Are you ready for the Web 3.0 and Metaverse takeover? (feat. Nichol Bradford)

Hi, I'm Susan Drumm. And welcome to the Enlightened Executive, where your personal evolution sparks your leadership evolution. Each episode we feature groundbreaking techniques and strategies to help you get the edge in personal and leadership effectiveness. This episode is brought to you by Meritage Leadership. At Meritage, we help strengthen leaders and empower teams to achieve high performance. Go to meritageleadership.com to learn more. Today we're focusing on the Metaverse and the conscious use of technology to achieve our potential. And with me to discuss this highly relevant topic, I'm delighted to introduce Nicole Bradford. Nicole is the co founder and executive director of the global nonprofit Transformative Tech, which works to empower health, happiness and our full potential by using technology to expand beyond our perceived limits. As the largest and most respected authority on well being technologies, Transformative Tech has members in 72 countries and 450 cities. And their events attract thousands of attendees. Nicole speaks extensively on human transformation, Transformative Tech, the future of health, work and human excellence. She is a lecturer at Stanford University and has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. Welcome, Nicole.

Hi. Thanks for having me.

Well, thank you for being here. I saw you speak a few months ago at an EO event in Phoenix, and given your interest in marrying technology with human potential, I knew you'd be the perfect guest to speak on the Metaverse and help executives and entrepreneurs understand what they need to know to prepare for the Web 3.0. So, thank you for being here.

My pleasure.

What do you think leaders most need to pay attention to as the Metaverse and the Web 3.0 becomes more prominent in our lives?

Well, I think overall what's facing leaders today has a lot to do with talent. And then also leaders are also people and parents and community members. And so what's affecting leaders is affecting all of society, which ensured is that the software line is rising. And what's left are the human interaction skills or the types of skills and tasks that people perform better when they have a deep understanding of self. And so with that rise in the software line, what I've been talking about and writing about is that what's required is for us to go deep, deeply human, to become more and more aware, connected. Deep human traits include things like adaptability, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, the ability to create psychological safety as a leader, which is not being nice, but it's creating the kind of space where people are willing to take risks. And so all of those are deeply human skills and those are lining up to deep tech, which historically was defined as non consumer facing. But Thomas Friedman has a definition that I like a lot better, which is basically high, high level of precision. Think gene treatment's just for you. Like that's happening across the board in every area of technology, a level of precision. And so my belief is that deep technology to really actually like build the stuff that's good for us, we have to be deep humans. And there's a lot of research that shows that just throwing software at people isn't sufficient to get the full benefits from it. They really have to be willing to pull it apart and adapt it. And to do that they have to be deep. And so for multiple reasons, the place for us all to go is to become more deeply, deeply, deeply human. I differentiate between people peopling and us becoming deep human. Yes.

Tell me more about that. Because what I hear you saying is obviously the importance of emotional intelligence, the ability to connect with others, the great psychological safety is going to become, as we get more into deep technology, more and more important for us as human beings. But tell me a little bit about that distinction you just highlighted.

I was having lunch with a friend, friend and she said this and it just seems so right. She said we were talking about a situation that was a little bit of a challenge. And she said, well you know, people are peopling. And I was like, I know exactly what that means. And so, you know, people peopling is when we're driven by our primitive natures, when we're seeking status, when we're paranoid, insecure and consuming in order to fill that void in our tummy. I think that's people peopling. There's a curve. There probably are completely great people and there probably are some very terrible people. I think the bulk of humanity is in the middle and in the middle of the curve. And so I think a lot of the mischief making in the world is people peopling and not really knowing how to be deeply human. That's the difference.

From your perspective, that going to be a greater issue as we move towards some of these new technologies.

Yeah. With software taking over more and more tasks, a lot of the things that humans used to do is being taken over by software. And so the parts that are left are humans solving big problems together, creating things, discovering things that innovators mindset, that ability to discover and to do it rapidly has a lot to do with having amazing teams, amazing teams comes from having psychological safety and on top of that having mental health and well being. And then on top of that having a creative mindset and an open mindset. And on top of that a willingness to innovate. And so that's why even with more and more technology, it's relevant to become more and more human?

Yes. Would you also say that it's also to use technology for the highest good for humans? You can use technology maybe to make things worse or use technology to make things better. And even you might have an intention to improve the situation, the humanity for whatever purpose your tech is for, but it could end up harming people in ways you never expected. My sense is if you're not elevated enough in consciousness, you won't see that potential downside.

Well, I think one of the things that's really challenging about innovation is it's really hard to, in most cases, to stand at the trailhead and know what will happen. And so while there's some things that are clearly bad, there are other things that people don't know how they're going to be used. And that's why becoming as conscious as one can is important. Because as things arise, the ability to, in the moment, you know, begin to ask good questions, to ask questions that are not based on maintaining your status, and to have that approach is the thing that allows you to say, oh, yeah, we're not going to do that. We're going to stop doing that thing, you know, or, you know, to not. All the things that happen in organizations where things come up and people try to hide it, you know, or where things come up and people try to blame someone else and. And all of those things. I also really love the 15 commitments of conscious leaders, and I'm also an executive coach in that style. One of the things about people being willing to tell the microscopic truth, people being willing to have candor and other things like that, these are the sorts of things that in organizations allows people to. Allows humans to shift and to be willing to change course and direction. I think as we have more and more technologies clustering, we don't know exactly what's going to happen. But if we're conscious, we can adjust as needed.

Right. And navigate for the best and highest years. Well, what do you think most people don't understand about the future of what's to come? Because when I saw your presentation, there was so much in there that I didn't even know was on the horizon. And I kept thinking, wow, this is really gonna impact business. What do you think's important for people to pay attention to now?

I think the biggest thing that's gonna catch people off guard is how fast it's moving. Like, that's the thing that is really going to catch leaders off guard because all of the things that I shared with you all, basically the exponential technologies, what's happening right now is the exponential technologies are compounding each other. There's five major areas. One is food, energy, materials, transport and data. Those areas are foundational, sort of like sector areas, and they're all compounding on top of one another, speeding one another up. So many people think about AI driven drug discovery, that's something that people are focused on. But another area where AI is having as much of an impact is on material development. And so new forms of materials, new forms of fabrics and construction materials and things like that that are cheaper, cleaner, stronger and people aren't, you know, most people aren't really tracking those things. But that's only possible because the intersection between AI and material sciences.

I think what's also surprising was surprising to me is how much of it is also already here that you don't know about. You shared a lot about the twinning and using that in industries. Could you share a little bit about that and other technologies that are already here that maybe people aren't aware of that are going to transform how we do business.

For me, I focus on what I call the stack. And I want the stack, which I'll describe to be deep human and very human centered. And so in the stack, the first layer is the physical layer. That's the layer that we're walking around in. It's where the real products, real people, real inputs. It's basically where all the molecules are. It also, to make it tangible is where, for example, your heartbeat is. It's in the physical layer. Then the next layer is the transformative augmented layer. What happens there, for example, is if you do have a heart rate monitor on, when it picks up your heartbeat, it's taking your physical heartbeat and turning it into a digital signal. And so that's when it becomes a digital thing. And then above that layer is the fully digital layer. And that's where the metaverses, that's where digital twins are. And a lot of times, you know, people might know about a city twin. There's several cities that are building themselves out in the metaverse. There's a, you know, there's a giant twin of Shanghai which captures weather data, street lights, that kind of thing. And so that's only one type. But then also if you put your DNA with 23andMe, then that is a digital twin of you. It's not shaped like you, but it is absolutely you. It's your twin and it's digital. And actually many people don't know that 23andMe's real business model is using, or one of the things that they do is that they provide digital databases for digital trials. And so what happens is that pharmaceutical companies will run a digital trial against the database of all of the DNA that's in the 23 MA database. And that's extremely valuable because getting a drug to market can be upwards of a billion dollars, like a big drug, with all of the trials, three rounds of FDA trials and things like that. So the pharmaceutical companies are deeply motivated to try and get rid of duds before they invest. And so that's a big part of their business model.

Got it. That sounds like the same with digital Twin cities is to test out modeling. If you're going to be making changes, what are the impacts before making the actual physical changes to something in the city or understanding how weather, other things could impact us ahead of time.

Yeah, you can absolutely use a city twin in order to build a better city. And city twins, as a proof of concept, have been around for quite some time. But what I think is going to happen, and this might go back to your metaverse question, is that city twins have not really had business models. They've been technically proven, but there hasn't been a reason to go there. There hasn't been a business model. There hasn't been a reason for a city to build one, especially like a very, you know, a very comprehensive one. But recently, you know, Miami, at the beginning of the year, started a thing called Miami Coin. They just allowed a token to be used to pay traffic tickets. So it wasn't even their own thing. They just said, okay, you can use Miami Coin to pay traffic tickets. And just their fees off of. Off of allowing that their processing fees. 20 million in three months.

Wow.

Yeah. So now a city, if a city had a coin, then it's really just another step for a city to have a digital twin. And then the coin can be currency in the digital twin. Got it. You know, so, so now maybe, you know, twins might have a business model, especially now that the whole world is used to remote this and remote that.

Yes, yes. And for businesses thinking about twins, I mean, you gave that great example then of pharmaceutical companies and 23andMe data. How are other businesses using the concept of digital twin to improve services or test out market capabilities?

Yeah, I think the example that I showed you all was from Anheuser Busch. And they use technology to track their input. So the wheat and barley from the fields, because they have big farms. So all the way from the field, everything about how they grow, to the harvesting, when to harvest, then the trucks going to the factories or to the brew facility, to the liquid in the vats turning into beer, to the fermentation. And the beer masters are testing the vats without even having to go into them, because they know what it is the composition supposed to be like. All the way through the beer being ready, it going into a bottling facility and then being shipped and going all the way to, you know, which stores need what, that entire process is digitized and able to be visualized, and it's everything. So it's beer, you know, so it's all the way from the ground all the way to. When you, as a consumer, you or I are going to a game, end to end. Yeah, we're going to a game and we're picking up some beer for the tailgate party.

Yeah, yeah. So in your mind, how should leaders start to prepare for these changes? To some degree, I think we're already seeing a bit of the levels of stress because change is happening at a faster, faster rate. That escalating complexity, I think, can, for many leaders, create additional stress and burnout and concern. And you're suggesting it's going to get even worse. So what can leaders do to prepare for this type of change?

Yeah, really, it's becoming more and more conscious. That really is the thing. Becoming more and more conscious is the way to prepare yourself. So an example that I believe I probably shared with you was we're living in the age of networks, and in the age of networks, everyone is visible. And that's a wonderful thing because it means that you can meet someone who lives on the other side of the country and fall in love. And it means you can get a job in another country without even having to go there. But it also means once we're all visible, we're all ratable, and when we're all ratable, we know where we are, we know where we stand. Human beings are particularly attuned to status because back on the Serengeti, status was very important for who you could have children with or if you could have children, and whether or not you got enough food and whether or not you had allies to make sure that you got number one and number two. So there's a part of our very primitive brains that are incredibly attuned to status. We're status seeking. So LinkedIn tells you where you rate, Airbnb tells you where you rate, you know, Yelp tells you where you rate. Like, over and over and over again.

NFTs, you know, do you have XYZ, NFT? And that's a status symbol or consciousness.

And that's not going away. Like, we're not going to, like, networks are here to stay and they're not going away. However, if you, you know, the key is like, the way to not suffer in the age of networks, and I use the Buddhist term and the psychological term is to have an identity that is not based on status. So if you have an identity that's not based on status, you can have a variety of different statuses and the utility is just based on what it, what it might do for you, but it's not who you are. It's just, you know, my Airbnb, you know, my is this, you know, my LinkedIn's that, whatever. And you're just like, it's just a thing, you know, and so the number one thing is to, like, do your business and get your own business to a place where you at bare minimum, have an identity that's not based on status. So simply put, that might be like, you aren't what you do. Especially, like, the other thing that's happening in this world is that people are going to be changing careers so often or they're going to be changing roles so fast. If what you were doing today is your identity, then once that thing changes or goes away, then your identity is fragile. But, you know, if your identity is based on something else, you know, or deep beloved sense of your beloved self, you know, then the world can change, things can change. You know, you can be number one over here and number, you know, 600 over there, and it does not matter to you. So the number one thing is like, to stick to the knitting and, like, get this conscious. And then from that conscious place, you'll be able to be the one in any room. Whether it's the Little League, like coaching the Little League down the street, or whether it's the boardroom or whether it's the innovation team or the sales room, you'll be able to be the one that brings that level of consciousness that creates better outcomes, whatever it is.

Yeah, there's so much work to be done there. I mean, even leaders who have achieved incredible success, I see them still tied to that success, and they keep measuring themselves based on the person that's more successful than they are. And it becomes more and more and more. And so you mentioned this idea of consumption, but all of that is stemming from this place of not really knowing your intrinsic worth, but measuring Looking outward to measure yourself up against people. And that's why you get triggered by where you are with status. Right?

That's exactly what it is.

What advice would you give for our listeners to start to do some of this work? Is there one thing that they could do tomorrow, next week that will help prepare them for this journey?

I think there's a triangle. It's been my observation that people who work the entire triangle grow and develop the fastest. Now it's not about being fast. There's no competition, but to like, how long does one want to suffer? Or we are not in the clear yet in terms of what the outcome is for humanity. We are not in the clear. The next 10, 15 years is setting. Is it going to be more like Starfleet or is it going to be more like Hunger Games? This is happening now, which is why I think it's the most exciting time to be alive. So I do think that there is an argument for speed, but not from a hole in the belly. You know, I'm going to be the first to be enlightened kind of stuff, but more like it's relevant to me. And this, you know, is tied to the metaverse, but it's relevant to me, you know, getting critical mass of people who have woken up, who are turned on, who are conscious, and who are being conscious in all the places that they go. And so the triangle, one side is paradigm shifting things, and that includes breath work. It also includes other things that people do that really shift the paradigm, if you know what I mean. The other side is deconditioning. And so deconditioning is about breaking your patterns. And so that might be the Hoffman process. It certainly therapy, cbt, like all the things that help you unwind, the patterns that are unconscious, wherever they came from, wherever you believe they came from, wherever they actually came from, your childhood, your lineage, whatever. Then the bottom is meditation like that meditation base. The people who work all three sides of the triangle, I see them wake up and like blossom and then become the light. You know, they become the. They become the voice, they become the. The presence in every place that they go, whether it's Starbucks or a factory floor, where they become the presence and people feel it and they're able to bring that to wherever they go. And so what people can do, I would say definitely number one, meditation practice, hands down, it's not, you know, it's not really optional. And meditative and meditation practice are not the same. They just really aren't. Meditative is a way of relaxation and it's important. But a meditation practice is actually what changes the physiology and can, you know, measurably change the way that the brain works. And then the deconditioning is like, figure out what your patterns are and start to break them. Start to break them. Use it up, by all means necessary. And then I think the paradigm shifting stuff is very useful because it's sort of like a trampoline next to a fence. And so when you do that, you jump on a trampoline and you can see over the fence. And then meditation is like pushing dirt under the trampoline. So the trampoline just sees higher and higher and higher. And, you know, in the, the deconstruction makes you realize that, oh, you know, that fence doesn't mean to me what I thought it meant.

Yeah.

It's not, it's not a prison.

It doesn't have the grip.

Yeah.

That it once had. Absolutely. Well, I absolutely love this conversation. It's right in line with what we've been talking about from all the different pieces of the meditation episodes. We've talked about the deconditioning of patterns. So happy you could join us. Where can people learn about your work?

Well, my LinkedIn is a great place to go off. So it's Nicole Bradford on LinkedIn. I'm the only one that's spelled N I C H O L Bradford, no E. And then also transformativetech.org, which is the think tank nonprofit. And that's a great place to find out more about the types of technologies that I work with. Great.

Well, thank you again for joining and sharing all of the deep tech and deep humanness that you have, wisdom that you have to share.

Yeah, yeah. I guess the last tagline was like, stop peopling, get human.

Yes. Well, if you like this episode, you're not going to want to miss my interview with Kaihan Krippendorf, who helps leaders unleash the creative and innovative capabilities of their employees. Let's lead the way. Hope you enjoyed today's episode and I'd like to point you to the next important step. Hit the subscribe button to get notified when we release new content. I'll see you on the next episode of the enlightened executive.

Sam.