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Beyond Busy
Be ruthlessly serendipitous, with Fred Pelard
Strategic consultant and former rocket-scientist Fred Pelard has worked with brands like Nike, Barclays, the Guardian and more, and is the author of How to be Strategic.
Fred lays out the difference between management and strategic consulting, creating space for structured brainstorming, and solving complex problems.
'Being strategic is a skill, and you can learn it.'
There are four key ways of solving problems, which Fred has identified as the Expert Way, the Analytical Way, the Creative Way and the Strategic Way. He also outlines the Strategic Rollercoaster, which charts the interactivity between creative and analytical thinking.
'You have to be Tigger before you’re Eeyore.'
Graham and Fred discuss W Chan Kim’s successor to the golden rule: “treat others as they would like to be treated”, breaking complex problems down into threes, and the Happy Line.
'There are three different types of jobs: product, process, performance.'
Finally, Fred reveals how he’s able to read between 20 and 30 business books in a month, and shares his skepticism of the “productivity industrial complex”.
Graham Allcott is the founder of time management training company Think Productive.
This podcast is produced by Origin.
✔ Links:
Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter:
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Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”:
http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617
Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:
http://www.thinkproductive.com
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Where have I been? + KIND: The quiet power of kindness at work
13:30|Hi, it's been a while—a lot longer than I intended. Thanks for staying subscribed! Here’s a little taste of what’s to come.https://www.grahamallcott.com/orderkind147. The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck with Dr Christian Busch
55:57||Ep. 147This week's guest is Dr Christian Busch. Christian is the director of the Global Economy program at New York University's Center for Global Affairs and has served as Deputy Director of the LSE’s Innovation Centre. Christian advises companies all over the world on how to foster creativity, innovation and luck. He's also the author of ‘Connect the Dots: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck ’. In this episode, we talk about how to get luckier in your career and about biases, curiosity, productivity and much more. ✔ Links:Buy ‘Connect the dots: The art and science of creating good luck’:https://www.amazon.com/Connect-Dots-Science-Creating-Good-ebook/dp/B09QBWSPLR Follow Christian on social media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianwbusch/https://twitter.com/ChrisLSESubscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links146. The Secret Life of Clutter with Helen Sanderson
54:30||Ep. 146This week's guest is Helen Sanderson. Helen is a professional organizer, the creator of The Home Declutter Kit and the author of The Secret Life of Clutter.We talk about our relationship with our team, the parallels between decluttering and productivity, why it's important to get clarity in everything we do and much more.✔ Links:Buy The Secret Life of Clutter:https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Clutter-Getting-letting-ebook/dp/B09JC47ZTMBuy The Home Declutter Kit:https://www.amazon.com/Home-Declutter-Kit-Mindful-Method/dp/1527206092Follow Helen on social media:https://www.helensanderson.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/helensandersonatministryofcalm/https://twitter.com/CalmFromClutterSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.comUseful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links145. Leadership Lessons from a Life at NIKE with Greg Hoffman
57:13||Ep. 145My guest in this episode is Greg Hoffman. Greg spent many years in one of the coolest jobs in the world as Chief Marketing Officer for Nike. He's also the author of a new book about his experiences ‘Emotion by Design: Creative Leadership Lessons from a Life at Nike’.In this episode, we talk about some of the marketing campaigns that took Nike to another level, the importance of emotion and empathy in business and why diversity increases productivity. Greg also talks about his experience of finding his birth parents last year and settles the debate whether Nike is pronounced "Nike" or "Nikey".Enjoy!Special thanks to Penguin Random House UK.✔ Links:Buy ‘Emotion By Design: Creative Leadership Lessons from a Life at Nike’:https://www.amazon.com/Emotion-Design-Creative-Leadership-Lessons/dp/1538705591Follow Greg:https://www.themodernarena.com/https://www.instagram.com/ghoff70/https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-hoffman-1b196a25Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.comUseful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links144. The way of the Intelligent Rebel with Olivier Roland
01:00:46||Ep. 144In this episode, we meet Olivier Roland, a French blogger and entrepreneur and the author of ‘The Way of the Intelligent Rebel’. The book has been a huge hit in France, and now the new English language translation brings his ideas to a wider audience.Oliver and I get geeky around learning how to develop your willpower and productivity to design a lifestyle to get you beyond busy, how to change your relationship with the news and lots more. ✔ Links:Buy The Way of the Intelligent Rebel:https://www.amazon.com/Way-Intelligent-Rebel-Yourself-Anything/dp/1788175174Watch Olivier Roland on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/c/OlivierRolandEnglishFollow Olivier Roland on social media:https://www.instagram.com/olivier_rolandhttps://twitter.com/olivierrolandenSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.comUseful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links143. Full Out with Monica Aldama
58:34||Ep. 143This week, my guest is Monica Aldama, the star of the hit Netflix show “Cheer”. Monica is the multi championship-winning cheerleading coach for Nevara College in Corsicana, Texas. She's now put some of her brilliant leadership mantras from the series into a really wise and interesting leadership book.So in this episode, I talk to Monica about what it's been like to suddenly find herself in the centre of attention. We talk about her book “Full Out” as well as family humility and more. There are loads in this episode that I think will help you instil a winning mentality in whatever it is that you're doing. Enjoy!Special thanks to Little, Brown Book Group.✔ Links:Buy Full Out: Lessons in Life and Leadership from America's Favorite Coach:https://www.amazon.com/Full-Out-Leadership-Americas-Favorite/dp/198216591XWatch Cheer on Netflix:https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81039393?s=a&trkid=13747225&t=cp&vlang=en&clip=81566211Follow Monica on social media:https://www.instagram.com/monicaaldamahttps://twitter.com/monicaaldamaSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.comUseful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links142. Ethical Business with Dave Linton
56:59||Ep. 142My guest today is Dave Linton. Dave is a former youth worker turned entrepreneur who started Madlug in 2015 with less than 500 quid, and the company has won hearts and wallets with its cool backpacks. Each product sold allows the company to donate a similar item to a young person in the foster care system.In this episode, Dave explains why it's so important for kids in care to receive these bags. We talk about kindness, leadership, and meeting Richard Branson.Listen to the full episode to know more!✔ Links:Madlug:https://www.madlug.com/https://www.madlugyourbusiness.com/Dave Linton on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-linton/Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.comUseful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links141. How to be a Calm Parent with Sarah Ockwell-Smith
54:29||Ep. 141My guest today is Sarah Ockwell-Smith, one of the world's leading parenting experts, having written 13 books and sold half a million copies. Her philosophy of gentle parenting is hugely influential in the motherhood WhatsApp groups of Great Britain and her latest book ‘How To Be a Calm Parent’ has as much to tell us about how to look after ourselves, as it does about how to look after our kids. In this episode we talk about how to be calm, self-kindness and why being a busy parent isn't actually something to be proud of. Sarah mentions seven principles of being a calm parent in her book. I asked her about the first one, which is everybody can be a calm parent or a calmer parent:The number of parents I meet who believe that you're calm or you're not, they kind of view calmness as a fixed trait. So they'll look and think, "well, other people are calm". I'm not calm. It's kind of not worth me trying. So they're very much in the fixed mindset that calmness is something you have or you don't have. And if they don't have it, then it's not really worth trying. You know, that's not how they were born.But I really and truly don't believe that's true. I believe that everybody can be calmer. There are obviously things that get in our way. So what's happening in their life at the moment, depending on the sort of certain amounts of privilege you have and whatever, we can't all be like zen-calm gurus, but we can definitely improve on where we are at the moment.✔ Links:Sarah Ockwell-Smith on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/sarahockwellsmith/Sarah Ockwell-Smith on Twitter:https://twitter.com/TheBabyExpertSarah Ockwell-Smith:https://sarahockwell-smith.com/Sarah Ockwell-Smith’s books:https://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Ockwell-Smith/e/B007L3YENI%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_shareSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.comUseful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/linksEdited by Pavel Novikov:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavelnovikovf/140. Man Down with Matt Rudd
01:00:24||Ep. 140My guest today is Matt Rudd. Matt is a writer, columnist and deputy editor of The Sunday Times Magazine. He's also the author of several books, his latest being ‘Man Down: Why Men Are Unhappy and What We Can Do About It’.In this episode, we talk about mental health, shared parental leave and taking paternity leave more seriously. We talk about the trap of busyness and why you're better off with a bronze medal than a silver one and much more. Matt's book 'Man Down' is entertaining and thoughtful just as you'll find Matt.Special thanks to Little, Brown Book Group.✔ Links:Matt Rudd at The Sunday Times:https://www.thetimes.co.uk/profile/matt-rudd?page=1Matt Rudd on Twitter:https://twitter.com/MattRuddBuy 'Man Down':https://www.amazon.co.uk/Matt-Rudd/e/B003VN5B20%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_shareSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.comUseful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links