Would you like to unlock the creative, imaginative and innovative potential in your team or organisation…BUT…don’t want to listen to another serious podcast which offers 7 steps, 5 habits, 3 mantras, and a hard sell in a pear tree? Then join ‘The Occupational Philosophers’, a ‘not-so-serious’ podcast with Simon Banks (middle-aged Australian surfer man, artist and published author) and John Rice (middle-aged British man with a love of curiosity and philosophy) as they chat with a ‘clowder’ (great word!) of curious cats from the fields of Comedy, Academia, Philosophy, Neuroscience, Psychology, Design, Marketing, and Business, to explore how you, your team, and your organisation, can develop your curiosity, spark your creativity, and free your imagination, so you can grow your business and your people….sounds great huh?! But don’t just take our word for it, read what our listeners think: “Worth a listen, one of them has a strange Australian accent” “They’re not philosophers, they’re idiots” “If you like business, philosophy, humour, creativity, and imagination, then have a listen - if not, then I would leave well alone” http://www.occupationalphilosophers.com
Episodes
Monday Feb 28, 2022
Monday Feb 28, 2022
In Episode 23, The Occupational Philosophers chat with Mike Parsons - This guy is one curious cat. He’s left a footprint across the globe with multiple careers in music, advertising, design, technology and innovation.
Since quitting university after seven weeks, Mike has gone on to achieve remarkable feats. He launched Australia's first internet radio station, lived and worked in Europe and USA, claimed a Guinness Book of Record and sold his Silicon Valley Startup.
Mike is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Qualitance. Together with over 200 staff, he helps clients build future growth products - from banks in Europe to Ford Motors in Australia and Anastasia Beverly Hills in the USA.
During his time in advertising, Mike won many global awards - DA&D Pencils, Cannes Lion's, Effie's – even a TED award.
His talks span innovation, marketing and embracing change in the business world. He's passionate about understanding how to unlock the value in Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Rapid Prototyping, and Agile Development in a world defined by technology and data. He's appeared on CNN and the FT.
Mike's Moonshots Podcast has over 50,000 monthly listeners (that's a lot of fans) and goes behind the scenes of the world's greatest superstars, thinkers and entrepreneurs to discover the secrets to their success.
In this episode, they explore:
- What 3 things unite some of the most creative, innovative and entrepreneurial minds of our time
- Why mindset and working ‘on yourself’ is crucial to success in any endeavour
- How visual storytelling and rapid prototyping helps people get on the same wavelength at speed
- How to introduce structured learning into your teams and organisation
- The conditions you need to cultivate creativity and innovation
- What are the Moonshot questions which create a 10x transformation?
As always, there is an original thought experiment and this time they ask Mike:
- Moonshot or Moonshit?
There is so much goodness in this episode and we hope you enjoy the chat with Mike as much as we did.
Learn more about Mike
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeparsons/
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailsa_Craig
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-the-moon
Monday Feb 21, 2022
Monday Feb 21, 2022
In this Inbetweeners episode, The Occupational Philosophers build on the idea of a curiosity advent calendar - for teams.
Imagine.....every team meeting, reaching into the curiosity box (interesting already isn't it?) and pulling out a short activity to drive creativity, curiosity and imagination in that meeting or in the week ahead?
Or in a more businessey way - "driving an innovative force of agile and entrepreneurial dynamism across the different learning modalities and networks of the brain to master workplace performance."
Mmmm, that could be interesting.......
How about:
- Inventing a team holiday?
- Watch a 15 min Ted Talk and share what you liked?
- Have your own "What's caught your eye?" this week?
- Share a travel story. What insight from your travel time could be useful at work now?
Small, tiny shifts in thinking can bring about BIG changes - and the odd smile as well.
Watch this space for when we release the full curiosity advent calendar (for any month of the year)
We hope you enjoy the show.
www.occupationalphilosophers.com
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Monday Feb 14, 2022
In Episode 21, The Occupational Philosophers re-dive into the business, life, and leadership lessons we can learn from three very well-known artists - Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, and Picasso.
Along the way they explore:
- How innovation happens when we join the dots and make connections from wildly different things
- How we need to be open to change and constant reinvention
- The importance of not overthinking, just get started and the thinking will come
- Why we need to be open to all types of thinking styles
- How curiosity and asking why can change the way you see the world and the life you live. If you're curious, we can see unseen opportunities
- How great things can happen at the intersection of art and science (or any intersection of different fields)
- Why you should never hide your light under a bucket and also be careful with cutlery experiments in bed
- How the setting of a joyous intent can set your day up for a little magic
As with all episodes, The Occupational Philosophers conduct a thought experiment called "Things artists do"
As always, there are some great lessons and ways to bring more imagination, creativity, and curiosity into your workplace and how to live a most interesting life in the process.
They hope you enjoy the show.
www.occupationalphilosophers.com
Links
-
National Gallery of Victoria displays 3D-printed artificial reefs, showcasing fusion of art and science https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-03/artificial-reefs-showcased-national-gallery-of-victoria/100736484
Monday Feb 07, 2022
Monday Feb 07, 2022
In episode 20, The Occupational Philosophers build on the idea of a curiosity advent calendar - for teams. For all of us, it's easy for things to become a little 'vanilla/boring/same-same. As we know, a great question can do the heavy lifting and can power creativity.
Imagine, sitting down each day and asking one of these questions each day?
- If we hosted a forum on why our products and services suck, what would be the main points?
- Steve Jobs comes back from the dead - what would you showcase as your greatest innovation?
- What’s the most outlandish idea that could bring the biggest change to this team?
- If our team is currently playing a safe game of vanilla lawn bowls, what would a game of no holds barred ice hockey look like - possibly naked?
- Who moved my cheese? And my crackers? And other condiments?
Truthfully, question five had good intentions but there's some debate as to where it ended up.
We hope you enjoy the episode, and, as always:
- Stay curious
- Make stuff
- Have fun
- Play more
www.occupationalphilosophers.com
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Monday Jan 31, 2022
In Episode 19, The Occupational Philosophers chat with the Amazing Entrepreneur Danielle Chiel.
Danielle's story is a great yarn (pun intended). Danielle Chiel is an Australian entrepreneur who founded KOCO (Knit One Change One). She has a Ph.D. in Musicology, sits at the intersection of fashion, entrepreneurialism, creativity, and joy, and making a more beautiful, creative, and happy world and real difference in literally thousands of women's lives.
Danielle, through KOCO, is seeking to change lives one hand-knitted garment at a time.
She currently employs 200 Indian ladies from various villages in India, to hand-knit garments for her; but her dream is to expand the business and employ 10,000 women. KOCO hand-knits garments for global fashion brands – they produce fashions and homewares that customers love, by working with women in the rural villages in the south of Tamil Nadu. At the same time as giving these ladies employment, KOCO provides them with an education and all the training they need, in order to become world-class hand knitters.
"What I admire about the art of knitting are the same qualities that I admire in music: endless creative possibilities made possible by skilled and passionate hands and a perfect score, or pattern".
Connecting fashion brands, customers, and artisans through the art and science of handknitting, along with being one of the most amazing curious problem solvers we have ever had on the show, this is a chat you won’t want to miss!
Links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellechiel/
https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/headline-20160409-go2k7y.html
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Despite speaking regularly, The Occupational Philosophers realised that they missed each other greatly in 2021. As such, they have decided to catch up more regularly - which brings us to this episode.
Whilst all of the above is true, The Occupational Philosophers have decided they need to drink their own Kool-Aid and explore what's possible with micro experiments, trying new things, understanding how things work and embracing a curious, imaginative and creative mindset each and every day.
In this 15-minute inbetweener episode, they explore:
- The impact of a curious and creative exercise every day
- Why small steps can help to make a big impact (and most likely essential to achieving big goals)
- How creating nudges and visual cues can get you closer to being a creative cat
- Why John's January advent calendar is a very successful experiment
- Why Simon is no closer to being on a Beer Commercial
Watch our for a short, sharp inbetweener episode every second Monday (yes, that's right, that makes The Occupational Philosophers now a weekly show)
www.occupationalphilosophers.com
Friday Jan 14, 2022
Friday Jan 14, 2022
In Episode 16, The Occupational Philosophers chat with the very talented and very funny, Neil Mullarkey. Neil co-founded the world-famous improvisation group The Comedy Store Players in the UK with Mike Myers, later appearing with him in the fabulous Austin Powers movies. He has appeared on TV over many years, including Have I Got News For You, Whose Line Is It Anyway, Saturday Live and QI. He has also won awards for his alter ego - L. Vaughan Spencer, (L-Vo for short), A Life Coach, Self-Help Guru and Gangsta Motivator.
Neil has become highly accomplished in the field of management training, running many workshops and hosting conferences for a wealth of private and public organisations where he uses the techniques of theatre improvisation to inspire business people to embrace their creativity and enhance their communication skills.
In this episode, they explore:
- How Improv comedy can teach us how to work more effectively in teams and organisations
- Why listening is the critical skill we all need to master
- Why constraints and restrictions can liberate our creativity
- What leaders need to do to provide the extraordinary leadership required in today’s VUCA world
- Who in your business needs to take responsibility for ensuring meetings have impact
- And what to do when faced with an electric drill and a wombat
As always, there are some great thought experiments such as:
- What’s in the box?
- Listeners Dilemmas
Links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmullarkey
Learn more about Neil:
https://neilmullarkey.com/sevensteps
References
http://www.provocativetherapy.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Rogers
https://gestaltcentre.org.uk/what-is-gestalt/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel
https://hbr.org/2015/02/how-to-revive-a-tired-network
https://www.leadershipcentre.org.uk/artofchangemaking/theory/complexity/
https://comedystoreplayers.com/
Monday Jan 10, 2022
Monday Jan 10, 2022
In possibly their loosest episode ever (and the bar is pretty low.....), The Occupational Philosophers met up in the time vortex that is the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve where time stands still and people eat leftovers and drink wine from 9 am and feel no guilt whatsoever.
As such, they found themselves wading into unusual territory - setting and achieving new year's goals and some of the common (from experience) pitfalls along the way.
In this time vortex, The Occupational Philosophers explore:
- Why a January advent calendar may be good for your curiosity
- Why habits, not resolutions will help you achieve your goals
- How a goal helps you embrace serendipity
- Why joyous and passionate goals may be the answer to getting your resolutions
- Why you should never say “Cheshire Cat” too quickly after 2 glasses of sherry with a mince pie in your mouth
- Why the word "fervently" should be part of your goal making vernacular, especially for Organisations
- (And slightly more woo-woo than usual)....How the universe will send you good things - if you're not constantly grumpy and in the shits
As per usual, there are thought experiments and for this episode, it's "Filthy Habit or Monk's Habit"?
If you have gotten this far....we can't wait to bring you some more great shows this year that will help you to be the creative, imaginative, and curious cat you were designed to be in 2022 (and apologies in advance for this episode!)
Links
Camel Botox https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-09/camel-beauty-pageant-disqualified-over-botox-injections/100685840
Celebrity Apprentice Australia https://9now.nine.com.au/celebrity-apprentice-australia
Derek Sivers https://sive.rs/goals
Thursday Dec 09, 2021
Thursday Dec 09, 2021
In episode 15, The Occupational Philosophers explore imagination - what it is, why it's so important and why we have oodles of it, ready and waiting for us to use.
So what is it?
“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” J.K. Rowling
In this episode, they explore:
- What it is (see above)
- The different types of imagination (it's everywhere!)
- Why it is absolutely essential - in life, in teams, for leaders and organisations
- How to create environments at work that allow people to imagine
- The importance of synchronous and asynchronous work
- How innovation = imagination + action
- Where imagination sits with its best friends of curiosity and creativity
- How to spark your imagination and become unblocked (mentally)
- Why imagination is an essential work and life skill
And, importantly.....Why an imaginative life is SO MUCH FUN
As always there are some great thought experiments including "Imagination Badger"
Here's to a world filled with imagination.
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
In Episode 14, The Occupational Philosophers chat with Tanya Chua, a creative and design powerhouse. She is on a mission to bring more creativity into both education and the greater world. Tanya sits at the intersection of art and design, advertising, visual storytelling, and inspiration. She has been headhunted more times than Mad Men's Don Draper and in a former role, travelled to 35 countries to oversee on-ground PR and be the point of contact for the world-famous DJs that headlined the platform, including Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto, and Pete Tong!
In this episode, they explore:
- The mindset and habits you can adopt to help fuel your own curiosity and creativity
- Why employees having a ‘side hustle’ can be great for your organisation
- How creativity can be a force for good and help solve BIG world problems
- The benefits of visual learning and visual literacy to help foster greater critical thinking
- Why the greatest risk for organisations and leaders is in not being creative
As always, there are some great thought experiments such as:
- Bond Villan Lair or University Island?
- Dessert Island Discs
Links
Tanya Chua@Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanya-chua-2a29877/
Learn more about Tanya’s work at:
https://theunusualnetwork.com/
https://podcast.theunusualnetwork.com/
GIF Festival Singapore
https://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/first-gif-festival-singapore-take-place-october
Visual Literacy with Brian Kennedy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E91fk6D0nwM
The Night Tiger
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Tiger-Yangsze-Choo/dp/1250175453
Creating Innovators
https://www.tonywagner.com/creating-innovators/