Waste No Potential

Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of "Hooked" and "Indistractable," Nir Eyal is fascinated with how companies get us ‘hooked’ on their products and services. From the endless scroll on social media to the fatty foods we love (something Nir says he struggles with himself), how do companies optimize themselves to suck us in? On this episode of Waste No Potential, Nir wonders, “Can we optimize ourselves to take our attention back from those companies?” Join Alexandra Samuel and Traction on Demand’s VP of Engineering, Ernesto Valdes, who discuss Nir’s question, and outline why it’s so important to constantly iterate changes in your business and, perhaps more importantly, yourself.

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Kristina Libby is acting like a 4-year old — and she couldn’t be happier about it. In a world where we often convince ourselves we can’t do certain things, Libby is giving herself permission to follow the weird impulses that pop into her brain, much like a child would. Even though this fresh approach to life came to her unexpectedly, Libby discovered she is becoming the truest version of herself.

At Traction on Demand, the mantra “Be Four Forever” is used often. After all, the brain of a 4-year old is a magical place, full of curiosity and wonder, and perceives life with an unbiased perspective. In the world of business, this mindset benefits innovation and progress. Libby is CMO at Hypergiant, a company proving that artificial intelligence is shaping our future for the better. And how does machine learning software develop? It absorbs as much information it can with an unbiased perspective, much like — you guessed it — a 4-year old.

No stranger to childlike wonder, Tanya Jarrett is the Chief People Officer at Traction on Demand. Jarrett is someone who asks a lot of questions: in particular, “why?” Her story shows how curiosity led her places she never would’ve imagined — and how a curious mind should never be underestimated.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Libby’s breathtaking journey after being forced to reboot her life proves keeping an open mind — even when your world feels like it is closing in around you — is the key to harnessing your true potential.

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Greg Malpass saves screws. Why? As a successful CEO, he knows every screw, idea, code snippet, or passion has the potential to be useful, it’s just a matter of having it when you need it. That’s why “Save Screws” is a popular motto at his company, Traction on Demand.

Entrepreneur Derrick Emsley knows the same. When his first business venture didn’t get off the ground, he didn’t scrap the idea completely. He took the valuable lessons he learned and applied them to a different concept.

While still in high school, Emsley and his brother started a company that maximized farmers' unused land by planting trees and selling carbon offsets. It became apparent that what started as a great idea wasn’t going to develop into a feasible business model. However, they realized planting trees was a passion. Plus they had become entrenched in the tree-planting community — a community that was not only helping to reforest the planet but was having huge social impact all over the globe. That's when they sowed the seed of ‘tentree', an apparel company that plants ten trees, somewhere in the world, for every item sold.

In this episode, you will hear how Emsley took his save screws moment and turned it into a sustainable business that makes clothing out of some of the most eco-friendly material on the planet; led reforestation efforts in remote areas that helped lift a community out of poverty and servitude; and is moving into a world of transparent reforestation.

An inspiration to anyone with a passion to blend commerce and sustainability, Emsley’s story of turning tees into trees, is about adaptability, recognizing opportunity, and keeping passion in frame. With the addition of Greg Malpass’s insights on maximizing potential, this episode will have any listener saying, “oh!”, “wow!”, and “ahhh…”

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Waste No Potential is all about the not-so-secret stories of success. Find out how certain people saw opportunities when others didn’t -- and how pinpointing and maximizing potential is most often the root cause of their triumphs.

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