What Anyone Can Do: On Working Together (1045)

Welcome to the What Anyone Can Do podcast with Leo Battari and me, Randy Cantrell. This show picks up where our previous show, You're the Peer, left off, highlighting the simple truth that who you surround yourself with matters, and that if we enlist the support of others, give back to those who give to us, and pay it forward for the next generation, we can do anything. Author and keynote speaker Leo Battari and I talk with a diverse group of thought leaders who will share stories, and insights that will help you succeed in business and in life. How? By doing the things anyone can do, but most of us never will. Welcome back to another episode of What Anyone Can Do, the podcast. My name is Randy Cantrell, coming to you from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. He is Leo Bottari, coming to you from San Diego, California. The website is leobottari.com. That's L-E-O-B-O-T-T-A-R-Y dot com. And we thought a week from today— we're recording today on August the 21st— 2019. This is Wednesday, and a week from now you will be in Oslo, Norway.

Yeah, and I'm real excited that we're going to be doing the show from there next week. We'll probably record it on Wednesday, get it up on Thursday. Of course, as we were just figuring out, there's a 7-hour time difference from Dallas, Texas to Oslo, but we should be able to negotiate and navigate that pretty well. I think what I really love about this whole initiative and this conference, which is basically about being future ready and future readiness, not just about being innovative and forward thinking and all of that from a standpoint of how we grow in a progressive, you know, forward thinking kind of way, but also how we're just aware of what's going on in the world and how we can be prepared. you know, um, in certain respects as well. Um, it's fascinating because the agenda, uh, for the day, they're really going to be a lot of fun. So the first speaker, uh, is Chris Katarna, and he is the co-author of a book called The Age of Discovery, where we basically takes a deep dive into the Renaissance, right? So, so kind of to look forward, first we're going to look back. We're going to look at these lessons from history. We're going to look at what was going on 500 years ago and what that looked like. And of course, the similarities of what was taking place there, and I really encourage people to read the book, it's incredible, are really quite remarkable when we start looking at everything from the printing press and how that equates to social media and all of the things that it allowed for. And, you know, and again, there's just so many other parallels there, which are really exciting. Um, so he's going to get up first and really talk about kind of these lessons from history, right? Then of course, you know, last week's guest, right? Thomas is going to get up. He's the, um, you know, director of, um, innovation for IBM Norway. And he's going to talk a lot about AI and technology and kind of what's ahead and all. So my job basically is the third speaker after these two guys scare the hell out of the audience, basically, which is, I'm just joking, but it's going to definitely leave— there's going to be a lot of open mouths, I think, in that room going, oh my God, like when they think about what wave is coming. To be able to just really, I think, put the audience at ease a little bit and say, all right, this, yes, this appears pretty daunting. However, the good news, and we can look back to what Chris Katarna says, and when I know Thomas will reinforce also based on what we talked about last week, was that, um, uh, we don't have to do this alone. No one's ever done it alone in the past. We're not going to have to do it in the future either. And that together we're capable of some pretty amazing things. And it will be largely how we rely on our humanity and what makes us uniquely human and, what those strengths are and how we can collaborate and, and innovate and, you know, just create in a way that's, you know, pretty powerful. And so I want to just walk the audience through a pretty simple progression, right? One that we all were really familiar with in terms of peer influence. I mean, how many times on this podcast have we talked about that and just this the pervasive nature of peer influence and how it's existed for as long as we can remember as kids, and it certainly plays a huge role in our lives today, to taking them there and just telling them 3 stories. One that speaks to peer influence, the next one that speaks to peer advantage, which is this idea of being more selective, strategic, and structured, you know, about how we engage our peers, of course. And the, and the third is that what's possible when you engage in peer advantage, and that becomes peer innovation. This notion of people who are, share, I think, very similar values and share the want of a common outcome, but yet they bring different perspectives and skills to the table. What they're capable of doing. And I'll tell a story about certainly how I've experienced that many times in my career, particularly in the advertising communication business, where you've got people with all different skills and disciplines who create campaigns and world-class work for clients that would never have been produced if any one person were responsible for it. So, and then what's really exciting is we're going to be tossing to after me, a couple of people who are going to be sharing their real stories about peer innovation, essentially, and what that looked like, not only across Europe but in Norway itself. And then really being able to wrap up as a call to action to the people there who are largely going to be, I would say, VP, director, manager levels. Now, this isn't speaking to the C-suite, but it's a reminder not only to the next generation of leaders, but also the fact that we can innovate, we can pick our heads up and look out, we can look back in history, we can see what's around us, and we can look forward no matter where we sit. In the organization. We don't have to be the CEO to do that. We don't have to be the chief strategy officer or chief innovation officer. We can do it, you know, no matter what our job is. And the more that we kind of accept responsibility for that and do that, I think the less scary the world is, I hope. And also, you know, the more that we can engage others to help us with whatever may come our way.

And for perhaps new listeners, and we welcome you and we're glad that you clicked play. Give some context to this, to this event so that people have, you know, have some understanding because this event's got some really unique characteristics that are super congruent with the work that Leo's doing, the work that I'm doing, the work that we're doing together with this podcast.

Yeah. So it's being put on by an organization called Executive Growth Alliance. And Executive Growth Alliance to me is assembling groups with the organizing principle that is kind of systems thinking meets peer groups. So it is instead of CEOs from, you know, the same industry, for example, who are not competitors who meet to help each other within that industry, or people who come together like in Vistage or EO or YPO where they may be from very different kinds of companies and they offer the perspectives that way. The organizing principle here is one where someone, the people who participate are part of a similar ecosystem, not necessarily a similar, um, the same organization or the same type of organization. So, um, transportation would be a great example, um, where you've got maybe the airport authority, maybe you've got the local hotels, maybe you've got, um, ground transportation services. Maybe you have rail, maybe you have all these kinds of things so that they are collaborating and thinking about how when people come and visit our city, for example, our major city, that they get a seamless experience. What does that look like and how we can we work together to make that possible? And I think there have been a number of examples, not just in the transportation ecosystem but in others, that Executive Growth Alliance has where there have been things where people have collaborated and actually created solutions that have benefited the customer, but they were not necessarily solutions that would have come from any one company. They came because people were intentional about getting together. You know, and this kind of thing actually has been going on for a long time. When you look at the World Economic Forum, you know, like you look at Davos, you look at, you know, the work that the Aspen Institute or the Milken Institute does at their conferences. There are many times often, and it will happen when people will get together and maybe even in social settings, people who otherwise would never be in the same room, right? Who all of a sudden, you know, they may be publicly at odds and yet privately can have a real conversation about what they share, right? They all have families. They all want the planet to be sustainable. They all want all of these things regardless of what the issue happens to be. Could be around education, could be around, um, you know, poverty. It could be, uh, you know, any kind of thing. And what's always fascinating is when people get together, they realize what it is they have in common. They also come to some understanding that while they may be coming at it from different places, there are ways they can work together that are usually things that people would never have known unless they actually had a real conversation about it. So publicly we've got everyone doing this, and yet I think privately when people can just be human beings without the glare of, you know, cameras and everything else, you might find that there's some agreement that can come on certain things and some good work can begin. And those are usually things where the conversation starts there and then afterwards, um, uh, some work gets done after that. Here with the Executive Growth Alliance though, rather than worrying about it being, uh, by accident, if you will, um, it's, it's very intentional about how they bring these people from these various ecosystems together. And, um, and it's, um, it's, it's very interesting stuff and very cool. And I, And for people who have participated in it, it's been a real eye-opening experience in terms of what's possible. And it's kind of fun stuff.

For those of us that have virtually zero knowledge of Norway, I'm curious if there is a cultural or other advantage. I'm assuming because we have had Jennifer on the show. I know the size of the country is certainly helpful to be able to do something like this. I'm wondering if, is there some cultural advantage that you're aware of that might make such a project in Norway?

So I appreciate it. I appreciate you're going to rely on my about 1%.

Well, I mean, I'm just curious from your interactions with her.

So what I certainly have learned is that they said they're actually very proud of. It's a very trust-based culture. You know, in other words, if you left your cell phone on a bench, it's likely you can go back an hour later and it'll still be there. No one would have stolen it and grabbed the SIM card out of it, you know, and that kind of thing, right? So there's that kind of feeling, that kind of cultural vibe, which allows people, I think, in many respects to be able to come together and have these conversations and trust that, um, they're working for the common good. So, and it's one of the reasons I think why she has really piloted this effort in Norway. Jennifer's from Silicon Valley, of course she's been doing business in Norway and throughout Europe for a number of years, but I think Norway was a good candidate, an excellent candidate actually for launching this. And, and it really looked forward to learning more about it. You know, other than the fact that when I was a kid, I actually was a pretty big fan of Norse mythology. And I loved that, which was kind of an odd kind of interest given, you know, everyone else was into Greek and Roman mythology, but I thought that Odin and Thor and all those characters were really cool. So But anyway, but I'm excited about it. I've never been, uh, looking forward to, you know, just learning a lot, uh, while I'm there and engaging with a lot of, I know, really interesting, successful people. And, you know, we talk about who you surround yourself with matters. And, you know, I think anytime we can put ourselves in a situation where, um, it's, it's, it's just, well, you talk and talk. Yeah.

You talk in the book, The Power of Peers, you know, about the right people. To me, that's kind of the amazing and the awesome opportunity for people in whatever ecosystem are joining together in Norway to tackle some of these really big problems. We certainly have enough evidence to prove that when that does happen in a real meaningful way, when the right people do get together and join forces, the results can be just sometimes nothing short of spectacular.

See, I think it really shines a light also on when we sit there, we're starting to actually see what's happening with Congress in the United States as normal. And this is really frightening. You know, it really is. I mean, someone wins, no one cares. It's about digging in your heels for 4 years in the hope that you'll win the next one or, that are in 2-year cycles, you know, when people are trying to get majorities in the House and the Senate, you know, only so that everything is partisan all the time, no matter what it is. I mean, they could figure out how to make whether the sky is blue, purple, red, they'll turn it into a partisan issue in some way, shape, or form. And I just personally don't think that that's what we've paid our legislators. I don't think that's what we pay them to do. I think we actually pay them to get things done for the American people, not to come home and say, hey, I stuck to my guns, nothing happened.

You know, right.

How'd you like to be graded that way when you went to work, right? To be able to say to your boss at the end of the year when your performance grew, you know what, I, I stuck to my guns. I mean, I realized I didn't produce anything meaningful for the company at all today, but not only was I the most stubborn guy there, I'm going to raise next year too. And it's like, well, that doesn't seem right. Yeah, I just feel that, you know, we've got to get to a place at some point in time, and I don't care which administration it happens under, Republican or Democrat, where we start putting the country ahead of our own partisan bickering and our own— and, you know, the media stokes this fire as well. Let's face it, of course, what it's all about. This is, you know, every time, in fact, you have a situation where it looks like someone might collaborate on something, then it's like, well, who caved? You know, who did this? Who did that? Somebody's being vilified for not, you know, and it's like, for compromise, how about they just got together and they got something done? Isn't that, wouldn't that be, you know, great? I remember seeing statistics a while back in terms of back when, and it was back in Truman when he was campaigning, I think it was his second campaign, and he was campaigning against the do-nothing Congress who had passed. And again, I don't have the numbers off the top of my head. I used to know them. But the point being that the do-nothing Congress would make today's Congress look like the most productive entity on the planet, you know, and it's really frightening how that has just absolutely atrophied. So I think when you see efforts like this going on, And whether they be in Norway, the United States, wherever it is, and I'm not talking about this in terms of, you know, pitting one country against the other. And it's true. I'm just talking about people anywhere. When you actually get them working toward, you know, a common goal, you know, William Ury, when he, in his wonderful TED Talk, The Walk from No to Yes, talks about this idea that it's there's the third side. It's, it's for the good of the children. It's for the future of the planet. It's for whatever. There's something there that is for the greater good that we all have to remember that, uh, we just need to be working toward. And, uh, so this is why I was so attracted to what they're doing in Norway. This, this idea of really combining the power of peers and really getting people collaborating with this understanding that we are part of a larger ecosystem. And I think what's instructive for anyone who's sitting in, in a company, uh, who may be listening to this podcast or on the way to work or wherever they are and is thinking in terms of their team or their department or their business unit or whatever, and everything can be so constantly focused on that one thing. When you can be taking actions here that can actually impact another team or another business unit completely by mistake. Like, you're not trying to do that. It just does. And the problem oftentimes is by the time you discover problems elsewhere, the time gap is such that you, you wouldn't even link the two. And this is where all this becomes, I think, really, you know, very troubling when we don't, I think, get people to be thinking on those terms. Obviously, point being that, you know, it's just really great when you see that happening, and I wish we would expect a lot more of it. And I think, you know, again, come 2020 election, I don't care who you're electing, wherever, whether it's your state legislature, whether it's your congressman or senator or the White House, whoever it happens to be. I think finally getting people to start putting country first, um, instead of their own ego and their own office and their own— in fact, I don't even know why anyone wants to even run for a job that you can't even do anyway.

Yeah, that's me. So, um, we talk a little bit, you know, we've, we've talked some about this, but I think it's, it's worth a little bit of conversation before we wrap up this show. If you've got a company, if I'm leading a team, a small team inside, you know, corporate America, and I've got a team of 5 to 10 people and invariably things don't go to suit me. As the leader or don't go to suit our team. And that's how we see it. And that's the lens through which we look. And of course, the bigger the company, the more potential candidates you can point to as why our life is not what it could be or should be. And so I've got all kinds of scapegoats that I can look to and all kinds of excuses that I can make. And my real focal point here is those gaps, those gaps of ignorance, not stupidity, those gaps of ignorance that we fill with our own conjecture, because we have no clue what's going on on the other side of the building or the other side of the campus of our company and whatever pressures and constraints those people are under who we can blame. And from your You know, your talk about our government and whatnot. I mean, that there's just so many, there's so many gaps of knowledge and there's so many places where we can point fingers and blame as opposed to saying, this is, this is what we've got. Now, can we try to understand something so that we can at least do whatever we can do to move forward?

Well, I mean, you're talking about two issues there. One being communication, right? When we've talked many times before, when there are gaps in communication, we will fill in the narrative by ourselves.

Truth, You know, and usually even the desire, even the desire to understand, I mean, doesn't an awful lot of it just stem from, I mean, it seems to me that you go to Washington, there's just, there seems to be such little desire to even understand.

Well, yeah. I mean, so you started by talking about company and then when you go to a different ballgame, but I'd like to think that when you're part of an organization, transparency helps a lot. It helps you understand that things may not go my way on something, but there is a reason for it. At least I'm aware of it. I know I work for a larger entity here. What maybe feels like would be in our self-interest if I were the CEO and actually saw the whole bigger picture on this, I get it, right? We don't always love it, but at least we understand. And, um, you know, I think that's a That's a huge part of it. And, you know, we, we play our part and we do what we can do, but this is where I think open communication, um, trust. And, you know, um, last night, I mean, I mentioned to you that, um, I spent some time with Craig Weber. Craig Weber wrote a wonderful book a few years ago called Conversational Capacity. And it really is a very deep dive into how people engage one another. And last night we were talking about the fact that there is kindness in clarity, right? This, this, you know, we, we don't want to put it, we put off saying things or we don't say it in quite the way or whatever. We don't want to hurt somebody's feelings. Well, all we do is make it worse because we're going to hurt their feelings worse down the road and for more reasons than just what the bad news was. Right. Um, that, you know, being clear and open with people and having the ability to have good conversations and to be good listeners as well as good communicators from that respect is really important. In fact, he's got a new book that's coming out very soon called Influence in Action. And I'm hoping, of course, that we can get Craig on the show because he's an amazing guy who's done some brilliant work. And I think Conversational Capacity really, and his new book Influence in Action, speaks to the heart of what it takes in a granular kind of way how people can really do this, how people can get and obtain the skills, right? To do this. Because we think we know how to do it. We think we're born learning how to talk and listen and all that kind of stuff, but we really don't. And, and because of that, that's why we go sideways on, you know, a lot of these things. And you look at someone like Craig's work and, um, you know, really makes me think that we need to get him on the show real quick. As you know, um, You know, Brian got very unexpectedly tied up with something, but he's going to be joining us soon. Life Scale is an amazing book.

Yep. Will Hawkes' book. Brian Solis was going to be our guest today, but Brian had some things that came up. Yeah. And life happens.

And he's been on the show before. He's excited to do it. His book is amazing. And in fact, it gives our guests maybe a little extra time to grab a copy and have a look at it prior to our show because, you know, again, I think it's—

Yeah, and it's a really gorgeous book. And, you know, see if this comes across in the video. If you're listening to the podcast, then hey, go check out the YouTube channel. But the book is basically a roadmap. It's a 14-chapter, 14 kind of a milestone Based on what Brian has said to us and others, I mean, it was a very personal, kind of a very personal journey. The subtitle is How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life, and who doesn't want that?

So anyway, and I think very visually, you know, and through the words, takes you on a journey and does so really beautifully in a way that not only relates to folks like us, which, you know, we immediately— and again, I want to wait till we're on the phone or on the podcast with Brian to talk about kind of the opening chapters of this thing, which really speak to— it spoke to me like I couldn't believe it, you know, like, man, this is such— but my oldest daughter, Kristen, she'll be 31 in November, is just about finished with the book and has absolutely loved it. You know, it really spoke to her as well. And for her, it becomes great because it catches her early on the evolutionary tail, right? In many respects, in terms of here are some of the things to be thinking about watching out for as she plans her life journey and for that of her husband and her kids and for her career and everything else. And, and really having that kind of understanding about what's important and what really matters and how we need to spend our time. So again, we'll be having him on the show soon. I will—

well, we'll put links in the show notes. So if you visit the website, leobottari.com, that's L-E-O-B-O-T-T-A-R-Y dot com, for today's episode, and we'll link up to the books that Leo has mentioned and the speakers that Leo is going to be sharing kind of the stage with in Norway, as well as Craig Webber's work.

Yeah, we'll post a link to that as well. And also, Let's, you know, we'll see you, you know, pretty much next week, you know, from Norway. I'll try to be able to do it from inside the hut, wherever I can get a good internet connection, actually.

Yeah, yeah.

Is going to be the trick, but hopefully we'll get a venue that's quiet and maybe a little visual.

So yeah, hey, we suffered the glitch today, so it happens, but we got it. All right, good. Well, thanks for listening, everybody. Thanks for subscribing. Tell a friend about the podcast. Again, you can find links and all about Leo's work and this podcast at leobottary.com. And we hope you'll subscribe to the podcast. I never ever say it, so I'm going to. If you'd leave us a 5-star review over at Apple Podcasts, or some people still call it iTunes, we'd love it. We greatly appreciate it.

It would—

I don't know, I've been podcasting for a long time. People claim that it helps in discovery. I don't know, but it'll make us feel good about ourselves. So exactly. So thanks everybody. Travel safely.

Oh, you bet. Thank you. Bye now.

To learn more about our show and what we do, to submit questions to us, and to subscribe to What Anyone Can Do Podcast, please visit our website, whatanyonecando.com. What Anyone Can Do Podcast is hosted by Leo Battari and me, Randy Cantrell. Music provided by Kevin MacLeod is Vibe Ace, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 2.0 license. Thanks for watching or listening. We hope you'll share the podcast.