Podcast
Welcome to the Positive Turbulence Podcast!
Welcome to the Positive Turbulence Podcast: Stories from the periphery. Here we journey to the edge to talk to turbulators about their experiences creating positive change. In sharing these stories, these perspectives on innovation, creativity, change and leadership, we hope to generate some positive turbulence for you.
Each episode explores the influence of positive turbulence on innovation. Turbulators illuminate critical moments of change and key insights.
Browse all of our episodes here
Positive Turbulence in Negatively Turbulent Spaces
Pete Engstrom is currently the co-founder and board President of At Home Chesapeake, an innovative not-for-profit program for seniors. They want to create a new social covenant on ageing so that seniors can age in place. At Home Chesapeake is a member of the Village to Village Network, where Peter is an active board member. Prior to this gig, Pete served in the US air force in intelligence, innovation, and international negotiation. He is also a founding leader of AMI. To describe him as a force of nature might be an understatement.
Turbulent Non-Profit, Positive Community
Here we headbang with Mike Moss, Strategy Catalyst for Non-Profits and creator of momentum for positive change. There are few professionals who don’t belong to some not-for-profit association in one way or another. You might belong to a more formal one that is a governing body for you, like the Society for Professional Engineers. Or you might be a member and follow a group in your community like Creative Mornings. Whatever your affiliation, these organizations have a big influence on how we work, how we define success, and how our industry will evolve.
Turbulent Retirement, Positive Aging
Consider what you think you know about aging and retirement. Those words often conjure up ideas of failing health, loneliness, and dependency. But Elizabeth Isele, Founder and CEO at The Global Institute for Experienced Entrepreneurship is here to tell you to its time to shift your perspective. Not only are people who work longer healthier, on the whole, but the so-called Silver Tsunami is also the scaffolding for the change we need in how we work.
Creativity, Jazz, Hip-Hop and Turbulence
Daniel Seeff is the West Coast Director of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz and host of Excursions Radio on KJazz 88.1 in LA the only hip-hop and jazz radio show in the world…we think.
He’s also a creative leader who has a finely tuned ear for connection. Daniel’s insights may be grounded in his experiences in music but they are not just for musicians. They are for anyone looking to innovate, lead a group, be creative or manage change. We explore the creative process with Daniel and how to, as he puts it, keep the tap flowing, while still pushing for excellence.
Innovating Food, Turbulating Your World
Natalie Shmulik calls herself a Food Business Incubation Specialist, Creative Strategist and Innovation Anthropologist. She’s the CEO of The Hatchery Chicago, a Food Business Incubator. If you’re an entrepreneur, innovator or someone who works with a product of any kind, you want to hear what Natalie has to say. We cover a lot of ground including finding your why, the other exit, connecting with community, and finding balance. All in the highly demanding space of food innovation.
Positively Imagining the Future
We all know that the stories we tell ourselves have a habit of coming true. So what if someone could help you craft stories about possible, practical futures, that were positive? Stories that you could believe in? Wouldn’t that be kind of like having your own magic wand? That’s what Joe Tankersley does. He uses his gift of telling stories and uncanny ability to identify important trends to give us futures we can get excited about.
Artistic Coaching, Turbulent Art
The work of creating art may seem radically different to your notions of leadership and coaching, but Patti Streeper has found that delicate balance. This feminist artist who paints portraits of women of historical significance is also an executive coach. Through her ability to listen deeply to what both the women she paints and the leaders she coaches have to say, she is able to find deep meaning and generate positive turbulence for her viewers and clients.
Curiously Turbulent Architecture
Here we explore community and connectedness, and the intersection of art and design with Darryl Condon, Managing Partner at HCMA Architecture + Design in Vancouver BC. Without knowing it, HCMA is the perfect case study for positive turbulence in action. Their Artist in Residence Program, Curiosity Lab, and experiments like the Faraday Cafe and Alley Oop have garnered them international media attention. These initiatives are also a driving force to the firm’s ongoing and outstanding creativity.
Positively Magical
Inviting a magician to your strategic planning session, leadership training or visioning workshop sounds crazy, right? Magicians are for kids. Not so! Let us introduce you to Magic on Purpose and Andrew Bennett, the founder, and Dan Trammattor, a member of the group. They use magic to shift perspectives. Their collective impact from mental health in high schools, to building empathy in the workplace, to big strategic shifts in organizations, is massive. Coming up, transformation stories, perspective shifts, and a little bit of magic.
Turbulating Food Waste
Food waste is not high on our collective radar when it comes to thinking about climate change and environmental action. Yet, did you know that in terms of global warming, food waste has an estimated impact that is six times greater than the aviation industry? Lilly De Gama, the Food Waste Doctor and Chesta Tiwari, a sustainability and food packaging expert, will blow your fridge door off. The two of them are a phenomenal storehouse of both facts and wisdom about food waste. They will help you understand why you should care about food waste and provide some great tips on how you can take action. Prepare for your kitchen to get some positive turbulence!
Positively Zingy With Ari Weinzweig
What can an anarchist with a “useless” degree in History teach you about business? It turns out a helluva lot! Meet Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, a thriving enterprise based in Ann Arbour, Michigan. This 65-million-dollar-a-year business started in 1984 as a small deli in a college town. At the time, they had an unstated vision of creating something fresh and unique that was a great experience for every person who walked through the door. Tune in as you will most certainly be inspired to reflect on your mission and vision, and you may even want to bring a little anarchy to your work.
Season One Learnings
Rob and Karyn riff on each of the past season’s episodes and their takeaways. This will be the last episode for Season 1. The first episode for Season 2 will be released in Mid-January 2020. In the meantime, check out the amazing reading, watching and listening suggestions AND watch for our new publication, PUB.