What leaders can learn from great gamblers

Posted by Mike Walsh

May 15, 2018 6:53:17 AM

Rasmus Ankersen

 

Applying the logic of professional gambling to leadership might not strike you as obvious, but Rasmus Andersen is no ordinary thinker. Currently running two football teams with the assistance of data and machine learning, he is also a provocative thinker on human performance. When he became curious about why certain towns and cities produced so many top athletes, he decided to find out himself, venturing from Africa to Korea, in search of the secrets of talent clusters. Those experiences became his bestselling book, ‘The Goldmine Effect’. More recently, in ‘Hunger in Paradise’, he explored why success can be the undoing of companies, even at the peak of their powers. We met up for a coffee in London to talk about what might really drive talent and high performance in the 21st century.

 

CATEGORY: Leadership, Talent

How to ask better questions

Posted by Mike Walsh

Nov 12, 2017 9:30:47 PM

Michael Stanier.jpg

 

Sometimes the hardest thing for any leader to do, is to actually do nothing and just listen. For Michael Bungay Stanier, a bestselling author and a world-leading expert on coaching - the best way to engage someone in a meaningful conversation is to know the right questions to ask. Speaking with me over a coffee in Toronto, Michael (who left Australia 25 years ago to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University) explained the 7 simple questions that leaders should start with, and that where explored in his latest book, ‘The Coaching Habit’. My own question was perhaps a little more troubling: why will coaching still be important in the algorithmic, AI-dominated companies of tomorrow?

 

CATEGORY: Leadership, Talent

Empathy, curiosity and the persistently human future of work

Posted by Mike Walsh

Oct 22, 2017 7:06:55 PM

Jason Fox.jpg

 

If, at first, you are unconvinced of Dr Fox’s biographical assertion that he is a ‘modern day wizard-rogue’, you will certainly, when presented in the flesh, be assured by his impressive beard. Bestselling author of ‘The Game Changer’ and ‘How to Lead a Quest: a handbook for pioneering executives’, Jason is a thoroughly unconventional thinker on leadership, creativity and designing 21st century work environments. We caught up in London to talk about how we might need to reimagine the idea of work, in the post-algorithmic rubble of the robot job apocalypse.

CATEGORY: Leadership, Talent

Cirque du Soleil, creativity and the secrets of 21st century team performance

Posted by Mike Walsh

Sep 25, 2017 8:15:24 AM

Jay Guilford.jpg

 

From humble beginnings as street performance in a small Quebec town in 1984, Cirque du Soleil has grown to become the world’s most diverse, and dynamic brand of creative performances. On a recent visit to Las Vegas, which is home to seven permanent Cirque productions, I caught up with Jay Guilford, who is the creative content strategist for their team building program, SPARK. SPARK helps big companies embrace some of the innovation and creativity that is at the heart of the Cirque du Soleil shows, albeit without some of the accompanying acrobatics of course.

 

CATEGORY: Culture, Talent

Algorithms, human-centered design and the future of work

Posted by Mike Walsh

Mar 19, 2017 5:17:10 PM

Ross Dawson.jpg

I caught up with Ross Dawson, a fellow futurist and an Australian native, on a recent trip back home to Bondi Beach. Ross is the author of four books including the Amazon.com bestseller ‘Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships’, and the acclaimed book Living Networks, which foresaw the social networking revolution. Over the famously strong, and excellent Sydney coffee we riffed on some areas of common interest, in particular the impact of AI on the future of decision-making and work.

 

CATEGORY: Technology, Talent