2 Pages with MBS

Today, we're pulling one of our best episodes from the vaults, featuring the brilliant Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe. Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages What’s the language you go to when you think of resilience? Common answers include, ‘bouncing back,’ ‘bouncing forward,’ ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’ or ‘a regathering of yourself.’ I truly believe that the words and...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages One of my favorite songs is Hole In The Bucket by Spearhead, the band fronted by Michael Franti. It’s the story of someone walking along and deciding whether or not to give to someone else asking for a dime, for a nickel, for a quarter. As we approach the holiday season, perhaps you’re wrestling with the same challenge as I am - what does it...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages I remember being in New Orleans some years ago where people were offering to read your palm and tell your future. I was interested – I’d like to know how the future pans out. So, I picked somebody, and she proceeded to provide an amazingly disappointing performance that was mostly a combination of boring, wrong, and clichéd. I didn’t get my...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages Are you living for 70 years, or are you living the same year 70 times? It’s one of the great existential questions that writers and creators face, too – Am I writing many books, or am I writing the same book many times? Sure, the “best” answer seems obvious, but I’m not sure the true answer is always clear-cut. Malcolm Galdwell made popular...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages So how are politics going in your country? ... No, no, don't tell me - you're just delighted with how your version of democracy is currently showing up. ... I am truly feeling the pain and the confusion. And the inadequacy, of course, not knowing what to do about it right now. But what if in the future the good guys win? And if you knew that...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages ‘The map is not the territory.’ This is one of those obvious yet profound insights: the thing we use to try and understand reality, is not reality. It’s true for all charts in companies, for instance. While they tell you a lot, they don’t have all the answers. Your map of the world, what does it tell you and what does it not?  Tiziana Cascia...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages What was your first dream that felt big? The first time you set your eyes on something and thought, ‘I’d like to strive for that.’ Or, on the flip side, ‘I’m not accepting the status quo anymore, something needs to change.’ You were probably young, and though the motives may have not been entirely clear to you, it was a moment of stepping up...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages I did a beginner’s class in ceramics earlier this year, and it was a pretty interesting experience to go up against a potter’s wheel and lose. Forget actually trying to create a pot, I found it nearly impossible just to get the lump of clay centered on the wheel. I did end up with a few lumpy, bumpy things to glaze - and glazing is its own a...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages I often get asked how I sold more than a million copies of The Coaching Habit. I wish I had one, but, of course, there is no singular answer - just a combination of things going well and a healthy dose of magic fairy dust. One thing we got right, though, is the design of the book itself. So many books feel heavy - a wall of text - and I want...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages As I’m recording this, I’m currently in Australia where we’re about two weeks out from a national referendum on whether or not to change the Australian Constitution to recognise the first peoples of Australia, by establishing a body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. I’m embarrassed to say that it doesn’t look likely to...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages The very first hotel that I got quarantined into, I looked out over Darling Harbour in Sydney. I knew just over the rise was the Sydney Opera House. It was my only view for two weeks. It changed constantly. It was on fire, lit up by a sunset. It was looming with threat as a storm passed by. It became lit up at night. It was actually a Ferris...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages What does it take to be an ambassador, to be a diplomat? …If you had to list three core characteristics, what do you think they should be? Now, for me, part of me goes all espionage... You know, it's about blending in. It's about staying skeptical, perhaps wearing tweed. Part of me, of course, thinks of my brother Nigel, who actually works f...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages My great grandparents feel fictional to me. Sure, I’ve seen pictures and I know their names, but do I feel their touch and influence? No, not really. My grandparents, however, are four presences I definitely notice. What have you learnt from your ancestors? And how might they be present in you, today?  Sarah Lewis is an art and cultural hist...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages The idea at the heart of my book, How to Begin, is that we unlock our greatness by working on the hard stuff. Now, when I wrote the first draft of that book …and I shared it with friends, the feedback I got was it was confusing and a deeply underwhelming mess. And so when I picked myself up off the floor and I picked through the rubble to se...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages In today's fast-paced world, change is the only constant. Yet, how do we truly understand, manage, and channel the emotions that accompany transformations, both personal and organizational? Whether you're an individual seeking personal growth, or a leader aiming to steer an organization, understanding the emotional dimensions of change can b...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages Tolstoy famously started his novel Anna Karenina, “All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” A twist on that: stories of success are all alike. Stories of failure are where things get interesting.  I love someone who knows how to share their failures well. When I get introduced as a keynote speaker, I hav...

Today, we're pulling one of our best episodes from the vaults, featuring the brilliant Kathryn Mannix. Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages What makes you uncomfortable? And, how do you hold yourself when you’re in that space? Some years ago, I noticed that a pair of leather shoes I was wearing was badly creased across the top of the right shoe. A friend of mine pointed out the...

Today, we're pulling one of our best episodes from the vaults, featuring the brilliant Brian Christian. Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages One thing I don't mention often is that the thesis I wrote for my law degree was an attempt to combine my interest in literature with a perspective on law. So I wrote about the phenomenon of plain English: that's trying to write law withou...

Today, we're pulling one of our best episodes from the vaults, featuring the brilliant Haesun Moon. Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages I’m a bit of a geek about models, specifically the ones that reveal patterns and invite new possibilities, helping us expand our understanding of what the world is. My favorites are: the periodic table and its various alternatives, the Roman a...

Today, we're pulling one of our best episodes from the vaults, featuring the brilliant Madeleine Dore.  Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages I still remember reading my first Nicholson Baker book, The Mezzanine. This extraordinary book slows down the pace of life to one where all the details are able to be noticed. For someone like me–a little bit in my head and moving too fast...

Today, we're pulling one of our best episodes from the vaults, featuring the brilliant Caroline Webb. Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages How are you labeled? How have you been labeled by others? And how have you labeled yourself? You listen to this podcast, which means that you're the type of person who thinks about who they are in this world, who they've been and who they're...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages The previous guest on this podcast was W. Dave Ball, a fellow Rhodes scholar whom I met at Oxford. One of the things I remember from my time there is the signs that were everywhere: Don’t walk on the grass. Entry forbidden. Don’t bring a naked flame into the Bodleian Library. Fair enough - I understand the last one, but most of the signs jus...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages Where do you find your people? I think I’m still looking for mine, and perhaps you are, too. What often happens is there’s an initial rough sort where you get thrown in with others who have similar labels - but that’s just the start of it. It’s up to you to find your people amongst everyone. I realized that I keep looking for people who make...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages I remember reading that one of the ways to become luckier is to consider yourself a lucky person. So - whether or not you think of yourself as lucky - if you had to name your lucky break, what would it be? That moment when things tipped in your favor, when you inadvertently unlocked the secret to the next level or noticed a clue to a hidden...

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages For the final episode, I chose a chapter that’s about resetting a relationship that’s gone through a tough spell. Though I hope that’s not how you’d describe these past few episodes, it’s a nice segue back into normal programming with some of my fantastic guests. Our last storyteller is Sanyin Siang; coach, leadership expert, and recipient o...