Training & Development — Podcast

Solving Sexual Harassment and Bullying with Virtual Reality - An Interview with Morgan Mercer

A breakthrough tech entrepreneur, Morgan Mercer discusses the power of Virtual Reality in building empathy and creating a safer work environment. Of the women that report sexual harassment in their workplace, 80% leave within two years. This has significant ripple effects from a career change, loss of economic opportunity, and even tarnished company profiles. As we look to the next decade, we have many social issues to resolve and one of the best ways to do that will be through empathy.

In this interview, Morgan Mercer explains why we need better training for a safer workplace, the impact of #MeToo on training standards, and how to build empathy through immersive experiences. She also discusses her experience as a woman of color in the tech industry, her drive to empower others through VR, and her take on the future of VR.

Morgan Mercer is the CEO and Founder of Vantage Point which serves clients around the world from their headquarters in Los Angeles.

Creating a Culture of Innovation with Simone Bhan Ahuja

An innovation expert, Simone Bhan Ahuja explains how large, established organizations can innovate and avoid disruption even in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous time. Only 14% of new graduates want to work for large organizations. Instead, they’re attracted to the start-up path and opportunities to be creative and innovative in their careers. In order to attract top talent and remain disruptive in any industry, larger organizations will need to adopt innovation at every level of their organization.

In this interview, Simone explains the argument for encouraging innovation and intrapreneurship, the barriers many organizations face in the pursuit of innovation, and the importance of creating a culture of psychological safety. Simone also provides insight on how to build an innovative structure within an organization, the benefits of keeping projects frugal, and what leaders can do today to start implementing these ideas.

Simone is the author of Disrupt It Yourself, and a co-author of Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth. For over 15 years Simone has studied emerging markets and how organizations can continue to innovate across all levels.

Leadership Moment - Doug Lennick

You are successful. You wouldn’t be interested in the content of this blog if you weren’t. Congratulations!

Now, who helped you achieve your success? All four of my parents have played a big role for me. My older sister Marie has given me encouragement and professional opportunities. There have been teachers and coaches who get credit. A professor from college hired me, mentored me, and remains a friend to this day.

However, if I was to pinpoint the most important person to my professional success, it would certainly be Doug Lennick. Doug was a legendary leader at American Express when I was starting my professional career there.

He has helped me as a coach, mentor, and friend. When a big business or personal decision needed to be made, Doug always made himself available to listen and provide sage advice.

Before we met formally, we had a chance encounter on an elevator. I don’t know what he had been doing or where he was going, but I do know that he became completely present with the rest of us on the elevator. In the 30 seconds we shared…

Hear his story here.

The End of Retirement as We Know It - An Interview with Economist and Journalist Chris Farrell

Chris Farrell has worked as a journalist for national publishers and public radio for decades. Throughout his career, Chris has taken a hard look at how Baby Boomers have redefined work and how they are now redefining the concept of retirement. In this interview, Chris looks at what retirement has been historically, how it is evolving, and what organizations can do to continue to leverage the talent of their most experienced people. Chris also shares his thoughts on the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement that is becoming popular among younger, affluent workers. In this interview, Chris discusses:

Part I: Unretirement and the Future of Retirement

Traditional retirement and its evolution, the relationship between continued work and mental acuity, doing meaningful work, the importance of relationships at work, health benefits as the primary reason some employees stay with their organizations, the importance of building having a thriving network for older workers, advice for those considering a career change, the FIRE movement, retirement in Europe, workforce disruption, the 55-64 year-old entrepreneur, encore careers.

Part II: The Future of Work, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

Disruption and the future of work, creation of new jobs, the increasing rate of technological developments, adapting skills for the future, training employees for a strong and valuable workforce, career changes later in life, how to remain relevant towards the end of your career, the 50+ entrepreneur, women and entrepreneurship, immigrant entrepreneurs.

Organizations, People and Resources mentioned: Unretirement (Book and Podcast), FIRE Movement, Purpose and a Paycheck, AARP, PBS Next Avenue, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Encore.org, Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn, Michael Mandel with the Progressive Policy Institute, Herman Miller, Toyota, Bloomberg Businessweek

Chris’ publications are available on amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Chris-Farrell/e/B001HMRRYW?ref=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000

Unretirement Podcast online: https://www.apmpodcasts.org/unretirement/

12 Geniuses Podcast

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