Are You Ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution? [Ben Lytle]

Hi, I'm Susan Drum. And welcome to the Enlightened Executive where your personal evolution sparks your leadership evolution. Each episode we feature groundbreaking techniques and strategies to help executives and entrepreneurs get the edge for personal and leadership effectiveness. Today we're focusing on how individuals and organizations can accelerate their wisdom to succeed in these turbulent times. And I'm happy to introduce a very successful CEO and serial entrepreneur, Ben Lytle. Ben has five companies that he's launched, including two on the New York Stock Exchange. The best known company is Anthem, number 23 on the Fortune 500 with a market cap of over 100 billion. Ben is also a health care policy expert who served on state and presidential healthcare commissions. And I'm intrigued to hear more about Ben's take on the future of human potential. He wrote a book on the subject called the Future Life and Career in the New Reality. So welcome, Ben.

Thank you. Nice to be here, Susan.

So what is the future of human potential as you see it?

Well, it's exciting. Some people find it a little bit scary because that's normal. But I'm a big believer that we'll get through this and we'll come out with a much better world and people operating at a whole different level of human capacity than we've ever imagined. And that really comes about by the fact that we're going to live longer. So we have more years at the time when we tend to be our wisest and most effective. And secondly, because we're continually integrating with automation to the point that it'll become seamless. By that, I mean it will be instantly available to us without a keyboard and a screen in between.

What's the it that you're referring to?

Oh, I'm sorry, the automation, the integration with automation will be instantly available to us by voice or by thought instead of a keyboard and a screen. I've been involved in it since I was 16 years old and it's really early days. And that's the one thing. And think of that as is how we communicate as a brain to computer interface. And the one thing that hasn't changed is we still have to have a keyboard and a screen for the most part. So voice first, probably, and then ultimately thought will be how we communicate. And we'll, we'll integrate with automation. And so we're getting more closely integrated. Automation's part of us and how we act and live. But also the automation is coming the other way too, and it's going to be coming much more human like and that, that expands human power unimaginably when you think about it, and it's a great leveler because if I'm, if I'm a young, young kid in Africa and I no longer have to have a screen and, and, and, and, or a keyboard, it's, or any computer knowledge at all, it's a completely transforming event.

Interesting. So tell me a little bit more about your book. What are you focusing on? What is the message that you want to get out there?

Well, the message, and it's a three book series and the message essentially is the world's going to change more in 30 years than it has in millennia and perhaps since the beginning of time. And that's kind of a hard concept to wrap your head around, but I don't think by any means it's hyperbole. I think if you do the research, as I've done pretty extensively, I think that's easily provable. So the thing is, are we ready? What do we have to do differently to prosper in that world? Because a lot of people are calling this period the fourth Industrial Revolution. Well, the first three lifted humankind, but they were pretty messy. And the idea is don't be one of the people that gets damaged by this to be out in front of it. And that's particularly important for entrepreneurs and leaders to lead their organizations, lead their people, and to create the kind of tools that help us to adapt. So that's the real message. And so the first, in this first book, the first 70 pages, predict the future and ultimately put it down to about 10 new realities of what that future is going to look like. The rest of the book takes seven areas where you can advance your own potential and also demonstrate the wisdom that you're ready for this. Coming by accomplishing those seven actions over time doesn't happen overnight. You don't try to do them all at once. But that's the idea.

Right. And so I imagine I'd love to hear from you, what are one or two of those things that you've outlined to predict the future? You know, obviously the increased usage of AI and how it's impacting us is gotta be number one. If not, if not part of that. Can you share what you see as just a few of the 10 that you mentioned?

Yeah, well, one is welcome to the age of transparency as we've never imagined it before. And that's really important because a lot of people, particularly on social media, create an alter ego that's not them and act more like a movie star. And it's the worst mistake you can make. Make it's just the opposite. You, you want to even get, you want to first of all, think of yourself starting right now, if you haven't before as a brand. And that brand has to, has to communicate very clearly who you are because a lot of times you don't have the opportunity to reshape it later on. And so it's really being much more thoughtful about who I am. How do, what kind of impressions do I leave, who am I today and what do I aspire to be? And then communicate that extremely clearly in everything you do. Your social media postings, your emails, your, your, your personal interactions with people. Because that's, that's how you're going to, it's going to, you're going to have a brand whether you want it or not. And so it's important to you to shape it. So that's, that's one.

Yeah. How do you get around with that as a backdrop? The ability of others to morph your brand.

Yeah. And I do think we'll be entering a period where we ultimately, particularly if you're a public person, you will in effect create through the same technology that invent was used to invent digital currencies, either an NFT that is essentially you and your data or anytime you're filmed publicly or anything so that you can be sure or prove it's. That it's not you if someone does, if someone does alter it. But the more consistent you are with your brand, it's another reason why you want to be conscious about it. More consistent your brand is, the more people are less likely, they're more likely to see through it. And you want both of those working for you.

Yeah, yeah. Now, you mentioned to me before that we are going to be the most powerful species on the planet. And what occurred to me when you said that was, are we already. And in many cases that hasn't worked out very well.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think you're right.

I don't know that the Earth can handle us getting more powerful unless we make fundamental shifts in mindset. So tell us more about your take on that.

Well, first of all, I'm more optimistic perhaps, but we are going to get more powerful. We already are. We're more powerful than we were eight years ago before, before smartphones. But I'm talking about a whole different level here. When you. That, that we're, that we're going to go to in the next three decades and, and we don't have it. We really don't have any choice. I think that, that, that, that more Inside us is a much greater human being than, than we're living. And so the question is why? Why for sure? Why does it have to be that way? And the vast majority of people, I think, are well intended and would like to live to their potential. They'd like to be doing better than they are. So the question is, how do you do it? And what, what separates people from being just good, you know, normal, everyday good people and exceptional? And I believe overwhelmingly the proof is it's wisdom. And, and it's strange to me. I don't know about you, but it's very strange to me. And we've known that for centuries and whole cultures were built around the worship of wisdom, you know, so, I mean, that's a lot of what the Greek culture was. And so if that's the case, why is it doing, do we not teach it? Why don't we easily know exactly how to teach it to our children, exactly how we should be teaching it in school? Why are we teaching knowledge in school exclusively instead of wisdom?

And so how do you make the distinction between knowledge and wisdom for our listeners?

Very different. Wisdom is the application of eternal truths or, you know, tried and true truths to a real life situation. And so it's transactional in the sense that it's applied. That's what wisdom is. But you can teach the capacity for wisdom so that you apply it more often, if you follow me.

Yeah. How do you teach the capacity for wisdom? Because many people would say, well, that's what comes over time, through experience. Right back when we were younger, we thought we knew what we, you know, we were so confident in what we knew, but the reality is we knew nothing. And then, you know, as you age through the process and you go through the trial by fires and the things that life throws at you, you do develop a wisdom. You also develop a capacity or resilience to handle change. How do we accelerate that learning?

Well, part of it is there are a set of principles that you can teach. A good example is the tension of the opposites. You know that. And you see the absence of wisdom today in the cultural divide, that people are not appreciating the virtue of the opposite argument. In every opposite argument, there's virtue. Instead, we demonize the other. That's the absolute. And that's been known for thousands of years. Absolutely. Known for thousands of years. A beautiful quote on it right in front of my, on my wall here. But, but that's just, that's one example. The other is to learn that, that sometimes holding that tension and waiting for a solution. Patience is the right thing to do. And because sometimes we, we've been taught you got to make a decision immediately. Got to make a decision immediately. Sometimes that's true, sometimes it's not true. And so those are the kinds of things that you learn. What's an archetype? Archetypes are great ways to teach human experience because they're going to work out the same way. So if I can recognize I'm in the middle of an archetype, I know what the 95% chance is, how it's going to work out. But we don't do that. We don't teach archetypes. Probably the closest we do today, and I think you can see the difference in people, is classical education. When you go through a classical education, you not only learn the great philosophers, but you also read great literature, and great literature are really just archetypes. And from that you're subliminally picking up a lot about how people deal with situations and how to. And what the likely outcome is going to be. So those are some examples. And part of that's the book. That's the second book, first book. If you do those seven, if you accomplish those seven things, you will be a wiser person. If you do the things that will be in the, in the second book, you will be a wiser person. But I'm not, I'm not the. There's lots of great material out there on wisdom, but it's something we need to start making a priority in our own personal life and as society, as an organizational leaders.

Yeah.

And if people are troubled by the term wisdom, call it good decision making.

I like to call it enlightenment. And part of that, what I mean by that is you widen the aperture from which you tend to put your attention or focus on life. And I think, you know, I've said this before, but I think as human beings we think we're chameleon and can see 360 degrees, but that's not actually true. We have a central vision and a peripheral vision. And where we put our focus of attention is what we see. And if we keep drawing our focus. But there's something behind my head I can't see. That's my blind spot.

Yep, absolutely.

And so the work in a lot of the leadership development space is to say, recognize that you don't see 360 degrees, number one. Number two, that you are drawn to certain things. And if you do like what you say with the polarity, you were really talking about the, you know, the two opposites. So how do you live in a world of polarity? How do you understand that if you advocate for this? There's something also missing from this piece or what I like to call diversity of thought. Right. Cognitive diversity will ultimately serve our team.

So much better and another's principles. If you attempt to repress, you know what, everything's an equal and opposite compensation. Right. So if I attempt to repress how someone feels or if I'm advocating so hard that I'm backing them up, it's going to come back harder, twice. That's wisdom, that's understanding. That's the way life works. And I will absolutely guarantee you it can be taught and accelerated. It's mostly for all of us. It's a case of priorities. Knowledge acquisition, skill acquisition has been our priority. Now this one has to be the most important for each of us. For leaders particularly and ultimately for society as a whole. The world, society as a whole. Because we are going to be more powerful. And so that's not, we don't have any choice about that. So it's what do we want to be when we have that power and what kind of world do we want to leave for our children?

Yes. And so within the book, are there other examples of ways in which we can begin to instill more of this wisdom? Because I really get that it's, it's an imperative, right. That we, that we transform given the amount of power that's about to happen. And I think it would also be helpful to talk about where do you see that power coming from? What is your take on how you teach this? Tell me more about that.

Well, and let's. Let me start for a minute with just this first book. What, what I'm really saying this first book is here I spent a lot of time, maybe you don't like my seven, but, but I think you'll, if you pay, if people will give them a fair chance, they will. So, so this is what's going to really matter. And if you can master these seven things, which some of them are fairly easy and the processes is, you know of doing it doesn't cost any money. This is all about you. It's going to, it's going to position you to be at your peak if you're under 50 today and particularly if you're in your mid career, it's going to position you in those years when you would naturally be at your highest level of wisdom, to be healthy and to be more equipped for that time. In addition to that, in the second book and in all of the speeches I give I'll help show some specific ways in addition to teaching the principles and the archetypes of how you do it how do you weigh a decision understanding things like when am I best at making decisions we all have a circadian rhythm we've all got a time for example when I was running Anthem I said I don't make any major decisions at 4 o' clock in the afternoon period period and I know my peak is between like 9 and 1 right so when you know that that starts to say okay do I need to make this today or can I.

Put this off until and more technology like this you know the ordering is going to give us though really understand what's happening in the body and when you're in the highest reasoning part of.

The brain exactly and that's that's one of the things that's working for us you know as we're gaining more power when we say well you know lot's going to have to.