Ten Words

Before Sir David Brailsford took over as performance director for Team GB cycling, they had won 1 gold in 76 years. At the Beijing Olympics they won 8 gold medals with a further 17 at the paralympic games and 59 world championships over the next decade.

What exactly did Sir Dave do? And what can we learn from his performance philosophies? It's not everyone, but in this episode we did into the "Kaizen" of marginal gains - the 1% rule - and look at ways which we might be able to improve the performance of ourselves and the team around us.

Brené Brown is a Texan researcher storyteller, and she is one of the most reluctant public speakers you will come across. Ironic considering that she's now a global phenomenon around the topic of vulnerability, the author of several New York Times best selling books and the star of one of the most watched TED talks of all time.

In this episode I look behind the scenes at what made her talk such a huge success, and I get completely caught up with the work which she feels compelled to share with the world. It's a heavy topic and a tricky one to navigate in such a short talk, but Brené manages to make the audience laugh 22 times in just 19 minutes! When they say that the best way to make an audience remember is to make them laugh, it is no wonder this became one of the most watched TED talks of all time.

Whether you are interested in "The Power of Vulnerability", want to become a better public speaker yourself, or maybe (like me) you just adore Brené Brown, there is something in this episode for everyone.

Enjoy.

SHOW LINKS

• "The Power of Vulnerability" TED talk
• Brené's 99U keynote
• IBM Watson Personality Insights API Link for you to play with
• IBM Watson Tone Analyzer
• Brené's website
• Marie Forleo + Brené Brown
• Follow Brené on Linkedin
• Follow Brené on Twitter

MY NOTES

IBM WATSON ANALYSIS OF BRENE'S TED TALK

FOR MORE INSPIRATION

BRENÉ'S TED TALK (FULL TRANSCRIPT)

So, I'll start with this: a couple years ago, an event planner called me because I was going to do a speaking event. And she called, and she said, "I'm really struggling with how to write about you on the little flyer." And I thought, "Well, what's the struggle?" And she said, "Well, I saw you speak, and I'm going to call you a researcher, I think, but I'm afraid if I call you a researcher, no one will come, because they'll think you're boring and irrelevant."

And I was like, "Okay." And she said, "But the thing I liked about your talk is you're a storyteller. So I think what I'll do is just call you a storyteller." And of course, the academic, insecure part of me was like, "You're going to call me a what?" And she said, "I'm going to call you a storyteller." And I was like, "Why not 'magic pixie'?"

I was like, "Let me think about this for a second." I tried to call deep on my courage. And I thought, you know, I am a storyteller. I'm a qualitative researcher. I collect stories; that's what I do. And maybe stories are just data with a soul. And maybe I'm just a storyteller. And so I said, "You know what? Why don't you just say I'm a researcher-storyteller." And she went, "Ha ha. There's no such thing."

So I'm a researcher-storyteller, and I'm going to talk to you today -- we're talking about expanding perception -- and so I want to talk to you and tell some stories about a piece of my research that fundamentally expanded my perception and really actually changed the way that I live and love and work and parent.

And this is where my story starts. When I was a young researcher, doctoral student, my first year, I had a research professor who said to us, "Here's the thing, if you cannot measure it, it does not exist." And I thought he was just sweet-talking me. I was like, "Really?" and he was like, "Absolutely." And so you have to understand that I have a bachelor's and a master's in social work, and I was getting my Ph.D. in social work, so my entire academic career was surrounded by people who kind of believed in the "life's messy, love it." And I'm more of the, "life's messy, clean it up, organize it and put it into a bento box."

And so to think that I had found my way, to found a career that takes me -- really, one of the big sayings in social work is, "Lean into the discomfort of the work." And I'm like, knock discomfort upside the head and move it over and get all A's. That was my mantra. So I was very excited about this. And so I thought...

What started out as a bit of fun earlier this year has taken on a life of its own. Around 20,000 people now listen to the Ten Words podcast each week, to look behind the scenes and who said what and why.

So in this episode, I review the story so far and pick my highlights from the first 20 episodes, featuring poets, pastors, strippers, celebrities, politicians, scientists and storytellers. I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you SO much for joining me on the journey so far. I can't wait to see where we go next!

• Ep. 1 PILOT ~ "You can change the world just by telling your story".
• Ep. 2 BARACK OBAMA ~ "Fired Up? Ready to go". x2
• Ep. 3 VIVIENNE WESTWOOD ~ "Buy less. Choose well. Make it last. Quality not quantity".
• Ep. 4 CEDRIC VILLANI ~ "To achieve good results work all night and eat soup".
• Ep. 5 ELLEN ~ "It's failure that gives you the proper perspective on success".
• Ep. 6 GARRY KASPAROV ~ "A good human plus a machine is the best combination".
• Ep. 7 J.K. Rowling ~ "The stories that we love will live in us forever".
• Ep. 8 JERRY SEINFELD ~ "The road less traveled is less traveled for a reason".
• Ep. 9 BEYONCE ~ "Growth. Love. Happiness. Fun. Belief. Enjoy your life (it's short)".
• Ep. 10 JOCKO WILLINK ~ "Good".
• Ep. 11 MAYA ANGELOU ~ "I've learned that I still have a lot to learn".
• Ep. 12 DITA VON TEESE ~ "Only mediocrity is safe from ridicule. Dare to be different".
• Ep. 13 QUENTIN TARANTINO ~ "Violence is one of the most fun things to watch".
• Ep. 14 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ~ "I destroy my enegies when I make them my friends".
• Ep. 15 TAYLOR SWIFT ~ "Happiness and confidence are the prettiest things you can wear".
• Ep. 16 THOMAS BURBERRY ~ "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing".
• Ep. 17 BRENE BROWN ~ "Connection is what gives meaning to our lives".
• Ep. 18 TOM HANKS ~ "Life is a grand adventure so keep writing and reading".
• Ep. 19 YUJA WANG ~ "I don't practice I rehearse. Practice is for beginners".
• Ep. 20 EUGENE PETERSON ~ "God let it be with me just as you say".

He's a poet, pastor, preacher, philosopher and storyteller. He's the author of 40 books but is best known for The Message. A translation of the bible which took him over 20 years to write and has sold over 17M copies, making him one of the most important (yet largely unknown) authors of our generation.

In this feature length episode (part podcast / part audio book!) I celebrate Eugene's 85 years on this planet and explore the simplicity of his words, and how he re-wrote such an epic book by re-mixing it into a language that everyone can understand. Including me.

I'll never forget being at a U2 gig in 2001 just before 9/11 when Bono recited Psalm 116 from the Message at a key part of the Elevation Tour show. The entire atmosphere in the arena seemed to change instantly. This shared experience seemed to connect everyone but at the time, I, like almost everyone else, had no idea what was going on. Or what he actually said. So I set off on a mission to find out. Seventeen years later, the journey of that mission has finally come to life with this episode of the Ten Words podcast. I hope you enjoy it.

Jeremy :)

SHOW NOTES

• Official website for The Message Bible
• A tribute to Eugene Peterson by @atU2
• The connection between Eugene + U2
• Eugene Peterson interview in Relevant Magazine
• The Hidden Legacy of Eugene Peterson
• Transcript of Eugene's TV interview "On Being"
• Eugene only ever preached "One Sermon"
• Retrospective on Eugene's life of "one long obedience"
• Bible stats featured in this episode
• Bono on Eugene Peterson
• Bono dedicates U2 concerts to Eugene Peterson the "beautiful soul"
• Eugene's obit in the NY Times
• Read The Message Bible online for free
• Rob Bell's book - What is the Bible?
• Follow Rob Bell on Twitter @realRobBell
• Follow the Message on Twitter @themessage

VIDEOS

• The Man Behind the Message. (If you only watch ONE video THIS is the one).
• Eugene's first TV interview on making the bible relevant (again)
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