On The Edge

On The Edge

By We Are LiminalBusiness
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On The Edge episodes

  • #033 Jeremy Lent - Patterns of Meaning
    In this conversation I connected with Jeremy Lent who describes himself as an author and integrator and “one of the greatest thinkers of our age”, according to George Monbiot.
    Born in the UK and based for many years in the US, and now lives Berkeley California. His previous book The Patterning Instinct was about deeper patterns of political and cultural developments. 
    This conversation was based upon his new book called 'The Web of Meaning' which is all about integrating science and traditional wisdom.
    He is also the founder of the nonprofit Liology Institute. Liology is a word made up from the Chinese word “li,” which means “the organizing principles” and “ology” which is the Greek-derived word for “study.”  So liology means “the study of the organizing principles.”
    We (quite literally) talked about life, the universe and everything, including:
    The difference between eastern and western perspectives, culture, language and thinking
    The important distinction between the scientific method and reductionism
    The fact that meaning is emergent and stems from the interconnection between things (and people)
    The pros and cons of the rise of mindfulness and it’s alter-ego McMindfulness, especially in Silicon Valley
    How we can embed these ideas in tackling the climate emergency
    I loved what we said about:
    The connection between things are as important if not more so than the things they are connecting
    Life is a 4 billion year rebellion from entropy
    The most dangerous technology in the world is the limited liability company
    We need a universal declaration of natural rights
    To find out more about Jeremy please visit:
    https://www.jeremylent.com/
    http://www.liology.org/
    This podcast was produced by Liminal - a collective inteligence community that builds and scales net-zero ventures. Thanks for all of our community members, patrons and clients without whom this podcast would not be possible. To find out more about us please visit:
    https://www.weareliminal.co/
    Lastly please do like and subscribe to this podcast and share it with others who might enjoy it as well. Thank you.
    50 min
  • #032 Geoffrey West - The Universal Laws of Scaling

    In this conversation I connected with Geoffrey West who is a British theoretical physicist and former president and distinguished professor of the Santa Fe Institute the Santa Fe Institute is the world's leading research center for complex systems science. 


    He is one of the leading scientists working on a scientific model of cities. Among other things, his work states that with the doubling of a city's size, salaries per capita will generally increase by 15%. West became a Stanford faculty member before he joined the particle theory group at New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory. After Los Alamos, he became president of the Santa Fe Institute. 


    He is author of a fantastic book called Scale - The Universal Laws of Life and Death in Organisms, Cities and Companies which formed the basis of this conversation and is highly recommended. West has since been honoured as one of Time magazine's Time 100. 


    A more accurate title for this episode should be something like 'The Emergent Universal Laws and Economies of Scale, of Organisms, Cities, Companies, Countries and Communities - but that isn’t quite as catchy.' 


    “There is regularity and that we are all part of it, in a beautiful and highly interconnected way, to the same sets of laws and principles, it does give a sense of purpose.” Geoffrey West 


    We talked about: 


    1. How are organisms, cities and companies similar and why are they subject to the same principles as they scale? 


    2. Why do organisms and companies die but cities don’t? 


    3. Are social networks the new cities? And what about countries? 


    4. We also discussed the limits of his model of scaling and how it has affected his world view? We I started out by asking him How and why are all organisms similar in the way that they grow and scale? Enjoy.


    https://www.ted.com/talks/geoffrey_west_the_surprising_math_of_cities_and_corporations/transcript 


    https://medium.com/swlh/scale-a-book-summary-3d39d16321ef 


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JUAx445ReU 


    https://www.santafe.edu/people/profile/geoffrey-west 


    https://www.weareliminal.co/ 


    #scale #scaling #growth #organisms #cities #companies #networks #complexity #emergence #connections #interconnected #fractals #universal #laws #principles #physics #biology #science #urban #collectiveintelligence #ontheedge #weareliminal

    37 min
  • #031 Gemma Mortensen - New Constellations
    In this conversation I connected with Gemma Mortensen who is a social entrepreneur, who recently launched New Constellations to help people imagine and create a better, more beautiful future.
    Prior to that she was Chief Global Officer at Change.org - a platform where over 200 million people from around the world have start a petition for change
    Prior to that CEO of Crisis Action - which works to protect civilians from armed conflict - and where she helped to create a fantastic handbook for Creative Coalitions.
    She is also Co-Founder and Vice-Chair of More In Common - seeks to address the underlying drivers of polarization, and build more inclusive societies.
    We talked about:
    Creating a space to imaging a more beautiful future and the art of listening
    The Silicon Valley world view and how to take collective responsibility for stewarding technology for good not ill
    The need to reclaim hope and optimism and holding the fertile void where surprise is possible again
    Being on the cusp of being able to tell new stories of the good life
    I started out by asked her “How can we build creative coalitions"? Enjoy!
    https://crisisaction.org/handbook/
    https://www.change.org/
    https://www.moreincommon.com/
    https://newconstellations.co/
    https://skoll.org/contributor/gemma-mortensen/
    www.weareliminal.co
    39 min
  • #030 Margaret Heffernan - Uncertainty Powers Change
    “The capacity of uncertainty to power change, you only really capture if at least you start, not because you know you can do it, but because you simply can’t bear the idea of not trying” Margaret Heffernan
    In this conversation, I connected with Margaret Heffernan around the question of how uncertainty can power change. 
    Margaret is an entrepreneur, CEO, writer and keynote speaker. She is currently a Professor at the University of Bath School of Management in the UK. Heffernan is the former CEO of five businesses and is the writer of six books. Her third book, Willful Blindness was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. Her TED talks have been seen by over 12 million people. And her most recent book, Uncharted: How to map the future was published in 2020, which formed the basis of this conversation. 
    We talked about: Is certainty necessarily good and uncertainty always bad? When faced with complexity what should we do instead of optimising for efficiency? What could we build now to transcend a human lifespan? How do we form regenerative societies? 
    To find out more about Margaret please visit: http://www.mheffernan.com/ 
    To find out more about Liminal please visit: http://www.weareliminal.co/
    50 min
  • #029 Jack Du Rose - Organisations for the Internet
    In this conversation, I connected with Jack Du Rose who is cofounder of Colony, a decentralised autonomous organisation (DOA) which provides a platform for building organisations for the internet.
    Previously, he was a self-taught jewellery designer, including producing Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull, For The Love of God.
    I first connected with Jack a few years ago when I was running a company called 100%Open and we shared a fascination for all things open-source and distributed ways of working and organising.
    We talked about a wide range of topics including:
    If and how you can build trust and best work with people on the internet.
    What decentralised autonomous organisations are and how are they different
    Whether there a better system than meritocracy if you want to do good work.
    The future of work post-pandemic and the impact it has had on Colony.
    What to make of the hype around cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens.
    So I started out by asking him, what are organisations for the internet and how are they different? Enjoy!
    https://colony.io/
    https://yearn.finance/
    https://www.weareliminal.co/
    “It’s a platform that allows people all over the world to build organisations together online without needing to know or trust each other. For communities or groups to raise funds and collectively manage towards some shared objective.” Jack Du Rose
    #open #organisations #opensource #colony #decentralised #blockchain #ethereum #futureofwork #trust #DAO #crypto #cryptocurrency #NFTs #reputation #jewellery #hirst
    48 min
  • #028 Hege Barnes - Green Innovation Nation
    In the latest episode of the On The Edge podcast I had a great conversation with Hege Barnes who finally answered the question - what’s the best thing since sliced bread?
    Hege is Director at Innovation Norway, a government entity for building trade and industries of the future. She is based in New York and building the industries of the future between Norway, USA, Canada, and Brazil. She sits on the board of Nordic Innovation House-New York and the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce. Also she spearheaded the hugely successful global marketing campaign for Disney’s Frozen, doubling the awareness and visitor growth for Norway from the American market.
    I connected with her recently and was interested to speak with her bilateral innovation and explore which is the greenest innovation nation?
    We talked about what the US can learn from Norway in terms of innovation and vice versa. We also explore how to design the transition towards a net-zero future. Lastly, we explore the need for collaboration as a small and ambitious country in an increasingly connected world.
    So I started out by asking her, how are the US and Norway different when it comes to innovation? Enjoy.
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/hegevbarnes/
    https://www.innovasjonnorge.no/en/
    This podcast is brought to you by Liminal - the collective intelligence community. IT's produced with the support of all of our patrons, clients, and members so many thanks to all of you for your support. To find out more please visit https://www.weareliminal.co/
    Lastly, please do like, rate, comment and/or subscribe to the podcast, and share it with others who might enjoy it as well. 
    Until next time, please keep on connecting people and ideas. If you do, you never know what might happen. Thank you.
    29 min
  • #027 Dhiraj Mukherjee - Surfing Crisis to Opportunity
    In this conversation, I connected with Dhiraj Mukherjee who is co-founder of Shazam - the music recognition app that was founded during the end of the dot-com bubble in 2000 and they surfed multiple crises before finally being acquired 18 years later by Apple for a reported $400 million. He is now an active angel investor focused on Tech for Good, and with a particular interest in the climate emergency.
    I first met and worked with Dhiraj 7 years ago and we reconnected recently when he posted an interesting blog post called Designing for Uncertainty about the importance of agility in finding opportunities for innovation when faced with a crisis, such as the current pandemic.
    We talked about having random conversations (through being a dog owner), spotting when you are in the right place or knowing when you are in a dead end, and the importance of patience and the long view when it comes to innovation and navigating a crisis.
    This podcast is a production by Liminal, the collective intelligence community. With particular thanks to our new patrons and members - Krystina Nyzell, Joshua Baker, Senan Largey, Will Rolph, Sam Roots. To find out more or to join the community please visit https://www.weareliminal.co/.
    See below a few links, to find out more about Dhiraj and some of the things we talked about. Until next time, please keep on connecting people and ideas. Thanks and goodbye
    https://dhirajmukherjee.com/
    https://www.shazam.com/
    https://dhirajmukherjee.com/designing-for-uncertainty/
    https://bcorporation.uk/
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/43GjCh72bxWVSqSB84ZDJw0/reith-lectures-2020-how-we-get-what-we-value
    35 min
  • #026 Christian Busch - The Serendipity Mindset

    In this conversation I spoke with Christian Busch who is author of bestselling book Serendipity Mindset, which is all about the art and science of creating good luck. 

    Christian is Director the Global Economy Program at New York University. Previously, he co-directed the LSE's Innovation Lab. He also has numerous other affiliations and accolades including with the World Economic Forum and the Royal Society of Arts. 

    I was introduced to Christian by long time Liminal collaborator Kim Van Nierkierk for which I’m very grateful. And we realised that we had quite a lot in common and I liked his thoughtful and well research approach to serendipity which was very illuminating. We talked about the serendipity mindset as creating smart luck, potentially being anything and everything you could be in the moment. We also got into more philosophical territory about what it’s like to stare death in the face, following a near fatal accident that Christian experienced when he was younger.  And I thought about calling this episode Get Lucky but thought better of it.  

    Anyway here are a few links below to some of the things we discussed: 

    https://theserendipitymindset.com/ 

    https://www.sps.nyu.edu/homepage/academics/masters-degrees/ms-in-global-affairs/global-economy.html 

    https://rlabs.org/ 

    https://www.lseinnovationlab.com/ 

    https://www.weareliminal.co 

    Please share this episode with others who might enjoy it as well and like and subscribe.  And keep on connecting people and ideas. If you do, you never know what might happen.

    41 min
  • #025 Helen Tupper - The Future of Work

    In this episode I connected with Helen Tupper who is the co-founder and CEO of Amazing If, an award-winning career development company with a mission to make work better for everyone. 

    She is co-author of The Sunday Times No.1 Business Bestseller: The Squiggly Career and host of the UK’s no.1 careers podcast: Squiggly Careers. She also works as a Trustee for Working Families, a UK charity. Prior to Amazing If she held leadership roles for Microsoft, Virgin and BP. 

    I first met Helen 12 years ago and we’ve gone on to collaborate a number of times over the years and I’ve always really enjoyed her enthusiasm and energy, and it’s great to see how she has gone on to thrive in her own squiggly career. 

    To find out more about Helen and Squiggly Careers, please visit www.amazingif.com 

    To find out more about Liminal or to join our community, please visit www.weareliminal.co

    34 min
  • #024 Benjamin de la Pena - Agile Cities
    In this episode I learned a lot from speaking with Benjamin de la Pena who has many years of experience in urban development, informal transportation, and agile cities.
    He was the first-ever Chief of Strategy and Innovation for the Seattle Department of Transportation. He initiated the first-ever city-wide Public Life Study to measure vibrancy and to understand how people use the right-of-way as public space.
    He chairs the Global Partnership for Informal Transportation; writes and curates a fortnightly newsletter called Makeshift Mobility, and, serves on several boards including the US Advisory Committee of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
    I was introduced to Benjamin by Gina Lucarelli from the United Nations Development Programme whom I interviewed for episode 7 of this podcast last year, all about accelerating sustainable development, who told me about his unique work that sees the beauty and reality of informal transformation, and sure enough he was.
    Links:
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/bdelapena/
    https://www.agilecity.co/
    https://www.gpitransportation.org/
    https://makeshiftmobility.substack.com/
    https://www.itdp.org/
    35 min

About On The Edge

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On The Edge is a podcast all about making unexpected connections. It features conversations with people who are living and working on the boundaries of organisations and places, and who see the world a little differently. Hosted by compulsive connector Roland Harwood from Liminal.