Subject Matter

Artemisia Gentileschi was best-known female painter of the 17th century. But the thing most people miss is her creative process. She was an expert in leveraging teams, and surgically distributing her work to Europe's elite, providing practical principles for thought leaders today seeking to build powerful relationships.

When someone understands you, you can unlock massive gains in productivity together. You can empathise with each other's needs, synchronize with each other's goals, and work much more efficiently. In today's episode, we explain how the inception of voice technology using Siri created a commercial benefit to feeling understood, by unlocking new levels of efficiency for consumers.

The saying goes "It's lonely at the top". As a Founder or CEO, it's challenging to know which ideas to execute on and which to drop. That's why it's critical to have a sounding board in your inner circle. On today's episode, we come to understand how Phil Knight, the CEO of Nike, used a sounding board to unlock his story's subtlety, and build one of the world's most iconic brands.

Emotional conflict leaves us feeling drained, but productive conflict can fuel remarkable growth. The Wright Brothers began inventing locked in a fearsome feud, yet eventually used productive conflict to create breakthrough innovation. Leaders can learn from their example on how to view conflict, detaching emotions from the equation by swapping one word: "disagreement" for "debate".

What if there was a game that could improve your decision making, expand your risk tolerance, and help you understand your blind spots? I'm not talking about business, but Poker. As we'll learn, the game highlights that behavioral blind spots that we're all prone to. And leaders end up paying an especially high price...

We analyse how Alex Blumberg, Co-founder of Gimlet Media uses the unique opportunity for podcasts to create a transparent company culture. Everyone makes mistakes. Companies are the sum total of the people they employ, so they are the sum total of their flaws too. People want to work with leaders who accept this fact rather than shying away from it.

In January 2019, I started writing a book, and 8 months later closed the lid on a completely botched project. I ran into 3 fatal problems: copying from other thought leaders, not getting feedback, and trying to cheat with tools rather than build my habits. This how not to write a book, why I didn't finish that book, and why I don't regret the project at all because everything I learned has informed how we're building Astutely today...

Our convictions can lock us into this a prison of our own making. If you are able to be open, curious, and humble, then it can lead to the result of pioneering the whole industry of smartphones, like Apple. In today's episode, we explore intellectual humility: knowing what we don't know. Becoming aware of your shortcomings is vital for your company's survival, and is unlocked by overcoming a potential fear of leaving your comfort zone.

Our second Whatifstory—A fictional story asking "What if history turned out differently?"—Tells the story of a fateful encounter in a dusty bookstore, where one glance in a mirror leaves us with an entirely different perspective...

What made The Beatles one of the 20th century's biggest bands? Not skill, not marketing marketing, but technology. No matter how powerful your message is as a Founder or CEO, it is always constrained by the technology that enables it. If you don't understand the technology that powers the time you are in, then you won't understand the limits and opportunities that your messages face.