What You Will Learn

We interviewed Scott Adams, the creator of the  Dilbert comic strip and the author of  Win Bigly ,  How To Fail At Almost Anything And Still Win Big and  The Dilbert Principle . As a trained hypnotist, Adams viewed the 2016 US Presidential election through a different filter: he saw a Master Persuader who brought a flame thrower to a stick fight. He gave Trump a 98% of winning, not based on polici...

Win Bigly - by Scott Adams 'Persuasion in a world where facts don't matter'   This book is all about persuasion, and it's phenomenal. Scott Adams uses the 2016 U Presidential campaign to dissect and tools and techniques of persuading others, both on an individual level and to the masses. Things like 'cognitive dissonance' and 'confirmation bias' make it possible for persuasion to work, and Ad...

We thought we'd do something a little different this week. We're both doing a 'comfort challenge' this week and stretching ourselves WAY outside of our comfort zones by taking a 5-day stand up comedy course where we have to do a live public performance at the end... If you want to come along and watch us, the show is on Thursday 29th March in South Yarra in Melbourne. Email us at podcast@whatyouwi...

Crushing It - by Gary Vaynerchuk 'How great entrepreneurs build their businesses and influence - and how you can, too'   After reading and reviewing Gary's first book, Crush It! , we were eagerly awaiting the follow up. Crushing It goes deeper into the eight essential components that are required to build a great business as an influencer, and then dives deep into all of the current hot platf...

Michael Shermer is the founder of the Skeptic Society, which boasts over 55,000 members today. He is also the editor-in-chief of Skeptic Magazine.  Skepticism means viewing the world through a rational eye, always looking for scientific evidence to support or refute new claims, and always beginning with the null hypothesis (assuming it's false and putting the onus on the claimant to prove that it'...

Skeptic - by Michael Shermer 'Viewing the world with a rational eye'   This book is a taste of what it means to be a 'skeptic'. Put simply, it means not believing everything you see, hear or read. It means putting all new claims through a series of questions and examinations in order to find the truth, not just the opinions of fringe thinkers.  The book covers a whole bunch of short essa...

So Good They Can't Ignore You - by Cal Newport 'Why skills trump passion in the quest for work you love'   This book is a real-world look at career progression and getting the most out of your working life. Newport argues that 'follow your dreams' is almost always bad advice, and in many cases, it's actually dangerous.   Rule #1 - Don't Follow Your Passion Rule #2 - Be So Good They Can't...

Crossing The Chasm - by Geoffrey Moore 'Marketing and Selling disruptive products to mainstream customers'   If you want to build a new multi-million-dollar disruptive technology, your first step should be to read this book. Moore breaks down the market according to their psychographics into: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards. Many new technologies can appeal...

Greg McKeown is the author of the book 'Essentialism'.  In this episode, we talk about: - The 'Busy' Bubble  - Elon Musk's 'First Principles Thinking'  - How we can be less 'busy' but more productive  - How employees can apply the principles of Essentialism even if they're not the boss  - And much more.   Check Greg out at  https://gregmckeown.com/ Hosted on...

Essentialism - by Greg McKeown 'The Disciplined Pursuit of Less'   Why are people so 'busy'? Why do people feel like it's a badge of honour to have a calendar full of meetings? It's important that there is a MASSIVE difference between 'activity' and 'productivity' - just because someone tells you they're so busy, doesn't necessarily mean they're actually achieving anything.  Centred arou...

We spoke to Dan Heath, one half of the Heath Brothers, who wrote two books we read and loved (Switch & The Power of Moments), as well as Made to Stick and Decisive which we are yet to read (but certainly will soon!).  Aside from being a fan of our post-episode songs (one of the very few people who didn't skip the song), Dan drops some awesome stories that we didn't get to tell during our...

The Power of Moments - by Chip & Dan Heath 'Why certain experiences have extraordinary impact'   Chip & Dan have done it again! We read and reviewed their book  'Switch' back in 2017 and it was phenomenal. Now, we've had a crack at their latest book  'The Power of Moments' and they're delivering the goods. Have you ever wondered why some experiences stand out in your memory...

We spoke to Kevin Kelly, author of The Inevitable, to find out all of te thing that are coming in the next three decades. KK describes the '12 technological forces' that will shape our future, and we spent the first half of the interview talking about all things tech. Towards the second half of the interview, we transitioned to talking about the 'obligation' we have to do something great with our...

The Inevitable - by Kevin Kelly 'Understanding The 12 Forces That Will Shape Our Future'   This is the second time we're reading and reviewing 'The Inevitable', because we're super excited to be speaking with the great Kevin Kelly during the week. This book takes a lot at the next 30 years and what new technologies and other changes are coming our way. Kelly describes how these changes will a...

We headed to Dr Karl's place and had one of the most fascinating conversations of our lives. Probably the smartest and most curious dude we've ever met, Karl certainly taught us a thing or two. We covered:  - the downside of Adam Jones quitting coffee  - Life beyond Earth  - Space Travel  - Climate Change  - And how to more broadly save the world. Dr Karl is an absolute legend and is making scienc...

Karl, The Universe and Everything - by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki   Doctor Karl is one of Australia's most recognisable faces and has been popularising science for decades. He's a TV personality, radio presenter, podcast host and author. This is his 43rd book (woah!). He dives into topics such as: Sexist Air-Conditioning Poo velocity Earworms Lightning and Power Solar Energy Marijuana and Life Beyo...

We got to speak to Dan Pink on the eve of the release of his brand new book, 'When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing'.  We read and reviewed Dan's book Drive back in 2016 as one of our very first episodes, then more recently we did To Sell Is Human. We give a bit of a reminder of 'motivation 2.0' and 'motivation 3.0' from Drive, and then dive into the brand new stuff from his brand new boo...

To Sell Is Human - by Dan Pink 'The surprising truth about persuading, convincing and influencing others' Dan Pink has done it again. We first reviewed 'Drive' back in 2016, and now we're reviewing his book about sales and 'non-sales selling'. Pink lays down the ABC of 'how to be' when selling: Atunement, Buoyancy, Clarity. Then, the three 'what to do' when selling: Pitch, Serve, Improvise. If you...

We went to the BUF Girls office near Bondi Beach and spoke with Libby Babet. Following on from our previous episode about stoping smoking, we thought a few listeners (ourselves included) might have some New Years Resolutions around health and fitness, and Libby is just the person to offer some advice! Libby received the life-changing diagnosis of malignant hypertension in her early 20s, but then u...

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking - by Allen Carr   Most books and programs about quitting smoking focus on all of the negatives of continuing to smoke: the extreme health risks, the obscene financial cost, and so on. But the problem is - that doesn't work! Smokers already know the health risks, but that didn't make them stop. The other problem is it talks about 'giving up' smoking and you're alwa...

Adam Ashton and Adam Jones recap the best books, the best interviews and the best songs of the first half of Season 2 for 2017. Some of these are serious punches in the face and some and serious gold. You can find our respective Top 10 books below.   Join us on social media: Instagram = @whatyouwilllearn and Twitter = www.twitter.com/wywlpodcast   Adam Ashton: 10: Start With Why - by Sim...

A More Beautiful Question - by Warren Berger “The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas”.    It it is becoming easier and easier to find answers. We’re only one search away to finding almost anything we want to know, and with technology always improving and the introduction of AI and machine learning, the trend will continue. If we can get any answer we want, the only important th...

Daring Greatly - by Brene Brown 'How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent and lead'   This book is about having courage and being vulnerable. It is inspired by the below quote from a Theodore Rooseveldt speech, known as 'The Man in The Arena'. Our interpretation: don't be a little bitch, get out there and have a crack. It is not the critic who counts; not the...

Dan Ariely. Absolute legend. Author of 'Predictably Irrational', 'The Upside of Irrationality', 'The Honest Truth About Dishonesty' (which was made into a Netflix documentary called (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies), 'Payoff' and his latest book, 'Dollars & Sense'. We shared a few red wines, a kebab and a night at the ballet with Dan and talked about things like procrastination, hedonic adaptati...

Predictably Irrational - by Dan Ariely 'The hidden forces that shape our decisions'   Economists start with the assumption that all humans are fully informed, rational decision makers. They use this to form all of their economic theories and models. But, as Dan Ariely points out, we're NOT rational. In many cases, we're very IRRATIONAL: we make decisions that aren't in our own best interest....