Disrupt Yourself Podcast with Whitney Johnson

In today's episode, we will be discussing just one of the seven points of personal disruption: embracing constraints. All too often we find ourselves saying, "If only I had more time, more money, more health, expertise. If only Oprah were my fairy godmother, I could get something done!" And yet, when we take a moment to examine the role constraints play in the creative process and in our lives, we...

Benjamin Spall keeps his phone in the kitchen at night.  As co-author of the book " My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired," and mymorningroutine.com, Benjamin has heard many highly successful people highlight the importance of keeping their phone away from them while they sleep. However, it still took over four years for Benjamin to finally adopt the practice. "It's in...

My guest today is Peter Bregman, CEO and founder of Bregman Partners and author of the new book, Leading with Emotional Courage. In his book, Peter expands on the idea that if leaders are willing to feel everything they will build better teams and accomplish more difficult tasks. It's a labor of love for Peter, who hopes that the book will help others become more willing to examine their feelings...

If Caroline Webb looks a little tired or stressed, there is a good chance that someone will eventually turn to her and ask (with their tongue in their cheek), "Are you having a bad day, Caroline?" Caroline laughs when she recounts this, because as the author of the book "How to Have a Good Day," she knows that people are watching her. All joking aside, Caroline Webb has made a name for herself in...

My guest is Carine Clark, CEO of Banyan, a company that helps medical practices engage with their patients. A three-time CEO, she's been awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Technology in the Utah region, as well as Utah CEO of the Year. On top of all her many career accomplishments, Carine is also a mother and cancer survivor. Truthfully, Carine moved quickly through problems eve...

My guest today is Philip Sheppard, composer, cellist, inventor, and a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. How do I unpack everything from this episode? Philip is an engaging conversationalist, and coupled with his British accent (let's face it, in America that carries a lot of weight) I feel like we could have easily expanded this episode to twice the length of the final cut. Philip...

Last year I held a special live coaching session with Stacy Olsen Distefano, and at the end of the episode I put out a call to my listeners to see if anyone else felt brave enough to take the leap. Michelle Seymour Smith answered the call, and today you will hear another live coaching session that digs down deep into what motivates Michelle, what holds her back, and what she can do to disrupt hers...

Today's guest is Zach Obront, co-founder of Scribe (formerly Book in a Box), a company that helps entrepreneurs and innovators turn their ideas into a book. When Zach Obront was in college, he started a high school. A bit silly? Possibly, in retrospect. But Zach has never had an issue with out-of-the-box thinking. The next company he created, Handy Monkey, was a mold removal company he started whe...

We are pleased to welcome Nate and Vanessa Quigley, the husband and wife team behind Chatbooks, a revolutionary method of printing photo books that focuses on helping families quickly (and economically) tell their story. In the past four years, Chatbooks has grown from a small start-up to a company that employs over 140 people and has sold over 5,000,000 books worldwide. Chatbooks is not the Quigl...

When Sloane Davidson graduated from college, there was a plan. Having just completed a post-college trek around Europe, Sloane was excited to leave Pittsburgh and start her new adventure working at a resort, the next stepping stone on her path to conquer the dining services industry.  She was due to start work in Florida on September 15… 2001. When the 9/11 terrorist attack occurred in New York Ci...

My guest today is Chester Elton, the New York Times bestselling co-author of The Carrot Principle , which has sold over 1.5 million copies to date. He has been described by the Toronto Globe and Mail as "an apostle of appreciation," a moniker which he has whole-heartedly embraced. Coming from an athletic and competitively-minded family, Chester has always seen value in recognizing individual accom...

My guest today is Laura Vanderkam, an expert on time management who's 2016 TED Talk "How to Gain Control of Your Free Time" has been viewed over 5 million times. She is the author of several books on time management, including Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done , which was released in May of this year. Laura did not go to college to become a time management guru. She admits to a...

Today's guest is Pat Flynn, a highly successful blogger and podcaster who teaches people how to make a "Smart Passive Income." Some people choose disruption, but many times disruption comes when we least expect it. In 2008, Pat Flynn was happy with his life. Working as the youngest Job Captain in the history of his architectural firm, he was on track for his dream occupation—world famous architect...

Our guest today is June Cohen, a pioneer in the web industry for her work at HotWired (the web division of Wired magazine), author of "The Unusually Useful Web Book," and the force behind bringing the informational and often inspirational "TED Talks" online and out to the world. She confounded WaitWhat?, a content incubator to develop original media properties over time, and the podcast "Masters o...

In 1988, college student Jonathan Bush climbed on top of a pile of wooden slats in the middle of an unfinished housing development and looked out over a gathering of political volunteers, "Okay," he announced. "Here's how it's gonna go. My name is Jonathan Bush, and we in the next four days are gonna win this election." "This election" was for his uncle, George H.W. Bush, in his first campaign for...

A silly little thing that takes over the world—to me, this is the simplest definition of a disruptor. My guest today is Becky Douglas, and her "silly little thing," which began at her kitchen table with a handful of friends, has gone on to change the lives of thousands of individuals in India and beyond.   After a family tragedy disrupted her life, Becky, a mother of nine children, found herself i...

Carter Cast is brilliant, blending intense insight with the heart of a teacher (although it took him years to uncover this truth). Having been a marketing manager early in his career at PepsiCo Food Service International, he appeared to be on the fast track for promotion—until he was transferred to the Frito Lay division, an abrupt change from his previous work.  In Carter's words, he did not reac...

Disrupting yourself is a way of life around here, so it's only natural that it is my turn to be disrupted. Today is Launch Day for my new book,  Build an A-Team: Play To Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve , and I couldn't be more excited! To celebrate, we're doing things a bit differently on the podcast. Macy Robison, my fabulous project manager, is interviewing me to help break d...

Today's guest is Tom Peters, best-selling author of the groundbreaking book In Search of Excellence , which changed the way the world viewed the connection between corporate culture and the success of a business. His newest book, The Excellence Dividend , is likewise original, commanding, and cutting-edge.  Forty years ago, Tom was tasked with creating a last-minute presentation for a client after...

My guest today is Dave Meltzer, entrepreneur, speaker, author, and CEO of Sports 1 Marketing. His personal objective in life is to "make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun." After spending only a few minutes in his company, it is apparent that having "lots of fun" is not difficult for Dave. Dynamic and engaging, Dave was told as a child that he could sell ice to an Eskimo,...

My guest today is Marisa Thalberg, Chief Marketing Officer of Taco Bell, founder of ExecutiveMoms.com, and listed as one of the top 25 Most Influential CMOs in the World by Forbes. The idea of "playing where no one is playing" appears to be second nature to Marisa. While a student at Brown University, Marisa actively sought out development opportunities, even going so far as to call up New York Ci...

Nick Gray thought museums were boring. As a business-minded individual, he couldn't understand why anyone would be fascinated by the contents and just wanted the physically (and emotionally) cold places to "get to the point." After a date turned into a private tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Nick began to be curious. He spent weekends learning more about the museum and the...

Today's guest is Alison Levine, a former Goldman Sachs investor-turned-mountain climber who has climbed the highest mountains on every continent. She's the author of the NY Times bestselling book On the Edge , and is the executive producer of The Glass Ceiling , a documentary about the first Nepali woman to climb Mt. Everest. Takeaways from this Episode:  You don't always have to be "better" than...

Today's guest is Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, a book that has sold over a million copies. He's also the author of The Startup Way, a nuts-and-bolts, dollars and cents, how-to-do-the-math guide that shows how to make entrepreneurship a core discipline of your business. Takeaways from this Episode: No one gets things done in your organization the way "the process" says they get things done...

My guest today is Patty McCord, former Chief Human Resources Officer at Netflix, author of the unabashedly bold book, "Powerful," and a rocket ship of a disrupter. Although Patty describes herself as a serial entrepreneur, she started her career at very large companies and worked her way backward, with each company getting progressively smaller. Now a prized speaker and consultant, Patty works wit...