Disrupt Yourself Podcast with Whitney Johnson

Confidence and curiosity make a powerful tandem. Individually, either could be a positive catalyst or, if misplaced, prove to be a distraction to meaningful progress. But as a combination, they often create a mindset where even failures become learning opportunities and stepping stones along the S Curve.

Bain & Company Chairman Orit Gadiesh has these two traits in spades. From her early school days through her almost five decades at Bain, Orit’s curiosity has never waned. Trained to always ask that extra question, she’s a student of the world around her, whether the subject is business-related or religiously reading books from all the countries to which she’s traveled.

When Bain faced severe financial hardship in the late 1980s, it was Orit and Mitt Romney who reversed the company’s course and steadied the ship. How? Through extreme confidence, often telling curious competitors, “We’re better than you!”

Today, Bain is considered one of the big three management consulting firms in the world. Orit has occupied the chairman’s seat since 1993.

Asheesh Advani isn’t just the CEO of Junior Achievement Worldwide—he was also a participant. The program changed his life when he experienced it in middle school, and as CEO, he has guided the global NGO into more than 115 countries, involving more than 3,500 employees and 500,000 volunteers worldwide. Incredibly, JA annually serves more than 15 million young people.

JA’s disruptive ripple of entrepreneurship is staggering—certainly one reason why the organization has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for three straight years. Asheesh believes that those nominations have allowed JA to bring attention to the connection between the economic empowerment of youth and the overall peace and prosperity of their communities. 

Listen in as he shares the philosophy behind JA’s fixed, flexible and freestyle framework and why embracing your naive audacity at the beginning of a new S Curve can be the way to go.

Imposter syndrome is something to which most of us can relate. The idea of doubting our own skills and abilities, even in the face of myriad accomplishments. It’s a common human experience. It’s easier to have faith in others than buy into ourselves.

When Tina Vatanka Murphy was called into a meeting with her company’s CEO and HR director to talk about filling the role of president for Global Healthcare Exchange’s (GHX) European enterprise, she didn’t realize they were asking her to take on that role. She had never envisioned herself in that type of leadership position.

What’s interesting and surprising and delightful is that –– while it’s true that she hadn’t seen herself in that role –– once she came to grips with this unexpected proposal, there wasn’t imposter syndrome, her first thought was refreshing. Of course I can do this! “I’m going to go kill it.”

It’s often fascinating to pinpoint when someone received the first inkling of what their eventual career would be. For many, of course—thinking of all the kids who grew up wanting to be professional athletes, movie stars, astronauts, or firemen—their idealized career path often follows a long and winding road of self-discovery, full of detours and roadblocks that transport them to an eventual destination that was not on their original radar.

But what if you could date your dream? Get some firsthand experience in your supposed career of choice? Would you remain totally enamored with the opportunity and steadily move toward further engagement? Or, would you, like Seinfeld’s neurotic George Costanza, break things off with a nonchalant, “It’s not you, it’s me”?

Today’s guest, Jeanette Bennett, CEO and founding editor of Utah Valley Magazine and Bennett Communications, had that revelatory experience while working as a camera operator at an Idaho TV station when she was in high school. It turned out to trigger the first of many career reframes for this talented entrepreneur and storyteller.

There’s a reason we call it a mental rut – this deep groove in the mud.  It’s a pattern of behavior that we’ve dug into our brains, and when we go down this road, it’s where our mental wheels get stuck.

When have you been stuck in a rut? Maybe it’s coming back day after day to a job you hate. Maybe it’s something small, like knowing you should eat lunch at home but finding yourself in line at the Sweetgreen every morning. Getting stuck is human. But so is shoving the wagon out of the rut and cutting a new path.

On today’s episode, we’re here to talk about what that really looks like. Our guest is Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot. If you’re a small or medium sized business, you’re probably already familiar with HubSpot’s value – helping entrepreneurs track customers, make sales and follow up on those relationships. But the real focus here is Yamini’s journey to the top, from studying engineering in India, to taking her first step into the world of sales, and eventually – the C Suite.

It’s been a journey of rewiring herself, learning how to build new mental roads while staying true to her authentic self. 

The power of manifesting something into reality might seem… well, a bit silly at times. It’s all over social media, for better or for worse. It can seem silly because we all know it’s not as simple as saying it out loud, or creating a Pinterest board. Getting what you want, reaching mastery on a curve, it’s hard, hard work.

And yet it does start with saying it loud. If we want to turn our dreams into reality, then the first step is defining what you want. If you can’t put that dream into words, then it’s hard to put that on a timeline, and you risk others swooping in and defining that dream for you.

Our guest today is an expert in manifesting what she wants. Tarsha Joyner is the owner and head treatmaker of Mrs. Joy’s Absolutely Fabulous Treats, a bakery in Lynchburg, Virginia. Everything from cookies, to caramels and tailor-made cakes. And those cookies are award-winning – Tarsha has appeared on several Food Network competitions, winning the Christmas Cookie Challenge in 2015.

It all started with a graphic design class, where Tarsha had to imagine a brand label for an imaginary company. She’ll admit it herself – she was a terrible baker back then. But it came down to her confidence, her perseverance, her willingness to dream big – and – keep repeating that dream to herself until it was real.

Do you know that feeling, when you’ve been on a roadtrip for however many hours – or even, days – and you just can’t bring yourself to eat another bite of fast food? The food all looks the same, the landscape outside your window starts blending together, and you just crave something… different? 

There’s a part of us deep inside that searches out for the “different.” We want to leave our small town for the big city, start up that new project at work, or even something as small as freshening up a shelf on a bookcase. We want to experience life from many directions, not just one.

Our guest today has made that multi-faceted mindset the focus of both her professional and personal life. Betty Lu is the CEO and founder of Confetti Snacks, everything from dried mandarin oranges to my personal favorite, shiitake mushroom chips. But it’s more than just making sure the next generation of kids grows up eating broccoli, Confetti is dedicated to putting a dent in the world’s food waste, partnering with organizations like the World Food Programme. 

So what perspectives helped Betty build her brand – and build herself, too?

What does it mean to turn a dream into a business plan? How do you take your vision of a better future, whatever that looks like, and translate that into a company? It’s a difficult leap! This grand vision has to be broken down into steps, arranged on a timeline. Then your dream becomes tied to the bottom line profits, to your employees and your board. 

We’ve had guests before that have made that leap, whether it’s Austin Hillam’s ZipString or Jennifer Smith’s Scribe. But our guest today has a dream we haven’t seen before on this show––revolutionizing how we treat broken bones. Nina Tandon is the co-founder and CEO of EpiBone, a biomedical engineering firm that brings together stem cells and 3D technology to grow bone grafts. Yes, you heard that right – Nina is growing bones.

Her method’s already been shown to work, but turning those studies into widespread adoption – now that’s a big dream. So how does Nina balance her two selves – the researcher, and the CEO?

In 2022, 46 percent of American teens said they were online almost constantly. Around 80 percent of high school seniors said they use social media nearly every day, but only 30 percent say they meet up with friends every day.

Since 2010 – roughly the year touch-screen smartphones and social media apps blew up – the number of girls between 12 and 17 that reported a major depressive episode more than doubled, to 28 percent. Emergency room visits and hospitalizations for girls harming themselves skyrocketed too, along with the suicide rate amongst teenage boys. 

Our guest today calls this a total rewiring of childhood, as smartphones and overprotective parenting warp those crucial formative years into a rollercoaster of anxiety and depression. Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the NYU Stern School of Business, and the author of several books – his latest is “The Anxious Generation – How The Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”

CLICK HERE TO VOTE IN THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE PODCAST AWARDS: https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup

We all have an idea of what we want our future to look like. Maybe it’s very grounded, and concrete – or maybe it’s just a vague idea of how we want to feel when we get there. But what happens when we’re forced to adapt that vision? Something out of your control gets between you and your dream. How do we muster the strength to find another way through?

In 2004, Melissa Stockwell had a clear vision for her future––a lieutenant in the U-S Army. But when a roadside bomb in Baghdad took her left leg, the door to that dream slammed shut. 

Jumping ahead 20 years, on September 1st, 2024, Melissa will compete in Paris in her fourth paralympic triathlon. Her motivational speeches have inspired rooms full of people. And her non-profit, Dare2Tri, is giving other disabled athletes resources so they can run toward their dreams.

What can we learn from Melissa, and her journey – from that Baghdad hospital, to the Paralympic podium?