shares is that open offices increase employees’ hate to co-workers by 75%.  “Even if you just read one 10-page chapter and you Xerox it, threw it at your boss, I am hoping that even with that just one intervention might marginally improve people’s work.” – Bruce Daisley To hear more about Bruce’s ideas on  hacks for joy at work and more information about Bruce, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Bruce Daisley was previously Twitter’s most senior employee outside of the United States, in his role of Vice President across Europe, Middle East and Africa.  He joined the company in 2012 having previously run YouTube UK at Google.  He has also worked in the magazine publishing and radio industries having got his first break by mailing a cartoon resume of his life to prospective employers. Bruce’s passion for improving work led to him creating the podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat on making work better. It became a number 1 smash in the UK (also hitting the business top 10 in the US). Links: Book – Eat. Sleep. Work. Repeat. Website – Eat. Sleep. Work.  Twitter – @brucedaisley 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, we have a very timely conversation about leadership and crisis management with a highly decorated Navy Seal Chris Fussell. He partnered with 4-star General Stanley McCrystal to retool the US military after 9/11. Chris is a legendary American hero, a servant leader in the military, entrepreneur, and now the President of McCrystal Group. Chris and Stan consult and advise organizations around the world on leadership and frankly, they helped a lot of organizations deal with this crisis. We also talk about a recent opinion piece that Chris and Stan wrote for the NY Times. Connected Through Structure Chris describes that tribes are connected through structure and leadership. It also holds true within industries. He further shares that when the ability of those systems starts to be dismantled through the separation physically or something similar to what is happening to us at the moment, we will end up with a disconnected state. He further shares how this scenario in relation to them at Washington DC/ Since there is a “disconnected state” the food shortages among families on the other side of DC do not affect Capitol Hill emotionally. He says this is how inequity stats. Social Cohesion Chris shares that the “fabric” that holds society together is immediate family, community and socioeconomic circles. “This is critical that we reach across those boundaries that’s why, institutions—like a workplace that pulls from many different networks, from the executive, down to the frontline folks, or like a public school or a church, that reaches across the boundaries—those create this fabric that pulls us together anytime you see that disrupted at scale for an extended period. If the fabric is unwoven, its really hard to weave them together.” – Chris Fussell Call For National Level Campaign Chris took the opportunity to call everyone to action to help out in any way they can. Christopher Lochhead shared that he and his family purchased plastic gloves from a local restaurant supplier and dropped it to local hospitals in Santa Cruz. “The people at the bottom are those who are gonna suffer more economically. They’re gonna suffer the worst medically as a result of this pandemic. The economically deprived neighborhoods.” – Chris Fussell To hear more about Chris and how leaders are holding up with this crisis, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Chris Fussell is the President of McChrystal Group.  He is an author of the 2015 New York Times bestseller, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World as well as 2017 Wall Street Journal bestseller, One Mission: How Leaders Build a Team of Teams.  He joined McChrystal Group as a Partner in 2012. Chris was commissioned as an Officer in the United States Navy in 1997, and spent the next 15 years on US Navy SEAL Teams, leading SEAL elements in combat zones around the globe.  From war-torn Kosovo, to counter-terrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, to highly specialized efforts in the troubled areas of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, he experienced and led through the modern evolution of the US military’s Special Operations community, first on SEAL Teams Two and Eight, then in the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. Chris was selected to serve as Aide-de-Camp to then-Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal during General McChrystal’s final year commanding the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), where they served for a year together in Iraq.  He witnessed first-hand the Special Operations community’s transformation into a successful, agile network. Chris is also a Senior Fellow for National Security at New America, a Washington, DC-based non-partisan think tank dedicated to understanding the next generation of challenges facing the United States.  Chris is actively involved in several non-profits dedicated to helping veterans and their families, and holds a seat on the Board of Directors for the Navy SEAL Foundation. He is also a lifetime member to the Council on Foreign Relations. Chris earned a Master of Arts in Irregular Warfare from the Naval Postgraduate School, receiving the Pat Tillman Award for highest peer-rated Special Operations Officer in the program.  His thesis work focused on the interagency collaboration and intelligence sharing processes that drove effective, cross-silo collaboration during the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Links: Christopher Fussell – McCrystalGroup Linkedin – Christopher Fussell New York Times – What 9/11 Taught Us About Leadership in a Crisis 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!

We speak with Rob Markey of Bain & Co today about his breakthrough piece for Harvard Business Review “Are You Undervaluing Your Customers?”Rob also leads the Net Promoter Score Loyalty Forum and his Firm, Bain, invented the Net Promoter Score (NPS). We have a riveting conversation about why companies with high levels of customer loyalty grow 2.5 times as fast as their peers, how companies should re-orient around customers and why Customer Loyalty is a shareholder priority and more. If you care about customers and growth, I think you’re going to love this dialogue. Pressure To Deliver Earnings Rob shares how his write up started as a source of frustration and curiosity. He shares that the clients he has worked with over the years still abandoned customer-centric companies. He further shares that companies ultimately face pressure to deliver earnings.  “The investors put pressure on management teams, who then are forced to squeeze out every last dollar in order to make a goal. That is just a short term goal.” – Rob Markey Rob also says the importance for companies to have a visionary CEO, those who are willing to sacrifice short term earnings for long term gains. Investors should support these kinds of CEOs. Standardized Metrics Christopher asked if there should be a standardized metric to look at this matter in the context of a quarterly earnings call. Rob shares that it is one way to do this, however, he also says the world is a much more complicated place and it is hard to put a finger on just one metric that will lead you in the right way. Net Promoter Score Christopher asked Rob if NPS is the answer for companies. He shares it was just one of the objective function that they used when they were searching around for the right question to ask “NPS is the best single question metric we have that enables you to see how an individual customer or a set of customers feel about the business in ways that then align with lifetime value.” – Rob Markey There are lots of ways to collect a net promoter score. It can be after an interaction with a customer or as part of a relationship. It can even be a mode of market research, where the researcher can conduct double-blind research to acquire very reliable apples-to-apples comparison among different companies. To hear more about Rob and why customer loyalty is a shareholder priority and more, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Founder and former leader of Bain & Company’s Customer Strategy & Marketing practice. Customer experience podcast host. Architected customer experience transformations, employee engagement improvement, marketing and sales capabilities development for dozens of the world’s largest companies. Co-authored The Ultimate Question 2.0 (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011), and numerous other publications. Keynote speaker, leader of the NPS Loyalty Forum, and podcaster on customer and employee experience. Creator of the Net Promoter System. Specialties: Customer experience; customer strategy and marketing; customer loyalty; employee loyalty; customer segmentation; new product development; direct marketing; brand management; service operations; digital transformation  Links: Are You Undervaluing Your Customers? Rob Markey – Bain and Co. Linkedin – RG Markey Twitter – @rgmarkey Net Promoter System Podcast 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, #1 technology analyst, author of the smash hit, “Disrupting Digital Business” and founder of Constellation Research, Ray Wang is back. To add to our list of controversial episodes, Ray shares his thoughts on how Coronavirus really started, It’s impact on society and why we better be ready for a new normal. This is a fantastic, thought-provoking dialogue! The New Normal As we are currently facing a pandemic, Ray shares the new normal that we should all be prepared for. He shares there will be mass testing, so the health officials can compare the figures versus the mortality rates. Governments will also impose the suspension of business operations and will strictly enforce home quarantines and lockdowns. “If you look at the 2019-2020 flu season, we had 15 million cases, 140,000 hospitalizations, and 8200 deaths. We can handle 140,000 hospitalizations over 8 to 10 weeks, that’s not an issue. This is the surge in the hospitalization, that occurs all at once. We can’t handle 140,000 a week, that would just blow up the entire hospital bed capacity.” – Ray Wang Initial Containment Ray refreshes our memory during January, where several reports circulated about a new strain of flu that is affecting China. He spoke with several colleagues from the Chinese scientific community who said they were prohibited to use messaging apps to discuss this. The Chinese Communist Party members decided to play the issue down. “Even if those numbers are not accurate, a lot of people were saying, contain, shut down, all travel in and out of China. If they had done that, we weren’t here today. It’s not “blame game time,” but that’s how we contain a crisis.” – Ray Wang Viral Research Gone Wrong Ray shares some provocative information that he received from several scientists in China. Apparently, in a viral laboratory near Wuhan, some scientists are modifying bat genomes. For some reason, there must have been a breach in safety protocols, which ended in spreading the virus through patient zero in Wuhan Wet Market.  “Nobody wanted to talk about it because there was a dual-use lab. If you’re a government, you don’t want to hurt your own people either. Today, what’s actually happening is they are trying to cover up for that.” – Ray Wang To hear more about Ray and about coronavirus and its impact on the society, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Principal Analyst, Founder, and Chairman of Silicon Valley based Constellation Research, Inc.   He’s also the author of the popular business strategy and technology  blog “A Software Insider’s Point of View”.  With viewership in the 10’s of millions of page views a year, his blog provides insight into how disruptive technologies and new business models such as digital transformation impact brands, enterprises, and organizations.   Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. His new best selling book Disrupting Digital Business, published by Harvard Business Review Press and now globally available provides insights on why 52% of the Fortune 500 have been merged, acquired, gone bankrupt, or fallen off the list since 2000.   In fact, this impact of digital disruption is real.  However, it’s not the technologies that drive this change. It’s a shift in how new business models are created. Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Personify, and Johns Hopkins Hospital.  He is a prominent and dynamic keynote speaker and research analyst working with clients on digital, innovation, business model design, engagement strategies, customer experience, matrix commerce, and big data. Hiring a professional photographer to capture the proposal has become popular in recent years, but is it right for you? Here https://proposal007.com/proposal-photography/ the pros and cons. His Silicon Valley research firm, Constellation Research, Inc., advises Global 2000 companies on the future, business strategy, and disruptive technology adoption.   Ray is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and well quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC TV, Reuters, IDG News Service, and other global media outlets.  Wang has thrice won the prestigious Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) Analyst of the Year Award. Links: Linkedin – RWang0 Twitter – @rwang0 Constellation.com – R Ray Wang RayWang.org Understanding Case Fatality Rates For #COVID19 #CoronaVirus 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 subs

Today, we have Security Guru Morgan Wright, a distinguished professional in law enforcement and an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity, cyberterrorism, and privacy. We talk all things security: how to deal with fear, scams, self-defense and most importantly why Morgan is optimistic about our future. This is a fantastic dialogue! Morgan Wright We have conversed with Morgan several times in the past. He talked about Security in episode 84. He was known for his landmark testimony before Congress on Healthcare.gov that changed how the government collected personally identifiable information. On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs Morgan shares about Dave Grossman, an author who has written excellent books and theory on warfare and mindset. Dave, in his writing, says that in every society there are 3 kinds of people: there are sheep, there are wolves and there are sheepdogs. “If you’re a sheep, that’s okay, but recognize you’re a sheep.If you are a sheepdog, that’s the only thing that stands between the sheep and the wolves. Less than 1% of the population in the US, whether its the military or firefighters, says I will stand up and be that sheepdog.” Morgan Wright on Dave Grossman’s Writing However, Morgan believes that when the time is ripe, many “sheeps” are willing to step up and become “sheepdogs.” He narrates how several life-changing events that happened in the US changed the mindset of Americans. Those are the 9/11 attack, Hurricanes, and others.  “Just when we think we have been tested, nature has its own way of testing you again.” – Morgan Wright Keep Calm & Carry On Morgan further shares some insights on how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. He stresses the importance of keeping calm. He says that there is no amount of panic that can change the situation. In fact, it worsens the current situation. He also shares about expecting nothing and accepting everything. He also quotes Teddy Roosevelt saying “do what you can, with who you are, with what you have.” To hear more about Morgan Wright, how to deal with fear, scams, self-defense and most importantly why Morgan is optimistic about our future, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Morgan is an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity strategy, cyberterrorism, identity theft and privacy.  He is President and Chief Development Officer for RadiusAI.  He currently serves as a Senior Fellow at The Center for Digital Government, and is a national security opinion contributor to TheHill.com.  Morgan’s landmark testimony before Congress on Healthcare.gov changed how the government collected personally identifiable information.  He’s made hundreds of appearances on national news, radio, print and web including CNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, ABC, NPR, NBC and more. Previously Morgan was a Senior Advisor in the US State Department Antiterrorism Assistance Program and Senior Law Enforcement Advisor for the 2012 Republican National Convention. In addition to 18 years in state and local law enforcement as a highly decorated state trooper and detective, Morgan has developed solutions in defense, justice and intelligence for the largest technology companies in the world including SAIC, Unisys, Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco.  He’s a contributing author for the 4th Edition Computer Security Handbook, and has been quoted in 2 New York Times best sellers (Sharyl Attkisson: Stonewalled and Carmine Gallow: Talk Like TED).  Links: Morgan Wright Blog – Morgan Wright Linkedin – Morgan Wright Twitter: @morganwright_us  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!

Our guest today has written four New York Times Best Sellers, three of which, hit #1. He was America’s favorite bad boy, turned entrepreneur and philosopher-king, Tucker Max. We have a fantastic conversation about the coronavirus, what he and his family are doing to hunker down and try to stay healthy. We touch on the idea of radical generosity in business and what he and his company scribe are doing to lead during this crisis. Most, you’ll find out why Tucker thinks the virus is going to lead to a new golden age! Humor, Next to Grief Tucker Max had such a huge impact on our culture. He’ s only the fourth writer (along with Malcolm Gladwell Brene Brown and Michael Lewis) to have three books on the New York Times Nonfiction Best Seller List at once. Time Magazine has called him one of the 100 most influential people. He shares in this episode the importance of humor to go through our current pandemic. He thinks that society created certain people, those who are “progressive, social justice warrior and driven by a certain extreme toxic brand of “feminism” who are humorless and are too stern with their beliefs.   “Laughter is next to grief in terms of how emotions are processed. The sadness and suffering are the core part of life and the way you deal with it, one of the ways is to laugh about it. People who are humorless don’t get that.” – Tucker Max Radical Generosity Christopher shares about companies who are winning in the age of the coronavirus are those who are practicing radical generosity. Companies must have a certain “do-good mission” to be able to claim their title as category kings and queen. Tucker shares how he agrees to this move of several companies. He also urges companies to give away information for free. He gives out comments to individuals who sell their downloadable PDFs and monetizes it. Outlook For The Future Christopher believes we will see a huge cultural, societal and business shift. The three that immediately come to mind is office work in general, retail and telemedicine and digital medicine. Tucker chimed in with his outlook for the near future: “I am really happy I’m not in commercial real estate, because I think what’s gonna happen over the next 2 weeks is: everyone is gonna realize how bullshit offices are, how much more work they get done at home or how much they like working from home more. I think long term, we’ve just seen the top long term secular decline in commercial real estate and I think its a big one.” – Tucker Max To hear more about Tucker Max, the coronavirus and how he is coping with it and the golden age that will rise after this pandemic, download and listen to this episode.  Bio:  Tucker Max is the co-founder of Scribe Media, a company that helps you write, publish, and market your book. He’s written four New York Times Best Sellers (three that hit #1), which have sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. He’s credited with being the originator of the literary genre, “fratire,” and is only the fourth writer (along with Malcolm Gladwell, Brene Brown and Michael Lewis) to have three books on the New York Times Nonfiction Best Seller List at one time. He was nominated to the Time Magazine 100 Most Influential List in 2009. He received his BA from the University of Chicago in 1998, and his JD from Duke Law School in 2001. He currently lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Veronica and three children. Links: Tucker Max Scribe Books School 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!

We continue our run of legendary authors. Today, one of the most prolific and important writers in the world, Dushka Zapata. Her work has been viewed over 157 million times on question & answer site Quora.  In this episode, we get right into how she’s dealing with the coronavirus. Dushka has a powerful point of view on Social Distancing and why we should be conducting our selves as if we already had it. She also touches on why we need to learn to become “elastic” and how we’re all connected. Living in Uncertainty Dushka is exactly what we all need right now! She shares how to deal with uncertainty, especially in the present time. People have been looking outwardly too much and she says this is not helping them. “We are looking for answers in other people and the fact is, no one has the answers. I think that’s really interesting because you forget that you can look within for certain things. Like managing your anxiety and managing the fear of scarcity, which is one of the things that, we are wired to be fearful of.” – Dushka Zapata Acts of Kindness Dushka reads to us something that she wrote on Quora about acts of kindness in times of coronavirus.  “In my first supermarket visit, the shelves that carried cans, crackers, toilet paper, were completely empty People around me were clearly on edge. Stressed, anxious, haphazardly grabbing things from shelves and throwing them into their carts. I wanted to buy dishwasher detergent and there was one left but I couldn’t reach it. I suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness rise inside of me. That’s when I saw that the box I had been reaching for was right in front of my eyes. I took it, then realized a very tall person was handing it to me. “It looks like you wanted this, yes?” he says this to me very gently. I turn and we just stand there looking at each other, a pause in the middle of a frenzy spinning around us. He smiles at me. His smile feels like someone just dropped a sturdy anchor in the middle of a turbulent ocean. The times we are living in are surreal. Please, stop and be nice to someone.” – Dushka Zapata Kindness and Elasticity Dushka thinks the current pandemic has enabled people to show their best and worst. She cites how people have frenzied over grocery stocks while some other people have also been extra careful and friendly to others.  “One of the things that fascinate me about these kinds of times: one is kindness, that I want to talk about and just like thinking of other people and the other is, the ability to be elastic, flexible. How are you adapting what you’re doing to survive.” – Dushka Zapata To hear more about kindness and elasticity and Dushka’s point of view on social distancing, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Dushka Zapata is one of the most prolific and popular writers working today.  On question and answer site Quora her work has been viewed over 157 million times. She’s the author of eight best-selling books. Dushka has over 20 years experience as a senior communications executive in Silicon Valley.  When she’s not writing, she works as a serves as communications executive in San Fransciso. Links: Quora: Duskha Zapata Amazon: Dushka Zapata Love Yourself: and Other Insurgent Acts That Recast Everything You Belong Everywhere: and Other Things You’ll Have to See for Yourself  Twitter: @dushkaamateur Linkedin: Dushka 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!

We continue our run of legendary authors with Courtney Carver, author of Soulful Simplicity and the brand new Project 333. We talk about The Project 333 Challenge, wearing only 33 items of clothing for three months. People who do this report less anxiety and more clarity and focus. We also talk about how to live a more simple life, why having tons of stuff doesn’t make us happy and how easy it is to slide into the mentality of buying stuff that doesn’t make us happy. You Are What You Wear Courtney starts off sharing how both men and women give a lot of attention to their wardrobes. She taps on people who have either overshopped or have thought about other people judging them based on what they wear.  “Whatever it is, we all have this connection to our clothes.” – Courtney Carver Christopher shares that although he doesn’t pay much attention to his wardrobe, he does have a 20 year old Prada suit sitting around in the closet. He is unsure of the reason why he is still keeping it but reading Courtney’s book made him think about it. Fueling Anxieties Courtney shares in one way or another, most of us have purchased clothing to make us look successful or to fit into a specific circle. In fact, in one social activity, Courtney asks for a show of hands asking about their clothes with tags. Half of the room says they do own some unworn and brand new, with tags.  “I think it comes from an obsession with getting a great deal. So we might buy something just because its a good deal when the only good part of the deal is the money part. We never really wanted it in the first place. We might also buy it because we think we need it or should have it, to measure up to the people around us, and our work, and in our day to day lives.” – Courtney Carver Project 333 Courtney described Project 333 as a “fascinating, emotional ride, digging into closets and wardrobes.” It initially started as a personal challenge to mix and match 33 articles of clothing for 3 months. A few fashion bloggers participated in the challenge and it went viral. Soon enough, Associated Press picked up the story.  “I had no idea until I got rid of most of my stuff. I had no idea how emotional it was for me because I was just really used to it all the time. I was used to seeing tags, I was used to understanding at some level that I spent way too much money on things that I don’t wear or enjoy and they were making me feel bad every single day.” – Courtney Carver To hear more about Project 333 and how a life-changing disease became a catalyst for radical, positive change in Courtney’s life, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Courtney Carver was an Ad Sales Director for a group of luxury magazines. She was in debt, she worked all the time and she was stressed out.  Then, in 2006, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and was forced to look at her life habits. She started by changing her diet and ended by quitting her job and getting rid of the vast majority of her belongings.  The results: She is happier, calmer and hasn’t had any MS symptoms in the last four years. Courtney Carver is the writer and founder of Be More with Less. The 43-year-old wife and mother launched her blog in May 2010 to share a message of hope in simplicity.  She left a 15-year career in sales and marketing in September 2011 to focus on writing, develop new ways to teach others to live more simply, and live a simpler life herself.  In addition to bemorewithless.com, she created bemorewithless.com/business to encourage business owners and entrepreneurs to focus on the essential instead of getting lost in busy work. Courtney was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2006 and attributes her healthy lifestyle to simplifying every part of her life, from diet to debt.  She moved from New England in 2004 to Salt Lake City where she lives with her husband and 17-year-old daughter. Links:  Website: Bemorewithless.com Instagram: @bemorewithless Twitter: @bemorewithless Youtube: Courtney Carver Facebook: Be More With Less 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!

Welcome to an amazing episode with Combat Veteran and US Marine Akshay Nanavati. He’s a speaker, entrepreneur, ultra runner, non-profit founder and best selling author. We have a stunning conversation about why overcoming extraordinary challenges is the key to a successful life, why we should all pick worthy struggles and the power of “earning your life.” Further, we also touch on why the most important skill is having a positive relationship to suffering and so much more. Body Not Built For Combat Standing at 5”7’and weighing just 138 pounds, Akshay enlisted himself to join the Marines. He was a druggie and an alcoholic at the time when he watched the movie Black Hawk Down. It triggered something within him and in a snap, he found himself reading military books and life in combat genres. It was also shortly after the 9/11 tragedy that moved him and made him ask question himself.  “What kind of human beings would knowingly put themselves in a situation like that and sacrifice their lives for somebody else?” – Akshay Nanavati True Calling To Serve Akshay sharest to Christopher that he felt at that time that he was called to serve. Nothing can stop him, even his pre-existing conditions such as depression, self-destructive tendencies, blood disorder, scoliosis, flat footedness and much more.  “It took me about a year and a half to take in all these medical waivers, but that was the turning point. That is why I wanted to join, to serve an institution where the good of the group matters more than you, the well being of the group. You serve for the people next to you and everything is your men and the mission and that’s beautiful.” – Akshay Nanavati Experiencing Humanity at Extremes Akshay shares his inner desire to go back in his previous assignment because there was something intriguing, unusual and beautiful when you experience humanity in its most extreme form.  “I mean, part of it is an addictive thing, part of it, you cannot experience and understand and taste the human experience at its fullest, unless you  experience it at the most extremes.” – Akshay Nanavati His experiences led him to write his book, Fearvana. The Dalai Lama endorsed his book, saying “Fearvana inspires us to look beyond our own agonizing experiences and find the positive side of our lives.”  To hear more on Akshay’s thoughts on self-development like: “follow your passion” and more about his book, Fearvana, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Akshay Nanavati (born October 15, 1984) is a United States Marine veteran, speaker, entrepreneur, ultra runner and author.  He served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was later diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. His book Fearvana was endorsed by the Dalai Lama and Jack Canfield. Links: Fearvana Twitter: @fearvanalife Instagram: @fearvana Wikipedia: Akshay Navati 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!

Welcome to part two of our dialogue with the real DEA Narcos Javier Peña and Steve Murphy. These are the two real American heroes who partnered with Colombian Law Enforcement to take down the world’s 1st Narco Terrorist, Pablo Escobar, and their story is the basis for the Netflix smash hit Narcos. In this second episode, you hear the conclusion of how Murph and Javier bring Escobar to justice. We also dig into their thoughts on leadership, management, and life. The End of Pablo Escobar In this riveting conversation, we hear about how Murph and Javier bring Pablo Escobar to his end. They were honest enough to say it was a story of revenge, especially thinking about how many innocent people were killed, some are personal friends of the two . Javier further recounted what transpired the moment Pablo got out of prison in 1991. They had a bounty of 5 million USD to take him down. Eventually, through the initiatives of the Columbian National Police, Pablo Escobar faced his death.  “If you watch the show Narcos, the part that I was on the roof when Pablo was killed, that’s not true, that’s Hollywood. That night, we were expecting retaliation attacks because of the death of Pablo. It was the quietest night I have even spent. I mean, there was nothing. It was quiet. The next day, Javier was back in the country.” – Steve Murphy Narcos Netflix Series Javier and Murph, in all of their appearances, wants to get the record straight that the Columbian National Police was the one who took down Pablo Escobar. The two also share how some of the scenes in Narcos were made dramatic. There were a lot of fictional events that were added to the stories to appeal to the audiences.  It was surely effective because the show was embraced not only in the US but in Europe, Australia, Asia and even in Latin America.  “The writers, directors are phenomenal. They are extremely intelligent. When I get to the writer’s room at Hollywood to work with them, they had a library of books there. I thought I knew everything about Escobar and the cartel, they had books that I never even heard of.” Javier Pena On Leadership and More Javier and Murph had some interesting thoughts on life, leadership and more. For instance, Javier shared the importance of going on the field and listening to the field men who report their surveillance first hand.  “When I retired, one of my men says, ‘Boss, I respected you because you went on the field with us’ even though I’m in the background.” Javier Pena To hear more about the real DEA narcos Javier Pena and Steve Murphy, download and listen to this episode. Bio: You may have seen TV shows and documentaries, or read books about the world’s wealthiest, and most violent drug trafficker, but now you have the opportunity to hear the real story of what happened in the investigation of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel. DEA special agents Javier Peña and Steve Murphy were assigned as the lead investigators targeting Escobar and his organization. These true American heroes provide a first-hand lesson in history as they discuss their efforts bringing down the world’s first narco-terrorist, the challenges they faced in oftentimes hostile and life-threatening environments, and the innovative strategies they employed to successfully end the reign of terror of the world’s most wanted criminal. Their presentation is followed by a Q&A opportunity during which Javier and Steve will entertain questions related to their investigation, the making of Narcos, what history changing investigation is next for them, and more. Links: DEA Narcos 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!

Welcome to our super, special two-part dialogue with the real DEA Narcos Javier Peña and Steve Murphy. In this first episode, they take us behind the scenes of how they came together, from the US to Columbia, and worked for six years, to get Pablo Escobar. We learn, what it feels like to have a $300,000 bounty on your head and how they dealt with the emotional ups and downs of this long-term, often very lonely and of course extraordinarily dangerous mission. Street Deals to Cartels Javier and Steve are two real American heroes who partnered with Colombian Law Enforcement to take down the world’s 1st Narco Terrorist, Pablo Escobar. Their story is actually the basis for the Netflix smash hit Narcos. Javier recounts how he used to work in Austin Texas, where he runs after street dealers. From street buys to surveillance, he never expected he will be sent to Columbia. It has been months before their superiors transferred them to handle the cartels and Pablo Escobar.  “Pablo Escobar is one of the richest traffickers in the world. He built his empire on terrorism, on violence and its something we had never seen before. This is why we weren’t really ready when we started going after Escobar, cause we had never seen this type of tactics before.” – Javier Peña Narcoterrorism  Javier and Steve recounted this different kind of terrorism that promulgated in Columbia. Pablo Escobar had orchestrated car bombs, which ranged from 10-15 a day which slowly escalated to 50 per day.  “He wanted to kill as many innocent people as he could because this was his fight against Columbia. We try to explain that he challenged his country and we like to say that he actually won.” Steve Murphy He also had a bounty on the head of police officers. In fact, the DEA agents caught a 15-year old hitman who shot 10 police officers. The kid took home 100 USD per police officer he kills and he was able to feed and provide shelter to his impoverished family.  More on this episode Listen to how Murph and Javier had to bend and break the rules and why they think the courage of the Colombian people and why they think their partners in Colombian Law Enforcement ate the “real heroes.” You’re also going to hear in their voices, the powerful bond, and friendship that has developed between them. In part two, you’ll hear the dramatic conclusion of how they ultimately brought Escobar to justice. We also dig into their life and leadership lessons. We touch on their book, Manhunters and their lives today as public speakers and teachers. To hear more about the real DEA narcos Javier Pena and Steve Murphy, download and listen to this episode. Bio: You may have seen TV shows and documentaries, or read books about the world’s wealthiest, and most violent drug trafficker, but now you have the opportunity to hear the real story of what happened in the investigation of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel. DEA special agents Javier Peña and Steve Murphy were assigned as the lead investigators targeting Escobar and his organization. These true American heroes provide a first-hand lesson in history as they discuss their efforts bringing down the world’s first narco-terrorist, the challenges they faced in oftentimes hostile and life-threatening environments, and the innovative strategies they employed to successfully end the reign of terror of the world’s most wanted criminal. Their presentation is followed by a Q&A opportunity during which Javier and Steve will entertain questions related to their investigation, the making of Narcos, what history changing investigation is next for them, and more. Links: DEA Narcos 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, we speak with self-made Billionaire, Founder of $30B market cap, Paychex. You’re gonna love this guy! He has a new book: Built, Not Born: A Self-Made Billionaire’s No-Nonsense Guide for Entrepreneurs. We dig into the book and his insights on why and when you start a company. He also talks about how to build a long-term, successful business and what important steps to take before marriage. Encourager of Entrepreneurs Tom found himself as an encourager of entrepreneurs. He understood why people evaluate whether they want to become an entrepreneur or not. He knew that there are a lot of things to take into account, such as risk and hardships exclusive to entrepreneurship.  As risks would be evident in any career, Tom shares that sometimes it is even riskier to work for somebody than it is to be your own entrepreneur. Besides, a business can serve as an heirloom or an asset that one can resell. “If your business concept is well thought off, and you are very well qualified to run your little company, your medium-sized company, whatever. then I think that’s the best of both worlds.” – Tom Golisano Wise Words For Entrepreneurs Aside from a winning concept for an enterprise, Tom shares entrepreneurs must have industry knowledge. Before launching Paychex, he used to sell accounting machines while working for a payroll processing company that caters to large corporations. He believes this industry knowledge affected his success. “Anybody who is considering being an entrepreneur, the first thing that I would ask is ‘what’s your industry knowledge?’ You know about this industry, you’re getting into that you could absolutely make a difference or are you gonna end up getting a very serious or costly education because you got into something you really did understand?” – Tom Golisano Sales Management is a Must For Tom, Sales management is one of the biggest issues with entrepreneurs. Most entrepreneurs mask the issue, saying its a “cashflow problem” but in reality, the company is not making enough sales. Tom advises entrepreneurs to start making calls and to immerse themselves as much to learn about the sales process.  “You’re not gonna be able to develop a good sales team unless you have that knowledge yourself. You might as well dig right into it. start making sales presentations and sales calls, and if you still don’t think you’re the right person to be doing that, at least you’ll be in the position to train somebody you hire to perform that function.” – Tom Golisano To hear more about Tom’s stories about what it’s like being married to Tennis Legend, Monica Seles, philanthropy, investment strategy and many more, download and listen to this episode.  Bio:  Thomas Golisano — entrepreneur, philanthropist, and civic leader — is the founder and chairman of the Board of Paychex, Inc., headquartered in Rochester, New York. With more than 12,000 employees and 100 office locations nationwide, Paychex is a leading national provider of payroll, human resource, and benefit outsourcing solutions for more than a half-million small and medium-sized businesses. Tom Golisano served as Paychex’s president and chief executive officer from 1971, when he founded the company, until October 2004. Mr. Golisano and Paychex have consistently been recognized by the business, financial and national media. Mr. Golisano was listed among the FORBES top 10 bosses in the U.S. for three consecutive years, beginning in 2002; the annual ranking is based on chief executives who provide the best balance between their compensation and shareholder return. In February 2020, his first book, Built, Not Born was launched, providing Tom Golisano’s trademark direct and often humorous style, and no-nonsense advice across all phases of business ownership. Mr. Golisano has demonstrated an ongoing dedication and commitment to a variety of civic issues and organizations. In 1985 he launched his first philanthropic endeavor by establishing the Golisano Foundation, which awards grants to organizations providing opportunities for those with intellectual disabilities. His philanthropic contributions, both personal and through the Golisano Foundation, have totaled approximately $300 million helping hospitals, educational institutions and many other organizations. In recognition of his achievements and endeavors, Golisano has received numerous awards and holds honorary doctorate degrees from five different colleges and universities. Mr. Golisano is a member of the board of directors of several private companies and institutions. He is the former owner the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, which he purchased on March 14, 2003, demonstrating his commitment to Western New York and the region’s economic climate. Mr. Golisano said that it was important to keep the team in Buffalo because it is an economic and community asset. Mr. Golisano sold the team in 2011 with the stipulation that the team remai

This is our second in our two-part series on Digital Business, with Steve Pratt, CEO of Noodle.AI, the remarkable startup on a mission to changing global manufacturing and supply chain business. We have a real conversation about how the combination of Machine Learning / AI, The Cloud, IoT and deep data analytics can come together to reduce both economic and environmental waste. In case you missed the first part of this two-part series with Business Guru Big Ben Rewis, check it out: Episode 138. Missionary CEO Christopher has known Steve for over 30 years. He has a vast and impressive experience in digital marketing, starting with the creation of CRM business for Deloitte. He was also the founder and CEO of the InfoSys Consulting Practice and he also led IBM Watson’s initiatives. Steve has deep experience in building and managing massively successful, deep technology businesses. He has some powerful insights, through his company Noodle.Ai, into how modern technology can reduce economic and environmental waste. This is what Christopher calls a great example of a missionary CEO, where the E stands for Evangelist. “The intention of the company is to apply data science to create a world without waste. We reject this notion, historically, that you had to choose between profits and the planet.” – Steve Pratt World Without Waste Steve shares how companies have scaled things right now. They have created amazing hyper-growth for their companies, but have also accumulated huge amounts of waste.  “We have over 500 billion dollars of excess inventories sitting in warehouses. We got 50% of trucks driving around, empty. We have about 400B dollar of stuff, that is thrown out in the manufacturing process because of quality defects. These are all preventable.” – Steve Pratt A lot of people analyzed where the waste is in the world and over 90% of the waste in the world is due to manufacturing and logistics. Steve points out that due to bad computations, companies are manufacturing trillion dollars of goods and let it sit in their storage, because they couldnt get it out to the market.  Environmental Sustainability Steve shares about steel manufacturing company Big River Steel, which they granted a lead certification for environment sustainability.  “With our applications, that consumption to reduce inventory levels, reduce quality defects and they are the most profitable, per employee, the highest profit per mil hour, the lowest environmental impact of any steel known in the world.” – Steve Pratt Christopher and Steve then discussed that companies should analyze data that is readily available to them. This is can easily be achieved through the help of various technologies available.  To hear more about how digital businesses can achieve a world without waste and other insights of Steve, download and listen to this episode. Bio:  Stephen is an instigator, agitator, and pioneer in creating world-class technology services organizations.  He has spent his career building innovative ways to create value for the world’s most important organizations.  Prior to Noodle, he was responsible for all Watson implementations worldwide for IBM Global Business Services.  He also was the founder and CEO of Infosys Consulting, a Senior Partner at Deloitte Consulting, and a technology and strategy consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton.  He twice has been selected as one of the top 25 consultants in the world by Consulting Magazine.  He has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University and The George Washington University focused on Satellite Communications.  For fun, Steve plays competitive tennis, races sailboats, and formerly was a crazed rugby player. He enjoys playing acoustic guitar for his children (not ready for prime time). Links:  Linkedin – Stephen Pratt Noodle.AI 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 our first in a special two-part series on Digital Business. The legendary Big Ben Rewis joins us today to have a real, powerful conversation about digital businesses today and how big data can contribute to sustainability. In our next episode, watch out for Steve Pratt CEO of Noodle.AI, the remarkable startup changing global supply chains. Surfer, Snowboard, Advisor Big Ben is one of the most extraordinary adventure athlete’s of this time. He is a skier, snowboarder, sailor, and surfer. In fact, one of his first few sponsors were Jake Burton, the founder of Burton Snowboards. Today, when he’s not surfing or on some kind of adventure, Ben Rewis would most likely be dishing digital business advice to Fortune 100 companies and startups in Silicon Valley. He has deep experience in building and managing massively scalable digital business and payments infrastructure. Digital Business Guru Just to name a few of Ben’s contributions, he created the Internet e-Commerce team for Visa. He was also Head of Security & Fraud Technology for First Data and he’s an advisor to a startup Verdant Robotics, a startup doing amazing things with AI & Machine Learning in the smart agriculture category. “I think there’s a lot of themes, there’s a lot of organizational and technical similarity across all of them. The whole notion of data in the digital business is just fascinating, what’s happening in the industry today. Cause you know, like the industry quote ‘software is eating the world.’” – Ben Rewis Digital Business is the Future Digital businesses are not brand new, as they have been around a long time.Ben now shares that people are realizing the by-product of their digital business can infect more businesses. “Digital businesses don’t necessarily have new value-added services that are data-based. They may have a legacy product or service, that is digital and they realizing that the data that is produced by that service can help them generate new revenues, or cut costs.” – Ben Rewis To hear more about how digital businesses can greatly influence sustainability efforts for the future and other insights of Ben, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Ben Rewis was raised in New England north of Boston, the eldest son of two high school teachers.  After graduation from The Stowe School in VT., he moved to San Francisco, CA at age 17 and have been in technology ever since.  Today, he’s an advisory consultant to startup CEOs, and a deep payments expert with solid leadership and innovation skills.  Facilitator, speaker, communicator, thinker and doer, able to bring different constituencies together around a common digital business vision and set of deliverables.  Able to drive from big picture down to concrete initiatives. Passionate about helping teams solve challenges for strategic alignment. In addition to his business involvement with major companies, he has decades of wilderness and group leadership experience, becoming an Outward Bound instructor at age 21, and taking part in numerous adventure expeditions around the world.  He’s crossed deserts and canyons, sailed the Tasman Sea, and climbed mountains like McKinley.  He enjoys just about all board sports, competed in the first world championships for snowboarding, and learned to surf at age 40.  Ben co-founded the Drop In Coalition, and is an Advisory Board Member of the Save The Waves Coalition, and was honored in 2019 as a Royal Geographic Society Fellow.  Links: Ben Rewis Linkedin: Ben Rewis Instagram: @benrewis Twitter: @benrewis Verdant Robotics Save The Waves Organization 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 very special episode and a very different episode. Part 1 was with Intimacy Coach Allana Pratt. Today, for Part 2 in our series on Intimacy and Sex, we welcome Alice Little, legal sex worker and #1 Luxury Companion at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Carson City, Nevada USA. We get into it! Why Alice loves her job, why she says it’s all about connection, communication, and intimacy, what it’s like to use her service and why nothing is too kinky! Job Unlike Any Other Alice describes herself as a legal sex worker, sex educator, and intimacy expert. She used to travel in the Midwest, educating about sex until she was introduced to brothels. She found out that brothels are a unique place to work. All other sex workers have different work experiences from each other “My job very much so isn’t just sex. It’s so much more than that. It’s communication, connection, intimacy and teaching people how to love themselves.” – Alice Little Radical Self-Acceptance From a different perspective, she shares that one of the things she does is to teach people how to connect to their bodies, through radical self-acceptance. Through the acts of connection with clients, Alice shares it gives them the ability to connect deeper with themselves and appreciate who they are. When asked what it is liked to have sex with her, Alice nonchalantly shared it’s life-changing. “Oftentimes it changes the entire way people have sex moving forward. Like when is the last time you asked your partner and say ‘show me what feels nice’ and people say ‘oh shit, I have literally never uttered those words in the bedroom. I barely had sex with the lights on, let alone had a conversation while getting into that’ and I enable people to do that. It is really eye-opening.” – Alice Little Stigma With Sex Alice continued to share her views about sex, and she says it is something highly stigmatized in this country. A brothel is a safe place for Alice, where people can ask questions and expect not to be judged. Nothing is taboo and there is no judgment in brothels.  “I’m very, very comfortable helping people and enabling them to explore things that they probably couldn’t in their day to day lives.” – Alice Little Alice shared a lot about the process of booking appointments, touring the ranch and the types of experiences she offers. Pay special attention to her advice on how we can improve our sex lives. She even talks about how she markets herself and her marketing advice for you. To listen more about Alice’s advice on intimacy and sex, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Alice Little is the highest-earning sex worker in the United States. Little wrote in a Huffington Post op-ed that she makes $1 million per year from working in Nevada. Little is a native of Ireland and moved to the U.S. at the age of 5 and grew up in Lond Island, New York. Thanks to her 2017 article, “A Week as a Legal Sex Worker In Mound House, NV, On A $267,000 Salary, and appearances on Tim Ferris’s podcast, Little has become a well-known advocate for sex workers across the world. Little began her career as a sex worker at the Sagebrush Ranch in 2015. In 2017, Little moved to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch where she was the most booked sex worker in the United States for two years in a row. Links: The Alice Little Youtube: Moonlite Bunny Ranch Tour with Alice Little Twitter: @thealicelittle Alice Little 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!

Yup, we’re doing it! For this week, we have a two-part special on Intimacy and Sex. In this episode, everyone’s favorite intimacy guru and coach, Allana Pratt. This conversation is a wonderful, magical mystery tour about intimacy, pain, pleasure, how we actually feel through our hearts, and a lot more! Pay special attention toward the end, when Allana gives her ideas for some fun things to do with your partner on Valentine’s day! Next episode, watch out for Alice Little, the two-time, #1 Companion of the Year at Nevada’s Moonlite Bunny Ranch. It is everything you ever wanted to know about her profession and what she thinks you can do to spice up your sex life. Valentine’s Day is Stupid The conversation started off with Allana sharing her thoughts about the upcoming Valentine’s Day. As much as it feels like an obligation for couples to spend, she also shares its a good holiday to make an extra effort for partners. “I think Valentine’s day is a manufactured, stupid-marketing-hiccup-the-prices-of-roses-and-restaurants and it generally pisses most people off as it feels like an obligation, right?” – Allana Pratt Every day is Valentine’s Day Valentine’s day is a great opportunity to remind ourselves that we might have been taking our partners for granted. Allana further shares that if you don’t take time and energy to plan romantic things with your partner, it’s gonna wither. Because of this, she looks at the blessing of Valentine’s day as a reminder. Christopher also shared his love story in this episode, about how she met her wife Kari and how a similar experience in their lives brought them together. Christopher admits its Valentine’s every day when he is with Kari. Pain, Heart Over Brain and Others Allana shares a lot more interesting insights in this episode. Why it is better to feel pain and be humbled earlier in your lives. What intimacy means and how self-love can define how intimate you can become. She also touches a part about the importance of feelings to be able to tap unto different kinds of powers such as strong intuition. “You can’t think your way to coherence, harmony, kindness, love. You have to feel your way there. That is also been scientifically proven.” – Allana Pratt To listen more about Allan’s advice on intimacy and sex, download and listen to this episode.  Bio:  Intimacy Expert, Allana Pratt inspires open-hearted, unapologetic living with delicious sass.  Her inspiring vulnerability and courage has landed her a featured weekly column on the GoodMenProject, featured as an Icon of Influence, and as Guest Expert on The Jenny McCarthy Show, Huffington Post, People Magazine, Forbes, CBS, TLC and FOX.  This cum laude graduate of Columbia University is the Author of 4 books, has interviewed Whoopi Goldberg, Alanis Morissette and Dr. Bernie Seigel and Hosts the edgy Podcast “Intimate Conversations” where listeners learn to thrive after heartbreak and find the relationship they deserve. A certified coach, Allana was asked by Leeza Gibbons to coach her during Dancing with the Stars. With over 4 million viewers on YouTube, Allana is the go-to authority when struggling to trust again after a harsh breakup so followers can create healthy, thriving intimate relationships with themselves first, which naturally attracts their ideal match.  Links: Allana Pratt Instagram: @allanapratt Twitter: @allanapratt Youtube: Allana Pratt 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, 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!