The Company Road Podcast

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“Innovation really lives on the edge of ridiculous, and in order for us to come up with innovative solutions to solve the world's biggest problems, we've got to take risks. Play is an incredible way to help us do that.”

Dara Simkin

In this episode you’ll hear about:

The importance of mixing play and work: Why bringing play into the workplace can be a powerful tool for creativity, connectivity and innovation and radically shift organisational culture

How to integrate play into the workplace: Key strategies for intentional design for implementing play intentionally and effectively to achieve valued outcomes

The evolution of work culture: Unpacking how priorities within work environments have and continue to shift and what is needed as the focus of work cultures now

Questioning conventional business constructs: How to develop a healthy approach to scepticism of traditional business practices and be active in questioning and challenging established norms and assumptions that may be preventing growth

Reactive vs. responsive businesses: Recognising how your business or specific team approaches organisational change and adjusting the culture to one of proactively addressing emerging challenges

Key links

Culture Hero https://www.culturehero.co/

Dr. Stuart Brown https://www.nifplay.org/about-us/about-dr-stuart-brown/

Kaospilot https://www.kaospilot.dk/

Microsoft Trends Index https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index

IDEO https://www.ideo.com/

John Cleese on open and closed modes https://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/L004957/

Amy Edmonson https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451

About our guest

Dara Simkin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dara-simkin-culture-hero/) is an expert facilitator, learning designer and Australia's leading play at work specialist. As the founder of Culture Hero, a norm-busting consultancy driving cultural change and experiential events, Dara's mission is to bridge the gap between work and play.

She's worked with organisations like The LEGO Foundation and McKinsey & Co., as well as world-renowned play researcher Dr Stuart Brown and Silicon Valley's IDEO Play Lab. She is certified in the Danish learning methodology, KAOSPILOT, known for its innovative and dynamic approach to education and training. She is currently involved in a research collaboration with RMIT University, uncovering the benefits of a playful mindset in business as it relates to adaptability, teamwork and belonging.

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co).

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with University of Melbourne in Innovation, and Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. 

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For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

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"You really want it to get into people's heads what the change is. You want it to be their new reality or the new normal. Storytelling is effective because stories are shared from generation to generation, remembered for a reason… because they stick in your brain."

Agnes So

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• Improving support levels & customer satisfaction: How to win customer loyalty through understanding frontline perspectives, fostering collaboration & aligning organisational goals with customer needs
• The power of storytelling: Exploring storytelling as a powerful leadership tool for driving change and how the way you use stories can change how you inspire, communicate complex ideas, and drive cultural shifts within organisations.
• Adaptive leadership: Setting up and managing a team where members are enabled to implement effective solutions and drive positive outcomes and you can remain flexible and free
• Lean approaches in startups: The necessity of lean approaches in startup environments, and strategies to improve resourcefulness, efficiency and flexibility to navigate challenges and foster growth
• Strategic prioritisation: The key to understanding when and where to focus time, energy and resources and identify quickly initiatives that will deliver the most significant impact

Key links

HotDoc https://www.hotdoc.com.au/

Tino Sehgal https://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/62-tino-sehgal/

This Progress at Guggenheim https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/22502

GROW Framework https://www.coachingcultureatwork.com/the-grow-model/

Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Camel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uWKEG0s9Kc

About our guest

Agnes So (www.linkedin.com/in/agnes-so/) had gained over 10 years of customer service experience prior to joining HotDoc in 2017. Agnes' main expertise include developing Customer Experience (CX) strategies, aimed at reducing churn and maintaining high customer satisfaction levels. Her work also informs and leads Go To Market events, ensuring the successful implementation and adoption of products for customers and employees.

By focusing on technology and self-service techniques, Agnes empowers customers to seamlessly utilise and learn new products. Her leadership experience extends to refining customer journeys based on insights, and fostering impactful brand interactions.

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co).

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with University of Melbourne in Innovation, and Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. 

Support the show

For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

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"I think what events should be doing is playing that role of fostering community, fostering connection and really thinking about what they're looking to do, what's their mission."

Grant Show

In this episode you’ll hear about:

Crafting compelling presentations: Exploring the art of crafting presentations that captivate your audience and how to use storytelling techniques borrowed from film and TV to spark engagement in the workplace

Hosting purpose-driven events: The power and role of events to bring people together, network, turbocharge learning and leverage influence

Challenging the status quo: How to embrace a mindset and active approach to stepping out of your comfort zone, pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo through innovation

Radical optimism: The key to staying optimistic in the face of challenges and how leveraging extreme resilience and positivity can transform your workplace adversity

Creating community and connection: How to foster genuine community in the digital age, maintaining authentic motivations and enabling value for all parties

Key links

CliftonStrengths model https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx

West Wing Walk and Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmv07XfeC1E

Design Outlook https://www.designoutlook.com.au/

Do24 https://www.designoutlook.com.au/event/do24

The Lateral Lens Blog https://charleslambdin.com/thelaterallens/

South by South West https://www.sxsw.com/

Flight with Denzel Washington https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1907668/

Purpose Conference https://www.purposeconference.co/

StoryBrand https://storybrand.com/

About our guest

Grant is a multi-disciplinary design leader, traversing visual communications design, experience and service design, strategy, and development. His style is visionary, inclusive, and brimming with positivity. His passion for action is contagious and he’s famous for getting a lot done.

Grant is Founder of Design Outlook, and was formerly Head of Design at Frog, and Director of Experience Design at Deloitte. He's also working towards a Masters in Design from RMIT.

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with University of Melbourne in Innovation, and Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. 

Support the show

For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us Fan Mail

“You’ve got to be quite deliberate. You have to overrule some of your automatic thinking to say, I need to deliberately step back here. I need to refresh this area.”

Karl Deitz

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• Parallels between cooking, music & business: How lessons in one domain of your life or interests can often be applied to another, fostering cross-disciplinary insights in areas of strategy, adaptation and continuous improvement
• The importance of mastering the basics: Why investing in fundamental skills, whether in cooking, music, business or otherwise, is often the most important step in setting you up for accelerated growth and creativity 
• Balancing consistency and experimentation: How to find a balance between committing to consistency and practise for continual improvement, and knowing when and where to push into experimentation to explore new possibilities
• Embracing discomfort and growth: Shifting your mindset to one of growth and a willingness to step into discomfort intentionally and mindfully and reaping the personal development rewards that brings
• The role of humour and engagement in education: Strategies to enhance learning and facilitation experiences by incorporating humour and cultivating lively and interactive environments

Key Links

Nick Berman Company Road Podcast episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJpkJj0sGjw

Miles Davis https://www.milesdavis.com/

Tall Bob https://tallbob.com/

About our guest

Karl Deitz (https://www.linkedin.com/in/karldeitz/) is an entrepreneur, advisory Board member and classically trained musician on both piano and trumpet - where the left and right brain work well together.

Having started his career as a professional musician with the Royal Australian Navy, Karl has gone on to raise millions for Charities, founded a cooking school for Crossfit athletes and now heads up Customer Success & Strategy for Australia's fastest growing mobile communications company, Tall Bob.

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. 

Support the show

For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us Fan Mail

"The more immovable that your solutions are, the greater the need to invest in that kind of thinking."

Andrew Kendall

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• Designing for impact: Strategies to more accurately understand customers needs and motivations in order to design products and services that go beyond immediate user needs to create tangible, transformative impact on people’s lives 
• Long-term design considerations: Ensuring longevity and sustainability in design solutions by designing with future scalability and flexibility in mind
• Enabling creativity through safe spaces: How to tap into the full creative potential of your team and drive innovation forward by creating safe spaces in the workplace in which individuals feel comfortable and conventional thinking is challenged
• Impactful design through storytelling: The power of storytelling in influencing stakeholders and driving organisational change, particularly in fostering a human-centred approach to design
• Augmenting human creativity with AI: The secret to integrating AI as a complementary tool to harness its capabilities to enhance creativity while retaining the unique perspective and empathy inherent in human-centred design

Key Links

Stanford d.school https://dschool.stanford.edu/

Lego Serious Play course https://www.pivotalplay.com.au/

Victoria's Department of Transport and Planning https://www.vic.gov.au/department-transport-and-planning

Concorde https://www.britannica.com/technology/Concorde

Lego Fender Guitar https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/lego-ideas-fender-stratocaster-21329

About our guest

Andrew Kendall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-kendall-25a09714/) believes that solving problems creatively drives better outcomes.  At age 15, he'd impressed the people at the Lego toy company so much they hired him. Andrew is now an experienced Strategic Thinker,  Consultant and Facilitator specialising in the areas of Customer Experience and  Service Design using collaborative, imaginative and creative ways to drive Customer centred design outcomes. Andrew is currently a Customer Lead at Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning.

As a graduate of Stanford University’s d.school program, Andrew applies proven techniques and methods to build empathy, create customer insights and ideate these to create concepts and prototypes with stakeholders. Andrew's key strength is knowing how to engage the right strategic partnerships and stimulate conversation at the Senior Leadership level.

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. 

Support the show

For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us Fan Mail

“When it comes to AI, we talk about augmenting not replacing. We want this to be about how do I augment the individual and give them superpowers so they can do amazing things and liberate their time? How do we make 5 people worth 10 people?”

Gareth Rydon

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• AI adoption in 2024: Exploring the scale and speed at which AI is being adopted, the different approaches companies are taking & the key implications for organisations in 2024
• Evolution of AI use cases: How AI applications have evolved from basic tasks to more advanced functions and how opportunities for use are expected to continue to evolve into this year 
• Organisation challenges in AI: The key barriers that companies are facing in adopting AI and strategies to simplify the process for efficiency & augmentation
• AI vs humanity: Understanding where and how AI technology still falls short compared to human abilities and where the key value of humans still lies 
• Engaging kids with AI: The ethics of introducing kids to AI and how to do so in a way that prepares them for the future and harnesses their creativity but protects the formation of their in-person skills & human connections

Key links

Ep. 29 with Sarah Kaur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GEMbbWssyo

Friyay.AI https://www.friyay.ai/

RambleFix https://ramblefix.com/

Otter AI https://otter.ai/

Ethan Mollick https://mgmt.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/emollick/

Llama by Meta https://llama.meta.com/

DALL·E 3 https://openai.com/dall-e-3

Napster https://www.napster.com/

Ep. 23 with Dr. Gus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25jctgmeEVI

About our guest

Gareth Rydon (https://www.linkedin.com/in/garethrydon) works as a service designer, applying this to building generative AI tools for clients. His happy place is when he is talking to and learning from people so that he can help them solve their problems in sustainable, creative ways.

Having previously held roles at Stone & Chalk, Rightpoint and the ATO, he is now the co-founder of Friyay.ai, a generative AI studio which identifies the human experience to augment and then design generative AI solutions.

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co).

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in Innovation, CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. 

Support the show

For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us Fan Mail

“I’m 46 and I'm going to continue to do new stuff constantly my entire life. It's going to challenge me. I'm going to be uncomfortable with it. And the neurons in my mind will keep developing the ability to be adaptable if I keep challenging myself.”

Nick Berman

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

Balancing personal & professional life: How to regularly assess emotion states, seek equilibrium and create space for introspection to live in balance and mindfulness

Nick’s primary philosophy on self-growth: Understanding the choices you have available in life & learning to take ‘left turns’ to continuously push personal boundaries and growth through discomfort

Detecting & dealing with overwhelm: How to recognise early states of overwhelm and take actional steps early to avoid breakdown

Building trusting & authentic relationships: Steps to establishing trust with yourself, and those around you in a professional social context

Changing ahead of change: Acknowledging the changing state of the world and learning how to actively make changes to your life, routine and mindset to adapt in advance

Key links

Vipassana Silent Retreat https://www.dhamma.org.au/

Brené Brown https://brenebrown.com/

Tony Robbins https://www.tonyrobbins.com/

Qigong https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/qigong-what-you-need-to-know

HireGround https://www.hireground.co/

Breathwork https://health.clevelandclinic.org/breathwork/

About our guest

A self-titled ‘specialist in being nice to people’, Nick Berman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/batmanbeard/) is a purpose career coach and founder of HireGround. With over 15 years experience in recruiting for creative roles, from graphic designers to marketing managers, he started his current business to ensure that the work he does can offer “true career guidance, honest connections and long-term support.”

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in Innovation, CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.

Support the show

For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us Fan Mail

“In fact, there’s nothing normal. Everything is what we make of it to a certain extent.”

Dr. Marco Motta

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

Data storytelling: How to present data in a means to create shared understanding across an organisation and use narrative techniques to make it personable, digestible and immersive

Mitigating data literacy: Establishing an evidence-driven culture by bridging the data literacy gap in an organisation and increasing the capacity for informed decision-making

The responsibility of data stewardship: Delegating roles for data management and ensuring privacy, confidentiality and integrity is maintained when utilising data

Data visualisation: Why the visualisation of data can completely change how it’s received & top dataviz strategies for ensuring it achieves the purpose you’re after

The power of philosophy and critical thinking: Why its valuable to deploy philosophical techniques into consulting and data analysis to ensure decisions are rooted and strategically considered

Key Links

Heidegger: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger/

Phenomenology: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/

Arnold Hauser: https://arthistorians.info/hausera/

Sapiens book: https://www.amazon.com.au/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/

Transport of Main Roads: https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/

Hamlet’s Mill: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1439

Translink: https://translink.com.au/

About our guest

Dr Marco Motta (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mottamarco01) is the Managing Director of Motta Consulting, a boutique organisation that specialises in data analysis and visualisation.

He has a strong track-record transforming the performance reporting culture of large organisations, using data storytelling to craft business stories that break silos and support good decisions. He marries this with a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Queensland and uses his background in critical thinking to help organisations and clients identify, define, break-down and solve complex business challenges.

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in Innovation, CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. 

Support the show

For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us Fan Mail

“The level of power that consumer facing Gen AI offers with such intuitive accessibility for such essentially a low cost for that high powered tool… is unprecedented.”

Sarah Kaur

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

AI as an enabler: How AI can be used to enable and empower unique work processes and scenarios, including key examples of how it it can enable design thinking and transformation work

Digital divide and inequity: Confronting the challenge of digital inequity and strategies for evening the playing field of technology across the workforce

AI's efficiency vs human value: Balancing the use of AI technology with traditional human work and where and how both are most valuable

ChatGPT in design workflows: Analysing how chatGPT has changed the approach to design, how it will continue to do so and how human participation and perspective must be recentered for continued value

AI upskilling and ‘Shadow AI’: How ‘Shadow AI’ is allowing for expanded creativity and creating opportunities for upskilling the workforce and why you should be taking advantage of it

Key Links

Max Kalis episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_fTrmruTPk

Shadow AI: https://www.forbes.com/sites/delltechnologies/2023/10/31/what-is-shadow-ai-and-what-can-it-do-about-it/?sh=1b4aa39b7127

ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/

Data61: https://research.csiro.au/data61/

Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/

Lorraine Finlay, Australian Human Rights Commissioner: https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/commission-general/human-rights-commissioner-ms-lorraine-finlay

About our guest

Sarah Kaur (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-tamara-kaur/) is a Strategic Designer and Human-centred Design Researcher. Her passion is supporting the creative work of teams across disciplines to collaborate, and come up with smart ways to create impact through using participatory design. She now works as a Design Thinking Practitioner at CSIRO's Data61, where she focusses on research into Responsible AI, and embedding human insight in machine learning and AI research and product development.

She holds a Master of Business Analytics and a Bachelor in Fine Arts, and 12 years of professional experience supporting NFP, Government and Private organisations realise their business objectives by placing humans and quality data, at the centre of their decisions and investments.

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in Innovation, CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. 

Support the show

For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us Fan Mail

“One thing led to another and some things came up and actually it just broke really quickly and was quite a shock. It was quite disruptive and it was one of these situations where you think, okay, what has just happened?”

Sarah Wilkin

• Transforming personal adversity to professional opportunity: Sarah shares her journey overcoming a major and very sudden struggle in her personal life… and how it led her to greater success
• Addressing gender bias: How to challenge the issue of gender bias within male-dominated industries with language and representation
• Resilience in the face of change: Unlocking and developing resilience to stay firm and excel within the modern disruptive and ever-changing working landscape
• Connectivity in remote work: Strategies for staying motivated, connected and taking advantage of remote working
• The power of radical honesty: How being honest, and radically so, can unlock powerful relationships and working opportunities 

Key Links

Nissan LEAF: https://www.nissan.com.au/vehicles/browse-range/leaf.html

Fly Green Alliance: https://flygreenalliance.org/

Booking Cares https://www.sustainability.booking.com/about

Alan Partridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Partridge

Circular Economy https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

Kundalini https://www.healthline.com/health/kundalini-meditation

Lainey Molnar https://www.instagram.com/lainey.molnar/?hl=en

About our guest

Sarah Wilkin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwilkin/) is Founder & CEO of Fly Green Alliance, and was a Booking.com grantee in 2018 when she gained a sustainable travel grant to work on the R&D of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) which was a milestone for SAF awareness, being the first time the tech had been given attention outside of the aviation industry.

She went on to pioneer the tech and is globally recognised as an expert, thought leader and now speaks on panels such as at The Economist, S&P Global and is quoted in BBC and other publications.

About our host

Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)

Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. 

Support the show

For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/