Insatiably Curious Podcast

There is a direct connection between how we use our voices and how the world views us. Your voice is a signature, a unique and powerful part of your professional identity and brand. Does your voice enhance your image - or undermine it?

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a wide-ranging branch of computer science concerned with building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. AI makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust, and then perform human-like tasks. AI is used for chess playing computers and self-driving cars, and in lots of other ways most of us don't know about. In this episode, Kavita Ganesan, PhD, AI expert, strategist, advisor and author of The Business Case for AI takes the mystery out of AI by defining it, talking a little about the history of AI which dates back to the 1940's and weighs in on the future of AI, including whether or not machines we create will take over our brains - and the world. 

Stephen Ladd is the author of Three Years in a 12-Foot Boat, a solo adventure story that took him from the Mississippi River to South America - and back - in a tiny boat of his own design. He is back at it, detailing a new adventure with a new book, The Five-Year Voyage: Exploring Latin American Coasts and Rivers. Teaming up with his now-wife Virginia, they sailed from the Gulf of Mexico to Argentina and back, largely via South American rivers, in a 21-foot Sea Pearl, even having a baby along the way.  The pair are among only a handful of living people who have navigated from the Caribbean to the Amazon via the Brazo Casiquiare. Their range and variety of encounters with wildlife, indigenous peoples, gold-dredgers, fishermen, and even robbers make for good reading - and interesting podcasts!

We are right in the middle of the Lenten journey, a religious observance in the Christian calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. It is marked by prayers, fasting and almsgiving. And if you need a refresher - or primer on just exactly what Lent represents, you have come to the right place. Join Insatiably Curious Host and Producer David Gee and Pastor Jeff Lindsay, Senior Minister at Colonial Church in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Hear Pastor Lindsay talk about the history of Lent, what it prepares us for and its purpose on the Christian calendar. In this wide ranging conversation the pair also discuss what the pandemic has meant for Jeff's church as well as the bigger church, including changing the name of a congregation that dates back to 1946. The conversation also touches on what community means today, and if the trend of fewer people identifying with a specific faith and attending church in person will continue. Finally, they end with a fascinating story about Pastor Lindsay's eventful trip to a Moscow McDonalds.  

I was recently at the Miami International Boat Show, reportedly the largest recreational boating show in the world. There are hundreds of boats on display, from inflatables to multi-million dollar superyachts. And some of those boats are 100% electric. That's right, electric propulsion in the recreational boating industry is moving from the fringes to the mainstream. I had the chance to sit down with Sean Marrero, the Chief Strategy Officer of Orlando-based boat builder Correct Craft. Sean is also President of Ingenuity Electric, focused on bringing  the latest in environmentally conscious propulsion technologies into the most demanding boating applications. To find out more, visit ingenityelectric.com

What - and when - is Lent? We are right in the middle of the Lenten journey, a religious observance in the Christian calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. It is marked by prayers, fasting and almsgiving. And if you need a refresher on what that third tenet of Lent is, you have come to the right place. Join Insatiably Curious Host and Producer David Gee and Pastor Jeff Lindsay, Senior Minister at Colonial Church in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Hear Pastor Lindsay talk about the history of Lent, what it prepares us for and its purpose on the Christian calendar. In this wide ranging conversation the pair also discuss what the pandemic has meant for Jeff's church as well as the bigger church, including changing the name of a congregation that dates back to 1946. The conversation also touches on what community means today, and if the trend of fewer people identifying with a specific faith and attending church in person will continue. Finally, they end with a fascinating story about Pastor Lindsay's eventful trip to a Moscow McDonalds.   

The great reshuffling. Reexamining our relationship to work. Employees quitting who don't feel valued. In his Building Corporate Soul: Powering Culture & Success with the Soul System  Ralf Specht - an innovative corporate brand strategist known for his work with global companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Coca Cola, General Motors, and Nestle - provides an approach to align value-creating employee behaviors with corporate strategy. In this podcast, Ralf joins host and producer David Gee to discuss: Key evidence that proves great culture drives success—and practical strategies to make it part of your organizationThe Soul System: The framework for building and maintaining a strong culture—one that leaders can immediately put into placeSpecific examples of how successful organizations build and grow a Corporate Soul—including AirBnB, LinkedIn and others

I’d love to introduce you to Roberta Matuson.  She is President of Matuson Consulting.  Her clients include large organizations such as General Motors, and Microsoft, as well as some  small to medium size firms as well. She’s the author of six books, including the bestselling, "Suddenly in Charge" and "Evergreen Talent" and her most recent, "Can We Talk: Seven Principles for Managing Difficult Conversations at Work."  Hear why she says the great refusal to work is a misnomer and what you need to do to be a good boss. 

Speaker, author and consultant  Chris Edmonds and WorqIQ President Mark Babbitt say what's behind today's struggle to find workers isn't a labor shortage, but a respect shortage. The pair recently authored a book called "Good Comes First: How today's leaders create an uncompromising company culture that doesn't suck." In this timely interview they tell David Gee that respect is just as important as results, explain what random acts of leadership are and say what's happening in today's workplace isn't the great resignation but rather a quiet revolution. 

Diversity. We talk about it a lot these days, right? According to Martin G. Moore—a leadership performance expert, author and co-founder of Your CEO Mentor—diversity alone doesn’t help your company if you can’t leverage the value. “Having a diverse team is important, but if you want to actually make use of that diversity, you must truly engage and include each individual,” says Moore. In this episode, Insatiably Curious host David Gee talks with Moore not only about how to define diversity, but also about leadership, and how that has changed since COVID brought so many changes to the workplace.

Americans aren’t just unhappy at work; they’re quitting their jobs at record levels. So, how can you battle employee turnover and create a more engaged and loyal workforce? In this episode we interview Heather Younger, the founder of employee engagement and leadership development firm Employee Fanatix, and hear about her new book called The Art of Caring Leadership. She argues that if you are looking for increased productivity, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and employee loyalty, you need to be more deliberate about listening to - and caring for - your employees. "Stand out as an organization that employees can’t wait to help grow - and don't want to leave.”

Over 19 million Americans have a felony conviction on their record, and as you can imagine, that makes it very difficult to find a job. And since employment is foundational to rehabilitation, recidivism among ex-cons, like unemployment, is high. In his new book Untapped Talent, author, speaker and investment strategist Jeff Korzenik says second chance hiring isn't just the right thing to do, it's also a good business decision.

You know what a pontoon boat looks like, right? They're on just about every recreational lake in America. Just some simple decking, chairs and a motor strapped to a couple of silver aluminum tubes. Did you know there are $300,000 pontoons? Or 100-mph pontoons? Or pontoons you can wake surf behind? Whatever the sales strategy is, it seems to be working. The pontoon segment led the industry out of the last recession, and sales of freshwater fishing boats and pontoons accounted for 50% percent of all new powerboats sold in 2020.   In this episode, we'll speak with serial boat building entrepreneur Mark Overbye about the pontoon segment, the category’s popularity, where some of the high costs come from and what the future looks like for the segment. 

Feelings of self-doubt are nothing new for women in the workplace; in fact, 75 percent of female executives experience imposter syndrome. But with personal and professional lives colliding, it has become more difficult than ever to “fake it ‘til you make it.”Jenn Donahue—U.S. Naval veteran, engineer and entrepreneur—has spent her whole career working in a man’s world. But now, she’s encouraging women in leadership positions to take off their camouflage—even if they’re the only woman in the room.In this episode, Insatiably Curious Host David Gee and Donahue discuss:How to take off your camouflage. Many women try to blend in with the boys’ club. When is it time to take off the camo?How to find your Leadership Style: Hint - You don’t have to be a “yeller” or lead “like a man” to command respect and loyalty from your teamFemale Entrepreneurs: Do you lean into the fact that you’re a woman?What it’s like to be the only woman in the room—and how she’s dealt with the pressure of high-performance expectationsWomen in STEM: How to become a leader in a field that's still dominated by men—and how we can build the women leaders of tomorrow

"Pandemics don't change our identity; they reveal it."So says Riaz Meghji, author of the new book, Every Conversation Counts: The 5 Habits of Human Connection that Build Extraordinary Relationships “It shouldn’t take a disaster to bring us together,” Riaz adds. “Isolation can literally make us sick. In Every Conversation Counts we discover the enormous human cost of this pandemic of loneliness and learn some practical strategies for building stronger connections, both personally and professionally.”  In this Insatiably Curious podcast episode, David Gee and Riz find out why human connection is a necessity, how to make our conversations more real, our small talk bigger and what it means to "convey credibility before vulnerability" to be better leaders.They will also discuss how to:Combat isolation and loneliness by fostering meaningful human connectionsCraft compelling stories that will make you a magnet for attention Put aside your perfect persona and engage others on a deeper level Be assertively empathetic, defuse conflict and collaborate effectively

With so much change thrust upon us, and so quickly,  there is need for a new kind of leadership; one that bleeds personality and rings true to employees and customers alike who crave authenticity. In his new book You Lead: How Being Yourself Makes You a Better Leader award-winning author Minter Dial provides a roadmap for business leaders to rethink and reconsider what’s important and recognize that it’s time for a radically different way to think and act. In this conversation with Insatiably Curious host David Gee, Minter talks about how to craft cultures that are still productive, and still efficient, but also still human.He explores how much of ourselves we should bring to the workplace, what empathy in the workplace means and how we can harness its power, and also the importance of figuring out who we are and what we want to be in order to become more effective leaders. He also has a bit of advice that wasn't intended for the host specifically, but it certainly applies, and that is how to stay curious, but to do so strategically so we can still get stuff done!

Fewer meetings are the secret to engagement and success.  What's that? Here's a little preface. Zoom had over 300 million meeting participants per day in 2020, Google Meet over 100 million and Microsoft Teams had 75 million active daily users last year. We need to have all those virtual meetings to collaborate, to engage, it’s the tie that binds, especially when we’re working remotely, right? Not so says our guest, Carlos Valdes-Dapena, speaker, best-selling author, corporate leader and founder of Corporate Collaboration Resources. He opines many of us are doing it wrong when it comes to all those Zoom meetings. And he tells us how to collaborate better by collaborating less. In this episode we'll learn the meaning of irresistible collaboration, get a better understanding of the work that requires collaboration, and what doesn't, how we should re-think the definition of meetings in our minds and what collaboration might look like  post-pandemic.

In the modern workplace, disabilities are more common than we may know.  Yet too often, a stigma still exists when it comes to employing people with disabilities. According to Tova Sherman—a CEO, TED Speaker, and thought leader with more than 25 years of experience in diversity and inclusion—educating your existing team is crucial to a ensuring a thriving workplace filled with diverse people.“Disability is not a dirty word, so let’s stop acting like it is,” says Tova, author of the book Win, Win, Win! The 18 Inclusion-isms you need to become a disability confident employer. “People often choose not to discuss what they don’t understand and that is why myths about disability continue to persist. Silence can no longer be an option in the workplace - and leaders must replace it with honest conversation.”In this interesting interview with Tova, host David Gee discusses actionable steps to build the foundation for a truly inclusive workplace, why attitudinal barriers are the biggest obstacles to an inclusive culture. biggest mistakes leaders make when managing people with disabilitiesand why diversity is not the only aspect of an inclusive workplace culture.

After a year of global disruption, leaders who want to stay relevant are transforming the way they manage and interact with their teams. According to CEO and leadership expert Dan Pontefract—known for his work with Salesforce and other—humility is one of the most essential leadership trends of 2021.“To put it bluntly, stop making everything solely about you. It’s time to break the mirror and start championing others,” says Pontefract, author of Lead. Care. Win. “Your decision-making should begin with considering the impact your actions will have on your team. You’ll quickly discover a higher performing, engaged, and trusting team that’s willing to go above the call of duty.”In this episode, Pontefract—a Forbes contributor who has recently been featured in CBS Money Watch and Fast Company—will discuss:Proven tactics from effective leaders that will help you champion others in 2021Why sharing your weaknesses to your team will move your objectives forward and increase employee engagement The value of a reverse mentor; someone younger or different than you to provide advice and help you see through blind spotsHow to be human at workAnd why the smartest people in the room often aren't

When my wife and I got in the car the other day the radio was tuned to the U2 channel on Sirius. U2 is one of our favorite bands, and talking that day was a writer and theologian by the name of Martin Wroe. He is a friend of Bono, U2's lead singer, and he talked about a discovery he made while touring with the band.In the corner of a book store in Mumbai, India, Wroe found a book called Benedictus: A Book of Blessings, by the late John O'Donohue, an Irish poet and philosopher. O'Donohue often said that he didn't like religion to get in the way of spirituality, so you won't hear any specific references to God.Martin Wroe read from this book, and I found it really meaningful. So in this episode I read a short passage from Benedictus in the hope you will find meaning in the words as well.