Don't Stop Us Now AI Edition

We have a very special episode this week because we’re sharing the vulnerable story of how one of our guests was subsequently fired from a high profile role in the US and how she navigated her way through the dark times that followed.

That guest is Heidi Hackemer and what she shares in this episode is so generous and valuable for all of us to hear; after all nothing is permanent and plans fall over on a regular basis.

Heidi is a leading creative who had her own brand agency in New York and also headed up the Creative Studio at the philanthropic Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) in California.

Not long after our first conversation with Heidi in July 2018 things went wrong, very wrong. Heidi was fired from CZI and not only that, when she got back to New York, she had to close her brand strategy agency, W&W too. We learnt about this because Heidi wrote an extremely brave and vulnerable article on Medium (link below) describing what had happened and how low she was feeling.

Admiring her generous honesty, we reached out to her just as COVID was taking hold everywhere round the world last year. Heidi agreed to speak with us.

After our conversation, we made a decision not to publish the interview last year, as it just felt too raw. With Heidi’s permission, we’ve all agreed that now is the right time to share the story she has been so generous in sharing with us. She’s well and truly bounced back from the lows she describes and is now the Executive Creative Director for North America at the booming global company, Oatly.

In this episode Heidi shares:

• How, after being fired, she initially couldn’t stop worrying about money
• Her advice for others who lose their jobs
• Heidi’s generous sharing of all the things she did to pull herself out of depression and bounce back,
• And the inspiring reason she shared her extraordinary piece on Medium

Even if you are securely employed right now, we really recommend you listen to this unique conversation. And if you know someone who’s lost their job make sure they listen to this too! They’ll thank you later.

Enjoy this episode with the generous, and very thoughtful, Heidi Hackemer.

Useful Links

Heidi on LinkedIn

Medium article that prompted this second interview

Heidi on Twitter

Heidi on Instagram

Oatly website

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We’re back from Covid (hooray!) and so even more excited about this week’s inspiring guest!

Joanna Flint is Chief Commercial Officer for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group where she’s responsible for its global marketing, sales, revenue management, brand and distribution functions. She is also a member of the company’s Board.

Joanna joined the luxury brand last year after more than twelve years with Google in Asia where, amongst other roles, she was Managing Director of Google Singapore. Based in Singapore with her family, after 20 years living in Asia, Joanna is also a member of YPO and a mentor to early stage start-ups.

If you’re contemplating your career or thinking about changing roles then you have come to the right place because Joanna has some of the most thoughtful musings on this topic we’ve heard.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The incredible story of why Joanna nearly didn’t apply for the top job at Google in Singapore and what happened to make her change her mind
• The opportunities she feels she wasted because she wasn’t super clear about what she wanted next in her career
• Exactly how Joanna got that clarity on what her next role needed to look like
• And how she manages the challenges of leading a truly global team without working 24/7.

We know you’ll love the amazing insights and advice shared in this conversation, so enjoy this episode with the insightful and passionate Joanna Flint.

A quick P.S. from us that we are giving our mini episodes a little break for a while, so we’ll be back in two weeks time with our next conversation with an amazing, pioneering female leader. Hint - she’s ‘uber’ cool.

Useful Links

Jo on LinkedIn

Mandarinoriental.com

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We have a real treat in store for you today with a truly remarkable changemaker and NY Times bestselling author as our guest.

Acumen Founder and CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz, has been named one of the 25 Smartest People of the Decade by the Daily Beast, and one of the world’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes, amongst numerous other honours.

Jacqueline pioneered the notion of 'patient capital', investing in social entrepreneurs around the world. Acumen supports them to establish sustainable businesses that serve some of the world’s poorest people.

What makes this episode a particularly fascinating one is that all this work with entrepreneurs has taught Jacqueline and her team so much about what it takes to succeed when trying to create change. And now she’s also just released a new book sharing what it takes to be a changemaker. It's called Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (and there’s a free course too if you buy the book).

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How her early attempts at social change in Africa seriously failed to impress the locals;
• What she learnt about humanity when she became one of the first people to visit in jail someone she’d known well who’d gone on to become a major perpetrator in the Rwandan Genocide;
• How Jacqueline sees investment as a means to solving problems rather than making profit as the primary goal; and ....
• How she’s seeing women entrepreneurs successfully breaking the rules particularly now during the coronavirus crisis.

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly inspiring Jacqueline Novogratz...

Links of Interest

Acumen Website

Jacqueline’s Books:

Manifesto for a Moral Revolution - Practices to Build a Better World - her latest book. If you buy a copy you can sign up for free to her 11 week course ‘The Path of Moral Leadership’ (usually it's US$195)

The Blue Sweater

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We have a fascinating episode this week with our guest, Taiwan’s remarkable Digital Minister, Audrey Tang.

Audrey became the youngest Government Minister ever in Taiwan when she was appointed a few years ago at the age of 35. She is also the world’s first ever Transgender Government Minister.

Audrey’s childhood was anything but conventional, in her early years she was something of a child prodigy who also had a serious heart condition. She dropped out of school at the age of 14 to manage her own education and at the age of 16 started her first successful software business.

Fast forward in time, and after some years working in Silicon Valley and further success, Audrey found herself moving from being a Government activist in her home country to a Government Minister!

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How Audrey’s quick involvement in creating a valuable app has played a key role in Taiwan’s extraordinarily successful management of Covid-19, with the country never having to stop working
• How her heart condition as a child means that to this day Audrey does not experience anger or upset or extreme joy
• How in Taiwan, thanks to calling software coders Programme Designers vs Software Engineers, there are significantly more women than men working in the field
• And her unique ways of seeing arguments from both sides

Enjoy this discussion with the remarkable Audrey Tang.

Useful Links

Audrey on Twitter

Taiwan Can Help Us - a COVID-19 initiative from Taiwan to help other countries

CoHack - a hackathon led by Audrey to use open data and technology to help fight the coronavirus pandemic across the world

G0V - a decentralized civic tech community from Taiwan

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We think you’re going to love this week’s episode featuring two super impressive women who, amongst other things, teach at Stanford University’s famed Graduate School of Business (GSB).

Yes, today you get two for the price of one! ;-)

Despite their serious surrounds, these two are determined to bring levity and humour to the world having discovered just how powerful humour can be in dark times and at work.

Jennifer Aaker is General Atlantic Professor at Stanford’s GSB, where she has been one of the favourite professors there for around 20 years. She’s a Behavioural Psychologist and author, and her research focus areas include: purpose and meaning and how they shape the choices we make; and most recently she’s been working with our other guest today, Naomi Bagdonas on the power of using humour in a business context.

Naomi Bagdonas was a stand up comic by night and a management consultant by day, never mixing the two, until one day she realised that she was living an almost double life and decided it was time to be herself wherever she was. These days Naomi is a lecturer at Stanford, an Executive Coach, an author and she even teaches improv comedy to inmates at San Francisco’s County Jail.

Jennifer and Naomi began teaching the importance of humour to MBA students and then realised that what they’d discovered was what the world really needed right now . . . hence their new book out this week, ‘Humour, Seriously’.

In this laughter-filled episode, you’ll hear:

• Why Naomi and Jennifer believe humour is a secret superpower at work and in life,
• How we all fall off a humour cliff at the age of 23 and what we can do about it,
• Practical tips to increase creativity and innovation in your team, and
• How you can potentially gain an additional 8 years on your life!

Enjoy this episode with these two witty, wickedly smart women ...

Useful Links:

Humour, Seriously website

Test to see what humour type you are

Jennifer Aaker on LinkedIn

Naomi Bagdonas on LinkedIn

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