12 Geniuses Podcast

An innovative leader in the field of people analytics, Ben Waber discusses the creative ways companies can unleash the full potential of their employees. Through data, companies can devise new management techniques, adjust the physical environment, and even re-design the employee experience to improve performance at all levels. Companies already have mountains of data available to them through ID...

What did you accomplish in the third quarter of 2019? How do you plan to finish out this decade? What are your goals for 2020? In this special episode, Don and Devon talk about what they’re paying attention to, where Don traveled, what they’ve learned, and what they have planned for the show. Devon McGrath, Assistant Producer of 12 Geniuses talks with Don about recording the Leadership Moments, le...

An established justice architect, Ken Ricci discusses the impact building design has on those involved in the justice system. Nearly two thirds of those held in jails are still innocent in the eyes of our legal system, yet they are detained in dark, dingy, unsafe spaces that deprive them of a healthy lifestyle and access to the outside world. Driven by a passion to make correctional facilities mor...

A breakthrough tech entrepreneur, Morgan Mercer discusses the power of Virtual Reality in building empathy and creating a safer work environment. Of the women that report sexual harassment in their workplace, 80% leave within two years. This has significant ripple effects from a career change, loss of economic opportunity, and even tarnished company profiles. As we look to the next decade, we have...

An innovation expert, Simone Bhan Ahuja explains how large, established organizations can innovate and avoid disruption even in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous time. Only 14% of new graduates want to work for large organizations. Instead, they’re attracted to the start-up path and opportunities to be creative and innovative in their careers. In order to attract top talent and remain disr...

An expert in cybersecurity, Max Heinemeyer explains how we can prevent attacks from malicious hackers both in our personal and professional lives. Vulnerability on the Internet has increased exponentially as new “smart” devices and appliances are tied into our networks every day. In a world where we have learned to protect ourselves from physical threats, we must learn how to protect ourselves and...

A Fool-Proof Guide to Creativity and an Optimized Workday! … Just kidding. In the end, only you can be the judge of how to schedule your day, but Daniel Pink is here to help with a great understanding of how our cognitive ability changes throughout the day and how you can learn to plan your day around your brainpower. Daniel has been passionate about understanding the intersection of human behavio...

12 Geniuses is back with Season Two. We have 12 new episodes coming out this fall. This season is dedicated to the theme of creativity and innovation. We will talk directly to creators of culture and innovative problem solvers. If you want to better understand how you, your team, and your organization can be more creative and innovative, this season of the podcast is for you. The first episode of...

Have you ever had someone tell you about their hopes and dreams? Can you remember the passion in their eyes? Can you remember the conviction in their voice? This is the story of a dream and more importantly the vision of that dreamer. Fifty-six years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered one of the most important speeches in the history of the United States…and it almost didn’t happen. That’s not...

You are successful. You wouldn’t be interested in the content of this blog if you weren’t. Congratulations! Now, who helped you achieve your success? All four of my parents have played a big role for me. My older sister Marie has given me encouragement and professional opportunities. There have been teachers and coaches who get credit. A professor from college hired me, mentored me, and remains a...

Somebody has to go first. It’s an unwritten rule of progress. Somebody has to be a pioneer who blazes the trail for others to follow. It’s rare that the responsibility of being a pioneer for great social change falls on the shoulders of an innocent, unassuming 15-year-old. Regardless, that’s the situation in which Elizabeth Eckford found herself. Elizabeth was one of the Little Rock Nine. These we...

There are times in life when many of us will question faith, hope, and humanity. The trigger can be a devastating natural disaster, a terror attack, a vicious act of war, a senseless crime of hate. Situations like these require a special leader. Maximilian Kolbe was one of those leaders. Kolbe was a Franciscan Friar who lived in Poland during the first half of the 20th century. Because his father...

“If you could trade lives with any other person in the world, who would it be?” I was curious to hear his response. I suspected it would fall in line with the average response from any other 12-year-old. I had been Shakeel’s Big Brother for about three years at this point. We would get together two or three times a month spending our time playing basketball or cooking meals. Early on, I made a dea...

Keynote speaker and writer Ryan Estis interviews 12 Geniuses CEO Don MacPherson for a recap of the podcast’s first season. They discuss why Don chose the theme of “Change” for Season One, what was learned during the 13 episodes, and who makes up the podcast audience. Ryan and Don cover how the podcast got started, the differences in interviewing someone you know versus someone you have never met,...

You can’t imagine a more unlikely leader to take the national spotlight. The youngest of 20 children born to sharecropper parents, she defied the odds and terrified a sitting president. This was during a time when women didn’t have a voice and African Americans were second-class citizens. Fannie Lou Hamer was both. What she lacked in formal education, privilege, and experience, she more than made...

The streets were filling with people enjoying the warm Parisian air. Cafés and restaurants bustled. Didi finished his prayers and stepped into the night. Even for The City of Light, the atmosphere was electric and the revelers were taking full advantage of it. Didi arrived at work and began to inspect the crowd as they filed into the theater. Smiles greeted him as the headline act took the stage....

Laurie Ruettimann , host of the Let’s Fix Work podcast , interviews 12 Geniuses CEO Don MacPherson about the second quarter of 2019. They discussed what 12 Geniuses is following, the Leadership Moments 12 Geniuses is producing, goals for the rest of 2019, and what to look forward to in Season Two of the 12 Geniuses podcast. The two friends explore advancements in medicine, complications in adaptin...

What is the most memorable recognition you’ve ever received? The chances are it came from someone you respect greatly, there was probably little or maybe no monetary value associated with it, and it felt exceptionally validating. Many great leaders know that recognition is one of the most powerful motivators. Army General Lucian Truscott was one of those leaders. On May 30th, 1945, the United Stat...

In a moment, John Kriesel’s entire life changed. While serving in Iraq, John’s vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. After being thrown from his vehicle, he regained consciousness to find himself with a badly broken arm, both legs twisted and severely damaged, and numerous shrapnel wounds. Three times John died on operating tables only to be resuscitated by doctors. In the months of recov...

Dark, dusty, and dangerous. Those are the words that could have described the Soudan Iron Mine in Northern Minnesota during its operation. Each day workers would take elevators thousands of feet below the surface of the earth to roam the 54 miles of tunnels and mine its rich veins. My grandfather was one of those workers. When she was an adult, and after my grandfather had retired, my mom toured t...

This is the story of the man who saved the world. The year was 1983. The cold war between the Soviet Union and United States was heightened. Nuclear missiles were aimed at Moscow and other high value targets, while Soviet nuclear subs prowled the American east coast around the clock. On the morning of September 26th in a Soviet bunker, alarms were triggered, sirens howled, while electronic screens...

What are you willing to sacrifice for a cause you believe in? There are millions of people around the world who give their time and energy. Some are even willing to risk their lives. This is the story of one of those people. A century before the Me Too Movement, there was another movement that made life for women safer and better in countless ways. At the turn of the 20th century, women were the p...

Overlord is perhaps the greatest military operation ever attempted. You know it as D-Day. Even though it happened 75 years ago, you can still imagine the gravity of a failure. The fate of the world literally depended on its success. One group of Americans was led by General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. – the son of the 26th US President. Through his leadership that day, countless Allied lives were saved...

One of the most dramatic societal changes over the last few years has been the advancement of transgender rights. While the 1.4 million Americans who identify as transgender have yet to reach equality, it is efforts from people like this episode’s guest Chris Mosier who are making these human rights advancements possible. In this interview, pioneering transgender athlete Chris Mosier shares the im...

The greatest change the international community faces in the 21st century is the warming planet. Whole countries are threatened, coastal cities could disappear, and every community around the world will see the impact of floods, fires, hotter weather, droughts, storms, and other weather-related events. The way we live will change and so will the way we work. This will create incredible disruption....