Under the Current

Shanley Knox is a brand strategist and social entrepreneur based in New York. In this conversation, we get into dismantling a business on the cusp on success, a dangerous bias around meaningful work, the audacious hope of building something new, and why a set of traffic lights in Downtown Manhattan changed just about everything… Show Notes 08:00 A tipping point to dismantle a company 12:00 Returning to Africa 21:00 Recognizing real problems as a founder 28:00 The feeling of belonging and not belonging 32:00 The photographer as observer 41:00 Stakeholders that strategists don’t always notice 52:00 The audacious hope of building a thing 59:00 What happens when you freeze in the face of possibility 66:00 Cultural bias around meaningful work

Sims Foster is co-founder of Foster Supply Hospitality - a group of rurally independent small hotels and restaurants based in New York's Catskills Mountains. In this conversation we get into facing up to the inevitably of hundreds of tiny failures, finding thought partners, the importance of the practice room, how the hospitality industry could rethink the ways it trains talent, and why local matters. Show Notes 05:00 Introducing Foster Supply Hospitality (and a rogue refrigerator) 08:00 Why the Catskills is such a storied region, and how it’s changed so dramatically in the past few decades 15:00 Starting in hospitality: from dishwashing to digging into data 25:00 Bringing a music sensibility to the hospitality business - and the importance of the practice room 33:00 Facing up to the prospect of constant tiny failures 36:00 The future of training in the hospitality industry 45:00 How Sims assesses new hotel and restaurant opportunities 50:00 Underrated factors that make or break a hospitality company 54:00 The colossal financial failure - and making a recovery 63:00 Seeking out thought partners… and working with your life partner 70:00 Recognizing crisis, and moving forward 77:00 The importance of doing business for local good

Jonathan Stark is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He helps freelancers, consultants and creatives of all flavours find better ways to do the work they want to do in the world. Jonathan’s own journey has gone from live musician to digital agencies, independent software developer to teacher. While his books, talks, and daily newsletter are now hugely successful - there have inevitably been some bumps along the way. In this conversation we get into why artists and designers can be very opposite, the real value of music, unexpected occurrences of the employee mentality, and why marketing can make us mad. Show notes 04:00 Getting it wrong on-stage 11:00 Why creatives get pulled in two directions 17:00 Funding the mission 22:00 The value of music 35:00 What it means to have an employee mentality - even when you don’t think you do… 43:00 A big lesson from Disneyland 50:00 Wrangling with marketing 58:00 Getting comfortable with speaking and writing in public 67:00 The value of podcasting and newsletters 74:00 Daily publishing

Amsterdam is widely renowned as a global hub. It's a centre of art, creativity, forward-thinking approaches to sustainability, and a centre of incredible nightlife. Olaf Boswijk has been at the very center of Amsterdam's nightlife scene for well over a decade: as the music programmer and resident DJ at the Club 11 venue, before setting up the legendary Trouw, and the equally vital De School. It's fair to say Olaf's had a big part to play in creating a worldwide buzz around electronic music in the city. When Olaf decided to take a little break, he headed out of the city for a little while with his wife Mirla in their yellow camper van. But this wasn't any old trip - they headed west to Canada, went south into the US, and then all the way through Latin America to Patagonia. It was in southern Chile that they fell in love - with an incredible part of nature they've come to call Valley of the Possible. Valley of the Possible is a place where Olaf, Mirja and their team invite and challenge artists, scientists and other creative thinkers and makers to envision alternative perspectives on our relationship with the natural world. In this conversation Olaf shares the back story of launching this latest project, the questions he asks about his own creative work, his attitude to risk, and why less ambition may be a positive sign. Show Notes 05:00 Hitting the road from Amsterdam to Patagonia 10:00 The tension between the DJ and club owner 18:00 The power of live vs pre-recording 24:00 Falling in love in Chile 30:00 Making career pivots 33:00 Bringing Valley of the Possible to life 42:00 Olaf's attitude to risk and ambition 55:00 Asking the difficult questions around climate and nature 59:00 Nightlife going from global to local 63:00 The impact of fatherhood

A lot's happened since 9 year old Dmitry Koltunov and his family packed a few suitcases, left the Soviet Union, and headed west into the unknown. Today, he's known by many as the co-founder of Alice, a hugely successful tech company serving the hospitality industry. To many hundreds more, he's the indefatigable linchpin of a popular startup fellowship program. And to others, he's the creator of a new Broadway musical. Before all these ventures, Dmitry had to learn a new language and culture, and found himself in the gladiatorial environments of corporate America. It was only after two very different visits to New York's Lower East Side that his current path began to emerge. In this wide-ranging conversation we get into the surprises that come when following the American dream, why confidence can create fragility, the commonalities between hiphop and startups, and lessons learned from freestyling with one Lin Manuel Miranda. Show Notes: 6:00 Lower East Side free styling with Two Touch &  Lin Manuel 17:00 Detecting the difference between startups and hobbies 25:00 The gladiator game of business - and going the other way 30:00 Following the American dream, and observing culture 43:00 Hiphop and startup communities 48:00 Being fragile from the confidence 58:00 Structures and segments of creative work 66:00 Handling success 73:00 Writing Broadway musicals