The first in a new project on The Innovation Show. Hire For Neurosignature, Train for Skill: The Brain is Like a Waterbed "Autists are not just square pegs in the round hole of society. The real problem isn't the challenge of fitting them in, it's that in trying to do so we risk destroying their unique shape." — Paul Collins  The parents of an autistic young man approached a local convenience store, hoping to secure a job for their son. The retail chain manager, hesitant due to his team's lack of experience with special needs, said he would give the kid a chance. On his inaugural day, the manager tasked the young man with organizing food items by their expiration dates on a single shelf. He figured it would take him at least the whole day. To the manager's astonishment, the young man had meticulously arranged every shelf in the store in just three hours.  This young man, perceived as disabled, viewed sorting produce by date as a delightful puzzle. His neurodiversity brought joy to the task and put him in a flow state. But the story doesn't end there.  Harnessing the youngster's unique ability, the retailer employed him to travel between stores, solving his 'puzzles' and sorting food items. This valuable skill saved the retailer a significant amount of wastage and helped them to achieve their sustainability goals. Today, this young man earns so much that his father left his previous job to chauffeur his son (who cannot drive) around the country, solving puzzles for the retail chain.  “We all have a calling. Each one of us has a role to play on this planet. When we play the instrument that is meant for us in the orchestra of life, we will be in a constant state of bliss” - Joe Vitale  The moral of the story? Everyone has a unique place if the world gives them a chance. Unfortunately, a story like this is scarce. The unfortunate reality was recognised best by one of the great geniuses of our times, Albert Einstein, who said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by Its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”. Because the work system is set up for efficiency, it caters for the majority. It is a drain on resources to cater to everyone. It is even more challenging to interview "everyone", so we hire for homogeneity. And somewhat understandably, as human resources, people officers and hiring executives are already stretched to the maximum. Companies are dealing with a tumultuous business environment. They are preoccupied with quenching multiple fires: AI, digitalisation, remote work, supply chain volatility, business model shifts, data, GDPR, inflation, housing crises, pandemics and even wars. The modern workplace is structured like a fine-cut diamond—rigid, linear, and sparkling with hierarchy. This construct, drawn from centuries of church and military organisation, may bring a semblance of order, but it simultaneously smothers the potential of those who don't fit the mould.  Neurodiverse individuals can struggle in these traditional environments. Executives often overlook them (or ignore them outright) due to their distinctive ways of processing information, unique patterns of thought and behaviour, and distinctive communication styles. To ensure that these square pegs aren't shoehorned into round holes, we need to rethink the design of our workplaces. We must build environments that foster neurodiversity rather than suppress it. The modern workplace is more like a network of networks, teams of teams, nuanced and complex. The brain works similarly; the brain is more about connection than calculation. Understanding this can help executives update the workplace. Imagine a world where everyone got to use their talents and didn't have to shore up their weaknesses and, in many cases, disguise those weaknesses. That is the focus of this week's Thursday Thought. The Brain is like a Waterbed  Imagine the brain as a waterbed. When one area is pushed down, or in the case of the brain, damaged, underdeveloped or overdeveloped, the other regions fill the void. This phenomenon mirrors what is known as the 'waterbed effect'. Just as the water in a waterbed redistributes when pressure is applied, the brain can restructure and adapt when certain abilities are not utilised. This isn't necessarily a sign of deficiency. On the contrary, it indicates the brain's wonderful compensatory capacities. When we neglect or underutilise some capacities, the brain develops and restructures in ways that enable us to get even greater capacity out of other aspects. Neurodiversity speaks to different types of intelligence, learning styles, communication styles, appetite for risk, openness to change and much more. When someone has a different "setting", they are not disabled. They are, as singer Danny Deardorff put it, we are all “differently abled.” The people who succeed in the workplace (and education system) do so mainly because their intelligence matches the dominant paradigm or they have found ways to adapt to the mainstream (and perhaps mask their true selves).  Neurosignature: The Neurochemical Graphic Equaliser  As a kid, I loved our family's hi-fi system. It had a record deck, cassette decks, an amplifier, a subwoofer and a graphic equaliser. They are so out of date tod that I found it difficult to find an image to illustrate what I mean, but the image above does a good job. Just as the graphic equaliser displays the signature of an audio output, I visualise the brain doing the same with the signature of our neurochemicals composition.  "Setting up a brain-friendly workplace that is naturally attractive to all neurosignatures has wide-ranging benefits. It’s far easier to reform the workplace than it is to change people. Let people play to their strengths instead of wasting energy trying to change their personalities. - Friederike Fabritius, Episode 418  One person's treasure is another's junk; what one person finds interesting is drip torture to another. What if our workplaces were crafted to harmonize everyone's unique brain patterns, or what our recent guest on the Innovation Show, Friederike Fabritius, refers to as their 'neurosignature'?  Our brain structures are as unique as our fingerprints. Friederike tells us four powerful elements shape our personalities: dopamine and serotonin neurotransmitters and estrogen and testosterone hormones. These neurotransmitters are the brain's messengers between nerve cells or neurons. Like different songs on a graphic equaliser, we each display a distinct neurosignature.  High-dopamine individuals love to explore and try new things. They thrive in ambiguity and crave change. They bring humour and fun to the workplace and can be very charismatic and inspiring. They're often innovators, changemakers, inventors and entrepreneurs. They get bored easily and are always looking for the next thrilling project. These individuals are vibrant, imaginative, and spontaneous. They are also typically optimistic and generous. However, they can be reckless, susceptible to addictions and lack attention to detail. Organisations should provide them with creative freedom and autonomy to keep them engaged. They love fresh projects, regular promotions, and job mobility. Avoid stifling them with excessive routine, or they may lose their spark. High-dopamine individuals can sometimes overwhelm others with their energy, love for change, and occasional impatience.  Serotonin People high in serotonin are reliable, detail-oriented, cautious, and loyal. They thrive on routine and structure and enjoy consistency and stability.  Testosterone People high in testosterone are tough-minded, direct, and enjoy wielding power. They tend to be analytical and use systems thinking, which involves moving logically from one step to the next to solve a problem based on a system’s “rules.” They enjoy tinkering with “systems” such as car engines or computers.  Estrogen People high in estrogen are empathetic and good at building personal connections and community. Estrogen increases the secretion of oxytocin, which enhances feelings of bonding and trust. This neurosignature excels at nonlinear “lateral thinking,” which involves examining a problem from multiple angles until insights emerge. Lateral thinkers are also good at envisioning the long-term implications of a decision. Imagine how demoralizing and exhausting it must be for an autist to conform or someone with ADHD to engage in mundane work. Someone with a distinct neurosignature fighting their true identity all day can leave you deflated and depressed. Friederike shares some fascinating research from NeuroColor, that shows how roughly 28% of men in the general population and around 72% of women exhibit traits associated with the high-estrogen brain. The data reinforces that gender should never be used to stereotype anyone’s personality or thinking style. Your gender affects your neurosignature, but it does not determine your neurosignature. In a recent episode of the Innovation Show, our guest Charles Conn lauded the value of what he calls a "Dragonfly Eye Mindset", seeing the world through different lenses. He shares how Lawrence Fung of Stanford’s Neurodiversity Project observed that successful problem solvers in Silicon Valley often show signs of being on the neurodiverse spectrum. Such individuals “have a unique ability to connect the dots, which allows them to reach conclusions quickly. Neurodiverse individuals have cognitive tendencies to look at the details first before the bigger picture, contrary to how most people dissect an issue, essentially broaching an issue from a very different lens or level.” A Final Thought “A lot of different flowers make a bouquet.” -Islamic proverb The world has changed immeasurably, and societies face increasing levels of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity). If times have changed, then the composition of the teams to master those times must change. Homogeneous teams operated well in relative stability; These groups excel at incremental change, process improvements and exploitation of an existing competitive advantage. Diverse teams, on the other hand, summon a larger set of skills and perspectives. Neurodiversity is ideal for creative innovation challenges when the future is ambiguous, and the path is non-linear. In a changing workplace, rather than hiring solely based on skill, we might consider a candidate's neurosignature. Each neurosignature brings unique strengths to the table. Hiring for neurosignature and training for skill might lead to higher workplace happiness, higher revenue and lower employee turnover. Our guest on the Innovation Show a couple of weeks ago was Helen Edwards. Helen observes, "The more people differ in their ethnicity, gender, background, age and sexuality, the greater the likelihood that they will have encountered different marginal behaviours and life choices. Combine that with a declared celebration of diversity of thought. You will get people speaking up for those marginal behaviours in corporate decisions: innovation programmes, new product development, new market categories, new routes to growth. This enhanced diversity on the inside is one of the reasons we will see more ways to satisfy the extraordinary behavioural diversity that exists – hitherto often unrecognized – in contemporary society." With a deliberate aim, I've sprinkled this week's Thursday Thought with quotes from a kaleidoscope of neurosignatures and sources. Yet, there's one sentiment that truly encapsulates the essence of the theme. It's from the luminous Maya Angelou, who beautifully pronounced, “In diversity, there is beauty, and there is strength.”

We caught up with Dr Robert Hogan during his 2023 worldwide tour. Robert challenged decades of academic tradition to demonstrate personality’s impact on organisational success. He pioneered the use of personality assessment to improve workplace performance. One of his key findings is that organisations should look for humility in a leader rather than charisma. A humble leader channels energy into the improvement of an organisation, whereas charismatic leaders leave a trail of chaos and ruin. Hogan says, “Organisations often overlook humble employees for leadership positions favouring charismatic ones. Charismatic people are charming and inspirational, but many turn out to be narcissistic, arrogant, and potentially exploitative. In contrast, humble leaders empower followers and promote team learning.”

Part 7 explores Dee Hock’s latest years from age 75-92 and his thoughts on what comes next. This episode is my personal favourite. Dee shares: Competition and Cooperation Thoughts on the future The impact of future technologies Parting advice for us all Abstract: 52 years ago, our guest foresaw and implemented the foundations for the world’s first trillion dollar organisation. Back then, Visa was little more than a set of unorthodox convictions about organisation slowly growing in the mind of a young corporate rebel. Today, according to the Visa 2019 annual report, payments and cash volume for the year was a staggering $11.6 trillion dollars, transactions processed on Visa’s networks totalled $138.3 trillion dollars and the year saw some 3.4 billion Visa cards in operation. He is the man who imagined this reality, who had a once-deemed-impossible vision 52 years ago, a vision which has become a concrete reality today. He is a man who has a different view on what the next 50 years can deliver, but that vision will require a radical shift in mindset for every single one of us. It is such an immense honour to welcome the founder and CEO Emeritus of Visa and author of the pioneering work “The Birth of the Chaordic Age” and its updated version “One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization”, Dee Hock.  http://www.deewhock.com/

Part 6 explores how Dee Hock created the conditions for Visa to emerge Dee shares: How such a complex organisation made and implemented decisions. Self policing entities The dispersion of innovations Why Dee left Visa at the pinnacle of success Restoring the 200 acres of wild land Those 3 questions The Sante Fe Institue  The New Odyssey at 65 Writing his book Abstract: 52 years ago, our guest foresaw and implemented the foundations for the world’s first trillion dollar organisation. Back then, Visa was little more than a set of unorthodox convictions about organisation slowly growing in the mind of a young corporate rebel. Today, according to the Visa 2019 annual report, payments and cash volume for the year was a staggering $11.6 trillion dollars, transactions processed on Visa’s networks totalled $138.3 trillion dollars and the year saw some 3.4 billion Visa cards in operation. He is the man who imagined this reality, who had a once-deemed-impossible vision 52 years ago, a vision which has become a concrete reality today. He is a man who has a different view on what the next 50 years can deliver, but that vision will require a radical shift in mindset for every single one of us. It is such an immense honour to welcome the founder and CEO Emeritus of Visa and author of the pioneering work “The Birth of the Chaordic Age” and its updated version “One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization”, Dee Hock.  http://www.deewhock.com/

Part 5 explores how Dee Hock took on the challenge of Visa International, formerly known as Ibanco.  Dee shares: How they rebranded Visa Globally Lessons from failure Leadership v Management How they pioneered, electronic point of sale terminals, electronic descriptive billing, magnetic stripe technology, debit cards, Visa travellers cheques, check guarantee system, global automated teller system, redundant data centres, and dozen of other innovations. Constantly pushing decentralisation of authority and functions. Dee's philosophy of study to understand control Abstract: 52 years ago, our guest foresaw and implemented the foundations for the world’s first trillion dollar organisation. Back then, Visa was little more than a set of unorthodox convictions about organisation slowly growing in the mind of a young corporate rebel. Today, according to the Visa 2019 annual report, payments and cash volume for the year was a staggering $11.6 trillion dollars, transactions processed on Visa’s networks totalled $138.3 trillion dollars and the year saw some 3.4 billion Visa cards in operation. He is the man who imagined this reality, who had a once-deemed-impossible vision 52 years ago, a vision which has become a concrete reality today. He is a man who has a different view on what the next 50 years can deliver, but that vision will require a radical shift in mindset for every single one of us. It is such an immense honour to welcome the founder and CEO Emeritus of Visa and author of the pioneering work “The Birth of the Chaordic Age” and its updated version “One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization”, Dee Hock.  www.deewhock.com

Part 4 explores how Dee Hock took on the challenge of Visa International, formerly known as Ibanco. Dee shares: How different countries lacked trust his tactics to bring them together The beautiful concept of the Visa cufflinks More of his wonderful philosophies Abstract: 52 years ago, our guest foresaw and implemented the foundations for the world’s first trillion dollar organisation. Back then, Visa was little more than a set of unorthodox convictions about organisation slowly growing in the mind of a young corporate rebel. Today, according to the Visa 2019 annual report, payments and cash volume for the year was a staggering $11.6 trillion dollars, transactions processed on Visa’s networks totalled $138.3 trillion dollars and the year saw some 3.4 billion Visa cards in operation. He is the man who imagined this reality, who had a once-deemed-impossible vision 52 years ago, a vision which has become a concrete reality today. He is a man who has a different view on what the next 50 years can deliver, but that vision will require a radical shift in mindset for every single one of us. It is such an immense honour to welcome the founder and CEO Emeritus of Visa and author of the pioneering work “The Birth of the Chaordic Age” and its updated version “One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization”, Dee Hock. http://www.deewhock.com/

Part 2 explores how just as Dee Hock decided to "retire on the job" by giving up on his desire to make an impact on the business world, a series of events gave him the opportunity to create a chaordic organisation that would eventually become Visa. This episode includes the principles, that were the foundation of Visa: How Dee Hock used human ingenuity to empower those around him The challenges he and the team overcame The definition of Chaordic The definition of Educe Onion peeling the definitions of what made up the exchange of value  Abstract: 52 years ago, our guest foresaw and implemented the foundations for the world’s first trillion dollar organisation. Back then, Visa was little more than a set of unorthodox convictions about organisation slowly growing in the mind of a young corporate rebel. Today, according to the Visa 2019 annual report, payments and cash volume for the year was a staggering $11.6 trillion dollars, transactions processed on Visa’s networks totalled $138.3 trillion dollars and the year saw some 3.4 billion Visa cards in operation. He is the man who imagined this reality, who had a once-deemed-impossible vision 52 years ago, a vision which has become a concrete reality today. He is a man who has a different view on what the next 50 years can deliver, but that vision will require a radical shift in mindset for every single one of us. It is such an immense honour to welcome the founder and CEO Emeritus of Visa and author of the pioneering work “The Birth of the Chaordic Age” and its updated version “One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization”, Dee Hock.  http://www.deewhock.com/

Today's guest argues that it was cooking that caused the extraordinary transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. At the heart of this episode lies an explosive new idea: the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, and created the male-female division of labour. As our ancestors adapted to using fire, humans emerged as "the cooking apes”. Covering everything from food-labelling to sexual division of labour to raw-food faddists, Catching Fire offers a startlingly original argument about how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. A fundamental question that every culture answers in a different way, but only science can truly decide and one today’s guest deeply explore is What made us human? Our guest’s work proposes a new answer. He is a true changemaker, driven by curiosity and believes the transformative moment that gave rise to the genus Homo, one of the great transitions in the history of life, stemmed from the control of fire and the advent of cooked meals. Fire was our first technology. Cooking increased the value of our food. It changed our bodies, our brains, our use of time, and our social lives. It made us into consumers of external energy and thereby created an organism with a new relationship to nature, dependent on fuel.

In Rebel Talent,  today’s guest shows us why the happiest and most successful among us are those who break the rules and how we can all do it more. The world’s best chef. The pilot who landed his plane on a river. The magician who made history. The computer scientist who changed animated films forever. What do they all have in common? They are all rebels. Our guest has been studying rebellion and conformity for more than fifteen years. She has discovered that when we mindlessly follow rules and norms rather than constructively rebelling against them, we become less happy and less successful in every area of our lives. While rebels may seem disruptive, they are ultimately good for business: their passion, drive, curiosity and creativity can raise organisations to a new level. When we break the rules, we fix our lives. We welcome award-winning Harvard Business School professor, behavioural scientist and author of Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life, Francesca Gino We talk: Italian master chef and Rebel Massimo Bottura Rebellion reframed as a constructive force 5 core elements of Rebel Talent Napoleon, the rebel Hidden biases towards Rebellion Morningstar Case Study Breaking conformity Diversity Stereotyping GroupThink  The need for Novelty Following Rituals Novelty in Business Inviting Curiosity Adriano Olivetti and Exploration Counterfactual Thinking Authenticity More about Francesca here: https://www.rebeltalents.org/the-rebel-test https://francescagino.com

Today’s guest is previously best known for his position as the head coach of the English national rugby union team from 2011 until 2015, In 2016, he joined the backroom team of the Ireland provincial side, Leinster Rugby and has been instrumental in their success. I have asked our guest on to the show to discuss leadership lessons from sport, focus on a business context. In this episode we will talk about: creating a purpose, a why, a vision, values and behaviours and people-led leadership to achieve success. We discuss: The benefits of failure and the necessity of resilience. The desired characteristics of organisational achievement. The individual characteristics needed to achieve in any field. The elements of mind, body and soul. How to build a high-performing culture.

The questions we will grapple with in today's show are not about transistors and neurons and algorithms and such. They are about the nature of reality, humanity, and mind. The confusion happens when we begin with “What jobs will robots take from humans?” instead of “What are humans?” Until we answer that second question, we can’t meaningfully address the first. We welcome serial entrepreneur, founder and CEO, of GigaOM and author of "The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity" Byron Reese. We talk: The evolution of our brains Fire as the first technology Language development Storytelling Digital Dementia Distribution of Labour The Beginning of Wealth The Beginning of ownership The shift to agriculture The age of computation Moore’s law Exponential change Artificial Intelligence Artificial General Intelligence Robotics The limitation of Robotics Computer Consciousness Our human potential We mention digital dementia during the show, here is a piece I wrote on it: https://medium.com/thethursdaythought/planet-of-the-ai-pes-digital-dementia-and-digital-zombies-f4f3454ca664 More about Byron here: www.byronreese.com More shows on Artificial Intelligence: http://www.theinnovationshow.io/2019/02/18/ep-146-artificial-intelligence-and-the-two-singularities-with-calum-chace/ http://www.theinnovationshow.io/2018/05/03/ep-99-rise-robots-technology-threat-jobless-future-%E2%80%95-martin-ford/ http://www.theinnovationshow.io/2017/09/27/uploading-ep-56-pioneer-machine-learning-breakthroughs-ai-education-future-humanity/ http://www.theinnovationshow.io/2019/02/12/ep-145-the-beginning-of-infinity-explanations-that-transform-the-world-with-author-david-deutsch/

Our guest’s goal was to create a book and guide that allows us to redirect our thoughts in a positive, focused manner. This book is the culmination, it presents easy ways to learn a few simple changes you can make in our lives, and why these will help us enjoy life more. After many years of hands-on research and collaboration with top professors, Our guest has put together a 90-day guide book and journal, written for the everyday person to help get their head in the game and see results instantly. Train our heads, and our bodies will follow. This is a combination of a love and passion for fitness, food, science, spirituality, positive psychology, and people, all rolled into one. All our habits, everything we want, is because we believe we’ll feel better once we have it. We welcome the author of “Train Your Head & Your Body Will Follow: Reach Any Goal in 3 Minutes a Day”, Sandy Joy Weston. We talk: The importance of mind, body and spirit in fitness Motivation to change: How our Why needs to be bigger than our Try Mirror work The influence of people around us Changing habits Self-talk and storytelling Loving yourself Overcoming criticism G.A.M.E. plan Journalling 7 deadly reasons we don’t work out The various approaches to fitness Changing our relationship towards food Guilt-free eating The H30 programme More about Sandy here: http://www.sandyjoyweston.com/

“We teach our children how to read and write, but not how to speak and listen. Listening is untaught and usually unpractised. Our amazing human voice is marginalised as we communicate more and more through text, not spoken word.” - Julian Treasure (5xTED talk speaker and author) Have you ever felt like you're talking, but nobody is listening? Wouldn’t it be nice to know how to speak so that people listen – and how to listen so that people feel heard. Our guest today is a leading sound expert and demonstrates via interviews with world-class speakers, professional performers and CEOs atop their field, the secret lies in developing simple habits that can transform our communication skills, the quality of our relationships and our impact in the world. We welcome 5 time TED speaker and author of "How to be Heard: Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening" Julian Treasure. We explore: How to listen and why we don’t How Sound impacts us all How to make sound work for you and improve your wellbeing, effectiveness and happiness Why listening matters. How listening and speaking affect one another Our listening filters, and how to use them How “open workspaces/offices” impact listening The 7 deadly sins of speaking and listening, and how to avoid them The 4 leeches of conversation The 4 Cs of conscious communication: Commitment, Consciousness, Compassion, Curiosity RASA: (Juice in Sanskrit) - Receive (pay attention to the other person), Appreciate (via little sounds), Summarise, Ask HARAH: Humility, Awareness, Respect, Attention, Humour HAIL: Honesty, Authenticity, Integrity, and Love Some exercises we can do every day A bonus link for video exercises for Innovation show listeners Julian has kindly offered our listeners 5 free videos to become a better speaker available here: https://www.juliantreasure.com/innovation/